Japan newbie single mum and teen

[atomicnotsoblonde]

I’ve just over a week in may half term alone with DS13. I am thinking 4 days in Tokyo, then train to Kyoto for 3 days with a trip to Osaka. He’s into anime/gaming stuff but likes to keep active. I’d like a couple of cocktails.

Any suggestions about where to go and stop? Newbie to Japan and a bit nervous of planning this and missing something key/getting locations wrong.

thanks!

It's not long enough - it's a massive flight from the UK and a big time difference.

I work in a hospital and can only have a week. We’ve done long haul for a week before so this isn’t a concern.

I would not want to travel to Japan from the UK for a 7 day vacation. It takes almost 24 hrs to fly, assuming you have no issues with connections (we did resulting a 24 hr delay in arriving in Tokyo) . Traveling from Tokyo to kyoto was half a day. If you are going to go, stay in Tokyo. We did Tokyo, kyoto and Osaka in 16 days and came home exhausted as we were not able to get everything done which we would have liked.

Appreciate concerns thank you. We’d be getting a direct flight from Heathrow which is 14 hours so no connections. We’ve done Thailand and Mauritius for a week before.

I simply can’t have longer off work and DS is really keen to go. I’d hope to maximise the time we do have so keen to have a plan. We’d likely go Friday to be back in uk the following Sunday so slightly over the week

In terms of itinerary 4 days Tokyo and 3 days Kyoto sounds like a good mix and weather
/Temperatures usually perfect in May. In Tokyo DisneySea is a unique Disney park and great for that age range, but queues can be really long. Does he like studio Ghibli work, there is a great museum for Ghibli works though I have never been. There are the usual tourist sights like the shrines at Meiji jingu, senso-ji and the viewing decks at Shibuya sky-garden (looking down on the crossing) and Tokyo sky-tree, that you probably shouldn't miss. The last 2 were built since I lived there, so not been to them. We did transit through briefly last summer but mostly visited Disney. There is a rainbow candyfloss place (Totti candy factory) near Meiji Jingu. Team lab borderless everyone raves about, so check that out. Also Kamakura and Hakone are possible as day trips. I am not sure on specific Anime/manga things to do. If the sumo is on, then definitely recommend going to that. I do also agree about a week being a bit short, it's not the flying it's the huge time zone difference (8 hours), does it mean he's going straight back to school the day after you get back? That's quite challenging with such a big time change, although jet lag is generally better flying West than flying East. If he's got a couple of days to recover when you're get back then it might be fine.

Really helpful thank you. Is the bullet train easy to use and navigate to Kyoto? We’ll try and tick off some of the big tourist sites you’ve listed. I’m hoping this is more of an intro trip and we can go back again in the future once we know exactly what we’ve enjoyed most

Yes the bullet train was very easy to navigate.

If you only have a week, I’d consider spending it all in the Kansai region. For me, that would be the way to pack the most into a shorter trip. Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Himeji are all really close together and offer a really varied range of experiences. If you’re really set on Tokyo, then definitely book an open jaw flight. It will probably be cheaper and is far more time efficient.

Great ideas. Hadn’t considered stopping the whole time outside of Tokyo. Will look into this tonight. Thanks for the feedback, we’re super excited!

No advice but this would be my dream, I'm excited for you and your DS is very lucky to have you plan this for him!