[Japan Trip] Advice on My Itinerary to Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka and The Transport Passes

evp on 12/12/2016 - 22:23
Last edited 12/12/2016 - 22:26

Hi all, after reading countless blogs and threads on various websites (including Ozbargain ones), I have finally finished my draft itinerary for my Japan Trip in May 2017, please take a look and advise me on possible changes required (am open to anything, pretty much)

I am also still unsure of which transport passes to get to maximized value…

I am going with my mum (in her 50s, very healthy).

ALSO I wanna leave my biggest luggage in Haneda airport after the 9 days in Tokyo, either in coin locker (max 7 days) or temp. luggage storage (max 2 weeks). I would need 3 weeks storage for that particular luggage. Any suggestions? Does anyone know the price of the fine for leaving it over time in Haneda coin locker or the luggage storage?

Tokyo (8 Nights 9 Days)

Day 1 (Sat)

Arriving Haneda Airport 5.30am (Possibly buy several 72 hour metro passes here?)
Tokyo air bnb (5 mins walk from Shibuya Stn)
Visit Meiji Jingu & Meiji Castle in the afternoon
Shop around Shibuya

Day 2 (Sun)

Art Museum in Ryoppongi
Shop around Ryoppongi

Day 3 (Mon)

Ghibli Museum
Yokohama in afternoon (Ramen museum + Chinatown + Night view)

Day 4 (Tues)

Disney Sea

Day 5 (Wed)

Ueno Garden + National Museum
Asakusa
Maybe go have a look at the skytree if time permits in the evening

Day 6 (Thurs)

Shop around Shinjuku + Harujuku + Akihabara? (Kind of a free day to give ourselves a break)
Ryoppongi Mori Tower for night view

Day 7 (Fri)

Kamakura + Enoshima

Day 8 & 9 (Weekend)

No plans to revisit shops and restaurants we liked/ just wander around Tokyo

KUSATSU (1 night 2 days)

Day 10 (Mon)

Head off to Kusatsu area for onsen (spend the night there)

Kyoto (5 nights 6 days)

Day 11 (Tue)

Back to Tokyo from Kusatsu
Head to Kyoto by Shinkansen
Arriving air bnb next to Keihan line:Fushimi Inari station(3 min) JR:Inari station(6 min)

Day 12

Hiroshima + Miyazima

Day 13, 14, 15 (Thurs, Fri, Sat)

Go around Kyoto (planning to follow existing itineraries found online, if you have any suggestions, leave them below!)
Half day trip to Nara

Osaka (4 nights 5 days)

Day 16 (Sunday)

Leave air bnb, store luggages in Kyoto station's coin lockers
Half day trip to Nara
Back to Kyoto Station then off to Osaka
Osaka airbnb 2mins from Dotonbori

Day 17 (Mon)

USJ

Day 18, 19 (Tue, Wed) STILL unsure how to plan these out :( help!!!

Arishiyama
Osaka Castle
Aquarium
Pokemon centre
Don Quijote
Den den
Museum of Housing and Living
Dotonbori + Namba shopping

Day 20 (Thur)

Leave for Korea

Then we will come back to Haneda airport late night on Friday (stay the night at airport's capsule room?)

Last Day

Spend last half day in Tokyo
Leave Japan

Wow that took me forever to type haha!!

Thanks in advance!!

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  pyramid on 12/12/2016 - 22:31

  Thats hell of information/itinerary that you made.

  Too many museum, castle may bore you. Agree most of them are different in shape, size and history wise but still…
  Osaka aquarium is not the best aquarium i visited. so you can skip it you are not keen on this.

  • 

    evp on 12/12/2016 - 22:33

    Oh really? Then ill skip the aquarium in Osaka. Then which Aquarium do you recommend?
    Mum is really into historic sites and museums… :(

    • 

      pyramid on 12/12/2016 - 22:37

      I did visit Osaka aquarium hence did not visit any other.
      Few other day trip you can do from Tokyo are - Hakone, Tobu world square. Since you got plenty of time, you can go Hiroshima for a day trip. Check my thread here -> https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/236087 I covered almost 80% places from that itinerary.

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  altomic on 12/12/2016 - 23:24

  that's a busy schedule. but it's nice to plan.

