JJapan Trips

First Trip to Japan (18 days) – Honeymoon

  • November 12, 2025

Hi everyone,

My partner and I will be travelling to Japan for our honeymoon later this month and I am looking for some feedback on our planned itinerary. We have tried to pick a few main things for each day, then have some backups saved if we end up changing plans.

I have absolutely loved reading through everyone's posts and comments looking for ideas and tips from such a supportive community! My partner and I are in our mid 20s and are interested in food, anime, history and seeing the sights.

We are spending 6 nights in Tokyo, 4 nights in Kyoto, 1 night in Hiroshima, 5 nights in Osaka and 2 nights in Fujikawaguchiko.

So far, our days are looking like:

Tokyo
Day 1: Arrival

  • Land in Japan (Haneda Airport)
  • Travel to hotel in Shinjuku
  • Check out konbini stores for dinner (probs 7 Eleven)

Day 2: Shibuya

  • Explore Shibuya Parco and surrounding areas
    • Pokemon centre, Nintendo store etc
  • Shibuya crossing
  • Hachiko statue
  • Shibuya Sky for sunset
    • Dinner: Omoide Yokochō (Memory Lane, Piss Alley) Golden Gai

Day 3: Central Tokyo/ Akihabara

  • TeamLab Planets (morning)
  • Tokyo National Museum and Ueno Park
    • Lunch around this area
  • Travel to Akihabara to explore anime/manga attractions
    • E.g., Mandarake, Gamers, Kotobukiya Akihabara toy store, gachapon halls
  • Dinner in Akihabara

Day 4: Disneyland

  • We have not booked express passes for this park, but will be visiting Universal Studios (with express pass) and Fuji-Q Highland. Would you recommend express passes here as well?

Day 5: Asakusa

  • Senso-ji temple
  • Nakamise shopping street
  • Samurai ninja museum
  • Tokyo skytree

Day 6: Shinjuku/ Kyoto

  • Explore Donquijote
  • Shinjuku gyoen national garden
  • Tokyo metropolitan government building observatory
  • Travel to Kyoto on shinkansen
  • Dinner in Kyoto

Day 7:

  • Waking up early for Senbon Torii (Thousand Torii Gates) and Fushimi Inari Taisha
  • Head to Kiyomizu Dera
  • Explore Nishiki Markets

Day 8:

  • Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion)
  • Ginkaku-ji Temple (Silver Pavilion)
    • Bit of a trek from Kinkaku-ji Temple but hopefully worth it!
    • Walking between here and Nanzen-ji Temple
  • Philosopher's Path
  • Eikandō Temple
  • Nanzen-ji Temple

Day 9: Arashiyama

  • Hozugawa River Boat Ride (0830 timeslot)
  • Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
  • Arashiyama Monkey Forest
  • Explore Arashiyama district
  • Kimono Forest

Day 10: Hiroshima

  • Travel from Kyoto (2 hour trip)
    • We will be sending our luggage straight to Osaka and bringing carry-ons with essentials for the trip to Hiroshima for the one-night stay.
  • Travel to Miyajima Island
    • Itsukushima Shrine
    • Mt. Misen
    • Any other suggestions?

Day 11: Hiroshima

  • Peace Park
  • Peace Memorial Museum
  • Atomic Bomb Dome
  • Hiroshima Castle (if there's time)
  • Travel to Osaka (2.5 hours trip)
    • Dinner around Dotonburi (15 minutes walk from accommodation)

Day 12: Osaka

  • Katsuoji Temple (1 hour trip from accommodation)
  • Minoh Falls
  • Travel back to Dotonburi/ Amerikamura for the rest of the day

Day 13: Universal Studios

  • Head to Universal Studios
    • We have purchased Express Passes from 0930-1520 – should we still be turning up at 0730 to skip queues if we have Express Passes?

