July trip report with a 6 year old – Mt Fuji, Kanazawa, Takayama, Nikko, Tokyo

Thanks so much for all the helpful information in this sub for planning our trip!

Transportation
We got a 7 day JR Pass and a 4 day Nikko All Area pass, both through Klook. Both of these were great for just being able to jump on trains/busses/etc when we wanted. Reserving seats for the trains was easy with the machines (just click Japan Rail Pass in the bottom left to get started) but also easy at ticket counters. In Kanazawa we bought the unlimited buss pass for one day but it would have been cheaper to just pay for the individual bus rides. In Kawaguchiko and Tokyo we just bought tickets for individual trips and that was really easy too. We didn’t need any passes in Tokyo as we didn’t travel around much. We exchanged the Klook vouchers at Shinjuku station (took the airport bus there) as the line at the airport itself was really long. The Nikko pass was entirely digital.

Accommodation
We booked most of our accommodation through booking.com and encountered no issues. Because we were a family of 3 we generally couldn’t do the cheapest options as they’d have a max of 2 but that was fine for us anyway, we didn’t want to share a twin bed with all 3 of us.

Internet
We both have phones on Google Fi and this worked perfectly without any work needed on our part.

Translation
We don’t understand Japanese at all. Google translate was amazing – especially being able to take pictures to translate in the app for when there were signs/menus/etc with no English. People we interacted with either spoke enough English to figure things out or we figured things out together with google translate. We also generally didn’t ask for anything complicated.

Luggage
We had 1 carry on size roller bag and 1 backpack per person. This was easy to travel with on trains as they fit in the overhead compartments. It was a bit of a pain on regular busses but we didn’t take many of those with luggage (several we took were tour busses with luggage compartments). We did laundry twice.

Tanabata
We were in Japan during Tanabata and weren’t sure what to expect. As far as we could tell there wasn’t any kind of festival or parade in Kanazawa, but bamboo was set up in various places with paper available to write wishes to hang up and that was a nice experience.

Goshuincho
I picked up my goshuincho at Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine (based on the recommendation in the excellent goshuin/goshuincho posts here on reddit). I loved visiting temples and shrines and getting goshuin. It was probably about 2/3 handwritten and 1/3 loose leaf.

Itinerary (mostly just listing out what we did but happy to talk more about any of it)

July 3rd: arrival at Haneda in the afternoon
– Airport limousine bus to Shinjuku
– Picked up 7 day JR Rail Pass with a start date of July 6 at Shinjuku

July 4: Mt Fuji
– Highway bus from Shinjuku to FujiQ hotel (booked bus a week or so in advance online)
– Bus to Subaru Fifth Station. Hiked part of the Ochudo Trail which was gorgeous (and very flat and easy to walk so great with kid).
– Got back to the station about 50 minutes before the (local) bus we wanted to take back which we thought was plenty of time but no, there was a really long line already. We were worried it wouldn’t fit and the next bus wouldn’t be for another two hours. Eventually two busses arrived for the scheduled time – we ended up having to stand on the second bus which was really crowded. Shuttle back to hotel.
– Went to the onsen which is a public onsen but included with the hotel. This was the best one we went to because it was very big so they had a variety of baths including two that weren’t too hot for the kid. They also had a restaurant at the onsen.

July 5: FujiQ
– FujiQ day!
– We took a midday break to go to Chureito Pagoda / Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine.
– Back to FujiQ and then back to the onsen.

July 6: Kanazawa
– Travel day to Kanazawa.
– Stayed at Onyado Nono which is a newer hotel near Omicho market.
– Went to Nomura-ke Samurai Residence

July 7: Kanazawa
– Kanazawa Castle Gardens with a tea break at Gyokusen-an teahouse
– Kenroku-en garden
– Kanazawa museum of traditional arts and crafts
– Myōryū-ji (“Ninja temple”) – we were able to join without a reservation
– Nishi Chaya neighborhood (sweets, Chaya museum)

July 8: Takayama
– Train to Toyama then on to Takayama
– Tour of Hida Kokubunji temple main hall
– Harada sake brewery
– Temple row
– Relaxation and dinner at ryokan (the onsen was smaller and all baths were too hot for the kid)

July 9: Takayama
– Hida no Sato
– Lunch in Takayama then chilled by the river a while
– Walked around the cute areas of the town
– Train back to Kanazawa

July 10: Kanazawa
– Omicho market
– Hagashi Chaya district (great for souvenir shopping)
– Played shamisen at a store
– Pokemon Center then a playground

July 11: Nikko
– JR Trains to Nikko
– Left luggage at train station
– Shinkyo bridge, Rinnoji Temple (incl gardens), Futarasan Shrine, Taiyuin mausoleum (yes we skipped Toshogu)
– Picked up luggage, then bus up to Lake Chuzenji

July 12: Nikko
– Futarasan Jinja Chugushi Shrine
– Sightseeing boat tour
– Ryuzu falls
– Chuzenji temple
– Kegon falls
– Natural science museum

July 13: Nikko
– Bus to Yudaki falls
– Hike down to Lake Chuzenji past Senjogahara Marshland and Ryuzu Falls
– Cruise back to hotel
– Futarasan Jinja Chugushi Shrine
– Onsen (outside onsen was not too hot!)

July 14: Tokyo
– Bus back to Nikko, train to Tokyo
– Hotel in Ueno
– Ueno park including Benten-do temple
– Explored the neighborhood

July 15: Tokyo
– Food tour in Ueno
– Watched How do you live? in the cinema
– Summer festival at Ueno park

July 16: Tokyo
– Senso-Ji temple
– Shibuya scramble crossing
– Nintendo store and Pokemon center
– Samsung Galaxy store. There was very little explanation which meant we didn’t realize we needed to sign up for the dinosaur activity until we tried to do it as one of the last things we wanted to do, and by that time the wait was super long, so we didn’t do it. Kid was happy with the other arts and crafts they had though.
– Harajuku

July 17: Tokyo
– Tokyo National Museum
– Couple temples and shrines in Ueno park
– Final shopping in Ueno

We’re typically travelers who like to spend a couple days in each place which worked well with the kid! We were all happy with the itinerary except we could have done with one more day in Takayama and one day less in Tokyo – I know there is a lot to see there that we didn’t get to, but it was so hot and crowded compared to the other places. But we had a great time! Happy to answer any questions.