14D First-Time Japan Trip – New Year’s First Weeks

Hi, Fellas!

Would like to get feedback from the good people on this board about our trip. We’re a family of four, me, wife, and two young teenagers. We’ll spend the first two weeks of 2024 here, and this will be our first time ever visiting Japan and we’re so looking forward to it.

This is a general overview of the places that we’ll visit, we like to walk around, drink coffee, taste the local (halal) delicacies, and not really big shoppers unless maybe for souvenirs and stuff that we’re really aiming for. So what we outline below is the result of our own research, obviously we’re not familiar with local dynamics in terms of transportation, travel time and actual sights, smells and sounds aside from those on google, so any input would be much appreciated.

Btw forgot to mention that we will stay for five nights in Tokyo, five nights in Osaka, and there nights in Narita.

So here goes:

**Sunday, 31 December 2023**

* *Morning*: **Arrive in Narita** \- Our flight arrives around 6 AM, and we figure after immigration, luggage checkout, we should be able to arrive in our Airbnb near Ryogoku Sta. around four or five hours later.
* ***Question***: Our host directs us to take the Skyliner to Ueno Sta. then switches to Oedo Line to Ryogoku Sta. Is it ok to bring luggage to Oedo Line subway? Between the four of us we should have 2 large luggage and 1 medium one (and we’ll have backpacks on our backs). I believe we should be on this traine at 10 or 11 AM, so hopefully it’s no longer rush hours, and it’s a Sunday so it should make it even less crowded.
* *Afternoon*: **Senso-ji Temple** \- This spot is not too far from our place, only about 2.5km away. We’re thinking of walking there if we’re not too tired, but probably will take the bus or train. Main focus here would be just enjoying the view, the crowd, the place, the foods and drinks.
* ***Question***: Since this is December 31st, is the temple open? And are the shops open? And is it gonna be more crowded than usual or less?
* *Afternoon-Late Afternoon*: **Tokyo Skytree** (**optional**) – Since it’s not too far we’re thinking of going there, but not really high on our agenda. For one thing, we’re not planning to go up the tower. For another, areas surrounding it don’t look as exciting as those at Senso-ji.
* *Evening*: **New Year’s Eve at Shibuya Scramble Crossing** (optional) – Looking at our time table and depending on how many hours we spend at Senso-ji, we should be able to return home around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and for the evening – again if we’re not too exhausted – we’re thinking of going across town to Shibuya Scramble Crossing for the New Year’s Eve countdown.
* ***Question***: Is this activity worth it? Is it like the Times Square NYE countdown? Also guides say that we should be there around two hours before midnight, I personally feel that that’s a bit too tight, especially if the place is really crowded. Should we do it?

**Monday, 01 January 2024**

* *Morning-Afternoon*: **Ueno Park** \- It’s the first day of the new year, our first full day in Japan. If we did go to Shibuya the night before, we’ll take the day after slow. We’re thinking of going to Ueno Park, may or may not visit the museums, but if we do then our priority is the Tokyo National Museum. Anyway, we’re thinking of just strolling around the park, taking pictures, stopping for anything that interests us.
* *Afternoon*: **Ameyoko** \- We’ll then eat our way thorough Ameyoko and reach Akihabara.
* *Afternoon-Evening*: **Akihabara** \- We’ll finish our day in Akihabara, and since they say Akihabara is prettier in the evening I think the timetable works in our favor. We’ll check our the electronic stores, the game centers, anime stores, kooky cafes (I would skip M’s for now, LOL). I’m looking forward to get lost in Super Potato.
* ***Question***: Are all the above places, the museums and the stores, open on January 1st? Are the areas more crowded or less crowded than other dates?

**Tuesday, 02 January 2024**

* *Morning*: **Tsukiji** \- We’ll leave our Airbnb around 8 in the morning and head to Tsukiji Outer Market for our breakfast. I’ve seen youtube videos of the place and have some ideas of what to expect, hopefully they’re not too far off.
* *Morning-Afternoon*: **Shibuya** \- We’ll then hop on the train and head to Shibuya. Shibuya Scramble Crossing and Hachiko Statue will be our first priority, and then we’ll check out some music stores and shops (Tower Records, Mega Don Quijote, etc.), and of course we won’t miss Takeshita Street.
* ***Question***: I believe these should be within walking distance, right?
* *Afternoon-Evening*: **Shinjuku** and **Sunshine City** \- Then we’ll spend the rest of our days in Shinjuku. We’ll head to Shinjuku Gyoen first thing from Takeshita (by bus). We’ll probably just walk around the area, and though I’d love to spend time at Omoide Yokocho and Kabukicho I don’t think they’re for all of us. Since I don’t think we’ll be spending too much time here, off we go to Sunshine City and Ikebukuro which should be half an hour away by bus.

