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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/stainbas on 2025-04-20 00:15:36+00:00.
tl;dr: by sacrificing some "Instagrammable" spots you can stay sane and still see cool stuff; in Kyoto, consider staying in Fushimi Inari to get the most out of it:; Hiroshima was worth it.
I am paying it forward by writing a trip report since I learned a lot from this subreddit. Biographical details in the header (I am mom). Exact dates were April 11 to April 20.
Tokyo (4 nights): Flew into Narita and got into town via he Skyliner, which was very easy as we were staying near Ueno. We got welcome Suica cards, but if the line is long just consider paying the deposit for regular IC cards. I lost mine during the trip and found the Japanese IC card was more reliable at vending machines.
We stayed im a residential area between Ueno and Akihabara. I chose it because I figured the boys would love Akihabara. Turned out they did not. But Ueno was fantastic, including the park. Sakura were past peak but still abundant. Day 1 we did the fish market first thing in the morning, Asakusa, and Skytree. We walked from Asakusa to Skytree and it was great -;the park by the river was a highlight. Heights don't normally do much for me, but I appreciated Skytree. The boys also loved the mall there. We used the basement food court to get takeout shi and it was awesome. We passed out at 3 and never made it out to dinner.
Day 2 was Shibuya and Harakuju. This was our toughest day because it was raining all day and a Sunday so everyone was out and about. We were underwhelmed with both places (Harakuju was a zoo, even on side streets), but the weather probably didn't help. My 14 yo and I went to Akihabara that night. He was troubled by all the women advertising bars. Not our thing.
Day 3 was Disney Sea (Monday). We are big Disney fans so wanted to experience the Japanese take. Got there 1 hour before rope drop. By sacrificing any opportunity to do the frozen ride, taking advantage of single rider, and paying for a couple of priority passes, we managed to finish up by 3 or 4. We really enjoyed Disney Sea and while it was definitely Japanese, it was nice to be in an environment we were familiar with for a day.
Day 4: went to Koto to see the Gundam statue (I recommend) before taking the train to Kyoto. For those stressing about "oversized bags" like we did, we had one medium suitcase that was larger than a carryon but not gigantic. This fit fine in the overhead compartment. We paid for the green car but for the rest of the trip used the ordinary reserved car. We bought all tickets the night before or the same day using the SmartEX App and had no problems.
In Kyoto (3 nights), we rented a small house in the Fushimi Inari area, on the advice of Travel Caffeine This was possibly the best strategic decision we made the whole trip. We could visit the shrine early in the morning and late at night. We were close to the main line train station so could get to all the other places fine, and there were plenty of places to eat. When we talked with other westerners we ran into, they were not enjoying Kyoto because of the neverending crowds. We definitely saw crowds but did not have that same experience of feeling swarmed. We also decided to forego the Arashiyama forest and just focus on the east side of Kyoto, which was fine because Inari mountain has a beautiful grove. We hit the temples you're "supposed" to hit, but also went to Kennin-ji, which was a highlight. Nanin-ji's aquaduct was also super cool, and the Philosophers path was surprisingly now crowded.
Our Hiroshima stop was a happy accident - I had miscounted the days and realized we had a gap in our accommodations for one night. When I discovered that a week before or trip, our 16 yo asked to go to Hiroshima, so that's what I booked. It was a powerful experience. One night was sufficient, but that is because we chose not to do the island (again, sacrifices). We got the morning train back to Tokyo for one night and leave this afternoon. For this night we stayed in the onsen ryokan in Asakusa and it has been wonderful. We also appreciated the vibrant night vibe here.
That's about it. I hope this helps others.