When planning a trip to Japan, it’s easy to get overwhelmed as there are just so many cool destinations in the country, and it’s so far-flung for many of us that you really feel like you need to make the most of it.
We planned our trip to Japan meticulously so that we would see all of our bucket list places while also having bases to explore from, and even managed to fit in a couple of other places on the way. In the end, our itinerary wasn’t groundbreaking – we saw a lot of the main sights and not much else – but two weeks was perfect for getting a feel for Japanese culture as well as seeing everything at the top of our list.
It would have been even more fantastic to have been able to spend three weeks in the country, but realistically it’s just not possible for a lot of people, and bearing in mind two full weeks in Japan meant actually 2.5 weeks including the travel, I wasn’t able to take that much time off work. So sometimes you just have to work with what you’ve got.
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And, happily, it all worked out so, so well! There was one thing on our list that we didn’t manage to do – more on that later. Really, it was a bonus item on the itinerary anyway, so I’m really happy with how it all worked out, and I loved absolutely every second of the trip.
Here’s what we got up to for two weeks – hopefully some inspiration for you to have a great time, too!
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This was our full itinerary. I think itineraries can be very personal to be honest, so while the timings worked very well for the destinations, you may want to do different things in Tokyo etc.
Day 1 – arrival in Tokyo, Shinjuku
Day 2 – Tokyo: Shibuya, Harajuku, Yoyogi Park
Day 3 – Tokyo: Senso-Ji temple, Akihabara, night out in Shinjuku
Day 4 – Tokyo: TeamLab Borderless, Studio Ghibli museum
Day 5 – Tokyo to Kyoto: time to do something before leaving for Kyoto, arrive Kyoto in the afternoon, time to explore Gion
Day 6 – Kyoto: Gion during the day, explore some shrines, Nishiki Market, Kinkakuji temple
Day 7 – Kyoto: morning at Fushimi Inari Shrine, afternoon in Arashiyama
Day 8 – Osaka: Osaka Castle, Dotonbori
Day 9 – Osaka: Universal Studios
Day 10 – Nara: day trip from Osaka
Day 11 – Hiroshima: train to Hiroshima via Himeji, afternoon on Miyajima Island
Day 12 – Hiroshima: Peace Museum & Park, train back to Osaka (optional stop at Rabbit Island!)
Day 13 – Mount Fuji: train to Mishimi, bus to Kawaguchiko
Day 14 – Mount Fuji: explore the area, head back to Tokyo
Day 15 – Tokyo: full day before flying home
(For clarity, we arrived on a Monday and left on a Tuesday, so technically just over two weeks. We flew home on day 16.)
Day 1 – 5 (ish): Tokyo
Most visitors to Japan will fly in and out of Tokyo, which is exactly what we did. We had considered flying into Tokyo and out of Osaka, but there was quite a price difference on already hefty flights, so we made plans towards the end of the trip to essentially do a loop.
Day 1 is arrival day, so is entirely dependent on what time you arrive and how tired you are. We landed about lunchtime and got into Shinjuku some time in the afternoon, so we had the whole of the first evening. We weren’t planning anything too strenuous, but ended up doing a couple of things and even stayed out fairly late! I think we were just VERY excited to be in Japan, finally!!
I recommend staying in Shinjuku as it’s easily connected to everywhere, there’s absolutely loads going on, and it’s fantastic in the evenings so if you’re staying nearby, you don’t need to worry about getting back. It makes the perfect base for your time in Tokyo.
Therefore our first evening was spent in the bustling lights of Shinjuku (but a quieter part) and then we decided to go up the Metropolitan Government Building for free views over Tokyo! It was the perfect introduction as we weren’t thrown straight into the chaos.
No, that happened in abundance on our first full day when we woke up to 12 hours of rain. We took the subway two stops to Harajuku, where we eased ourselves in gently with the Meiji Jingu shrine in Yoyogi Park. This peaceful shrine is flanked by an amazing wall of sake barrels, and it’s an incredibly peaceful oasis in the middle of the world’s biggest city.
From there, we immediately found the contrasts of Japan by going to the famous Takeshita Street. This is somewhere I’ve wanted to visit since I was a teenager! All the outlandish lolita outfits! Colourful shops everywhere! Completely crazy wares on offer! Sadly, Harajuku is no longer the quirky mecca it once was, though there are definitely still reasons to go. I had a rainbow grilled cheese followed by a giant candy floss as big as my head. And I did see a handful of girls in black and green striped tutus matched with garish leggings. Teenage dreams complete.
