Overview

Flying into and out of Haneda is more convenient apparently but Narita there is lots of flights and they tend to be cheaper – it’s not a massive deal so dont worry about it too much. If the flight is late just organise a transfer – I would always get a transfer anyway!

Before you leave get a WISE card and load your money onto it – take it to an ATM in Australia and get a balance check before you leave to activate it. Best rates by far.

Get an esim from Airalo if your phone is compatible. Buy your data and activate before you leave. when you get to Aus you just need to turn off your primary and turn it on – super easy and convenient!

Tax free – buy over 5500yen (about $50AUD) and you can get it tax free. You need your passport and save 10%. They will put it in a bag and you cant access it till you get home. It’s only on consumables (things you literally use up while there), so jumpers etc you can use and still buy duty free. Bring extra suitcases for all the amazing stuff you’ll want to get – it’s so cheap!! Face serums for $7, hair masks for $6, packets of kitkats for $2. I didn’t bring enough extra luggage so in the end I had to kerb what we got – so bring empty suitcases! You will want them. No-one checks your duty free stuff as far as I’m aware. So a couple of times I did open up the bags when I got things sort of by mistake duty free but actually wanted them while I was there. Noone checked it at all. I’m not sure if they will but I had about 6 bags and I figured opening one or two isn’t the end of the world. I have no idea if I was mean to keep the receipts but I didn’t! Again no-one checked so all good!

Suitcases – small and medium are fine. If you bring a large one just be prepared to luggage transfer which is SUPER convenient anyway. We transferred the large one and medium, and used the small one and backpacks between luggage transfers. Nice and easy!

It’s required to carry your passport everywhere you go in Japan and there are reports of people being checked. We never did but I did carry it in a zip lock bag so bring one.

Tokyo (Narita)

Arrival

Flight Details:

  • Departure: Melbourne
  • Arrival: Narita
  • Flight: QF79, Qantas,

Transport to Hotel:

  • Car: Toyota Alphard with car seat included
  • Cost: $240, PAID via Klook
  • Tip: This transfer service is great, especially with kids and luggage. I wouldn’t bother trying to get the train I’d just go straight for this with luggage!

Accommodation:

  • Location: Mimaru Asakusa Station, Asakusa
  • Room Details: Bunk and 4 single beds, it’s in a 1 bedroom apartment and had heaps of room, it was a great room! Bed guard requested (not needed), you can request heaps of things from the hotels – diaper bin, straighteners, irons, even pyjamas if needed.
  • Location: This place is awesome and cheaper than staying in the main areas – like half the price. It’s an amazing area too! It feels great and quieter and the train station is super easy to manage as the first train station you need to navigate! Dont stay in Shinjuku – I thought it was the place to stay but it’s not its a great place to spend an afternoon/night/half a day. Shibuya you could stay in as there is lots to see, but if I went back, I would 100% stay in Asakusa again, especially if you go when there is a chance of rain! Lots of areas to discover undercover here.

Day 1 – Tuesday, Jun 18: Explore Asakusa

  • Breakfasts – 7/11 across the street – buy smoothies!
  • Coffee – never found a good one, we ended up with Starbucks – I mostly drank iced mocha for extra sugar plus the weather was super hot.
  • Sensoji Temple: A must-visit historic temple – easy to find and walk around. Busy as but great to see!
  • Nakamise Dori: Enjoy street food – try the food below!
  • Tokyo Skytree: Visit the 350m observation deck (the 450m deck is optional). There’s a large shopping center perfect for rainy days.
  • Local Eats:
    • Strawberries with chocolate – delicious street snack.
    • Taiyaki – the second shop is better than the first.
    • Ichiran Ramen – amazing ramen experience, quick service. It’s a chain of sorts but DO NOT let you put that off. It is brilliant. We ate it HEAPS, it’s cheap, quick, and we bought home heaps of packets duty free!
    • Don Quijote – open 24 hours, best prices for shopping I found, it’s not the biggest but I loved it the most!
    • Uniqlo – affordable clothing.

