Japan 8 Day Itinerary: Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka

Free, 1 hour, open until 10pm. It is the right first plan after check-in: it is in Shinjuku, needs no booking and gives you a sense of Tokyo’s scale before you start walking it.

The 1991 building is by the architect Kenzo Tange, and the two 45th floor observatories are 202 metres up. On a clear day, especially in winter and late afternoon, Mount Fuji appears on the western horizon. After 7:30pm the facade becomes the screen for a projection mapping show.

Dinner for 2,000 to 4,000 yen, 90 minutes, 900 metres from the lookout on the other side of the Shinjuku station tracks.

The alley began as a black market after the Second World War and today is dozens of counters with five or six seats each, where chicken skewers, yakitori, go straight from the charcoal to your plate. Many charge a table fee, the otoshi, which comes with a small appetiser: it is normal, not a scam.

Free, 90 minutes. The temple grounds open early, and arriving at 7am is the difference between seeing Senso-ji and seeing the backs of other tourists.

Founded in the 7th century, it is Tokyo’s oldest temple. The Kaminarimon, the Thunder Gate, with its 700 kilo red paper lantern, opens onto Nakamise, the street of little shops leading to the main hall. At the foot of the temple, people waft smoke from the incense burner over their bodies for good health.

Free, 1 hour, 20 minutes by train from Asakusa, getting off at Nippori station. It is a mid morning snack on foot.

Yanaka was one of the few Tokyo districts to escape the 1945 bombings and the great fire after the 1923 earthquake, which is why it still has wooden houses, small temples and narrow lanes. Yanaka Ginza, a 170 metre shopping street, sells beef croquettes, sweets and crafts. Street cats have become the neighbourhood’s symbol.

Free, 45 minutes, 900 metres downhill on foot from Yanaka Ginza. In April and May the shrine’s azalea hillside blooms all at once.

The main hall, from 1706, is one of the oldest in Tokyo, lacquered in orange and gold. Beside it a row of red torii climbs the slope like a miniature of Fushimi Inari, which you will see in Kyoto: the same photo, without fighting for space.

Free, 90 minutes, opens at sunrise. Enter through the Harajuku gate and follow the gravel avenue for 10 minutes to the shrine.

Opened in 1920 in honour of the emperor who modernised Japan, the shrine stands in a 70 hectare forest planted by hand with trees donated from all over the country. Early in the morning, with luck, you will see a Shinto wedding crossing the courtyard, the bride in white under a red parasol.

Free, 20 minutes, 2 kilometres from Meiji Jingu, walking down Omotesando avenue or Takeshita Street in Harajuku.

At every green light, traffic stops in all four directions and up to 3,000 people cross at once, diagonally too. Cross it properly once and then watch from above, from a café window at the station or, late in the afternoon, from the Shibuya Sky observation deck. Beside the station exit stands the statue of Hachiko the dog.

2,700 to 3,400 yen online depending on the slot, 90 minutes. Book the sunset slot weeks ahead: it is the first to sell out. The entrance is in the building attached to Shibuya station.

The rooftop is open air at the top of the tower, with only a glass edge, and from there you see the crossing far below, Tokyo Tower, the Skytree and, on a clear day, Mount Fuji. Bags and loose phones go in lockers before you go up, because of the wind.

An hour and a half here. From Shinjuku it is about 90 minutes by train to Hakone-Yumoto; from there the Hakone Freepass covers the mountain railway, cable car, ropeway and lake boat, in the order of this day.

The ropeway passes over the still active valley, with sulphur vents and a smell of eggs that arrives before the view. At the top, kuro-tamago, eggs boiled in the hot spring water, turn black; tradition says each one adds seven years to your life. On a clear day Mount Fuji appears behind the slopes.

Free, 1 hour. From the ropeway, the pirate ship crosses Lake Ashi in 40 minutes to Moto-Hakone, and the shrine is a 10 minute walk from the pier.