From Harajuku, it’s around a 20 minute walk to Shibuya. In the pouring rain, not such a pleasant walk, but undeterred, we did it anyway. Finally, we arrived at Shibuya Crossing, which is crazy at normal times, but in the rain, with a million umbrellas, VERY stressful!
We spent the rest of the day in Shibuya, checking out our first Nintendo store and Pokemon store, and we popped into Loft to get wee notepads for stamping at train stations. I went to Tower Records, which was a niche bucket list item of mine! We also went up Shibuya Sky in the evening, and ate delicious ramen.
Day 3 – and what a difference a day makes!! The sun was out in force, and we headed to Asakusa to check out the Senso-Ji shrine. I recommend getting here early, because it is soooo busy! It was one of the busiest places we visited in Japan – absolutely incredible, though.
We popped over to Skytree nearby, purely to visit one of the best Studio Ghibli Donguri stores, but our main purpose for the afternoon was to visit Akihabara, the tech city of Tokyo. While it’s no longer the “Electric Town” that it used to be, it still caters to the nerdy gamers, the anime-lovers, and, uhh, whoever wants to visit maid cafes. They are everywhere.
It was actually Ash’s birthday, and we had booked a maid cafe I’m kidding, a Final Fantasy themed cafe. After lunch, we didn’t have a lot of time to fully explore, so after losing on some arcade machines (Bobbie spent an untold amount throughout the trip trying to win a Kirby), we headed back to Shinjuku for a fantastic food & drink tour.
We had SUCH a good night! We went to an izakaya on Memory Lane (aka Piss Alley) for food, another very local place around the corner, and ended the night in the Golden Gai, an area packed with tiny – and I mean tiny – bars. This was probably our favourite night of the whole trip!
On our final full day in Tokyo (for now), we had two things booked: TeamLab Borderless, and the Studio Ghibli museum! I booked an 11am spot for Borderless, and we had managed, with a great deal of stress, to get a 4pm slot for Studio Ghibli.
Borderless is VERY cool, and far better than we thought it might be. Sure, it’s very Instagrammy, and it’s there for people to take those kinds of photos, but the rooms are incredible too. I very much recommend going.
And it goes without saying that if you’re a Studio Ghibli fan, the museum is worth it. In the evening, we went for dinner at a Ghibli-themed restaurant, Corn Barley. This was genuinely one of our favourite meals of the trip! I’ve written much more about both experiences for all you Ghibli nerds.
We had one final morning before heading off to Kyoto. The timing is up to you – maybe you want more time in Tokyo, or maybe you’re keen to get away to the more historic side of Japan. We headed out of Tokyo around lunchtime, as we were coming back for a couple of days at the end anyway. After a walk around Tokyo Station, including Character Street where you can find loads of mad kawaii shops, we were on a bullet train and on our way!
Where we stayed in Tokyo: The Knot Shinjuku. This was a lovely hotel to start our trip off with, and in a quieter area than the madness of Shinjuku, but within walking distance of the station and just opposite the Met building. There’s also a fantastic bakery downstairs – I lived off melonpan for breakfast!
Read more: Five Days In The Bright Lights Of Tokyo
Day 5 – 7: Kyoto
Kyoto is just a 2.5 hour train ride from Tokyo, so we got in around 4pm. I made a beeline straight for the Gion district, mostly because I wanted to get a photo of the sunset. The narrow streets around here are exactly what I picture when I think of Kyoto, but with about 1000% more people. So imagine my surprise when I managed to get THIS photo!
There’s quite a funny story behind it which I’ll save for my Kyoto post. We wandered back through Gion, spotted an actual geisha briefly, passed some lovely shrines, went to Yasaka shrine which is best viewed at night, and finished up with dinner on Pontocho Alley. I recommend pretty much coming to Pontocho Alley every night, as there is so much to choose from! On our first night, we went to a yakitori place, and on night two, we had one of the best meals of our trip – meat served on a Japanese bridge!
On day two, we wandered some of the Gion district again during the day, failed at getting fluffy Japanese pancakes (damn you, TikTok), and had lunch at an insane doll café instead, which played the same 1-minute song on repeat the entire time we were in there.
