14 day trip to Japan Feedback (Nov ‘22)

Hey, everybody! I'm planing a trip to Japan in mid Nov '22 w/ my SO and I'd love some feedback!

Some things to consider:
-We will be buying a 14-day JR Pass and our budget is around 310,000 yens (around 2,700 USD + plane tickets)
-We love outdoors, cycling & coffee, also we love museums and aquariums; we really don't do much shopping & prefer stay in airb&b and avoid tourist traps as much as possible.
-We both speak japanese. We are not interested in "main japanese" culture like ninja, samurai, geishas, anime and manga, ryokans, etc. We rather have local experiences.

I'll apreacciate some feedback on regards to how much time is spend in trains, food budget and other extra things to keep in mind like shrine and temple prices, thanks!

DAY 1
- 06:00 Arrive to Narita Airport & leave lugagge at Ueno Station
- 11:00 Walk around Koenji Station checking out the second-hand clothing, galleries and craft stores, and graffiti around the hipster area.
- 14:00 Walk to the next station Nakano, check out Nakano Broadway & the backstreets full of Showa period buildings and abandoned buildings from 60's-70's, experience the real Tokyo, eat at a local Izakaya right below the train tracks.
- 19:00 Get back to Ueno Station to pick our bags, check-in at the AirB&B and call it a day.

DAY 2
- 08:00 Rent a bike (DOCOMO) near Tokyo Tower and cycle around the Minato-Meguro-Setagaya area, following the Meguro River and along the tram line all the way to Gotokuji Temple and back to Takenawa Gateway Station. Explore the neighborhood and check out the little hidden away temples. At the end, visit de Nikon Camera Museum and rest at a Sento.

DAY 3
- 08:00 Kayak through the river near the Tokyo Sky Tree with a private guide (found on airbnb experiences) and get to experience Tokyo from a different perspective.
- 13:00 I have the rest of the day free...any recomendations?

DAY 4
- 05:00 Get a Bullet Train from Tokyo-Osaka-Mihara, and a local train Mihara-Onomichi
- 14:00 Arrive at Onomichi, check in at the hotel. Stroll at the beach and relax having coffe and donuts near the shore. Go to bed early.

DAY 5
- 08:00 Rent a bike for 48 hrs. Cycle along Shimanami Kaido and do some café hopping around the islands. Eat fresh seafood & local delicatessen like lemon and ice-cream with sea salt! Check out the temples, little islands, tangerine and flower fields, and dolphin farms. Camp at Hakata Island (tent is included in the camping fee).

DAY 6
- 08:00 Return tent and Bike at Hakata. Take a bus back to Onomichi
- 11:00 Ride the cable car to the Onomichi temple complex and stroll around temple and pintoresque town. Have fresh pastry at Neko no Te Pan and eat some Onomichi's style Udon

DAY 7
- 11:00 Bullet train Onomichi-Hakata and Hakata-Osaka.
- 16:00 AirBNb check in; rest a little and eat away the night at Shinsekai (streetfood)

DAY 8
- 10:00 Get to Osaka's aquarium around the feeding times of Otters and Ringed Seals. Price include feeding the Capybaras.
- 16:00 Eat around the Namba-Dontonbori-Shinsaibashi-Amemura area (more streetfood!)

DAY 9
- 07:00 Take a train Osaka-Kyoto and a bus Kyoto-Ohara.
- 09:00 Stroll around Ohara: check the local fruit and vegetable stores, flower market, agriculture market and Janzen-In Temple (matcha and small tradicional candy is included on the entrance fee), walk along the main road near the river and get souvenirs and candy and experience the traditional Kyoto!
- 15:00 Get back to Kyoto city by bus. Get to the Kiyomizudera-Gion area and try to eat autum snacks like ginko, matsutake, tsukimi dango and deep fried maple leaves. Watch the momiji at night.

DAY 10
- 09:00 Take a train Osaka-Kyoto and a head south to Momoyama Station. Leave the luggage at Station. Take a guided tour through a Sake Brewery and visit a Sake Museum.
- 12:00 Have a mini picnic in a nearby park where you can watch the traditional pintoresque boats at the Jikkokubune canal. Walk around the sake factories and try the amazake ice cream.
- 17:00 Take a train to Kyoto and a bullet Train to Nagoya. Check in at Nagoya's Airbnb and stroll around the Sakaemachi area at night. Check out the city architecture and get to Space ship Aqua Observation Deck.

