How to Spend 2 Weeks in Japan (Full Travel Itinerary + Insider Travel Tips)
Japan has always been our dream destination, and if you’re watching this, it’s probably on your list, too. In this video, we’re taking you through the ultimate 2e Japan itinerary, packed with the best things to see and do from Osaka to Tokyo, Kyoto, and even Mount Fuji. But we’re not just sharing what we did. You will also hear the mistakes we made and what we’d do differently if we went back. So, if you’re planning your first trip to Japan, this is the guide we wish we had before going. It doesn’t really matter if you arrive to Osaka, if you land on Tokyo. You can really just turn the itinerary around and it will still work. In our case, we arrived to Osaka. Now, there’s a lot of things that you need to do when you first arrive to Japan. We’re not really going to touch on it in this video because it could literally be an 5 hour video. Yeah. So, we are going to cut straight to those exciting activities that you will be doing. Let’s say you’ve got some spare time in the evening. What we would do is go to Dotenburi. It won’t really take much, but it’s a nice walk in Osaka. You’re going to see a lot of neon lights, a lot of billboards, brands. They go really the extra mile in this area, but there’s a very famous thing here called the Running Man. It’s a big poster of a running man. Lot of people taking pictures like we did. It’s quite a cool place. It’s called Glyco. So, just look for that big sign. And if you are lucky, you actually see it when it’s turned on because it wasn’t on when we went. And as Max said, they do go the extra mile with everything in Dotoi, especially the restaurants. That’s where you’re going to be able to find all the Japanese food, all the cuisines you can imagine in Dotoi with these massive statues of things. I don’t even know if this makes sense. So, you’re going to have to see it in person or in this clip. From what we experience, we would say that two days is enough to spend in Osaka. We’re not trying to say that there’s not much to do in Osaka, but it is your first time, so you want to try and make the most in Japan. After finishing editing this video, we’ve realized that there’s a lot of information and it will be a bit chaotic if we put all the links in the description. So, what we’ve done to make it easier to plan your trip is create a blog. In this blog, you can find absolutely everything we’ve mentioned in this video and more. So, hopefully it makes it easier for you. So between day two and three, you’re going to start fresh. You’re going to be in Osaka for the first time. So what is the first place we recommend you go is Osaka Castle, our favorite. Now, this is something a lot of people asked us. Is it worth going inside? And I think that answer we we cannot give you a certain answer. It will vary for everyone. But when we went, the price was 650 yen per person, but that has now doubled. So that might influence a little bit your decision on whether or not to go in. Since we went in, would we go again inside? No. But you do get amazing views in the rooftop of the whole city and it makes it a bit more special. And you get a stab, which we’ll tell you about it in a minute. If you do decide to go into the Osaka Castle, definitely buy the tickets online because we didn’t. We had to queue up and it took about 30 minutes. But if you buy them online, you pretty much jump the queue. But our favorite thing in Osaka Castle wasn’t actually the castle. It was the ninja star throwing experience that we discovered inside this building that’s right next to the Osaka Castle. So, if you’ve got some time, definitely try it out. Try it out. The Osaka Castle is a really traditional building. So, a really nice contrast to go next would be the Umeda Sky Building, which is so modern and humongous, and you get great views of the city. And after that, you head to Namba Yasaka Shrine, which I absolutely loved. I didn’t expect to see that in the middle of the city. I wouldn’t say it’s a hidden gem, but it’s definitely not something that everyone knows. And perhaps it’s the most unique temple in Japan. It’s outrageously amazing. When Carl mentioned stamps, I imagine a lot of you know this, but stamps are part of the culture. So, when you visit a place, sometimes they will have stamps. So, if you get a notebook, we literally bought a notebook for about £1 and it was in a convenience store. So, you don’t have to go crazy, but you can. And most likely in every attraction that you visit, they will have a stamp unique to that place. So at the end of your Japan trip, you will have this amazing notebooks with just memories really. But we have created a travel guide, more specifically about Osaka with so many more things. So if you want to learn more about Osaka, make sure you check the travel guide out. For the next 3 days, we’re going to provide you with day trips from Osaka. When I say day trips is because we highly suggest that you stay in Osaka and use that as your home base and then just travel around to other places. But how do you get to these places? I’d say there are really two ways and it would be by train or by renting a car. And I guess you could take a taxi if you really have that much money. Definitely the most expensive. If you’ve got that much money, just give us a donation. Take a taxi. Um, it might sound crazy, but renting a car gave us so much flexibility and it was a lot more affordable than we originally thought it would be. But for many people, taking the train is part of the experience as well because you get to see all the scenery and just riding Japanese trains feels like another experience in itself. So, that’s something that’s really up to you to decide. One