6 Days in Tokyo, Japan + Mt. Fuji and Kyoto Day Trips

6 Days in Tokyo, Japan + Mt. Fuji and Kyoto Day Trips

[Music] We spent six full days in Japan. I’m going to show you exactly what we did on each day and how you can fit in a lot in only six days. So, we arrived the first day at about 2:15 and did not get to our hotel until about 5. We went out, had a quick bite, and then got to bed around 7:00 cuz we were exhausted. So, we’re calling that day zero. All right, it’s day one in Tokyo. It’s 5:30 in the morning because our sleep is all messed up and we’re going to head out pretty soon. But I just wanted to show you this is our view from our room and going to do a bunch of stuff today. So I’ll show you we’re here for a couple days um like seven, but we’re also going to do a couple day trips. So I will show you that and we’ll show you kind of all around the lay of the loun lands as we get used to it here. [Music] All right, day one. We are here in Tokyo. It’s super early because our sleep is all messed up. We got in at 2:15 yesterday, went to sleep around 7:00, so we woke up at 4:00. So, we decided to take that opportunity to go see the Sensoji Temple this morning cuz apparently it gets pretty packed later in the day. So, I would recommend that for day one because your sleep is going to be all messed up. But on our way there, we just got off the subway and beautiful river over here. Wanted to come check it out. There are a ton of stores around this temple which were not open that early, but we did go on our last day, so I’ll show you that later on in this video. [Music] [Music] We are here at the Sens Soji Temple, which is just a beautiful place. I highly recommend getting here early in the morning. We’re here at about 7:00 and it’s actually packed. There are a number of things to do here. The grounds are free, but you do have to pay to get into a couple things. This is the oldest uh established Buddhist temple in Tokyo. So definitely worth coming to see when you’re here. [Music] Vending machines are absolutely huge in Tokyo and actually really really needed because you need water pretty much once an hour you need a bottle of water. So, we did use these vending machines all the time while we were there and it is such a helpful thing. I wish we had it where we lived. All right, we came down here to the Tokyo Skytree cuz it was super close to that temple we were at. See, you can see that. Um, and it is not open yet. So, definitely check the times. It’s about 8:30 right now. This is the danger of getting up at 4:00 in the morning and it doesn’t open till 10:00. It seems to open on 9:00 on weekends and then 10:00 on weekdays and today’s Monday. So, uh, definitely check your opening times cuz it seems like there’s nothing open right now, including restaurants, including things like that. So, um, the convenience stores are open. So, we did get breakfast at least, but um, do check your times and hopefully we’ll make it back to the Sky Tree at some point. We’ll show you that. Despite Tokyo being a very large city, they also have quite a few really large parks throughout the city. So, if you’re just looking for nature, there is plenty that you can do in town. Do be aware that some of them do charge a cover or an admission, I guess, but it’s usually like a dollar or two. [Music] [Applause] UNO Moko Market, which is a super cool place. It’s kind of endless. You can kind of get lost in here. There’s a train right above me also, in case you can’t hear that. Um, there is street food, there is regular food, there’s restaurants, there’s also shopping here. So, it’s a cool place to just kind of come down, do some shopping, and uh there’s there’s heat, there’s air conditioning stuff, which is really nice to get out of the heat as well. So, uh this is right by Park in Tokyo. Tokyo Tower is a radio tower built in 1958. It is 333 m or 1,092 ft high. It is a lattice tower inspired by the Eiffel Tower and is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations. The main deck observatory is at 150 m or 490 ft and the top deck is at 250 m or 819 ft. We are here at Shabuya crossing which is the busiest intersection in the entire world and we’re about to cross it and it is terrifying because there are a ton of people here. Said 3 million people a day cross this thing and it’s clearly a tourist thing now. You can see like how many people are here but uh follow along. Just go any direction. [Music] Wow. like deathdeying. Starbucks is the most obvious place that you can go up to see Shabuya Crossing, although there are a number of restaurants and bars and clubs pretty high up as well if you’re looking for a great view. Uh tacos, like everything. We found this place that felt a little more like a locals’s place that was right off Shabuya. It had soccer, it had skateboarding, it had just a bunch of, I think, teenagers hanging out. It was very cool to see though. If you are in the area, we are here on day two in Tokyo. We had a pretty good night last night. Still did not I don’t know if we’re caught up on our sleep. Went to bed around 9:00, but we woke up at 5:00 again. So, um but we which is better than the day before, which is better than the day before, which was 4:00. So, um we are um we got breakfast at our hotel cuz it was included and that was nice. And um we are going to go do Team Labs and then