Unfortunately you are too late for the best viewing in Tokyo. Also in Kyoto the peak for cherry blossoms is April 4th. Likely to be some left but not the best of displays. The 2025 cherry blossom forecast has been released. two articles.
Can the experts suggests what are some of the activities/attractions not to be missed. We want to catch the cherry blossom at Aomori , has someone did that in the past in April ?
I've stopped trusting predictions more than 1month out. For example everything was super late in 2024 so much so that you would've caught it in tokyo at tailend of full bloom if your dates were in 2024 and they were 2-3 weeks later than the "predictions". I would schedule in a couple of flexible days early in case you're still in good timing for Cherry Blossom as you land.
Also how bad is the queue at DisneySea as that is non-negotiable for my son who is 8.
Can be extremely busy. But as with all lining up in Japan. Its generally quite orderly and once it starts moving, isn't too bad. If you are ok paying for the premium passes they're generally worth it for their time saved.
We also want to experience the tea ceremony , the samurai/sumo wresting events.
I dont think there's any sumo tournaments on in the time you're there. Samurai stuff you're probably best to visit a few museums.
Tea ceremony is cool to do but just keep in mind that your son might get bored. Its a very slow and methodical process. Also the tea they make you is extremely bitter so kids generally won't like it. (Also i hear its best to avoid it in kyoto despite kyoto being one of the better places for it because of how ridiculously overcrowded it is atm).
Have been reading a lot on forums and other avenues with loads of inputs which is making it difficult to decide.
Is your son into Pokemon? There's at least 4 Pokemon centre in Tokyo alone all worth visiting. Nintendo has a store in Shibuya (conveniently next to the Shibuya Pokemon centre).
Arcades are also interesting to check out although I'd keep in mind that the touristy areas are set to extremely hard mode.
Keep your expectations of Kyoto in check. It's a beautiful city however it is absolutely bonkers hard to get around now with how many tourists are there. Plan extra time to get to venues as well as time at each venue. I'm almost starting to drop Kyoto off my Japan travel list because of how crowded it is.
You're also in Japan on the opening week of the world expo in osaka so keep that in mind as there's going to be even more tourists than normal especially in that area.
Also is there value proposition is purchasing JR pass or are we good using the Suica card and topping it up as required.
Its much harder to justify JR pass now. Suica (or other IC transport cards) are fine. They're just like your normal transport cards here and topping them up is useful since you can pay all sorts of things with them. Keep in mind though i have started seeing more and more GPay , visa, Mc readers attached to ticket gates. They're operational in all Osaka area (probably for the expo) although there might only be one gate at smaller stations installed.
I see the equipment in Tokyo but doesn't seem to be operational yet last week. I'll see if Tokyo turnes them on as well in late March.
Try to follow the scripts of how things are done in Japan. The Japanese are very efficient when things are done right but can be a right pain if you go just a little off script.
