We are planning a tentative late October 2021 trip to coincide with our anniversary and I was hoping to get some feedback and ideas. Keep in mind that no dates are set and no reservations have been made so even if we have to push the date back further, at least I have a good outline! Fingers crossed we can make it next year though so we can use our airline credit towards this trip.
Background: This will be our first trip to Japan. We are both active and can tolerate lots of walking/hiking! We also plan on getting the JR pass so that is something to take into account for travel between cities.
**Day 1** | Land in Tokyo
Spend the rest of the day resting, maybe explore the area around our hotel if we have the energy. I’m 100% sure we will be jet lagged.
**Day 2** |Toyosu/Tsukiji/Ginza
Toyosu market in the very early hours of the morning. A travel blogger I found mentioned that this is a nice stop earlier on in the trip when you’re still jet lagged. I know that it’s not as good compared to what Tsukiji used to be, but I thought it could be interesting to still see the auction if we’re able to win the lotto for this. If you guys think we’ll be wasting our time, please let me know! Afterwards, grab some food at Tsukiji outer market, then head to the Teamlab Borderless museum. Finish the day in Ginza for some shopping. I know it has the reputation for being expensive, but there are some specific shops my husband and I want to stop by. 🙂
**Day 3** | Harajuku/Shibuya
Wonder around the Harajuku and Shibuya area. Our biggest stop is actually in Omotesando to visit a specific fountain pen store for my husband haha!
**Day 4** | Ghibli? Free day?
This day is kind of a flex day. Ideally, we’d like to visit the Ghibli museum as we’re both fans, but we can probably switch the days around based on what day we can get tickets for. I’m not sure what to do afterwards since getting there and back takes a lot of time. Any ideas?
**Day 5** | Kyoto
Leave for Kyoto in the morning. Check out Nishiki market. A friend of mine visited the International Manga Museum and liked it, but I hear it’s not very tourist friendly since it’s mostly in Japanese. Is this a skip? What about Nijo castle? This is where I’m a bit lost. Any other recommendations to do here while we’re in this area?
**Day 6** | Fushimi Inari/Higashiyama
Wake up early to head to Fushimi Inari, then spend the rest of the day touring Higashiyama and seeing shrines. Ideally, also get a kimono rental from Okamoto! 🙂
**Day 7** | Arashiyama
Visit the bamboo forest, monkey park, and Tenryuji temple while we’re in that area. Do you think this is enough to comfortably fill our day?
**Day 8** | Free day
Maybe we could even leave Kyoto proper and visit an onsen town around the area? I’ve always wanted to stay at a ryokan with a private tub haha. Any suggestions?
**Day 9** | Himeji Castle day trip
Should we go ahead and head to Osaka at the end of the day?
**Day 10** | Osaka
Osaka Aquarium, Osaka museum of history, and night time in Minami/Dotonbori.
**Day 11** | Return to Tokyo
Free day in Tokyo when we get back. Maybe a leisurely visit to Asakusa and Akihabara. I’d really like to stop by Yellow Submarine to see what board games they have. 🙂
**Day 12** | Disneysea
Nonnegotiable! I’m really excited for this!
**Day 13**| Kamakura day trip
**Day 14** | Free day
**Day 15**| Return home
I tried to balance fun things with rest, but does it feel like we’re taking too many free days considering it’s our first trip? Also, I’d really like to find a food tour since that’s something my husband is really interested in doing. He also appreciates good alcohol if there are any tours centered around that. 🙂 Any recommendations?
15 comments
Re: international manga museum. So you’ve seen the bad reviews calling it more of a library than a museum. I’d agree, and say that the exhibitions were still worth it. First, we just walked around looking at the enormous amount of manga that has been published. Then in the top floor there’s a manga through the decades exhibition, putting into context when let’s say dragon ball came out versus dbz, bleach, etc and detailing how style/genre has changed. They also had a silly exhibition showing casts of famous artists hands holding pens, to show how they differ. The highlight for me was the artist corner, where we got drawn. We went for our honeymoon and it’s a sweet memento. They post previous work from all their different artists and their schedule as well.
Regarding the Ghibli museum, it’s definitely worth a visit! I got some cool things from the shop there as well. You can easily do more things that day too, I’m not sure where you are staying but it’s only 20-30 minutes to get there from Shinjuku. It can take a couple hours to get through the museum.
