Hi! I’m planning my first trip to Japan in November (13 days between Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto), but I’m especially uncertain about the Tokyo leg of the trip; I’m worried I might have underestimated travel distances and queues, and that I’ve tried to squeeze in too much day-by-day.
We are travelling as a couple (yay honeymoon!) and we are most interested in history, general culture and anime/gaming! We’re not very interested in shopping beside the aforementioned nerdy stuff; we’re interested in food but not enough to target specific places just to eat there, or to do long queues. Not at all interested in nightlife or clubs.
Our hotel is already booked in the Akasaka area.
Below is the (for now) plan:
DAY 1: arrive at Haneda airport at 11 AM, reserve time to purchase Suica and retrieve SIM/Pocket WiFi (still haven’t decided which), then take either a private transfer or public transportation to the hotel. Did not plan any activity for the afternoon but I think we might check out the Tokyo Station area/Imperial Palace garden, since our hotel is relatively nearby in Akasaka.
DAY 2 – SUMIDA/ASAKUSA/UENO: take subway to Tokyo Skytree and visit the tower and Pokemon center. Then walk (if possible) to the Azumabashi brige to cross into the Asakusa neighbourhood, and visit Nakamise Street and Sensoji. If that can be done in the morning, we’d like to visit the National Museum in Ueno Park in the afternoon (at least the Japanese collection is a must for me).
DAY 3 – SHIBUYA/SHINJUKU: take subway to Shibuya and see Scramble crossing and the Hachiko Statue. Then walk in the neighbourhood and see some shops like MegaDonki and the nerdy shops in Shibuya Parco shopping center. Take subway to Shinjuku to enjoy the view from the Metropolitan Government building, then spend the rest of the afternoon/evening walking and dining either in Omoide Yokocho, Golden Gai or Kabukicho. I unhappily left out Meiji Jingu because it seemed to me way too much to squeeze in, and because we will be seeing a lot of temples in Kyoto.
DAY 4 – AKIHABARA/TEAM LABS: I know these are not very close nearby but we’d ideally book the TeamLabs Borderless for the late afternoon/evening, which would get us closer to our hotel. All morning and early afternoon would be reserved to Akihabara. I'm uncertain whether to plan it for a Sunday (I read that the main streets of Akihabara are closed to cars on Sunday, but I fear that Teamlabs might be swarming with people because of the weekend).
DAY 5 – JOLLY: We initially thought to do a day-trip to Nikko, but if the planned itinerary is too busy we might consider to use the day to spread out things a little bit more, or to add 1-2 more places we'd like to see (maybe see Odaiba or Roppongi Hills or Tokyo Tower and Zozo-ji).
Any help or suggestion from you veterans of r/japantravel would be very much appreciated!
by quisquiliae_arum
16 comments
the Sumida/ Asakusa (Senso-ji) and then a quick metro ride of walk to Ueno is realistic. The walk along the Sumida with Skytree in the back ground is pretty cool (have a night time image search and you’ll see what I mean)
If you are staying within the cities or Tokyo, an alternative to Metro travel payment *could* be the Tokyo Metro [24, 48, or 72 hour card](https://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/travel/index.html) that is ONLY for Metro (under ground) trains.. NOT J(apan)R(ail) (like intercity)
Have a search for the endless YouTube videos of ‘First time to Tokyo’, riding the Metro, and the advantages of their ‘IC (smart card) system. Have a Google about PASMO and its cousin SUICA. You can use these as forms of payments for many things besides transportation
You can also check r/TokyoTravel
Are you able to get an esim for your phone? We did that and it was much simpler.
I would do sumida, akihabara, asakusa all on sunday. Akiba is really cool when the streets are closed. If you go to sensoji very early in the morning, you can see the monks performing their chants, which is one of the most memorable things to me that we did. It’s all pretty close to each other. Also, the walk from takeshita street to shibuya crossing is great. You can see meiji shrine while you’re in harajuku and then walk down to the crossing. You can kind of feel the buzz the deeper you get into shibuya and walk miyashita park on the way. We did teamlab borderless the first time slot they had and it wasn’t crowded at all. Lots of cool museums in ueno, but if you have to pick one, just do the national history museum. It was the most unique one we did.
I’ve lived in and traveled to Japan for the last 40+ years. Especially these days, I recommend staying away from Kyoto. It’s overcrowded and overrun by tourists and doesn’t really have to space to accommodate these record setting visitors numbers.
Tokyo has everything you need. It’s massive. Whatever you’re into, there’s something for you. Temples, food, drink, nature, cities, quiet streets, busy streets, photo ops, ocean, otaku stuff, expensive stuff, cheap stuff, hyper specific stuff. You like cameras? You can see 1 of 1 cameras in Shinjuku. Like fishing? You can go to the ocean or right in middle of Tokyo at the Ichigaya Fishing Center. Ramen? Walk around any corner. Literally everything.
