I (American) just returned from my own "first time Japan trip" yesterday - two weeks, mostly in Tokyo, and the good news I can share from my experience is that you're going to have an amazing time regardless of how much or how little planning you put in, there's just no way to lose.
Everybody has already hit the big talking points, so I'll just add that in our experience, the limit on how much fun we were having was how much our feet fucking hurt on any given day. I was wearing serious-business hiking boots (my standard never-fail travel option) and my wife was wearing Hoka sneakers (supposed to be optimized for comfort), but by day 3-4 we were already revising daily plans, buying extra-padded insoles, and aggressively adding more "off-foot" time to the itinerary because we were simply standing and walking too much and our aching feet were making it hard to enjoy exploring. I'm no slouch, either - I hike often, run, and travel internationally ~3-4 times a year and I've never before had to take measures like this. My advice is to take some of your planning time and think carefully about your shoe/insole situation and the "on-foot" stretches of your itinerary so that you aren't caught off guard like us, having to take unplanned hotel room rest breaks to rest your brutalized feet.
Also, while I'm typing, here are the best two restaurants we ate at. Both were very popular (presumably instagram awareness), so you may have to really prioritize/go early if you want to get a table without waiting in line for an hour:
Shin Udon (Shibuya) - The perfect noodle dish??
PST Higashi Abuzu (near Roppongi) - I was baffled at how good this pizza was. Maybe the best I've ever had.
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I (American) just returned from my own "first time Japan trip" yesterday - two weeks, mostly in Tokyo, and the good news I can share from my experience is that you're going to have an amazing time regardless of how much or how little planning you put in, there's just no way to lose.
Everybody has already hit the big talking points, so I'll just add that in our experience, the limit on how much fun we were having was how much our feet fucking hurt on any given day. I was wearing serious-business hiking boots (my standard never-fail travel option) and my wife was wearing Hoka sneakers (supposed to be optimized for comfort), but by day 3-4 we were already revising daily plans, buying extra-padded insoles, and aggressively adding more "off-foot" time to the itinerary because we were simply standing and walking too much and our aching feet were making it hard to enjoy exploring. I'm no slouch, either - I hike often, run, and travel internationally ~3-4 times a year and I've never before had to take measures like this. My advice is to take some of your planning time and think carefully about your shoe/insole situation and the "on-foot" stretches of your itinerary so that you aren't caught off guard like us, having to take unplanned hotel room rest breaks to rest your brutalized feet.
Also, while I'm typing, here are the best two restaurants we ate at. Both were very popular (presumably instagram awareness), so you may have to really prioritize/go early if you want to get a table without waiting in line for an hour:
Shin Udon (Shibuya) - The perfect noodle dish??
PST Higashi Abuzu (near Roppongi) - I was baffled at how good this pizza was. Maybe the best I've ever had.
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