11 Day Japan Itinerary

Hello! I was wondering if I could get some feedback on my 11 day Japan itinerary? I started it about 5 years ago but had to keep putting off the trip due to COVID and money issues. I hope to go in late March and I have done lots of research on the best places to go and how to get around Japan. I recently made a lot of edits to my itinerary but I am still not sure if it is entirely doable. I’ve only used Google maps to determine how long it takes to get everywhere and what the train tickets cost. Idk how often the trains stop though or if there could be delays or anything. This would be a solo trip and I plan on budgeting around $3400 for the whole trip plus the plane ticket.

**Day 1:**

Land in Tokyo (preferably Haneda airport)

Check into Asakusa hostel

Maybe explore the area a bit if I have the time/energy

**Day 2:**

Senso-ji/ nakamise dori

Tokyo Skytree/solamachi

maybe take train to ueno park/shibezuno pond if I have time

**Day 3:**

Akihabara

Maid cafe

Teamlab planet

**Day 4:**

Shibuya (Shibuya crossing, hachiko statue, flipper’s shibuya)

Mipig cafe

Harajuku/takeshita street

yoyogi park

omakase dinner

**Day 5:**

Morning at tsukiji market

ghibli museum

**Day 6:**

Check out of hostel

shinkansen to kyoto

Check into AirBnB

Fushimi inari taisha

**Day 7:**

Arashiyama (bamboo grove/monkey park)

Kinkaku-ji

Kyoto imperial palace

**Day 8:**

Nijo Castle

Check out of AirBnB

train to Osaka

check in at hotel neat osaka castle

Dotonbori

**Day 9:**

Day trip to Nara/Nara Park

Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji

**Day 10:**

Walk to Osaka Castle

Kobe Beef Teppanyaki lunch

Osaka Aquarium

**Day 11:**

Check out of hotel early morning

Shinkansen back to Tokyo

Fly home (I haven’t found any round trip tickets that are cheaper than two one-way tickets)

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I’m thinking about getting a 7 day hokuriku arch pass rather than a full JR pass as I feel like it would just be a waste but I am not sure. I plan to mostly eat at any cheap places I can find nearby and street food but splurge on a few meals (the omakase, kobe beef, maid cafe) I was also thinking about cooking breakfast and packing lunch everyday while I’m in Kyoto at the AirBnB. Conbini breakfast items also look good and the hotel in Osaka provides breakfast for free.

2 comments
  1. Don’t go to any animal cafe. The animals are treated badly and are continuously stressed. The ‘Mipig’ place is a particularly bad place.

  2. Please do the pass math. You are potentially just taking two longer shinkensen rides – tokyo to kyoto and then osaka to tokyo. Pretty sure easier and cheaper to buy the two one ways. Kyoto to osaka is cheap and easy. Trains run on schedule which is also frequent. IC card works well for all inter city travel.

    Prob want to combine tsukiji with teamlab day.

    Food is relatively inexpensive – no need to cook. At “worst” you buy something from market or conbini and eat it the next morning. A bowl of ramen or a katsu curry is probably less than ¥1000.

    A lot of your stuff doesnt take much time at all – nothing wrong with that. Each area is filled with wonderment. If you are jet lagged coming from the east you can use that as a super power to get up early to go to places like tsukiji or parks and shrines. Stores and museums dont open until later in the morning.

    I assume you dont yet have tickets to ghibli, etc. just move things around as necessary.

    Are you able to fly out of osaka? That would save some train money and buy you time.

    There is tons of cheap food in every direction. Street food isnt necessarily cheaper. No need to pack lunch. Like at “worst” buy a chicken katsu sandwich or karage from a conbini whenever you are hungry.

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