Imperial Palace and a couple other things. So, we will show you what we’re doing here in Tokyo. We are here at Team Labs Borderless in Tokyo. There are two Team Labs in the in Tokyo area, so make sure you check to see which one you’re going to. But very cool. It’s kind of like an art exhibit, sort of an interactive art exhibit. Um, we bought a pass on Cluke that was you can come and go at any time. We just chose a day. Otherwise, you do need to buy your pass in advance and you have to choose a very specific time cuz they sell out weeks or months in advance. So, make sure that you do that before you come to Tokyo. Other tip is that there are mirrors on the floor. So, if you want to wear a dress, I have shorts on under my dress, but if you are wearing a dress, just know that there are mirrors on the floor in some of the exhibits. But otherwise, really cool thing to do here in Tokyo. And if you are in town, definitely worth it to see while you’re here. [Music] [Music] Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. There’s flowers blooming. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] We are here at the Imperial Gardens. I can tell you it’s a little bit complicated because first of all, it is a million degrees out here and there is zero shade. But it’s also, I believe, where the head of state lives. So, they are very strict on where you can go and where you cannot go. So, um we’re going to try to cross the river up here, see what happens. But, but you can’t you can’t walk on the grass. You can’t go I mean, everywhere you think you can go, you can’t go once you get there. So, we’re going to try to check out this park cuz it looks beautiful, but we’re not sure exactly what we can do yet. So, just do a little research before you get here, maybe more than we did. And uh it still looks like a cool place to go. Okay, one thing I wanted to say about Tokyo, this is a tip. If you’re here in the summer, we’re here over Labor Day, so it’s not even the summer anymore. Well, I guess it technically is, but nothing matters. Your clothing doesn’t matter, your makeup doesn’t matter. Your hair doesn’t matter because it all doesn’t matter. Well, wearing clothing matters, but don’t look cute. Don’t put your makeup on. Don’t do your hair because it will be gone in a second. My dress after an hour yesterday was like 100% soaked through. My makeup was all gone. My hair was all frizzy. Just uh don’t worry about it. Dress conservatively. Dress conservatively. Yeah, for sure. And you’ll see a lot of black and white. A lot of black and white. But um yeah, they do dress very conservatively. But just so you know, like it is so hot and it is so humid here that you will not care about anything. Um, the other thing is that I figured I would find a hat and an umbrella once I got here and I have looked so many places and I have not many places. I’ve looked some places and I have not found a hat or an umbrella anywhere. And so I was thinking I was feeling all high and mighty on myself. Oh, I’ll just buy it when I get there and then I can’t haven’t been able to find it and it’s so hot that I really need a hat. So, um, that’s another thing I would definitely recommend bringing that as well. All right, we walked all the way around. It is like way too hot out here. Finally found the gate to get in. Maybe. So, wind your way around to the Ottoman gate. O T E M A N. I can’t. O T E M O N. I’m so hot right now. That’s what I said. I don’t think I did. O T E M O N. Uh, this is how you get in. Do not try to get in any other way cuz you will be walking forever. The Imperial Palace is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It also includes the Fukiage Palace where the emperor has his living quarters, an archive, museums, and administrative offices. There is also a ruin of the old Ido Castle you can see while you are there. On the other side of the park was the Buudacon. If you don’t know what that is, it was actually an Olympic venue for judo, for sumo, for a couple other things as well. So definitely worth seeing that while you’re there as well. We actually went to the front door just to see if we could see inside. And there was actually an event going on, so they let us inside. It was judo and kjutsu, which are two, I believe, Olympic sports. Just locals, I’m pretty sure. But it was super cool. We sat there for about an hour. Not only was it cool in there, but it also was just a really cool experience to see a local event there. So, we decided to try something just a little bit different tonight. We came down in the Tokyo game. It sounded like it was just local teams playing like kids, but there are a million people here. So, I’m going to show you. We’re going to see. It’s kind of cool to see like all the people here and it’s a huge huge stadium. I’ll show you exactly who the teams are and what we see inside the Tokyo Dome. The Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Tokyo that was built between 1985 and 1988 and has a total capacity of 57,000. The Tokyo Dome is the home field for the Yomiori Giants baseball team, although many other local teams also host games there throughout the year. [Applause] [Music] Tokyo Dome is also the location of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. [Music] Welcome to day three. We got up this morning and we took the train out to Mount