Hakone is a great change of pace. Fucking love Hakone.
But I’ve never really been that excited to go or have gone to Kyoto. But I alwayssss wish I had more time to spend around Tokyo.
If you have an iPhone, you can add a suica to your apple wallet. First time adding money has to be 2000 yen. So much faster using it on your phone!
I would say combine Akihabara with the Sumida day. And do Team Labs on day 5 if youre going to Rappongi. And Make a reservation at PST Pizza Rappongi for really great wood fired pizza(we walked in late one night and got a walk in but they take reservations). The pizza with shaved tomato ice was amazing. Although youre in Akasaka so you could go to Team Lab whenever really.
I suggest using Ubigi for your cell data. It uses an eSim, not a physical sim card. It worked great, and you don’t have another device to worry about carrying and charging.
I know OP is debating about e-sim versus pocket WiFi. Here was our experience earlier this summer: in a group of 4, we had 3 unlocked phones & 1 locked iPhone. We bought Airalo e-sims for the unlocked phones (~$6 & 3 gb per e-sim for the entire trip) & ninja pocket WiFi for the locked phone (~$70 & 3 gb per day for the entire trip). What we realized subsequently is that the e-sims can also be used as Wi-Fi hotspots, so the locked iPhone could have been tethered to any one of the e-sim phones, making the costly pocket WiFi redundant
For Day 2 – You won’t be able to do all that in the morning before visiting the national museum. The Skytree opens at the earliest at 10am from Tues-Sat and 9am on Sun-Mon. Probably 2pm would be more reasonable.
This is actually a fairly easy itinerary, compared to some we see on this sub. Like another commenter has said, maybe best to replan your days geographically – some places are harder to get to from one station or another, despite seeming close together. But even if you follow this above plan, it’s still doable.
If you’re wondering whether to get esim or mobile wifi, consider how many devices you need to connect. I know everyone seems to say “esim all the way”, but they’re only good for one device at a time. If, like us, you might split up to see different things for a short period, then you will each need access to internet (to message each other to meet up again).
If, also like us, you like to play video games or use a laptop for stuff, you’ll need access for more than one device there too. (Yes, you can tether from an esim phone, but it’s not as flexible, ie Nintendo switches don’t tether). So we get an esim for one of us and a mobile wifi as well, so we always have both of our phones and also all our devices covered.
Also, not all phones can accommodate esim – older phones sometimes can’t.
If none of this is true – if you are always together and don’t use any other devices, and you have an esim compatible phone – then an esim can be easiest as you don’t need to pick it up or drop it off, or keep it charged. Just some things to think about.
This one is actually perfectly reasonable. Shibuya and Shinjuku might be a bit too much for 1 day. But overall perfectly reasonable
why does everyone pluralize teamLab
Day 3, stick around Shinjuku Metro Govt Building after 640pm for the free 15min projection shows with music on the Metro Govt Buildibgs themselves. Apparently very cool with Godzilla attacking Tokyo etc. Not sure the best spot to watch it but someone here must know.
How about going to Kamakura from Hakone for a day, just a short train ride and go to Enoshima Island, Hase etc along the scenic Enoden line. Check out the 3day Hakone Kamakura pass for just 7520yen.
Pocket WiFi – if you decide, you can pre-order it and have it waiting for you at one of the airport counters, or they can also deliver it directly to your hotel!
I always recommend individual esim over pocket wifi. And I mean, each person got one, instead of just 1 person doing mobile hotspot. My wife and I tried this during our travel to Korea last year, as somehow their esim is much more expensive than other countries we’ve visited, so we only got 1. But here are why wouldnt do it again:
* Battery was drained rather quick, it won’t last me a whole day, had to turn it off in the afternoon.
* We actually brough power bank, but the phone was very very warm that I’m a bit concerned charging it with a power bank in that condition.
* Just like pocket wifi, means you will have to stick together, and cant go separate ways, which can be inefficient in how you manage the time. (ie. took us 2 hours to do shopping as we cant split and get our own stuff).
You’re not missing much with Meiji Jingu, so don’t worry, especially if you’re going to Kyoto afterwards. Meiji Jingu is famous because a lot of people go there, but most of them only go there because it’s close to a popular station. (It also has bus parking, unusual for Tokyo, which makes it attractive for tour companies.) Meiji Jingu’s only 104 years old and is not really architecturally distinguished, nice though it is.
As others have stated, if you have an iPhone load the Suica in your wallet. Make sure you use a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees, and your first time will be 2000 yen.
I used Japan Wireless for my pocket WiFi and I used it all the time as well as my partner. I didn’t even use the hotels WiFi. They give you a power bank should you need to charge it on the go, but I never had to.
I also used Airalo for an eSIM but I never used it. I had as a backup just incase.
Part of the fun is getting lost!