After countless hours of research and planning, our first trip to Japan finally happened in 2023! We spent two weeks there as a family, splitting our time between Tokyo and Kyoto while visiting Osaka and Nara on day trips. We came home with a lot of blurred memories, so I wanted to take the time to document for memory’s sake and to share what we learned with anyone looking to visit Japan for the first time.

(This post has been sitting in my drafts for nearly three years, and I finally came back to finish it. Most of this post was written in July 2023. I plan to share more details of my Japan trips this year as well.)

Why Japan?

As a big anime fan, Andrew’s always wanted to go to Japan. We hoped to visit in 2021, but the pandemic changed our plans, as it did for so many others. Instead of Japan being the first international family trip, we ended up visiting the UK instead and put Japan on the back burner.

Once Japan opened for individual tourism in October 2022 and we finalized our summer schedules, we booked our flights and pulled our trip together in two months. When I say we planned the trip, I really mean Andrew planned it. I helped by packing everything from clothing to supplies, but that’s about it.

For this trip, Andrew used a lot of different resources to gather information and didn’t think there was one perfect source. Surprisingly, he found the free JRPass Guide that came with our Japan Rail Pass one of the most helpful resources.

Getting There

Flying 5,500 miles from Utah to Tokyo was the most brutal part and took roughly 15 hours from our first plane taking off to our second plane landing. Our first flight was at 8 AM local time on Friday, and we landed in Tokyo at 1 PM local time on Saturday, somehow getting in an hour ahead of schedule. The flight itself wasn’t too bad since we could watch any movie we could want, but most of us didn’t get much sleep when we should’ve. Thankfully, we didn’t have too much jetlag to fight with the 15-hour time difference and were able to hit the ground running.

Japan is a very family-friendly country, which I was pleasantly surprised by. Compared to other metro cities we’ve visited, Tokyo was incredibly accommodating, and I’d have no hesitation bringing younger kids here. The only downside is the long travel time.

Our kids aren’t little anymore, though, so we got to experience Japan with teenagers instead. On this trip, we actually had three teenagers in tow: our two kids and a nephew (you could also call him a young adult). They adjusted to the time difference very well and kept up with everything we did.

Cities We Visited

We based ourselves in Tokyo and Kyoto, taking public transit for day trips to Osaka and Nara. We originally planned on spending 7 nights in Tokyo, 5 nights in Kyoto, and 1 night in a traditional ryokan, but ended up leaving Kyoto a day early, skipping the ryokan, and checking into a Tokyo Disney hotel for our last 2 nights.

Getting Around

We used public transit for the majority of our time there. At the time, the Japan Rail Pass was cheaper than it is now, and we used it for travel within Tokyo and for trips to neighboring cities. It was worth it to us then to get it, especially since we planned on several trips on the Shikansen.

In Kyoto, we got a day pass for the local lines on the day of our tour with our guide.

We also used a taxi a couple of times to get somewhere quickly, but it wasn’t always easy to find a taxi that could hold 5 people.

For the Disney Park Fans

We’d read a recommendation somewhere to plan for a third of your trip to be spent at Disney. We thought that was excessive before, but ended up spending more days at Disney, which equalled a third of our trip. If you’re going to Tokyo, prioritize Disneysea. We think Disneyland is also worth visiting if you have time, but it is very similar to Disneyland in California, while Disneysea is unlike any other Disney park.

Our 14-day / 13-night Itinerary

We spent two weeks in Japan: 12 full days and two half days on either end. While I hope to share more details of my trip, here’s an overview of our itinerary:

Day 1

• Land in Tokyo at 1 PM on a Saturday, one hour earlier than scheduled
• Ueno Park
• Gojoten-jinja Shrine
• Check into Tokyo Airbnb

Day 2

• Kaminarimon Gate
• Nakamise-dori Street (shopping, food vendors)
• Senso-ji (Asakusa Kannon Temple)
• Tokyo Skytree
• Akihabara (pedestrian walking street on Sunday, shopping)
• Cat cafe

Day 3

• Shibuya dog statue
• Yoyogi Park
• Meiji Jingu Shrine
• Best ramen: Kyushu Jangara
• Kiddy Land (character shopping)
• Otter cafe (hedgehogs, chinchilla, rabbit)
• Pokemon Center
• Nintendo Store
• Japanese food for dinner

Day 4

• Tokyo Disneysea

Day 5

• Tokyo Disneyland

Day 6

• Tokyo Station (character street shopping)
• Itoya (stationary shopping)
• Korean for dinner

Day 7

• Tokyo Disneysea

Day 8

• Shinkansen to Kyoto (grab a bento box from the station to eat on the train)
• Shijo Street (shopping)
• Nomura Tailor (fabric shopping)
• Katsu for lunch
• Daiso (dollar store shopping)
• Check into Kyoto Airbnb

Day 9

• 1 day Kyoto Tour Guide (Our guide: Kokoro-san.)
• Higashi Hongan-ji Temple
• Kinkaku-ji Temple
• Rokusho Shrine
• Toji-in Temple
• Hokan-ji Temple (pagoda)
• Sanneizaka (Sannenzaka) (pedestrian shopping street)
• Yasaka-jinja Shrine
• Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine
• Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
• Kimono Forest, Arashiyama Station

Day 10

• Kennin-ji Temple
• Heian-jingū Shrine
• Misuyabari (sewing needle shopping)
• Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Day 11

• Train to Osaka
• Osaka Castle Museum
• Sushi Go in Kyoto Station

Day 12

• Train to Nara
• Tōdai-ji Temple
• Feed deer
• Shinkansen back to Tokyo
• Check into Hilton Tokyo Bay

Day 13

• Tokyo Disneyland

Day 14

• Ikspiari (Disney Store shopping)
• Flight back home

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Check back for more details of our Japan trips! I’ll keep these posts updated as I add more information. If you want to read more about my trip to Japan, find all my Japan posts here and all my travel posts here.

Thanks for reading!