Day 1 (3/16): Tokyo
Flight from Honolulu arrives at 5:15PM on this day to Tokyo, so I don't want to plan any activities, as getting from the airport to the city may take some time.
Activities:
- n/a
Planner's Notes: We'd arrange a private car pick up for you on this day to take you to your hotel, and on the last day of your itinerary (currently a departure from Osaka) as well.
Day 2 (3/17): Tokyo
Since this trip is relatively short, and visiting some of Japan's famous natural highlights (like Mt. Fuji) would be difficult to find time for. I wanted to include a way to both give you guys a sense of how enormous Tokyo is to help orientate you to your new surroundings, but also I wanted to have a moment where we could give you the best possible view of Mt. Fuji! I'd like to arrange a helicopter flight from Tokyo to the Hakone area on this day. The flight would be around an hour, and you would go around the Tokyo area to see its amazing skyscrapers, and then to The Great Lakes area around Mt. Fuji.
After that, the I think that I wanted to arrange something that I think all of your children will enjoy. TeamLab is really hard to put into words. It's like a futuristic, art/interactive space that is a lot of fun. We have school trips that we handle (high school to university freshman-aged), and it is always the highlight of their trip. I'm going to include a video below so that you can get a better idea of what it's like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uJTk_mRmUY&ab_channel=teamLab
Lastly, on this day, I would like to arrange for dinner on Tokyo Bay. Tokyoites call it a yakatabune, which kind of means "floating house". It's a very nice way to enjoy a meal while taking in the sights of the city at night. The food is very traditional, and typically includes tempura, sashimi, miso soup, shabu shabu, and a variety of small side dishes.
Activities (guided):
- Short helicopter tour of Tokyo and Mt. Fuji (in the morning)
- TeamLab Planets (or Borderless) interactive art exhibit
- Yakatabune dinner on Tokyo Bay
Planner's Notes: I've tried to plan this day as a "welcome" to Japan. The helicopter flight, and even the menu for the yakatabune dinner (which has a lot of very traditional Japanese foods) are all light activities that I wanted to include on this day. The flight can be customized if you think that going to the Mt. Fuji area is too far. We could focus the flight on just the Tokyo area to keep it shorter, and to also spend more time on seeing the city sights from the sky.
Day 3 (3/18): Nikko (day trip from Tokyo)
Today, as an almost complete turn from yesterday's activities, the theme and focus will be on parts of Japan's past. Nikko is just north of Tokyo, and the best way to get there is by train. There is a train that actually has a private cabin (which is pretty rare for Japan), and it's the most enjoyable way to watch the landscape change from modern, to countryside. Nikko is the resting place for the shogun who unified Japan. There is a shrine there in his honor, and it by far the most ornate of any shrine I've seen in the country. The first half of this day is best spent with a knowledgeable guide who can give you all of the history of Nikko, and the shrines so that you can best appreciate it. The shrine itself is planted right in the middle of a large cedar forest, which only adds to its majesty.
After that, the next stop is more lighthearted. The Edo-era "theme park" isn't located too far from the shrine. I love visiting here, and they usually have to kick us out, because we typically stay until closing hours. There is so much to do, see and learn while visiting. There are impromptu sword fights, hidden ninjas in the streets, areas that teach you about the crafting process of katanas (it is insanely complex), and even stations where you can try your hand at creating your own daruma dolls. It is a lot of light-hearted fun, but I can definitely understand if it isn't exactly what you're looking for with this itinerary. Please let me know what you think about it, and we can replace this with something else (Nikko has some onsen spots nearby that we could put into this day).
As transportation in the area can be very complicated, we would like to arrange a private car for you and your guide on this day (to travel around Nikko after you have arrived by train, or even to pick you up directly from where you'll be staying in Tokyo).
Activities (guided):
- Visit to Toshogu Shrine (guided)
- Visit to Edo open-air museum/theme park (or onsen)
- Private compartment train (based on availability, and desirability)
- Private Onsen visit (tentative addition)
- Dinner Reservation: TBD
Planner's Notes: Toshogu Shrine is indeed a shrine, but it isn't like any other shrine in Japan. I know that people can easily get tired of shrine/temple visits when visiting here (especially when traveling with kids), but if I could only plan a single shrine/temple visit, it would definitely be this one. In addition to that, we have Edo Wonderland planned, to kind of "counter-balance" the visit. Private car is an a must on this day.
