9 Days in Tokyo and Kyoto

[rexboggs5]

I will be in Tokyo and Kyoto for 9 days in May (not cherry blossom season) with my main focus being taking wonderful photos. I am trying to decide how many days I should spend in each city.

Can anyone who been to these cities recommend how many days in each out of 9 days total, and also some 'must photograph' locations?

Thanks and Cheers

Rex

[Mark L]

Hopefully Brian500au will drop by soon with a few thoughts.

[bsdunek]

We were in Japan a year and a half ago. Interesting place, enjoyed the food! I'm not a city person, but found a lot in Tokyo. One thing to see is the Tokyo Fish Market. You have to get there early (4:30 am), but it is worth it. Imagine a warehouse full of fresh caught fish being auctioned off. Really colorful. http://content.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1897812_1897772_1897703,00.html
Going North, try Kamakura. Really interesting! https://www.viator.com/tours/Tokyo/Kamakura-Yokohama-and-Tokyo-Bay-Day-Trip-from-Tokyo/d334-2142F990?pref=204
You could easily spend all your time in either city.

[Lance B]

We went to Kyoto and Tokyo in January this year for 7 days but would have loved to have had more time there as we absolutely loved Japan, the people, the sites and the food. We have been to Europe/UK 4 times, Singapore, Fiji, etc, but Japan is one of my favourite destinations. You feel so safe, the place is so clean you could almost eat your dinner off the sidewalk!

We spent 2 nights in Kyoto and 4 nights in Tokyo. I would have loved more time in Kyoto but we really didn't know much about either city and what to see or expect - not enough research done! However, if you like temples and gardens etc, they are both incredible places. As we had never been to a Disneyland anywhere in the world, we decided to look at both Disneylands in Tokyo and loved them both, I had a preference for Disneysea, my wife liked Disneyland. We would love to go back and see more of Japan, especially the countryside. Here is my gallery on Japan:

http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/japan

Depending on your screen size/resolution, click on the image and set to "Original" as this is the best resolution. If it is too big for your screen, then use the scroll wheel on your mouse with "CTRL" key on your keyboard to make the image smaller to fit your screen.

[Glenda]

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2158.html and http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html might be handy

[Brian500au]

I am not too sure if I can add too much to what has been suggested above. When I visited Japan earlier this year I did so in early April with the intention of photographing the cherry blossom season in both Tokyo and Kyoto. As Lance mentioned above Japan is a very safe and clean place to travel, and depending on your type of photography there is plenty to keep you entertained. To recommend you spend more time in one place than the other would be difficult as the cities are different. Tokyo is modern city full of 36 million people and never sleeps, whereas Kyoto is full of temples and is a cultural experience.

With such a short time I would suggest you do a little research of landmarks you want to see - do yourself a time table of how you will travel to these landmarks. If you are looking to photograph some of these take note of the suggested times and how the light with be at the particular time of day. I found I would find a beautiful place I wanted to photograph in the day but there were too many people so I would revisit at 5am in the morning when there was nobody around.

I would also suggest unless you are limited in your travel there are a couple of other cities you might want to visit. Hiroshima springs to mind and is easily reach via the high speed train service in Japan.

Here is a sample gallery of my shots in Japan

https://creative.smugmug.com/Travel/Asia/Japan

[rexboggs5]

Thanks Bruce! Wow, so many places to see, so little time to see it all.

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Thanks Lance. Great photos. I especially like the night photos of Disneyland.

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Thanks for the links, Glenda. Lots of places to photograph.

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Wow Brian, I can see why cherry blossom season is so special. Some stunning photos.

[Lance B]

Some great images there, Kel!

[Snpsht]

Some nice shots!

I am hoping to go in 2018, and it will obviously pay to do my research as there seems to be so much to see.