3 week itinerary

Hey everyone. Long time lurker wondering if I could get some feedback on my trip. Hubby and I are going over for three weeks next year, and I've worked hard at trying to get as many places in without it being crowded and without too much travelling involved. Havent started looking at train expenses yet but any suggestions would be good for that part.
Mainly just wondering if it looks alright and if we've fit enough in or too much.
I've done alot of searching on the forum and looking at peoples suggestions and stuff and would like to know if I got it right!
Would say that we will be medium paced travellers for most of the trip.
I have planned to be back in Tokyo at the end of the trip cause hubby wants to spend the last two days pretty much lazing around in the parks in Tokyo watching the Sakura. Our focus is also on temples and shrines moreso than shopping, but want to take the whole experience in. Tokyo was the hardest to plan because there is soo much to see.

Sun 19th March: Fly Into Tokyo
Sat 20th : Stay at hostel in Asakusa. Visit Harajuku, Yayogi Koen, Cosplay!! (huge Anime fans here)
Mon 21st: Tokyo - Visit Asakusa
Tue 22nd: Tokyo - Day trip to Nikko.
Wed 23rd: Tokyo – Ghibli Museum, Kichijoji
Thur 24th: Tokyo – Day trip to Kamakura
Fri 25th: Tokyo – Akihabara
Sat 26th: Tokyo – Anime Fair, maybe VR Theme Park
Sun 27th: Tokyo – Shinjuku
Mon 28th: Tokyo – Osaka about midday see castle, shrines and temples.
Tue 29th: Osaka, Aquarium – Kyoto late afternoon
Wed 30th Kyoto – Higashiyama Walk and Sanjusangendon
Thur 31st: Kyoto – Nijo Castle and Nishiki Market
Fri 1st April:Kyoto - Philosophers Walk
Sat 2nd: Kyoto – Early morning visit to Daijoji then onto Nara
Sun 3rd: Nara – late afternoon onto Mt Koya
Mon 4th: Mt Koya – visit Fushimi Inari on the way to Nagoya
Tue 5th: Nagoya – late afternoon head back to Tokyo
Wed 6th: Tokyo – Imperial Palace Gardens, Roppingi
Thurs 7th: Tokyo – Nothing planned
Fri 8th: Tokyo – Spend day at Ueno Park
Sat 9th: Tokyo – Fly back home

Also, for the people that have been, any suggestions for changes will be welcome! We are newbies at travelling - never been outside our state! (good old QLD Australia - heh)

Thanks so much in advance!

Note that most of your trip, except the last few days, falls into the school spring holidays. I recommend to schedule visits to theme parks and other popular family spots to a weekday towards the end of your stay (or at least avoid weekends), if possible.

I recommend visiting Kinkakuji in Kyoto too.

I think that a whole day is too much for Akihabara and Shinjuku, you can easily do them in a few hours (maybe half a day if you like to take it slow).

I'd also recommend Yokohama and a quick trip to Odaiba as well.

I think it's a really good idea not to pack too much into every day's schedule. It seems to get kind of hectic when visiting koya-san though, i would recommend to make sure to have time to enjoy that experience throughly. :)

If you want to see kids cosplaying in harajuku, Sunday is a better day than Saturday imo.

Another suggestion is to visit Mandarake in Nakano. You could do that on your way back from Kichioji (same train line) or on the day you're visiting Shinjuku.
http://www.mandarake.co.jp/en/shop/nkn.html

Unless you are a super huge fan for temples, the only thing it interested me there is that golden house, nothing else to see, you could easily do a round trip in less than 5mins. The bus took 45mins from Kyoto JR station, I felt it was waste of time. Instead i would recommend to go kiyomizu, bus raide is around 10-15mins from Kyoto JR station.

I actually love Kinkakuji. it is worth the bus, walk, and $$. I used http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/rtg/pdf/pg-503.pdf for my Kyoto trip. Hope it helps.

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone.
I got the first two days mixed up =( hehe, fly in on Sat and see Harajuku on Sun.
I thought we'd be close to the School Hols, should be all good though, I hope!
Looking into Kinkakuji too, hubby and I are huge Temple and Castle fans so might be a goer. We werent sure if we should visit Northern Kyoto or if we would have time for it.
I wasnt sure about the couple of days around Mt Koya, was going to go straight to Tokyo but thought if we could bypass somewhere on the way back it would be good.
Wasnt entirely sure about Shinjuku and Akihabara, will def visit Mandarake, it looks super awsome!! And we get to see Odaiba the day of the Anime Con which is cool.
I'd looked at Yokohama and wasnt sure if we'd really enjoy it all that much.

