Planning Japan trip for February 2020, including Disney!

[Chisoxcollector]

Hey everyone!

The wife and I are finally tackling our bucket list trip, and spending 2 weeks in Japan next February!

I've got the basic outline of the trip nailed down, but still have to fill in the daily itineraries. I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to post my outline here, and see if anybody has any suggestions!

Flights and hotels have already been booked. Nothing else has, including theme park tickets. We are doing quite a bit of hotel hopping during this trip. We plan on taking taxis when we change hotels, and using trains for transportation otherwise. I know taxis are expensive, but we really don't want to use public transportation with all of our luggage. So taxis will be our one extravagance this trip.

Alright, here we go!

February 3 - Flight lands at Haneda airport at 3:25pm. Plan on taking a taxi to the Hilton Tokyo Bay (link), where we will be staying for the next 5 nights. Depending on what time we get to the hotel, we may buy the After 6 Passport and check out one of the parks!

February 4 - 7 - Four full days of Disney!

February 8 - Probably spend the morning at Ikspiari. Then take a taxi to our next hotel, the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel (link). This hotel is located in the Shibuya area, where we will stay for the next 2 nights.

February 9 - Shibuya area stuff

February 10 - Take taxi to the Park Hyatt Tokyo (link), where we will stay for the next 2 nights. This hotel is in the Shinjuku area. I am so excited to stay at this hotel. My all-time favorite movie is Lost in Translation, and much of that film takes place in this hotel.

February 11 - Shinjuku area stuff

February 12 - Take shinkansen to Osaka. Check in to Hotel Keihan Universal Tower (link) , where we will be staying for 3 nights. This hotel is right next to Universal Studios Japan. Depending on what time we get there, we may check out the park this evening.

February 13 - USJ

February 14 - Day trip to Kyoto, most likely via shinkansen. May consider hiring a private tour guide, unless the price is really crazy.

February 15 - Take shinkansen back to Tokyo area. Check in to Hilton Tokyo Odaiba (link). While in this area, we plan on doing teamLab Borderless and checking out some of the touristy stuff, including the giant Gundam statue.

February 16 - Check out some more touristy stuff in the morning, then make our way back to Haneda for our 7:20pm flight.

I'm putting a list of things we want to do while in Japan below. At this point I just have to figure out when/where to do them!

- Eat sushi! (I'm a sushi fanatic. I typically eat sushi about twice a week. I can't wait to try the real deal)
- Eat blowfish (I know this is sushi, but I kind of think of it separately)
- Other foods on our list: ramen, fluffy pancakes, okonomiyaki, eel, wagyu beef, etc)
- Robot restaurant (maybe)
- Harajuku
- Akihibara
- Asakusa
- Ghibli museum
- Sanrio puroland
- Tons of shopping
- Shrines (we don't want to spend a lot of time on shrines, but would like to hit a couple of must-do spots, probably in Kyoto.
- Maybe a must-do museum? We don't want to do a lot of museums on this trip, but are open to one or two if they are really great!
- One thing we aren't interested in at all is an onsen.

If anybody has any recommendations, I'm all ears!

 

[JKalai]

Have you thought about using the Takuhaibin (luggage delivery) services? Me and SO were a bit hesitant about using it when we were there, but it was really convenient when we transferred hotels. It was only about $10-$20 per bag and the bell hoppers were really helpful in filling out the forms. On the Tripadvisor app, if you pull up your hotel... it will have the address in Japanese. I just showed them the app and they even filled it out for us. That should save you a decent amount for more things to splurge on!

One thing I would 1000% recommend is Teamlabs Borderless. Me and SO were a bit hesitant on going there when we were planning our trip, but we were so glad we did it. It was seriously one of the highlights of the trip. Next time we go back, we want to check out the sister exhibition Teamlabs Planets.

Robot restaurant was okay. I'm not sure if Me and SO are just numb from flashing lights since we live in Vegas, but we both thought it was alright. It's VERY touristy and we both kind of wished we walked around the city instead since we only had 3 nights in Tokyo.

We also did A Happy Pancake and Ichiran Ramen and both were worth the hype.

 

[kbmartin]

Are you sure you want to take a taxi to Tokyo Disney from Haneda? I read on a blog that it costs about $200 to get to TDR from Narita, which is supposedly closer than Haneda. You should look into the airport limousine buses.

