First time in Japan – Trip Itinerary – 12 days with elderly parent (early 60’s)

15 comments

1. Day 4 is too difficult to do in one day. Especially if you’re not driving, i’d recommend a night to stay if you’re keen on going. the falls and lake are quite a distance away from the city/shrines.

   Overall i think there’s too much traveling between cities – and i have an elderly parent in their 60s too. If it’s your first time I’d suggest the 3 city route Tokyo Osaka Kyoto, leaving out other day trips. Good luck

2. Just chiming in on the Osaka portion – with Umeda Sky building and Osaka castle in your itinerary already, you can consider getting the Amazing Osaka Pass. There is a 1 and 2 days versions, it covers almost all major attractions in Osaka including UmedaSky(entry before 4pm) and Osaka Castle, as well as all bus and metro transportation except for JR. Add in Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi and the transportation itself should be worth it. Need foreign passport to exchange for in Japan. Have a good trip! 🙂

3. For my parents’ first time – both early 60s – we did 4 nights Tokyo, 1 night Yudanaka, 2 nights Hiroshima, 2 nights Kyoto, 1 night Hakone and finished with 5 nights Tokyo.

   For the nights outside Tokyo we left the bulk of our luggage in left luggage Tokyo Station and travelled light – making use of hotel laundry if need.

   Day trips included Nikko – walked to the final shrine, Yokohama, Enoshima & Kamakura and Miyajima.

   Had an absolute blast.

   Plenty of pit-stops to rest.

   PS – 60s is not elderly!

4. If you aren’t interested in shrines, I would suggest going to see Mount Fuji on Day 4 instead of Nikko. It would depend on the weather though.

5. Early ’60s, “elderly?”

6. To me the use of ‘elderly’ would have to involve some sign of age-related infirmity and would most likely be 75+

7. I read “elderly parent” and thought they must be in their 80s, then saw you wrote early 60s. I’m not so far away from that 😞

8. Osaka Castle is shit. Not worth your time.

9. Alternative to the long train + JR ferry to Miyajima is the slightly more expensive boat that leaves from right beside the A Bomb building.

   https://www.aqua-net-h.co.jp/heritage/reservation/

   Book 2+ days ahead for the earliest departure to make sure you have enough time on the island.

   Website is in Japanese but Google can take care of that. You also have to type your name in Hiragana (google how yours looks and use the Japanese keyboard on your phone to type it).

10. I’d suggest staying in Tokyo rather than Yokohama given that most of the things you want to see in this area are actually in Tokyo. This would also give you a much quicker trip to and from Nikko – spending 6 hours on a train in a day is a lot, especially as Nikko involves a lot of walking and a lot of crowds.

11. “Elderly” parent is early 60s? 🫣

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13. Is there a reason you’re not taking the Monorail from Haneda — since the JR pass covers it?

    I sort of agree with others who’ve said it might be better to stay in Tokyo vs. Yokohama in order to reduce “wasted” back and forth trips (30-45 minutes each, probably).

    Not sure if you’re aware [Tokyo City View](https://tcv.roppongihills.com/en/index.html) / [Sky Deck](https://tcv.roppongihills.com/en/skydeck/index.html) at the Mori Art Museum.

    For Shibuya Sky, do make sure you get tickets ahead of time (at *least* a few days, but safer 4 weeks before, when they become available) — you’ll also get a 200(?) yen discount.

    I’ve not been to the Cup Noodle Museum but did like my visit to the [Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum](https://www.raumen.co.jp/english/) (about 2 blocks from the shinkansen station). It looks like Cupnoodles is more of a museum. At SYRM, the lower floor is set up with 6 (I think) different ramen shops with different styles of ramen and most (all?) sell smaller portions (to help avoid filling up at just one or two shops).

    Getting to Miyajima isn’t that bad: train to Miyajimaguchi, then walk down the road to the JR Miyajima Ferry. That drops you off at the north end of the town and just walk along the shore drive or shopping street to the shrine. If you can, I’d suggest timing it so that you visit the *shrine* during high tide (the effect is that the shrine is floating on the water). For the Otori, either do that during the low tide before or after the shrine (get some food at one of the shops?).

    In Osaka is the [Harukas 300 observatory](https://www.abenoharukas-300.jp/en/observatory/) (down by Tennoji) — it was the tallest skyscraper until this year.

    Apparently, the JR pass now gets some perks at some places: [https://japanrailpass.net/en/special-offer/discount-benefits/](https://japanrailpass.net/en/special-offer/discount-benefits/)

14. Gonna have a great time 🥳

15. My experience with luggage forwarding over the last fortnight:

    Overnight
    Tokyo > Kyoto
    Osaka > Hiroshima

    Two days
    Hiroshima > Tokyo

    This was on the proviso luggage was in the lobby by 10am, payment was in cash only and generally around JPY1000 per medium suitcase (increasing based on size).