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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Comfortable-Line2502 on 2024-12-18 21:11:04+00:00.


My husband and I (Late 30s) would like to visit Japan next year around October for about 2 weeks and are in the early stages of planning our trip. I want to make sure that what we would like to do/see is reasonable for the time that we’re there. We are okay with places that might be overly touristy since it’s our first time, and we enjoy video games, anime, museums, and nature. Here’s a rough draft of what we are thinking about doing so far:

Day 1: Travel

Fly in to KIX, take the Haruka express train to Tennoji station and check into a hotel nearby. Maybe walk around Tennoji park if we have a little time.

Day 2: Osaka - Castle

Visit the castle and spend a good part of the day exploring the area. Then head back down to Tennoji and visit the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts (if it’s open) and then try and visit Shin Sekai/Tsutenkaku tower later in the evening when it’s all lit up.

Day 3: Osaka - Exploring the city (Namba/Umeda)

Visit Namba Yasaka shrine to see the giant lion’s head, then explore Namba for a bit as we make our way over towards Denden town. Then we’ll go up to Hozen-ji Temple and Dotonbori. I don’t think we’ll spend too much time there as we’re not really into the nightlife/party scene. 

After that we’ll head up to the Umeda area to explore for a bit and visit the Nintendo Store/Pokemon Center Osaka, then make our way over to the Umeda Sky building and see if we can get up to the observation deck.  

Day 4: Osaka - Port Area/Leave for Kyoto

Check out of the hotel. Go to the port and explore the Tempozan Market Place/Park. Spend some time at the Kaiyukan Aquarium, then take the train to Kyoto. (I would like to try and take the Kyo-train Garaku, but it seems to only operate on weekends)

Arrive at Kyoto-kawaramachi station and check in at a hotel nearby. Visit the Nishiki Market and  Nintendo/Pokemon Kyoto stores.

Day 5: Kyoto - Arashiyama/Kiyomizu-dera 

Visit Arashiyama Bamboo Forest/ Kimono Forest/ Arashiyama Monkey park and spend the morning/afternoon there. For the evening, we can go to Kiyomizu-dera for sunset, then explore Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka and make our way to Yasaka Shrine/Gion 

Day 6: Kyoto - Fushimi Inari/ Uji?

Go to Fushimi Inari in the morning. I don’t think we’re in enough shape to go all the way to the summit, but I heard that going to Mitsutsuji and back down from there is a good alternative. We’d like to visit the Nintendo Museum in Uji if we are able to get tickets, but if we can’t I’m not sure if we just go explore Uji or somewhere else. We’re not big into matcha and that seems to be what Uji is known for.

Day 7: Kyoto - Kinkaku-ji /Imperial Palace/Nijo castle

Go up to Kinkaku-ji, then visit the maple garden at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine and do the Tatami Experience Workshop at Yamada Tatami Shop. Next we visit the imperial palace, Kyoto Gyoen National Garden and Nijo Castle. 

*Day 8: Leave Kyoto - I don’t know if we should go to Tokyo directly, or stay over for one night somewhere in between along the shinkansen route. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Day 9: Tokyo - Ueno Park/Senso-ji

We’ll stay at a hotel near Ueno and visit the park and museums in the area, then visit Senso-ji in the evening when it is lit up.

Day 10: Tokyo - Akihabara/Imperial Palace

We’ll spend some time in Akihabara, then go down and visit the Imperial Palace.

Day 11: Tokyo - Shibuya/Harajuku

We’ll go to Shinjuku in the morning and visit the Hachiko statue, then explore for awhile and make our way to the Nintendo/Pokemon stores. After that we’ll go to Harajuku to visit Yoyogi park and Meiji Jingu.

Day 12: We’ll take a day trip - thinking about visiting Enoshima/Kamakura.

Day 13: Travel Home