21 day itinerary

Hey! This is going to be a very large post, so I apologize in advance. I've put together my itinerary and I would like to know what you think.
Will be traveling in February, two adults, one child. Coming from NZ.

Day1: arrive Tokyo, evening.
Day2: Shibuya, Harajuku- shopping, Meiji Jingu
Day3: Ghibli museum, Akihabara.
Day4: Tokyo Disneyland
Day5: Tokyo Disneysea
Day6: Tsukiji market, Odaiba-shop, joypolis.
Day7: Ueno park, Ikebukuro- sunshine city.
Day8: Tokyo-Sendai. 1 night
Day9: Sendai- Yamadera. Yamadera temple.
Sendai-Tokyo-Kyoto
Day10: Fushimi inari, imperial palace, golden pavilion, Nishiki market- Toyosato
Day11: Monkey park, gion, craft museum, Toei kyoto studio park.
Day12: Kanazawa day trip.
Day13: Kyoto-Nagoya 1 night
Day14: Nagoya-Ise- shrines, wedded rock, etc
Nagoya-Osaka.
Day15: Namba Yasaka, Osaka castle, history museum, peace museum, Sumiyoshi Taisha
Day16: Explore Osaka
Day17: Day trip Nara- park
Day18: Day trip Himeji: Castle, mount Shosha. Kobe: Sake brewery, harbour area.
Day19: Universal studios
Day20: Osaka- Okayama. (2 nights.) Castle. Okayama- Takahashi. Castle, samurai residence
Day 21: Okayama- Onomichi temple walk. Kosanji Temple via ferry.
Day 22 Okayama- Tokyo. Evening flight.

Does this seem practical? Are some days too busy?
My plan was to buy a JR pass, but I would also have to use some subways, trams, and ferry that wouldn't be covered.

Hotels Tokyo: Tokyo Hilton
Sendai: Dormy inn
Kyoto: Matsumoto ryokan
Nagoya: Hotel wing international
Osaka: Hotel Dotonbori
Okayama: Koraku Hotel
I chose hotels based on location and family reviews.

My plan was also to budget average 100-150 dollars a day for food, if anyone has traveled with a child I would love to know if this sounds reasonable? We will generally just eat at mid-range places that we see. Breakfast is included with most of the hotels.

Again, sorry this is so long.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

Hi There

As a fellow New Zealander I will help as much as I can!

Your itinerary seems mostly okay, Though I do feel that days 9, 14, and 18 are a bit busy and have a lot of travel time. Also Are you aware of the amount of time you will be spending on the trains on some days?

For example, on Day 9, Sendai to Yamadera is a 2 hour return train trip and then from Sendai to Kyoto is approx 4hrs40mins. This could have you arriving quite late into Kyoto.

Have you looked at Hyperdia.com before? It is extremely useful for working out your travel times and departure/arrival times on trains. All information on how to use it can be found on Japan Guide.

I am making this comment as I feel it would be good to know what travel times you are in for as you are travelling with a Child and not everywhere you want to go to can be reached by Shinkansen.

If you have any further queries about this please ask.

While in Tokyo, I would suggest trying to see a bit more per day if you can.

To find out more about transport in each place look up the transport pages for each destination you are going to visit. They usually list what day passes and such are avaialable as well as how to get to and from major stations etc.

Purchasing a JR pass is definitely reccommended.

As for food budget, I have not travelled with a child but your budget seems fairly reasonable to me but I cant be certain as I am usually a backpacker when I am in Japan.

Your budget will allow you approx 8200yen to 12400 yen per day for meals.

If there is anything in particular you want to know, ie which areas to visit in the big cities, transport etc just ask, and I will try and help.

I hope this helps somewhat.

They look pretty reasonable and well paced (except for Okayama area since I have yet to go there and Ise Shima area).

Why not stop at Nagoya and Ise-Shima first before traveling to Kansai? (Osaka+Kyoto), that way you will not be making any wasted time on train. As in Tokyo-Nagoya (1 night, your day 13), then next day Ise shima - Osaka/Kyoto.

My suggestion is to split your Tokyo trip if you haven't booked any Hotel yet, in such a way that you will be spending few days at the end of your trip in Tokyo. This will be good if you plan to shop in Tokyo.

Imperial Palace need reservation to get a guided tour to its interior.

Himeji castle still under renovation and depending when is your trip, you will probably not see much. If you have future plan to visit Japan again, I suggest you not to visit it on this trip (it should be reopen in 2015)

For 100-150 Dollars on food, it's pretty reasonable as long you don't splurge yourself in high-end restaurant on daily basis.

Further information on food budget, for lunch you will probably looking at about 1000Yen per person unless you splurge on some restaurants or cafe etc.

For dinner, I normally average around 5000 Yen but that was because I was ordering dishes (like 5 or so... haha) to try out, so about 6000Yen for 2 adults and a child should be more than enough.

Thank you for such a quick response.

Yes, I've looked at at the train times and I know some days have a lot of traveling and very little else. On arrival to Kyoto and Osaka we would just go to the hotel because both days have so much traveling.

I have tried to think of ways to rearrange these days to make things easier but in the end I decided two days with a lot of travel seemed better than splitting my time in a new city with travel as well. I hope that makes sense.

My biggest concerns were defiantly days 9 and 18, so seeing you confirm that is really helpful. I might try and change that around a bit. I think I may have to drop the sake brewery since they're not close to everything else I want to see in Kobe.
I did use the Hyperdia.com as well as google maps.

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.

Thank you all for the advice, it has been so helpful.

I will change my plans to Tokyo-Nagoya-Kyoto instead of making it a trip from Kyoto. I never even thought to do it that way, so thank you so much for suggesting it.

I had considered splitting my Tokyo trip, the only reason I didn't is because the hotel was cheaper booking it all at once. We will be doing a bit of shopping in Tokyo, so I may rethink that too.

I was hoping to post most of what we bought back to NZ, will this be easy to do?

I may add a bit more to my food budget too, just to be sure. Some days we will have more expensive meals but I've calculated them separately.

Thank you all so much!

Yea, I figured the multiple stay discount might have affected the decision hehe... Try to have at least a day in Tokyo before you leave in case of last minute shopping and for convenience (for posting, leaving luggage at hotel etc). This way you could leave your big luggage which might be full of souvenirs and shopping bounty at the hotel, pick them up on your last day in Tokyo. Otherwise you have to think of an efficient way to deal with your luggage

Posting overseas is relatively easy, go to the post office and buy one of the box, get the EMS form fill them up, give to the counter , pay up... that's it. I'm not sure if there is any other options for overseas shipping other than EMS using Japan Post. Be aware of the opening hours of the Postal office, most of them closed at 5pm and do not open on Saturday and Sunday.

Probably a little busy body on this but, I hope you are not paying a lot for your Hilton Tokyo room, given that there are many other options available with better location.

Thanks for the heads up about the post office. Tokyo Hilton is quite expensive, it was a recommendation from a friend of mine. I tried finding somewhere closer to the station that was cheaper and child friendly but I didn't decide on another place. I'm open for suggestions if you have any? :)

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