If you’re planning your first trip to Japan, I feel like the hardest part is honestly just figuring out where to start.
There is SO much information online now. You search “Japan itinerary” once and suddenly you have 200 TikToks saved, someone telling you that you absolutely have to go to Hakone, someone else saying Hakone is overrated, five different opinions about where to stay in Tokyo, and an itinerary that somehow has you going from Shibuya to Asakusa to Harajuku to Ginza all in the same day.
And technically, can you do that? Yeah.
Would I plan your trip that way? Naur.
I’ve been studying Japan for most of my life, lived there for about two years, and I’m also just naturally a ridiculous researcher. Pretty much everyone I know comes to me when they’re going to Japan because they know I’m going to have an opinion on their itinerary whether they asked for one or not.
So if this was your first Japan trip and you handed me your blank itinerary, this is pretty much how I’d start.
Before you make a Japan itinerary, figure out what you actually like
I think this gets overlooked a lot.
People search “10 day Japan itinerary” and then just start copying whatever cities and attractions are in the first itinerary they find.
But your trip should really depend on what you actually care about.
If you’re obsessed with anime, manga, shopping, fashion, food and nightlife, I might tell you to spend way more time in Tokyo than someone whose dream trip is temples, gardens, traditional architecture and history.
If you love nature, there are completely different directions we could take your itinerary.
If you mainly want to eat and wander around neighborhoods, honestly, same.
You also do not need to go somewhere just because it is considered one of the things you’re “supposed” to do in Japan.
There are things that are insanely popular that I personally think are worth it, things I think are overrated, and things that I love that probably wouldn’t make sense at all for someone else.
That’s why I would figure out your priorities first.
Literally make a little listy-poo.
What are the five things you are MOST excited about when you picture yourself in Japan?
Not what TikTok told you to be excited about. What do you actually want to do?
That gives you a much better starting point.
Please do not try to see all of Japan in 10 days
This is probably one of the biggest things I notice when people send me their Japan itineraries.
There will be Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Then Nara. Then Hakone. Then Hiroshima. Then someone saw a TikTok about Kanazawa, so now that’s in there too.
And suddenly you’re moving hotels every other night.
Japan has an amazing transportation system, but that does not mean you need to spend half your vacation using it.
Every time you change cities you are packing, checking out, getting yourself to a station, traveling, finding another hotel, checking in and getting reoriented.
It adds up.
For most first trips, I think Tokyo and the Kansai area are already MORE than enough to work with.
If you have around a week, I would keep things pretty simple.
If you have around 10 days, you have a little more room.
If you have two weeks, then I’d start looking at adding another destination or doing something a little different.
But even then, I would rather see you actually enjoy four places than technically “see” eight of them.
I also think people underestimate Tokyo
Tokyo is huge.
Like, genuinely huge.
And every neighborhood feels different enough that I don’t really think of Tokyo as one single thing when I’m planning.
Shibuya, Shinjuku, Asakusa, Ueno, Ginza, Shimokitazawa, Koenji, Nakano, Daikanyama, Harajuku and Akihabara can all give you completely different days.
So when I see a first-time Japan itinerary that gives Tokyo two or three days but has five other cities packed into it, I’m usually going to question it.
You can easily spend a week in Tokyo and still have a running list of things you didn’t get to.
This is also why I don’t think you need to obsess over staying in the ONE perfect Tokyo neighborhood.
I care more about whether your hotel has good transportation access and whether its location actually makes sense for the things you personally want to do.
A hotel can be adorable and still be annoying every single morning if you have to spend forever getting anywhere.
Always put it into Google Maps before you book it.
I do this every. single. time.
Check the nearest station. Check how long it takes to get to the neighborhoods you care about. Check what is around the hotel. Check what getting home at night looks like.
It makes a bigger difference than people realize.
Once I know your cities, THEN I start building your days
This is where my obsessive Google Maps problem becomes useful.
I save everything.
Restaurants. Cafes. Shops. Hotels. Anime stores. Random museums. Places I saw in a video six months ago. A dessert I decided I needed to try for absolutely no reason.
Then I look at where everything actually is.
Especially in Tokyo, I really, really recommend planning by area.
You do not want to plan your day based entirely on which attractions you ranked highest without looking at a map first.
For example, Harajuku, Omotesando and Shibuya make sense together.
If there are five other places you saved around there, great. Now you have a day that feels full without spending the entire day going back and forth across the city.
I usually have a few things I really want to do, and then a bunch of saved things nearby.
That way I still have an itinerary, because I personally would go insane without one, but I’m not locked into every single hour.
I would actually leave MORE things on your itinerary than you can do
This sounds backwards, but hear me out.
I like options.
I don’t like looking at an itinerary and thinking I HAVE to do all 13 things listed that day.
Instead, I want to know that if I’m in an area, I have a bunch of options saved nearby.
Maybe we’re tired.
Maybe the weather sucks.
Maybe we spent way longer shopping than expected.