DAY 11
- 09:00 Visit the Toyota Automobile Museum and then have a picnic at the Nagoya's Botanical Garden (fee includes: Botanical Garden, Greenhouse, Rose Fields, Japanese Gardens and a replica of the Shirakawa Ville; as well as a small zoo with native animals (like the Japanese Raccoon Dog or Tanuki, Cranes, and some weird animals I have never seen in my life like the Aardvark, Honey badget, Equidna, Flying Fox, Bush Dog, and Palla's Cat), and a small aquarium.

DAY 12
- 07:00 Take a bullet train Nagoya-Tokyo and leave the luggage at Ueno Station
- 10:00 Stroll around Yanka Ginza's area and backstreets. Shop for souvenirs and try traditional food.
- 16:00 Check in at the Airbnb. Then head to Ningyocho to get a more traditional perspective of central Tokyo. Cover the glamorous area of Nihon Bashi and Ginza by foot admiring the arquitecture and specially the NihonBashi bridge statues at night. Finally have a nice expensive dinner near the Ginza Area.

DAY 13
- 09:00 Take a plane back home at Narita Airport

Initial comment - do not get the 14 day JR pass - it is far more expensive than individual tickets for your planned trip on an initial look.
Second, beware of AirBNB in Japan. Yes, many people don't have problems, but a lot operate illegally.

I'll apreacciate some feedback on regards to how much time is spend in trains, food budget and other extra things to keep in mind like shrine and temple prices, thanks!
Generally speaking shrines are free and open 24/7, while some temples (but not all) have some admittance price and generally close (around 17:00 is a good estimation.)

DAY 1
- 11:00 Walk around Koenji Station checking out the second-hand clothing, galleries and craft stores, and graffiti around the hipster area.
- 14:00 Walk to the next station Nakano, check out Nakano Broadway & the backstreets full of Showa period buildings and abandoned buildings from 60's-70's, experience the real Tokyo, ...
You now made me curious. I lived for 3 years not too far from Nakano, but I only ever passed once and never stopped there. Next time in Tokyo I'll check it out.

DAY 2
- 08:00 Rent a bike (DOCOMO) near Tokyo Tower and cycle around the Minato-Meguro-Setagaya area, following the Meguro River and along the tram line all the way to Gotokuji Temple and back to Takenawa Gateway Station. Explore the neighborhood and check out the little hidden away temples. At the end, visit de Nikon Camera Museum and rest at a Sento.
Cycling along the Meguro river is very nice and Gotokuji temple is a great choice. You will stumble along the way across many other temples, shrines and nice places. Depending on the day and time of the day, you could find some food stalls along the Meguro river (essentially around lunch time).
Just a word of warning on those DOCOMO bicycles. They are TINY. So if you are an avid cyclist, dont suppose that you can ride at anything like your normal speed, even though they come with a battery. It's more like riding your child's bike. But once you settled in, they can be a lot of fun. During day time the motor can actually be switched off, which I normally prefer as I find it awkward to have this artificial push, but at night / when you need lights, you can't.
For the sento, do you want small neighborhood sento, or super-sento? I am a rotenburo freak, so normally I aim for the supersentos (there are a few small sento's with rotenburo as well though). Looking at where you seem to want to end up, there is one right outside of Oimachi station, which might fit: https://www.ousama2603.com/shop/ooimachi/
If you want a bit smaller, but still with rotenburo, this sento is in Musashi-Koyama, Shimizu-yu and is great.

DAY 3
- 08:00 Kayak through the river near the Tokyo Sky Tree with a private guide (found on airbnb experiences) and get to experience Tokyo from a different perspective.
- 13:00 I have the rest of the day free...any recomendations?
That kayaking sounds interesting. I have two suggestions for your afternoon:
1) Head to Hamarikyu Garden. A very nice, Japanese garden in the middle of Shiodome (a high rise office place). You can get their by ship from Asakusa (or obviously by subway)
2) Head to Shibamata. It is like a mini trip to Nikko: https://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2019/04/gw-2019-day-2-shibamat...

