Hi fellow travelers! We’re a group of four friends from Germany gearing up for an adventure in Japan, hitting Tokyo, Kyoto, and possibly Osaka in late February next year. We’re 22 and keen on experiencing both the party scene and the culture of the country. Currently, we’re undecided between Kyoto and Osaka for a 4-day stay. Here’s our list of interests – would love your recommendations!
Tokyo:
• teamLab museum
• Tokyo Skytree
• Sensoji Temple
• Shinjuku Gyoen Park
• Tsukiji Outer Market
• Fushimi Inari
• Shiba Park
• Toyosu Fish Market
• Takahatafudo Temple
• Hie Shrine
• Go-Kart through Shibuya
• Fuji Pagoda (en route to Kyoto?)
Kyoto / Osaka:
• Fushimi Inari
• Arashiyama and Kinkaku-ji
• Ginkaku-ji Temple
• Gion
• To-ji Temple
• Nara
• Universal Studios Osaka (Is it worth a visit?)
Any tips or activities that would perfectly suit our group? A big thank you for your help! Only Love! 💙
5 comments
**Our FAQ is constantly being updated with more information and you can start** [**here**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel) **with regards to trip planning if you need tips, advice, or have questions about planning your travel to Japan.** You can also join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/3f7KBUMwU4), comment in our stickied weekly discussion thread, or check out /r/JapanTravelTips for quick questions. Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Osaka is the night life city of Japan. If you are really interested in partying in Japan you go there.
Kyoto is more like the historical city of Japan, it was the old capital city. A lot of shrines and old buildings.
There are some really cool clubs in Osaka, we went to this one place where we had to pay 1700 yen to enter. We thought it was on the steeper side for just entry but once we got in turns out we got unlimited beers and other alcoholic drinks. They were giving out tequila shots from the “stage”. Yeah a lot of clubs have a stage where dancers dj-s and other shows going on.
The one thing that annoyed us was the dance floor had a smoking area. While in Tokyo they close you into this small box of a room to smoke in Osaka you can do it pretty much anywhere. Which as a non smoker bothered us.
Also Osaka people felt more friendly and open towards chatting with foreigners in the clubs.
For Tokyo:
* Skip Shinjuku Gyoen and instead go to Koshikawa Garden. The latter is less crowded, more picturesque, less expensive, and has greater variety. The former is more well known only because it’s convenient for tour buses. The latter also has an amusement park nearby.
* Takahatafudo is an unusual choice. It’s a nice enough place, but prepare to spend at least an hour getting there from Shinjuku Station, an hour looking at and going to the place, and an hour returning to Shinjuku.
* The go-karts are nearly universally reviled. Please don’t ride them.
You can get free entry into any event at Zero-Tokyo, a big nightclub in Kabukicho tower by going to a bar called Beemars first. They have an arrangement with the club.
The pagoda is called Chureito pagoda, not “Fuji pagoda” and despite the fact it is geographically between Tokyo and Kyoto, the shinkansen does not pass close, so it will not ne “en route” but will be a detour. You should really look how it would be to go there on the way to Kyoto. Unless you spend a night in Kawaguchiko, I would say it’s probably better to go as a daytrip from Tokyo.
As you have much more stuff in Kyoto right now, it would make more sense to do it from Kyoto, but if you want to experience nightlife, then Osaka.