This will be my husband and I’s first ever trip to Japan and we will be visiting for 2 weeks at the beginning of March. I’ve been lurking this forum for a couple of months and am mostly ready to ask for advice and suggestions for our itinerary!
– What we like to do: explore, look at architecture, general shopping and eating all the things.
– I feel like some of our days don’t totally have things filled out enough to keep ourselves busy through out the day, if anyone has suggestions in regard to the areas that we are visiting, that would be much appreciated.
– We don’t plan to buy the 7-day JR pass versus just buying single passes as we go, would this be appropriate for our trip?
Thank you all so much in advance!
March 1-2 in flight
March 2-5 in Tokyo
3/2 land @ HND.
– Mobile Suica card
– Train to hotel.
– Checkout area, find dinner.
– 7/11 for currency exchange?
3/3
– Tsukiji market in the AM.
– Teamlab borderless.
– Wander Ginza.
– Akihabara?
3/4
– Kappabashi street.
– Sensoji shrine
– Explore asakusa.
– Tokyo sky tree in evening.
– Send luggage via Yamato to Osaka.
March 5-9 in Osaka
3/5
– Check out of Tokyo hotel.
– Take bullet train from Tokyo station.
– Arrive in Osaka at noonish. Find lunch.
– River cruise in the evening.
– Dotonbori at night
3/6
– Kuromon market in the AM.
– Tower knives Osaka.
– Osaka castle.
– Team lab botanical garden at night (opens at 1800).
3/7 – haven’t decided on what to do this day. Anything that people think is really interesting?
3/8
-Nara day trip? : Japanese aquarium disco, feed deers, get fresh mochi
March 9-11 Kyoto ryokan check in
3/9
– Check out of Osaka hotel.
– Train to Kyoto.
– Check out Okazaki shrine.
– Check out Gion street.
3/10
– Arashiyama – bamboo forest in the early morning. Itsukichaya for lunch.
3/11
– Nishiki market in the am.
– Check out of ryokan.
– AWOMB for lunch.
– Check in to Kyoto station hotel. Luggage forwarding to Tokyo.
March 11-12 Kyoto station
3/12
– Check out area and check out of hotel. Bentos as station.
– Fushimi inari in am?
March 12-17 Tokyo
3/13
– Shibuya & shinjuku. Harajuku.
– Kabukicho tower later in the evening.
3/14
– Yokohama trip – gundam and cup noodle museum
3/15
– Izushaboten zoo day trip
3/16
– DisneySea?
3/17 depart @ 2105
– Be at airport around 1700
2 comments
JR pass probably isnt worth it. Use a online calculator to double check to be sure.
7/11 is a good way to get cash out of the ATM. Which you will need for a lot of littler shops. Maybe like $100 worth to start with. Most places now support credit card thankfully.
In Osaka you might enjoy Shin Sekai in the evening. It’s about 20min walk south of Dotonburi. Lots of fried food and drinks options. Kind of touristy.
If you like drinking the classic interesting options to checkout are izakayas in general (they’re everywhere). Or [Misono](https://maps.app.goo.gl/o8nHJAxD4rjgWENTA) in Osaka, and [Golden Gai](https://maps.app.goo.gl/4brXUbp9pPk52dKaA) in Shinjuku for a collection of interesting bars all next to each other.
When you’re seeing the gundam I highly recommend [Small Worlds Tokyo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt9IF-SYKV8). It’s so detailed I spent about 2 hours there recently looking at everything.
Izushaboten Zoo is quite a distance from Tokyo, and you’ll be on public transport (if that’s what you’re using) for about 6 hours going to and from, say, Shinjuku. Why not go to one of the maybe 20 zoos closer to where you’ll be staying?
Regarding ‘filling out’ days to keep yourself busy, it’s completely unnecessary in big cities in Japan. You’ll be lucky to get to even what you’ve listed here in single days. I’ve lived in the same neighborhood in Tokyo for more than 30 years now and still see new and interesting things every time I take a walk.