Went after golden week, here's my report
My trip began on May 10 just a few days after golden week. Travelled with wife, 4 yr old daughter and both in-laws.
Trip was short, only 7 days bit did the golden route of osaka, kyoto, tokyo. Also nara for the deer (tips for this later).
My goals, hit my must sees, disneysea and universal.
Weather - very nice weather. Not too hot or cold. A sweater can be useful at night if you get cold easily or for your young ones cuz it gets windy.
Crowd - barely any tourist for the most part. But trains are crowded during worker commutes so try to avoid those.
Trains - if youre using Google maps, just pay attention to the train line (M, S, etc.) And the platform number. Thats my suggestion anyway and it made it alot less complicated. You can check the name of the train also if theres multiple trains going on the same platform.
For kids - bring a stroller. Preferably the backpack stroller or one that folds easily and are not heavy. This allows you to quickly fold and ride escalators rather than looking for the elevator or carrying your stroller down/up stairs. Your child will get tired. And you will too. So bring one if you can.
First stop was Osaka.
This was in my opinion, the best place to be. We chose to stay in Shin- Osaka close to the station because i knew were going to kyoto and nara. Also because i made a mistake with our airport choice and flew to haneda rather than kansai so we had to take the shinkansen upon arrival.
Dotonbori is a nice stop for the photo with Glico but i DONT reccomend staying here for more than an hour.
Where you really wanna spend your time in, specially if you came here for the food is Kurumon market. Lots of choices, food everwhere, exactly what i was hoping to find. Dotonbori is just a strip mall now for every possible brand and if thats what youre looking for, i feel like theres better places for that.
Nara is a must stop for us and i think it should be for you as well. The deer do bow to you but heres the reality experience. They will crowd you if you show even a hint of having those biscuits.
The first attempt at feeding them, i was chased and they kept biting my clothes.
My suggestion, buy the biscuits and immediately put them in a handbag and walk away to a less crowded area. My reccomendation, find an adult dear thats alone. The adults will bow and be more patient. This allowed my daughter to have a great time feeding the deer and also less stressful.
You can buy buscuits from any vendor there. They get sold out by about 1pm. And the deer will all be resting by this point.
Kyoto - i was really only here for photos. Went to inari shrine and then the pagoda shot with the street. We arrive at inari at 9am. Not alot of people yet which allowed us to take some great photos but the crowd did start coming around 930am.
Tokyo - surprisingly not crowded. Went to all the photo spots and had no problems with crowd. Even shibuya crossing wasnt crowded so there was alot of cringe influencers.
Teamlab - my opinion - overrated. Went to borderless and they were very strict with entry times. I would much reccomend the other teamlab experiece instead for more variety of things to see but again, not really for everyone.
Universal studios - i came here for mario world that my daughter is a big fan of. Bought the express pass for the main rides and was very satisfied with our experience.make sure to book the restaurants right away if you plan to eat there cuz they fill up quickly. Very crowded as you would expect. We lined up at 7am and the line was already long.
Disneysea - came here for the typical disney experience. We sadly had to come on a weekend so the crowd was insane. Got here at 730 and got through the gate at 930ish. Majority of the early passes are gone. My suggestion, rush to fantasy springs to get on the ride sooner. 30 mins rather than over an hour. Book the soaring for the afternoon. You can take photos later in the day when everyone else is stuck in long lines. The goal is to not need to buy passes for fantasy spring other than the frozen ride. Journey was overrated and really just not worth it but if you like the idea of going into a volcano, go ahead. Under the sea - use the free pass.
Overall, Japan is a great place to visit to relax. Dont overthink and dont overplan. Whatever you plan, some things will just not go your way so just take your time.
At least in my experience, my in laws were an incredible pain in the ass that it almost ruined the trip. They didnt want to wake up early, didnt want to walk, didnt want to wait in line. We were late for every train because they walked so slowly. They kept trying to pass people in line but then take pictures constantly so i didnt understand the point of rushing and being rude. Had to be constantly reminded about etiquette. Literally asked what they want to do prior to the trip several times for over a year and they still managed to be the most annoying people to travel with trying to make changes to the plan. Being the one in charge of the navigation and itenerary, they made it extremely exhausting and stressful. They were literally worse than my 4 yr old daughter who was incredibly behaved.