mymatemarmite

You have all been supremely helpful so far in our planning and we leave in 10 days! For context we’re a well travelled family of 4 (7&11yr olds) with one parent who wants to fill every second and another parent who needs a bit of downtime, so trying to fill in opportunities to meander down streets and relax in parks, knowing that we’ll get more downtown later in the trip.

would love any thoughts particularly on where we can fit in kareoke, onsen, any other character cafes in the areas we’re visiting (kids love hello kitty, moomin, Ghibli, pusheen - all the usual stuff!). There aren’t many shrines but we’ll be doing a lot of shrines/temples/parks/Edo period later in the trip so Tokyo is pretty fixated on Kawaii and modern tech culture for us

Friday
arrive Narita circa 5pm so head to AirBnB to dump luggage and get a 7/11 dinner!

Saturday
day with our goodwill guide, he’s so knowledgable and clearly in love with his hometown (and has impeccable English) so we’ve asked him to take us to see “his” Tokyo - a balance of old and new and off the usual tourist spots so we’re in for a surprise! Will end the day at a local to our AirBnB onsen if we have the energy

Sunday not sure if we’re doing this the right way round, should we start at Shinjuku and work our way down to Shibuya? Main reason for doing it this way is to hit up the udon noodle shop we’ve been recommended in the morning but I think that means the crossing will be a bit dead?
- quick stroll through Ueno Park (we’re staying right by it)
- Shibuya crossing, get in line for Udon Shin at 10:30
wander up (or via side streets of) Harajuku and go to the Monster Cafe (I know, I know - the kids are so excited though!)
- evening in Shinjuku making it to the Met Tower for evening cityscape

Monday
am - Akihabara (Husband is a gamer so he’s organising what and where we go but I’ve stipulated no maid or animal cafes)
- Inokashira Park
- we have tickets for Ghibli at 4pm
- evening wander and dinner in Koenji

Tuesday
- Imperial Palace
- Meiji Jingu Gingko Festival and/or Meiji Shrine
- Asakusa
- need an evening plan, maybe the Ninja restaurant as my son found out about it followed by Kareoke?

Wednesday
- sushi for breakfast at Tsujiki
- 10/10:30am tickets to TeamLab Planets
- lunch in Odaiba
- Trick Museum and Emerging Sciences Museum
would like to take a River Taxi back up towards Asakusa, so again an evening plan might be good, or we just go back to the AirBnB to collapse?!

Thursday
- hit up the Pokemon Cafe (thanks kids!)
11:03am train from Tokyo station for next leg of our trip

mymatemarmite

UPDATED!

15th
16:25 - arrive Narita, find AirBnB, get food, go to sleep

16th (Saturday) - day with Ziggy the tour guide
am -
pm - Gotokuji Temple: This temple is located in the west side of Tokyo and is famous for beckoning cats, then Sangen-jaya (locals downtown area) for wandering and dinner
eve - if we have the energy, go to a local Onsen for relaxation

17th (Sunday)
am - Walk to and through Ueno Park then head to Shibuya crossing
early lunch - Udon Shin (queue up at 10:30am!)
pm - walk up through Harajuku for Kawaii culture - book Monster Cafe
Meiji Shrine en route
End in Shinjuku, try to get to the big park, hit Metropolitan Government Tower for night view over Tokyo

18th (Monday - Ghibli day)
Kappabari Street
am - Akhibara for Dad and kids (Mum vegan food tour 11-2)
pm - walk through Inokashira Park to arrive at Ghibli museum around 3pm
eve - Koenji for wander round and dinner

19th (Tuesday)
EARLY - sushi for breakfast at the fish market (turret coffee first, rupan bakery for Maggie, then Sushi Dan in building 6)
am - Imperial Palace
pm - Ginza, character street (Pokemon Cafe)
5pm - Samurai lesson and show Samurai Kembu
Kabuki One Act?
Kareoke or onsen

20th (Wednesday)
Sensoji Temple Asakusa
10-10:30am TeamLab Planets
lunch in Odaiba
early afternoon Tokyo Trick Museum and maybe emerging science museum?
Rainbow Bridge at Sunset
River Cruise
Kareoke or onsen


21st (Thursday) train to Miyajima
11:03 from Tokyo