Japan 12 Day Itinerary

[Nimity]

Hello,

I am traveling to Japan for 12 days in February with my partner and daughter (daughter is 17 months old). It is our first time traveling overseas with our daughter and first time in Japan. We are being very organized with regards to transport and accommodation in order to make it easier for us whilst over there but we would really appreciate any feedback on our itinerary below. Our main question is about the possibility of staying at Shirakawa-go in the middle of winter with a toddler. Should it be relatively accessible and simple to get there (maybe too much snow?) or is there a more suitable stopover somewhere between Kyoto and Tokyo? Any other advice or tips would be appreciated.

February
1st Arrive in Osaka (evening)
2nd Osaka to Kyoto - golden pavilion
3rd Kyoto – Nishihi Market, Southern Higashiyama
4th Kyoto - Arashiyama
5th Kyoto – Nara
6th Kyoto to Takayama (spend night in Shirakawa-go)
7th Takayama to Tokyo
8th Tokyo – Disneyland
9th Tokyo – Odaiba & Tokyo bay
10th Tokyo – Ghibli museum & central Tokyo
11th Tokyo to Osaka (via Hikone)
12th Osaka – General sightseeing in city (leave for Australia in evening)

[princessmarisa]

In my opinion a 17month year old is a little young to travel around so much with.

Even on the fastest train trips between Osaka/Kyoto and Tokyo are around 3hours on a train so fast you can feel the G-forces and can also get quite noisy.

Seems the people on public transport in Japan love silence, and I didn't see many people travelling with babies at all, and I know most wouldn't take kindly to a child crying at the confusing surroundings.

So just a heads up there to be ready for the stares and mutters of breaking that unwritten social code.


I think for the Ghibli museum you have to book quite far in advance, you probably know this but just making sure.

Also you leave yourself little time to look round main Tokyo areas themselves, and want to travel to a lot of places that will take various train changes, up and down from subways etc. I think this is all really hard in your situation.

Kyoto is especially hard to get around, as it is lots of steps to and from subways, some places only served by busses (which I found confusing on how to pay/use not at all like the UK busses) and quite hilly and spaced out so you need to walk a lot.



Sounds like I am being really mean and putting a downer on your trip, just in my opinion you would enjoy it and find it a lot easier if you cut out lots of the side trips, and instead chose attractions close to your hotels or only short easy single train rides away.

Definately go from Osaka to Tokyo and back to say you have seen them both, but don't kill yourself trying to get to disney alnd, and ghibli land and every market, temple and other attraction you think looks nice.

Arashiyama is lots of walking through a forest full of spiders and near a dangerous river, I wouldn't take a child there.


Also the cities Tokyo and Osaka are spread out a lot, you can't just "look around Osaka in the afternoon and see the sites" you need to get a subway to shinsaibashi, then to namba or dotombori. Or go the other way and look around Umeda's urban sprawl of complexes. OSaka castle or tennoji temple, again 2 more trains in opposite directions.

Tokyo is 23 different wards and the famous areas like Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Central Tokyo Palace and such are not really walk-able between them unless you have hours to spare, you want to be hopping on and off trains 15mins here, 20mins there.


Sorry I don't know anything about shirakawa-go. It does seem another stop off in an already crowded itenary though.
I am going to Japan in summer with a friend the same age, we are both planning to be very active and travel quite a lot in the 2weeks, but our plan actually involves less transport connections and changes than yours will on a day to day basis.


I know the temptation to want to see everything and go everywhere and make it the trip of a lifetime and really worth it, but I know from my experience you burn out so fast when you get an hour here then back on a train for 20mins then change to subway for 15mins, then an hour somewhere else, then back on the trains again.
Everything is a blurr and you enjoy it far less.

Pick one or two site in each geographical area you absolutely must see, then spend the rest of the time enjoying nearby things.
Research child friendly places and try use JR trains instead of subways and private underground railways and such.