Hi,
I’ll be going on a trip with my girlfriend at the end of March (2nd time for both of us). Some of our interests for this trip include anime, shopping, and eating good food.
The general schedule is Narita -> Tokyo -> Nara -> Kyoto/Osaka -> Haneda
Obviously a bunch of this depends on when I’m able to get reservations for things like the Ghibli Museum, cafes, etc. but generally I tried to group close activities.
Some of my questions are:
* In general, is the itinerary feasible in terms of time and fitting everything in? Are there things other than transportation times or queue times for certain activities that would need to be considered?
* For luggage delivery, to my understanding hotels and places like 7-11 can do this, are all hotels able to send and receive luggage or is that something I would have to look further into? And if not would it be safe to assume having luggage storage at a train station as a backup?
* Are there any problems I should anticipate that I might not have considered? (things like issues with train lines, or any other logistical travel details that I might’ve overlooked)
Would really appreciate any and all feedback/suggestions/comments, thank you in advance!
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**Day 1 – Thurs Mar 23**
* Flight lands at Narita 7:20 PM
* Exchange currency, check out Pokemon store at Narita Terminal 2
* Narita Express to Shinjuku, check into hotel
**Day 2 – Fri Mar 24 (Shibuya)**
* Explore shops (Jins/zoff, Shibuya Parco, Daiso, Starbucks Reserve, Olive des Olive, GU, Wego)
* Eat at Yakiniku Like Shibuya, Café Reissue
* Shibuya crossing + shibuya sky at sunset
* Harajuku
* Eat at Zauo Shibuya Station
**Day 3 – Sat Mar 25 (Shinjuku)**
* Suga Shrine/Your Name stairs
* Shops (Seria, can do, Okashi no Machioka, Dagashi bar)
* Explore Shinjuku Station underground
* Eat at Uogashi Nihon-Ichi
* Omoide Yokocho izakaya alley
* Dinner at Ramen Nagi
* Kabukicho
**Day 4 – Sun Mar 26 (Chuo)**
* Hie shrine
* Tsukiji market
* Ginza (Tsutaya Books, Uniqlo, MUJI)
* Yurakucho
* Dinner at Tsujihan Zeitaku Don
**Day 5 – Mon Mar 27 (Koto)**
* Team Lab planets
* Toyosu market (is this worth going to?)
* Odaiba, Round1 stadium
**Day 6 – Tues Mar 28 (Chiyoda)**
* Pokemon Center DX + Pokemon Café
* Akihabara
* Dinner at Roast Beef Ōno
**Day 7 – Wed Mar 29**
* Studio Ghibli Museum
* Kichijōji Petit Mura
* Cafes (Cat Cafe Temari no Ouchi, Capyneko Cafe)
**Day 8 – Thurs Mar 30 (peak cherry blossom day)**
* Ueno park
* Shinjuku Gyoen
* Nakameguro
**Day 9 – Fri Mar 31**
* open day, figured Shibuya day (Day 2) might be a little packed depending on how long we shop + might run into things we want to revisit/didn’t get time to do so we can do them on this day
**Day 10 – Sat Apr 1 (Sumida)**
* Check out of Shinjuku hotel
* Kotori Cafe Ueno
* Explore Asakusa
* Check into Asakusa hotel
* Manmaru Mukoujima snack store
* Solamachi (Kirby Café, Donguri Republic, Pokemon Center)
**Day 11 – Sun Apr 2 (Kawasaki / Yokohama)**
* Cup Noodles Museum
* Stop by Pokefuta in Yokohama
* Ramen museum
* Shinto Kanamara Matsuri Festival
* Costco Warehouse
**Day 12 – Mon Apr 3 (Nara/Osaka)**
* Check out of hotel, shinkansen to Nara
* Nara Park
* Nakatanidou Mochi Shop
* Head to Osaka, check in to hotel
* Nakazakicho
* Ohatsu Tenjin Temple
* Takimi Koji alley
**Day 13 – Tues Apr 4 (Kyoto)**
* Fushimi Inari
* Eat at Kichi kichi omurice and/or Chao Chao Sanjo Kiyamachi
* Maccha House + Ninenzaka Starbucks
* Chirimen Craft Museum
* Maruyama Park
* Eat at Gyuurakutei or hiro yakiniku kiyamachi
* Nishiki Market
* Funoaka Onsen
**Day 14 – Wed Apr 5 (Osaka – cherry blossom full bloom)**
* Osaka castle park
* Shinsekai
* Tsutenkaku
* Snack at Rikuro’s Namba Main Branch
* Shopping (Onbu street, Hozenji yokocho street, Loweco by Jam)
* Dinner at Franken Ramen
* Dotonbori
**Day 15 – Thurs Apr 6 (Kyoto/Tokyo)**
* Check out of Osaka hotel
* Arashiyama, kotoimo honpo
* Kinkaku-ji
* Head to Haneda, do some shopping and check into capsule hotel
1 comment
I like to put all the destinations of the day from hotel to everything planned to see the route on google maps. That helps a bit to see the route and length. I didn’t go to all those places on day 13 and 14. But you may want to check those days on google maps, find some youtube footage, and visit the website to get a feel for it.
Osaka Castle is kinda big and i had to rush through it cause that was also a packed day for me. Ended up at Fushimi Inari at 8pm and it was spooky as hell, but it was also empty at that time. Vaguely remember this as well, but some of the more local trains are slower which adds time. (Kyoto area i think)
Sagawa can deliver to hotels and airports i think. You likely have to contact the hotel to see about in house delivery. There may not be elevators available in some areas such as stations if you have a lot of luggage.
I went at the tail end of 2022, they had a domestic travel campaign going on and there were a ton of people during weekdays too which created a wait time at most places. I saw families to entire classes of students coming to places like aquariums. I think i waited almost an hour in the gift shop line.
It may be better to shop at Don Quijote during the day if you care about Tax Free, line was huge at night when i needed additional luggage (Dotonbori). Waited another hour for that.
Might also suggest a long range ocular device (binoculars) for high places, some places don’t offer those pre installed viewing devices.