In the afternoon, we piled onto a busy bus and headed to Kinkaku-ji temple – the spectacular golden temple. It was packed with cruise ship tourists (yes, cruise ship tourists! No, Kyoto is nowhere near the sea) and massive tour groups – regardless, it’s easy to get photos with nobody in and it’s a beautiful place to explore. I would probably choose to come here in the morning though, to be honest!
We also checked out Nishiki Market, a huge covered market with loads of food as well as some shops which are great for souvenirs, including one offering personalised chopsticks.
In all honesty, and I’ve detailed this in my Kyoto post, I would have swapped this day to do the Kinkaku-ji temple first, then head to Nishiki Market for lunch, and spend the afternoon wandering Gion. Live and learn!
Our third day began early, with a trip out to the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine. I wholeheartedly recommend getting here as early as you can, because even at 8am it was heaving – however, bear in mind that we were there at the busiest time in Japan’s history, so that certainly didn’t help!
We got to the viewpoint half way up, and had barely taken a single photo. And so we continued, and immediately lost the crowds. It’s incredible how quickly people disappear when you take one step off the very beaten path. Further into the mountain, there are peaceful shrines amongst the serenity of the forest. I hadn’t been planning to do the entire mountain route, but we did it anyway, and it was well worth it.
Back at the bottom, we headed back into the city centre and had some time before our next stop. Ash & I were going to Arashiyama, but we timed it so we could take the beautiful zen garden train, Kyo-Garaku, for a couple of stops and then change. If you’re in Kyoto at a weekend, I highly recommend doing this – it’s such a beautiful and interesting train! You can take it all the way to Osaka, but we weren’t leaving Kyoto until the Monday, so this was the perfect excuse to use it.
In Arashiyama, we skipped the bamboo forest for a couple of other things instead. That’s right, we skipped the main attraction! We just figured after Fushimi Inari that the crowds would be wild. Instead, we wandered along the river enjoying our first real view of cherry blossoms. We also went up to the monkey park, which I was apprehensive about, but it was actually brilliant. The monkeys have the freedom to live on the mountain; they’re not confined to the park.
We had arrived on the Hankyu line, but Arashiyama actually has two stations, and it was the other one which had, believe it or not, two attractions I wanted to visit! So we left via this station, first checking out the kimono forest and then dipping our feet in the foot onsen at the end of the platform!
Where we stayed in Kyoto: Village Kyoto. I had wanted to stay in a ryokan (or machiya) in Kyoto, but even six months in advance, everything had sold out. Village Kyoto is a great hotel and right next to Omiya station just five minutes from the centre, although we booked a traditional Japanese room for 4 people and it was very cramped, to be honest! I’d recommend 1 room per couple.
The ryokan I had booked in 2020 was this one.
Read more: Shrines, Temples & Geisha: How To Spend Two Days In Magical Kyoto, Japan
Day 8 – 10: Osaka & Nara
It was time to move on to Osaka, and we pulled in late morning and left our bags at the hotel, before heading out to Osaka Castle. This is the only Japanese castle we planned to go into, and it’s a great one as it’s been converted into a museum, where we learned so much history about the life and family of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who built the castle back in 1583. Although the inside now is nothing like it would have been in the past, it’s set up really well as an engaging museum, and it’s definitely worth going in.
Of course, the castle is absolutely stunning from the outside too, and we enjoyed drinks on the terrace nearby, which afforded us wonderful views at sunset!
And then it was time for food in “Japan’s kitchen”. Dotonbori is one of the most vibrant places I’ve ever been in my life – Osaka is so much better experienced at night! Which is exactly why we spent 4 nights in total there, while using it as a base. Coming back every evening meant we could enjoy it all over again!
Read more: A Love Letter To Osaka, Japan: Why It’s Worth More Than A Day Trip
The following day was one of our most anticipated days of the entire trip – Universal Studios, which for us meant one thing: Super Nintendo World!!!
We were able to be giant kids for a day, stepping into a video game world that battered the senses and kept a smile on our face for the entire day! We had a great time exploring the rest of the park too, including the Wizarding World, Jurassic Park, and one of the most intense rollercoasters I’ve ever been on in my life! I’ll be writing much more about our visit, including whether the express passes are worth it.
