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Itinerary Suggestions for Nov 2016/9/29 02:00
Hi, My wife & I will be in Japan for two weeks in the middle of November. First time there so I'm doing a lot of reading. We are a younger couple (both 28). We want our stay to not be too much hustle/bustle so we're trying to limit our visits to Tokyo/Hakone/Osaka/Kyoto.

We want to strike a bit of balance between historical site visits (i.e. temples, shrines, etc) with everyday living (i.e. shopping & food), with unique modern-day Japan experiences (i.e. Robot Restaurant, Akihabara 'Nerd-central', etc). For us, ideally the balance is probably about 75% more everyday living/shopping/food and 25% traditional museums/shrines/temples/etc. We are not night-animals/party'ers but enjoy the night-life hustle/bustle and would walk around at night to check things out for sure.

Things of interest for us will be:
- FOOD (Ramen, udon, soba, sushi, takoyaki, street food, coffee, wagyu/kobe beef, shabu-shabu, really anything!)
- Live music/arts/contemporary culture
- Architecture/Contemporary Japanese design/Mid-century modern/etc
- Boutique stores, boutique fashion, (unashamedly) 'hipster-style' fashion. We also like the big name stuff (Uniqlo and other department stores)
- Other quirky Japanese experiences

Looking for some specific suggestions based off of my preliminary & generic itinerary:

Day 1 (arrive NRT Airport 3PM) : Tokyo - Shinjuku
- Plan to check-in AirBnb & just relax/find dinner/adjust after airplane ride

Day 2: Tokyo - Shinjuku/Shibuya
- Do some Shopping, check out department stores, find food places etc.

Day 3: Tokyo - Tsukiji Fish Market/Ginza
- Explore

Day 4: Tokyo - Shimokitazawa
- Wander this supposedly 'hip' neighbourhood.

Day 5: Hakone
- Head over to Hakone. Stay at Lalaca Ryokan.

Day 6 - 8: Kyoto
- Stay in Kyoto. No specific plans yet. Check out some shrines/temples/etc.

Day 9 - 11: Osaka
- Stay in Osaka. Check out the Castle. Shop/eat/etc.

Day 12: Tokyo - Akihabara
- Check out all the tech / manga stuff. We're not too into manga, but it'd still be interesting to see the action.
- I'm a guitar guy so would want to check out Ochanomizu as well

Day 13: Tokyo - Nakameguro/Meguro Dori
- Check out boutiques at Nakameguro.
- Check out Meguro Dori and the furniture stuff there as I'm into architect/interior design/mid-century modern stuff.

Day 14: Tokyo - Daikanyama
- Wander/shop

Day 15: Head home

by slowly88  

Re: Itinerary Suggestions for Nov 2016/9/29 13:20
Days 3 and 4 are really slow paced. You wouldn't take more than a morning.
Day 2 may be considered slow paced depending on how much you guys love shopping.

Days 6 to 8 could be used to explore one area of Kyoto each. Namely the East (Higashiyama district up to Silver Pavilion), North (Golden Pavilion to Nanzenji/Myoshinji), West (Arashiyama). There are many old streets and traditional crafts. Also much green tea and matcha.

Days 9 to 11
I find 3 days in Osaka to be too long (Being a city very much like Tokyo. Perhaps a day trip to somewhere nearby like Kobe, Himeji, or Uji may be interesting? Do spend a night or two walking around the domtombori area, seems like what you'll love.

Getting the JR Pass?

If you dont mind just one day of rush, you could use one Osaka day as a day trip to Kanazawa or Hiroshima.
by jh (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Itinerary Suggestions for Nov 2016/9/29 14:15
Thank you jh. Will look into your suggestions there.

Would you recommend a JR Pass given our itinerary?
by slowly88 rate this post as useful

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