of the three-day trips that we recommend is Himeji, which takes about an hour by train from Osaka. The first place you definitely have to go to is the Himeji Castle. Himi Castle is one of Japan’s most spectacular feud era castles. Picture this, the Osaka Castle, but bigger. And really close to the castle, you will find a cuckoo and garden. I don’t know. I’m saying that so badly. I’m sorry. And these are traditional Japanese gardens. And depending on the season that you go to, you might see cherry blossomings and things like that. Realistically, there’s two seasons. It’s the cherry blossom season or the autumn season. You’ve got very two different colors and they both beautiful. What’s your favorite? We went in cherry blossom and it was very nice, but I’d love to see Japan in the autumn season. I think it’s a whole another level. And if you are traveling now, because we are uploading this video in September, you’re going to get the autumn. So, please tag us in pictures if you go. No, not too many. Not too many. We’ll be so jealous. We’ll be jealous. Himei is one of the cities that we didn’t visit and we really regret not going there. Don’t Don’t make that mistake. Kobe, that was so bad. Is it Is it Kobe or Kobe? Cob. Is it Kobe or Coobe? Cob. Well, yeah, that’s the next place. We know Coobe because it’s probably one of the best meats you will ever try. But Coobe definitely has more than meat. You can take a gondola lift and go up to the herb gardens. And again, if you get the right season, you can have one of the most amazing times there. See spectacular views of Coobe. And at night, definitely go to Harborland. Just imagine, you’re going to be next to the ocean. You’ve got these bright colors illuminating the city and it it’s going to be one of the most magical moments in Japan. It also happens to be just a 30inut train ride from Osaka. And I say it like this because we didn’t go back. Guys, this this is not just a two week Japan itinerary is our wish list. This is what we wish we did in Japan. Of course, for all the cities that we will be speaking about in this Japan itinerary and realistically any cities in the world, there’s a platform where you can book any activities. It’s called Get Your Guide. literally scan the QR code or go to the link in the description and type the city. Let’s say in this case Co. It’s going to show you a very wide range of activities that you can do. And that’s sometimes how we actually plan our day. Just we go there, we look at the activities provided and we either choose them or do them ourselves. And I’ll let you guys into a little secret. If you use the link that we put in the description and download the app, there’s also a discount code for you. So, it can’t get any better than that. Day six, we want to be adventurous, fun, a completely different experience to your Japan trip so far. And of course, that means you’re going to be going to USJ, which means Universal Studios Japan. And it’s a place that I was so excited to go. I was like, “We can we go?” And he was like, “Oh, I don’t like theme parks.” No, I love that. I was sold. I was sold on the idea. But the bad thing is that we made so many mistakes when we went to USJ. and we are not going to go through all of them in this video. So, if you do want to know all of the different things that we did and we wish we would do differently, then click on the video that will appear at the top of the screen, just open it now and then watch after this video. And as you can imagine, if you’ve been to any theme parks, Disneyland, whatever theme park you’ve been to, they can get really, really busy. And USJ is no exception. And we made the mistake of not buying an express pass, which meant I think we went to about four rides. In some rides, we had to wait for about two to three hours, which is outrageous if you think about it. You could be watching a whole movie by that time. Welcome to the day that marks the end of week one. By this point, you are probably already in love with Japan. And unfortunately, week two will go very fast, but let’s make the best of the rest of the trip. This will be the last day trip from Osaka, which is Kyoto. For this day, we did have to wake up at 4:00 a.m., which is realistically an outrageous time, but we did want to make the most of Kyoto, and we definitely did. These are the places that we recommend you going and in this same order because Kyoto has some of the most famous places in Japan. And we’ll say right now, they will get so busy that depending on the month that you go, you may not even be able to walk on some of these places. That’s how busy they can get. I thought I was going to lose Max in the streets. I was like, “Wait for me. B, please.” If you want to involve yourself a bit more into the culture, part of the culture in Kyoto is to try tea houses, which is a very beautiful activity that you can do. And definitely try the matcha. In some of these places, you may actually be able to make the tea yourself, which is a very cool experience, I’d say. And in Kyoto, they have so many things. Matcha, it’s not just tea. You get ice cream, biscuits, whatever you can think of. And it’s touristic, but it’s delicious. So, why not? Why not try it wearing a kimono? I know it might sound crazy. And is that even like weird to do in Japan? Yeah. It’s not cultural appropriation. We’ll say that right now. It’s absolutely not. and they really love when foreigners embrace the culture. So, wearing a kimono was my favorite experience. I felt so beautiful. I felt like we were getting married that day. Like, I’m even getting emotional. I was about to say when I saw Carl because it was a bit of a surprise. You You can’t get changed with your partner. So, Carl got