Japan dreaming

Japan planning is almost done now! Yes, yes, I know that makes us weirdos given it is still 4 months til we go, but we prefer to be organised.

We leave Melbourne just after midnight, and arrive in Japan on the morning. We are in Tokyo for 5 days initially. I've booked an AirBnB in Shibuya, and we've got a number of things planned and locked in, including Studio Ghibli Museum and a day trip to Mt Fuji. We are intending to spend a day in Akihabara (the anime district), a visit to the Skytree, some time in Harajuku, and general street-watching.

Then we are off to Nagano for two days to visit the Snow Monkeys Park, for monkey-watching and hot springs. We are staying in a ryokan there which should be lovely.

Next to Kani, where we are hoping to catch up with our exchange student and her family; then on to Kyoto, where we will hopefully have a little time to relax.

We're in Kyoto for 6 days, staying in the "nicest" of the AirBnBs I've booked to give ourselves a good breather, and have absolutely nothing locked in, although there are lots of things that look interesting, so any suggestions welcome (I expect to have a minimum of one day doing very little there though!)

We're then going to Osaka for 2 days, one day of which will be a mega day at Universal Studios Japan (just finalised the tix for that!) and the other, which is more of a half-day really, we might just wander a bit.

Train from Osaka to Hirsohima that afternoon, and we then have a day and a half in Hiroshima - we're staying directly opposite the Peace Park, and we are also hoping to get to Miyajima Island.

Back to Tokyo from Hiroshima, then we have two nights, one full day, in Tokyo before flying out early-ish on the morning of the second day. I expect the final Tokyo day to be a shopping day, as I am encouraging the delayed purchase of souvenirs so we don't have to lug them around the entire country on the train!

Flights, accommodation and insurance are all now fully booked and paid for. We're still to get, but have confirmed all details for, the things that have to be booked closer to the time, such as rail passes and some of the attractions. My husband is Mr Internal Travel Logistics and is busily setting up detailed Google maps and route information to make things easier while we are there. The kids are honing their conversational Japanese to a knife edge.

And I? I have started dreaming about cherry blossoms on the regular.

(This is post #24 in NaBloPoMo. 24 dowb, 6 to go!)