 

[MKTokyo]

I think you really need to consider what kind of trip you want this to be, especially if this is going to be your only trip to Japan. Your current itinerary reads as though you are more or less treating the entire country as a theme park. While that’s fine if it’s what you want to do with your vacation, it’s worth noting that you have devoted literally half of your time to theme parks & theme park areas.

What do you think Puroland is? What do you want to do there?

 

[Chisoxcollector]

Have you thought about using the Takuhaibin (luggage delivery) services? Me and SO were a bit hesitant about using it when we were there, but it was really convenient when we transferred hotels. It was only about $10-$20 per bag and the bell hoppers were really helpful in filling out the forms. On the Tripadvisor app, if you pull up your hotel... it will have the address in Japanese. I just showed them the app and they even filled it out for us. That should save you a decent amount for more things to splurge on!

One thing I would 1000% recommend is Teamlabs Borderless. Me and SO were a bit hesitant on going there when we were planning our trip, but we were so glad we did it. It was seriously one of the highlights of the trip. Next time we go back, we want to check out the sister exhibition Teamlabs Planets.

Robot restaurant was okay. I'm not sure if Me and SO are just numb from flashing lights since we live in Vegas, but we both thought it was alright. It's VERY touristy and we both kind of wished we walked around the city instead since we only had 3 nights in Tokyo.

We also did A Happy Pancake and Ichiran Ramen and both were worth the hype.

Thanks for the reply! I appreciate the suggestion regarding the luggage services. I will definitely look into those.

When I first started speccing this trip, the Robot Restaurant was a must do. After reading about the changes they’ve made, and hearing more and more pretty good, but not great, reviews, it’s becoming less and less likely that we do it.

Ichiran and A Happy Pancake are now on the list!

Are you sure you want to take a taxi to Tokyo Disney from Haneda? I read on a blog that it costs about $200 to get to TDR from Narita, which is supposedly closer than Haneda. You should look into the airport limousine buses.

Thanks for replying. Haneda is definitely closer to Disney than Narita. I’ve typically read that it costs ~$100 to make that journey via taxi. I’ll definitely have to research it a bit more. $200 would definitely be pushing it!

I think you really need to consider what kind of trip you want this to be, especially if this is going to be your only trip to Japan. Your current itinerary reads as though you are more or less treating the entire country as a theme park. While that’s fine if it’s what you want to do with your vacation, it’s worth noting that you have devoted literally half of your time to theme parks & theme park areas.

What do you think Puroland is? What do you want to do there?

Thanks for the reply! If we love Japan as much as we think we will, I expect to be back in 2, maaaaybe 3 years. We already have an England/France trip planned for 2021, but 2022 is wide open. We typically do 1 big vacation, and 1-2 smaller ones every year. If I had to guess, I’d say a return visit to Tokyo will take place in 2022.

We are definitely theme park enthusiasts, hence the ample amount of theme park days. As for Sanrio Puroland, my wife is obsessed with Hello Kitty. I promise it wasn’t my idea, lol!

I expect the return trip to include Disney, but nothing else theme park related. Probably 3-4 Disney days, 3-4 Kyoto days, and the rest of the time exploring Tokyo. Maybe a day trip or two to explore other cities.

 

[CupcakeLisa]

Your taxi to Hilton Tokyo Bay will be way more than $100. I would expect it to be around the $250 mark. Taxi's in Japan are very expensive and I would not recommend it for any part of your trip. You will be in time to get a Limousine bus to the hotel which will be about $17 each.

From personal experience you don't have enough time in Kyoto - it deserves way more than a day. I would spend less time in Tokyo and more in Kyoto

 

[Chisoxcollector]

Your taxi to Hilton Tokyo Bay will be way more than $100. I would expect it to be around the $250 mark. Taxi's in Japan are very expensive and I would not recommend it for any part of your trip. You will be in time to get a Limousine bus to the hotel which will be about $17 each.

From personal experience you don't have enough time in Kyoto - it deserves way more than a day. I would spend less time in Tokyo and more in Kyoto

Thanks for replying! @CarolynK says her taxi ride from Haneda to the Disney area cost approximately $90 USD. Taxifarefinder.com says it will cost $108 USD. Numbeo.com says it will cost $103 USD. Is there something I'm overlooking that would cause the cost to be ~2.5 times higher than these estimates?

