We are leaving this Thursday for our first every trip to Japan and just wanted to go back over our itinerary to see how it everything looks.
Some days are light on activities since we usually play it by ear when traveling and decide on things to do as we go.
Also I forgot to add Shinjuku to one of these days and was wondering what day would be best to add that into.
* **Day 1 – 4/27 – Leaving US**
* **Day 2 – 4/28 – Land in Tokyo**
– Land in HND
– Take Monorail into City
– Check into hotel in Akihabara
– Rest up a little
– Go explore Akihabara a little
* **Day 3 – 4/29 – Tokyo**
– Head to Shibuya
– Explore Shibuya
– Shibuya Crossing
– 4:00pm Shibuya Sky Reservation
* **Day 4 – 4/30 – Tokyo**
– Akihabara
– Gigo Akihabara 1
– Hey Taito
– Gigo Akihabara 3
– Super Potato Retro – kan
– Try a Capsule Hotel for 1 night
* **Day 5 – 5/01 – Tokyo**
This day was planned before we got the ghibli tickets so probably have to move it around since Ghibli is kinda far.
– Harajuku
– Bunch of stores I want to hit here
– Takeshita Street
– Ghibili Museum Tickets for 2pm
* **Day 6 – 5/02 – Tokyo**
– Tsukiji Outer Market
– TeamLab Plannets @ 12:30pm
– Ginza
– Maybe Shinjuku this day
* **Day 7 – 5/03 – Tokyo – > Osaka**
– Depart on Nozomi Shinkansen @ 12:48pm
– Arrive at 3:15pm
– Check into Hotel
– Explore Dotonbori
– Explore Minami Namba
* **Day 8 – 5/04 – Tokyo -> Osaka**
– Osaka Castle
* **Day 9 – 5/05 – Osaka**
– TeamLab Botanical Gardens @7pm
* **Day 10 – 5/06 – Osaka**
– Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
– or Day Trip to Nara
* **Day 11 – 5/07 – Osaka -> Kyoto**
– Check into Hotel
– Kinkakuji Temple
– TBA
* **Day 12 – 5/08 – Kyoto)**
– Sagano Romantic Train @10am
– Arashiyama
– Hozugawa River Boat Ride
* **Day 13 – 5/09 – Kyoto**
– Fushimi Inari Taisha
* **Day 14 – 5/10 – Kyoto -> Hakone**
– Check into Ryokan (Hakone Suimeisou)
– Explore Hakone
* **Day 15 – 5/11 – Hakone -> Tokyo**
– Explore more Hakone in the AM
– Head back to Tokyo
– Check in at DisneySea Mira Costa
* **Day 16 – 5/12 – Kyoto -> Tokyo**
– DisneySea
– Check into Last Hotel
* **Day 17 – 5/13 – Fly Home**
– Checkout anything we missed in the AM
– Fly back home @ 6pm
Thanks for any help you can give me.
14 comments
I’d swap around the order of your Ghibli day. Most stores don’t open until 11am ish so you won’t have much time to shop before the museum. It’s super quick and smaller than I thought (I think I spent 45 minutes looking around?) so you can leave the arvo and evening for Harajuku instead 🙂
Enjoy the trip!
Shinjuku can be done with Shibuya, kind of depends what you want to see/do in each. I would have said after Ghibli, but Harajuku you do not have that much time if you want to see many stores as they open at 10-11 and you need to move to Ghibli. If you leave at 1pm to Ghibli, this gives you 2-3 hours for shopping and lunch. Be flexible and if needed go to Harajuku on the Shibuya day.
For day 10 I’ve been to both options and in my opinion going to Nara will be a much more memorable and unique experience than going to the Osaka Aquarium.
You can do Shibuya and Harajuku on the same day. Personally, I don’t really think you need a whole day in Shibuya unless you really love shopping…you could go to Harajuku in the morning/afternoon and spend the evening in a Shibuya. The crossing is better at night anyway.
It would make more sense to combine the Ghibli Museum with Shinjuku or some of the neighborhoods along the Chuo Line (if you want to see a more chill side of Tokyo).
The museum is in Kichijoji which is a nice neighborhood…there’s a park right by the museum you can walk around and there’s lots of second hand shops nearby if you’re into that. If you stay into the evening and like drinking Harmonica Yokocho is worth checking out.
Unless you’re just going to browse, Super Potato is an overpriced tourist trap. Hard-Off, Book-Off, etc are going to have much better prices.
All of the Gigo arcades are 100 percent interchangeable and there is nothing significantly different other than the layouts and maybe the number of machines they have. Same goes for Taito, Adores, or Round 1 Centers
Hey is good for old candy cabs and strange things you won’t find elsewhere and is really one of the only unique game centers around, though. Check out the Tokyo Leisure Land game center over by the Sobu Line tracks, too
IMO Osaka Castle is underwhelming and I’d not spend a day there (I personally spent less than an hour). You can throw the aquarium on the same day as the castle and even throw a couple more things in there.
Spent the whole day in Nara.
Combine Harajuku and Shibuya. They’re within walkable distance.
I personally won’t spend a whole day in Akiba arcades…… You can even fit arcade hopping into your first day of arrival as they usually open till at least 9-10pm. If you like Gundam (there’s a giant moving one there until next March) I’d do a Yokohama day trip instead.
Need to add time for getting lost in subway station. Especially Shinjuku station. 😂
Ginza is next to Tsukiji so you’re wasting some time on travel there but not end of world.
Nara is a much better option compared to the aquarium and Osaka castle is not really that worth it personally. Why not aquarium and Osaka castle on the same day if you still wanna visit both places.
Looks like you will be there during Golden Week, jam packed with crowds but enjoy your first trip to Japan, it’s gonna be amazing!
Due to an accident in March, the Hozu-gawa River Boat is closed until further notice
https://translation2.j-server.com/LUCHZGWK/ns/tl.cgi/https://www.hozugawakudari.jp/emergency/39169?SLANG=ja&TLANG=en&XMODE=0&XCHARSET=UTF-8&XJSID=0
You may already know this, but for DisneySea, get the app and be ready to get started at 8:00 to enter the park. Have planned what PremierAccess you want to do, and be aware that Midway Mania and Soarin’ times go really fast.
Depending on how important DisneySea is to you, you can check on the app a couple of times during the trip to get a sense of what rides maintain their line length all day and which ones wind down.
Don’t have any advice, but hope you have fun man! My gf and I are headed to Japan for a couple of weeks in mid-May.
Which stores you hitting up in Harajuku? I’m going soon and looking for reccomendatiosn
Just got back from my trip, I think you don’t need a day for Fushimi Inari. I went at 7 am (best decision) then kinda hiked 1/4 way and finished at around 8.30 am. Perhaps you could explore Gion on that day.