Planning a trip to Japan can feel overwhelming with so many incredible cities, cultural sites, and food experiences to choose from. To help, I’m sharing our complete Japan itinerary, covering Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, plus day-by-day details of what worked for us. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or returning to explore more, this guide will give you a clear idea of how to structure your trip, balance sightseeing with downtime, and make the most of your time in Japan.

 

What You Should Know Before Planning Your Japan Trip

• Japan is a walking country. So much walking is involved everywhere you go so bring the most comfortable shoes you have. 
• If going between June and October, prepare to have your handheld fan on all the time. It’s hot, and I mean, HOT. 
• Japan is super safe, which is a big plus if you’re a woman and/or traveling alone. 
• You can take trains and subways almost everywhere. Instead of getting a metrocard and charging it every time, you can use your phone to pay. If you have an iPhone, simply add the payment card to your Wallet >> Suica>> Then add money using a card on your Apple Pay. 
• Use Google Maps to get around and not Apple Maps. 
• There are 3 phone applications that you need: Payke (for scanning products to see what they are), Papago (Translation) and Go (like Uber but for Japan)
• You can get by with speaking English, but it’s much easier to use a translation app to ask questions. Many chain restaurants also have multi-lingual ordering tablets or kiosks. 
• Almost all product packages are in Japanese so make sure to download Payke, then simply scan the barcode and it will give you all the details. 
• Food is so good, don’t worry about restaurant ratings, etc. Everything we tried was just amazing. You can also get free tap water at most restaurants!
• There are 3 major chains of convenience stores: 7-11, Family Mart and Lawson. They have sandwiches, snacks, ice cream, basic cosmetics, etc. Try them, it’s fun. 
• Don Quijote is a popular store in Japan that is often recommended on social media for buying stuff you would want to take home. I found that regular drugstores like Kokumin offer better prices and if you use the translation app to talk to staff, they help you pick the right products. 
• Prices are pretty affordable considering that Japan is a highly developed country. You can eat great meals for under $10, even at sit-down casual restaurants.  Tourist attractions are also pretty cheap – to give one example, admission to Tokyo Tower is less than a quarter of the price of the Empire State Building in NYC. Accommodations are generally affordable if you avoid luxury properties, and can be an even better value if redeeming points; most of our stay was at Hyatt properties (the Caption Osaka Namba was a particularly good value for its location) for which we redeemed 8000-12000 points per night in lieu of $100-200 cash rates. 

Okay! Back to our itinerary. This is what we did in Japan based on what we like to do while traveling, so feel free to modify it to your liking. 

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What We Did In Tokyo

Arrived at the airport. For us, the Airport Limousine was more convenient than taking trains since it dropped us off directly at our hotel. You can buy tickets at the bus tickets desk you pass shortly after coming out of the arrivals door at Haneda Airport.

Day 1

• Asakusa Mameshiba Dog Cafe 
• Senso-Ji Temple
• Kappabashi street for knife shopping and kitchen stuff 

Day 2

• Tsukiji Outer Market for breakfast (We skipped the wagyu beef, too fatty for our taste) but had Ramen, grilled tuna, spicy cod roe onigiri, strawberry daifuku, strawberry and milk  and coffee jelly with milk ice cream.
• Meiji Jingu
• Harajuku 
• Shibuya Scramble Crossing
• Observation Deck for Sunset 

Day 3

• Imperial Palace (I don’t recommend this 100% because you can’t go inside the palace and the tour will just be outdoors; it can also be very hot in summer).
• Visit the lower level of a department store such as Daimaru or Mitsukoshi to see all the food and dessert they sell (so fun and unique).
• Dinner at a conveyor belt sushi place
• TeamLab Planets (needs prior reservation)

Day 4

• Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo – The Making of Harry Potter (Get the early tickets since this is a 4-5 hour thing)
• Whatever is left from the other days

Day 5

• Ramen or soba making class (or any other cooking class)
• Train to Kyoto 

What to Do in Kyoto

Day 1

• Kiyomizu-dera temple and the surrounding streets (Try the Kyoto style pickled cucumbers and buy the spice mix to top white rice)
• Nijo-jo Castle 
• Observation Deck 

Day 2

• Bamboo Forest 
• Tenryo-ji Temple 
• Kinkakujicho (Golden Temple)

Day 3 

• Fushimi Inari (we skipped this one because it was so hot) 
• Nishiki Market
• Train to Osaka

Last Stop: Osaka

Our Osaka Itinerary is pretty short for every day because we spent a good chunk of every day at the Expo which will end in October 2025. If you’re on the fence about attending Expo 2025 before it closes, know that the critical reviews about extraordinarily long lines, limited pavilion access due to a dysfunctional reservation system, and sometimes underwhelming pavilion exhibits are all valid – this one is probably only worthwhile if you’re a hard-core World’s Fair superfan… 

Day 1

• Osaka Castle

Day 2 

• Korumon Market 
• Make sure to try Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki and anything else that looks delicious! Osaka is called Japan’s Kitchen for a reason!
• Dotombori Street

Day 3

• Day trip to Nara, this will be a 45-minute train ride and you will spend about 4-5 hours there 
• Ebisuhigashi Neighborhood

Foods You Have to Try in Japan

• All the sushi
• All the tempuras 
• Onigiri
• Takoyaki
• Taiyaki
• Japanese curry 
• Beef croquettes
• Karage
• Matcha everything (If you like matcha) but even if you don’t I recommend trying matcha-flavored drinks and ice cream at least once, matcha in Japan is different! 
• Okonomiyaki (cabbage omelette) 
• Coffee Jelly 
• All the ice cream, especially soft serves
• Convenience store snacks (I love the desserts and my husband was a big fan of all the canned/bottled coffee drinks and sandwiches) 
• Soba noodles
• All the ramen, there is no bad one
• Gyoza 
• Strawberry Daifuku 

Feel free to reach out with any questions… I know I’m always writing about how great teh countries in the Mediterranean and Middle East are, but Japan is definitely a country that everyone should visit at least once!