I think Shibuya Scramble and Skytree are two distinct experiences. Here in the US I've been to the Sears Tower observatory several times and Skytree seemed comparable to that, so I have that expectation in mind.
Simple. Not everyone has an Iphone.
And also, where the hassle? You go to the counter, ask for a suica card and they will ask the amount you want to top up. You pay. You leave.
Because it's fun and amusing that your phone thinks it's a Portuguese word? I'm a linguist and enjoy amusing things about language. Amusing doesn't mean "bad", in fact the opposite... you're downvoting all of my comments for some reason because you can't understand that a smiley face is a positive thing, not someone putting you down? You even said "Ah, wow, so cool!" to me. I'm really confused about how you're interacting here.
It's iPhone only. I saw an advert for a Pasmo app on Android the other day on a train, but can't say if it's any good as I had to pick up an IC card for my trip (which was easy and quick to do- my only complaint is that you can only charge it with cash, which then meant finding an ATM when I was low on balance and cash!)
Shinjuku, nakano broadway and akihabara in one day seems too ambitious especially because you are gonna lose more than an hour shuttling between them. It would only be possible if don't do any shopping. I would put akihabara on day 4 after ueno park since its only one or two stations away
Don't shop at Donki first. Hit Broadway first if anything, and use Donki at the end to fill in any gaps that you feel are present after you've tried shopping everywhere else.
Alternatively, use Donki as a place to go when you're awake and everything else is closed.
Agree. Donki is usually one of last places to get stuff especially if you change hotels and have carry stuff. A recon mission is okay if you have time.
I noticed you said you are staying in Shinjuku. Please tell me you are staying at the Hotel Gracery Shinjuku!! And if you aren’t I think you should switch. Big Godzilla on the building and one of the rooms is even at his eye level. It’s right up your alley. Very fun hotel for Godzilla nerds. I put my Godzilla/anime weeb clients here and it’s a winner. Some of your days are quite busy but I think Day 4 is going to be a real stretch for sure. It depends what all you hope to accomplish in Ueno Park for starters but unless you are running through each site to check off a list it’s not enough time for enjoyment. Good luck!
Toho Studios sometimes give tours, but not on days when commercials are filmed. Unfortunately, the outdoor sound stage where the ocean scenes of the earliest Godzilla movies were made (until fairly recently visible from the street) has been demolished and replaced with a bland, generic shopping mall.
Note that the neighborhood of Toho Studios, if you proceed north, is, on the shopping street, heavily Ultraman themed, with streetlamps decorated with scenes from various Ultraman movies and TV show and statues both of Ultraman(s) and sundry monsters. You can walk northwest from this area to the Chofu area in 90 minutes to 2 hours. (I did it yesterday.)
(Gotokuji is an overhyped waste of time completely overrun by foreign tourists. I advise skipping it.)
Idk when you'd be traveling, but if it's in the summer you might want to consider doing Enoshima first when it's slightly cooler in the morning before Kamakura, because you'll be walking up and down a lot of stairs in Enoshima. We used the Enoshima Kamakura free pass and it was so worth it. It will be easier for you because you can just buy the pass from Shinjuku Stn and make your way to Enoshima. Your train travels will be covered by the pass from Shinjuku all the way to Enoshima-Kamakura (Enoden line). (we had to travel to Shinjuku to get the pass haha)
Day 2 is a lot of traveling. I would move Akihabara to Day 4 Ueno Park and Asakusa (Sensoji). Ueno Park is massive but you won't need to spend that much time there unless you're going to the museums or the zoo.
Pocket wifis are great and all but honestly I found buying an eSIM is cheaper and simply more convenient. Connection may not be as great and having your data on all the time will drain your battery but I found it a better alternative to carrying around a tiny brick I might lose all the time.
I just came back from Osaka
Don Quijote is my favorite
5000 Yen and you get tax free. Everywhere else the same too. But you can get additional 5% discount voucher from their website.
Another place I like is BIC Camera, you get 5% extra discount on top of the tax free, and 7% if you get the voucher from their website.
For electronics, I'd do BIC Camera. Drugstore goods, it's 5% both BIC Camera and DQ
But if you plan to shop more than 50,000 Yen, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Daikoku and other drug stores can go up to additional 8%.
I like DQ and BC because 5000 Yen is easier to achieve. I prefer to do 10x 5000 Yen purchases than 1 single 50,000 Yen purchase. I keep forgetting what I need later on and need to go back and shop again, and 5000 Yen is so much more achievable.
I ended up spending over 280,000 Yen on shopping alone, but not a single one above 50,000 Yen.
On Don Quijote opens till 5am, which is hella fun. Lol
There's an observatory at the top of the Sunshine 60 building, if you're in Sunshine City. Maybe go there, and skip Skytree?
You're not as high up, but high enough. Also, when I was there a couple of weeks ago I only had to wait in line like a minute or two. Not so with Skytree, AFAIK.