DAY 4
- 05:00 Get a Bullet Train from Tokyo-Osaka-Mihara, and a local train Mihara-Onomichi
- 14:00 Arrive at Onomichi, check in at the hotel. Stroll at the beach and relax having coffe and donuts near the shore. Go to bed early. I have been told (but missed it) that Onomichi and it's temples on the hills of the city is a very nice place. You seem to arrive early enough to at least see a bit of it.

DAY 5
- 08:00 Rent a bike for 48 hrs. Cycle along Shimanami Kaido and do some café hopping around the islands. Eat fresh seafood & local delicatessen like lemon and ice-cream with sea salt! Check out the temples, little islands, tangerine and flower fields, and dolphin farms. Camp at Hakata Island (tent is included in the camping fee).

DAY 6
- 08:00 Return tent and Bike at Hakata. Take a bus back to Onomichi I guess you researched this, that it is possible to return the bicycle at Hakata island, right? Sorry, I always thought that you need to ride until Imabari.
And just make sure to reserve the bicycle in advance. Specially on weekends this is a very busy cycling route (for Japanese standards). But great.
https://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2017/11/day-48-shimanamikaido-...
https://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2017/11/day-49-shimanami-kaido...

- 11:00 Ride the cable car to the Onomichi temple complex and stroll around temple and pintoresque town. Have fresh pastry at Neko no Te Pan and eat some Onomichi's style Udon

DAY 7
- 11:00 Bullet train Onomichi-Hakata and Hakata-Osaka. There is a station IN Shin-Onomichi... or if you want to take the train from the center of Onomichi, you could also go towards Fukuyama and change to the Shinkansen there.

DAY 8-11

DAY 12
- 07:00 Take a bullet train Nagoya-Tokyo and leave the luggage at Ueno Station
- 10:00 Stroll around Yanka Ginza's area and backstreets. Shop for souvenirs and try traditional food.
- 16:00 Check in at the Airbnb. Then head to Ningyocho to get a more traditional perspective of central Tokyo. Cover the glamorous area of Nihon Bashi and Ginza by foot admiring the arquitecture and specially the NihonBashi bridge statues at night. Finally have a nice expensive dinner near the Ginza Area. Nihonbashi bridge... well, it's not a special place... but if you are in the are, why not. Also Ginza is very long and the interesting stuff is at the other end, compared to Nihonbashi.
Also why Ningyocho? Never thought of that part of the city as anything special...

Enjoy your trip and dont be disappointed if it doesnt go ahead in 2022. I know back in 2020 I was saying that latest by autumn 2020 borders would be open again... and here we are in 2022... and borders still closed tight.

Day 7: It's better to take a JR train from Onomichi to Fukuyama and then the shinkansen to Osaka. There's not need to go to the end of the Sanyo Shinkansen only to return all they way back to the other end. That's a waste of time.

A few observations...
First, as you are probably aware, going to Japan in mid-22 is still quite iffy. The virus is still going around, so keep doing research, but I wouldn't start packing those bags just yet. Also, you don't state where you are flying from, and how many time zones you are crossing to get to Japan, but it looks like you are landing at NRT in the early morning, and have a full day planned - unless you can sleep well on the plane, you might very well arrive as a brain-dead zombie, and that is no fun way to see Tokyo. You might consider catching a few hours of sleep somewhere. I suggest you try to keep a light first day. And to be honest, I don't understand your plans here - you clearly state you have no interest in anime and manga, but then you write you want to go to Nakano Broadway, which is Anime and Manga Central.
By the way, you say you're interested in museums - unless you have a big interest in camera history, there might be a lot better ones for you. You might browse this listing of over 900 of them:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g298184-Activities-c49-Tokyo_T...

