Japan · 9 days · Untravel editors
The first-timer trinity — Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka — sequenced around the crowds instead of into them. The icons you came for, timed so you're at Fushimi Inari at dawn and at the café when the buses arrive.
9 days and 28 stops — Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, with two moves between them. It opens with arrive, west tokyo. Every stop carries the note that put it on the list. Read it all here, no app and no account.
The 9-day Japan itinerary, day by day
Day 01 · Tokyo
Arrive, west Tokyo
Bam Bi Coffee
Coffee and pancakes near Shinjuku to land soft. Stay awake.
Oku-Shibuya
Do the Shibuya scramble, then escape into the quiet residential backstreets behind it where the good independent cafés hide.
Day 02 · Tokyo
Icons, timed right
Meiji Jingu
Forest-calm shrine at opening, before the crowds.
Omotesandō
Walk Harajuku/Omotesandō for people-watching and shopping — Batoner for knitwear, #FFFFFT the white-T-shirt store for the novelty.
Sensō-ji
Asakusa's temple, late afternoon as the day-trippers thin, paired with Kappabashi knife street next door.
Tendon Makino
Great-value tempura tendon, no booking needed.
Day 03 · Tokyo
teamLab + the river bend
teamLab Planets
Immersive digital art — book the timed ticket well ahead.
Nezu Shrine
Old-Tokyo wander in Yanaka/Nezu — the azalea-tunnel shrine.
Kamachiku
Bib Gourmand udon in a stone warehouse with a garden, next to Nezu Shrine. Book ahead.
Onibus Coffee Nakameguro
World's best independent café (2025) on the canal; dinner after at Banten in Ebisu.
Day 04 · Tokyo
Your Tokyo, your call
Toyosu Market
For the early risers: a 5am start for the freshest sushi breakfast of your life (most stalls shut by 2pm). Skip if you'd rather sleep in.
Shimokitazawa
Flex-day afternoon: vintage and records, day-drinking territory.
Ochanomizu
Vinyl and guitars — Disk Union and Guitar Street, if records are your thing. Easy swap for the Shimokitazawa afternoon.
A9 Ebisu
Wagyu steakhouse in Ebisu for a last big Tokyo dinner.
Transfer · day 4 → 5365 km apart
Day 05 · Kyoto
Into the old capital
Amam Dacotan
Beautiful bakery breakfast — go early, sells out.
Nishiki Market
Covered-market crawl plus a wagyu-cutlet lunch at Gyukatsu Kyoto.
Beatle Momo
Vinyl listening bar, owner takes requests. Book via TableCheck.
Day 06 · Kyoto
The big two, at dawn
Fushimi Inari Taisha
The thousand gates at 7am, before they fill.
Kinkaku-ji
The Golden Pavilion — quick but genuinely worth it.
Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
Bamboo grove and riverside in the afternoon.
Sugari
Local-leaning Kyoto dinner away from the tour-bus circuit.
Day 07 · Kyoto
Gion + day-trip option
Gion
Early Gion and Higashiyama lanes, emptiest before 9am — when the photos people fly across the world for actually happen.
Tōdai-ji
Optional half-day to Nara (45 min) — the deer and the giant Buddha.
Gokago
A quiet last Kyoto dinner away from the tour-bus circuit.
Transfer · day 7 → 844 km apart
Day 08 · Osaka
Eat your way in
Osaka Castle
Morning at the castle — the grounds more than the keep.
Shinsaibashi
Afternoon arcade-crawl through the covered shopping street into the Dotonbori area.
Dōtonbori
The neon heart of Osaka as it lights up — takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kushikatsu, the Glico sign. Loud, touristy, genuinely fun.
Day 09 · Osaka
Last bites or USJ
Kuromon Ichiba Market
A final food morning before flying out of Kansai — or swap in a full day at Universal Studios Japan.
