Traveling alone in Japan series, going to Tokyo in March during the cherry blossom season (guide + recommendations)
Choosing a place to stay when traveling in Tokyo
For convenience, it is best to stay near a transportation hub. If you plan to go to cities near Tokyo such as Hakone, Kamakura, and Yokohama, it is recommended to stay near Shinjuku Station, because there are direct routes to those cities, which is more convenient, and the discount routes included in the tourist passes of those cities also go back and forth from Shinjuku Station.
Tickets for some attractions must be booked in advance
Some attractions must be booked in advance, and no tickets are available on the spot. Such as the Imperial Palace Inner Garden and Hayao Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum. For safety reasons, it is best to book one month in advance, especially during peak season. I made a reservation two weeks in advance this time, but found that they were fully booked for the next month
The Imperial Household Agency, which makes reservations for the Tokyo and Kyoto Imperial Palaces, is best booked more than a month in advance during peak season. Even if you make an online reservation, it is only open during daytime working hours (it is uncertain whether it is a working day, anyway, if it shows that you cannot make a reservation now, change the day and time)
Recommended attractions (purely personal preference)
Cherry blossom viewing spots during the cherry blossom season: Ueno Park, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, Meguro River, Chidorigafuchi, Sumida Park. Especially the cherry blossoms in Ueno Park are the most luxuriant I have ever seen.
The cherry blossom season in central Japan (Kanto and Kansai) is generally from the end of March to the middle of April. It takes one week from the opening to the full bloom of cherry blossoms, and another week from the full bloom to the withering, so you have to find the right time. The full bloom is generally in early April. It is recommended to go in early April, so that you can see both the full bloom and the cherry blossoms just beginning to wither.
Other seasons are different because of different preferences. Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and Sensoji Temple are must-go places for tourists. If you only go to the outer gardens of the Imperial Palace without reservation, it is really ordinary... Just look at the outer perimeter of Tokyo Tower, the red one is very beautiful, and there is no need to go in. Shinjuku Ginza and the like are suitable for shopping. The rest depends on your preferences and time.
Meiji Jingu Shrine and Zojoji Temple are good, but they are still not as beautiful as the temples and shrines in Kyoto. Ueno Park is connected to the zoo and the National Museum. If you are interested in all of them, you can go there. But the cherry blossom season is a must. Odaiba Gundam, Disney, and Ghibli Museum are all fan-oriented, depending on your interest. On the contrary, Kamakura and Hakone around Tokyo are worth visiting no matter what season. I even recommend staying in both places for two days to have fun.
◆My schedule for the Tokyo circle this time (roughly walking 10-15 kilometers a day):
Stayed in a hotel near Tokyo Station. Originally planned to visit attractions during the day and go to Shinjuku, Ginza, Shibuya and other places at night, but I twisted my foot the next day, which affected my walking, so the evening shopping plan was basically cancelled.
Day 1: Get off the plane in the afternoon and go to the hotel. Visit Odaiba in the afternoon and evening (mainly to see Gundam and the Little Statue of Liberty). If you don't like Gundam and don't bring children, you can go to Odaiba or not.
Day 2: I stayed in Kamakura all day. As a result, I twisted my foot, so I had to greatly reduce the itinerary for that day and the following days.
Day 3: Go to Zojoji Temple in the morning, and pass by the nearby Shiba Park (the cherry blossoms are also good), and you can also see the red Tokyo Tower. Take a bus to Meguro River to enjoy the cherry blossoms, and take a bus to Yokohama at the same station (if you have enough time, you can take a bus to Daikanyama or Shinjuku to eat and walk around). Stay in Yokohama until the evening and take a bus back to Meguro River to see the night cherry blossoms.
Day 4: Meiji Shrine, Shinjuku Gyoen, Imperial Palace (there is a National Diet Building nearby, the building is quite distinctive), Chidorigafuchi. Go to Tokyo Tower at night for a tour (not recommended after visiting, it is better to go to Tokyo Sky Tree or Roppongi Hills to see the night view).