I agree that we are not spending enough time in Kyoto. We decided we'd rather just dip our toes into Kyoto on this trip, rather than not spending enough time in Tokyo proper. We fully plan on coming back in 2 years, and expect to spend 3-4 days in Kyoto on that trip. We are only doing a day trip, rather than skipping it entirely, so we can say we've been to Kyoto, just in case something happens and we can't return.

 

[CarolynK]

Thanks for replying! @CarolynK says her taxi ride from Haneda to the Disney area cost approximately $90 USD

Yep, that's what we actually paid.

We also arrived after the last limo bus of the evening, so that wasn't even an option for us.

 

[Haley R]

Hey everyone!

The wife and I are finally tackling our bucket list trip, and spending 2 weeks in Japan next February!

I've got the basic outline of the trip nailed down, but still have to fill in the daily itineraries. I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to post my outline here, and see if anybody has any suggestions!

Flights and hotels have already been booked. Nothing else has, including theme park tickets. We are doing quite a bit of hotel hopping during this trip. We plan on taking taxis when we change hotels, and using trains for transportation otherwise. I know taxis are expensive, but we really don't want to use public transportation with all of our luggage. So taxis will be our one extravagance this trip.

Alright, here we go!

February 3 - Flight lands at Haneda airport at 3:25pm. Plan on taking a taxi to the Hilton Tokyo Bay (link), where we will be staying for the next 5 nights. Depending on what time we get to the hotel, we may buy the After 6 Passport and check out one of the parks!

February 4 - 7 - Four full days of Disney!

February 8 - Probably spend the morning at Ikspiari. Then take a taxi to our next hotel, the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel (link). This hotel is located in the Shibuya area, where we will stay for the next 2 nights.

February 9 - Shibuya area stuff

February 10 - Take taxi to the Park Hyatt Tokyo (link), where we will stay for the next 2 nights. This hotel is in the Shinjuku area. I am so excited to stay at this hotel. My all-time favorite movie is Lost in Translation, and much of that film takes place in this hotel.

February 11 - Shinjuku area stuff

February 12 - Take shinkansen to Osaka. Check in to Hotel Keihan Universal Tower (link) , where we will be staying for 3 nights. This hotel is right next to Universal Studios Japan. Depending on what time we get there, we may check out the park this evening.

February 13 - USJ

February 14 - Day trip to Kyoto, most likely via shinkansen. May consider hiring a private tour guide, unless the price is really crazy.

February 15 - Take shinkansen back to Tokyo area. Check in to Hilton Tokyo Odaiba (link). While in this area, we plan on doing teamLab Borderless and checking out some of the touristy stuff, including the giant Gundam statue.

February 16 - Check out some more touristy stuff in the morning, then make our way back to Haneda for our 7:20pm flight.

I'm putting a list of things we want to do while in Japan below. At this point I just have to figure out when/where to do them!

- Eat sushi! (I'm a sushi fanatic. I typically eat sushi about twice a week. I can't wait to try the real deal)
- Eat blowfish (I know this is sushi, but I kind of think of it separately)
- Other foods on our list: ramen, fluffy pancakes, okonomiyaki, eel, wagyu beef, etc)
- Robot restaurant (maybe)
- Harajuku
- Akihibara
- Asakusa
- Ghibli museum
- Sanrio puroland
- Tons of shopping
- Shrines (we don't want to spend a lot of time on shrines, but would like to hit a couple of must-do spots, probably in Kyoto.
- Maybe a must-do museum? We don't want to do a lot of museums on this trip, but are open to one or two if they are really great!
- One thing we aren't interested in at all is an onsen.

If anybody has any recommendations, I'm all ears!

I agree with others about the taxis. I wouldn't take a taxi anywhere in Japan because of cost. We used trains to get everywhere except for when we went back to the airport we used the airport limo which worked great. To help with our luggage we used this webiste: https://www.luggage-free-travel.com/travel/index.php They were fantastic and we had no issues using them. It was pretty easy to drop our luggage off and take a train to our next hotel. We just made sure to pack backpacks to put clothes in while we waited for our luggage to arrive.