Maybe we walked into a random store and now somehow it has been an hour and a half.
That happens constantly in Japan.
So instead of making everything a requirement, I kind of mentally separate things into:
Things I REALLY want to do.
Things I’d like to do if we have time.
And random saved things that are just there in case we’re nearby.
That is probably one of the biggest differences between having a thorough itinerary and having an itinerary that makes you miserable.
I am absolutely pro-overplanning.
I am not pro-forcing yourself to follow every single thing you planned.
Do the annoying reservation research early
Japan has become way more reservation-heavy for certain popular experiences, restaurants, cafés, attractions and events.
And this is one of those things that changes constantly, which is why I’m also really big on checking current information instead of relying on a three-year-old blog post.
Once you have a rough itinerary, go through everything you really care about and ask:
Does this need a reservation?
When do reservations open?
Is this something that sells out?
Is there a specific day of the week it’s closed?
Is there some random Japanese holiday happening during my trip?
You do not have to reserve your entire vacation.
Honestly, please don’t.
But if there is one specific restaurant or experience you would be genuinely upset about missing, I would rather figure that out before you land in Japan.
And PLEASE check what is happening while you’re actually there
This is one of my favorite parts of planning Japan trips and one of the reasons I don’t love super generic itineraries.
Japan changes so much by season.
There are festivals, exhibitions, anime collaborations, pop-up cafés, markets, seasonal foods, illuminations, flower seasons, sporting events, concerts and random limited-time things happening constantly.
So once you have your dates, actually research those dates.
I always do this.
Sometimes there will be something happening that completely changes what day I want to be in a certain neighborhood.
And sometimes it’s some ridiculously specific collaboration that no normal travel itinerary would ever tell you about, but YOU would be excited about it.
Those are usually the things I like finding the most.
If you have food allergies, celiac disease or dietary restrictions, please research before you go
This is obviously a really big one for me because I have celiac disease and lived in Japan with it.
Japan is one of those places where you really cannot always look at a food and know what is in it.
There can be soy sauce, dashi, fish stock, meat extracts and other ingredients in things you absolutely would not expect.
And even when someone understands what “vegetarian” or “gluten-free” means in English, that doesn’t necessarily mean you both have the exact same understanding of what ingredients are included in that.
This is actually one of the reasons I started making allergy cards.
I wanted something that was detailed enough to explain what someone actually cannot eat, instead of just holding up a card that says “I’m gluten-free” and hoping for the best.
If you have a dietary restriction, I would research restaurants before you go, save backups in different neighborhoods and have something translated that clearly explains what you need.
I’m going to write WAY more about this separately because this could literally be its own entire section of the website.
You probably do not need every Japan transportation pass you’ve heard about
I feel like transportation is one of the things people get the most stressed about before Japan.
And I get it.
You’re looking at JR lines, subway lines, private railways, Shinkansen tickets, IC cards and 40 different passes and thinking you need to understand all of this before you land.
You really don’t.
I would build your actual itinerary first and THEN figure out which transportation options make sense.
Do not build your trip around trying to “get your money’s worth” out of some pass you bought because someone online said every tourist needs it.
Figure out where you’re going.
Then price out how you’re getting there.
It’s much easier that way.
Also, think about your luggage
This sounds like such a boring Japan travel tip until you are standing in a giant train station dragging a massive suitcase around trying to figure out which exit you need.
Especially if you’re moving between cities, think about this before you pack.
Japan is probably going to involve more walking than you expect.
Stations can be huge.
Your hotel room might be small.
And if you like shopping even a little bit, you are probably coming home with more than you arrived with.
I am absolutely someone who wants outfit options, so I’m not going to sit here and tell you to pack three shirts for two weeks.
That’s not me.
But I WILL tell you to think about how much stuff you personally are willing to drag around.
There’s a difference.
So if I were planning your first Japan trip from the beginning…
I would do this:
Figure out your dates and how long you actually have.
Write down what you care about most.
Choose your main cities based on THAT.
Decide how many nights you realistically want in each place.
Book the flights and hotels.
Then start saving absolutely everything that interests you.
Once you have all those pins, start grouping them by neighborhood or area.
Build loose days around those areas.
Figure out which of your must-dos need reservations.
Check what events are happening during your actual dates.
Then deal with transportation, food restrictions, packing and all the little logistical things.
The biggest thing I want you to remember
There is no perfect first Japan itinerary.
I’ve studied Japan for years, lived there, speak Japanese, research it constantly and I STILL find new things every time I go.
You are not going to see everything.
You’re not supposed to.
I would rather you come home thinking, “I need to go back,” than spend your entire trip exhausted because you were trying to complete Japan like it was a checklist.
Plan a lot.
Know your options.
Do the research.
But leave enough room to actually be there.
Because honestly, some of the most random things you find when you weren’t looking for them will probably end up being what you remember most.
And if you’re the person with 47 tabs open right now, don’t worry.
That is pretty much why I made this website.