You’ll see it mentioned time and time again on here, if you’re heading down to the Kyoto/Osaka area then a trip to Nara is a must! Stunning cultural area with deer that you can pet and feed, it’s a magical place and absolutely worth a visit.
If you still have your JR pass by day 14 and fancy another day trip from Tokyo I’d absolutely recommend Nikko, beautiful area. Hakone is also another good day trip option for that day.
Looks like a fun trip, enjoy 🙂
If you walk from Nishiki market to Nijo-jo, you can easily pass by the manga museum. For me it’s more a question of if the exhibition they are running is about something I know and like. I’ve been to manga related museum/exhibition and the one I liked were those I know the manga. I would personally skip if it’s not about something I like, but for sure go if there is an exhibition about something I know.
Arashiyama you can go further north toward Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, or even go to Kitano tenmangu or Kinkaku-ji. Personally I prefer to put more in my schedule and skip what I do not have time for.
For your free day, you could do Kinosaki onsen. When you stay at one of the ryokan, you get a pass for the 7 osnsen of the town. As it’s connected direct to both Kyoto (Kinosaki limited express) and to Himeji (Hamakaze limitex express), that can work pretty well. I personally just booked at a ryokan that had a ok price and accept solo traveler, so I do not care much about private bath. The other famous onsen in the area is Arima onsen, located in Kobe, that could work well too.
There is not much reason to stay in Himeji after the castle close, unless there is some kind of event such as illumination.
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Instead of planning free days, plan things to see every day and put priorities. Just keep in mind that it is ok to not see everything in your plan and it is ok to take a free day if you are tired. I personally have never planned free days.
Also, why do you plan your shopping at the start ? like, you will have to carry all the things you purchase all the way around Japan, so why not plan your shopping days in Tokyo at the end ?
Hopefully the Kyoto shrines will not be so slammed post-COVID. It was choked last summer.
Have you considered Hakone? On our honeymoon we did 1 night at a Ryokan with private onsen and I would definitely recommend it, especially for a honeymoon
Honestly, I feel like you have done such a fantastic job on balancing out your itinerary! Super well planned.
Hoping to add a few recommendations where I can 🙂
**Day 2** |Toyosu/Tsukiji/Ginza
Highly recommend walking from Ginza > Imperial Palace > Tokyo Station (Maranouchi Side). It is SUCH a beautiful walk/area of Tokyo. You could definitely visit the Palace if time permits but this is one of my favourite areas to just walk through and wander.
**Day 3** | Harajuku/Shibuya
Check out Meiji Jingu for sure! Closer to Omotesando there is Cat Street – if you walk down this street and head to Shibuya this also makes for a really nice walk! Really quiet with heaps of unique stores. Also you HAVE to check out the MEGA Don Quijote in Shibuya – it’s insane.
**Day 4** | Ghibli? Free day?
There is a beautiful park right next to the Museum called Inokashira. The Kichijoji area is also really close to the Musem (I have not been myself but I have seen it highly recommended). You could end your evening in Shinjuku as well – much closer to get back too and would be ideal to explore that area.
**Day 5** | Kyoto
With a ~4-5 hour trip (including transfers etc.) I would say you could utilise this afternoon to acquaint yourself with Kyoto in general – perhaps check out the Downtown area (where Nishiki is located) and head over to Pontocho Alley 🙂
**Day 6** | Fushimi Inari/Higashiyama
Heaps of people have recommended Nara so I would say it would be a LOT easier to do Fushimi Inari > Nara – they are on the same train line and would be much more convenient timewise. This would then leave you a full day to check out Northern/Southern Higashiyama and organise Kimono rental.
**Day 7** | Arashiyama
You could add on Okochi Sanso or the Sagano Scenic railway, I think Arashiyama is a beautiful area and you can easily make a day out if it if you choose – but it can also be covered in a shorter time.
**Day 8** | Free day
Perhaps this could be the full Higashiyama day / onsen.
**Day 9** | Himeji Castle day trip
You could easily just stay in Kyoto for the whole time rather than staying in Osaka as they are so close (And you will have JR Pass still).
**Other Suggestions**
Borderless is probably best visited as a first thing in the morning when it opens or a later evening/afternoon – crowds seem to amp up really fast as soon as it opens.
