Our Two Week Japan Family Itinerary

We spent three months planning our Japan itinerary and then changed half of it in the first week. That’s normal. Japan rewards flexibility. The trains go everywhere, you can rebook most things easily, and some of the best moments come from days where the plan falls apart and you wander into a side street or a park or a festival you didn’t know was happening.

That said, having a structure helps. Here’s what two weeks in Japan looks like with kids, based on what we actually did and what we’d change next time.

The Overview

Two weeks. Four cities. One overnight in a mountain town. The rough shape is: Tokyo for the first few days (recover from jetlag, get your bearings), a day trip or overnight somewhere outside the city, train to Kyoto for temples and bamboo, side trip to Nara for deer, continue to Osaka for food and possibly USJ, and either loop back to Tokyo or fly home from Kansai Airport.

This is not the only way to do it. Some families skip Osaka. Some add Hiroshima. Some spend the whole time in Tokyo and Hakone. The structure below is what worked for us with kids aged 4 and 7, but adapt it to yours.

Days 1-2: Arrive and Survive

You’ll land in the afternoon or evening, exhausted. If you flew into Haneda (please fly into Haneda), you’re at your hotel within an hour.

Day 1 is not a sightseeing day. It’s a survival day. Check in, find food — a convenience store bento or a family restaurant near the hotel — and try to stay awake until 8pm. The kids will want to sleep at 3pm. Don’t let them. Walk around the block, find a vending machine, do whatever it takes. Crashing at 3pm means waking at midnight and three days of misery.

Day 2 is gentle. Ueno is perfect for this — Ueno Park is huge and green, the zoo is right there, and the pace is relaxed. No trains to catch, no timed entries, no pressure. Let the jetlag burn off naturally while the kids feed pigeons and eat taiyaki.

Days 3-4: Tokyo

Now you’re awake and functioning. These are your big Tokyo days.

Day 3: Asakusa in the morning (Senso-ji temple, the shopping street, thunder gate — touristy but kids enjoy the energy), then Akihabara in the afternoon if you have older kids (arcades, anime shops, sensory overload) or Odaiba if younger (TeamLab, the Gundam statue, Joypolis indoor theme park).

Day 4: Shibuya and Harajuku. The crossing. Takeshita Street crepes. Nintendo Store. Souvenirs and shopping that will cost you more than you planned. If your kids are Disney-oriented, swap this day for Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea — but that’s a full day commitment.

Day 5: Day Trip From Tokyo

Three options, pick one:

Kamakura — Giant Buddha, snack street, Enoden coastal train. One hour from Tokyo. Easy half day or full day.

Nikko — The most ornate shrine in Japan, waterfalls, possible Edo Wonderland ninja theme park. Two hours from Tokyo. Better as a full day.

Hakone — Pirate ships, volcanic valleys, cable cars, ryokan overnight. 90 minutes from Tokyo. Best as an overnight, which means…

Day 5-6: Hakone Overnight (Our Recommendation)

If there’s one thing we’d fight for in the itinerary, it’s the ryokan night in Hakone. Arrive afternoon, check into the ryokan, onsen, kaiseki dinner, futons, wake up to mountains. Next morning do the Hakone loop (pirate ship, ropeway, Owakudani black eggs) then catch the train onward.

From Hakone you can go to Kyoto via Odawara (shinkansen, about 2 hours on the Hikari). This saves backtracking to Tokyo.

Days 7-8: Kyoto

Two full days in Kyoto.

Day 7: Arashiyama in the morning (bamboo grove before 8:30am, Togetsukyo Bridge, street food), then Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) in the afternoon. That’s two temples and a bamboo forest — enough for one day.

Day 8: Fushimi Inari in the early morning (go before 8am or face crowds), then Nishiki Market for a grazing lunch, then Nijo Castle if energy allows. Or just wander Gion in the evening and eat good food.

Temple fatigue is real. Two per day is the maximum with kids. More than that and everything starts looking the same and nobody enjoys it.

Day 9: Nara

A half-day trip from Kyoto. Forty-five minutes by train. Feed deer, see the giant Buddha, crawl through the pillar hole, eat lunch, train back. Done by 2pm. Spend the afternoon in Kyoto doing whatever you missed.

Days 10-11: Osaka

Train from Kyoto to Osaka takes 30 minutes. Osaka is louder, friendlier, and more food-focused than Kyoto.

Day 10: Dotonbori for street food (takoyaki, okonomiyaki, gyoza), Osaka Castle grounds for running around, Shinsekai for kushikatsu.

Day 11: Universal Studios Japan if it’s in the budget. This is a full day and an expensive one. If you’re skipping USJ, use the day for the aquarium (Kaiyukan), Cup Noodle Museum in Ikeda, or a day trip to Nara if you didn’t do it from Kyoto.

Day 12: Travel Day

Two options: train back to Tokyo (shinkansen, 2.5 hours from Osaka) if your return flight is from Narita or Haneda, or fly home from Kansai International Airport if you booked an open-jaw flight (into Tokyo, out of Osaka). The open-jaw saves a day of backtracking and we’d recommend it.

Days 13-14: Buffer

If you have these extra days, use them in Tokyo. Go back to whatever you missed. Visit Yokohama for the Cup Noodle Museum and Chinatown. Hit the Harry Potter Studio Tour if you booked tickets months ago.

Or do nothing. Walk around a neighbourhood. Eat at convenience stores. Let the kids spend an hour in a 100-yen shop. Some of our best memories from Japan are from the unplanned hours.

If You Only Have 10 Days

Cut Osaka. Do Tokyo (4 days including arrival), Hakone overnight, Kyoto (3 days including Nara day trip), and fly home from Kansai. You’ll miss USJ and Dotonbori but you’ll see the essentials without rushing.

If you only have 7 days: Tokyo and Kyoto, skip everything else. It’s tight but doable.

Logistics That Matter

JR Pass: Activate it on the day you leave Tokyo, not on arrival day. You don’t need it within Tokyo, and every activation day counts.

Luggage forwarding (takkyubin): Japan’s courier services will send your suitcases from hotel to hotel for about ¥2,000 per bag. Ship them from your Tokyo hotel to your Kyoto hotel, travel with just a day bag. Game changer with kids. Any hotel front desk or convenience store can arrange it — ask for “takkyubin.”

IC cards: Get Suica or Pasmo at the airport. Load them up. They work on every train, bus, and convenience store in the country.

Book in advance: Disney tickets (sells out), Harry Potter Studio Tour (sells out months ahead), USJ Express Passes (sell out 60 days before), ryokan (popular ones fill up months ahead). Everything else can be done day-of.

Pack light: Coin laundry is everywhere. MIMARU apartments have in-room washing machines. Don’t pack 14 days of clothes. Pack 5 days and wash.

The Pace

One big activity in the morning, one in the afternoon, and plenty of time for meals, parks, convenience store snacks, and the unexpected. That’s the pace that works with kids. Try to do more and everyone ends up tired, hungry, and fighting.

Japan has enough for a month. You have two weeks. You won’t see everything. That’s fine. The point isn’t to tick a list. The point is to enjoy it, and you will.