Day 4 (3/19): Tokyo
I would like to use this day to book the fish market tour and sushi making lesson. We typically combine these two activities together, so usually your guide of the fish market is a sushi chef, or the same person who will also be teaching you how to make sushi. The fish that you choose at the market is the fish that you will be using to make sushi with. Your guide/chef should tell you about how to choose a good fish, and what makes a good fish... good. Toyosu is the currently used area for the fisherman who sell fish wholesale, and is the biggest fish market in Japan. The market used to be housed in Tsukiji, but that area has been shut down, and the land was repurposed for the Olympics. The outer market area is still a very nice place to visit for food though. It is possible to see both places in a single day.
I know that not everyone in your group may drink alcohol, but I did want to arrange something for those of you that do enjoy sake, as Tokyo has one of the absolute best places on Earth to learn about it. There's a sake learning center where they gather all different types of sake from across Japan, and teach not only about the process of making sake, but also which types of sake pair best with certain types of dishes, and fish. If everyone is not interested in joining in on this activity, we could arrange for a guide to take those who don't want to join to tour Sensoji Temple and the Nakamise area there. I don't know if any of your children are interested in fashion, but we could arrange this day to have a car take them on a fashion boutique tour in Omotosando and Harajuku with a stylist, while you and your wife are out enjoying the sake taste testing. Later on, you could all meet back up for the food tour.
The food tour of Ueno is nice, because it's a neighborhood that is rarely visited by tourists, so the places are relatively unknown. Also, the person who hosts this tour is one of the best authorities on ramen in Japan, as he has been to all of the Michelin-star restaurants in Tokyo, and hundreds of the ramen spots. He is also a sake sommelier!
Activities (guided):
- Toyosu Fish Market Tour
- Sushi-making lesson
- Sake Taste testing (tentative)
- Tokyo Fashion Boutique tour with personal shopper/stylist (tentative)
- Izakaya Food tour
Planner's Notes: For both Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, I wanted to include a food tour while you guys are in those locations as the food is a bit different in each region. I'm also trying to avoid 'over-planning' the days you have in Tokyo. The fish market tour and sushi-making lesson typically starts early, and the food tour starts later in the evening. What we could do, if you think your children would like more free time to explore Tokyo on their own is to leave the afternoon completely free on this day after the fish market tour and sushi-making lesson. Also, there are other specialized tours that we can arrange depending on you and your family's interests. For instance, there is a tour in a district called Akihabara that is famous for being the epicenter for all anime, manga and video game culture in Japan.
Day 5 (3/20): Osaka
On this day, I'd like to arrange a bullet train journey from Tokyo to the Kansai region. The train journey is around two and half hours in total. After which, I'd like to focus on a single activity on this day, Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.
Activities:
- Bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto (1st class seating)
- Universal Studios Japan
Planner's Notes: The driver for this day will meet you at the train platform (holding a sign with your name on it) when you arrive in Kyoto. Kyoto Station is a very large station, and so this would be to avoid confusion, and also to save time.
An alternative to this day's arrangements would be to stay in Tokyo an additional day and visit either Disneyland or Disney Sea, if you'd prefer a Disney resort to USJ. USJ currently has Super Mario World, and a lot of other attractions that I think would be more popular with teenagers, thus its tentative addition to this itinerary, however if you have a specific preference, please let us know. If you do decide on USJ, logistically, I would like to get you guys out of Tokyo early in the morning to take full advantage of your time there.
This is currently the only day where I don't think a personal guide would be necessary, as you would have a driver who will also act as your guide on this day.
Day 6 (3/21): Kyoto
I'd like to use this day for a single activity, and then a visit to some of Kyoto's iconic sites. The activity is crafting a small katana with a swordsmith. The swordsmith would take you to their forge to make a small version of a katana from scratch. A guide would accompany you on this day to both interpret the instructions from the sword forge master, and also to guide you to the temples and shrines afterwards.
