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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/corruptedcircle on 2025-04-19 07:21:59+00:00.
Did minimum planning beforehand (parents didn't want a concrete plan in case they need more rest), ended up checking this sub quite often to come up with ideas so figured I'll try to offer a little in return. Not much worth copying but might give people some ideas.
Parents are getting up there in age so this trip was meant to be more relaxing and slow-paced...But I'm unfit af so I was slowly dying by day 3 anyway lol oop. Steps recorded by an iPhone 10. Would recommend trying to fit in more bus transfers if you want to walk less.
0403 Arrival, Ueno Sakura at night Arrived at Narita at 3pm, met up with parents at about 5pm. Rushed to Ueno for sakura viewing at night because the night lights are only around till Apr 6 and we didn't know how much sakura flowers are left. It was lightly raining so it wasn't too crowded. Had dinner in Ameya yokocho, was crowded but didn't have to wait for seating. That seems to be the case for most places we ended up going--even though it'd be so crowded there's almost no space to walk, entry to restaurants or places that require an entrance fee are still aplenty. Steps: 13366
0404 Mount Fuji viewing tour This was one of the two things we booked beforehand, a one-day bus tour taking us to view Mount Fuji. It would have taken us up the mountain too but the roads were closed and the cable cars were too crowded (guess they can't book tickets beforehand for groups?). Boat trip in Kawaguchi-ko was still pretty nice, top of Mount Fuji still had snow on it while the bottom was blue which was THE perfect view of the mountain. Also took us to Asama (Sengen) jinja and Oshino Hakkai. Steps: 14261
0405 Ueno Tokyo National Museum Slower day to rest up, dad spent the day mostly in the hotel. Had a Japanese full-course lunch that took a while, and then decided to go back to Ueno because I wanted to visit the Tokyo National Museum. Spent maybe 3-4 hours in there? Also saw the sakura trees at Ueno Park again both in the daytime and at night, but it was a sunny day on a weekend so scarily crowded. Steps: 20083
0406 Shinjuku Gyoen Entered from the south to start with the sakura trees which were mostly full blossom still. Circled the park a bit and then walked back to Shinjiku for a late lunch, then checked out the department stores near Shinjiku station's South Exit which was further from the place we were staying. Steps: 13808
0407 Meiji Jingu, Harajuku Entered from Yoyogi side and walked across Meiji Jingu. Rested at a coffee shop for a bit after getting to Harajuku, then dad went back early and I walked around Harajuku and Omotesando with my mom. Spend a lot of time in Laforet because it's nostalgic for my mom and she also enjoyed checking out the current loli/goth fashion stuff, neither of us were really ever going to buy anything but still noticed that sizing is very limited. Also walked along a street nicknamed Cat Street and Takeshita dori. Steps: 17545
0408 Asakusa, Sumida gawa Walked from the outer Kaminarimon towards the temple, ate lunch somewhere near Nakamise-dori. Decided this was the day we tried out Kimono rental, takes like an hour to get hair and clothing done for women. Strolled around Senso-ji in kimonos, couldn't really walk fast anyway because I'm not really steady on my feet and found it difficult to walk in those slippers. After returning the rentals, we slowly walked alongside the Sumida river to the decking area for the second thing we actually booked--dinner on a yakatabune (the flat top boats with red lights hanging across) as it sailed along the river from Asakusa to the rainbow bridge and back. Steps: 13195
0409 Roppongi Mori Museum, Azabudai Another rest day for the dad and slow day in general, decided to go to Roppongi because I really wanted to fit in an art museum. Went with the Mori Museum because I saw it was a small viewing window to see Tokyo from up top, and I didn't want to pay another entry fee for just a sky view. Unfortunately I didn't really enjoy the exhibition that was on, although the atmosphere was still pretty good. I have fonder memories of the National Art Center though, and I think I'll choose to revisit that next time and just pay for a proper sky view. Walked towards Azabudai and somehow randomly met my grandma's family friend who was out with their family to buy a suit for their son, lol. Steps: 12111