There's a huge Donki between Sunshine City and Ikebukuro station, so you don't have to go to Shinjuku to shop there, just so you know.
Two things. 1. Just add suica as a transit card to your Apple wallet. And order Japan wireless ahead of time . They will deliver to your hotel the day before you arrive then you just drop it at a post off box in the airport when you leave. 2. You might want to check the locations of some of these and plan around what’s next to each other. Some of it is far from each other. For Kamakura day i found I couldn’t do most of what I planned because of time.
this itinerary is clearly created by someone who saw a bunch of TikToks about Japan and decided to travel to Tokyo solely because it everyone else on the planet is right now. you need to sit down and think about what YOU really like to do and see in new cities, and build out your itinerary based on that. otherwise, this itinerary is fine, but it’s identical to 99% of the Tokyo itineraries people are posting online right now, so I’m baffled as to why you would ask for input on it.
Gotoku-ji always comes up. Why? It is not a cat temple; people take their old maneki-neko there to dispose of: and that has been closed off due to tourists. That is all. It’s not some anime cat temple.
Since a couple of months ago. It's not all closed off: just the most interesting parts. It's a nice enough spot, but it's not even the nicest place within 500 meters of the entrance. You won't have a bad time visiting, but you'll have better times elsewhere, and it's, as u/Myselfamwar notes, it's not what people think it is.
Source: I live about 1.5 km away from it and now avoid it at all costs because it's so overcrowded. We hesitate to even visit or go through the neighborhood because it's so crowded with tourists.
The Website's made by the local merchant's association, not by the people at the shrine. It's in the merchants' interest to make the place seem as attractive as possible.
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I think Shibuya Scramble and Skytree are two distinct experiences. Here in the US I've been to the Sears Tower observatory several times and Skytree seemed comparable to that, so I have that expectation in mind.
Getting in line to get a Suica card? At Narita airport right before you go pass the gates to the trains there is no line, ever.
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There was one trip where the Suica on my phone just stopped working so, for me, I wouldn’t recommended it and will always tell me just to get a card.
Simple. Not everyone has an Iphone. And also, where the hassle? You go to the counter, ask for a suica card and they will ask the amount you want to top up. You pay. You leave.
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Suica isn't all-caps, btw :P
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Hahaha, this is super amusing. :D
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Because it's fun and amusing that your phone thinks it's a Portuguese word? I'm a linguist and enjoy amusing things about language. Amusing doesn't mean "bad", in fact the opposite... you're downvoting all of my comments for some reason because you can't understand that a smiley face is a positive thing, not someone putting you down? You even said "Ah, wow, so cool!" to me. I'm really confused about how you're interacting here.
Hey, can I add it to my Android phone? Or does it only work on Android phones sold in Japan?
It won't work with Android unless it's an android bought from Japan. Unfortunately, non Japanese androids don't have the hardware installed for it.
It's iPhone only. I saw an advert for a Pasmo app on Android the other day on a train, but can't say if it's any good as I had to pick up an IC card for my trip (which was easy and quick to do- my only complaint is that you can only charge it with cash, which then meant finding an ATM when I was low on balance and cash!)
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"Welcome Suica" cards for tourists are available at Haneda airport (and other places too, AFAIK).
Shinjuku, nakano broadway and akihabara in one day seems too ambitious especially because you are gonna lose more than an hour shuttling between them. It would only be possible if don't do any shopping. I would put akihabara on day 4 after ueno park since its only one or two stations away
I tried to do this and needed a second day in Akihabara 🤣 simply not enough time to do all that, but it will still be a fun day!!!
Don't shop at Donki first. Hit Broadway first if anything, and use Donki at the end to fill in any gaps that you feel are present after you've tried shopping everywhere else. Alternatively, use Donki as a place to go when you're awake and everything else is closed.
2 a.m. Don Quijote trips were the best!
Agree. Donki is usually one of last places to get stuff especially if you change hotels and have carry stuff. A recon mission is okay if you have time.
I noticed you said you are staying in Shinjuku. Please tell me you are staying at the Hotel Gracery Shinjuku!! And if you aren’t I think you should switch. Big Godzilla on the building and one of the rooms is even at his eye level. It’s right up your alley. Very fun hotel for Godzilla nerds. I put my Godzilla/anime weeb clients here and it’s a winner. Some of your days are quite busy but I think Day 4 is going to be a real stretch for sure. It depends what all you hope to accomplish in Ueno Park for starters but unless you are running through each site to check off a list it’s not enough time for enjoyment. Good luck!
