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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MuffinDarling on 2025-06-27 19:17:17+00:00.
This sub was so incredibly helpful when I was planning our trip, so I wanted to do a write-up to help anyone else who may be feeling overwhelmed to get started! We were in Japan for ~2 weeks, with our kids (10 and 7).
Before the trip:
Flights and accommodations were booked in December/January for our June trip. I decided to go with Airbnbs for longer stays in Tokyo and Kyoto, and hotels for one-night stays in Nara and Universal Studios.
As we built the itinerary (aka the massive Excel spreadsheet), the goal was to have lots of options and lots of flexibility. This worked out really well, and it was nice to not be locked into too many things, and to choose how active we wanted to be on any particular day. We could switch the days around as needed (ie move a day trip a day earlier or later than intended because of rain). We also had a list of things to possibly hit on each day of the itinerary - sights in the area, shops we were interested in, restaurants that looked good, etc.
In March (~3 months before the trip), we started what we called "Japan boot camp." Everyone got new sneakers, and we went for family walks of 2-3 miles 2-3 times per week. I HIGHLY recommend this, especially if you're going with little kids! Ours were able to handle 20-30k steps per day while we were over there, there's no way we would have seen as much as we did if we hadn't been sticking to a walking routine. In retrospect, I would add more stairs (iykyk).
Also in March, we entered the lottery for tickets to the Nintendo museum.
In April, we began booking activities. We won the Nintendo museum lottery (yay!) and were able to purchase the tickets. We also booked tickets for the Gion Corner theater in Kyoto. On 4/28, tickets for Universal Studios became available for the dates we wanted to go, June 22-23. I was able to get Express passes for 6/22, but they sold out very quickly, so stay on top of booking if that's something you're interested in.
I secured our Pokemon Cafe reservations 1 month prior to when we wanted to go (search this sub for instructions on how to book - very useful information! It was a huge hassle).
6/10 we flew out from the US East Coast to Narita. ~20 hours of travel time. We landed around 3pm Tokyo time on 6/11, and customs, etc. was not bad at all. We used Visit Japan Web to generate a QR code for each of us, saving us from filling out the paper customs form.
We took the Narita Express into Shibuya, where we were staying in an Airbnb for this portion of the trip. It was in a nice neighborhood, about a 5 minute walk from the train station, and a 10-15 minute walk to Shibuya Scramble, shopping, etc. This was a great location to be based out of for us!
6/12 everyone woke up at 3:30am, so we walked to FamilyMart to pick up some breakfast. We left around 9:30 and headed to the Sunshine City mall in Ikebukuru, to check out the Pokemon center and the giant gachapon store (side note: budget for gachapon! They were EVERYWHERE, and so cool! All 4 of us came home with a ton). We also went to the flagship Animate store, then ate at Kura Sushi for lunch. We went over to Harajuku next and did a brief walk down Takeshita Street, where we got the giant cotton candy from Totti Candy Factory. We went back to the Airbnb for some rest after all that, then walked to Zauo, which is the fish for your own meal restaurant. It was fun, but very touristy. The kids had a good time, but it wasn't really worth the price in my opinion. We had way better meals on the trip, although the fish did taste very fresh.
6/13 we did a day trip to Kamakura and Enoshima. This day was probably one of my favorites of the entire trip, I highly recommend visiting if you can spare the day. We took the train from Tokyo to Kamakura and started by walking to the Sasuke Inari shrine (fox shrine). The kids loved this one, there are little fox statues everywhere, and a beautiful walkway with the red torii gates. We walked to Kotoku-in next to see the giant Buddha, then took the Enoshima Electric Railway to Enoshima. We ate a quick lunch at Lawson, then walked up what felt like 5,000 steps to Enoshima Shrine. We were heading to Iwaya Caves, but happened to be there during low tide, so we spent some time exploring the tide pools. The caves were very cool, I definitely recommend reading up on the lore before you go. It's very dark in some parts, so they give you a little candle and holder, which the kids loved.
We headed back to Shibuya after hiking back down, and ate at a ramen restaurant near our Airbnb (Oreryo Shio - it was excellent).
