Revised 2nd visit intinerary?

Hi All,
I am in the process of organising my second trip to Japan for October 2024 for 15 days. I have previously done the golden route previously + Hiroshima in 2019. I definitely want to go back to Tokyo/Osaka. I am skipping Kyoto and Hiroshima.

I am trying to keep my itinerary open as possible and just go with the flow and not be in a rush. Just wondering if I am missing something here or does this make logical sense to go this route?

Not sure if I am spending too much time in Takayama or Kanazawa
Thanks in Advance!

Day 0 - Fly into Haneda

Day 1 – Tokyo

• Land at Haneda at early morning

• Asakusa

• Ueno

• Shinjuku in the evening

Day 2 – Tokyo

• Local Parks

• Shibuya

• Akihabara

• Imperial Palace

Day 3 – Day Trip from Tokyo

• Kamakura – Daibutsu

• Yokohama – Chinatown

Day 4 – Kanazawa

• Kenrokuen Garden

• Ochimi Market

Day 5 – Kanazawa

• Higashi Chaya District

• Nagamachi District

Day 6 – Takayama + Shirakawago

• Drop luggage off at accommodation

• Spend a couple of hours at Shirakawago

• Return to Takayama and Old Town

Day 7 – Osaka

• Dotonbori

• Osaka Castle

Day 8 – Nara

• Nara Park

• Todaji Temple

Day 9 – Himeji

• Visit Himeji castle

• Return to Osaka for the evening for some night photography

Day 10 – Osaka

• Free day to just wander, open to ideas here.

Day 11 – Hakone

• Stay a Ryokan w/private bath

• View Mt Fuji

Day 12 – Tokyo

• Visit Mikado Game Center

• Open to do something else here?

Day 13 – Tokyo

• Day Trip – DisneySea

Day 14 – Tokyo

• Shopping around Shibuya/Ginza/Nakano Broadway

• Golden Gai or Omoide Yokocho or Shimokitazawa – Open to ideas to here

Day 15 – Tokyo

• Free day, last minute gifts etc

Day 16
•Fly home

Day 1, 2, 3:(including haneda airport)
u can buy greater Tokyo pass 3day: 6000 yen
Day 4: kanazawa
You can buy kanazawa bus pass=800 yen

Looks good to me

Hello, that's not too much time in Kanazawa or Takayama. Some remarks:

- Tokyo: the areas you listed for each day could be grouped differently to reduce transportation time. Asakusa/Ueno/Akihabara are in the same area, whereas Shibuya/Shinjuku/Nakano Broadway are on the opposite side of Tokyo.

- Kanazawa/Takayama (day 6): are you planning to take the bus from Kanazawa to Takayama, drop your luggage, and then bus to Shirakawa-go? Don't. Shirakawa-go is a stop between the two other cities, and you can leave your luggage at the bus center for a fee.

-I agree with Mellye - you�fre not spending too much time in Kanazawa or Takayama. In fact, you�fre not spending much time at all in Takayama, it seems. I also agree with Mellye that you want to stop in Shirakawago before you arrive in Takayama.

So, on day 6, you�fll have essentially a late afternoon/evening and maybe a little time in the morning in Takayama before you leave for Osaka, where you have a reasonably busy plan.

I�fm no expert on Japan, having only gone once, but we really enjoyed Takayama, so I�fd add another day here or at least give it a little more time. But again, it�fs your trip and your interests.

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback.

Regarding things to do in Tokyo. I am open to rejig this so it makes logically sense. I was just adding things I would like to do.

My main corncern is day 6, day 6 will be an early start by going straight to Shirakawago first thing in the morning for a few hours before heading to Takayama. I am still trying to figure if it's worth staying longer.

The only things I would really like to see is the old town and the Hida Folk Village. It was suggested that these can be done in a couple of hours, so I am thinking maybe one night is enough.

I was also thinking maybe just doing a day trip to Hakone rather than a overnight stay, any have experience renting a private onsen?

I don't see much of a problem with most of your trip.

For Takayama and Kanazawa, these are not my favourite locations in Japan but I'd say that 1 full day for Takayama is a minimum and Kanazawa is probably a minimum of 2 days.

Others may disagree - but I found that Fukuroda close to Takayama was much smaller but more prettier.

I also think that visiting Kamakura and Yokohama is possible but stretching it for a full day. Make sure you don't visit Kamakura on a weekend as it's always busy but can be unbearable on weekends.

As a person who used to live in Yokohama for 3 years - I did find Chugukai (Chinatown) to be one of the larger tourist traps in Japan. It's not a tourist trap $$$ wise, just a bit tacky and over commercialized. I do think that the waterfront at night is quite pretty though.

For Hakone - do not expect to see Mt Fuji as the view can be temperamental. I've never seen Mt Fuji from Hakone the 2/3 times I've visited - but it's cool to visit from a volcanics perspective. You are also spending a lot of time in Tokyo - but everyone is different.

If you have not visited Nara before - I do think it's actually worth a couple of days visit as there is quite a bit to see there. They also have some nice merchant districts which are similar to Kanazawa but not a western tourist swamped.

As for your plan for Kanazawa, I think it can be easily done in 1 (full) day = if you arrive in the evening and start the next morning. You can visit Kenrokuen + villa + Nagamachi in the morning, have lunch at the market and then go to Higashi chaya in the afternoon. Kanazawa is quite small and these places are quite close to each other so it is easy to go from one place to another, even on foot. So I think you should look at other interesting places (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art?) in Kanazawa and add them to your list for your day 2.

As for Takayama I would recommend one whole day. You can easily spend 3 hours just in Hida folk museum and then there are other interesting places in Takayama too, not just Old town. So for example Hida folk museum visit in the morning, then lunch, then Takayama Jinya + Old town and if you have time, you can also visit that "Yatai wagon" museum or Takayama town museum which is also nice place to visit.