Are you planning on getting a JR Pass since you'll be riding the Shinkansen? It might be worth checking out since you're taking a long trip from Tokyo and back. There is a calculator I used to see if we would pay off the pass. This is the one I used: https://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/ No matter what, when you land at the airport, I would make seat reservations for anytime you plan to take the Shinkansen. Cars do sell out and it can be hard to sit together in the non-reserved cars. It's also just one less thing to worry about. The process of reserving our seats after getting off the plane took about 10-15 minutes and was worth it. The lady that helped us was very friendly!

We personally didn't like Kyoto because it was so touristy. One day will be tight there so you'll definitely have to pick and choose what you wanna do. You don't have to take the shinkansen between Osaka and Kyoto. We took the express train and still used our JR pass for it. I'm not sure if you're interested, but we went to Arashiyama for a day and that was the prettiest place we went in Japan. I would much rather go back there again than to Kyoto. If you do decide to go to Kyoto, we ate at Teppan Tavern Tenamonya and they had very reasonably priced wagyu beef which was delicious. You will want to make reservations ahead of time, though, because it's very small and they won't accept people without reservations.

-I agree with the PP about Ichiran Ramen. That was BY FAR the best ramen we had in Japan. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it lol
-We combined Harajuku with our Shibuya day. The cotton candy clouds are really fun to try! My favorite store there was Kiddy Land
-We did Akihabara and Asakusa in the same day. I wouldn't go back to Asakusa. It was SO busy. We went on a Wednesday during the day and it was just crazy. I didn't feel like there was anything I loved there. I would suggest going to Akihabara at night. It's really awesome with all of the lights. If you like arcades at all, the Sega building is pretty sweet.
-I honestly don't think you'll have enough time for the Ghibli Museum AND Sanrio. The Ghibli Museum you could probably combine with your Shinjuku day, but I think you'll need to pick and choose what's most important to you. We weren't blown away by the museum like other people were.
-The one museum we absolutely loved was the Edo Tokyo Museum. We walked there from Asakusa and it was so great! It's very interactive and has a lot of neat historical exhibits. It was one of the few places we went that wasn't overly crowded.
-100% do TEAMLAB borderless!!! It is one of the best experiences I have ever done. When we go back to Japan we plan to try the planets one in Tokyo.

 

[Viking7641]

Not much to add but we'll be there the same time! I'm only doing one full park day however (DisneySea)

 

[Chisoxcollector]

I agree with others about the taxis. I wouldn't take a taxi anywhere in Japan because of cost. We used trains to get everywhere except for when we went back to the airport we used the airport limo which worked great. To help with our luggage we used this webiste: https://www.luggage-free-travel.com/travel/index.php They were fantastic and we had no issues using them. It was pretty easy to drop our luggage off and take a train to our next hotel. We just made sure to pack backpacks to put clothes in while we waited for our luggage to arrive.

Are you planning on getting a JR Pass since you'll be riding the Shinkansen? It might be worth checking out since you're taking a long trip from Tokyo and back. There is a calculator I used to see if we would pay off the pass. This is the one I used: https://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/ No matter what, when you land at the airport, I would make seat reservations for anytime you plan to take the Shinkansen. Cars do sell out and it can be hard to sit together in the non-reserved cars. It's also just one less thing to worry about. The process of reserving our seats after getting off the plane took about 10-15 minutes and was worth it. The lady that helped us was very friendly!

We personally didn't like Kyoto because it was so touristy. One day will be tight there so you'll definitely have to pick and choose what you wanna do. You don't have to take the shinkansen between Osaka and Kyoto. We took the express train and still used our JR pass for it. I'm not sure if you're interested, but we went to Arashiyama for a day and that was the prettiest place we went in Japan. I would much rather go back there again than to Kyoto. If you do decide to go to Kyoto, we ate at Teppan Tavern Tenamonya and they had very reasonably priced wagyu beef which was delicious. You will want to make reservations ahead of time, though, because it's very small and they won't accept people without reservations.