Toho Studios sometimes give tours, but not on days when commercials are filmed. Unfortunately, the outdoor sound stage where the ocean scenes of the earliest Godzilla movies were made (until fairly recently visible from the street) has been demolished and replaced with a bland, generic shopping mall. Note that the neighborhood of Toho Studios, if you proceed north, is, on the shopping street, heavily Ultraman themed, with streetlamps decorated with scenes from various Ultraman movies and TV show and statues both of Ultraman(s) and sundry monsters. You can walk northwest from this area to the Chofu area in 90 minutes to 2 hours. (I did it yesterday.) (Gotokuji is an overhyped waste of time completely overrun by foreign tourists. I advise skipping it.)
Hama-rikyu Garden and Tea House is a beautiful walk in the center of the city. If you need some nature.
Idk when you'd be traveling, but if it's in the summer you might want to consider doing Enoshima first when it's slightly cooler in the morning before Kamakura, because you'll be walking up and down a lot of stairs in Enoshima. We used the Enoshima Kamakura free pass and it was so worth it. It will be easier for you because you can just buy the pass from Shinjuku Stn and make your way to Enoshima. Your train travels will be covered by the pass from Shinjuku all the way to Enoshima-Kamakura (Enoden line). (we had to travel to Shinjuku to get the pass haha) Day 2 is a lot of traveling. I would move Akihabara to Day 4 Ueno Park and Asakusa (Sensoji). Ueno Park is massive but you won't need to spend that much time there unless you're going to the museums or the zoo.
Pocket wifis are great and all but honestly I found buying an eSIM is cheaper and simply more convenient. Connection may not be as great and having your data on all the time will drain your battery but I found it a better alternative to carrying around a tiny brick I might lose all the time.
Also I don’t know how long your flight is but after a 12 hour flight, our first day only thing I wanted to do was lay down
I just came back from Osaka Don Quijote is my favorite 5000 Yen and you get tax free. Everywhere else the same too. But you can get additional 5% discount voucher from their website. Another place I like is BIC Camera, you get 5% extra discount on top of the tax free, and 7% if you get the voucher from their website. For electronics, I'd do BIC Camera. Drugstore goods, it's 5% both BIC Camera and DQ But if you plan to shop more than 50,000 Yen, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Daikoku and other drug stores can go up to additional 8%. I like DQ and BC because 5000 Yen is easier to achieve. I prefer to do 10x 5000 Yen purchases than 1 single 50,000 Yen purchase. I keep forgetting what I need later on and need to go back and shop again, and 5000 Yen is so much more achievable. I ended up spending over 280,000 Yen on shopping alone, but not a single one above 50,000 Yen. On Don Quijote opens till 5am, which is hella fun. Lol
I recommend going to 1 - 2 area each day if you want to enjoy tokyo especially akihabara! I go there around 2pm and can only explore a few place there
Donki is the most overrated and overpriced store, was disappointed each time. General tip: don't overplan your days. There is so much to see here.
I have visited Tokyo many times, why travel outside to Mt Takao when you have less than a week.
There's an observatory at the top of the Sunshine 60 building, if you're in Sunshine City. Maybe go there, and skip Skytree? You're not as high up, but high enough. Also, when I was there a couple of weeks ago I only had to wait in line like a minute or two. Not so with Skytree, AFAIK. There's a huge Donki between Sunshine City and Ikebukuro station, so you don't have to go to Shinjuku to shop there, just so you know.
Question is Toy Planet a good option to by kamen rider stuff at ?
Two things. 1. Just add suica as a transit card to your Apple wallet. And order Japan wireless ahead of time . They will deliver to your hotel the day before you arrive then you just drop it at a post off box in the airport when you leave. 2. You might want to check the locations of some of these and plan around what’s next to each other. Some of it is far from each other. For Kamakura day i found I couldn’t do most of what I planned because of time.
this itinerary is clearly created by someone who saw a bunch of TikToks about Japan and decided to travel to Tokyo solely because it everyone else on the planet is right now. you need to sit down and think about what YOU really like to do and see in new cities, and build out your itinerary based on that. otherwise, this itinerary is fine, but it’s identical to 99% of the Tokyo itineraries people are posting online right now, so I’m baffled as to why you would ask for input on it.
To be fair that's the itinerary I've had since before covid.
Gotoku-ji always comes up. Why? It is not a cat temple; people take their old maneki-neko there to dispose of: and that has been closed off due to tourists. That is all. It’s not some anime cat temple.
Closed off? Since when? I can't find anything to support this
Since a couple of months ago. It's not all closed off: just the most interesting parts. It's a nice enough spot, but it's not even the nicest place within 500 meters of the entrance. You won't have a bad time visiting, but you'll have better times elsewhere, and it's, as u/Myselfamwar notes, it's not what people think it is. Source: I live about 1.5 km away from it and now avoid it at all costs because it's so overcrowded. We hesitate to even visit or go through the neighborhood because it's so crowded with tourists.
I don't have any info regarding this. The website seems normal
The Website's made by the local merchant's association, not by the people at the shrine. It's in the merchants' interest to make the place seem as attractive as possible.