**Wednesday, 03 January 2024**

* *Morning-Afternoon*: **Warner Bros. Studio – The Making of Harry Potter** \- We’ll start early and guides say we should expect to spend about 4 hours here, so that’s our minimum aim.
* *Afternoon-Late Afternoon*: **Fujiko F. Fujio (Doraemon) Museum** \- My wife’s top of of the list, LOL. It’s an hour away by train, so would be a good time to stretch our legs. Guides say we should spend 2-3 hours here, so we should be able to get home in early evening.

**Thursday, 04 January 2024**

* *Whole Day*: **GALA Yuzawa** \- Spending the whole day here, me and the kids will go up for some snowboarding, while the missus will most likely stay down.

**Friday, 05 January 2024**

* *Morning-Afternoon*: **Osaka** \- Time to pack up our stuff and move camps. We’ll take it slow and easy, probably check out after 10, then go though Ryogoku, Akihabara, Tokyo, Shin-Osaka, Osaka and Taisho stations to reach our next Airbnb. Hopefully our luggage is all fine, we’re taking the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka, and we’ll be traveling *not* during rush hours. The whole trip looks like it’ll take more than 3 hours.
* *Afternoon-Evening*: **Dotonbori** \- After settling down, we’ll head to Dotonbori, walking around, taking pictures in front of the running man, eating ourselves until we can’t take it anymore and go home.

**Saturday, 06 January 2024**

* *Morning-Afternoon*: **Nara Park**
* *Afternoon-Late Afternoon*: **Osaka Castle**
* ***Question***: So we’re thinking of hitting these two places on the same day, it should be doable, right? So it’ll take us an hour to get to Nara, spend three to four hours there, then an hour to move our butts to Osaka Castle, and spend two to three hours there.
* For Nara, we’ll do Todai-ji Temple, then the Park itself, and then probably Kofuku-ji Temple.
* For Osaka Castle, we’re not planning to go inside the castle, so just walking around the outside, taking pictures and soaking up the surroundings.

**Sunday, 07 January 2024**

* *Whole Day*: **Kyoto** \- So our full day in Kyoto. This is how we picture the day is gonna unfold: We’ll arrive at Kyoto Sta., then take the train to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and spend one to two hours here, then take the bus to KUOE Kyoto for a quick shopping, then take the bus to Kiyomizu-dera and spend an hour here, then walk to Higashiyama District and spend an hour here, then walk to Kodaiji Temple and spend 30-45 minutes here, then walk to Kenninji Temple for another 30-45 minutes, and finish at Gion.
* ***Question***: All the places above, Kiyomizu-dera and after, we got it off of a guide from the internet. We checked them on maps, they seem right, so they’re doable, right? Also, we would love to take pictures wearing kimonos and samurai costumes, any recommendation where best to get them?

**Monday, 08 January 2024**

* *Whole Day*: **Hiroshima** \- Our full day in Hiroshima, and personally I’m really excited about this one specific destination. So we’ll get off at Hiroshima Sta., then take the bus to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and then just follow all the circular and surrounding sightseeing places: Hiroshima Peace Park, Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien Japanese Garden.

**Tuesday, 09 January 2024**

* *Whole Day*: **Universal Studios Japan**

**Wednesday, 10 January 2024**

* *Morning-Afternoon*: **Gotemba** \- Yes, our stay in Osaka has finally come to an end. We’re heading back to Narita, and on maps it should take us five hours and a bit from Airbnb door to hotel door. However, we’re thinking of stopping at Gotemba on the way up.
* ***Question***: Do you think it’s worth it? The trip from our Airbnb to Gotemba would take 4+ hours, store our luggage at the station, go shopping, and after that’s all done we continue up the trip to stay at Narita (2+ hours). If we do this, then we’ll arrive at our hotel in the evening, I imagine we would be pretty exhausted and considering we’ll go to DisneySea the following day it’s not exactly the most attractive plan to the missues. Is Gotemba worth it? Can we get the stuff at Gotemba at other places in Tokyo, like Shinjuku, Shibuya, etc.? We’re not gunning for expensive stuff, more like sneakers, clothes and the likes.
* *Afternoon-Late Afternoon/Evening*: **Narita**

**Thursday, 11 January 2024**

* *Whole Day*: **Tokyo DisneySea**

**Friday, 12 January 2024**

* *Morning-Afternoon*: **Tokyo Station** or **Shisui Outlet** \- So this is our last day in Japan (tomorrow’s flight is in the morning). If we had gone to Gotemba, then on this day we’ll just go to central Tokyo again and enjoy the moments for one last time. If we had not, then we might to nearby outlet, Shisui, not as highly rated and viral as Gotemba but it’s an outlet nonetheless
* *Afternoon-Late Afternoon*: **Narita** \-

**Saturday, 13 January 2024**

* *Morning*: **Depart**

So that’s it! Would love any feedback from you kind people! Thank you and God bless.

1 comment
  1. I think you’re underestimating the impact of New Years. Most people visit their families in rural areas, and 90% of stores will be closed from December 29 to January 2.

    The Tokyo National Museum is closed on January 1. There will be no rush hour during this period as offices are closed. And people do celebrate the start of the new year, but they do so by visiting a local shrine, not in the Western way like Times Square.

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