Tokyo / Asakusa / Ueno
Eastern Tokyo: Asakusa, then an optional Ueno afternoon
A temple-centered morning, a proper lunch and the choice of a park or a single museum. Make the second district optional.
DAILY ITINERARIES
Daily routes by city
These are suggested sequences, not timed bookings. Start with one area, keep a proper break and choose what to omit.
Tokyo
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Tokyo / Meiji Jingu / Harajuku / Shibuya
Western Tokyo: shrine woods to Shibuya streets
Begin with space and trees, then let a busier neighborhood become the second half of the day rather than another early deadline.
Tokyo / Tsukiji / Ginza / Tokyo Station area
Central Tokyo: a market morning and a flexible city afternoon
Give food the first claim on the day. Let Ginza and the station district fill the time that remains, rather than competing with a long lunch.
Kyoto
Kyoto / Higashiyama / eastern streets
Eastern Kyoto: Higashiyama without a race
Choose a temple approach, walk the surrounding streets and keep the afternoon for the places you notice along the way.
Kyoto / Fushimi Inari / central Kyoto
Southern Kyoto: Fushimi Inari, then a central-city choice
Let the shrine visit set the pace. A shorter route is valid; central Kyoto is an optional second chapter, not the reward for finishing a mountain walk.
Kyoto / Saga / Arashiyama
Western Kyoto: Arashiyama beyond one photograph
Build a day around the western area, with a short bamboo-grove visit and enough time for the river, a break and the return journey.
Osaka
Osaka / Osaka Castle Park / northern-central Osaka
Osaka in daylight: castle park and a slower afternoon
Treat the park as the main outdoor visit and the castle museum as a separate decision. Keep the second half of the day adjustable.
Osaka / Namba / Dotonbori / Shinsaibashi
Southern Osaka: Namba, Dotonbori and an unhurried dinner
Start later if you want to. Keep the route in southern-central Osaka and make room for the evening that draws many visitors here.
Osaka / Tennoji / Shinsekai
Tennoji and Shinsekai: a smaller southern Osaka day
Use one southern area for a modest outing, a food stop and an optional view. Leave the choice of paid attractions open until you know what you want.
Yokohama
Yokohama / Sakuragicho / Minato Mirai 21
Minato Mirai: a waterfront day that ends with the lights
Start at Sakuragicho, walk the waterfront at street level and let the evening finish the day. One paid view is a choice, not a requirement.
Yokohama / Chinatown / Yamashita Park / Yamate
Chinatown and Yamate: gates, lanes and a hillside
Enter through one gate, eat a proper meal and then climb to Yamate for a quieter view of the same harbor. Two settings, one half-day.
Yokohama / Sankeien / Honmoku / Kannai
Sankeien and the southern wards: a garden day with room to breathe
Give the morning to a garden built from historic buildings moved here from across Japan, then return to the city for a simple afternoon.
Nagoya
Nagoya / Nagoya Castle / Sakae / Oasis 21
Nagoya Castle to Sakae: a castle morning and a downtown finish
The castle first, while the grounds are still quiet, then the walk south into Sakae for the evening. One ticket covers the grounds and the palace, and the downtown is a free walk away.
Nagoya / Atsuta / Osu / Kamimaezu
Atsuta Jingu and Osu: shrine woods, arcades and a proper meal
A shrine in the morning, a long lunch, then the arcades of Osu. The order matters less than keeping the meal in the middle of it.
Nagoya / Kinjo-futo / Nagoya Port
Trains and the port: a museum-led day south of the station
One museum in the morning, the port in the afternoon, and a plan that survives a closed exhibit. Both halves are paid, and both keep their own closing days.
Fukuoka
Fukuoka / Hakata / Canal City / Tenjin or Nakasu
Hakata old town and the yatai: shrines, arcades and a stall dinner
The old town first, a mall that doubles as a river walk, then a stall dinner wherever the lights are. The evening half is the part you cannot schedule.
Fukuoka / Ohori Park / Fukuoka Art Museum / Maizuru Park
Ohori Park and the castle ruins: a lake loop and the museum
A lake you can walk around, a garden inside it and a museum at the edge. The castle next door is walls and grass, not a keep.
