Japan Trip 2026

• ✈️05:25 Arrive on QF25 (Qantas) from Sydney — Haneda Terminal 3. Buy 3 Suica IC cards at the arrivals-floor machines (load ¥2,000 each). The Yamato luggage counter is on this same floor (2F arrivals), so the big-case drop happens without changing terminals.
• ⚠️ A 05:25 landing means immigration, bag reclaim and the Yamato drop first — realistically you're leaving the terminal ~06:15 at the earliest. Times below assume that.
• 🚆~06:15 Keikyu Airport Line, Haneda Airport → Sengakuji (~13 min) — ~¥330. Board toward Shinagawa/Oshiage.
• 🔄 At Sengakuji, most trains continue straight onto the Toei Asakusa Line — stay aboard; if yours terminates, cross the same platform to a Toei Asakusa Line train toward Oshiage.
• 🚆~06:30 Toei Asakusa Line, Sengakuji → Asakusabashi (~15 min) — ~¥170.
• 🔄 At Asakusabashi, follow "JR" signs, tap out of Toei and into JR, up to the Chuo-Sobu Line platform.
• 🚆~06:50 JR Chuo-Sobu Line (local), Asakusabashi → Ryogoku (1 stop, ~2 min) — ~¥140.
• 🚶~07:00 ~3-min walk to APA Ryogoku. Drop bags and ask about early check-in while you're at the desk — if a room is free you get the nap hours earlier.
• 🍽️~07:30 Breakfast: konbini onigiri & coffee — ¥1,200–1,800 family.
• ☕~08:00 Sit still. Nothing here opens before 9:30 — a café or the hotel lobby beats wandering with a child who's been awake since dawn.
• 🏛️~09:30 Edo-Tokyo Museum — the day's anchor, done first while everyone still has fuel. Reopened 31 March 2026 after a four-year renovation: life-size Edo streetscapes, a full-scale Nihonbashi bridge, townhouses and market stalls, with more interactive exhibits and much better barrier-free access. Opens 9:30, needs 2–2½ hrs. ~3 min from the hotel. ¥800/adult, free for junior-high age and under. Closed Mondays — a Thursday, so fine.
  
• 🍽️~12:00 Lunch: keep it light — a café, bakery or ramen shop near the station — ¥3,000–5,000. Deliberately not sushi or chankonabe: both are headline options at Edo Noren tonight, so don't spend that appetite now.
• 📍~13:15 Sumo Museum, inside Ryogoku Kokugikan — free, small, ~30 min, next door. Skip it without guilt if he's already fading — nothing is lost.
  
• 🛏️~14:00 Back to the hotel and nap — protect this one. Nothing else is scheduled after it, so it can run as long as it needs to.
• 🍽️~18:00 Dinner: Ryogoku Edo Noren — a food hall inside the former Ryogoku Station building, built as an Edo townscape around a full-size sumo ring in the central atrium; you eat looking down onto it. About a dozen restaurants — chankonabe (sumo hot pot), sushi, soba, tempura — plus sake-tasting machines. ~3 min from the hotel. ¥6,000–10,000 for the three of you.
  
• ⚠️ The building runs ~10:00–18:00 but individual restaurants keep their own hours (typically ~11:00–21:00) — check your chosen one on the day rather than assuming the building hours apply. No booking needed for most counters.
• 🚶~19:30 Back to APA Ryogoku — early night, Hakone tomorrow.

• 🍽️~07:00 Breakfast: hotel or konbini before departure — ¥1,500–2,500. Check out of the APA.
• 🚆~07:45 JR Chuo-Sobu Line (local), Ryogoku → Shinjuku (direct, ~25 min) — ~¥240.
• 🔄 At Shinjuku, go to the Odakyu Sightseeing Service Center — buy the Hakone Free Pass (2-day) and reserve the Romancecar.
• 🚆~08:40 Odakyu Romancecar (Ltd Express, reserved), Shinjuku → Hakone-Yumoto (~85 min) — Free Pass ¥7,100/adult + surcharge ¥1,200/adult (son free).
• 🔄 At Hakone-Yumoto, cross to the Hakone Tozan Railway platform (same station, upstairs).
• 🚆~10:20 Hakone Tozan Railway, Hakone-Yumoto → Gora (~40 min) — covered. Three switchbacks where the driver and guard swap ends — a genuine highlight for a 4-year-old.
  