Read more: Making The Most Of Universal Studios & Super Nintendo World In Japan
On our final full day in Osaka, we woke up to rain – but that didn’t stop us taking a day trip to Nara, 45 minutes away. Nara is famous for its local residents: super cute deer that have learned to bow to ask for a cracker!! I absolutely loved Nara and the deer, and there are some fantastic shrines and temples to explore in Nara park. We went to Kagusa shrine and Todai-Ji temple, but you could spend all day wandering the park and discovering more.
Read more: Hanging Out With The Polite Deer In Nara, Japan
Where we stayed in Osaka: wait for it *takes a deep breath*… Super Hotel Premier Namba Shinsaibashi Natural Hot Spring. We narrowed down lots of great-looking, affordable hotels in Osaka, but ultimately chose this one because we kept saying the full listing name over and over again and it became an inside joke! Ironically, the joke option was actually one of our favourite places we stayed on the entire trip! Excellent location, excellent staff, FREE drinks *and* a free onsen!
Day 11 – 12: Hiroshima / Miyajima / Himeji
We were up bright and early to take the train towards Hiroshima, but we stopped at Himeji first. Himeji Castle is one of Japan’s most iconic, so I was keen to see if it we’d have the chance, and luckily it worked out perfectly! We pulled in to Himeji just after 9am, took a 20 minute walk up to the castle, enjoyed the best cherry blossoms we’d seen on the trip so far, and wandered back to the station for a train at about 11am.
Back on the train to Hiroshima, we then navigated the train out to where the ferry leaves for Miyajima. These go really regularly, so it’s easy to just hop on the next one. And then we had a really chilled out, lovely afternoon sitting by the sea with one of the most iconic Japanese sights within view.
Genuinely probably one of my favourite days of the trip!
We took the tram back into the city rather than the train – this leaves from right outside the ferry terminal, and plonks you in the centre of town, whereas we would have had a bit of a walk from the train to our hostel.
The one thing you must try in Hiroshima is okonomiyaki – as they have their own regional version of it. We wound up in a very local place which was great. I can’t decide if I preferred this one or the Osaka okonomiyaki!
In the morning, we headed to the Peace Memorial Museum, which honestly is one of the most important places to visit in Japan. The museum relays accounts of people’s lives throughout the Hiroshima disaster, as well as the many, many, many deaths and pulverisations. It’s obviously horrifying, but the museum itself is excellent in the way it’s laid out and stories presented.
The Peace Memorial Park is also excellent, with tributes scattered around the park, all opposite the famous A-bomb dome. This was particularly chilling; knowing that life had moved on, the park now a beautiful memorial for what had been a busy part of the city in this very spot, and yet here was a building standing as it had stood from that moment of the bomb, unchanged and unflinching.
Mulling over everything we’d just seen, we cheered ourselves up with some fluffy Japanese pancakes before heading back to Osaka for some extra time there.
It’s just about possible to do Hiroshima and Miyajima in a day, but I wouldn’t recommend it. We split it across two days, staying in Hiroshima for a night.
This is where our plans went slightly awry, because we had planned a detour to Rabbit Island on the way back to Osaka; as good as the pancakes were, we really wanted to cheer ourselves up by being surrounded by bunnies instead. I am gutted to say that Rabbit Island didn’t work out, because public transport there isn’t ideal when timings are tight – but it WOULD be possible if you planned it right, or are happy to get back to Osaka fairly late.
In our whole itinerary, this is the only thing we had to miss, so I’d say it was pretty good going!
Where we stayed in Hiroshima: J-Hoppers Guesthouse. One of the only hostels we stayed in on the trip, this was a great budget option and really close to the city centre. We booked private rooms which were actually really nice!
Read more: An Overnight Trip To Hiroshima, Miyajima & Himeji From Osaka
Day 13 – 14: Mount Fuji
The next couple of days were highly anticipated for many, many reasons. We were off to Mount Fuji, and I was really hoping that we would get to see it. Mount Fuji is famous for hiding in the clouds, so I recommend spending a night nearby to maximise your chances of seeing it!
I am not really sure whether it would be best to stay in Kawaguchiko and Fujiyoshida (I would say Kawaguchiko has more going on), but we chose the latter, mostly because it was close to Chureito Pagoda, which was my number one spot to see in the area. Seeing Mount Fuji there was probably #1 on my entire Japan bucket list!