For your 3rd day, you asked for other ideas for sights. It's unclear if you've been to Japan before, but I highly recommend visiting a couple of Tokyo's traditional gardens - they are gorgeous, uncrowded, inexpensive, and give you a good immersion in real Japanese culture, if that is what you're interested in. A few of the best are Kosihikawa Korakuen, Rikugien, and Kiyosumi.
https://goo.gl/tAECfM

You also might visit some great places for city views. There are some excellent and popular ones of course like the Skytree, Mori Bldg, and Shibuya Sky. But if you want lesser known gems, there are others like the I-Link Tower (45 floors up, near Ichikawa Stn). The TMG is nice too and free, though trumpeted in every guidebook and flowing with international tourists. Another option if you have an afternoon is go see Kawasaki or Yokohama - they have a different environment, and both with some good sights like the Minka-en (plus, ig going in June, the Hydrangea Mountain is really nice) and Kawasaki Daishi, or for Yokohama, Minato-Mirai, Chinatown, and the beautiful Sankeien Garden.
For Onomichi, I don't know what your ideas of a "beach" are, but you might find a lot less than you expect, unless you mean going out on to some of the islands.

As mentioned above, I wouldn't get the 14-day pass. Just get regular fare tickets for Tokyo-Osaka. You might however get the Kansai-Hiroshima Pass. This has the added bonus of being able to take the 'faster' Nozomi trains, at least for the Tokaido portion. However, your Day 7 plan is confusing. You previously mention staying on Hakata Island, then you suggest taking the bullet train to Hakata (Fukuoka City)? If the latter, I lived there many years and know the place quite well. There are some good sights, but in your position I'd choose seeing Hiroshima or Himeji.
Your Day 9 plan makes no sense to me. You first state you want to go in mid-'22. then you say you want to see the autumn leaves - that is typically the 2nd half of November.

If you want to get to/from NRT at Ueno, then the Keisei Skyliner might suit you quite nicely. Be aware though that if you are arriving on a weekday morning, the trains and subways can be horrifically jammed.
Lastly, if going with your SO, instead of the Air B&B, why not spend a night or two in a Love Hotel?

OK, I see..you wrote mid-Nov 22.

Hi!

It might make sense to get a 1 week rail pass starting day 4 to use until day 11. You would then just pay out of pocket for a roundtrip between Tokyo and Narita (and like @Ken said, the Keisi line makes the most sense if you plan to stay in Ueno) and to then just pay for the shinkansen out of pocket from Nagoya to Tokyo. While the various JR West passes are a really good deal, since you would still need to get from Tokyo to Osaka, I think the 1 week pass would make the most sense. BTW, in general Hyperdia recommends you transfer at Shin-Kobe to the Sakura to continue onto Hiroshim/Fukuyama/Miharu vs. changing at Shin-Osaka.

Like @Japan Custom Tours mentioned, most AirBnBs are illegal, and I expect post Covid, the government to come down much harder on them than they did before Covid because a lot of Japanese just don't want AirBnBs in their buildings. Outside of more rural areas, I can't think of any city in the world where the residents are thrilled about AirBnB rentals. I arrived in Japan the day after the big AirBnB Cancellation in June 2018 and I was so glad I had booked regular hotels and wasn't scrounging around close to when I was supposed to arrive for a place to stay.

Like @Ken, I am unsure why you are interested in the Nakano Broadway Mall if you don't like anime or manga. I've not spent any time on the basement level floor, but as I do like anime, manga and dolls, I have spent a lot of time on floors 1-4. I mean if you're a doll collector, it's pretty awesome, but there are a lot awesome doll places I would think you would want to add in that case. The same holds true with Ningyocho. I go to a doll store really close to the station and have walked to the store from Takashimaya (which would be sort of the reverse of your planned walk) and I mean... I like it because the streets are wide and easy to find my way around, but I'm not sure I would be putting it on a first or even second itinerary unless you have something really specific in mind, like the doll store I go to.

I'm also unsure why you are staying in Osaka when most of your days are in Kyoto. You can easily eat street food in Osaka and still make it back to Kyoto for the evening. Last time I was in Kansai, I stayed out past 22:00 in Osaka at least one night hanging with a friend, and still easily made it back to Kyoto without having to worry about the last trains.

I haven't been to Momoyama Station, but I would be shocked if they have lockers large enough even for a small wheelie (aka 52 cm.) It's not a major station. You're probably better off finding someplace in Kyoto to leave your bags since outside of lockers, Kyoto use to have a left luggage location as well.

Good luck!

@rkold - thanks for your ideas. But please note that if the OP starts using a 7-day pass from Day 4, the final day of use would be Day 10, and according to the OP's plan as listed, the return to Tokyo would be on Day 12.

