2 Week Tokyo Loose Itinerary

My boyfriend and I are taking our first trip to Japan on August 29th - September 13th this year. We both knew off the bat we wanted at least 2 weeks for Tokyo, to explore as much of it and everything nearby as much as possible. Since it's getting closer I figured I'd ask for any ideas/suggestions/tips. Our plan is to keep everything very loose, cause who knows how the weather will be, and just go day to day and adjust to that.

Hotels are already booked. First 7 nights at Shinjuku Prince Hotel, then 6 at the Remm Akihabara, and 1 at the Park Hyatt Tokyo before leaving.

Day 1: Arrive at Narita airport at 3:15pm. Pick up Suica card for us both. Pick up rental SIM card for our iPhone4. Grab the Airport Limo to Shinjuku station and walk to our hotel. Put things up, then do a little local exploring around Shinjuku station, Kabukicho, etc.

[Outter trip insert] = Day trips to either Kamakura/Yokohama/Kawagoe

Day 2: Shinjuku / Nakano
Day 3: Ikebukuro
Day 4: Shibuya
Day 5: [Outter trip insert]
Day 6: Yoyogi Park/Harajuku
Day 7: [Outter trip insert]
Day 8: Pack up from the Prince, head to the Remm Akihabara. Explore Akihabara
Day 9: Akihabara / Ueno / Asakusa
Day 10: Ginza / Chiyoda
Day 11: Odaiba
Day 12: [Outter trip insert]
Day 13: [Anything leftover we wanna go back and see! Possibly more Yoyogi Park]
Day 14: Pack up from the Remm, head to the Park Hyatt. [Anything leftover we wanna go back and see!]
Day 15: Leave from Park Hyatt to the airport. Bye bye Japan!

Again this is just a *very* loose schedule. We wanna get around and see a lot, nothing is concrete, and it all depends on the weather.

Looking for any recommendations on places to see, explore, things to eat, etc. You can omit hot springs, as much as we like them, we're not really the people to goto them. We're both big into movies, video games, electronics, anime/music (I moreso than my boyfriend).

Some things we *definitely* want to do/see are below.

- Maid cafe (most likely http://maidreamin.com/)
- Arcades!
- Live music
- Ghibli Museum
- Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise
- Museums
- Sensoji Temple / Meji Shrine
- Tsukiji fish market
- Yasukuni Shrine
- Sunshine City
- Tokyo Tower / Tokyo Metropolitan Building

I've got LonelyPlanet's Tokyo City Guide and I'll be using that as well, and following their walking tours listed for places like Shinjuku/Shibuya/etc!

Hi,

Day 9 is kinda busy. Ueno takes a full day and it is worth it.

Roppongi is cool on a Sunday. Roppongi hills is better than Tokyo tower but they sell you fish outside the tower on Sundays and is lovely!

Kamakura is a great choice. I loved it. I wouldn't miss this day trip.

tsukiji fishmarket is amazing, but make sure you go in the morning. Hopefully by the time you go they allow visitors to the tuna auction again, when I was there in april it wasn't :(
After 9:00am you're allowed in the main sellers hall, a huge area with just about any time of seafood on display. Make sure you don't go much later than that, as most business is completed around 9 and vendors are cleaning up their areas.

Good call on the rental sim, that was a true help for me during my 2 weeks! Get the hyperdia app, fantastic for all your train/subway travels. It gives departure times, including platforms, prices, etc.

You sure you only want to do Tokyo? I would recommend a couple of days in Kyoto, just so many amazing things to see there too!

In any case, I'm sure you'll have a great time!

I am wondering why you are getting the limo bus to Shinjuku station instead of the faster and cheaper option of N'EX + Suica deal?

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/index.html

With N'EX + Suica you'll get a special design Suica card loaded with 1,500 Yen plus 500 Yen deposit, which means your fare to Shinjuku is just 1,500 Yen against 3,000 Yen by limo bus and take just 90 minutes against two hours (traffic permiting) by bus.

You'll love Tokyo...make sure you organise your Ghibli ticket before you leave home.

Your ticket will be for a "day" not a particular time on that day.

Have you looked at the gardens in Tokyo suggested on this site? We've done most of them, and especially enjoyed Koishikawa Korakuen and Rikugien.

@ RobBeer

The reason I figured we'd take the airport limo was mainly because I wanted to avoid afternoon rush hour.

I'd be open to taking the train as long as we can avoid that. We're landing at 3:15pm and I'm not sure how long it'll take us to get through customs/pick up the rental SIM card/etc.

Afternoon rush is 4pm to 5pm isn't it?

You can pair up Asakusa and Odaiba by taking a ferry from Asakusa to Odaiba.

If you find yourself with free time ( I think you will have some ) try making day trips out to Enoshima/Kamakura or Nikko.