Fukuoka / Tenjin / Daimyo / Imaizumi / Nakasu
Tenjin to Nakasu: the food heart, the arcades and the river
An underground street, three shopping neighborhoods and a river crossing at dusk. The eating is the itinerary here, not a break from it.
Sapporo
Sapporo / Odori Park / Tanukikoji / Susukino
Odori to Susukino: a park, an arcade and the neon district
The city’s east-west spine, the oldest arcade in Hokkaido, and the district that lights up after dark. All of it sits inside two subway stops.
Sapporo / Curb Market / Nijo Market / Sapporo Station
The markets and a morning bowl: seafood breakfast, then the centre
The early start the official guide recommends, a seafood bowl while the market is still busy, and the centre in the afternoon.
Sapporo / Maruyama / Hokkaido Shrine / Mt. Moiwa
Maruyama and Mt. Moiwa: a shrine, a park and the city lights
The green west side in the morning, the shrine in the trees, and the night view the city is known for.
Kobe
Kobe / Meriken Park / Nankinmachi / Kyukyoryuchi / Harborland
The harbor and the old quarter: Meriken Park, steam buns and the settlement
A waterfront morning, a Chinatown lunch eaten standing up, and the stone grid of the old foreign settlement behind it. All of it sits between two stations.
Kobe / Shin-Kobe / Nunobiki / Kitano / Sannomiya
Shin-Kobe to Kitano: a waterfall walk, western houses and a ropeway
A forest gorge five minutes from the shinkansen platform, the hillside where foreign merchants built their houses, and a ropeway back over the same slope.
Kobe / Nada-Gogo / Mt. Rokko / Arima Onsen
Nada and Arima: sake cellars, a ropeway over the mountain and golden springs
Japan's biggest sake district in the morning, a cable car and a ropeway across the mountain in the afternoon, and a hot-spring town with 1,400 years behind it at the end.
Sendai
Zuihoden / Sendai City Museum / Sendai Castle Site / Osaki Hachimangu
The castle hill and the mausoleum: Date Masamune's city, by loop bus
A loop bus does the climbing, a castle plateau looks out to the Pacific, and a mausoleum in the cedar woods explains the city's founder.
Matsushima-kaigan / Matsushima Bay / Zuiganji / Godaido
Matsushima: one of Japan's three great views, by train and boat
Forty minutes on the Senseki line, a boat through a bay of pine islands, a temple of national-treasure rank and a tea house over the water.
Sendai Asaichi / Ichibancho arcades / Jozenji-dori / Kokubuncho
The morning market and the zelkova avenue: a day of Sendai eating
Breakfast in the market five minutes from the platform, grilled tongue at lunch, an afternoon under the zelkova trees, and a lantern alley at night.
Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Park / Atomic Bomb Dome / Hiroshima Castle
The dome, the park and the castle that came back
A morning at the dome and the peace memorial museum, a layered lunch in the centre, and a castle rebuilt after the war, lit up at dusk.
Miyajimaguchi / Itsukushima Shrine / Omotesando
Miyajima: the shrine that stands in the sea
A ten-minute ferry, a shrine built over the water, a 350-metre street of snacks behind it, and conger eel rice before the boat back.
Okonomimura / Central arcades / Riverside
Okonomiyaki, oysters and the middle of the city
A building of okonomiyaki counters, a dry noodle dish the city is said to have started, oysters in season, and a walk along the river after dark.
Kawasaki
Kawasaki Daishi / temple approach / station arcades
Kawasaki Daishi: the temple that wards off evil
A temple founded in 1128 that holds its fire rite every day, a prayer hall where drivers have their cars blessed, and a station district that still feeds people the way a post town did.
Noborito / manga museum / Nihon Minka-en
A manga museum on timed tickets, and twenty-five farmhouses
A morning booked before you arrive because the museum sells nothing at the door, then an afternoon among twenty-five relocated farmhouses, every one a designated cultural property.
Kawasaki waterfront / factory nightscape / canals
The waterfront by day, the factory lights by night
The shortest escalator in the world and an aquarium on the ninth floor, then seven islands and sixteen canals of lit plant towers, seen from the water after dark.