Tip: Eating while walking is often prohibited, and finding trash bins can be challenging. Eat your food at the place you got it out the front, then dispose of your trash immediately at the place of purchase. If you dont do this (and trust me you’ll forget once or twice) it’s such a pain as you need to carry around the rubbish for hours and hours, and sometimes even will return back to your hotel with it at nighttime! So bring some doggy poo bags that are small and easy to access to throw rubbish out throughout the day if needed.

Day 2 – Wednesday, Jun 19: Shinjuku & Shibuya

  • King Kong: Visit the famous statue – we took a photo and the kids liked it, there are projections etc but we went during the day.
  • 3D Screen: See the main crossing with the 3D screen – this is worth a view! When you’re in the train station you will lose your way – we exited in some really strange place
  • We ate lunch, went to the main starbucks, and went to a few claw machine places which the kids thought was amazing!
  • We realised we didnt want to spend too much extra time there – it’s a very adult night time sort of place, so we did an hour worth of karaoke which was great fun, then we went to Shibuya.
  • After a train ride there we walked across the crossing and then up the main road.
  • We ate in a great place on the main road – a tip is to google map places with good reviews, Japan is one of the hardest places I’ve known to find great places to eat as they all are reserved if they’re any good, so find somewhere near you and just see if it’s any good and if you can get in! Vending machine restaurants will often make you order at the machine, then give the ticket to the staff, and then sit down. Once you work it out it’s easier and I dont mind ordering on the machines it means you get a little extra time to think and work out what all the options are.
  • Head to the mega Don Quiote – it’s bigger and awesome – but you need to carry all your stuff home.

Day 3 – Thursday, Jun 20: TeamLab Planets

  • Tickets: Pre-booked for 10 AM. Definitely pre-buy your tickets – the earlier you get them the less people will be there. You enter at a certain time but you dont need to leave at a time you can even go around again! So the earlier you go the better.
  • Catch the driverless train here and try to be at the front! The kids love it it’s called Yurikamome. It might cost you a bit extra but it’s worth it. You get a great view of that side of the city too.
  • Eat vegan ramen out the front. At planets there is pretty much nothing nearby to eat unless you go to the big markets, but there is a cafe which does vegan ramen. My suggestion is go to the 10am session and try the ramen – its AMAZING and it’s great to try something so different! It’s pretty much the only veggies we found in Japan too!
  • Went out for dinner in Asakusa. Loads of places to go!

Day 4 – Friday, Jun 21: Shibuya (ended up being Asakusa!)

  • The below was my plan for this day:
  • Shibuya Sky: Entry between 3:40-4 PM, kids tickets needed there – buy in advance before you go they sell out.
  • Meiji Jingu: A peaceful shrine visit.
  • MEGA Don Quijote: Great for shopping.

BUT – Matt got super bad food poisoning so we canceled Shibuya – I could have taken all 3 kids to Shibuya but it was also raining so sky tickets wouldn’t have been great anyway.

I cancelled and instead we just walked around, explored, and ate great food. We got tickets to the Samurai museum which was awesome! You can do an experience where you dress up etc, but we liked just the general entry and we still go to throw ninja stars which of course was the highlight!

We walked around Kappabashi street and looked at knives and all sorts of amazing kitchen things. We only had an hour or so, and Diesel ended up being interviewed by a Japanese show so we wasted time just hanging. I did get some things here and it’s super different and cool to see.

We then did another couple of hours at Karaoke – there is one right near Ichiran Ramen in Asakusa so Deesy and I sung our hearts out!

Day 5 – Saturday, Jun 22: Ikebukuro

Matt was feeling better so we came here but I wasn’t prepared for this area!

  • Anime shop – it’s the largest in Japan so was FULLLLL of people, the lines were INSANE and I didn’t want to be there – Diesel loved it but there is no way I would have let him buy anything due to the lines anyway! I cant explain how massive they were!
  • Largest Gachapon Centre: Located in Sunshine City. So the kids absolutely love these machines but honestly I just simply couldn’t find the shop. The place is worse than Chadstone! google maps wasn’t helping – the maps in the centre weren’t helping. We literally gave up. It’s a fun place to look around, but go there on a super hot or a super rainy day so you dont feel like you are wasting the day. It was gorgeous outside so we left and looked around. Lots of great shops there though to look around, cheap and good quality.