I definitely think leaving some chunks of free time when back in Tokyo is awesome – gives you time to revisit some loved areas.
Magical Trip seem to have some good food/bar hopping tours in both Tokyo and Kyoto.
Considering you are travelling in October, might I suggest going to Takayama to attend the matsuri there. It is a beautiful 2 hour trainride from Nagoya which offers unsurpassed views on the Japanese Alps.
The Takayama matsuri is considered to be one of the most beautiful of Japan. Near Takayama is an onsen town: Hirayu onsen, in case you have a day or 2 to spare.
Regarding Ghibli museum, be sure to get your tickets online well in advance. They do not allow walk-ins and the tickets sell out sometimes more than a month prior.
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My husband is a whiskey fan and therefore we visited the Yamazaki whiskey distillery. They do English tours plus tastings that you can book in advance. My husband loved it. It’s between Kyoto and Osaka, slightly closer to Kyoto.
We did Kamakura as an overnight stay. We sent our luggage from Tokyo to Kyoto per takkyubin service, see https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2278.html.
Then on day 1 we took the train to Kita-Kamakura, did temples around there, then took the walking path to the Great Buddha and Hasedera. We stayed in a BnB close to Hase station (Inn By The Sea, Booking.com) and next day we went to Kamakura city centre and the Tsurugaoka shrine and wandered over the market and then took the train to Kyoto. I always think that Kamakura as a day trip is very rushed.
For Ghibli, we booked online through the museum directly on the first day tickets for that period went on sale, at the time they went on sale. It’s a bit of a stressful experience at the time (refresh, refresh, refresh!) but I wanted to have the tickets before we flew to Japan.
Have you an idea where you want to stay in Tokyo? I have been several times and always love to stay in Asakusa.
Can I advise to do your shopping in Tokyo in the day before you fly back home as otherwise you’ll carry it for the whole trip. If your husband loves fountain pens, I assume he loves stationary and therefore Itoya in Ginza is on your list of places to go shopping? 12 floors of stationary! I parked my husband in the cafe on the top floor and then went through every floor.
I recommend you for your relaxed schedule. We did too much and where knackered at the end.
Skimming the comments here I wanted to let you know we had Voyagin get us tickets for the Ghibli Museum. They were 3500 yen pp which yeah, is a little over 3x what it would be if we lived there and could just go to Lawson’s and get it ourselves. And you can get it yourselves playing the Hunger Games online but the museum was such a must do and we accidentally planned our trip near their seasonal closing in November and I heard horror stories of the international websites crashing each time tickets opened up and we literally had one possible day we could make it so we shelled out. We got our preferred time slot and Voyagin had the tickets waiting for us at our hotel when we checked in. I could not have been happier with their service and honestly we both thought the museum was easily worth $30.
With regards to food tours we did some in both Tokyo and Kyoto, a mix of food and bar hopping tours, through Magical Trip. Those were fun and low key and it was also nice to meet and chat with other travelers during the tour. After a while you might want to talk to someone besides your husband!
If you can swing it a night in Hakone at a ryokan is excellent. Or Kinosaki Onsen if you think you can brave hopping through the public bath houses. As far as I can tell there aren’t any hot springs in Kyoto you’ll need to plan to go to an Onsen town.
I hope you guys have a great time!
Have fun!
Yo add Nikko to your lost fam, it’s like kamakura but better and more naturey
PAPIER LABO. (http://www.papierlabo.com/) is a cool stationery store near Omotesandō, it could be a nice complement to your husband’s fountain pen store!
The neighborhood around that store is really nice and quaint. If you’re hungry and around there, I recommend AFURI.
Booze? The Yamazaki distillery between Osaka and Kyoto, then the sake breweries in Fushimi Inari. Shimokitazawa in Tokyo has a lot of craft beers. Be prepared to spend a pretty penny for craft beer though (they’re expensive anywhere).
Oh, and the antipodes of Suntory chuhai (shochu highball) – Strong Zero at 9% ABV and Horoyoi at 3% ABV. Try all the flavors. Two tall cans of Strong Zero and you’re done for the night, two cans of that peach Horoyoi ain’t enough.
Food tours… hm. Just walk up and down Kuromon in Osaka in the early morning (6, 7am thereabouts), then walk up and down Dotonbori at night. Your wallet might get empty, but you will certainly be full