Japan Trip Report-May 2024

[Haley R]

We're going to Japan in May this year (DH, myself, and DS 4) so I thought I would post our itinerary. We'll be there for about 3 weeks so we'll be taking things pretty slow and mostly planning one thing each morning, leaving the afternoons up in the air because ds still takes a nap most days. Dh and I went in 2019 and have a lot of the same things planned for this trip.

• Day 1-Arrival Day to Haneda
• Day 2-Yoyogi park & Meiji Jingu
• Day 3-Harajuku & Shibuya
• Day 4-Pokemon Cafe
• Day 5-Fire Museum
• Day 6-Enoshima
• Day 7-Rest Day
• Day 8-Teamlab Borderless
• Day 9-Hakone
• Day 10-Rest day/travel back to Tokyo
• Day 11-Yoyogi park and bike rentals
• Day 12-Tokyo Dome
• Day 13-Last Day + Travel to Disney

Hotels

• Hakone Suishoen
• Neko Neko Inn
• Sheraton Tokyo Bay
• Tokyo DL Hotel

Tokyo Disney

• Day 1-Hanging out at the Sheraton and switching to Disneyland Hotel
• Day 2-Disneyland
• Day 3-DisneySea
• Day 4-Disneyland
• Day 5-DisneySea

 

[epcotday1]

I need to look up Togo Shrine and see what that is. If you want to sit cross-legged on a tatami mat and drink tea and have lunch in Tokyo, I highly recommend Kosoan. It's so wonderful.

No SkyTree? (Btw, did you know you can see the Disney parks from the SkyTree?)

 

[Haley R]

I need to look up Togo Shrine and see what that is. If you want to sit cross-legged on a tatami mat and drink tea and have lunch in Tokyo, I highly recommend Kosoan. It's so wonderful.

No SkyTree? (Btw, did you know you can see the Disney parks from the SkyTree?)

We’re not very interested in the sky tree. It’s about an hour from where we’re staying and ds said he doesn’t want to go. We did Olympic tower in Germany last August and ds didn’t enjoy going up in the tower.

 

[djmeredith]

Your plans sound perfect. Seeing them made me realize I really need to figure out our itinerary.

 

[soniam]

Your plans sound perfect. Seeing them made me realize I really need to figure out our itinerary.

I need to nail down more stuff too for June.

 

[Flossbolna]

I need to nail down more stuff too for June.

Same here…

 

[Flossbolna]

We're going to Japan in May this year (DH, myself, and DS 4) so I thought I would post our itinerary. We'll be there for about 3 weeks so we'll be taking things pretty slow and mostly planning one thing each morning, leaving the afternoons up in the air because he still takes a nap most days. Dh and I went in 2019 and have a lot of the same things planned for this trip. For the most part, I just have bullet points with ideas for each place, but nothing is for sure yet. Any advice or ideas are welcome!

• Day 1-Fly into Haneda and head to hotel
• Day 2-Yoyogi park & Meiji Jingu
  • Get groceries
  • Pony park, meiji jingu and garden, bike rentals
• Day 3-Harajuku & Shibuya
  • Takeshita St, Togo Shrine, Kiddyland
  • Shibuya crossing, Disney store, Hachiko statue, Tower Records, Rainbow karaoke
    • Lunch: Ichiran Ramen
• Day 4-Pokemon Cafe
• Day 5-Enoshima (1 hr 40 min)
  • Caves, Sea Candle and garden, Aquarium, Hike to the peak of the island, Enoshima shrine
• Day 6-Teamlab Borderless & Sakurazaka Robot Park
• Day 7-Fire Museum
• Day 8-Rest Day/More Shibuya
  • Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory, arcades, shopping
    • Lunch: Uobei Conveyor Sushi
• Day 9-Hakone (1 hr 45 min)-taking backpacks to stay overnight
  • Hakone Kuwakien Yunessun, Circle route, Hakone ropeway
    • Get off at Owakudani to see the crater
  • Hydrangea train, Chisuji Falls, Open Air Museum
• Day 10-Rest day/travel back to Tokyo
• Day 11-Yokohama
  • Shonan pancakes, Botejyu, Cup Noodle Museum, Yokohama air cabin, Sankei-en garden, Uniqlo playground
  • Cosmo World amusement park, Eggs n things restaurant , Hapipi land , Kid o kid indoor playground, Chinatown
• Day 12-Odaiba
  • Legoland discovery center, Poop museum, Gundam statue, Daiba itchome shoutengai, Beach
• Day 13-Ds picks what to do

The rest of the time will be spent at Tokyo Disney and I'll probably make that a separate post once I start planning for that!