Day 6 – Sunday, Jun 23: Transfer to Tokyo Bay (Disneyland)

  • Transport: You can catch the train with a couple of stops to Disneyland but we took a transfer via Klook again, at 6:30am it meant we didn’t have to worry about luggage on the trains too.
  • Cost: $103.49

Accommodation:

  • Location: Sheraton Tokyo Bay
  • Room: Family Premium 5 Beds, Club lounge access – club means you can have breakfast buffet and if you want to leave Disneyland you can go there and have cocktail hours and dinner buffet. We actually left disneyland once to do this and it was great – but you dont often do it I think. The breakfast was good though especially after struggling to find a breakfast in Asakusa.
  • Our room was ready at 7pm that night, if we were home earlier they would probably have had it ready earlier but we were going to Disney Sea so we weren’t bothered. Luggage was in our room when we got there that night so all very smooth.
  • We had filled in the form online to have tickets from the desk and so got our Disneyland tickets – we didn’t need to do anything to show we reserved it and we changed one day from DS to DL and it was fine so not sure why we needed to do it.
  • Disneysea was amazing – people line up from 4:30am. We lined up about 45 mins early, I wouldn’t suggest it, we didn’t do it any other day, turn up as early as you can, we got there at 9am or so and it was always perfect.
  • There are vacation packages and fast passes and 40th anniversary passes and standby passes. I wont go into this because it changes so regularly – so just check before you go which ones are relevant – ask me if you want help and I’ll tell you what I know!

Day 7 – Monday, Jun 24: Disneyland

  • Dont book tickets to eat, we ate snacks and popcorn all day and whatever we could. The places you can reserve aren’t great so don’t bother.

Day 8 – Tuesday, Jun 25: Was meant to be Disney Sea but we changed to Disneyland!

  • Sent our bags to Osaka to be there when we arrived, went to Hakone with just a few days clothes.

Hakone

Day 9 – Wednesday, Jun 26: Transfer to Hakone

  • Transport: Shuttle to the main train station, Train from Tokyo Bay to Odawara (get your Hakone Free Pass here) , then another 2 trains to Gora (one is a switch back train and touristy and slow for japan due to the mountain – its super interesting though!) then taxi to the hotel.
  • Accommodation: Hyatt Regency Hakone – traditional Japanese room where the kids slept on the ground. We all had Kimonos and went into the onsens. Each gender has their own Onsen and if you have a tattoo you cant go in, but if it’s small and able to be hidden noone looks too close, cover with a bandage/bandaid and you’ll be fine. Wash before you go in, and after you bathe. The water is about 40 degrees so you can only manage 10 mins or so and it’s just for soaking.

Activities:

  • It’s hard to ‘explore’ here depends on where your hotel is.
  • Something to remember is that wherever you stay you will need to eat too – taxis stop at 4pm or so generally so if you are staying at an expensive place and dont want to spend hundreds bring noodles for everyone including kids! The hyatt had brilliant food, we ate cold ramen for lunch (delicious) but dinner was going to be $600 or so, so we all had noodles instead. There is also a food van at the train station which has brilliant food and beer etc so if your hotel has a shuttle to Gora then head there for some early dinner/fries for the kids.

Day 10 – Thursday, Jun 27: Explore Hakone

  • Hakone Ropeway: Scenic views including going over a Volcano!!
  • Pirate Ship on Mt. Fuji: Enjoy the unique experience it’s all free. It stops in two places, the first is a little boring but eat either at the first or second place.
  • Hakone Shrine: Visit the iconic Torii gates. If you want a photo there you will need to wait in line while all the instagrammers get a billion photos while not looking at the camera it drove me crazy. Gorgeous though.
  • We caught the cable car back to Gora which was another unique experience here!
  • More dinner from the food van at the station and Matt and I got some room service. We simply couldn’t fathom taking everyone down and not being able to just sit and enjoy the dinner.

