Formulating an itinerary

Hello all, I and a friend are having our first ever Japan trip, arriving into Osaka the evening of 1st Feb, and flying out of Sapporo Thu 16th Feb. As you can see it is a winter trip - we are not interested in skiing or boarding. one of us is a birdwatcher, and we both like manga. So nature spots accessible during winter are good, and I'm trying to get some touristy things in as well. Atm there is lots of travel, and I'm trying not to make the trip too hectic.

I have been lurking on this site a bit, and will not at all be offended if you like this site's pages because I have overlooked something obvious.

This is my first draft.

Wednesday 1st
09:15 Sydney Airport Plane leaves
17:00 Narita Airport Go through Customs
18:20 Narita Airport 1hr20 to board domestic flight
20:00 Itani Airport, Osaka Leave airport – 30mins?
20:40 Shin-Osaka? Dinner
21:20 Shin-Osaka? Get to motel and sleep

Thursday 2nd
07:30 Get up
08:39 Shin-Osaka Shinkansen train to Himeji
09:18 Himeji Train station Walk to Himeji Castle
09:45 Himeji Castle Himeji Castle + garden?
12:45 Have lunch – Walking lunch?
13:30 Bus to Mount Shosha
Mount Shosha
Have dinner
Shin-Osaka Shinkansen train to Shin-Osaka
Get to motel and sleep

Friday 3rd
08:03 Shin-Osaka Shinkansen Train to Shinjuku
10:55 Shinjuku JR Go to motel? Store luggage
[Tokyo all arvo]
ghibli before wkend?
Motel Sleep

Saturday 4th Tokyo

Sunday 5th Tokyo

Monday 6th
07:00 Get up
08:00 Shinjuku Bus Stop Bus to Fujigoko
10:00 Kawaguchiko Station Store luggage – motel?
10:30 Mount Tenjo
Lunch around Mount Tenjo
Bus to Lake Saiko
Afternoon – Lake Saiko
Bus back to town
Dinner
Sleep at motel

Tuesday 7th
08:46 Kawaguchiko Station Train to Nagano Station
12:54 Nagano Buy bus pass? Store luggage?
Nagano Lunch around Mount Tenjo
Nagano
Zenkoji Temple
Walk back to station
Dinner
Motel, sleep

Wednesday 8th TIME PLACE ACTIONS

Yamanouchi Monkey park

Thursday 9th
08:00 Get up
09:00 Bus to Togakushi Shrine
Togakushi Shrine

Friday 10th
Get up
Train to matsumoto
Matsumoto
Matsumoto Castle Matsumoto Castle
Bus to Wasabi farm?
Lunch at farm
fill in arvo
Dinner
Sleep Matsumoto
Saturday 11th
Get up
Catch plane at Matsumoto airport
Fly to Sapporo arrive 2pm
Got to motel store baggage
Sapporo Snow Festival
Dinner
Motel, sleep
Sunday 12th

train to abashiri?

Monday 13th


Kushiro
Tuesday 14th

Kushiro

Wednesday 15th


Thursday 16th
Get up

Plane leaves Sapporo 2pm

A couple of immediate thoughts:

1- Plan carefully and well in advance for Ghibli! The tickets are not easy to obtain, especially from overseas!

2- Apart from its castle, Matsumoto is really very charmless. I'd consider either skipping it and going to somewhere like Takayama instead, or failing that, spending the day checking out Naraijuku, which is accessible from Matsumoto by local train, and I suspect looks fantastic in the winter covered in snow.

https://myjapantravels.wordpress.com/2016/10/15/the-old-postal-town-of...

3- Consider Otaru. Its got its own ice festival and is a charming town, if a bit touristy.

Actually, Ghibli tickets are very easy to obtain from overseas. You can purchase them online from Lawson on the 10th of the month before you want to visit.

https://l-tike.com/st1/ghibli-en/Tt/Ttg010agreement/index

Make sure you are ready to purchase the tickets as soon as they are released, because they sell out very quickly. If you want a particular date/time, you need to purchase them within the first hour!

Hello respondents,
RE tickets for Ghibli, I found my AUS link thanks to another answer on the forum. They go on sale tomorrow for Feb, and so I'm thinking of making Ghibli the morning of Tokyo on the 4th or 5th just so my chances of being there and not missing my slot are reduced. Unfortunately that is a weekend though, so is it better to be there first thing to minimize crowd numbers? Or will it be busy regardless.

RE Matsumoto: Mmm its a concern at the moment. I wanted to be there so I could catch the plane the next day, but I'm not that enthused by the farm and the castle is the only thing that stands out there.

I've heard that the final slot is the quietest, but can't confirm. There are limited tickets, so it will never be unbearably crowded.

I assume the AUS seller you're talking about is JTB? Note that they charge a markup fee. The tickets you buy through the link I provided above will be cost price.

We got our tickets through JTB and the Ghibli Museum was well worth the $30!

The tickets aren't timed, they are valid for the whole day, so go early and stay as long as you like!

$30 is a huge markup. The tickets cost 1000 yen each from Lawson!

Actually, it's just $20 when I bought them from JTB USA, including fedex shipping. Still a bit of a markup, but the flexibility of not having a specific time slot is also worth some consideration.

I'm going to buy the Ghibli tickets this morning, just another Australia tax...

I have made some edits to itinerary, will update this thread tonight.
I appreciate all responses, and will pose some more questions soon.

The JTB aussie sold tickets are all day tickets. Not the cheaper timed and sloted tickets.

The cheaper tickets have a time slot to enter, but once you enter you can stay as long as you like - your visit isn't timed. The tickets are organised by 2-hour time slots because that's the average amount of time people spend at the museum - it's not very big!

That makes sense? Is the a common less busy time throughout the day? Guessing weekends/holidays and mornings are busiest?

As I said earlier, I've heard the last slot is the quietest, but because there are limited tickets sold, it's never going to be uncomfortably crowded. Weekends would likely be a bit busier, due to more locals attending.