6/14 headed to Nihonbashi to get to that Pokemon center as soon as it opened and browsed until it was time for our Pokemon Cafe reservation. If you or your kids (so all 4 of us, in our case) are into Pokemon, this was so worth it. The presentation of the food is incredible, and the taste was very good for a themed cafe. The kids absolutely loved the Pikachu show.
We went back to Shibuya after and did some shopping.
6/15 went to Senso-ji to start the morning. We were there early and had a lovely time walking around the grounds and getting our fortunes.
We went to the Pokemon center in Shibuya after, intending to do the t-shirt design lab they have at that location. In retrospect, I would recommend getting there as soon as the store opens to secure your spot. We got there maybe an hour after it opened and it took over 3 hours for our turn. We ate lunch and did some more shopping while we waited. After the kids designed their shirts, it was another 90 minutes until we could pick them up.
We hadn't planned to do anything TeamLab, but we were able to get last-minute tickets for the evening for TeamLab Planets. I'm so glad we ended up going, it was so incredibly cool!
6/16 checked out of the Airbnb and headed for Tokyo Station, which is where we were catching the bullet train that afternoon. We left our luggage in a locker, and walked around near the Imperial Palace, then had lunch at Nemuro Hanamaru, a sushi train restaurant that was definitely worth the wait.
Side note here. The stations in Tokyo are huge. Overwhelmingly huge. We left our luggage in a little locker alcove near the Shinkansen ticketing area. We got about 50 feet away when I thought maybe I should drop a pin, but figured nah, we'll be fine. Huge mistake. It was an absolute nightmare trying to navigate the station to find that little locker alcove again. It took over 2 hours, rebooking the Shinkansen tickets for a later time, and some very kind ladies working at the tourist information center to help us find that locker. We finally made it to the train for Kyoto, and checked into the Airbnb that evening.
6/17 was mostly a rest day, with a few short walks around the neighborhood. We ate at the Coco Ichibanya nearby, which my son was obsessed with. Our Airbnb had 2 outdoor soaking tubs, so we spend a lot of time in those just recovering from the trip so far.
6/18 we did a day trip to Minoo Park. It's ~3km hike on a paved trail to the waterfall. Beautiful hike with some cool little shrines along the way. The waterfall was beautiful, and there are a few food stalls right next to it for a quick bite. There's also some restaurants along the trail. If you have an insect lover in your group, the Insectarium at the park was so cool. We had the place to ourselves, and the butterfly garden was beautiful. We headed back to Kyoto after that and had ramen for dinner in the station (Ippudo).
6/19 we did Arashiyama in the morning, and walked around the garden at Tenryu-Ji. Then we hiked to the monkey park, which the kids loved. For me, the view of Kyoto from the top made the climb to the monkey park worth it. We happened upon the kimono forest on the way back to the station, which was a neat little area. That evening, we went to the Gion Corner theater for a performance. I see some people complain that it's touristy, but for me, it was exactly what I wanted it to be - a short introduction to several different traditional art forms. There was flower arranging, Noh theater, tea ceremony, geiko/maiko dance, etc. The whole performance lasted ~1 hr, and they provide a translator with information about each act. After the performance, we walked around Gion at dusk, which was beautiful.
6/20 started the day at Fushimi Inari and ended up going all the way to the top (side note: before we started up, we found a tanuki statue at a shop, which is the one souvenir our son was desperate to get. We hadn't really seen any before this, so I'm glad we found one here). We ended up coming down a back way and wound up in a residential neighborhood that led us to Tofuki-ji temple and the Tsutenkyo bridge.
That afternoon was our reservation at the Nintendo museum. I loved it, the exhibits on the upper floor were very well done, and we had a great time playing on the giant controllers.
6/21 we left the Airbnb in Kyoto and headed to Nara. We dropped our bags at the hotel (Hotel Tenpyo Naramachi - I highly recommend this place, it was fantastic. Great location, great room, great service). We walked through the park to see the deer. They're very sweet and friendly. However, after watching other people buy the biscuits and attempt to feed them, we opted not to feed them ourselves. Next we went over to Todai-ji Daibutsuden and saw the giant Buddha, and ate lunch at another sushi train restaurant on the shopping street (Kaiten Sushi Totogin).
6/22 they brought a traditional breakf...
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