Two weeks in Tokyo

[strumpusplunket]

Our family of four (kids mid- to late-teens) are going to Tokyo for two weeks in August. I know it's going to be humid, but hopefully not too bad (we were there at the end of August 16 years ago and it was okay).

We're all crazy excited, and drawing up our plans.

So far on our list (which is likely more than we can fit in), we have:

Asakusa	Nakamise Dori	Sensouji	Underground street market
Akihabara	Yodobashi Akiba	Namco Akihabara	GiGO
Kichijouji	Ghibli Musuem	Inokashira Park
Harajuku
Skytree/Tokyo Tower
Shinjuku & Shibuya	Godzilla Café	Imperial Palace (Chiyoda)	Shinjuku Gyoen
Fuji daytrip	combine with Lake Kawaguchi?
Hakone daytrip	Onsen	Odawara Castle
Shinbashi	Karaoke
Arakurayama
Kamakura	Beach (Yuigahama)
Lake Kawaguchi	Lake Yamanaka as alternative?
Kawagoe	"Edo street"
Ginza
Yokohama
Ito
Nikko

Any experienced Japan travellers got any suggestions for things we can combine/things on the list that are not worth the time/things we've missed?

I'm trying my best to brush the cobwebs off my Japanese skills, which used to be okay (reasonable-but-not-great conversational level), but now definitely not so good and I am just going to have to accept I will suck at the language and that I've forgotten way too many kanji to read at any reasonable speed anymore. This is a bit of a kicker given it's the first time I'll actually be in Japan since learning the language after coming back from our previous trip, but such is life. (I'm listening to podcasts, using a kanji app and trying to read some basic folkstories again, but it's slow, painful going.)

So, basically, if that is relevant to any options, I will be able to make myself understood in a basic way and converse a bit if people speak slowly, probably make my way through Japanese menus and the like slowly and with some help from looking up radicals on my phone apps. Dunno if that opens up or closes off potential activities.

 

[strumpusplunket]

@Raymond Lin, those are really awesome, detailed and hugely helpful replies. Thanks so much for all that!

I have copied and pasted into my notes.

Our kids love cats too, so the cat temple has to go on the list as well

Not aiming to climb Fuji, just get a good view. I love the pictures I've seen from some of its surrounding lakes, and the towns there look lovely to visit too (not that you can really tell that from a photo, I guess).

So, you're a fan of Tokyo Tower over Skytree? We didn't do either last time, but went up Roppongi Tower, which was good but not the calibre of views I've seen in photos from other vantage points.

I can't remember why we chose Hakone for an onsen visit other than we that tried to go last time, but we were really late setting out (had a toddler with us at the time...) and the onsen we wanted to go to was closed when we finally got there. I think it had been recommended by our hotel, and that had stuck in my mind.

Shame about Harajuku. We went to the Meiji shrine last time, and this time were thinking about it because the kids love the kind of subculture/cosplay style we hoped to see there. Maybe it's just a hop off the train, wonder around for 30 minutes or so and then go somewhere else kind of deal?

 

[strumpusplunket]

@Raymond Lin Thanks again!

A lot of that simplifies things and combines together some activities I'd had separated.

I guess Ueno Park is good to combine with a visit to Asakusa and Akihabara? We are staying not far from there, so that should be quick for transport.

I've dropped Tokyo Tower and Skytree in favour of Shibuya Sky, which is good since we have some time planned in Shibuya anyway.

And the cat temple looks great, but a bit out of the city. Is that good to combine with any of the other trips?

 

[strumpusplunket]

I could spend an entire day in Akihabara but in theory you can do Akihabara, Uneo and Asakusa in a day. Although I would think here are enough things to do 2 days there. Perhaps if you arrive in the afternoon to check into the hotel then the evening in either Akihabara or Asakusa. Sensoji temple is nicer after 6pm when the stores shut and less people tbh.

Uneo Park is but but also check out a traditional shopping street call Ameyoko, this store before is famous in a funny way of selling candy. Look it up lol

Shimura Shoten · 6 Chome-11-3 Ueno, Taito City, Tokyo 110-0005, Japan

★★★☆☆ · Chocolate shop

maps.app.goo.gl

If you are near Tokyo station, I recommend this place for ramen, go for the dipping one, with Gyozas as sides (they are huge). One of the best ramen in Japan (officially too, on the Ramen database)

That looks absolutely amazing! Definitely have to try that ramen!

So, given our hotel is near Akihabara, I think maybe one day in Ueno and Asakusa and one in Akihabara would be good, and one of those days could leave the evening free for something else.

Trying to do the cat temple before Shibuya sounds good too.

Awesome. Cheers!

Excitement level builds!

 

[strumpusplunket]

Keep in mind that most retailers do not open until 11am, meaning the mornings are usually limited to temples or parks. Keep that in mind when planning. So there is little to no point going to Akihabara before 11am.