• 🔄 At Gora, stash the luggage in the coin lockers — you come back through here after Owakudani.
• 🚠~11:05 Hakone Tozan Cable Car, Gora → Sounzan (~10 min, every ~15 min) — covered.
• 🚡~11:20 Hakone Ropeway, Sounzan → Owakudani (~8 min) — covered. Mt Fuji appears off to the right on a clear day.
  
• 📍~11:30 Owakudani — steaming sulphur vents in a live volcanic crater, boardwalk viewing area, Fuji panorama — free. Buy kuro-tamago (black eggs boiled in the sulphur springs; shells blacken, taste normal) — ¥500 for five, sold until 16:20 or sell-out. Legend says each adds seven years to your life.
  
• 🔄 Ropeway back to Sounzan, then the cable car down — get off at Kōen-shimo, not Gora. The restaurant is 299 m away, vs an 8-min uphill walk from Gora.
• 🍽️~13:20 Late lunch — GORA BREWERY & GRILL: sister to Itoh Dining by Nobu. Nobu-style Japanese, sushi, grilled steak, craft beer brewed on site. Service 13:00–16:00, doubling as happy hour (beer ¥540) — ~¥2,500/adult. Book ahead and confirm they'll seat a 4-year-old: one listing flags it as not family-friendly, and dinner service adds a 5% table charge plus a one-drink minimum. ☎ 0460-83-8107.
  
• 🔄 Cable car Kōen-shimo → Gora (~3 min), collect the luggage.
• 🚌~15:15 Hakone Tozan / KANKO SHISETSU-MEGURI bus, Gora → Sengokuhara (~25–30 min) — covered. Glass-roofed sightseeing bus, calls at the Pola and Venetian Glass museums en route.
• 🛏️~16:00 Check in at the Airbnb, 45 Sengokuhara — home before dark.
• 🍽️~18:00 Dinner: Sengokuhara is quiet at night — stock up at the konbini on the way in for an easy Airbnb dinner — ¥2,000–4,000.

• 🍽️~07:00 Breakfast: Airbnb or a Hakone bakery — ¥1,500–2,500. Check out.
• 🚌~08:00 Hakone Tozan Bus (route H), Sengokuhara → Odawara Station (~50–60 min) — covered by the Free Pass. Direct; no need to detour via Hakone-Yumoto now that you're based in Sengokuhara.
• 🔄 At Odawara, follow signs to the JR Shinkansen gates (tap in with your ticket/IC).
• 🚆~09:15 Tokaido Shinkansen (Kodama), Odawara → Shin-Fuji (~25 min) — ~¥3,000/adult (son free).
• 🔄 At Shin-Fuji, collect your rental car (confirm the child seat is fitted). Japan drives on the left. Car + drop fee + seat + fuel ~¥15,000–20,000.
• 🚗~10:00 Drive Shin-Fuji → Obuchi Sasaba (~20–25 min; narrow lanes near the top).
• 📍~10:30 Obuchi Sasaba tea plantation — terraced tea rows with Mt Fuji behind — free. ~45 min.
  
