Ultimate Japan Bucket List: 100+ Ideas For The Best Trip Ever Red Around the World

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Ahh, Japan. I love it. I decided for my next bucket list I would do another place I love and can’t wait to go back to: Japan! So today I’ve been scouring the depths of the Internet to make the best Japan bucket list ever.

Here you’ll find the best temples in Japan, best hikes in Japan, must-try foods in Japan, hidden gems in Japan, weird themed restaurants in Japan, festivals, monuments, and more so you can have the best trip ever.

I broke it down into a Tokyo bucket list and a general Japan bucket list and am always open to suggestions on additions, especially outdoor related.

I’ve got to say, like usual, making this list has made me want to go back to Japan so bad, especially to see the national parks, which they have a surprising number of (31 as of 2014, plus 56 quasi-national parks)!

Really just hiking in Japan in general, especially hiking in Nagano. It all looks so amazing and I want to hit all the trails.

The weird themed restaurants are another reason I really want to go back so expect a lot of those on this list. One thing to keep in mind if you do visit them, don’t expect the best food ever. It’s going to be average but going to these is mostly for the experience.

Ugh, I really actually just want to do all of this. Japan has so much more to offer than I realized when I started this, and I love it! Can you tell I love it? Well, anyway, here’s my Japan bucket list!

Bucket list posts

Tokyo government building observation floor

Tokyo Bucket List

After Taipei, I would have to say Tokyo might be my other favorite city. At least as far as large major cities go. It’s so amazing and has so many fun things to do and see. My Tokyo bucket list is long but could easily be twice as long.

I would love to spend another month exploring Tokyo and ding all the Tokyo day trips and I’m sure this list would grow as I did that.

But then there’s the rest of Japan, too. For now, I just have to keep adding to my Tokyo bucket list from home.

Visit the Tokyo Skytree and go to the top
Explore Ueno Park
Do a Mario Kart go kart tour
Take a ramen tasting tour
Go to a Sumo Wrestling tournament
See a Sumo practice
Visit a bunny cafe
Visit an owl cafe
Eat at a Maid Cafe
Get something out of a vending machine
Visit Mt. Fuji and Kawaguchi Lake
Try some weird dishes in Piss Alley
Wander through the bright Akihabara
Play some Pachinko (if you can figure it out)
Spend a night out in Golden Gai
Eat at the Kawaii Monster Cafe

Stay at a love hotel
Wander around Takeshita Street in Harajuku
Eat at The Lockup in Shinjuku (a prison themed restaurant!)
Go to the Robot Restaurant
Eat at 8-Bit Cafe in Shinjuku
Cross at the Shibuya Crossing (the best view of it is from the Starbucks)
Check out the view from the top of the Government building
Admire the view from the tourism building in Asakusa
See Asakusa by rickshaw
Enjoy the Hamarikyu Gardens
Eat at the Vampire Cafe
See Senso-ji
Eat at Uobei sushi
Visit the Imperial Palace
Go to a cat cafe
Visit the Meguro Parasitological Museum
Wander the shops in Tokyo Station
See Kongobu-ji Temple in Koyasan
Experience the Mori Digital Art Museum

Go to the Pikachu Outbreak Festival in Yokahama, Tokyo
Eat at Ninja Akasaka (if you can find it!)
Admire Tokyo Bay from Odaiba
Walk across the Rainbow Bridge
Have dinner and drinks in Izakaya Alley
Shop at Design Sight
Eat at The Rally Table, a ping pong restaurant!
See the Meiji Shrine
Visit the Ghibli Museum
Visit the Tsukiji Fish Market
Wander Yoyogi Park
See the Godzilla head in Shinjuku
See the Tokyo Tower
Eat at Alice in Wonderland
Stay in the Hello Kitty room at the Keio Plaza Hotel
Admire the view from Shibuya Sky

Japan Bucket List

Outside of Tokyo, the rest of Japan is just as amazing. You can go from super modern to traditional Japan at the drop of a hat and I think that’s awesome.

Between food, animal islands, hikes, Ryokans, temples, and who knows what else, you could spend years traveling through Japan and not even see close to everything.

I either want to spend a whole month around Japan (plus time in Tokyo) or to go back on a regular basis to conquer even a little bit of this ever growing Japan bucket list of mine. I love it!