IMO it works out well because most places are at their quietest first thing in the morning too, so my typical day is usually temples/shrines 1st thing and then anything that needs a ticket after that.

btw, in Japan, anything over a rating of 3.5 stars on Google Maps review is good. If it is 4 stars then it is like 9/10 in the west. The way the reviews are pulled from the database, Apple Maps actually reflect local ratings better.

Great. I didn't know that. Last time we were there our eldest was just over one and we never managed to get moving early in the morning anyway, so never noticed!

Incidentally, I notice you've been to Japan a lot - how is your Japanese? Last time we went, we found English not very widely spoken (or at least not very willingly spoken), and I was doing lots of pointing and using a very limited phrasebook. It did make some things a bit difficult, but we managed thanks to its being a very accommodating country and easy to get around anyway. Can't help feeling we missed out a bit by not being able to speak to many people, though. I'm wondering if some of these more out of the way places might benefit from more language proficiency. I maybe need some impetus to up my revision anyway...

 

[strumpusplunket]

My Japanese speaking is bad but slowly getting there, been doing Duolingo for about 9 months. But since I speaks Cantonese and learned Chinese as a kld, I have a level of Kanji that far exceed most people trying to learn Japanese.

Think of Kanji as ancient Emojis, when I see it, I might not be able to read it these days, but in the back of my mind, I know what it means. So I see the word meat and know that is a meat dish, might not know whether it is Lamb or Bear meat, but I know the word Cow lol. When I see the word Pretty I can put 2 and 2 together and guess it is a beauty salon etc. It also means the exit signs I can read, toilet, male/female, and things like that.

You will be fine in Tokyo though, even the trains announcements are in English. But the best food usually are all in Japanese. I avoid going to places with massive English signs outside. Worst case, use google translate, the camera function works fine. If it's ordering via tablet, there is usually an English option.

Cool.

I used to know about 1800 kanji, but no idea how many I'm down to now with memory attrition. About five months left to see how well I can refamiliarise myself. But I seem to be finding that for every one I re-learn or manage to recognise again, I find another four or five I realise I can't remember. Maybe need to focus on menus for pratice, since that's most likely what we'll be needing to make sense of the most.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Yeah, think the day trip to Fiji is a bit out of reach

But seriously, I love the look of those lakes around Fuji. Kawaguchi is probably the one we'll try to get to, but that will depend on how easy it is to get to from Tokyo. Haven't checked the transport links yet. Pretty sure we'll try to go to one of them, though.

 

[strumpusplunket]

We did it from Osaka (if I remember correctly), 2 trains + a 10 month old, luggage, buggy etc. Trust me, you can do it

Ah, if there's a train station, it shouldn't be too difficult.

We went to Japan with an 18 month old with buggy 16 years ago. Our toddler was treated llke a little blonde-haired celebrity.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Same here! Exactly experience and some perfectly timed photos helped. My wife and little one got a lot of attention, both blue eyes and blonde hair:

Spoiler

Our oldest actually took his first steps in in the Imperial Palace Gardens...good memories looking at these photos and making me smile

Ha - awesome!

Followed around by endless exclamations of "kawaiiii!" no doubt!

 

[strumpusplunket]

Updating to say thanks for the advice to those who helped here. It was a brilliant two weeks.

In the end we got back in touch with some friends who were in Tokyo and they took us around for a few days. That combined with some of the suggestions in this thread made for an amazing trip.

We ended up doing:
Sensouji and the surrounding area (we were staying just south of Asakusa), inlcuding the Hokusai museum and the Asakusa underground street
Meiji Jingu shrine
Ueno Park and zoo
Ghibli museum (this was small, but cool if you're a fan of the films and really gave a sense of the creative process Miyazaki goes through)
Odaiba and temlabs
The National Museum
Edo Open Air Museum
Omoide Yokocho
Nakano
Sawara
Awa-odori festival in Shimokitazawa (really cool and interesting to see)
Shibuya Sky
Ikebukuro
Kabuchiko (in the daytime, one of my kids wanted to see if because of the Yakuza game connections)

And a few smaller museums, karaoke, a batting centre, some arcades, huge mange/anime stores, wondeful little restaurants.

We lost a day to the typhoon, which was when were thinking of taking a trip out of the city maybe, but in retrospect a day of shelteting in air con and getting a break from the intense heat and humidity was probably not a bad thing. The day after was 36C and very humid, which really sapped our stamina after a couple of hours.

Kids loved it. Everywhere and everyone was totally wonderful. I loved being able to dust off my Japanese and put it to some good use. We all want to go back.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Sounds like you had an amazing time , glad to hear it!

Japan is my ultimate bucket list country. I need to get there, i've always been fascinated by it

Yes, I highly recommended a visit!

Oh, your username reminds me - we also went to the Samurai and Ninja Museum. I thought it was going to be a bit rubbish at first. Obviously very touristy and a bit small and I'm not sure I'd really recommend it to anyone, but it ended up being fairly good fun and our youngest won the shuriken throwing contest at the end, which was a bonus