Hello! My girlfriend and I will be going to Tokyo for 11 days next month. This will be our first time in the country. We plan on visiting again at some point in the future, so we have intentionally kept our plans for our first time unambitious and only within the Tokyo area. I enjoy exploring and meandering at my own pace, so we’ve kept scheduled events to a minimum.
I still want to keep the itinerary sparse, but we’re still seeking suggestions for a few more places worth checking out. We’re both nerds into video games, Nintendo, electronics, Gunpla, anime merch, toys, and cute stuff. I don’t drink alcohol and we don’t plan on visiting any bars. We also plan on buying a lot of clothes. I’m not really into fashion, but my whole wardrobe is pretty outdated and USD to Yen is pretty favorable at the moment.
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**Some more specific suggestion requests:**
\-We would also like to visit a shrine or temple, but are unsure which one. Maybe some sort of history museum as well.
\-We were also considering a day trip to Shinjuku or Ikebukuro, but are unsure if it’s worth the time.
\-Some suggestions for food in Minato or Akihabara.
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**Thurs 9/14**
* 2:00 pm: land at HND
* get lunch, SIM cards and cash at airport
* check into Shiba Park hotel in Minato.
* walk to Shiba Park, check out Tokyo Tower
**Fri 9/15**
* clothes shopping in Ginza
**Sat 9/16**
* 11:00 am: teamlab Planets (already bought tickets)
* Gundam Base and Diver City mall
**Sun 9/17**
* lunch at Pompompurin cafe in Harajuku
* walk to Shibuya Scramble crossing
**Mon 9/18**
* 10 am: check out of Shiba Park Hotel
* 3 pm check into JR East Hotel Mets in Akihabara
* explore Akihabara
**Tues 9/19**
* Explore Akihabara
**Wed 9/20**
* 10:00 am: Ghibli Museum (already bought tickets)
**Thurs 9/21**
* ???
**Fri 9/22**
* ???
**Sat 9/23**
* ???
**Sun 9/24**
* 11:00 am: Check out of JR East Hotel Mets in Akihabara
* 4:00 pm: Depart HND
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I’m aware it isn’t practical to switch hotels during a trip this short, but my girlfriend wanted the first hotel and I wanted the second. We probably won’t do this next time.
**Finally, a couple miscellaneous questions:**
1. We’re coming from the US. What’s the best way to pay for things? Exchange USD for cash at the airport? Google or Samsung Pay (I don’t have an iphone)?, US debit card?
2. What’s the best way to get to Diver City mall and team Labs?
Thanks
7 comments
Yep, hotel change is unnecessary, but not especially difficult.
You do not have Ueno or Asakusa in your itinerary. You can also easily add a day trip.
1. You should get some cash as not all places accept cards. The easiest is to get some from the ATM, the one at 7Eleven is the best known to work well with foreign cards. For transport, you will either need cash or add an IC card to an iPhone and charge it with a non-visa card. Credit card in you phone sometimes work (same with paying contactless with credit card) but it is not that common. Would recommend to have a physical Visa or MasterCard.
2. Use Google Maps, it will show you how to go anywhere you want.
Go visit Meiji shrine, and then you could check out Harajuku afterwards, (cat street, if you like crowds maybe Takeshita dori as well)
If you want to do some thrift shopping you could check out the neighborhoods west of Shibuya, walk from Sangenjaya to Shimokitazawa or a small detour via Gotokuji (cat) temple in Setagaya. I like the whole area, it‘s kind of residential but there are a lot of small (thrift) stores around Sangenjaya and (of course) more touristy Shimokitazawa.
Yanaka is also a nice neighborhood, very old schooly classic Tokyo neighborhood, small shops and cafes and has a nice area with lots of temples.
Asakusa is a must visit for me, especially in the early morning to avoid heavy crowds. For your free days maybe a day trip to Nikko? (Mid October should be amazing with the fall colours). Otherwise Kamakura/Enoshima and riding the Enoden?
Do you like animals? You could go spend a night in Ito and go to the Izu Shaboten animal park. I really enjoyed it when I went.
Also, pretty much every family mart and 7/11 (will be one on like every block) will have an atm. When I was there, my card worked 100% of the time. Just be careful, those atm fees can pile up depending on the card. Mine reimbursed atm fees which was great.
May I ask how you purchased Ghibli museum tickets already? From my understanding of the website, tickets for Oct are not available until Sept 10
You could go to Shibuya sky in the evening, make sure to book tickets. Explore Odaiba in the evening too. On the Ginza day, make sure you book wheee to eat, things are extremely busy now with high influx of tourists. Also, go check out the Starbucks reserve in Meguro, lovely area. I’d leave Shibuya for a whole day instead of doing harujuku on the same day. Explore Harajuku, and omotesando area on the same day. Shibuya on its own has so many to explore. Check Shinjuku by day and night too, the little ally with food stalls (omoide yokotcho) is the famous one. Idk, let me know if you need more. Ah! Purchase suica card when you get to Haneda, recharge and cheaper to use all lines of transportation.
>get lunch, SIM cards and cash at airport
I recommend against doing this at the airport.
Get 20k yen out beore your leave home and avoid the big ATM lines at the airport.
Order a SIM card before you go. Avoid the lines at the Airport
Japanese food is amazing, don’t waste a meal on something quick at the airport. Seems super likely you’ll get food on the plane. At minimum, use this as a chance to try convenience store food.
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>We’re coming from the US. What’s the best way to pay for things? Exchange USD for cash at the airport? Google or Samsung Pay (I don’t have an iphone)?, US debit card?
Visa/Mastercard/Maestro and a bunch of other card types I don’t; remember are actually pretty commonly accepted in Tokyo. Keep 20k in yen in your pocket each and just pay by card when you can, use your cash when you can’t.
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>What’s the best way to get to Diver City mall and team Labs?
By train. It’s only a few minutes from the light rail station clos to it to get to teamLabs and Odaiba is connected to the same rail I believe. Google maps will get you direction anywhere on public transport, including advice on which station exists to yuse and which platforms to go to.
I am a massive nerd about Akiba, and it is a half day, not a day and a half. At most, do a half day and then just use it to fill time in your last day or two when you want to go spend the leftover money at he end of the trip. I wouldn’t do it two days running at the start. Especially if you are staying nearby anyway and can pretty easily go wander around at the end of other days anyway.
Some other things to do that might help give some variety to just ‘city attractions’
* Walk to the to of Mount Takao (Takao-san)
* Visit the Buddha at Kamakura town and look around the town a little.
* Visit Yokohama and see the Cup Noodle museum.
Some other nerdy stuff to check out
* Nakano Broadway – A less tourist Akihabara with lots of anime and pop culture gods.
* Ikebukuro – A large Animate goods store and more focus on ‘butler cafes’ and shojo fandoms in the area.