0410 Kawagoe For once properly consulted the local tourist center and they recommended we take a bus towards Hikawa jinja and walk back towards the station. The river behind the temple had the best view of my entire trip--sakura petals covering the entire river while the trees above were still mostly covered in flowers. Then went to Honmaru Goten (skipped the museum and art museum after considering the time), I'm not really a history person but walking in an old Japanese style castle building was still fun. Then we circled back towards Kashiya Yokocho, which was not all that interesting if you're like me and not really into Japanese sweets. In comparison, the old buildings on Ichibancho were much more fun to look at, including the Toki no Kane of course. We continued on to a street named Taisho romantic dream street with Taisho era buildings, then parents continued in that direction back to the station while I went towards Hoshinoyama Mugenjuji Kitain, which was another old castle to walk around and I would recommend this over Honmaru Goten if you wanted to pick just one since it had more old artifacts laying around and included Tokugawa Iemitsu's birth room as well as a small labyrinth consisting of 540 Buddha statues. Senba Toshogu and Hiejinja are also nearby. Lastly went to Kawagoe Hachimangu which I can't say was all that different from all the other temples (sorry xd) but it said it specialized in foot and back health so I got some omamoris for the parents. Steps: 22189
0411 Shibuya Slow day, started the day late and only went to Shibuya. Visited Scramble Square, PARCO and 109. PARCO had a Nintendo, Pokemon store, Capcom and JUMP store which was all CROWDED (especially the Pokemon store!) but I joined the crowd anyway because how could I not. Mom enjoyed 109 because it had vibes she remembered more. Steps: 14804
0412 Tsukiji, Ginza Still tired, dad wanted oysters at Tsukiji so we decided that's all we'd do. Apparently the inner market moved to Toyosu, but the outer market remained as a tourist attraction and was still crowded. Then we walked towards the Kabuki-za in Ginza, but by the time we got there dad was tired so we took the train back to our hotel. At night my mom and I walked around Shinjiku and spent a lot of time at a drug store buying stuff to take home. Steps: 13193
0413 Shinjiku Actually started dying by this day so started the day even later, only walked around Shinjiku and checked out a couple more department stores. Found a lot of secondhand stores selling brand stuff but didn't have any good finds after comparing online prices. It was also a Sunday and weekends are terrifying when it comes to crowds. Steps: 8329
0414 Daiba I had strong memories of Daiba and really wanted to revisit. Mostly spent time in the department store buildings including DECKS, Aqua City and Diver City. Had lunch in the takoyaki "museum" (just an area with like 6 takoyaki places lol) in DECKS. Also really wanted to go into Joypolis since I had childhood memories of the place but didn't want to do the full thing, so I went for the evening admission that included 2 ride, while 60 years and older entered for free so my parents just went in with that lol. If you go with the evening ticket remember that most attractions close way before 7pm closing time so definitely hurry. Steps: 18996
0415 Ikebukuro Solo trip out for anime stuff. First went to a card store that had a Pokemon TCG tournament going, spent a bit more than an hour just checking out cards and observing the tournament from afar. Then went to K-books which had several buildings for different genres. Sunshine city was next, which had a Pokemon store that had mostly the same stuff as the Shibuya one but was much less crowded. I have childhood memories of Namja Town so I had to go in, but I didn't dare try out the attractions with my very limited Japanese (my mom who spoke Japanese guided us around when we went as kids). It was much less crowded than I remembered so there were a lot of great photo spots, but half the attractions I remember were gone and replaced by anime corners. Then went to Lashinbang which sold secondhand anime stuff, and also found several other secondhand/doujin stores I can't remember the names of along the way. Ended with Animate which was rather boring in comparison, lol. Steps: 11747
0416 Kamakura Decided on Kamakura the night before and just went for it. Found the Enoshima-Kamakura Freepass which was easy to book and included one round-trip on the Odakyu lines to Fujisawa, and unlimited rides on the Enoden (Fujisawa to Kamakura) and between Fujisawa to Katase-Enoshima. Started from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and ate lunch at Komachi Dori. Spent way too much time just strolling around until we realized it was nearing closing time for temples and we rushed towards Kōtoku-in for the Great Buddha statue and arrived 10 minutes before closing time. I wanted to fit in Enoshima but there wasn't enough time and I really didn't have the strength left for it anyway, so we only went to th...
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