Three weeks isnt nearly enough time!!!

Mandrake is in the Nakano Broadway Centre near the train station. Have a look round the shopping centre as there are lots of really good Anime stores there not only Mandrake.

You can take a bus from outside Nijo Castle to Kinkakuji. I have been there twice and I think it is beautiful. It is great for photos particularly on a clear day where you get the reflection of the temple in the water. Here is the link to the bus map:
http://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/cmsfiles/contents/0000019/19770/bus_...
You can take bus 12 or 101 from Nijojo-mae stop outide Nijo Castle. That's a suggestion anyway.

I personally didn't find Yokohama that interesting but if you have some spare time it's good for a wander. It is on the way to Kamakura so you could go there on the way there or back.

I recommend you visit Shibuya, people watching from the Starbucks at the big intersection near Shibuya is great (if you can get a seat). You could do this on the same day as Shinjuku.

You do seem to have fairly relaxed days in Tokyo, maybe you could spend one less day in Tokyo and add one to the Kyoto, Nara, Mt Koya section.

Just some thoughts anyway.

p.s. I can't believe you haven't left QLD before :P Are you flying Jetstar? I have flown them to Japan once before and I thought they were great. Amazing how cheap you can fly overseas with them.

I personally think thats a MUST in Kyoto

You should consider Yokohama as well... I choose Yokohama over "Tokyo" any given days....

I assumed Kiyomizudera was incuded in the Higashiyama day in Kyoto. If not you should include a visit there.

Thanks for the feedback AusEz and everyone! No, never left the state, pretty sad I know, hubby has, but not me.
Thinking of flying Jetstar or JAL, as long as it goes straight to Japan, dont wanna be stopping off anywhere. And it is amazingly cheap now, which is great!

I will add one more day to the Kyoto section, was wondering from when I first started planning if it would be better, but I'm not sure where I would put it, any suggestions would be good, its got me pretty stumped. Not sure if I should drop the visits to Daijoji or Fushimi Inari and spend more time in Kyoto (Northern?) or not. Or where the extra day would fit in,

Def visiting Kiyomizudera! Our goal is to be templed out after Kyoto!! Should be good.

Thanks =)

Hey everyone. Because of all your input I've done more research and looked at train times and I think the trip is now heaps better!

Sat 19th March: Fly Into Tokyo
Sun 20th : Stay at hostel in Asakusa. Visit Harajuku
Mon 21st: Tokyo - Visit Asakusa
Tue 22nd: Tokyo - Day trip to Nikko.
Wed 23rd: Tokyo – Ghibli Museum, Kichijoji
Thur 24th: Tokyo – Day trip to Kamakura
Fri 25th: Tokyo – Akihabara
Sat 26th: Tokyo – Anime Fair, maybe VR Theme Park
Sun 27th: Tokyo – Osaka about midday see castle, shrines and temples.
Mon 28th: Tokyo – Osaka, Aquarium – Kyoto late afternoon
Tue 29th: Kyoto - Higashiyama Walk and Sanjusangendon
Wed 30th Kyoto – Northern Kyoto, Arashiyama
Thur 31st: Kyoto – Philosophers Walk, Nijo Castle and Nishiki Market
Fri 1st April: Kyoto – Daigoji, Byodoin, Fushimi Inari, Tokofuji
Sat 2nd: Kyoto – Nara, Back to Kyoto
Sun 3rd: Kyoto onto Mt Koya
Mon 4th: Mt Koya – Afternoon onto Nagoya
Tue 5th: Nagoya – late afternoon head back to Tokyo
Wed 6th: Tokyo – Imperial Palace Gardens, Roppingi
Thurs 7th: Tokyo – Shinjuku, Shibuya
Fri 8th: Tokyo – Spend day at Ueno Park
Sat 9th: Tokyo – Fly back home

So thanks so much for everyone who suggested stuff, when I relooked over Kyoto and did more research (which I didnt think was possible!) I found heaps more in Kyoto that would interest myself and my hubby. And I seem to have found more time now too which is great.

Thanks so much

Interesting itineary.... a few comments:
Much as I like Osaka, the shrines and temples are nowhere as interesting as those in Kyoto. What I like in Osaka is the hustle and bustle of the Dotombori area (including the roofed over pedestrian streets) and also the underground malls in Kita, along with the Umeda Sky building and the Hep five Ferris wheel. The Castle is interesting but from the outside only. Check the enormous stones used to built the walls of the moats.

