20 days in Japan: a family journey across seven cities, from Tokyo's pop culture to Okinawa's reefs

Last Updated: September 08,2026

Travel Style: Private family journey
Destination: Japan
Trip Length: 20 Days
Number of People: 3
Route: Tokyo → Mt. Fuji area → Takayama → Kanazawa → Kyoto → Osaka → Okinawa
Focus: Pop culture, traditional sites, theme parks, and beach time

Introduction

Patrick Sullivan had not expected his family to want a twenty-day holiday. He had pictured a week. His wife Sarah, the planner of the household, floated the longer number after their twelve-year-old son came home from school with a list of every Japanese theme park and anime studio he could find on YouTube. They talked it through that evening and agreed: if they were flying that far, they should do it properly.

The family is based in Melbourne. It was their first trip to Japan, and it fell over the Australian summer, which meant a Japanese winter. Each had a different version of the country in their head before they left. Patrick had watched the cyberpunk films and wanted to see Odaiba, Shibuya Sky, and the Gundam statue. Sarah had read about the tea ceremony, the geisha districts, and Kanazawa's samurai quarters. Their son wanted Universal Studios Japan, Joypolis, and as much of the beach as a winter itinerary could fit in. The three lists barely overlapped.

The challenge was not what to do. It was keeping three versions of Japan running across seven cities, twenty days, and one very honest twelve-year-old.

Planning the journey

Three concerns shaped the plan Ivan, their UME Travel specialist, put together. The first was fatigue: twenty days in a country where the average day covers three to four sites is a long stretch for an adult and a near-impossible one for a child. The second was geography: the route covered almost the full length of Honshu and ended with a separate island, Okinawa, which required an internal flight and a change in temperature. The third was the gap between what each family member had imagined and what they were actually going to see.

Ivan took a long first call and spoke to each of them separately about what they would not want to miss, and what they could give up. Patrick dropped the idea of a full Mt. Fuji climb. Sarah agreed that not every temple needed a full visit. Their son gave up two of the three Universal Studios days he had asked for once he heard the Okinawa hotel had a dive shop.

The route came back divided into five blocks, so that each of them got days that belonged to them. The Universal Studios Express Passes were pre-booked months out, the internal flight to Naha was arranged, luggage went ahead between every hotel, and one Okinawa day was deliberately left open.

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The route

Tokyo: Where Technology Met Childhood Dreams

Tokyo began with three days. Patrick and his son took the lead on Odaiba, Gundam Base, Miraikan, and Joypolis. Sarah joined for Senso-ji, a tea ceremony in Asakusa, and a long evening in Shibuya that ended at Shibuya Sky. Their son walked out of Joypolis saying it was better than he had imagined. Sarah said the same about Senso-ji at dusk.

Mt. Fuji & Takayama: A Slower Side of Japan

The Mt. Fuji and Takayama stretch were a short transit. Suwa Taisha shrine was their son's first serious look at a Shinto site, and he was quieter than Patrick had expected. Snow closed the mountain road out of Takayama overnight, which cost them one planned stop and gave them an unplanned one: a second morning at the Miyagawa market. Matsumoto Castle was the family favourite of the stretch.

Kanazawa & Kyoto: The Japan Sarah Had Imagined

Kanazawa and Kyoto were Sarah's territory. Kenrokuen Garden and the Higashi Chaya District kept her interested, and the volunteer guide at Kanazawa Castle kept the explanation in English simple enough for their son to follow, which changed the tone of the whole visit. In Kyoto, the Arashiyama bamboo grove, the Fushimi Inari climb, and a Maiko tea ceremony were spread across three days. The small difficulty of the trip surfaced here: their son found the second and third temple of any day repetitive, and Patrick and Sarah had to negotiate one or two relaxed afternoons to keep him engaged. The optional breaks built into the Kyoto stretch turned out to be what made it work.

Osaka: The Days Built Around Their Son

Osaka was their son's block. Universal Studios Japan took one day, run on the Express Passes, with their son choosing the order of the rides. The second day went to Nara, where the deer at Nara Park were the unexpected hit. The Dotonbori dinner on the last night was the loudest table in the restaurant.

Okinawa: Ending Japan at a Different Pace

Okinawa closed the trip with five days. The flight from Osaka took a little over two hours. The hotel sat on a quiet stretch of the western coast with a small beach and a dive shop attached. On the first morning they went out on a glass-bottom boat and found two sea turtles. Their son snorkelled for the first time the next day, in a wetsuit from the dive shop, and went back in the water every morning after that. The remaining days slowed: breakfast on the terrace, the pool, one short visit to Shuri Castle, and a farewell dinner at the resort.

Travel result

The twenty days covered what Patrick, Sarah, and their son had wanted, and the parts they had dropped were not missed. Patrick's pop culture list and Sarah's traditional list both got their full days. Their son got Universal Studios, the deer at Nara, the sea turtles, and a first snorkel. The internal flight to Okinawa was smooth, and the day Ivan had kept open went unused until the last morning, when all three of them slept in.

The structure of the trip, the Express Passes, the luggage transfers, the open day, and the quiet Okinawa resort, was what let three different versions of Japan coexist for three weeks. Without those arrangements, twenty days with a twelve-year-old across seven cities would not have worked.

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