23 Days in Japan – Itinerary Check and some Questions

Hi all,

This will be my first time in Japan and so wanted to make it a big one, so 23 days in total!

My full itinerary is listed below, but I have some key questions;

1. Should I be booking all travel months in advance?
It’s somewhat stressful to me how many trains I’m going to need, can I realistically turn up on the day and these routes have multiple trains a day and buy a ticket, or will that cost so much more that people would recommend I book tickets for all of these routes while there?
2. This itinerary is for a group of 6 – 2 of which are my parents and so might not do some of it.
My main concern is around eating, are we going to be ok getting dinner/lunch for 6 if we want to sit in somewhere?
I’ve **love** to eat in places that have like a bar going round where they cook in front of you.
But having watched videos these often seem busy, does the queueing system I’ve often seen permit 6 people?
3. Looking at the itinerary below, should I be looking to move around some more?
I didn’t want it to be a stressful trip trying to cram everything in, so where we could probably do Tokyo in 4 days, staying 5 is fine and we’ll spend some evenings drinking at bars and such
4. Related to 3, I want to stay somewhere near Mt. Fuji, and then Hakone, is this a good idea?
Train from Tokyo to Fuji Kawaguchiko I think.
Stay there 2 nights, then get the bus over to Hakone and stay there for 1 night.
Then back to Odawa train station to ride a Shinkansen to Kyoto
5. And lastly, I’ve got most of this from youtube videos and blogs about days in these places, and it’s a lot of shrines.
Do people feel burnt out, or do they find each shrine to be unique and the area around it the main reason to go?
I’d say 1/3 or more of the itinerary contains shrines…

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And any other advice based on things below would be greatly appreciated!

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**1 Thursday 21st March Fly to Tokyo Haneda Airport**

**2 Friday 22nd March Arrive in Tokyo Haneda Airport**

Pickup Suica Card

Purchase an eSim or SIM Card?

Take public transport to hotel, explore local area/sleep

**3 Saturday 23rd March Tokyo Day 1 Tokyo**

Meiji Jingu Shrine

Yoyogi Park Walk

Explore Harajuku and Shibuya – Hachiko Statue

Dinner at a restaurant by Sakura trees (Hashidaya?)

**4 Sunday 24th March Tokyo Day 2 Tokyo**

Shinjuku District – Gyoen Park / Yodobashi Camera

Shinjuku District – Kabukicho/Golden Gai/Omoide Yokocho

Free viewpoint up Tokyo Metro Government building (Can see Fuji)

**5 Monday 25th March Tokyo Day 3 Tokyo**

Imperial Palace and Gardens – 10am

Tokyo Skytree – 634m Observation Tower

Sensoji Temple

Odaiba / Gundam Statue / Rainbow Bridge View Pltfm.

**6 Tuesday 26th March Tokyo Day 4 Tokyo**

Akihabara – Mandarake Complex / Super Potato

Akihabara – Gamers shop / Maach ecute / GiGO

**7 Wednesday 27th March Tokyo Day 5 Tokyo**

Teamlab Planets

Roppongi Hills – Shopping and City View at Sunset? (\~17:50)

View Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Area

Find a Sushi Train restaurant

**8 Thursday 28th March Nikko Day 1 Nikko – Day Trip – Mountains/Forest/Shrines**

Nikko Toshogu Shrine

Kegon Waterfall (Bus Trip away) Try Yuba, local dish

Rinnoji Temple – plus gardens

Senjogahara Hiking course?

**9 Friday 29th March Tokyo/Mt Fuji Day 1 – Getting to Fuji Kawaguchiko?**

**10 Saturday 30th March Mt Fuji ???**

**11 Sunday 31st March Mt Fuji ???**

**12 Monday 1st April Mt Fuji to Hakone Bus from Fuji Kawaguchiko**

**13 Tuesday 2nd April Hakone Day 1 – Arrival**

Hakone Freepass – unlimited use of bus,train,cablecars and ropeways

Discounted admission to several tourist sites

Hakone Open Air Museum

Hakone Shrine – Torii gate on the lake with a path up the mountain to the shrine

Take Komatagake ropeway to get to another mountaintop shrine

Find an onsen (Must allow tattoos..)