-I agree with the PP about Ichiran Ramen. That was BY FAR the best ramen we had in Japan. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it lol
-We combined Harajuku with our Shibuya day. The cotton candy clouds are really fun to try! My favorite store there was Kiddy Land
-We did Akihabara and Asakusa in the same day. I wouldn't go back to Asakusa. It was SO busy. We went on a Wednesday during the day and it was just crazy. I didn't feel like there was anything I loved there. I would suggest going to Akihabara at night. It's really awesome with all of the lights. If you like arcades at all, the Sega building is pretty sweet.
-I honestly don't think you'll have enough time for the Ghibli Museum AND Sanrio. The Ghibli Museum you could probably combine with your Shinjuku day, but I think you'll need to pick and choose what's most important to you. We weren't blown away by the museum like other people were.
-The one museum we absolutely loved was the Edo Tokyo Museum. We walked there from Asakusa and it was so great! It's very interactive and has a lot of neat historical exhibits. It was one of the few places we went that wasn't overly crowded.
-100% do TEAMLAB borderless!!! It is one of the best experiences I have ever done. When we go back to Japan we plan to try the planets one in Tokyo.

Thanks for all the tips! Your trip reports were actually a contributing factor in us deciding to only do one day in Kyoto during this trip. We figure if we actually end up loving it, we’ll just spend more time there on our inevitable second Japan trip. And if we don’t like it, we only wasted one day.

I think I am going to pressure my wife to choose between the Ghibli Museum and Sanrio Puroland. I really, really hope she picks the Ghibli Museum, lol. I have no desire to go to Puroland, but if she has her heart set on it, who am I to say no.

By the way, it was nice meeting you and your husband at Galaxy’s Edge. I’m the one that chatted briefly with you guys as you were leaving Oga’s, lol. I recognized you because I’ve been watching your Tokyo vlogs.

Not much to add but we'll be there the same time! I'm only doing one full park day however (DisneySea)

Maybe we’ll see you there! What made you decide to go in February?

 

[Haley R]

Thanks for all the tips! Your trip reports were actually a contributing factor in us deciding to only do one day in Kyoto during this trip. We figure if we actually end up loving it, we’ll just spend more time there on our inevitable second Japan trip. And if we don’t like it, we only wasted one day.

I think I am going to pressure my wife to choose between the Ghibli Museum and Sanrio Puroland. I really, really hope she picks the Ghibli Museum, lol. I have no desire to go to Puroland, but if she has her heart set on it, who am I to say no.

By the way, it was nice meeting you and your husband at Galaxy’s Edge. I’m the one that chatted briefly with you guys as you were leaving Oga’s, lol. I recognized you because I’ve been watching your Tokyo vlogs.



Maybe we’ll see you there! What made you decide to go in February?

I think that’s a great plan with Kyoto. Maybe it was the time of year we went but it was just too touristy for us. Tokyo was more businessmen and school kids which made it seem more immersive honestly.

We thought the ghibli museum was just okay. We like ghibli museums but aren’t obsessed with them. We talked about puroland but in the end just didn’t have enough time. If your wife wants to really go I’d just do it. Like you said, you will probably go back and could do ghibli then.

That makes so much more sense now! I remember meeting you at oga’s. I was kind of wondering how people were recognizing me but if you watched the vlogs it makes sense lol. We’re kind of behind on them because my parents are visiting so we won’t get the next one out for a bit. The next one is the Pokémon cafe, tokyo dome, and a baseball game

 

[Chisoxcollector]

That makes so much more sense now! I remember meeting you at oga’s. I was kind of wondering how people were recognizing me but if you watched the vlogs it makes sense lol.

In my younger days I had a hobby that dominated my life that required me to be able to recognize thousands of people, most of whom I had only seen a few pictures of. I was kind of famous within this hobby for being able to do this. So picking you and your husband out of a crowd after watching a few vlogs was a breeze, lol.

 

[Viking7641]

Maybe we’ll see you there! What made you decide to go in February?

Prices. I got a super cheap flight ($600). Also I can only use a certain amount of PTO in a certain time frame, and Jan 2021 we are going to WDW, so I couldn't go much closer to then.

 

[Chisoxcollector]

Prices. I got a super cheap flight ($600). Also I can only use a certain amount of PTO in a certain time frame, and Jan 2021 we are going to WDW, so I couldn't go much closer to then.

Makes sense. We chose February for two reasons. We are hoping for low crowds, and we love going to theme parks when its cold!

