Hey all!
So myself and my Husband are going to Japan this December for almost 3 weeks on our Honeymoon! We are so excited and think we have our itinerary locked down, but would love a few more eyes on it, especially from those who have been to Japan around this time of the year. We would also like some advice regarding Mt Fuji (see below)
We land on the 1st of December at 9am and Depart at 11:30am on the 17th (both at Narita):
Day 1 (Tokyo- Shinjuku): Land approx 9am, Check in at 2pm, after we collect our bags and get things sorted at the airport we plan on exploring the area a bit, maybe head to a konbini for snacks/essentials
Day 2 (Tokyo- Shinjuku): Shibuya, Hachiko statue, Otter cafe, Shopping
Day 3 (Tokyo- Shinjuku): Meiji-jingu Shrine (early approx 7-8am), Harajuku, Takeshita Dori, Purikura, Kiddyland
Day 4 (Tokyo- Shinjuku): Team Labs, Rainbow Bridge, Gundam Statue, Sunshine city
Day 5 (Tokyo- Shinjuku): Free day – see note below about Mt Fuji
Day 6 (Kyoto – Gion): Travel to Kyoto approx 11am Shinkansen, Check into house at 4pm Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka area for the evening, Yasaka Shrine
Day 7 (Kyoto – Gion): Bamboo Forest, Arashiyama area, Kimono Forest
Day 8 (Nara) – Staying in Nara Park: Travel to Nara early, get to Ryokan, explore park (Suggestions for Nara?) and spend the night in the Ryokan
Day 9 (Kyoto – Gion): travel back to Kyoto – Go see Fushimi Inari Shrine
Day 10 (Osaka – Dotonbori): Travel to Osaka, check in at 3pm, explore dotonbori
Day 11 (Hiroshima) – Day trip: Travel to Hiroshima at 11am, spend day exploring, return to Osaka that night
Day 12 (Osaka – Dotonbori): Tsutenkaku
Day 13 (Tokyo – Ginza): Travel to Tokyo at 11am, check in at 3pm, Tsukiji outer market
Day 14 (Tokyo – Ginza): Senso-ji Temple, Ueno park, Asakusa
Day 15 (Tokyo – Ginza): Day trip to Shiroshi
Day 16 (Tokyo – Ginza): Ghibli Museum, Free evening (possibly leaving this free to go and re-visit out favourite things in Tokyo
Day 17 (Tokyo – Ginza): Airport! Flight back at 11:30am
We are spending the most time in Tokyo as we love big cities (we live somewhere where big cities aren’t really a thing lol). Our main focus is Tokyo and Kyoto. Hiroshima was added in last minute which is why we’re only doing a day trip, we just want to be able to see it! We would love to see My Fuji (I know this is super weather dependent) but we’re unsure how to do it. We could get off our Shinkansen on the way to Kyoto/from Osaka and get a taxi to a good view point, but I have also heard of people doing day trips from Tokyo via bus, which one is easier in your opinion?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
4 comments
The idea of going back and forth to kyoto-nara seems tiring esp if youre going to bring your luggages. Why not just spend 3 nights in Kyoto in a ryokan and just do a daytrip in Nara?
Also try clustering Osaka-Kyoto-Nara activities together since they are all in the same region (Kansai). Putting Hiroshima in between kinda ruins the momentum. You can just do Hiroshima after Kansai region then go back to Tokyo
I’m jealous that you have 17 days. We only had two weeks, and I feel like we would’ve been less rushed if only there were a couple more days to stretch things out a little. Here are some quick thoughts on Fuji, Hiroshima, and Nara.
**MT. FUJI:**
During any of the days when you’re in Tokyo, consider going to the free observation deck in the Tokyo Government Building. Fuji is easily visible from the building. Double check that it’s open before going. If you want to be efficient, you could combine some Shinjuku/Harajuku/Shibuya sightseeing when you go.
You’ll have a chance to see it when you take the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Kyoto. No need to get off the train. If it’s visible, the view lasts for several minutes. Just make sure you’re on the correct side of the train (right-hand if leaving Tokyo; left-hand if leaving Kyoto). Hakone has some views, but I think you’ll want to do the pirate ship. The ropeway stop in Owakudani is another chance.
**HIROSHIMA**:
You know your interests better than anyone else, but I would encourage you to make this an overnight rather than a day trip. There’s the city itself and the peace park/museum. For Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, you can’t go wrong with any of the shops in Okonomimura. I can’t imagine if we’d skipped Miyajima. We actually stayed overnight on the island in a Ryokan and got to see Itsukushima both at high and low tide. Absolutely stunning.
**NARA**:
Agree with the other comments about rethinking the order of things here. We did Nara as part of an afternoon daytrip from Kyoto, with Fushimi Inari as the early morning start. There’s a local train that runs direct between Fushimi Inari and Nara. I think there are other places that would be a better ryokan stay, such as Miyajima or Hakone.
Rather than Arashiyama (or in addition to), consider Saihoji, the moss temple. It is just a couple of bus stops beyond Arashiyama but visiting is by reservation so it is a completely different experience — no crowds! You can reserve up to two weeks in advance. It was an absolute highlight of our trip.
[https://intosaihoji.com/en/](https://intosaihoji.com/en/)
Also, in Kyoto, for drinks out, try Beer Bar 162 Miyama in Pontocho.
[https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298564-d11635910-Reviews-BeerBar_MIYAMA_162-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298564-d11635910-Reviews-BeerBar_MIYAMA_162-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html)
Finally, we took the Fuji Excursion from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko to see Mt. Fuji. Our hotel, the Fuji View Hotel, was fantastic with views to knock your socks off, but we didn’t think Kawaguchiko itself was all that great. If we’d done it as a day trip from Tokyo, I don’t know that it would have been worth the travel time — it was the overnight with an amazing view from our hotel room that really made it amazing.
My husband and I have been married almost 30 years and loved our trip to Japan. I hope your trip and your marriage are as wonderful as ours!
Please don’t support those animal cafés. Japan’s animal cruelty laws are lamentably lax, which is the only reason those places have not all been shut down yet. (Plenty have, but some places, like the otter joint, have so far skirted the law, which doesn’t make them any better.) The animals lead poor, short lives filled with stress and ill health.
On Day 3, if you go to Meiji Shrine until 8 AM, you’ll be 2 or more hours early for the openings of most of the shops in Harajuku and along Takeshita Dori. Tokyo is generally a late-open, early-close city with regard to shops: 10 AM to 7 PM is a typical set of hours.
For Day 4, the Rainbow Bridge and Sunshine City (so named so people would forget that it was the site of Sugamo Prison, where people were executed after the war crimes trials in 1945/1946) are about an hour apart.
If it’s only seeing Mt. Fuji that interests you, on clear days it’s visible from many elevated places in Tokyo. We can see it, as it happens, from the roof of our two-story house in west-central Tokyo. If it’s a clear day, just go to the observatory at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku and take a look. (The observatory’s free and does not necessitate reservations.)
For Day 13, expect most of the Tsukiji outer market to be closed by 1 PM.
Congratulations on your marriage.