  If your mum and you like random stuff then just walk in any direction. Tokyo is old enough and crowded enough that every street has some level of randomness. whether it's the derelict + collapsing house, the small lane leading to half a dozen house, the shrine with immaculate grass surrounded by apartment buildings, etc. when I was there in July last year we would just walk and find stuff. check out random shops. stop and have a break in front of one of millions of vending machines. eat convenience store food and watch the world go by. you can plan a hundred activites and still not see half of what you'd like to. - I lived there 4 years and saw so little but at the same time so much. Japan.

  make sure you prebook your tickets for Ghibli Museum.

  day 2
  Ryoppongi - unless it has changed since I lived in Tokyo then I'd suggest not bothering with it. a lot of bars and sleaze there (but this is my subjective opinion). plenty of other places.

  day 6
  akihabara - wouldn't bother. -look, it is ok but my opinion is that it's lost a lot of it's charm as a mecca for electronics. sure there are many mega super stores, but the days of hundreds of individual stores selling crazy/interesting/niche products are running out . there is a small street market near the mcdonalds on sundays(?)

  day 7
  I'd suggest doing kamakura in the morning and then yokohama for the afternoon/evening. -you pass through yokohama on the train so you might as well kill 2 birds.

  There is a Don Quixote across from the Tokyo dome (the tokyo dome has a small fun park and lots of restaurants) - see a baseball game whilst you are there.

  walk from shinjuku to harajuku - the street running parallel to the right of the main street between these 2 areas has some good shops. harajuku has an ok 100 yen shop in takeshita st.
  head over to yoyogi park for a wander.

  Ueno Garden + National Museum =good
  Asakusa - wouldn't bother too much - fine for a wander.
  skytree -meant to be pretty cool (didn't get there on my last trip). excellent for it's night views

  get a hop-on/hop-off bus around Tokyo . Hato bus (Ha-toe). a very good way to see the sights.

  Luggage - You're going in May so it will be relatively warm. I'd suggest you take a medium weight jumper. and minimal clothing. minimal. 7 pairs socks, 7 pairs jocks, 2 pairs trousers, 2 shirts, 3 t-shirts, 1 pair comfortable walking shoes, thongs. - your airbnbs will have washing machines. When the 4 of us went in july for 18 days we took a medium suitcase between us. and that was mainly to fit souvenirs for the return. unless you are over 175cms and take a shoe size larger than US10 then buying clothes is easy and really not that expensive.

  buy an umbrella in japan. - 100 yen shop. or just steal one. whilst Japanese people seem to be extremely honest (my experience ) but when it comes to umbrellas then it is open season.

  saizeriya - is a Italian themed restaurant chain. inexpensive and quick. they are very popular and an easy option for eating in.
  convenience store food - very good. inexpensive. usually a large range unless sold out.

  duty free booze - buy it in a super market before you leave. it is cheapest there. pack it in the center of your check in luggage.

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  Kangal on 12/12/2016 - 23:28

  In Kyoto, I recommend you hire bikes and go biking around the town.
  There's a really good "secret bike trail" as well as the Bamboo Park.
  There's the Iwatayama Monkey Park if you like.

  I also HIGHLY recommend the onset at Hainaikada:
  Haina

  (You gotta also have some Fugu fish in Osaka. The place I went and survived was called Zuboraya)

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  Smaland on 13/12/2016 - 18:29

  Sorry to hijak your thread Evy. Will there many lockers left in Kyoto station if I arrived around midday in mid April? My bags are 2 medium and 2 cabin size. Can I pay with suica/credit card or exact coin only?

  • 

    mightyhawks23 on 23/12/2016 - 11:51

    When I went Nov 2015; was just coin lockers and max of 2 or 3 days - you pay the first 24 hrs when you lock it up and then the balance when you open it

    There were plenty of lockers at Kyoto station but depends on if just want 1 large one or 2 medium size ones
    From memory, we crammed a large suitcase plus some smaller hand carry stuff into a large locker

    Note there's lockers outside the station as well as inside (past the gates) so if you don't need to catch a train when leaving, make sure to use the lockers outside. Otherwise, you'll need pay to get past the gates just to get your luggage

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  rover on 25/01/2017 - 17:10

  "Hiroshima + Miyazima"

  That is a bit of a day-trip. perhaps as an alternative:

  Day 11 (Tue)

  Back to Tokyo from Kusatsu
  Head to Hiroshima by Shinkansen (luggage at left luggage office at station) visit sights (get tourist tram ticket) , pick up luggage, then to Miyajima (stay one night on island)

  Then off to Kyoto

  • 

    gmail92 on 20/02/2017 - 10:10

    Can be done in a day - I did it in a day although Miyaijima in the afternoon was a bit rushed.
    But given the amount of time you have, two days would be comfortable.

    Especially with things like 5 nights Kyoto (which I reckon might be too much)

    Also heads up OP, Araishiyama is in Kyoto, not Osaka