Fuji. We are here now. I’m going to show you all about it. Some of the stuff to do around this area, how to take the train and some other stuff. It’s kind of peeking through right now, so uh that’s exciting. It’s the first time we’ve seen it all day. We will soon make a brief. [Music] We are here heading Mount Fuji and we’re doing the what are we doing railway to get up to the top to see the picod. [Music] [Music] All right. So, we came up the ropeway and there’s still a little bit of a hike here. Not too bad. We’ll just show you what the view looks like. So nice right there. Like that. Yeah. We are here at Mount Fuji. Actually, we just went up the ropeway, which is a really cool thing. This is the mountain behind me. You can’t tell. You do have to kind of take it with a grain of salt because this mountain appears when it wants to and it’s going when it wants to. So hopefully we’ll get a better glimpse of it before we leave here tomorrow. But the real way is cool. There’s a cafe here at the top. Um there’s a town at the bottom. So we might go check out some food down there. And then we’re going to head to our hotel and show you that as well when we get there. I have to tell you feel free this railway not the best. Did not love it. Closed my eyes about halfway started moving. So just so you know perfect not the best thing. [Music] Good. Good. One of my favorite parts about this trip was finding local delicious food. We found this place that was right across from the train station and everybody there was getting their own giant bowl and they all ate all of it. We couldn’t even finish one that we were sharing, which was crazy, but definitely delicious. Definitely a highlight of the trip. [Music] I have an entire review of Hotel Miso also on my channel. So, if you want to see the entire thing, I’ll put the link above for that. [Music] [Music] [Music] All right, we are in day four. We kind of had a relaxing day yesterday. Came up to Mount Fuji, did the railway. We came to our hotel and then really just Eric went for a run and then we had a drink downstairs and that was pretty much it. It was kind of just a nice little relaxing thing. We generally run run while we’re on vacation, so this has been nice. So, we woke up this morning, had a nice breakfast. Uh Eric is waiting for a call, so we can’t do anything till he’s done with that. And then we’re going to go try to do the pagota really quick and then get back on our train back to Tokyo. Tonight, what we’re planning on doing is again, not much. I think we’re going to do laundry, um do some gift shopping, and just wander around the area around our hotel. But we have no big plans for today, and we are headed back to Tokyo. [Music] We are here at the Teddo Pagota. It was only about 10 minute Uber from town. It’s like 18 bucks, 16 bucks maybe. Um, so not bad. So, we have 400 steps in front of us. I think it’s 398 steps. I did not see any lockers here either, which means Eric is carrying our bag up the hill, which will be fun. But I will show you. The torto pagota is a five-story pagod on the mountain side overlooking Mount Fuji. The pagota is part of the Arakur Sen shrine and was built as a peace memorial in 1963. To Pagota is a popular tourism attraction mainly for the beauty of the area, especially during cherry blossom season. When Mount Fuji is visible, it has a very nice view of both the pagota and the mountain. [Music] All right, we just finished with the pagota. There were so many people up there, so I didn’t want to record myself. But hey, Eric’s very excited. He’s carrying the bag. He carried it all the way up. 398 steps up, plus some intro steps. Wasn’t terrible. I mean, it was kind of horrible, but it was over quickly the steps. So, it’s really, really not bad. Um, it is super humid and today’s a cooler day. Today’s like 85, but we both just were drenched by the time we got to the top. So, but totally worth it even if you can’t see the mountain because it is a beautiful sight to see. Definitely worth it if you’re here. We took an Uber, by the way. Oh, I already said that, but it was worth it. So, the train station is about 1.1 km away, but we’re kind of on a time crunch cuz we have to get to the train station to get our train. So, we took an Uber here and yeah, totally worth it. See, now we get to go down. I did forget to mention that you can also take this slight rise, but I imagine it would take a lot longer. So, we are leaving Mount Fuji now, getting back on our train. Tons of stuff we learned. We actually bought the passes for the red, blue, and green line. Ended up not really using it that much. So, you should do your research before that. We went up to the ropeway, came back, and uh that was what, 1,500 a person or something, and it would have been like five bucks on a in a cap. So, um really research if you want to do that sightseeing bus, like if you have the time to do it, definitely do it, but we just didn’t really do much with it. Um the other thing I will say is there’s luggage storage here at the station, which is great. It’s like 1,500 yen. Um but across the street there’s a little souvenir shop and it’s 500 yen. So, if you want to save a little bit money of money and if your luggage is small, they also have coin lockers. But this trip for us was much more of a kind of a relaxing sort of uh resort feel than it was