Osaka

Day 11 – Friday, Jun 28: Transfer to Osaka

  • Transport: Bullet Train from Hakone to Shin-Osaka, then train to Shin Sai Bashi.
  • Accommodation: MIMARU OSAKA NAMBA NORTH – a couple of blocks from Dotonbori and also from Shin Sai Bashi! If I could have I would have been closer but it was still great.
  • Coffee: Sporty Coffee was awesome – yep a basketball shop but it was great coffee!

Activities:

  • Dotonbori: Explore the vibrant area.
  • Osaka Castle: Worth a visit but we didn’t manage to get there.
  • Eat dinner at Dotonbori

Day 12 – Saturday, Jun 29: Day Trip to Kyoto

  • Catch the train to Kyoto, either bullet 15 mins or local 30 mins either is easy.
  • Arashiyama Bamboo Grove: Walk around and enjoy the serene atmosphere.
  • All the temples, and Gion in the city.
  • Go early and come home late! We came home after dinner – trains are easy and train stations are everywhere.

Day 13 – Sunday, Jun 30: Universal Studios Japan

  • Tickets: Pre-booked with express pass.
  • Make sure you pre buy express passes right when they become available – 2 months before going. I woudn’t go otherwise it’s too busy hour long waits at every ride. The rides and place was great, just not worthwhile for a day only if you dont have the express pass – buy from Klook.

Day 14 – Monday, Jul 1: Day Trip to Nara (optional)

  • We got up and sent our luggage to the airport so no dragging bags around the city – just one small one and our backpacks!
  • Explore: Visit the famous Nara Park and see the deer. Y200 for a pack of biscuits for the deer. You will be hounded but it’s great fun. I wouldn’t pat the deer – some people do but there were reports of ticks so we were careful not to. Great fun though.
  • Walk up and see the temples and massive buddha!
  • Brilliant coffee here at Rokumei Coffee. First thing you do is head here and get coffee and croissants. Dont miss it!
  • Nara is about a half day thing, so come home and either shop or visit Dotonbori!

Day 15 – Tuesday, Jul 2: Osaka

  • Shinsaibashi: A great shopping street.
  • Kids were pretty tired so we just walked around and enjoyed osaka at a slower pace. We didn’t get to the castle but it’s meant to be good. We let the kids relax at the hotel while we went out seperately to look around.
  • We all went out for dinner and ended up at Pizza Bar near the hotel. I really wanted pizza and the place was welcoming and pizza was brilliant. Everyone was quite happy to eat something not Japanese for a meal!

Final Night in Tokyo

Day 16 – Wednesday, Jul 3: Return to Tokyo

One of my biggest tips is come back to Tokyo the day before you fly out. It’s great as you will have time to do those last minute things you wanted to do but didnt have time to, or buy that thing you had your eye on but didn’t see anywhere else! definitely worth doing.

  • Transport: Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo.
  • Accommodation: Mimaru Ueno
  • We went out for dinner and explored the shopping street in Ueno. Its a bit gritty there but was good to see something else.

Day 17 – Thursday, Jul 4: Departure

  • It was 35 degrees and humid so we went back to Asakusa (2 stops!) and went to skytree as it’s airconditioned and we hadn’t done it yet. Worth a look but you only need to do 350m you dont need to do 450m unless you’re all in great spirits!
  • Back to get the final souvenirs, Taiyaki that i couldn’t find anywhere else, and strawberries and eat some more Ramen before we left. We loved this area so much and it was great to go back!
  • Took a taxi back to the hotel and then onto the skyliner from Ueno to Narita. One of the reasons we stayed in Ueno was for the direct skyliner and it was great. Buy your ticket online and get the ticket from the train station when you get there they assign you to the train you want. Super easy and the train was perfect and comfy.
  • Get to the airport and the luggage was right near where you check in – easiest process ever. 100% do this! No big bags on trains and you can still shop to your hearts content.

Flight Home

  • Departure: Tokyo, 20:25

We loved Japan and I left knowing 100% it wont be the last time I go. I have a few regrets but mostly ones that couldnt have been changed such as not being able to see more places. I do regret not bringing more empty suitcases. Things are so cheap (Uniqlo is awesome) that I would have got heaps more and more gifts if I had more space. I already want to go back and shop more! And eat more Ichiran!