The red Peace Torii stands in the water at the lake’s edge, and the queue to take the photo beneath it can exceed half an hour at weekends. Climb the stone steps between the cedars to the shrine, founded in the 8th century. At night the rule is to sleep in a ryokan with a hot spring bath, an onsen, and eat the traditional dinner served in your room.

500 yen, 90 minutes, open until 6pm. From Odawara the bullet train takes about 2 hours to Kyoto; drop your bag at the hotel and head up to the temple mid afternoon.

Founded in 778, the temple is famous for its wooden stage jutting 13 metres above the hillside, held up by 139 pillars fitted together without a single nail. Below, the Otowa spring splits into three spouts, each promising something different: long life, success in study or in love. Drink from only one.

Free, 30 minutes, walking down from Kiyomizu-dera toward Gion. It is the route, not a detour.

The slope and neighbouring Ninenzaka keep 19th and 20th century wooden houses turned into pottery, tea and sweet shops. Tradition says anyone who trips on Sannenzaka will have three years of bad luck, which is why the shops sell lucky gourds. Look back halfway down: that is where you see the Yasaka Pagoda above the rooftops.

Free, 1 hour, 800 metres from Sannenzaka. Come at dusk, when the lanterns light up and the maiko, apprentice geisha, head out to their evening engagements.

The teahouses of Hanamikoji are the same ones from the Edo period. Since 2024 the private side alleys have been closed to tourists, with fines, because of harassment of the maiko: stay on the main street, do not block the way and never photograph anyone up close without permission.

Free and open 24 hours, two and a half hours. Arrive at 6:30am: by 9am the first stretch of torii turns into a queue, and that is what leaves so many people disappointed.

There are thousands of orange gates donated by companies and families, the donor’s name painted in black, forming tunnels up Mount Inari. The secret is not to stop at the first stretch: from the Yotsutsuji junction, halfway up, the crowds thin out and there is a viewpoint over Kyoto. You can reach the summit and return in 2 to 3 hours.

1,300 yen plus Ninomaru Palace; 2 hours; opens at 8:45am. From Fushimi Inari it is 25 minutes by train and subway. It is one of Kyoto’s most underrated sights, and far calmer than Kinkaku-ji.

Built in 1603 for the first Tokugawa shogun, it is where samurai rule ended in 1867, when power was returned to the emperor. Inside Ninomaru Palace the corridors have nightingale floors: the boards squeak like birdsong with every step, an alarm against intruders.

800 yen, 90 minutes. From Kyoto it is 45 minutes by train to Nara; leave your bag in the station lockers, because in the afternoon you continue to Osaka.

The Daibutsuden houses the Great Buddha, a 15 metre bronze statue cast in the 8th century, and even rebuilt smaller in 1709 it remains among the largest wooden buildings in the world. On the way, Nara Park has more than a thousand free roaming deer, considered messengers of the gods: they bow to ask for the crackers sold there, and nip anyone slow to hand them over.

Free, 2 hours including dinner. From Nara it is 40 minutes by train to Namba, and Dotonbori is a 5 minute walk.

Osaka’s motto is kuidaore, eat until you drop, and Dotonbori is where it applies: stalls of takoyaki, octopus balls, and okonomiyaki restaurants, the cabbage pancake cooked on the griddle in front of you. The must have photo is from the Ebisubashi bridge, with the Glico running man sign, lit since 1935.

1,200 yen for the keep, 90 minutes, opens at 9am. It is 20 minutes by subway from Namba, and the surrounding park is free.

The original castle was built in 1583 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the man who unified Japan, and destroyed in the war that handed power to the Tokugawa. The current keep dates from 1931, in concrete, with a museum inside; what is original and impressive are the stone walls, with blocks of more than 100 tonnes fitted without mortar.

Free to enter, 1 hour, 600 metres from Namba, where the train to Kansai airport leaves.

The 580 metre market has more than 150 stalls. Like Nishiki in Kyoto, it has become touristy and pricier than usual, so compare prices before ordering the sea urchin or grilled scallop. It works as a last lunch for convenience: you eat and board the airport train without a detour.