Day 14: Nara Trip

  • Trip to Nara Park and surrounding area (50 minutes trip)
    • Any specific suggestions for what is cool around here?
  • Head back to Osaka and visit Round 1 Stadium Sennichimae (24-hour amusement centre)

Day 15: Himeji and Kobe Trip

  • Travel from hotel in Osaka to Himeji castle (1 hour 45 minutes trip)
    • Any other suggestions for cool activities while in Himeji?
  • When ready, travel to Kobe (30 minutes trip from Himeji)
    • We're aware of the famous Kobe beef, but is there anything else cool here that you would recommend?
  • We will be sending our luggage straight to Narita Airport and bringing carry-ons for the two-night stay in Fujikawaguchiko.
    • Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with this?

Day 16: Mt. Fuji

  • Leave (very) early to head to Shin-Fuji Station or Mishima Station, then travel to Fujikawaguchiko.
  • Drop bags off at accommodation
  • Head to Fuji-Q Highland for the afternoon
    • We are tossing up between buying the afternoon pass (access from 1pm) or just buying the express passes for the rides we really want to go on. We're a little unsure about the wait times being too long that we won't be able to experience everything we want before the park closes at 7pm.

Day 17: Mt. Fuji

  • Wake up early to attend Arakurayama Sengen Park Shrine and Chureito Pagoda
  • Mt. Fuji Lawson
  • Lake Kawaguchiko Maple Corridor
  • Oishi Park
  • Ubuyagasaki (if there's time)

Day 18: Narita Airport

  • Head to Oshino Hakkai early(ish) morning
  • Leave before midday to head to Narita Airport for nighttime departure

by dylan_mcleod

3 comments

  1. Day 13:

    You don’t have to turn up at 730, but TBH it is still a lot of fun in USJ. Going early can still be worth it. But to avoid line ups? I wouldn’t think it matters. It sounds like you’ve done a lot of research for USJ already, but I’d recommend watching youtuber TDR Explorer for his guides to USJ. They will help you plan and navigate the park better.

    I would also recommend that if you have time you consider the following:

    Den Den Town in Osaka – this is Osaka’s Akihabara and will generally have better selection and prices than Akihabara. The Jungle Store in Osaka was a highlight for me. Might be worth a visit.

    Shinsaibashi Parco in Osaka – I enjoyed this Parco moreso than the Parco in Shibuya. This one had a better character level IMO and there were also Kirby and Pokemon cafes located here as well. It’s where I got my Gengar fork and spoon lol. It’s a quick walk from Dotonbori.

    Tokyo Station: I am unsure if you are taking the Shinkansen from here, but it can be worth a few hours visit to Tokyo Station. It has a great character level, ramen street, selecting Bento Boxes, souvenirs, etc. It can be worth a few hours visit as well.

    The rest of your trip looks like fun.

    Hope that helps! Have fun in Japan OP!

  2. That’s a cool trip plan I think you just need a bit of a rest time Since ueno-Disney-asakusa demands huge amount of walk

  3. Some thoughts on day 3 and 4:

    What time is your teamlabs planets reservation in the morning? It’s a bit of a trek from there to the Ueno area, and you could probably expect to spend around 2 hours at teamlabs. Depending on how long you end up spending at Ueno park and the museum, it’s possible you won’t make it to Akihabara until late afternoon and that might not be enough time to fully explore there, especially since you listed anime as an interest for the trip. If it’s your first time in Akihabara, it’s so much to take in and explore, I would almost say you could spend 2/3 of a day there. Just something to keep in mind for the plan for that day.

    For the Disneyland day, is there a reason you’re going with Disneyland as opposed to Disneysea? Generally speaking, people visiting Tokyo prioritize Disneysea as it has more unique rides/theming compared to other Disney parks in the world. For the express passes question, Disney uses a different system that can only be purchased day of, and it’s buying individual passes for rides to skip most of the line. For those, I would recommend trying to get at least one if not more as queues can get super long for the most popular rides. The total cost for the day for a park ticket plus a few ride passes will still end up being cheaper than a day park ticket for a US Disney park.

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