• 🍵~11:15 Tea experience, right at the car park — budget ~1 hour. Three tiers: 1) Chanoma – The Mt Fuji Tea Terrace, a tea-field picnic booking, ¥4,000/person (book via their English site; use their LINE if the web form errors) — note it's sold as a fixed 120-min slot, so you pay for the full booking but are free to leave after an hour; 2) the free tasting at Obuchi Sasaba's own shop, if staffed — not guaranteed in late Nov, treat as a bonus; 3) Yamadaien tea shop in central Fuji City, ¥500/person, phone booking 0120-41-8864, as the fallback.
• 🚗~12:15 Drive Obuchi Sasaba → Shimizu (~40 min).
• 🍽️~13:00 Lunch: S-Pulse Dream Plaza waterfront — family-friendly restaurants and a sushi museum, directly on the drive between the tea terrace and Miho — ¥4,000–6,000. Sakura ebi is a Suruga Bay speciality and you'll see it here, but it's earmarked for Day 4 dinner — save it.
• 🚗~13:45 Drive Shimizu → Miho no Matsubara (~15 min).
• 📍~14:00 Miho no Matsubara — UNESCO pine grove framing Mt Fuji across Suruga Bay; flat beach, your son can run — free (parking ~¥200–500). ~60–90 min.
  
• 🚗~15:15 Drive Miho → Hotel Associa Shizuoka (~30 min); drop the car at the 1F Toyota branch, check in.
• 🍽️~18:30 Dinner: unagi (eel) ¥7,000–10,000, sakura ebi tempura ¥5,000–7,000, or a family restaurant ¥3,000–4,000.

• 🍽️~08:30 Breakfast: hotel buffet ~¥2,000/adult or konbini. No rush today — nothing is booked.
• 📍~09:40 Shizuoka Hobby Square — 1 min from the station's south exit. Shizuoka makes ~80–90% of Japan's plastic models; this is the city's shop window for it. Permanent exhibition & shop free (special exhibitions ¥300–500). Weekend hours 10:00–18:00, closed Mondays.
  
• 🚶~11:00 Cross back through the station and walk north into the centre along Aoba Symbol Road — a wide pedestrian promenade of trees, fountains and sculptures. You'll come back through it after dark.
  
• 📍~11:30 Sumpu Castle Park — Tokugawa Ieyasu's retirement castle: moats, lawns and reconstructed buildings. Park free, open 24h. Combined ticket ¥360 adult / ¥120 child covers Higashi-Gomon, Tatsumi Yagura, Hitsujisaru Yagura and Momijiyama Garden — buildings 9:00–16:30 (last entry 16:00), closed Mondays.
  
• 🍁~12:00 Momijiyama Garden — the highlight on this date: four landscapes recreating famous Suruga scenery, and late Nov to early Dec is exactly its autumn peak. Tea house inside serves matcha and wagashi with a garden view — a good sit-down break. Wide flat lawns nearby for your son to run, plus Ieyasu's mikan tree.
  
• 🍽️~13:00 Lunch: Shizuoka Oden Ogawa (静岡おでん おがわ) — on Asama-dori, the Sengen Shrine approach, so it’s directly on your route between the castle park and the shrine. A rare surviving dagashi-ya (old sweet shop) serving nothing but Shizuoka oden: skewers of black fish cake and beef tendon in dark broth, dusted with green laver and dashi powder. Shizuoka oden was historically a children’s snack sold at candy stores, so it suits a 4-year-old better than most regional specialities. One of the few places serving it in the daytime. ¥2,000–3,500.
• ⚠️ Ogawa closes when the day’s ingredients run out and draws queues — aim for ~12:30 rather than 14:00. Takeout available if there’s no room inside. Open Sundays. 📞 054-252-2548.
• ⛪~14:00 Shizuoka Sengen Shrine (~10 min walk NW) — three shrines in one precinct at the foot of Mt Shizuhata. 26 buildings are national Important Cultural Properties, built over 60 years from 1804 in lacquered polychrome; the Ōhaiden is 25 m tall, higher than Izumo Taisha's main hall. Ieyasu came of age here at 14. Grounds free, 7:00–18:00. Honden interior ¥500 (weekends/holidays, optional); Cultural Property Museum ¥200/¥50.
  
• 🚶 Amble back toward town down Sengen-dori, the shrine's approach street.
• ✨~16:30 Aoba Symbol Road illumination — sunset is ~16:30 now, and the promenade carries roughly 174,000 lights for the winter "Omachi Heart Fantasy," free, lit 16:30–22:00. A lovely low-effort finish: you're just walking a lit street back toward the hotel.
  