Kyoto: If the weather is nice try to go all the way up to Mt Inari and go down and around by the back way. It takes 4 hrs but is worth doing.
At the very least walk up to the highest view point with a great view of Kyoto.

I didn't find Nagoya that interesting. I would skip it unless there is something that you must absolutely see. I had rather go through Nagoya and stay overnight at Matsumoto to visit its authentic castle the morning after, then go to Tokyo via Nagano (without staying there, only changing trains)

In Tokyo it will never take you a full day to visit Asakusa or Akihabara or Ropongi or Harajuku (do visit the Meiji shrine after watching the Cos players. They stand on the bridge to the shrine)

You can spend some time in Asakusa each morning and evening for 1 1/2 hr, before and after a visit to someplace else.

Instead of the Imperial Palace gardens ( you don't see the palace and by that time will have seen gardens in Kyoto etc. plus it is a long walk from the nearest subway or rail station to there) and Roppongi (too many Caucasians making fools of themselves) I had rather take a boat from Asakusa to Odaiba and explore the various sights there, including the great Toyota showroom with cars we don't see anywhere else.

You could tack Shibuya to the first Sunday as it is the next stop after Harajuku on the loop line. Not a huge lot to see there either so you will have time.

This way, on the day you visit Shinjuku, first stop in Yanaka (http://www.digi-promotion.com/tokyo-neighborhoods/yanaka/0 a lovely old fashioned area that look like pre-war Tokyo.

While in Ueno, be sure to visit, in the late afternoon, the Ameyoko-cho shopping area under the elevated JR tracks, just outside the Ueno station, in the direction of Akihabara. http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=357&pID=996#ameyok

Oh wow. Now there's more information! I didnt realise I was leaving so much free time.

Do you think we would be able to do the boat cruise to Odaiba, visit the Anime Fair and look around on the same day? If I now have Mon 21st, Fri 25th and Wed 6th free (moved those to other days) what would people suggest?

Also have decided to visit Matsumoto and not Nagoya.

Thanks!

itinerary revised... again, as i'm sure it will probably be again too... want to get it right soon though so I can start booking and planning accomadation and travel.

Sat 19th March: Fly Into Tokyo
Sun 20th : Stay at hostel in Asakusa. Visit Harajuku, Shinjuku, Asakusa
Mon 21st: Tokyo - Akihabara, Imperial Palace Gardens, Kashikawa Koraken, Yanaka, Shibuya, Roppingi
Tue 22nd: Tokyo - Day trip to Nikko.
Wed 23rd: Tokyo – Hike up Takaosan
Thur 24th: Tokyo – Day trip to Kamakura
Fri 25th: Tokyo – Ghibli Museum, Kichijoji, Afternoon of rest.
Sat 26th: Tokyo – Anime Fair, maybe VR Theme Park
Sun 27th: Tokyo – Osaka about midday see castle, shrines and temples and shopping
Mon 28th: Tokyo – Osaka, Aquarium – Kyoto late afternoon
Tue 29th: Kyoto - Higashiyama Walk and Sanjusangendon
Wed 30th Kyoto – Northern Kyoto, Arashiyama, slow afternoon, maybe some rest?
Thur 31st: Kyoto – Philosophers Walk, Nijo Castle and Nishiki Market
Fri 1st April: Kyoto – Daigoji, Byodoin, Fushimi Inari (Go up Mt Inari), Tokofuji
Sat 2nd: Kyoto – Nara, Back to Kyoto
Sun 3rd: Kyoto onto Mt Koya
Mon 4th: Mt Koya – Afternoon onto Matsumoto
Tue 5th: Matsumoto – late afternoon head back to Tokyo
Wed 6th: Tokyo – Day trip to Yokohama
Thurs 7th: Tokyo –
Fri 8th: Tokyo – Spend day at Ueno Park, Ameyoko cho
Sat 9th: Tokyo – Fly back home

I now have one day where nothing is happening. Any further suggestions? Or more changes that yous feel I need to do?
I've looked around and I cant find any more day trips that I like the look of from Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka or Matsumoto. I'm giving Himeji a miss cause of construction and Hakone a miss cause of tattoos. And we're not entirely interested in Hiroshima, specially for our first trip, maybe next time.

I found some timetables of the cruises and they leave to late to catch for the Anime Fair, is it worth it to use the last free day to take the cruise and go back to Odaiba or is there something more interesting I can do with the time? And the ppl who have been to the Anime Fair, would we have time to look around Odaiba afterwards (would probably leave the fair after lunch unless we get really involved)? I feel that we would, but would like opinions.

Thanks so much everyone