Day Trips To and From Tokyo?
 

Hi! I was just wondering if I could get some advice. I'm a college student studying abroad in Japan. I can't go home so for the holidays and almost every one I know has plans or is leaving. So to keep myself from being depressed I want to do something during my winter break which is from Dec 23 to Jan 4. However, I don't think that at this time it would be good for me to go too far from Tokyo due to the cold weather and the cost of travel plus the fact that the holidays are in about 17 days so making reservations now would be hard.

So I was wondering if anyone knew of any good day trips around the Tokyo area that I could get to and back from in one day. I've already been all over the city of Tokyo but I haven't done much outside of it. I guess any activities around Tokyo would be great. I'm already planning on going to Yokohama for one day but tha's all I have planned. If there's anything super special in Tokyo, I'm open to that too.

Thanks so Much!

Yokohama is nice for a day trip... or you can look at a cheap resort in Yumoto Hakone, some of these are great for a one/two days holiday get away.

Nikko is a great place to visit, 2 hours train ride north.

I've actually already been to Nikko and I stayed there for 2 days. I'll look into Yumoto Hakone as an idea.

Been to Kamakura yet? Winter may not be the best season to go there but it would be still worth visiting. Kusatsu onsen is also nice. Kawagoe is kinda nice, too, with its Edo ambience which has been lost in Edo (Tokyo) itself.

Street corner in Kawagoe.

How about going to Kawagoe (the old part of town) if you haven't been there yet? New Year is great - get down to your local temple and join in the celebrations or head on down to Meiji Jingu to join the hordes (roughly 1 million) that will visit to welcome in the new year.

Thanks for all these great places! I've heard of Kamakura but never been and I didn't know about Kusatsu or Kawagoe. I'd love to visit on onsen so I should probably check out Kusatsu. As for new years, I'm almost afraid to risk stepping out the door let alone go to Meiji Jingu so I'll try to find a smaller temple or shrine to visit. I heard there's a famous one in Akihabara but that one will also probably be packed.

You could be thinking of Asakusa, not Akihabara. I can guarantee Asakusa'd be heaving, too.

I say go for Meiji-Jingu anyway. It'll be heaving, but it'll be THE place to be, and if you don't live in Tokyo it could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I've no love of crowds (in fact I'm mildly demophobic), and even I'd give it a shot :D

Well, I am only in Japan for a year but I'm really wary of traveling on the New Year's Day. One of my friends even told me that I should get a hotel room near the shrine I want to go to because the trains will be packed. Err, so I guess I'd like to find another nice but not so popular shrine to visit. Depending on how I feel I could still go though.

I've been to Meiji jingu and the thought of 1 million people jamming into those paths and the actual temple is a little frightening. But I'll definitly consider it if I can't find something else. Staying at home on new years would probably be even worse than risking Meiji-Jingu.

You could probably get a hotel within a half-mile walk of Meiji-Jingu and keep away from public transport altogether, but book early. Things like new year's and golden week book up extremely early.