Lots of great ideas for our planning! Thanks for posting this!

 

[babyready]

Wow, 3 weeks! I am jealous!

I can't wait to hear how everything goes. We are traveling in early July, so I will be eager to hear about your trip!

 

[Haley R]

Wow, 3 weeks! I am jealous!

I can't wait to hear how everything goes. We are traveling in early July, so I will be eager to hear about your trip!

Dh carried over vacation from last year. Since we will have DS we wanted to have enough time to adjust to the time change! I’m excited but nervous about the 12 hour flight Ds flew to Germany last year which was 9 hours and did mostly fine but got restless near the end after he had watched the same movies 2-3 times already lol

 

[Haley R]

Bought our teamlab borderless tickets tonight. Next will be Tokyo Disney tickets and the Pokemon cafe when they become available. Also planning to order our pocket wifi tomorrow

 

[soniam]

Bought our teamlab borderless tickets tonight. Next will be Tokyo Disney tickets and the Pokemon cafe when they become available. Also planning to order our pocket wifi tomorrow

Let us know how the Pokémon Cafe reservations go.

 

[Haley R]

Let us know how the Pokémon Cafe reservations go.

I’m pretty nervous about it. Seems like they go instantly. We did the pokemon cafe in 2019 but I don’t remember it being as competitive when making a reservation. We have lots of dates to choose between and if we don’t get in it’s not a huge deal

 

[wanderlust7]

Let us know how the Pokémon Cafe reservations go.

It's competitive! The one in Osaka is a little easier. But at least they only release one day at a time, so you can have multiple chances. Kirby Cafe releases the entire month at once and it was a complete bust last time I tried. Trying again this time and will be doing practice runs!

 

[Haley R]

It's competitive! The one in Osaka is a little easier. But at least they only release one day at a time, so you can have multiple chances. Kirby Cafe releases the entire month at once and it was a complete bust last time I tried. Trying again this time and will be doing practice runs!

That’s a good idea. I didn’t even think to do a practice run. Ds doesn’t know much about pokemon so if we don’t get the reservation we will just visit the store

 

[soniam]

I probably need to practice these. Are they 1 month out for reservations? I think if we just go to the Pokémon Center and Nintendo Store, then DS will be happy. He probably won’t like any of the food anyway.

 

[dunkindonut]

I don't think the themed cafes are worth it. Some have gacha menus and the food is the worst food I had in Japan.

 

[Haley R]

I probably need to practice these. Are they 1 month out for reservations? I think if we just go to the Pokémon Center and Nintendo Store, then DS will be happy. He probably won’t like any of the food anyway.

It’s 31 days out at 6 pm Japan time which is 4 am for us It’s not the best food but it’s about the experience. Ds will enjoy seeing pikachu come out

 

[soniam]

It’s 31 days out at 6 pm Japan time which is 4 am for us It’s not the best food but it’s about the experience. Ds will enjoy seeing pikachu come out

Thanks. It does suck. I am lucky I am not working, so the time isn't terrible. But the gym the next day may be a real bear.

 

[Haley R]

Thanks. It does suck. I am lucky I am not working, so the time isn't terrible. But the gym the next day may be a real bear.

Dh said he’s gonna practice booking tomorrow morning. He wants to wake early to do a long run anyway. We won’t be able to actually book for another month

 

[Haley R]

I think we’re going to switch our Yokohama day to Kawagoe. We looked again and nothing in Yokohama really appeals to us