• 🍽️~18:00 Dinner: sakura ebi (Suruga Bay cherry shrimp), usually as kakiage tempura — found essentially nowhere else in Japan, and the one local speciality you won’t have tried yet after unagi last night and oden at lunch. Near the station or the Gofuku-cho arcade — ¥5,000–7,000. Family restaurants stay the easy fallback.
• ⚠️ Aoba Oden-gai, the famous oden alleyways, is right on your illumination walk and opens 16:30 (closed Weds — you’re there Sunday). Worth a look in passing, but it’s tiny counter seating aimed at drinkers — lunch at Ogawa is the family-friendly way to eat the same dish.

Nothing needs booking — this is the one day you can shape on the morning. The 2026–27 illumination dates weren't published when this was written; late Nov sits comfortably inside the usual window, but worth a quick confirm nearer the date.

• 🍽️~07:15 Breakfast: Komeda Coffee morning set — ¥500–700/person — or hotel. Check out.
• 🚆~08:10 Tokaido Shinkansen (Kodama), Shizuoka → Nagoya (~55 min) — ~¥5,940/adult (son free).
• 🚶~09:10 Drop luggage at Sotetsu Fresa Inn (4-min walk) or station lockers.
• 🔄 From Nagoya Station, follow signs to the Aonami Line platform (separate gates, southwest end of the station).
• 🚆~09:30 Aonami Line, Nagoya → Kinjo Futo (~24 min) — ~¥360/adult (son free).
• 📍~10:00 SCMAGLEV and Railway Park — real Shinkansen + the record maglev car, boardable; big model-railway diorama — ¥1,000/adult, ¥200 child (3+). Simulators ¥100–500. Closed Tuesdays.
  
• 🔄 Aonami Line back to Nagoya Station, then transfer to the Meitetsu Nagoya Line (Meitetsu Nagoya station, inside the station complex).
• 🚆~12:15 Meitetsu Nagoya Line, Nagoya → Jingu-mae (~7 min) — ~¥240/adult.
• 🍽️~12:30 Lunch: Jingu Kishimen inside the shrine grounds — flat-noodle broth, easy for a kid — ¥3,000–4,000.
• 📍~13:30 Atsuta Jingu — calm, flat walk through ancient camphor forest; grounds free (Treasure Hall ¥500).
  
• 🔄 From Jingu-nishi, take the Meijo Line subway (loop) toward Sakae/Shiyakusho.
• 🚆~14:30 Meijo Line subway, → Shiyakusho (~20 min) — ~¥240/adult.
• 📍~15:00 Nagoya Castle — flat grounds + Honmaru Palace (main keep closed for rebuild); ninja/samurai reenactors most days — ¥1,000/adult, junior-high age and under free. The fee doubled from ¥500 on 1 Oct 2026, so older guides understate it; the ticket covers the whole precinct including Honmaru Palace. Open daily (closed only 29 Dec–1 Jan), 9:00–16:30, last entry 16:00.
  
• 🔄 Meijo/Higashiyama subway back to Nagoya Station (~15 min).
• 🍽️~19:00 Dinner: Yabaton miso katsu ¥6,000–8,000, hitsumabushi eel ¥8,000–12,000, or kishimen ¥4,000–6,000.

• 🍽️~07:00 Breakfast: early — konbini or grab at Nagoya Station — ¥1,500–2,500.
• 🚆07:43 JR Ltd Express Hida No. 1, Nagoya 07:43 → Takayama 10:16 (direct, no transfer) — ~¥6,140/adult (son free if held/no seat). Reserve ahead.
• 🚶~10:20 ~10-min walk into the old town / Miyagawa riverside.
• 📍~10:30 Miyagawa Morning Market — riverside stalls (winter hours to 12:00) — free.
  
