Hello! Looking for some advice from kind strangers. Me and my Partner are going to Tokyo in August for the first time.
We originally planned to go to USJ on Day 7 but after doing some research without an express pass or overnight stay this might not be worth it for us. Express passes seem to already be gone for August. If all else fails we might do an overnight stay in Osaka but thinking about it, queuing in the heat might not be fun anyway.
Any advice for good day trips from Tokyo? We liked the idea of using a Shinkansen / taking advantage of the JR Pass. We were interested in somewhere with hotsprings but not sure if thats too far out and my partner has a tattoo.
Also does the below itinerary look ok, any advice appreceated 🙂
**Day 1 (Tuesday 15th) – Fly in to Tokyo (From the UK)**
* Arrive at Airport 17:36
* Check in to Hotel in Shinjuku
* Explore Shinjuku a bit: Omiode Yokocho / Kabukicho / Vr Zone / Golden Gai
**Day 2 (Wednesday 16th) – Ikebukuro / More Shinjuku**
* Travel to Ikebukuro: Taito Station / Sunshine City / Pokemon Centre
* Walk up to Jujo Ginza Shopping street
* Travel to Jizo-dori Sugamo Shopping street
* Travel back to Shinjuku: Gyoen Park / Hanazono Shrine/ Looking into the Godzilla Cafe / Same as Yesterday
**Day 3 (Thursday 17th) – Akhihabra / Asakusa / Sky Tree**
* Travel to Akhihabra: Explore shops / Square enix cafe / Chabara / Walk to Ueno District
* Travel to Asakusa: Senso-ji
* Travel to Tokyo Sky Tree
**Day 4 (Friday 18th) – Shibuya**
* Travel to Shibuya: Shibuya sky / Shibuya Parco / Yoyogi park / Meiji jingu
**Day 5 (Saturday 19th) – Ginza / Odaiba**
* Travel to Ginza
* Travel to Odaiba: Gundam Base / Diver City / TeamLab Planets
**Day 6 (Sunday 20th) – Harajuku / Shimokitazawa**
* Travel to Harajuku: Omotosando Street / Togo Shrine
* Travel to Shimokitazawa
* Travel to Gotokuji Temple
**Day 7 (Monday 21st) – ????**
**Day 8 (Tuesday 22nd) – Fly out of Tokyo**
* Check out Tsukiji stalls in the morning
* Walk around Tokyo Imperial Palace Gardens
* Travel to Yanaka Ginza
* Head to Airport (Plane Departs at 22:30)
We are looking into food places to consider reserving soon aswell so any ideas there would be helpful. We are considering the Dawn robot cafe.
7 comments
The heat/humidity really is not that bad. I say USJ is worth it even without the express pass, you can get a 1.5 day pass if youre worried about missing stuff.
For tattoos, some places have bandages you can wear over the tattoo. You can get one of your own if you do not want to go through the hassle of asking beforehand. Depends on how big the tattoo is
if you can use a guide for the japanese usj site, they still have express passes (for certain plans)!
My favorite day on my recent Japan trip was a day trip to Nagano and the snow monkey park.
For day 7 a recommendation for less travel, more sightseeing and no JR pass needed: take a day trip to Kawagoe.
Maybe check out Yurakucho for dinner some night.
The Ghibli Museum is a little bit outside Tokyo, might be a good day trip if you are interested. Or if you aren’t too into Studio Ghibli things and like whiskey, the Yamazaki distillery does tours and is pretty near Tokyo. Even if you can’t get into a tour there, they have a museum and tasting room there and might be worth it for you.
>We liked the idea of using a Shinkansen / taking advantage of the JR Pass
What do you like about this idea? The only way you could make the JR Pass make fiscal sense is to ruin your trip by taking multiple 6 hour round trip “day trips.” Stick to Tokyo and take reasonable Tokyo day trips, you absolutely do not need a JR Pass. I’d also say that Osaka is not a reasonable day trip from Tokyo, especially if you’re going there to wait in line all day for rides. You only have 6 full days in Japan, less is more.