a go go go place. So, that was really nice. So, we’re going to go back to Tokyo now and we are going to go back to the city lifestyle for a day and then we’re headed to Kyoto tomorrow. But, definitely definitely worth coming to Mount Fuji. Even if you can’t see the mountain, it was a cool little town and definitely worth the trip. And then the final destination is part of the unglamorous parts of travel is doing your laundry in the middle of a trip, which is always such a nice refresher that we like to do it. It is a little hot in here though. Um there’s always going to be a laundromat somewhere pretty much wherever you go and so it helps you pack lighter. Uh but you do have to take the time to do it which is fine. I’ll see yours. We are here at the Shinkansen station at Tokyo Station. It’s day five. We decided we have a couple days left. We got up early today to go to Kyoto. We’re only doing a day trip. It does definitely it deserves more than just a day, but this is what we have. So, we’re going to go we’re going to rush it. We’re going to do it really quick and do all the stuff that we can do in like 8 hours. So, I’ll show you that and um show you kind of the train here as well on day five here in Tokyo. So, we are finally on the train. Just a couple notes here with Shinkansen. First of all, there are very few seats in this terminal. So, if you need to sit down at any point, you’re probably not going to be able to. So, just be aware of that. Um, it was really confusing getting here. You basically have to go up, I think, twice, up the stairs twice, and then you have to go through the gates. It is connected to the the whole metro line. So, it’s you have to find the shenans. And we finally found it cuz we asked somebody. So, just find somebody to ask. We actually waited in line for the ticket gate to do that because um there is free Wi-Fi um on the train also. So, yeah, lots of stuff. This is about a 2-hour ride to Kyoto because it’s a high-speed train. It’s about the same as yesterday on our way to Mount Fuji cuz that is a slower train. So, uh, super cool to have it. Wish we had a train system that we use in our country. Oh, download the what is that? Japan free Wi-Fi app. Japan free Wi-Fi app. Yes. Yeah. So, that’s how you Wi-Fi autoconnect. Here you go. [Music] Well, we came all the way to Kyoto to see some monkeys. So, we are walking up the slope at the uh Arishyama monkey park. I’ll show you some monkeys. The Iowa Tayyama or Arosyama Monkey Park is located just across the river from the train station in Kyoto. It is inhabited by more than 120 monkeys. The monkeys are wild but can be fed by the staff and visitors with food exclusively purchased at the site. The climb up the mountain is 1.45 km or 0.9 miles with an altitude gain of 160 m or 525 ft. There was an entrance fee, but it was only a few dollars. [Music] The Tenuji Temple was established in 1339 in memory of Emperor Go Digo. The temple was designated first among Kyota’s five mountains or the city’s five major Zen temples. The temple has been through eight major fires, but was rebuilt in the 19th century. In 1934, final touches were put on it, creating the temple as we see it today. The Arishyama bamboo forest is one of the most photographed places in all of Kyoto and is located to the north of the entrance of the Tenuji Temple. The bamboo forest is open 24 hours a day and there is no admission fee. I’m taking the romance train. Romance train. There you go. Otherwise, it’s a 20-minute walk and we don’t really have time for that. 1760 [Music] All right. Well, this is our day. So, all we wanted to do was to get back to the JR line and they said, “Oh, take the romance train.” And we’re not really romance people. But we’re like, “Okay, it’s one stop. We can do that.” And we get on and it starts going the other direction. And we’re like, “Wait a second. I just want to go to the JR station.” So, we ended up uh what, 20 minutes in the opposite direction. And now they said, “Well, if you want to get back to the JR line, just walk 10 minutes away.” So, we don’t want to get back on the romance train. It wasn’t bad. The romance train was actually It was quite pretty. Beautiful. We’re on the wrong side. We are on the wrong side of the train, but it was basically a a view of the river and the mountains and everything. So, it was very pretty. Now, we’re in a town Kawyaka or something. It’s I know, right? It’s quite pretty. But, um this is our lives. We just This is what I do. I I buy stuff like this. Um so, anyway, so we’re getting back to the JR line. It’s going to take us like an hour to get back to town or back to where we want to go. So, uh we are going to hit some other things in the town center next up here. Follow along. [Music] The Fushimi Anari Shrine or the 10,000 gates is an important Shinto shrine dedicated to Anari, the Shinto god of rice. The gates lead you down a trail to Mount Anari, which is 233 m above the shrine. I hear that hike takes about 2 to 3 hours. The shrine was built in 794 and has become a very popular tourist destination in Tokyo. [Music] [Music] [Music] Thank you. [Music] [Music] We came down here to Fushimi Anara Taisha which is the thousand gates. Um, super touristy. I’m going to show you some of the video of that. But then we actually went a little bit further to Koba Takai Koba Takai Kobo Gataki