changed by herself and me by myself. When I saw Carl, I was literally about to tear up because I felt like we were getting married and I didn’t even propose. It was so beautiful. I loved it and it’s affordable. It’s really enjoyable and you just have to do it once in your lifetime. Once in a lifetime experience. Everybody knows about Kyoto. So why did we leave Kyoto in the last place in the itinerary for day seven? It’s because from Kyoto you can take the Shinkansen which is the most famous scenic ride train you can take in Japan and it takes about 2 hours and a half to our next destination Tokyo. So, you’ll be able to get the last train, which departs between 9 and 9:30 p.m. So, it’s ideal. You get the full day out and then just hop on the train. And the cheapest place to buy the Shinkansen tickets is through Cluke. For some reason, it’s $20 more expensive to buy on the official website of the Shinkansen. And just because I say official doesn’t mean that Cluke is is not is not the right place to buy it. It’s still trustworthy. This is a travel agency. It’s super trustworthy and that’s where you should buy it. But if it is too expensive, you can always take the bus, which is what we did. The only minor slight problem is that it takes eight hours. Yeah, I mean, we had the time because we spent 1 month in Japan. But for you, part of the experience and just to save some time, the train might be the best idea. This is actually the perfect plan because now for day eight, you are basically in Tokyo and you’ve got the whole day. Realistically for Tokyo you need more than three days but for the sake of a two week itinerary we are going to spend in Tokyo three days. The first one is going to be spent in Shibuya. This is perhaps one of the most famous areas because of the Shibuya crossing. This crossing is the most populated one in the whole world. So realistically, you want to go in the day and then walk around, find some places to eat, but also you want to go to the Shibuya crossing at night because that’s also when you’re going to be able to take pictures with all the lights on and flashing. It’s crazy that we do all of that for a pedestrian crossing, but it’s really that unique and special. Really close to the Shibuya Crossing, you’ve also got a shopping mall, and we were surprised, but we found this by accident, but they’ve got a Nintendo shop and a Pokémon shop. And that’s where we got the Pikachu sticker for absolutely free, but you can buy anything. If you’re a fan of Nintendo Pokémon, definitely go there. Also, next to the Shabuya Crossing, you will find the most exciting activity, which is completely free. You just stand on the side of the road and watch all the super cars drive past. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah. And you got to find it there every night because it’s actually an activity. So you can actually book an activity to be a co-pilot in one of these supercars. As a secret tip, because you’re still watching this video, you’ve made it this far, we’re going to tell you about the Hikari building, which is a free viewpoint of the Shabuya crossing. And it’s absolutely gorgeous. So quiet. Not many not many people know about it as well. When we went, it was pretty much empty. To be honest, that wasn’t the only secret place that we shared on Instagram. We’ve shared so many places, tips, and things that you just want to know when you’re traveling to Japan. So, just make sure you check our IG profile and you’re going to be able to find all our Japan videos. Talking about free viewpoints, there’s another hidden gem that we discovered called the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Such a mouthful, isn’t it? Which is going to be your first stop on date nine. Definitely get there early. That’s why we put it first thing because the cues can get quite big as you can imagine. It’s a free viewpoint, but you don’t want to go extremely early because if it’s clear, you can see Mount Fuji from Tokyo. And in this building, when you get to the rooftop, there’s a coffee shop, there’s a lot of souvenirs, and they are really affordable as well. And of course, the famous stamp. We bought postcards there, and we stamped all the postcards, and they were incredible. It was quite special. After that, you’d head straight to the Godzilla area. You even if you’re not a fan of Godzilla, which I’m not, I still found it really incredible to see a massive statue on the side of a building that roars. And I’m not going to tell you what else it does because I don’t want to spoil it for you. I think seeing it for yourself is just really unique. And in that area, you also have a lot of shops. You have a massive donkey and you really can spend a whole day in that place. But you’re not going to spend all day there because next up, we’re going to go to Harajuku to visit these two landmarks. And then to end the day, there’s no better way to fill your stomach with the famous Japanese pancakes. I promise you, they are just too delicious. It’s you you can’t even imagine how fluffy and jiggly they are until you If we could, I would eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner. The next day, breakfast, lunch, dinner. I think we’ve left the best for last in Tokyo. I agree. So, day 10, you want to be visiting these places. We’re not going to say them because it’s too many, but towards the end of the day, this is when the real Tokyo comes to light. Car meetups. The best way to explain it is Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift, touring, grand tourism, this kind of things. Car meetups are part of the Japanese culture because in Japan people are allowed to customize their cars. We will say we went by ourselves. So there are three