Day 5: Ueno Park and the nearby zoo and national museum. I originally planned to visit the nearby University of Tokyo and Yanaka Cemetery, a famous cherry blossom viewing spot, but I shortened the trip because my foot injury had not healed. I set off for Sensoji Temple at 2 or 3 pm. In the evening, I went to Tokyo Skytree, which is only one stop away from Sensoji Temple (there is Sumida Park nearby, but I gave up this time because of my foot injury).
Day 6: Leave Tokyo for Hakone, and then start the Kansai trip. It is recommended to take time to go to the Odakyu counter at the west exit of Shinjuku to buy the Hakone Free Pass during the previous few days of sightseeing. If you take the Odakyu Romantica to Hakone, it is best to book tickets in advance (online or at the counter) to avoid not being able to buy tickets on the spot.
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Day 1, Odaiba
The main attractions in Odaiba are the Statue of Liberty and the Rainbow Bridge behind it, Fuji TV (mostly anime stuff), the huge Gundam statue in Odaiba and the Gundam Museum, and the Ferris wheel. These attractions are only a few hundred meters away from each other.
Although I live in Shanghai, a coastal city, Tokyo is the real seaside city. I can see the blue sea on the way to Odaiba, which is beautiful.
The Statue of Liberty and the Rainbow Bridge. The backlight was so strong that the Statue's face was dark.
Street performers on the overpass near the statue
Odaiba Gundam and Fuji TV are both near the statue, but the TV station closes at 5-5:30 pm, so I went to Fuji TV first. There are many shops selling cute goods there, and there is a One Piece Barati restaurant on the 7th floor platform of the TV station. I would rather miss it than pass by it, so I went in to eat. The restaurant also closes at about 5:30 pm, so I can't eat there for dinner.
It's just an ordinary restaurant with some portraits and the One Piece logo on all the tableware. The food is mainly seafood. It is said that at certain times someone will COS as the restaurant owner (the one-legged one, I forgot his name) and come out to greet everyone.
I had a bowl of black squid noodles and a drink (about $15). After eating, I realized it was already 17:00 and the TV station was about to close, but I hadn't used my ticket yet! So I quickly went up to the observation room on the top floor of the TV station. Assassination Classroom seems to be very popular in Japan recently. I saw related peripherals everywhere. Even in the observation room, there was a huge statue of Mr. Koro, peripherals, and a shrine.
The best is always saved for last, and our next destination is Odaiba Gundam!
On the way to the station, I took a look at the Ferris wheel that kept changing colors, and then went back to the hotel~~
Day 2: I spent the whole day in Kamakura. I sprained my ankle, so I had to significantly reduce my schedule for that day and the next few days.
Day 3: Zojoji Temple, Shiba Park, Tokyo Tower, Meguro River
It takes nearly 10 minutes to walk from the subway to Zojoji Temple. You will pass by Shiba Park. The cherry blossoms are already 70% to 80% in bloom (March 29). You can see the beautiful red Tokyo Tower.
The magnificent gate of Zojoji Temple
Zojoji Temple is also a great spot for cherry blossom viewing.
Tokyo Tower is just ahead of the temple. If you walk towards it, you will see many cherry blossoms along the way.
On the small path leading to the Tokugawa Shogun's tomb beside the temple, there are many small stone dolls, all wearing clothes of different styles.
At first I just thought it was fun, but later I found out that the names were written next to the little stone figures. They were stone figures that parents made for their children who died young. I suddenly felt so cruel that I couldn't look at these figures. Cherry blossoms on both sides of the Meguro River. Take the subway to Naka-Meguro Station, and the river is behind the building across the street. There are cherry blossoms along the river bank, and there are night cherry blossoms at night. At Naka-Meguro Station, you can change to a bus to Yokohama City (it takes more than half an hour to get to Yokohama). The bus also goes to Daikanyama (one stop), and is two stops away from Shinjuku.
