Hello guys, it’s going to be my first time in Japan next month and I’m super excited. I was originally going with a group of 6 when we started the plan about 2 years ago as our big trip before graduating college. This was prior to everyone flaking out one by one in the months leading up until it was just my lovely girlfriend and me. Her and I had to heavily revise the plan essentially from scratch and I wanted to receive some input and advice as this is our first big trip together and hope for it be as painless as possible. We’re dividing our trip between Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo in 14 days.
​
Here’s a quick abstract of our itinerary:
**Dec. 12 – 13th: Travel and Detox**
*Day 1:*
\- We fly into Narita International in the afternoon of the 12th. I heard there is some sort of app being released this month that helps you get through immigration faster, so hopefully that will be a smooth process.
\- We both have our vaccine card + required booster but we will likely still get a PCR test at least 72 hours in advance just in case.
\- We’re taking a train route from Narita to Osaka where we’re starting off our trip (We decided against getting a JR pass as it’s not worth it for our current itinerary) which will take around 4 and half to 5 hours. I originally thought we were landing in Haneda which is a shorter and cheaper distance to Osaka, so that’s unfortunate.
\- We get to the hotel later in the evening where we will decompress after our long journey.
*Day 2:*
\- We’ve dedicated the following day to adjusting for jet lag. Some might consider it a waste of a day, but I never handled jet lag particularly well and it’s my girlfriends first time experiencing it, so better safe than sorry. We’ll do some exploring around the immediate area if we feel up to it.
​
**Dec. 14 – 15th: Kyoto**
*Day 3:*
\- We’re splitting Kyoto into 2 separate day trips from Osaka to see different sides of the city.
\- First day will be starting off Fushimi Inari Taisha earlier in the morning to try and avoid the crowd. Then we will be going downtown to walk through the Nishiki Market / Teramachi-dori and Shin Kyogoku area.
\-If we have time, we’ll go see Kiyomizu-dera before heading to Gion later in the evening where we’ll walk around and find a place to eat. After that, we’ll take the train back to the hotel Osaka. It’s a bit of a loaded day, but I tried to keep it relegated to the general area with Fushimi Inari being the most out of the way.
*Day 4:*
\- The second day we will be spent mainly in Arashiyama. We’ll start our morning by visiting Kinkaku-ji, it’s definitely out of the way, but I’d like to see it if we can.
\- We’ll then head to Arashiyama where we’ll probably spend most of the day exploring and walking the Bamboo Forest, Kimono Forest, Monkey Park, and maybe take the Sagano train ride if we can.
\- Not much else planned as I hear Arashiyama alone could take up most of your day. We’ll head back to the hotel a little earlier in the evening and get a good night of rest from the two straight days of walking.
​
**Dec. 16 – 18th: Osaka**
*Day 5:*
\- We’re spending most our first day in Osaka at Universal Studios, I know it’s mostly the same as the ones in the US, but we really want to visit Super Nintendo World as it will be at least a couple of years before we have one in the States, so I think it’s worth it.
\- If we have the energy after Universal, we’ll probably head back to the hotel before exploring Tsutenkaku/Shinsekai (Which is supposedly “dangerous?” Whatever that means by Japanese standards), and maybe go bar hopping to end the night.
*Day 6:*
\- We’ll likely try to visit Osaka Castle sometime in the morning before heading to Kuromon Ichiba Market.
\- We’ll then probably head over to Dotonbori / Hozenji Yokocho area where we’ll likely be exploring for the rest of the day.
*Day 7:*
\- Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan in the morning will probably be the highlight of our day, as to my understanding many places are closed on Sundays.
\- We’ll likely try to see and explore what we might have missed from our past couple days in Osaka if possible, but other than that we’ll probably be gathering ourselves to move onto Tokyo.
​
**Dec. 19 – 25: Tokyo**
We’re still finalizing our plans for the beast that is Tokyo, but I wanted to get temp check and some feedback on what we have planned so far before diverting our attention to the rest of our trip.
I try to avoid having our days “too planned out” and giving ourselves the leeway to do some exploring instead of constantly worrying about making it to the next location every day, but not going in completely blind either.
​
**OTHER QUESTIONS:**
\- Both the hotels we booked we were able to reserve without a payment or even providing card information, it seems like this is standard, but for the peace of mind is there anything to know about the hotels in Japan? We have our confirmation numbers for both the hotels in Osaka and Tokyo.
\- Japan is a very cash-based country, with the exchange rate between USD and JPY being the lowest it’s been in 30 years, how much cash should we bring/exhange?
\- My girlfriend and I will likely be splitting expenses between food, transportation, and hotels. Is $2,500 – $2,800 USD *each* a realistic budget for a medium range trip?
​
Sorry for the long post. Any other feedback and suggestions are welcome. Thank you!
1 comment
Check your card’s logo, but I expect you will be able to pull cash out of ATMs there just fine. So I wouldn’t sweat bringing cash in first, especially since getting it from your home bank will probably be more expensive than just getting it there. (I opened a Schwab online banking account specifically for Japan use due to the lack of fees and the ATM fee reimbursement.)