We hiked up to the pagoda in the late afternoon on the Saturday when Mount Fuji decided to make an appearance, and it wasn’t busy at all. The viewpoint had a few people gathered, but it wasn’t packed.
In the morning, the sun was out and so was Fuji-san, so after breakfast we headed to the station and I ran up to the pagoda again for better photos. What I found shocked me – an hour-long queue to get onto the viewpoint that we had been wandering on and off at our leisure the evening before.
Another plus of staying a night – we had total flexibility on when to visit! Unfortunately Fuji quickly disappeared into the clouds again, which was our cue to leave. Had it stayed out, I would like to have explored Lake Kawaguchi, or even hired a bike and cycled around it. Instead, we headed back to Tokyo to give ourselves more time there. We couldn’t really lose in either situation, to be honest! But we definitely learned the value of flexible plans on this part of the trip.
Important to note: from Osaka, we took the train to Mishimi, and then a bus to Kawaguchiko. Do NOT be too flexible on this. We visited in high season so it was most likely busier than usual, but I booked our bus the day before, and thank God I did – it was fully booked when we arrived! You can book the bus online here.
The trains from Kawaguchiko to Tokyo are much less busy, and we didn’t need to worry about booking that at all.
Read more: A Semi-Helpful Guide To Mount Fuji & How To Visit From Osaka
Where we stayed in Mount Fuji: T&T Fujiyama. This felt very much like a homestay in someone’s house, which was amazing as it was a traditional Japanese house! We wanted to splash out on a nice hotel with a view, but when views are so far from guaranteed, £300 a night is a LOT to spend. This, on the other hand, was £80 for four of us. Bargain!
Back in Tokyo, we did a lot of last-minute shopping, including the tax-free haven of Don Quijote. There aren’t many countries I go to where I’m bothered about shopping, if I’m honest, but there were soooo many things I wanted to buy in Japan! And so little time to buy them when, as you can see, we were very, very busy!
As a side note, I was quite surprised to see that the crazy flavours of KitKats are not everywhere. Aside from a few like strawberry and orange, the best place to get them is Don Quijote.
We stayed at Book & Bed Hostel in Shinjuku for one night, weirdly somewhere that has been on my list for years! This was by far the best location we had in Tokyo, and the set-up is amazing. There was one downside though – the noise.
Day 15: A final day in Tokyo
We had one final day in Tokyo, and I wanted to make the most of the cherry blossoms which had finally made an appearance!
However there were a couple of final things on my to-do list, so first of all we headed to Gotokuji shrine which is full of lucky cats.
From there, it was a straight run back to Shibuya where I wanted to get actual photos of the crossing without a million umbrellas, as well as a beautiful cherry blossom street. We also tried to pop in to Pepper Parlor, a café with robot servers which was really high on my list, but sadly it was full. It’s one of my only regrets and I wish I’d just made a reservation.
We jumped back onto the subway and went to Ueno Park, one of the most popular places for cherry blossoms. Here you can find a huge avenue of the blossoms, and it’s spectacular but also mega-busy. We preferred going down the side path where it was less busy but just as beautiful.
The rest of the day, pretty much, was spent in Akihabara, doing all the things we didn’t have time for the first time. Coming back to Tokyo provided the perfect opportunity to wind down the trip with the last few things we wanted to see in a now semi-familiar place, but as I said before, you may well have different things on your own list!
In the evening, we took the train out to Maihama Bay, where Tokyo Disneyland awaits. Sadly we weren’t going there, but we were doing something equally exciting – staying in a hotel where we’d be checked in by robot dinosaurs!! This was genuinely a highlight of the trip, and the perfect end to it in so many ways.
Where we stayed for our final night in Tokyo: Henn-Na Hotel Maihama Bay. Robot dinosaurs, need I say more?! Genuinely one of the best places we stayed on the whole trip – but it’s a bit out of the way, so not good as a base for Tokyo as a whole. Make it a one night special like we did!
Read more: We Stayed In A Hotel With Robot Dinosaur Receptionists & It Was Brilliant!
It’s almost impossible to find an exact itinerary that suits everyone, but I think this one, for the places, is the best we could have come up with! Of course, within each destination everyone will have their own ideas for what they want to do. For example, not everyone is as nerdy as our group, so Akihabara might not be on your list. You might have never heard of Studio Ghibli and would prefer to spend that day at Disneyland, or you might not want theme parks at all. Everyone’s itineraries will be completely personalised, and that’s the beauty of Japan to me. There is just SO MUCH beyond the “must-see” attractions.