Day 4: Meiji Jingu Shrine, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, Imperial Palace, Chidorigafuchi
Go to Tokyo Tower for a tour in the evening. Meiji Jingu Shrine has several entrances, each with a huge torii.
I entered from the back entrance of the shrine (take the JR Yamanote Line and get off at Yoyogi Station), so along the way there were towering trees, birds singing, and flowers blooming, and it was very quiet. I was surprised that there were not many tourists during the peak season, but later when I went out from the main gate, I found that there were a lot of people... This is also the first attraction I encountered in Tokyo where more people speak Chinese than Japanese.
The main building is nice, but maybe it’s because I visited Kyoto when I first came to Japan last year. The temples and shrines in Kyoto and its surrounding areas are more beautiful, so it didn’t shock me as much.
There are two rows of wine barrels near the main entrance of the shrine. They look like they are the display areas for special suppliers, right?
There is a voluntary blood donation vehicle at the entrance of the shrine, and even the blood donation is so cute...
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden became more popular because of "The Garden of Words". It is usually closed on Mondays, except during the cherry blossom season. Although it was a weekday, the queue was hundreds of meters long, from the entrance to the road. Bags were checked before entering the park (I don't know what they checked, anyway, I went in with my drinks...). However, it seems that domestic tour groups have not conquered this place yet. Although there are a lot of people in the cherry blossom season, I didn't see any groups. On March 30, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and the flowers on the branches were as thick as cotton candy.
I don't know if it was because of the large number of people or the dense cherry trees, but after walking around the park, I couldn't find the small pavilion in "The Garden of Words". I didn't make an appointment to visit the inner garden of the Imperial Palace, so I felt it was a rip-off to only visit the outer garden. The outer garden has a special feature, the Spectacle Bridge at the entrance, but you have to walk about a kilometer after getting off the car. After a long time of tiring, I saw this (it was backlit when I went):
And the statue is a bit imposing. That's it, nothing else.
However, the nearby Chidorigafuchi (about a kilometer away) is a great place for cherry blossom viewing, but I actually forgot to go there... I climbed the Tokyo Tower at night. I suggest you just look at the red lights from the outside, go to the 5th floor or below to walk around, eat something, and buy some cute things. Don't climb the top of the tower unless you are bored! If you want to see the night view, go to Tokyo Skytree or Roppongi Hills (but it will be renovated and open in May or June 2015)! If you are not bored and have no money, don't go to the One Piece exhibition in the tower! It is enough to take a photo with the Golden Merry at the bottom of the tower.
The ticket to the One Piece area was $20, but there was nothing to play. The few games you could play, Robin Treasure Hunt, required very good Japanese. There were also a few very common game machines that were everywhere, but the characters were replaced with One Piece characters (I forgot what they were). And you had to wait in line for nearly an hour for each game! (It was a Monday!) So I didn't play any of them. The rest were all various One Piece portraits for you to take photos with.
Only 1 stop away from Sensoji Temple are Sumida Park and Tokyo Skytree. Both are very close and can be reached on foot. The former is a great place for cherry blossom viewing, and the latter is a place for climbing up to overlook Tokyo. Compared to the Tokyo Tower, where people often have to queue up for more than half an hour, Tokyo Skytree seems very deserted, probably because the new attraction is not well-known enough. There are also various restaurants and an aquarium at the bottom. The top is divided into two sections, one seems to be more than 300 meters, and then the other section to the top of the tower, which requires another ticket to enter. You can make an appointment online (or find a Taobao store to make an appointment for you), or you can buy it on site (but if there are many people, you may have to queue or no tickets, because the number of people is limited).
But in fact, there is no problem buying on site, there are few tourists, the venue is large, there are many ticket windows, and even the elevators to the top are several at a time, each can accommodate more than a dozen people, and there is basically no need to wait (maybe in a few years, when it becomes as famous as Tokyo Tower, there will be more people). If you make an appointment in advance, you have to specify the date and time. A delay of half an hour will make it invalid. But it’s no problem if you arrive early. I arrived more than an hour early and was still allowed to board.
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