Hello, everyone! My husband and I recently returned from a 9-day honeymoon holiday in Japan. I found these trip reports and itineraries helpful...
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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/mono_probono on 2025-05-21 19:15:13+00:00.

Hello, everyone! My husband and I recently returned from a 9-day honeymoon holiday in Japan. I found these trip reports and itineraries helpful in planning our trip, so I wanted to share our own experiences with you fellow travelers! This was our first time in Japan; we flew into and out of Tokyo Narita Airport and stayed in Tokyo and Kyoto, with a day trip to Osaka.

Our itinerary:

Day 0 | Travel Day

We flew 15 hours directly from our hometown to Narita, losing a day in the process. This flight was pretty brutal - if yours is as long as ours, bring plenty of snacks and entertainment.

Day 1 | Arrival in Tokyo

Since we were staying in Ueno, we prebooked Narita Skyliner Express tickets on Klook. It was super easy to hop on, and there was space for our luggage. We checked into our hotel, freshened up, and then went on a Ueno food and drinks tour. We had a great time trying things we wouldn’t have otherwise ordered (think pickled plums, chicken esophagus, and whiskey highballs).

Day 2 | Explore Tokyo: Ueno, Yanaka, Nippori, Asakusa, and Akihabara

We started off the day with a hotel breakfast then wandered some of Tokyo’s quieter neighborhoods for the morning. I love to sew, so I spent quite a bit of time in Nippori’s fabric town. After visiting Senso-ji temple and grabbing Okonomiyaki in Asakusa, we took a brief nap back at our hotel before exploring Akihabara’s electric city. I won’t lie - Asakusa and Akihabara were tough due to the crowds. We really enjoyed Yanaka and Nippori though!

Day 3 | Explore Tokyo: Shinjuku, Harajuku, and Shibuya

We started today with a visit to the Metropolitan Government building to see the great views then bopped over to the Sompo Insurance Museum to see Van Gogh’s sunflowers (my favorite painting) before heading to Harajuku where we explored Yoyogi Park, Meiji Jingu, and Takeshita Street before grabbing lunch at Kura Sushi. We have a Kura at home, so it was fun to compare the experience! We then do a kintsuki pottery workshop in Harajuku before heading to Shibuya to experience to famous crosswalk and see the Nintendo store and Pokemon Center. Shibuya was also very crowded but wasn’t quite as overwhelming as Akihabara (I think because there’s more room to breathe). After a ramen dinner, we headed back to the hotel.

Day 4 | Tokyo Disney Sea

This was the day we were most intimidated by, but it ended up being one of the most pleasant of our trip! We waited in line for about 30 minutes before opening and experienced all of the rides we wanted to see. We lost the lottery to see the big band performance but otherwise enjoyed exploring, riding rides, and trying all the snacks we wanted. My favorite was the soy sauce popcorn! I also liked looking at the merch - I snagged a couple of Duffy items for our nieces and nephews back home, since they’re not available in the States.

Day 5 | Tokyo --> Kyoto

Today we grabbed our last hotel breakfast and boarded the shinkansen for Kyoto. Like the rest of Japanese public transit, it was super easy to link our pre-booked tickets to our IC cards and hop on. We prebooked seats in the oversized baggage area to stash away our suitcases. We grabbed some bento boxes from Ueno station before boarding, and we even saw Mt. Fuji along our way!

Once we checked into our room at a traditional ryokan, we temple-hopped and explored Gion. We started at Kiyomizu-dera and worked our way up Ninenzaka to Yasaka, visiting all the little shrines and shops that caught our attention along the way. Crowds were pretty brutal, but that’s what we expected for the afternoon. Once we got our fill of temples, we participated in a traditional tea ceremony where we dressed up in traditional kimono and took lots of photos. Then, we bopped to Nishiki Market and grabbed street food for dinner before going back to enjoy the onsen at our ryokan. Tbh, the little taco stand outside of Nishiki Market was one of my favorite meals!

Day 6 | Explore Kyoto: Arashiyama

We began with a traditional Japanese breakfast at our ryokan before heading over to see the famous bamboo grove and Okochi Sanso Gardens. The bamboo grove was already popping by 9am with wannabe photographers, but the gardens were blissfully empty save us and 1-2 other couples. We then took the Sagano romance train up and a Katsura river boat ride back down. Both were fun and offered great views!

After this, we took a taxi to Kinkaku-ji to see the lovely golden pavilion and grabbed a delicious eel dinner nearby before turning in early to our ryokan.

Day 7 | Osaka Day Trip

We really lucked out on weather, because today was the only day it really rained, and we had planned on being mostly indoors anyways. We took the train to Osaka, visited the Castle museum, grabbed an incredible soba + tempura lunch, then headed to the Aquarium where we were greeted by the incredible whale shark. I think we stood there watching them for at least 45 minutes. We then made our way to Dotonbori to try more street foods and people watch.

Today was probably our most crowded/stressful day with all of the commuting across Osaka, but I was glad we got to see what we did! We took the train back to Kyoto, stopping by Fushimi Inari on our way to see the famous red tori gates at night. We happened to stumble across a mama wild boar and her babies, so be careful if you go late to avoid crowds!

Day 8 | Kyoto --> Tokyo

We enjoyed a tea ceremony at our ryokan before catching the shinkansen back to Tokyo. Once we checked into our final hotel, we headed to Ginza to shop for souvenirs and eat some delicious bougie sushi. For our last night, we balled out and got a room at the Imperial Hotel overlooking the imperial palace and ate wagyu with champagne at one of their many restaurants. It was so delicious and very fun since we had the place to ourselves - there was even a live pianist!

Day 9 | Last day in Tokyo!

Our flight was at 5pm, so we spent the morning enjoying the nearby palace gardens and grabbed a last lunch at Tsukiji Outer Market before making our way back to Ueno to board the Narita Express again.

Highlights of the Trip:

  • Our fantastic ryokan in Kyoto

  • Nippori fabric town

  • Harajuku (I liked Takeshita Street way more than I thought I would)

  • Tokyo DisneySea

Lowlights:

  • Osaka wasn’t my cup of tea, but I’m still glad we went!

  • Crowds in tourist areas (not surprising, since we are tourists, after all)

  • General feeling of stress navigating public transit if you’re not used to it (we are from a car-centric city and only use public transit when we travel. Thankfully, Japan’s metro and bus system is pretty easy to get the hang of, but there were several moments when we got overwhelmed!)

The next time we visit Japan, we’d likely stay the entire time in Tokyo and do more day trips to places we wished we had visited, like Nikko, Kamakura, and Hakone. Overall, we had a lovely time, and I wish you all the best in planning your own trips to Japan! It was a great honeymoon, and we can’t wait to go back as soon as we can!