Tokyo itinerary

Hello, everyone! I'll be spending 5 days in Tokyo in spring (March 31st-April 4th) with my husband and I really need some help with the itinerary. We plan on staying 3 full days in Tokyo, and the other 2 on day trips to Nikko and Kamakura. The problem is, I haven't been able to fit in these 3 days everything I want to see in Tokyo.
We are very nerdy people and would like to see this side of the city, but we also want to experience the more traditional side, and really want to enjoy hanami as the sakura will be in bloom at the time. What we can�ft miss: Studio Ghibli Museum and TeamLab Borderless in Odaiba (where people say you spend 3-4 hours, and it closes at 7PM on weekdays).
My initial thoughts:
Day 1 (Sunday): Harajuku-Shinjuku-Shibuya
Meiji-jingu Shrine, Yoyogi Park, Takeshita-dori, Omotesando, Nezu Museum and garden, Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Shinjuku Gyoen, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Robot Restaurant, Samurai Museum, Shibuya crossing, Hachiko, Tower Records, Meguro River.
Day 2: Tsukiji-Imperial Palace-Akihabara-Odaiba
Tsukiji, Hamarikyu gardens, Imperial Palace Gardens, Chidorigafuchi, Akihabara, Themed cafe, Super Potato, Odaiba.
Day 3: Ghibli Museum-Asakusa-Ueno
Ghibli Museum, Edo-Tokyo Museum, Senso-ji temple, Nakamise Dori, Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Park.
I think this leaves too little time for Odaiba. But I really don�ft know how to make it better. Do you think we should skip on a day trip and leave 1 more day for Tokyo instead? All help is appreciated, thanks in advance!

I admit being a slow traveler, but I seriously doubt that you can fit all that in, into each day. Your day 1 alone looks like 3 full days of activities. You need to concentrate on a maybe 2 major events per day, and then see if there is anything close by that does not take long. Eg if you are in Meiji Jingu anyway, Harajuku is a quick win.

For me you seem to have too many gardens on your list. Are you a specially interested in them? Could you maybe do only 1 or 2?

Consider that you need transport between places, that things close kinda early in Japan and that it gets dark early in Japan.

For Ghibli make sure you get tickets before. Read through the appropriate page. I just went now in january on a Sunday and my husband only was able to get the tickets because he got up at 2 am to buy them immediately as they were released for sale. And even then it was not easy as the website was flooded with requests. I don�ft know about tickets for the Odaiba event.

Enjoy planning your trip to Japan!

When you say �gthe other 2 days on day trips to Nikko and Kamakura�h, do you intend to return to Tokyo for accommodation those 2 days? If yes, then you don�ft need to fret now about canceling either Nikko or Kamakura trip since you won�ft be dealing with hotel reservation and cancelation. Just play by ear (decide as you go) when you get there. Sakura blooms in Kamakura earlier than Tokyo, and earlier in Tokyo than Nikko. So when you arrive, Sakura may not be in full bloom, in that case you can try Kamakura.

You do have too much on plate for Tokyo, so you just have to prioritize.

That really is quite a bit to pack into three days. I would suggest skipping Nikko and saving it for next time around. (I might even skip Kamakura, since you're already going to plenty of traditional sites like temples and gardens in Tokyo.)

Next, you can cut out some minor attractions like the Imperial Palace Gardens and Chidorigafuchi (I lived in Tokyo for years before I saw them, and I didn't miss much). Anyway Imperial Palace Gardens is closed on Mondays. Almost all museums, and a lot of other attractions on closed on regular Mondays.

There's no need to see both Hamarikyu and Shinjuku Gyoen in one short four-day trip, so skip Hamarikyu for now.

Personally I would also skip Robot Restaurant and Tokyo National Museum and Sensoji, and substitute some less touristy sites, but that's just me.

Akihabara is right next to Ueno, so you can move that down to your Ueno museum day. That will give you more time to explore the various parts of Odaiba.

Day 1 (Sunday) will be impossibly full, and you've listed three different places that are very popular hanami spots (Gyoen, Yoyogi, Meguro). Meguro River in particular will be very crowded that day and hard to move around. You might consider moving some of your Day 1 itinerary to Day 4 (instead of Nikko). (Keep in mind though that if it rains on the Monday or the Tuesday, there might not be any more hanami after that.)

Anyway, have a great trip!

Oh, also keep in mind that a lot of the attractions in the Odaba area are museum-type things that also might be closed on Mondays. Planning a Monday itinerary around museum closings can be tricky if there are a lot of museums on your list.

This reads like a two-week itererary to me.

Day 1 (Sunday):
Meiji-jingu Shrine, Yoyogi Park, Takeshita-dori, Omotesando,

One of my days in Tokyo, I did only the above and it was nearly time for dinner. That should give you an idea of how insane your list is. You had 14 distinct destinations on day 1 alone. How is that even possible? You know how many waking hours in a day there are, right? Just think about it.

Hello Iolabnana,

The plan looks real packed.

Day 1 is doable if u are willing to wake up real early and probably spend last than 30mins at each area and also dropping the idea of visiting musuems.

Day2. I am not sure if its worth to visit what is left of Tsukiji. U can probably still do everything minus tsukiji and a little of day 1.

Day 3. Doable again if less than 30 mins visit for each location.

Do consider the travel time between each location and also the possibility of rain.
Museums could be a back up plan should the day turns bad.

Remove 50% of the locations and you can do it.

Oh no, don't miss Tsukiji Market - it's more interesting than most of the other stops on your itinerary IMO.

Day 3, if you skip Ghibli Museum, the plan of that day will be easy, plus you can take the Akihabara part of your day 2 plan into the evening of that day (somehow fast paced though).

This leaves probably just enough time for Odaiba plan for day 2, definitely enough time for TeamLab (don't know about others since you just mentioned Odaiba). Tsukiji should be fine if you can wake up and get out early (like 6am) and finish before 9am. But I think you will still need to drop 1 of the gardens to make it.

I know you said you can't miss Ghibli Museum, but this is just in case you actually miss it by not being able to get the ticket. If you do get the tickets, then maybe you really won't have enough time for one of the areas in day 2.

As for day 1, forget it. To make it worse, it's a Sunday. I'd say make some priorities (like Shinjuku Gyoen if you are looking for Sakura), get them done and just leave out the rest.

I am generally considered a fast tourer and I don't think I could do your touring.

I think you need to really think about what places and what activities are the most important to you and which are the ones that are can not be missed. There is no way you can do all these places and Kamakura and Nikko.

I would highly recommend going to Shinjuku Gyoen. Even if the sakura aren't at peak yet, the momo should be quite lovely there.

If you're going to do one longer day trip, I would probably do Kamakura over Nikko because Kamakura is only about 1 hour from Tokyo while Nikko is further. I would probably do it on Monday since you don't need to worry about the temples being closed.

If you don't have tickets for it, skip the Ghibli Museum. I went in July and while my daughter and I love Miyazaki films we did not love the museum. It's unpleasantly crowded and while the exhibits are interesting they are not fight to try to get a ticket interesting. (My hotel got us the timed tickets so I was not up fighting for ours after JTB didn't work out.) If you already have tickets then I'd go... but unless they do something more, I don't see myself ever getting tickets again. Hopefully the new theme park being opened is better.

If you are determined to do the Ghibli Museum still, I'd move some of the Shinjuku sights to that day, as Shinjuku is directly on the way back from Mitaka. I'd spend some time looking at transit times between places.

Good luck!