To me, it transcends general tourism. There’s a reason it’s been at the top of my bucket list for most of my life – and it’s not because I wanted to tick off everything that everyone else wants to do.
In fact, there aren’t many places I visit where I specifically want to shop for wacky things, or watch insane TV in my hotel, or have 50 things on my list of things to eat, or have so many themed places to go. But Japan was all of these and more.
Got a bit longer?
Naturally there are a few places that made the “maybe” list that we couldn’t possibly fit into two weeks. Have a bit of extra time? Here’s what I would have added if we had three weeks.
Takayama – this is a beautiful historic town sprung out of the countryside, and it’s the perfect place to do a ryokan stay. This is one thing we didn’t do on the trip, mostly because of the price. Will we regret that? Maybe.
Matsumoto – we did fairly well with castles, seeing two of the best in the country, but Matsumoto must be the best of the best. The formidable castle there looks totally incredible, and I would definitely have pigeon-holed a day into the itinerary to get there.
Hakone – another great place to see Mount Fuji, where you can also go on a pirate ship, see a torii gate in the water, and check out Japanese monkeys bathing in onsens.
Ghibli Park – on the outskirts of Nagoya, a Ghibli-themed park has been gradually built over the past few years. There have been mixed reviews since it opened, however they keep adding new areas, and they had JUST opened the final areas before we got there. If I’d known, I think we would have tried to go as a day trip from Kyoto! It just didn’t seem worth it before, but I reckon it would be now.
Of course, this is still barely scratching the surface… you could truly spend years there and still not see everything. And when it feels like everywhere in Japan is worth seeing, it’s impossible to do it all.
Stay tuned for lots more in-depth posts about what we got up to in each place, because we did so much that it’s hard to mention it all in one post!
Hopefully this gives you some inspiration for what to do in a realistic timeframe in Japan – it’s certainly not a destination to relax (I did 285,878 steps…), but it’s one of the best trips we’ve ever been on and worth every second of energy.
Read all about our trip to Japan here:
⭐ My Top 10 Highlights Of Our Trip To Japan
⭐ Five Days In The Bright Lights Of Tokyo
⭐ A Photo Guide To TeamLab Borderless: Is This Tokyo Attraction Worth Visiting In 2024?
⭐ Visiting the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo + Tips For Buying Tickets
⭐ Shrines, Temples & Geisha: How To Spend Two Days In Magical Kyoto, Japan
⭐ A Love Letter To Osaka, Japan: Why It’s Worth More Than A Day Trip
⭐ Making The Most Of Universal Studios & Super Nintendo World In Japan
⭐ Hanging Out With The Polite Deer In Nara, Japan
⭐ An Overnight Trip To Hiroshima, Miyajima & Himeji From Osaka
⭐ A Semi-Helpful Guide To Mount Fuji & How To Visit From Osaka
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Wow – what a whirlwind trip. Tokyo looks particularly overwhelming. Still, I want to see it, too. I don’t know when we’ll finally get over there, but I hope to have 3 weeks and I hope it will be during a shoulder season. That says “retirement” to me, but we’ll see. I’m glad it was everything you hoped for, and I look forward to the coming posts.
Japan is a gorgeous country to visit, and even better that you went when the dollar (or pound) to Japanese yen ratio is especially favorable for us! I went with family back in 2016, and unfortunately, it was more expensive to visit Japan. I had a whirlwind, 9-day trip through Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, with a quick journey in Nara. No matter if you’re in Japan for just a few days or a lifetime, I agree with you that the country is so rich in its history, architecture, culture, and food. So much to do there, and I’m so glad you had a wonderful time!
Oh my gosh, what a whirlwind. You saw so much! I’m looking forward to the upcoming posts with more details on this place, particularly Mt. Fuji!
Wow, what an amazing experience and you seemed to have made every moment count! Fantastic itinerary that I hope to put to use one day! 🙂
detailed planning is almost essential for Japan you did really well. You must have been therearound or just after we were, so many familiar places including the Totti Candy Factory in Harajuku! Well done on getting into Ghibli Studios that requires proper planning to get tickets!