Kyoto has thousands of temples and shrines. For this day, I would like to focus on some of the more iconic sites, namely Fushimi Inari, and Kiyomizudera. The first being a Shinto shrine (the most popular in the entire nation), and the latter being a Buddhist temple. Kiyomizudera is famous for having been constructed without the use of a single nail, and Fushimi Inari is famous for its thousands of ornate vermillion colored torii gates that lead up to the top of the mountain that it is named after. As Fushimi Inari can be a really crowded place at this time of year, I would like to arrange for this visit to be done later in the day (possibly during sunset) to avoid the crowds. I will include photos of these places in the gallery below.
Activities:
- Kogatana sword forging experience
- Fushimi Inari Shrine visit
- Kiyomizudera Temple visit
Planner's Notes: Please note that there are two sword forges that we typically send clients to. One of them is in Kyoto, and the other is in Gifu. The one in Kyoto is in the countryside, and slightly tough to reach, so time-wise, they both take around the same amount of time to reach. The swordsmith in Gifu is a living Japanese treasure. He has also spent extensive time overseas, and so he speaks very good English. The only thing to keep in mind is that while he is indeed a master swordsmith, the experience at his forge is a technique for crafting a large kitchen knife... using the same techniques that he would use to forge a katana, whereas the other is for crafting a small kogatana, which is more of a normal knife (again using the same techniques one would use to forge a katana). Either of these forges would be great to visit if you decide to keep this activity in the itinerary. As of writing this, I've checked the availability of both, and they are still available for a booking. Alternatively, we could split this day up into groups, like we've suggested on Day 4. We had a family that we planned for before that has done it this way. Where the ladies in the group went for a spa day, while the boys went to the forge. This is also a possibility, and everyone got back together in the afternoon to enjoy the rest of the day together.
Day 7 (3/22): Osaka
Japan's national sumo tournament will be happening while you guys are in Osaka. So, on this day, I would like to try and secure tickets. to the tournament in Osaka. The day would be dedicated to this and a street food tour. Osaka is the only city that still has "street food". This would be a guided experience, of course and you can expect some Osaka favorites like oden, takoyaki, kushikatsu, ramen and sweets amongst other things, however I can ask the guide to customize the menu to include things that you want to add in.
Activities:
- Osaka Castle visit (time pending)
- Sumo National Tournament
- Osaka Street Food tour
Planner's Notes: Private car would be utilized for this entire day.
Day 8 (3/23): Tokyo
I'd like to tentatively only plan a single activity for this day currently. The activity would be a private geisha dinner for you and your family. I'm leaving the rest of the day open, so that we have space to move things around, but also so that we can make changes based on your feedback. Alternatively, this day could also be left as a semi-free day for you and your family if you want to have more free time in the itinerary.
Activities:
- Geisha dinner
Planner's Notes: This day could also be used to visit Himeji, which is about 45 minutes from Kyoto by bullet train. Himeji's Castle and the gardens around the castle are really beautiful, and are a great cherry blossom area for this region. I've included a picture of the castle in the gallery. The castle itself is a very 'lucky' place as it is one of the only castles left in Japan that is the original structure. Most of Japan's castles have been destroyed in war, an earthquake, a tsunami, or some other calamity. This is the original structure and is (in my opinion) the most beautiful castle in the country. If the cherry blossoms are blooming on this day, it will only add to its majesty. The trip here would be a quick day trip.
Day 9 (3/24): Tokyo
As this is your last day, I did not want to plan too much. There's an area in Kyoto where you can ride a traditional boat (no engine, just pushed down the river by three men), that is lined with cherry blossom trees. It's a very beautiful, and serene experience. The boat journey ends in the Arashiyama district, where you will have the chance to visit one of Japan's most beautiful zen gardens (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The garden is somehow beautiful and different in every season. It was masterfully designed, and kind of 'ticks' every box on what you would expect from a beautiful zen garden. There is a path behind Tenryuji that is famous for being lined with extremely tall bamboo. I'm going to include a picture of it in the small gallery below, but it is a very famous site.
Activities:
- Traditional river cruise to Arashiyama
- Tenryuji Temple (UNESCO World Heritage site)
- Zen Garden visit
- Bamboo grove visit
Planner's Notes: I've put this on the last day, because this day is the day that sakura cherry blossom trees will most likely be in bloom in this region. Logistically, since your flight is leaving late at night, I would like your driver to utilize a slightly larger vehicle on this day, so that all of your luggage can fit in the van. After the activities are done on this day, the driver can take you directly to the airport, instead of having to go back to the hotel.