• 🍽️~11:45 Lunch: Hida beef skewers/sushi or Hida soba — ¥4,000–6,000.
• 📍~12:45 Takayama Jinya — only surviving Edo-period government house (closes 16:30 winter) — ¥440/adult (child free).
  
• 📍~13:45 Sanmachi-suji — preserved Edo streets, sake breweries, sarubobo dolls — free to browse.
  
• 📍~15:00 Optional short Higashiyama temple walk if energy allows, then coffee before the train.
  
• 🚆16:33 JR Ltd Express Hida No. 18, Takayama 16:33 → Nagoya 19:06 (direct) — ~¥6,140/adult.
• 🍽️~19:15 Dinner: back in Nagoya after 19:06 — easy option near the station ¥4,000–6,000; or a Hida beef dinner in Takayama if you take the later Hida No. 20 return.

• 🍽️~07:30 Breakfast: Nagoya hotel / Komeda before departure — ¥1,500–2,500. Check out.
• 🚆~08:45 Tokaido Shinkansen (Nozomi/Hikari), Nagoya → Shin-Osaka (~50 min) — ~¥6,680/adult reserved (son free).
• 🔄 At Shin-Osaka, transfer to the Midosuji subway (or JR to Osaka Station).
• 🚆~09:50 Midosuji Line, Shin-Osaka → Umeda (~4 min) — ~¥240/adult. Check in / drop bags at the APA.
• 🚆~10:45 JR Osaka Loop Line, Osaka (Umeda) → Osakajokoen (~11 min) — ~¥190/adult.
• 📍~11:00 Osaka Castle Park — early December is the tail of the foliage season here, the last stronghold in Osaka. A 1 km golden ginkgo circuit on the east side, a 300-year-old ginkgo by the keep, and wide flat lawns for him to run — park free. Nishinomaru Garden is the paid highlight: ~300 cherry trees turning red beneath the castle tower — ¥300/adult (child free) — raised from ¥200 on 1 Apr 2026; ¥350 is cherry-blossom season only.
  
• 🍽️~12:30 Lunch: Jo-Terrace Osaka — café and restaurant strip right by Osakajokoen Station, so no trek back out of the park — ¥3,000–5,000.
• 🚆~14:30 Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line, Morinomiya → Shinsaibashi (~8 min) — ~¥240/adult, then walk down Shinsaibashi-suji into Dotonbori.
• 📍~15:00 Dotonbori — neon, the Glico sign, and the river — lively early-evening stroll — free.
  
• 🎣~17:30 Dinner: Zauo Namba — catch your own fish. ~5 min walk east of Dotonbori. You sit on a boat moored inside a huge live tank, fish with a rod, and the kitchen cooks your catch. Courses from ¥3,850/adult, ¥2,750/child incl. 2 fishing tickets each (extras ¥550, bait ¥110) — roughly ¥11,000–14,000 for the three of you. Weekday hours 17:00–23:00, fishing stops 21:30. Kids' chairs, kids' menu, nappy-change table, English menu. 📞 Book ahead and ask for a boat seat.
  
• ⚠️ Zauo is in a basement with no elevator — fold and carry the stroller or leave it at the hotel. The fishing takes a knack, so treat landing one as a bonus; you can order off the menu regardless.
• 🍽️ Alternative if you'd rather graze: okonomiyaki, takoyaki & kushikatsu along Dotonbori — ¥5,000–8,000.
• 🚆~19:30 Midosuji Line back to Umeda for the night — early one, USJ tomorrow.

• 🍽️~07:00 Breakfast: hotel / konbini before the park — ¥1,500–2,500.
• 🚆~07:45 JR Osaka Loop Line, Osaka (Umeda) → Nishikujo (~5 min) — ~¥190/adult. Board a train marked for the Loop Line.
• 🔄 At Nishikujo, transfer to the JR Yumesaki (Sakurajima) Line across the platform.
• 🚆~08:00 JR Yumesaki Line, Nishikujo → Universal City (~5 min).
• 📍~08:15 Universal Studios Japan — head to Universal Wonderland first (Hello Kitty, Snoopy, Sesame Street, low height limits), then Minion Park and a walk through Super Nintendo World. 1-Day pass adult ~¥8,600–10,600, child ~¥5,600–6,800.
  