car parts that you can go. We went to one of them by ourselves and unfortunately we missed on it because I think it was the previous day the police was there. However, the way that you can guarantee attending to one of these car meetups is booking an activity. I know it may sound different, but these people are involved in this world of the car meetups and they are in group chats. So, if you book one of these activities, you’re not only going to be able to see the cars, but you will also be able to ride in one of the cars. Whatever you do, don’t go to bed too late after your supercar experience because day 11 is going to be super long and not in a bad way because you’re going to go to Japan’s most traditional looking city. It’s so aesthetic. It literally looks like you just go back in time. And that city is called Niko. It’s about 3 hours away from Tokyo. So already the journey is going to consume a pretty chunky part of your day, but also all of these places and incredible activities that you can do here. It is a magical city because you are basically in the mountains. So you’ve got rivers going through, you’ve got very beautiful waterfalls. And it’s definitely something very different to Tokyo, Osaka, Coobe, all these places that you’ve already visited. And to end this insane trip that you’ve already been experiencing, we’re going to leave the most iconic place for last. Give you a couple seconds to guess. Yes, it is Mount Fuji. So, we’ve left two days in Mount Fuji because, well, there are day trips that you can do there, but realistically, you’re not making the most of your time. You’re going to go in a big bus full of people. You’re going to be with thousands of people continuously. So, if you go by yourself, you’re going to have flexibility and you will definitely make so much more of your time there because you can go to the hidden gems rather than where the tourist buses go. Yeah. What we did was we rented a car. Now, it may sound not ideal, but let’s say you rent a car at the airport of Tokyo, you go to Mount Fuji and then when you go back already at the airport dropping the car, so it’s very convenient. Anyways, we spent one night that night that we spent, we spent it at a traditional Japanese stay called Rioan. These places are the ones that have I don’t know tatamis. Yeah, tatamis. The table is basically on the floor, so you kind of need to go on your knees to sit down on your bum. Sorry. Let me tell you guys what happened when we walked into the Rioan. He was showing us the room. Here we go. Who was showing the room? The man was showing us the room. The owner, he was just this elderly gentleman. He was so kind and he didn’t speak a word of English, so he was just signing to us. And showing us the room. Max looks at me and he’s like, “Where’s the room?” And I was like, “This is the room.” Because cuz I I didn’t book the place. It was Caro. So I thought the guy was just showing us the living room with the table, with the dining table. It’s literally we walk into just a room with a table in the middle. And he thought there was another room we were going to go into. But when you stay in a Rioan, you basically have to make your own bed. You put the tables on the floor, just move the table, put the bedding, everything is very it’s it’s such a nice experience. Yeah, it was. And to be fair, this specific real kind is very special because if you get the correct rooms, you’ve got views to Mount Fuji. But if you can’t get views to Mount Fuji, once you come out the the real kind, you can literally see the Mount Fuji straight opposite you. And let me tell you, you want to maximize your chances of seeing Mount Fuji because everybody goes there on a day trip. So many people come out disappointed because some days it’s just completely covered and you won’t even see a glimpse of it. So, aside from all these amazing things you can do when you go to Mount Fuji, of course you’re going there to see Mount Fuji. And there are two places that we absolutely recommend you go to. And one of them is our favorite. The first one is Mount Fuji Panoramic Rope. There are so many things you can do there besides just seeing Mount Fuji, so it makes a really fun morning out or afternoon, whatever you prefer. And the second one is our absolutely favorite spot. It’s called Hano Beach and you can see it on a clear day and if it’s not windy, you’ll be able to see Mount Fuji reflecting on this beautiful lake and it’s the most beautiful picture. But not just that, we were able to just sit in our car, watch the views while eating donuts. It was so peaceful, so relaxing, and they have beautiful swans. Swans. Swans. Swans. And they have beautiful swans. So, it’s not only romantic, but really fun if you have kids to go around. Like, they let you feed them as well if you want to. We spent a couple hours today, and it was pure magic. And that brings us to day 14. It’s time to leave. This has been our ultimate itinerary for Japan. We really hope that you guys found it helpful and you enjoyed watching this video as well. And of course, if you found it helpful, we would really appreciate it if you could drop a like, a comment, and subscribe. But also, if you’ve been to Japan, which has been your favorite destination? For us personally, it was Hano Beach. This last place that we were talking about, eating donuts together, just watching Mount Fuji. You can’t top that.
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Timestamp
00:00 Intro
00:52 Day 1-3 Osaka
04:35 Day trips from Osaka
05:23 Day 4 Himeji
06:33 Day 5 Kobe
08:14 Day 6 Universal Studios Japan
09:32 Day 7 Kyoto
12:29 Day 8-10 Tokyo
17:16 Day 11 Nikko
18:00 Day 12-13 Mount Fuji
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