 

[fatmanatee]

I went to Japan last May and I'm planning on a return next year, both to return to some spots I loved and also explore a bit more. Ended up doing 6 nights in Tokyo, 3 in Kyoto, 2 in Osaka, think it worked out well, maybe a bit too much time in Tokyo for a vacation but it's been high on my list for awhile so I wanted more than enough time to take it all in. Some random recommendations:

- Tsukiji Market for sushi, preferably early in the day. The fish will be as fresh as you can possibly get.
- If you've seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi, his restaurants are that good. Very expensive, but I went to his son's, it was easier to get a reservation, you can call direct for one, and the experience is easier going compared to dad's spot (Takashi speaks English, allows more time to enjoy the meal). For Jiro's place you have to stay at certain hotels and make reservations through those hotels, and one of those happens to be the Park Hyatt, so that would be an option for you. It'll be a flawless meal but from what I understand, it's very fast.
- Two day trips: Arashiyama from Kyoto, and Nara Park from either Kyoto or Osaka (I went from Osaka). Understand that you've got a lot on your plate and these do take up quite a bit of time but if you haven't looked into them already, I recommend it
- Know there's been talk about the Robot Restaurant but I thought it was fun, very touristy but it's a good time, and doesn't take too much of your night.
- Fushimi-Inari in Kyoto. It's a bit of a hike but you don't have to walk up the entire way if you don't want to
- The Dotonbori area in Osaka is fantastic
- There's no end to amazing ramen over there but my personal recommendation, if you like it really spicy, and I mean really spicy, is Karashibi Kikanbo
- Memory Lane in Tokyo, which also goes by another name that is inappropriate for Disney message boards, but it's great
- For shrines, you're probably right to hit the biggest ones in each city (all worthwhile), that's what I did and otherwise you kinda end up wandering by others randomly, they're all over the place, especially in Kyoto.

And this is a biiiiiig if but if you're in Japan during one of their big sumo tournaments, it's a must. I was extremely lucky to be in Tokyo for the first day of the tournament in May and wasn't sure what to expect but it was great, especially with a guide to help navigate.

 

[AZMama2016]

Another vote for TeamLab! We did Planets because we didn’t realize you had to buy tix in advance and Borderless was booked for the day. Do both if you have time. It only took us about an hour to get through Planets but you can stay as long as you like. So amazing...wish there was something like that near us.

 

[Sandeep1]

Don't have much to add as others have already covered it. I almost pulled my hair out when I saw "day trip to Kyoto" because Kyoto is one of the most magical, amazing cities in the entire world. But you'll be back hopefully so you can explore.

You've got enough time in Tokyo so make sure to go to the very famous, amazing Savoy Pizza. I know who goes to Japan to eat pizza? A lot of people. The pizza scene in Tokyo rivals Italy. So make sure you go to Savoy Pizza and then remember to come back here and thank me after.

 

[Haley R]

Don't have much to add as others have already covered it. I almost pulled my hair out when I saw "day trip to Kyoto" because Kyoto is one of the most magical, amazing cities in the entire world. But you'll be back hopefully so you can explore.

You've got enough time in Tokyo so make sure to go to the very famous, amazing Savoy Pizza. I know who goes to Japan to eat pizza? A lot of people. The pizza scene in Tokyo rivals Italy. So make sure you go to Savoy Pizza and then remember to come back here and thank me after.

Do they put corn on their pizza? The only place I had pizza when we were in japan was at 7-11 and my cheese pizza had pieces of corn on it.

 

[AngelDisney]

Don't have much to add as others have already covered it. I almost pulled my hair out when I saw "day trip to Kyoto" because Kyoto is one of the most magical, amazing cities in the entire world. But you'll be back hopefully so you can explore.

You've got enough time in Tokyo so make sure to go to the very famous, amazing Savoy Pizza. I know who goes to Japan to eat pizza? A lot of people. The pizza scene in Tokyo rivals Italy. So make sure you go to Savoy Pizza and then remember to come back here and thank me after.

We love Kyoto! Would definitely visit again if we go to Japan for another trip. I am taking note of this pizza place. I ate pizza in Rome once and have not been able to find any other place that is as good. Will give it a try though we usually stick with local cuisine when travelling to Asia.