My husband an I are planning our first Japan trip for end of March / early April 2024.
We are in our mid 30s and looking for a more chill experience, definitely okay to skip “must-see” locations to avoid crows. That’s why we chose Kyushu for part of the trip and skipped the Kyoto region. Crowds are okay in small dose if we can recharge, for example for Tokyo I’m thinking trying to get a hotel in a calmer neighborhood even if that means longer commutes. We’ve traveled abroad before, we usually are more into strolling and exploring towns, museums, parks, local food.
Here is our itinerary so far, we already have the plane tickets and Kyushu tour booked.
We’ll be a few days in Tokyo at the beginning and end of the trip, things can be shifted around. I’m looking for a sanity check on the overall trip before starting booking hotels, I’m worried **we may be planning too many things to visit, or on the contrary not planning in details enough?**
I got a panic attack on our last trip so I’m trying to avoid too rigid or too packed itinerary but at the same time I’ve been waiting for this Japan trip for more than 10 years so I still want to make it worth it. **The West Honshu itinerary is maybe too packed? And too many days in Tokyo?** If needed we can also spend more time on the west Honshu trip and fewer days in Tokyo at the end.
We are struggling to figure out which neighborhood to stay in Tokyo. **So far we’ve been thinking Ueno but please feel free to recommend other areas**. I don’t mind a suburb if it’s on a direct line.
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|Date|Day activities|Accommodation for the night|
|:-|:-|:-|
|03/19|Arriving at Narita at around 5pm|Tokyo|
|03/20|Buffer day, not planning anything to have some buffer while we’ll probably be jetlagged. We’ll probably explore around the hotel.|Tokyo|
|03/21|Tokyo National Museum. (Originally eyeing the Shitamachi museum but it will still be closed, interested in the Meiji and Taishō eras)|Tokyo|
|03/22|Ghibli museum if we can get tickets|Tokyo|
|03/23|Tokyo-Fukuoka flight, Probably some time to add more things to do in Fukuoka|Fukuoka|
|03/24|(Organized tour) Fukuoka and Hita|Included in tour|
|03/25|(Organized tour) Aso volcano|Included in tour|
|03/26|(Organized tour) Shimabara|Included in tour|
|03/27|(Organized tour) Ureshino|Included in tour|
|03/28|(Organized tour) Okawachiyama Village|Included in tour|
||**From here on We plan to ship our suitcases to Nagoya or Tokyo to make the trip by train easier. Is it a good idea? Any tips?**||
|03/29|Fukuoka -> Shin Yamaguchi, Exploring Shin Yamaguchi|Yamaguchi|
|03/30|Train ride to Tsuwano shrine, Back to Shin Yamaguchi then Shinkansen to Hiroshima|Hiroshima|
|03/31|Day trip to Matsuyama, there and back by ferry|Hiroshima|
||Other option is instead of taking the ferry back to Hiroshima we can take 3 buses from Matsuyama to Onomichi. Is the road scenic enough to justify the headache of hoping buses without speaking Japanese?||
|04/01|Hiroshima -> Onomichi, Explore Onomichi, Onomichi -> Nagoya|Nagoya|
|04/02|Museum Meiji-Mura (Nagoya)|Nagoya|
|04/03|Day trip to Magome pass (Magome-Tsumago trail), Back to Nagoya in the evening and ride to Tokyo|Tokyo|
||**Unsure if we should plunge for an expensive ($500) day trip tour or if we can manage with public transportation. Also maybe we should spend the night in Nagoya instead and go to Tokyo the next day?**||
|04/04|Shibuya crossing, Laforet Harajuku, Maybe Meiji Jingu|Tokyo|
|04/05|Day trip to Kawagoe|Tokyo|
|04/06|Kyodo no mori museum and park (honestly not sure if it’s worth the trip but looks cute from pictures of an acquaintance who used to live nearby)|Tokyo|
|04/07|Flight back home from Haneda||
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3 comments
You are arriving just before all schools in Japan end their academic years. It’s the only time in the year when children don’t have homework and one of the few times families can travel together.
Kyodo no mori Museum is OK, but the nearer Tokyo Edo Open Air Architectural Museum and Nihon Minka-en are more interesting and (maybe) less crowded.
Which organized tour are you taking for mt. Aso? Sounds cool!
> Exploring Shin-Yamaguchi
The Shinkansen station area has nothing going on, you’ll want either Hofu (tenmangu shrine, mori garden) or Yamaguchi station (Rurikoji). The latter is closer to Tsuwano.
> $500 day trip tour for Tsumago-Magome
That sounds usurious.
The route is extremely well documented, route is very popular among foreigners, the connecting bus schedules are on Google Maps, and there is English signage everywhere. You can absolutely self-guide.