EDIT: TYPO IN TITLE – Going from May 16 – 29
Hi there! I wanted to get some feedback on my upcoming two week trip in Japan. This sub has been super helpful in planning our itinerary so far (my lovely girlfriend doing a majority of the lift while I'm in a crazy work crunch <3), but figured any feedback would be awesome. I won this trip in a sweepstakes which paid for our flights and a week's stay in a hotel that they booked, which is why we're locked in to Tokyo for a full week at the top of the trip. There's a few days in Tokyo we're planning to explore neighborhoods and we already have a bunch of shops / restaurants / bars marked on Google Maps. I won't list every single recommendation we have, but feel free to drop any you think we may like.
OVERVIEW:
Dates: May 16 – 29
Tokyo: May 16 – 22
Hakone: May 22 – 24
Kyoto: May 24 – 28
Tokyo: May 28 – 29
Travelers:
Couple in their early 30s, fairly active and having both lived in a major metro city for a decade, very comfortable with city hustle and metro navigation.
My interests: music, film photography, video games, lightly anime and thrifting
GF’s interests: fashion, movies, music, books
May 16 – Tokyo
- Land in the early evening
- Drop off luggage at hotel
- Park Hyatt Bar for high rise view of the city
- (any dinner recommendations near here would be awesome–we will be too tired for a long wait and nothing we’d need a reservation for just in case travel has hiccups and we miss it)
May 17 – Tokyo – Shinjuku & Shibuya
- Loose itinerary, planning to walk north to south (possibly reverse) from Shinjuku to Shibuya throughout the day
- Thrifting, vintage clothing stores, boutique shopping, camera stores, music shops, Donki
- Shinjuku shopping
- Lemon Camera, Map Camera, Kitamura Camera, miatame!, Creep Store, The Four-Eyed
- Shibuya shopping
- Tower Records Shibuya, Mandarake Shibuya, NOSE SHOP, Iyoshi Cola, KESHIKI, Neova, FUNKTIQUE, LUV U 2 THE MOON, POMPOM Shop, Gemini, Lusty Tokyo, RCV Tokyo
- Stop by Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden or Meiji Shrine if we want a break midday
- Bar in Evening – either Grandfather's in Shibuya or bar lonely in Shinjuku
May 18 – Tokyo
- TeamLab Borderless (we have tickets)
- Akihabara visit
- Yodobashi Camera, Radio Kaikan, Mandarake, walk down Chuo-dori to find other small shops organically
- Ninja Food Izakaya Tour
- meets in Shinjuku
- Piss Alley / Golden Gai
May 19 – Tokyo
- Chill morning, potentially explore Shimokitazawa
- Bears ベアーズ, Tanpopo house, 2nd Street, trefac, and Mode Off
- Sumo Tournament (we have tickets)
- Toshima City evening – Super Potato, Muscle Girls Bar
May 20 – Tokyo – Nakano Day
- Top of the hill Koenji, Big Time Koenji, Nakano Broadway, Fujiya Camera
- see a show at a small venue there – Live Music JIROKICHI, Koenji High, 稲生座
- Dinner at Yakinuku Ushigoro Sinjuku
May 21 – Tokyo
- Relatively unplanned as we think there may be places we didn’t get our fill of and want to go back to; possibly explore Sarugakucho
May 22 – Tokyo -> Hakone
- Pick up rental car, grab road trip snacks from 7/11, drive to Hakone
- Check into our fancy ryokan and relax after a week in the city
May 23 – Hakone
- 10am – 4pm Hakone Private Tour w/ Guide: Mt Fuji View, Nature Hike and Shrine
- Transfer to less fancy ryokan and relax after our touring day
May 24 – Hakone -> Kyoto
- Open Air Museum
- Lunch @ Amimoto Oba Tempura
- Drop off car at Odawara and take train to Kyoto
- Check into Kyoto Hotel
- Walk through Pontocho Alley, over Shijo Bridge, Music Bar Universe
- Dinner at Kobe Beef Steak Mouriya Gion
May 25 – Kyoto
- Fushimi Inari Shrine
- Yasaka Koshin Do Temple
- Kiyomizu-dera Temple
- Nishiki Market / Teramachi shopping street
- Aritsugu for kitchen knives
- Kidoairaku pottery
- Ichihara Heibei Shōten
May 26 – Kyoto
- Sagano Romantic Train (we have tickets)
- Hozugawa River Boat Ride (we have tickets)
- Arashiyama Monkey Park
May 27 – Kyoto
- Saiho-ji Temple
- Nintendo Museum (we have tickets)
- TeamLab BioVortex (we have tickets)
May 28 – Kyoto -> Tokyo
- Train to Tokyo
- Unplanned last afternoon/evening
May 29 – Tokyo
- Final breakfast & lunch
- Flight home in evening
We're firming up some of the lesser filled days with the recommendations we've already received, but I wanted to check to see if we had any glaring blind spots. We have gotten so many scattershot recommendations from friends that it's been a little tough to choose where exactly to focus for some days. Also – we have already acquired tickets for any activity here that requires them.
Grateful for any feedback. Thank you!
by alexnewpix