I was thinking about the OP trip last night and I appear to have mis-read the locations and how far south they are going. A 14-day rail pass might work, but a LCC trip from Tokyo to Fukuoka might make sense as an alternative to taking the train all the way both ways - would require a change to the schedule though.

@Ken, my mistake, thanks. Even so, the pass would run out in Nagoya, so they would be paying for travels within Nagoya, their round trip Keisei trip to the airport and the train from Nagoya to Tokyo (~10,000 yen) the ~39,000 +Keisei+ travels around Nagoya and travel around Tokyo on day 12, which I believe would still be less than a 2 week pass.

They could also fly from Tokyo to Hiroshima rather than taking the train, assuming they still have discount airline tickets when OP travels that will cost about ~10,000 yen and it's 850 yen from Limo bus to Onimichi.

https://www.hij.airport.jp/en/access/timetable/12.html

They could then work their way back to Tokyo with a pass. Thus they would have: Tokyo to Narita one way, travels around Tokyo days 1-3, some of which might have been out of pocket even with a 14 day pass. Tokyo to Haneda, Flight Haneda to Hiroshima and limo bus to Onimichi. They would then start up the pass Day 7 until they leave. They could even start it 6 if they wanted to go to Fukuoka then post their Udon and pastry.

@rkold...the idea of flying down to Hiroshima is another option worth exploring. You could get a cheap fare for example on ANA for just 11,000 one way. You'd end up in Mihara, but actually there is a nice Japanese garden next to the airport that is worth seeing.
Honestly, it still looks to me that the OP may be confusing Hakata Island and Hakata (Fukuoka). The idea of going way down to Fukuoka for just a few hours seems to be out of left field. There needs to be further clarification on that. Not to mention other revisions like actually going to Nakano Broadway if you're not at all interested in anime/manga, among others....

@Ken, yeah the Nakano Broadway Mall thing is still weird to me. I've spent some time walking around the area as well, and I don't really remember seeing a lot of abandoned buildings, unless they were in the process of getting new tenants or refurbished. I admit I also think it's weird to put "ryokans" and "anime" in the same sentence as "main culture" of Japan.

I thought the Hakata/Fukuoka visit might be because OP seems interested in eating street food and I've heard Fukuoka has a quite good street food scene, so I was wondering if that was maybe the angle? Or Maybe it was Canal City and its dinning options?

It would also help to know if this is like a 10th trip to Japan or a 1st trip to Japan.

Walk around Koenji Station . . . walk to the next station Nakano . . . check out Nakano Broadway & the backstreets full of Showa period buildings and abandoned buildings from 60's-70's
Just on this, this week I walked Shinjuku through to Asagaya (including Nakano and Koenji) and have done the walk through to/around Nakano from Shinjuku several times in the last six months taking different routes for variety. While there are a few Showa era buildings that I pass, certainly not lots of old ones (and 60's-70's is not that old) and as for abandoned buildings, certainly not a concentration particularly higher than I see in other neighbourhoods (and I have been doing a lot of walking/exploring in the last year).
As a general comment, I would say that different areas do have their own feel/vibe and even the backstreets of Nakano are different from the back streets of somewhere like Shinjuku - both have their interesting aspects, but yes, they are different. Still, taking the various routes between stations gets you areas and aspects of Tokyo that most visitors never see. Koenji to Nakano is pretty short - maybe they want to do some of the Ome-kaido (although that might be a less interesting street than some of the other pedestrian routes in the area.)

Thank You everyone for your feedback!

First of all, thanks to @LikeBike for all the feedback!

Lol, the DOCOMO bikes being tiny may be an issue for my boyfriend who is tall af, I'm going to check for other rental bike companies in the area and find out the best option for us.
I have heard a lot about Shibamata, popular among local tourist but mostly ignored by international visitors, I'm going to check it out!
I though I heard that you can returned at Hakata except you'll loose your deposit. Another option is to reserved a set on the bus to carry your bike back; either way I'm going to check the link and double re-search that. Yes! reserve a bike is a must that I totally missed, thank you.
Mmmmm... maybe day 12 needs some modifications...

