**Day 1 (Sat)**
* Land at Haneda around 1pm after a grueling ~21h travel day
* Taxi to hotel in Ginza, check in, refresh and enjoy the rooms massage chair!
* Explore area with shops, food and drinks while fighting jetlag
**Day 2 (Sun)**
* Early start, activate JR pass and take first available train to Kyoto
* Drop stuff at hotel in Gion around noon and hit up Kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka Shrine, Pontocho etc (the usuals)
* Maybe National Museum of Modern Art
* Hit up a bunch of my Google Maps marked restaurants, bars, cafes etc (This is something we will keep tabs on every day and seeing what places are nearby as we visit areas)
**Day 3 (Mon)**
* Personal habit – use jetlag to our advantage get going to Fushimi Inari at like 5am and enjoy the atmosphere
* Back to central Kyoto for shopping, food etc…
* See if we feel like Nanzen-ji Tenju-an/Oku-No-In Temple, Eikan-do Temple and Philosopher’s Path (First time, despite this being the third time in Kyoto)
* Open Evening
**Day 4 (Tues)**
* Arashiyama. Gio-Ji which I missed last visit. Hanging out in the area.
* Shoden-ji temple then going to some specific shops of interest
* Walk down the Kamo to Kyoto Botanical Gardens, a specific cafe and Kamogawa Park
* Remaining energy provided – Ichijoji for it’s antique stores, cafes and wine bars.
**Day 5 (Weds)**
* No solid plan or rush, wrapping up anything else we want to see
* Feel it out and decide if we wanna maybe do a day trip out of town
* May reserve a particularly nice restaurant for this day
**Day 6 (Thurs)**
* Check out and head to Umeda station in Osaka
* Store luggage in a coin locker, keeping overnighting packs with us
* Bus to Koyasan
* Check into temple, wandering the village, ascetic dinner, checking out the cemetery at night
**Day 7 (Fri)**
* Early morning prayers and fire ritual
* Check out, bus back to Umeda station and fetch luggage
* ~3h Train to Fukuoka by which point its late afternoon
* Check in, wine & dine, hit up a Yatai around Tenjin?
**Day 8 (Sat)**
* Fukuoka Art Museum, Ohori Park, Castle Ruins
* teamLAb Forest, Kushida-jinja shrine, Canal city for shopping
* If somehow there’s still time to spare then Uminonakamichi Seaside park with Marine World Aquarium & Momochi beach
* Late night it’s Daimyo area for the small bars, shops and restaurants.
**Day 9 (Sun)**
* 2.5h Bus from Hakata station to Kurokawa Onsen, picked up at the stop by the Ryokan
* Down time! soaking in onsen, dinner and just generally relax
**Day 10 (Mon)**
* Another day of just bathing, reading, eating etc
* This is just decompressing from a busy week
* Have a wee wander in the village
**Day 11 (Tues)**
* Bus to Hakata and train to Osaka
* Dotonbori area
* TeamLab Botanical Garden already booked
* Open ended evening
**Day 12 (Weds)**
* Osaka Castle, Korea Town, Shinsekai
* See if there’s time for Shitteno-ji/Isshin-ji
* Again – see about time for Osaka Science Museum, Shinsaibashi and Umeda Sky Building in the evening
**Day 13 (Thurs)**
* Train to Kanazawa and check in
* Kurando Terashima house, Higashi-Chaya district, Utatsuyama Park
* Nightlife around Kanazawa station
**Day 14 (Fri)**
* Breakfast at Omicho Market
* Walk to Oyama Shrine, Naga-Machi district, 21st Cent Museum of Contemporary Artand Kenroku-en
* Could squeeze in Myouryuji if time allows and/or any of the many museums south of Kanazawa Castle
**Day 15 (Sat)**
* Train to Tokyo, check in at hotel in Koenji
* Check out Koenji area and its shops/bars/restaurants/galleries etc
**Day 16 (Sun)**
* Nezu Museum, Tea tasting, maybe some of the museums in Ueno, Ueno Park, Mori Art Museum, Squeeze in Tokyo Photographic Art Museum?
* See about swinging by the Oedo antique market by Tokyo Station
* Roppongi in evening, I loved the vibe of some of the parks there at night.
**Day 17 (Mon)**
* Check out Kichijoji, Inokashira Park, Edo Open Air Architectural Museum
* Maybe swing by Shimo-Kitazawa?
* End in Shinjuku/Shibuya area, bar hop past favourites.
**Day 18 (Tues)**
* Open day, hitting up things we missed
* Any final shopping
* Fly out of Narita at 11pm
Does this seem overly packed/unbalanced/FOMO despite having been to Japan (Tokyo, Takayama/Gifu and Kansai areas) twice already, or have I got some excessively empty days for the places?
We have the typical European capacity to walk all day for like 20km and are interested in things like history, crafts, art, nature, food, natural wine, craft beer, coffee, sake etc. If you have any related personal tips for any of those days that would be a great bonus!
