komtugeder

Hi All,

3 of us, all of us is male, are going to japan on 28 aug until 3 sep, we arrive in Osaka and depart from Tokyo. This is our itenerary and i need advice from experts here if my itenerary is doable or not

Oh ya, we will stay around shinsaibashi in osaka, kawaramachi in kyoto and asakusa in tokyo.

So here it is:
Day 1
08:25 -- 10.00 Arrive at Kansai
12.00 -- 14.00 Tenmangu
14.30 -- 16.30 Osaka Castle
17.00 -- finish Shinsekai & Minami
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Day 2
09.00 -- 10.05 Depart to Tokyo Kyoto
13.15 -- 15.30 Kyoto Imperial Palace
16.00 -- 17.00 Kinkaku-ji
18.00 -- Gion-Yasaka Shrine (is waraido gion waraido.com/walking/gion.htm... worth to join?)
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Day 3
09.00 -- 10.00 Ginkaku-ji
10.30 -- 11.30 Sanjusangendo
12.00 -- 14.00 Kiyomizudera
15.00 -- 19.00 Fushimi Inari
19.30 -- 23.15 Back to hostel
23.45 -- Kyoto station (depart to tokyo using seishun eco dream)
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Day 4
08.00 -- Arrive in Tokyo Station
Asakusa (Sensoji temple and around)
Akihabara (Gundam Cafe, AKB Cafe, @home cafe, etc)
Odaiba (Miraikan the toilet museum , Gundam Front, and around)
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Day 5
10.00 -- 12.30 Doraemon Museum in Kawasaki
13.00 -- 16.00 Kirin Beer Village in Yokohama
16.30 -- Ramen Museum in Yokohama
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Day 6
Harajuku (Meiji shrine, yoyogi park, etc)
Shibuya (shibuya crossing of course)
Shinjuku (sword museum, kabukicho, etc)
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Day 7 (we allocate this day for buying souveniers)
Ikebukuro
Ueno
Ginza
Akihabara

Most of our time in tokyo is not being scheduled since we may do a laidback trip.

I think that is our itenerary, is it doable? or do you have other suggestion to be added maybe?

and one more, had anyone here bought gundam front ticket at 7-eleven? we haven't find any guide to buy from it, and i read that we have to write our name in katakana/hiragana. is it true? does anyone happen to have some step-by-step guide on how to buy the ticket from 7-eleven?

Thanks for all your help

DonTopaz

Seems doable to me. On Day 7, unless you have a specific reason to go to Ikebukuro, you might consider going to Yanaka instead. Much more interesting IMO, lots of temples and other traditional stuff, and geographically much closer to where you're staying and the other places you plan to visit.

komtugeder

hey DonTopaz, thanks for your reply!

actually for day 7 we dont have any firm reason to go anywhere, since we are only looking for souveniers for our relatives and friends back home

we'll look at yanaka and well talk about it

Thanks for your reply once again!

Kavey

For stocking filler type gifts and souvenirs (i.e. fun little items that are very inexpensive), do go to a 100 Yen store. I like the 3 floor Daiso branch in Harajuku.

Kavey

Oh and day 3 seems like a lot to me, but I think it's not a bad starting point. Just decide ahead of time which places are your highest priorities so if you find yourself running late, or feeling tired, you know what to skip.

kja

I don't know all the places you plan to visit, but my take on the places I do know is that it should be doable.

Do you already have your reservation for the Kyoto Imperial Palace?

VolCrew

Beware, if you want to go see the Kyoto Imperial Castle there, you have to have a reservation. How do you get a reservation? You have to go to the ticket office. Then you have to stand in line to request a reservation. They give you a card to complete, which you cannot do when you receive it at the ticket desk. You have to get out of line, go to the back of the room and fill it out, then get back in line.

I saw many tourists turned away from the 14:00 tour; they were told they could come back the next day. I arrived at 12:30 to get a reservation and was the last person allowed in the 14:00 tour.

kja

VolCrew wrote: "How do you get a reservation? You have to go to the ticket office" -- While the question of whether the OP has a reservation remains valid, you can reserve in advance on the web. If the OP doesn't reserve in advance, then your experience will undoubtedly prove informative.

komtugeder

Hey all thanks for all of your replies and sorry i reply so late.

@Kavey: thanks for your suggestion! our main places are ginkaku-ji, kiyomizu-dera and fushimi inari. i think we can ditch sanjusangendo if we have a problem

@kja and VolCrew: Yes i have the reservation for 14.00 tour with me. and other reservations needed for our journey are already done

Thanks once again fellas!

kja

I'm glad to hear that you have your reservation for the Imperial Palace!

Sanjusangendo shouldn't take more than an hour, maybe less. I wouldn't skip it if it interests you (I thought it well worth seeing!) and I don't think you will have trouble with your plans for that day, particularly since Fushimi Inari is open 24/7.

Should be a great trip!

Kavey

Komtugeder, we intended to go to Sanjusangendo both times we went to Kyoto but somehow, even with all the time we had, we didn't manage it. Which is good as there are still plenty of things on our list for the third trip, whenever that may be!

Kja, I think one certainly *could* do everything on the Day 3 list, but I think it's not uncommon to fall hard for one or more of these wonderful places and end up spending way more hours than anticipated, hence my thinking there's a fair bit in the day and one might not manage it all in the end!

kja

@ Kavey -- always good to be mindful of the time and have a back-up plan in place!

VolCrew

Sounds like you are good to go. Enjoy!

komtugeder

Thanks for all of your suggestion Kavey, kja and VolCrew.

And I hope our trip will be going well