@JapanCustomTours
I checked on the JR Pass official webpage and aparently I was saving money by buying the JRPass, but then I double check on Hyperdia and it's almost half of the price! Definetly not going to get the JR Pass, I may check if a plane ticket to Onomichi is a better option than going by train, as suggested by @rkold , and stop by Fukuyama (thanks for the tip @John B digs Japan !)

@rkold
I first planned to stay in Osaka because Airbnb in Osaka are wayyyy cheaper than in Kyoto, but the again, I may as well consider to stay in hotels to avoid the ilegal Airbnb situation, thanks for the tip!

Also consider Otsu as an alternative to Kyoto. it is quite a pretty place, and very close, though I havent been there for 10 years.

Hi!

I've not looked at AirBnBs in Osaka vs. Kyoto, but I find if you are in the $70-$120 USD price range for 2 Kyoto actually has a better selection of hotels and in better locations. I think it's always important to think about location. Osaka tends to do better on the cheap hostel front and has some great prices on luxury hotels.

BTW are you referring to Hakatajima on the Shimano Kaido or Hakata the ward in Fukuoka? They're not that close to one another and if you accidentally use the wrong Hakata you're going to get wrong information.

Speaking of which... since you mentioned prices on Hyperdia for trains were about 1/2 what you thought they were, I have to wonder if you were confused by the term "seat fee." According to @ken to be distinguished from @Ken, it's an accurate translation of the Japanese term, however, to a native English speaker "seat fee" sounds like something you only need to pay if you want a reserved seat and that is not the case. The "seat fee" is MANDATORY unless you plan to only use local trains. If you want to see how much a reserved seat costs, there is a different drop down box where you can add or remove a reserved seat. It's usually ~500-~900 yen, depending on season. If you follow Hyperdia's advice and take the shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin-Kobe to change for a train to Mihara/Fukuyama/Hiroshima, while you are likely to have a seat from Tokyo to Shin-Kobe, the Sakura trains out of Shin-Osaka always tend to be quite full and getting a non-reserved seat can suck. Standing for 2+ hours is really not all that fun.

Good luck!

I checked on the JR Pass official webpage and aparently I was saving money by buying the JRPass, but then I double check on Hyperdia and it's almost half of the price!
As mentioned in pp - please make sure you are looking at the TOTAL fare for the journey. Tokyo to Osaka is around 15,000 yen and to Hiroshima almost 20,000 yen one way (although there are advance purchase discounts on some routes.) Normally for a two week trip from Tokyo as far south as Hiroshima I would pick individual tickets over a rail pass because the savings (if any) really are not worth the hassle of the pass. Also, as a BTW, last time I visited Fukuoka my ANA flight was around 12,000 yen, a lot less than the train.
Also, be careful that you are putting in the correct destination as some place names can be very similar (or even the same), but in different prefectures resulting in wildly different prices (like Sendai in Kagoshima versus Sendai in Miyagi).

@JapanCustomTours

What do you suggest to use instead of AirBnB?

Hotels are an option. :-)

I actually like hotels, but Kyoto has a ton of official (completely on the books) Apartotels and I have nearly stayed at several. An aparthotel is like a small studio or 1 bedroom apartment in a building of such accommodations, except meant for tourists and not actual residents of the city. I've also seen official hotels that rent out larger machiyas.

Examples would be:
22 pieces in Kyoto
The Citadines Chain
Kyoto River View House Kyouraku
The Tokyu Stay Chain

I am not receiving any money from any of the above mentioned properties and have not personally stayed in any of them either. They are all just examples I found when booking other hotels.

While I do laundry occasionally in Japan, despite my dietary restrictions I prefer not to cook in Japan for various reasons. Japan has a lot of really nice high quality hotels for a decent price. I've not loved every hotel I've ever stayed at, but I have liked many. For chains in Japan, I'm currently very fond of the Mitsuis and Royal Parks. When traveling in the US, I tend to do a mix of hotels and condo rentals. It also honestly varies based on whether it is me, my husband and my child, or just me and my child. When just me and my child I prefer hotels.

In terms of AirBnBs in Japan... my general rule of thumb is if it is a complete private house or outbuilding where the owner lives or rents out the main house, it's probably legal because it's also probably somewhere more in the countryside.