**14 Wednesday 3rd April Hakone Day 2 – Hakone – Bit more tourism and train to Kyoto**

Hakone Checkpoint

Hakone Ropeway

Lake Ashinoko – Maybe a boat tour

Take a train to Odawara, then Shinkansen to Kyoto

**15 Thursday 4th April Kyoto Day 1**

Kyomizu Dera Main temple and stunning views

Hokan-Ji Pagoda view as you come down from Dera

Walk through the streets to Gion – Lunch/dinner etc

Yasaka/Gion Shrine Best enjoyed in evening

Hanamikoji Street – Shops/Restaurants Geisha district

To finish maybe Pontocho Alley – Dinner by the riverside

**16 Friday 5th April Kyoto Day 2**

Kiyagi train station, and the railway outside Covered by Sakura Blossoms

Nanzen-ji Temple

Philosophers Path – stone road along the canal

Ginkakukji – Silver Pavillion

Okuzaki Jinja – Rabbit shrine

Kinkaku-ji Temple – Train to northern Kyoto first Golden Pavillion

**17 Saturday 6th April Kyoto Day 3**

Arashiyama from Kyoto station

Bamboo grove and walk Arrive early morning

End of walk brings you to Toroko Rashiyama Station Romantic old fashioned railway, goes along river

Return to Tugitsiyo Bridge

Head up to monkey park

Kyo-Train Goraku to Osaka Each car has a theme – Weekends only???

**18 Sunday 7th April Kyoto Day 4**

Fushimi Inari Shrine Early in the morning!

Streets close to Fushimi have food etc Cat cafe?

Kyoto station, explore, sky walkway

Higashi Hongaji – huge complex, 2 temples

Train to Uji – Southern Kyoto – Rivers/Food/Local Dishes

**19 Monday 8th April Kyoto/Osaka Day 1 – Get to Osaka, explore a bit (Dotonbori? Some bars?)**

Osaka Castle Gram Pancakes maybe from a stall here

And surrounding park

Tenmangu Shrine

Sinsekai for lunch Kushikatsu – local dish

For sunset head to Abeno Harukas for a nighttime view of Osaka

Dinner – Okonomiyaki – Osaka speciality

**20 Tuesday 9th April Osaka Day 2**

Namba Yasaka Shrine (Lion mouth statue)

North to Mino Park(?) Hanghue line (?) – possible Fireflies, and giant Japanese Salamanders

And a good cherry blossom spot – expo ’70 commemorative park With a sun statue (Amaterasu?)

Evening – Dotonbori/Shopping/Street food/Bars – there’s a secret path leading down to HJozenji Yokocho (A discrete temple with moss statue)

Takoyaki also a speciality here

Retro bar space station

Teamlab Botanical Gardens afterdark

**21 Wednesday 10th April Osaka Day 3**

Universal Studios Japan – Nintendo World and Harry Potter – This is a maybe, queues and costs to be looked into

**22 Thursday 11th April Osaka / Kobe Day Trip to Kobe**

**23 Friday 12th April Osaka / Nara Day Trip to Nara**

Kasuga Taisha Shrine

Isuien Garden Front garden 17th century large teahouse

Rear ggarden around larege pond more modern

Kofukuji Temple

Nara Park (dder) Can feed Deer rice crackers sold by vendors

Todaiji Temple

Town Nakanaidou – Yomogi Mochi (Possible show when it’s being made)

Kakinoha Sushi – Wrapped in Persimmon leaf, a more local dish

**24 Saturday 13th April Osaka**

**25 Sunday 14th April Osaka Fly out from Osaka – Close to midnight, so full day in Osaka in Sunday?**

**26 Monday 15th April UK Land in the UK**