Japan for Anime & Manga Fans: Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka

If anime or manga is one of the reasons Japan is on your list, you can absolutely build a trip around it without spending the entire vacation inside character shops and theme parks.

Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka give you three very different pieces of Japanese pop culture, and they work naturally with the classic Japan experiences most first-time visitors want too.

Tokyo is where I would give yourself room to wander

Akihabara is the obvious stop. It is packed with anime, manga, games, collectibles, arcades and themed cafés, and it can easily eat up most of a day if this is your thing.

I would not make Akihabara the only pop-culture neighborhood you see, though. Ikebukuro has its own huge anime and gaming scene, and areas such as Harajuku and Shibuya give you another side of modern Tokyo.

That is what I like about Tokyo. You can spend the morning at a temple or market, disappear into anime shops all afternoon and be somewhere completely different for dinner.

If you love Studio Ghibli, plan ahead

Ghibli-related experiences are some of the things I would think about early rather than assuming we can add them at the last minute.

The exact experience depends on your route and what is available for your dates, but this is one of those areas where a little advance planning matters. I would rather build the itinerary around a hard-to-get reservation than realize after the hotels are booked that your favorite thing falls on the wrong day.

Kyoto is not only temples

Kyoto is usually associated with shrines, gardens, geisha districts and traditional Japan, which is exactly why the pop-culture pieces are fun here.

The Kyoto International Manga Museum has a huge manga collection and gives you some history behind the art form. Toei Kyoto Studio Park goes in another direction with real film sets, period-drama streets, shows and attractions.

You can spend part of a day doing something completely screen-focused and still have the rest of Kyoto for Fushimi Inari, temples, food and neighborhoods.

Osaka works well for the fun finish

Osaka is a good place to loosen the schedule a little.

You have Dotonbori, food, nightlife and easy city exploring, plus Universal Studios Japan if theme parks and character worlds are high on your list.

I would give the park its own day instead of pretending you can squeeze it in between sightseeing stops. Japan trips already involve a lot of walking, trains and stimulation. Packing every minute usually makes the trip less fun, not more.

There is already a trip built around this

I now have an 11-day Manga & Anime trip through Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka that mixes the pop-culture side of Japan with regular sightseeing and independent time.

It includes themed touring in Tokyo, the Kyoto International Manga Museum, Toei Movie Village and time in Osaka, but it is still a Japan vacation rather than one long fandom event.

If anime is only a small part of the reason you are going, my Japan Express itinerary gives you a more traditional route through Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto and Osaka.

You can make this as specific as you want

Some travelers want general anime and manga culture. Others have two favorite series and a list of exact places they want to see.

That is where a custom trip can make more sense than forcing yourself into somebody else’s idea of an anime vacation.

You can keep the big three cities, add the things you actually care about and still leave enough room to experience Japan outside the screen.

If that sounds like your kind of trip, I can build it around your dates and interests.