Awaji Island x Expo 2025 Osaka: 2-night Travel Plan to Explore Himeji and Awaji Island

Himeji is home to many of Hyogo Prefecture’s representative tourist attractions, including the World Heritage Site “Himeji Castle” and “Shoshazan Engyoji Temple,” a famous filming location that has been the setting for a Hollywood movie. Himeji is a tourist destination that is easily accessible from Tokyo, as it is one of the major stations on the Shinkansen Line and takes about 3 hours by Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo. After visiting the Osaka-Kansai Expo, how about a trip to the World Heritage Site and Awaji Island, the birthplace of Japan? There are plenty of places to experience the island, including a rich variety of gourmet foods from the sea and mountains and Nijigen no Mori, a new type of anime-themed park that combines nature and digital technology. You can even try an experience of Incense making, the traditional Awaji Island industry. Awaji Island and Honshu, the biggest part of Japan, are connected by the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, making access convenient. In this issue, we introduce a travel plan for Himeji and Awaji Island that includes arriving in Himeji by Shinkansen bullet train and renting a car to tour Awaji Island.

2-night/3-day Travel Plan of Osaka, Awaji Island and Himeji

From Tokyo, take the Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka first. After enjoying the Expo in Yumeshima, take a nonstop train from Yumeshima to Awaji Island. After enjoying Awaji Island, here is a 3-day/2-night travel plan to Himeji for World Heritage sightseeing.

Day 1: From Tokyo to Osaka, then Expo and Transfer to Awaji Island

9:00 a.m. Take the Shinkansen Train to Shin-Osaka Station

On the first day, take the Shinkansen to Osaka. There are direct trains to the Expo site for your convenience. Enjoy the Osaka-Kansai Expo until the evening!

5:30 p.m. Take a direct boat from Yumeshima, the Expo site, to Awaji Island

Bypass the crowds and high-cost hotels in the city center and take a 60-minute direct boat to Awaji Island in comfort. Enjoy an elegant stay on an island surrounded by nature.

7:30 p.m. Enjoy dinner and lodging at an auberge or luxury glamping

On the first day, you will stay at an inn near Nijigen no Mori and enjoy the night on Awaji Island. There are two lodging facilities to choose from: a high-class glamping facility and an auberge.
– Grand Chariot Hokutoshichisei (Big Dipper) 135°.
– Auberge “French Forest”

Auberge “French Forest” is a hotel reminiscent of a French mansion surrounded by the bountiful trees of Awaji Island. The hotel consists of three buildings, La Rose, Grand Baobab, and Prince Etoile, and diners can choose from different styles of French cuisine from each of the three buildings. Grand Chariot Hokutoshichisei 135° is a glamping facility located behind Nijigen no Mori. For dinner, guests can enjoy shabu-shabu and barbecue using Awaji Island’s prized Awaji beef and seafood. Rooms include character rooms featuring Godzilla, Dragon Quest, Crayon Shinchan, and other characters that are very popular at Nijigen no Mori.

Day 2 Nijigen no Mori

10:00 a.m. Immersive experience on Dragon Quest Island

Dragon Quest Island is a field PPG attraction that fuses real and digital worlds to create a Dragon Quest experience that feels like you have entered the world of the game. Visitors can enjoy solving riddles, searching for treasure chests, and battling monsters in Nijigen-no-mori’s original story based on the Sky Series.

© ARMOR PROJECT/BIRD STUDIO/SQUARE ENIX

12:30 p.m. Enjoy Luida’s Tavern collaboration food

Luida’s Bar, a shop and café-restaurant located next to the Dragon Quest Island attraction. Visitors can enjoy collaboration food and drinks featuring the popular Dragon Quest slime and Dragon Quest Island’s original character, Homilot IV.

© ARMOR PROJECT/BIRD STUDIO/SQUARE ENIX

1:30 p.m. Nijigen no Mori x Anime “Demon Slayer” : “Mystery Solving Walk, Tour of Flower Falling Village and Phantom Demons” (Daytime event)

Visitors can enjoy a riddle-solving game while walking around the area where character panels with original illustrations by ufotable, exclusively done for Nijigen no Mori, have been installed. This year, eight newly illustrated panels of demons will appear for the first time. Participants who have wandered into the world of illusions will be challenged to solve the riddles of the demons in the park and escape from the illusions. As a participation bonus, participants will receive an original can badge limited to the collaboration event.