• 🍽️~12:00 Lunch: in-park themed restaurants (Minion, Mario) — ¥5,000–8,000.
• 🔄 Return: JR Yumesaki Line → Nishikujo, transfer to the Loop Line → Osaka (Umeda).
• 🍽️~18:30 Dinner: in-park, or a calmer meal back near Umeda — ¥5,000–8,000.

• 🍽️~07:30 Breakfast: Osaka hotel / konbini — ¥1,500–2,500.
• 🚆~08:15 JR Special Rapid, Osaka → Kyoto (~28 min) — ~¥580/adult (son free).
• 🔄 At Kyoto Station, transfer to the JR Nara Line (local).
• 🚆~08:55 JR Nara Line, Kyoto → Tofukuji (~3 min) — ~¥150/adult.
• 📍~09:00 Tofuku-ji Temple — the Tsutenkyo Bridge crosses a valley of ~2,000 maples; 4 Dec falls inside the official autumn-colour season (15 Nov–7 Dec), likely past peak but still colourful and far less crowded than mid-November. ⚠️ Hours change on 2 Dec and you're here on the 4th: 9:00–15:30, not the 8:30–16:00 of the Nov–1 Dec schedule. The 09:00 arrival is right on opening. ¥1,000/adult for Tsutenkyo Bridge + Kaisando this season (son should be free at 4 — confirm at the gate); Hojo Garden is a separate ¥500/adult, optional, skippable with a 4-year-old.
  
• 🔄 JR Nara Line back to Kyoto Station (~3 min).
• 🍽️~11:00 Lunch: Kyoto Station food floors (Ramen Koji, department-store restaurants) — ¥3,000–5,000. Eat properly here — teamLab has no restaurant, only vending machines.
• 🔄 Walk ~10 min from the Hachijo (East) Gate of Kyoto Station.
• 📍~13:00 teamLab Biovortex Kyoto — teamLab's newest and largest permanent museum in Japan (opened Oct 2025), 10,000 m² and 50+ digital-art installations. adults 18+ from ¥3,800 (variable by date/time), ages 4–12 ¥1,800, 3 and under free. ⚠️ Your son is 4, so he is NOT free — budget ¥1,800. Venue purchase costs ¥200 more than online; open 9:00–21:00 (last entry 19:30). No strollers inside (leave in the entrance luggage room; bring a carrier); no sandals in the Athletics Forest area (sneaker rental available there). Allow 3–4 hours.
  
• 🚆~17:00 JR Special Rapid, Kyoto → Osaka (~28 min) — ~¥580/adult.
• 🍽️~18:00 Dinner: back in Osaka — ramen / sushi / okonomiyaki — ¥5,000–8,000.

• 🍽️~06:20 Breakfast: hotel / konbini — ¥1,500–2,500. Check out.
• 🚆~06:50 Midosuji Line, Umeda → Namba (~9 min) — ~¥240/adult.
• 🔄 At Namba, follow signs to the Nankai airport-line platforms. Buy the Rapi:t digital ticket in advance (¥1,410) — the counter price is ¥1,670.
• 🚆~07:05 Nankai Rapi:t (Ltd Express, reserved), Namba → Kansai Airport (~40 min) — ¥1,410/adult digital. ~¥2,200/adult cheaper than the JR Haruka (~¥3,840 all-in via Shin-Osaka), and faster. The slower Nankai Airport Express is cheaper still at ¥970 (~50 min) if you don't want reserved seats.
• ✈️~07:45 Arrive KIX Terminal 1, check in (~2.5–3 hrs before an international flight). Spend leftover yen.
• ✈️11:00 BX608 (Air Busan), KIX → Busan, departing Terminal 1. Confirm K-ETA / entry rules for Australian passports beforehand.