Hello everyone, I am going to Japan in April and wanted to double check if my itinerary looks good to you folks.
Itinerary so far: This is what I have in mind. I tried to group every activity that’s near one another so that I won’t be traveling back and forth all over Tokyo.
4/1, 4/2 Wed and Thurs: HND
Traveling. Arrive in Haneda around 9:15 PM, expecting to arrive to my Airbnb pretty late.
**4/3 Fri:** Nothing
Quite literally nothing planned. I’ve done some long trips before, but never one involving a change of time zones. I left this day completely empty in case I’m beat from the day of traveling before
**4/4 Sat:** East side of Tokyo
Explore Akihabara!
UDX Parking Garage
Check out some mystery vending machines
Ueno Park
Akihabara Nisshin Camera store
Skytree (maybe)
**4/5 Sun:** Tokyo to Osaka early morning ~~(Start of 7 day JR Pass)~~ nvm on the JR pass
Den Den Town
Osaka-Kizu
Abeno Harukas
**4/6 Mon:** Osaka
Minoo Park (is this too far out of the way?)
Dotonbori Street
Horai 551
**4/7 Tues:** Day trip to Kyoto from Osaka
Get to Arashiyama Monkey Park early in the AM
Fushimi Inari (is this already too crammed, since I included monkey park? Should I visit one or the other?)
Sannenzaka
Philosophers Path
**4/8 Wed:** Back to Tokyo from Osaka; West side of Tokyo
Going to try to leave Osaka as early as possible considering how crammed this day might be, willing to move things around!
Explore Shibuya
Pokemon Center
Meji Shrine
Shinjuku Gyoen
Tokyo Metropolitan Gov Building for the free view!
**4/9 Thurs:** Day trip to Hakone for fun2drive
Bus from Shinjuku Station to Kintoki Shrine
Drive classic, beautiful JDM cars around the base of Mt Fuji
At night, if I have it in me, visit Seaside top observatory
**4/10 Fri:**
Teamlab Borderless; taking everyone’s advice and arriving before opening
Roppongi Hills (visiting for photography, what else is there to do here?)
Open to any other activities
**4/11 Sat:**
Studio Ghibli Museum
Showa Kinen Park
Again, open to any suggestions in this area
**4/12 Sun:** Traveling back home!
Questions:
1. Will my unlocked T-Mobile phone work in Japan? Not sure if it will be a problem in Japan if I go with a NTT eSIM.
7 comments
Doesn’t seem like you’d be making your money’s worth on the 7-day JR pass…. why don’t you just fly from HND to ITM? 2 free checked bags included.
[https://www.jal.co.jp/aul/en/world/japan_explorer_pass/lp/](https://www.jal.co.jp/aul/en/world/japan_explorer_pass/lp/)
unless i missed something i dont see the point of buying a jr pass if you’re just going to use it from tokyo to osaka and back.
I assume you are in the US since t-mobile. On day 1 you will probably wake up super early. You should do everything you can to stay up for as long as possible. jet lag usually catches up to me on like day 3. Excitement should keep you going. Most of your days look light on planned activities which is fine!
Why a JR Pass? You are just going down to osaka and back. Just buy one way tickets.
Note by april next year there will be two teamlab places open in tokyo. I don’t think it matters much if you get an early time vs later in the day. Its always a lot of people.
I just got back from Japan and had no issues with my T-Mobile phone. worked great. even received a call and also called US. No need for esim.
Don’t think you’re going to fit SkyTree in on that 4/4 day. Seems packed enough as is.
Horai 551 is at almost every train station in Osaka. I would just stop by and pick something to go whenever you see a location.
If you’re going to Abeno Harukas, Takoyaki Yamachan is right there, which is a pretty famous Takoyaki joint. I personally prefer Hanadako in Umeda for Takoyaki, but if you’re in the area, it’s worth a quick bite.
4/8 day is too crammed IMO, but I don’t know, it really depends on what you want out of Shibuya. Are you going to Harajuku? etc.
Kyoto is very jammed. Those places you listed aren’t anywhere near each other either.
If wanting to do all, I would do two days in Kyoto instead of two in Osaka or use one of your Tokyo days. I would do Fushimi Imari, Sannenzaka (and Kiyomizu Dera and Higashiyama) on one day. Arashiyama, Philosopher’s Path (and Ginkakuji) on another. Both would be very full days.
The Ghibli Museum and Showa Kinen Park are nearly an hour apart by train. Maybe try Inokashira Park (which abuts the Ghibli Museum) instead.
If you like photography, I’d suggest skipping Meiji Shrine and Shinjuku Gyouen and instead taking a half-day trip to [Nihon Minka-en](https://www.nihonminkaen.jp/index_english.html). It’s a collection of folk houses from all around Japan and is picturesque as all get out. It has the bonus of being inside of a reasonably large park, also.
…a parking garage?