Falls. Um it was what 300 m away from where we were and there’s no people here. It there is a cemetery at the end I believe. So be respectful. But if you want to get some good shots of these uh away from the crowds away from the crowds definitely go just a little bit further cuz it is beautiful down here. [Music] What? [Music] So, our time here is almost done. We uh did a lot of stuff today. Why did it get windy all of a sudden? Um, we’re gonna stop by one temple on our way back to the train station, which is actually close, but we figure it’s on the way. So, we’re going to walk by it, see what we can see. But Kyoto, so far, I really liked it. I think if we ever come back to Japan, we’ll definitely spend some more time here. No, we are closed. Well, we’re sad this one’s closed to Temple. It looks amazing. It is huge. So definitely come see this. It is closed though, so we can’t go in. But how beautiful. The Tofu Kuji Temple is a Buddhist temple founded in 1236 in Kyoto. The temple burned down but was rebuilt in the 14th century according to original plans. Tofukuji is also one of the five temples of the five mountain system. I’m waiting for the church. If you are coming to this temple, this is well worth it, especially if you’re looking for Instagram photos. Look how cool this is. Oh my god. You know what? Sometimes you just have to wander. We’re just walking back to the train station. Found this beautiful little area. It’s unbelievable. This is the shrine. Look at that. Well, we made it this far. We are at day six in Tokyo. And actually, we’ve done most of the stuff on our list. So, we’re kind of going to have a relaxing day cuz we are going home tomorrow. Last night was super exhausting because we knew it was going to be exhausting. We had a day trip to Kyoto. We had 8 hours there and we just ran ran ran ran ran. And then our train was late because of a typhoon, which was fine because most people’s trains were way later than ours. Ours was only delayed like 30 minutes. Everybody else’s was like two plus hours. So that was actually nice for us. So the one thing on our list that we have not seen is a park that’s near our hotel. So we’re going to go do that first. Then we’re going to take a train out to Disney cuz why not? We just wanted to see it. We’re not really Disney people, but it’s by the harbor. That’s supposed to be beautiful also. And then just finishing our gift shopping as well for our friends and family. So that should be day six here in Tokyo. I will show you all about that. Sweet. Another [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] And then our last thing that night, we went down to Tokyo City Hall. Every night they do this cool projection for, I believe, hours on the side of the building. People just sit there and watch it. It’s free. It’s very cool. And then you can go to the top of the building which is also free. So you just it’s all free entertainment. The only downside I would say is it’s super bright on the inside so it’s kind of hard to see out the windows cuz it reflects. But it is one of the best views in Tokyo. [Music] So, we are on day seven and we’re about to head out. We just came to Big Camera cuz we’ve been looking for some saki and we haven’t really found any. And oh my gosh, Big Camera is so much better than Don Coyote. Everybody said go to Don Coyote, but the aisles are narrow. There’s a million people there. The stuff’s not that great, I felt like. And we came to Big Camera. It has everything. It has skincare. It has gifts. It has lots and lots of alcohol. Um, so if you are looking for gifts or just even like sunscreen or I mean anything, they have like five stories here in Shinjuku and multiple locations. Uh, definitely check out Big Camera over over Donote because it seems already so much better. [Music] Overall, Tokyo was amazing. We never really leave a place and think we want to go back there because there’s so many places in the world to travel to, but Tokyo is one of those places we absolutely would go back to. We’d spend more time in Kyoto, more time out in the countryside, more time out in Osaka as well. It really was just an amazing amazing country and I would highly recommend it. [Music]

We spent 6 full days (and 2 half days) in Tokyo, Japan. Follow along to see all the things we did in 6 days, including a full day trip to Kyoto and a day/night trip to Mt. Fuji, plus, plenty to do in Tokyo. Here is our full itinerary for 6 days in Tokyo, Japan:

0:00 – Day 0: Arrival, Exploring Shinjuku.
1:22 – Day 1: Sumida River, Senso-Ji Temple, Tokyo Skytree, Ueno Ameyoko Shopping Street, Tokyo Tower, Shibuya Crossing.
7:34 – Day 2: TeamLab Borderless, Imperial Palace, Budokan, Baseball Game at Tokyo Dome.
15:15 – Day 3: Mt. Fuji Day, Mt. Fuji Panorama Ropeway, Mizno Hotel.
19:45 – Day 4: Start at Mt. Fuji, Chureito Pagoda, Back to Tokyo, Laundry.
24:49 – Day 5: Kyoto Day Trip including Shinkansen, Arashiyama Monkey Park, Tenryu-Ji Temple, Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Sagano Romantic Train, Fushimi Inara Temple (10,000 Gates), Tofuku-Ji Temple, and more!
34:59 – Day 6: Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, Meiji Jingu National Stadium, Tokyo Disney, Nakamise Shopping Street, Rooftop of the Prince Shinjuku Hotel, Tokyo City Hall.
38:30 – Day 7: Bic Camera, Tokyo Limousine Bus to the Airport!