©吾峠呼世晴／集英社・アニプレックス・ufotable

4:30 p.m. Experience an attraction of Godzilla Interception Operation

“Godzilla Intercept Operation” is an entertainment attraction themed around the life-size Godzilla that landed on Awaji Island, allowing visitors to fully experience the might and power of Godzilla. The attraction includes a “theater,” “zip line,” “shooting,” and “Godzilla Museum.” There are also attractions and a play area suited for small children as well.

6:30 p.m. Nijigen no Mori x Anime ‘Demon Slayer’: “Night “Walk, The Path to Infinity Castle”

While walking through a 1.2-kilometer-long forest at night, visitors can experience the world of the anime “Demon Slayer” recreated through projection mapping and other effects. Participants will relive the battles with demons that take place between Tanjiro Kamado and the pillars in the anime adaptations of “Tanjiro Kamado Unwavering Resolve Arc” through “Pillar Training Arc,” and will be challenged to gather information for the upcoming battle against Kibutsuji Muzan. At the finish line, you will receive an original novelty.

7:30 p.m. Stay a second night at an accommodation on Awaji Island

At the Auberge “French Forest” near Nijigen no Mori, you can choose from three different restaurants for dinner, making it a great place to stay for consecutive nights. Grand Chariot, which is right next to Nijigen no Mori, is also recommended for consecutive nights, as you can enjoy two different rooms: once in a regular room and once in a room with a collaboration of your favorite anime. Both lodgings are located a short distance from Nijigen no Mori, so you can also choose to stay one lodging the first night and another one the second night. Night Walk is available after dinner time.

Day 3: Other Touristic Spots and Himeji

10:00 a.m. Visit Izanagi JIngu Shrine

This shrine enshrines Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto, two deities who appear in Japan’s oldest historical book, Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters). The shrine is considered one of the most powerful spots on Awaji Island, and is also known as a sacred place for marital bliss and marriage as it enshrines the god of marriage, the first couple in Japan to be united as husband and wife.

11:00 a.m. Experience incense making

Experience incense making at “Korujudo,” a long-established incense shop that has been in business since the Meiji Era. The one-of-a-kind incense will be a perfect memento of your trip. The store attached to the studio sells a variety of easy-to-use products, such as incense sticks with little smoke and incense for scenting without fire, which are popular as souvenirs unique to Awaji Island.

12:30 p.m. Savor Awaji Island gourmet food at a seaside restaurant

Lunch is served at a restaurant with an ocean view, just like a seaside resort. Here are some restaurants where you can enjoy both meat and fish.

– miele the DINER
– CRAFT CIRCUS “Kaiou Ichiba”
miele the DINER is a diner-type restaurant where you can enjoy American-style, hearty, 100% meat half-pound burgers overflowing with gravy.
Craft Circus “Kaiou Ichiba” is a restaurant where you can delight in seafood BBQ using Awaji Island’s seafood on the terrace seats by the sea. You can also relish fresh sashimi and nigirizushi sushi.

Inside the Craft Circus, you can buy Awaji Island souvenirs at the Marche and goods from around the world at other store. miele the DINER is adjacent to the Hello Kitty facility, where you can purchase Awaji Island limited edition Hello Kitty goods as well.

1:30 p.m. From Awaji Island to Himeji

Take a highway bus from Awaji Interchange bus stop to Kosoku Maiko bus stop which is located on top of the JR Maiko Station. Take a JR line to Himeji Station.

2:00 p.m. Visit a World Heritage site, Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle, a World Heritage Site, is one of the most popular sightseeing spots in Himeji. Himeji Castle is Japan’s first World Heritage Site, along with Horyu-ji Temple in Nara. It is nicknamed “Shirasagi (White Egret) Castle” because of its pure white appearance that resembles a white egret spreading its wings.

3:30 p.m. Go to Shoshazan Engyo-ji Temple from Himeji Station by bus

Shoshazan Engyo-ji Temple is an old temple of the Tendai Buddhist sect located on Mt. Shosha. It is called “Mt. Hiei in the west” because of the numerous pagodas in the deep green mountains, and is a famous tourist spot because it was a location for the Hollywood movie “The Last Samurai” and the Japanese historical drama “Gunji Kanbei. It is a 30-minute bus ride from Himeji Station.

5:00 p.m. Back to Tokyo by Shinkansen bullet train from Himeji Station

You will depart for Tokyo on the Shinkansen bullet train. At Shin-Kobe Station if you are transferring to a faster train, there are souvenir shops and bento box stores featuring Kobe’s specialties. Buy a bento and souvenir to take with you on the Shinkansen and enjoy your trip to the end.