🗾Two weeks in Japan without burning out

The pacing IS the itinerary. Three bases, day trips, no packing up every night. Written for the friends who ask me every single year.

Days 1-4: Tokyo, one neighborhood per day

Get Suica on your phone before you land

Apple Wallet, top up as you go. One IC card covers trains, buses and konbini.

Skip the JR Pass unless you run the math

It jumped to ¥80,000 for 14 days in 2023. Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka as single tickets is usually cheaper.

Day 5: Hakone, stay the night

The Hakone Free Pass covers the tozan railway, the ropeway and the boat. One ryokan night with an onsen is the splurge that matters.

Days 6-9: Kyoto as a base, not a checklist

Fushimi Inari before 8am or after 5pm. Midday it is a queue with a shrine attached.

Nara is a half day, take the Kintetsu line

Cheaper and closer to the park than JR. The deer near Tōdai-ji are polite, the ones by the station are not.

Day trip: Uji, 20 minutes from Kyoto

Byōdō-in is the temple on the ¥10 coin. Tea shops, matcha soba, back in Kyoto by dinner.

Days 10-11: Kanazawa

Change at Tsuruga since 2024 (Thunderbird then shinkansen, same platform). Kenroku-en at opening, Ōmichō market for lunch.

Days 12-13: Osaka

Day 14: fly out of Kansai, not back to Tokyo

Forward your suitcase between cities

Takkyubin from any konbini, around ¥2,000 and it arrives next day. You ride the train with a day bag.

Cash from 7-Eleven ATMs

Reserve the oversized baggage seat if your suitcase is big (Tōkaidō line rule)

Leave one afternoon per city empty

The best day of my last trip was the one with nothing planned. Off-peak trains, no list, a random kissaten.

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