Japan in about 2 week time. Advice

[notacooldad]

Me and my friends have booked a holiday in japan for 15 days.
We have only just booked it. We are flying to Tokyo from Heathrow. We haven't booked accommodation yet and are happy to travel around.
Has anyone got any great ideas or advice.
Anything that is unmissable or things to avoid?
Any suggestions are welcome.

Last minute holidays are great.
Tokyo is crazy, completely crazy but it works. Google translate/ any translate app will be very useful, the underground system is an experience.
Are you just staying in Tokyo or planning on travelling?

Kyoto.
That's all I've got to say.
I haven't been to Japan in 33 years (I was there for 6 months) but... I'll never forget Kyoto.

I’m going next weekend!
Staying in Tokyo 5 nights, Hakone, Hiroshima, and Kyoto for 7 nights.

If you're travelling around different cities it's worth pricing up single Shinkansen tickets compared to the 14 day JR Rail Pass. For us (doing a loop of Honshu) it had paid for itself in about three train rides.

I'd recommend a pocket wifi as well. It was about £20 for two weeks rental and meant we didn't rack up any data costs whilst we were away.

look up the shop TokyoHands - it is 4 floors worth of craft and origami paper and stationary and all sorts of things that you never knew you needed.

Following because I'm going in November!

Get an esim from airalo so you're not paying roaming costs. Go to Kyoto and Nara on the train. Cheap hotels are perfectly nice and clean. Don't stick your chopsticks vertically into your rice. Take your shoes off whenever prompted or where you can see piles of shoes (mainly temples but also some restaurants).

Thanks for the tips.
I feel very unprepared for the trio but excited as well!

Do report back when you return @notacooldad !

This sound so fantastic. Did anyone go to a flower arranging class in Japan? I would love that if language barrier can be sorted. Love how Japanese culture seems to appreciate flowers so much.

Japanese people are more formal than English people in their interactions so don’t be overly familiar with hotel or shop staff etc or tour guides as friendliness can be interpreted as a sign of disrespect. If in doubt, err towards formality. Accept that you’ll never know what they reallly think 🤣

Tokyo ( Naruto) airport is miles out of Tokyo- get the train unless you’re a billionaire as a taxi will be $$$$$

ESim probably easier than pocket Wi-Fi as you don’t need to carry anything or risk losing it, and possibly cheaper but either will work. i use Holafly but there are loads and you can just compare the prices online.

Have you seen Monty Don's Japanese Gardens? There's a very funny segment where he does some Japanese flower arranging and the tutor is terribly polite but clearly thinks he's rubbish!
Mind you it did seeing to involve arranging a single twig artistically !

My tip would be to book your accommodation ASAP.as you're goingin peak season. We had the most trouble with finding accommodation!

Will it be cherry blossom season? The pics of that always look absolutely amazing so I’d definitely want to see that if you can.

https://www.miyamoto-unosuke.co.jp/taikokan/
drum museum in Tokyo, lots of the drums have a music symbol by them which means you’re allowed to play them
nearby is the restaurant supplies street (hope it’s still there) where you can see the full range of randomly arranged fake food, interesting in a weird way

I can recommend a good ikebana class in Kyoto and they do calligraphy lessons too :)

www.whattodoinkyoto.com

TheBirdintheCave Ikebana in Kyoto is my absolute dream. I just want the time to stand there in a quiet room looking at gorgeous flowers and branches with some fancy Japanese secateurs in my hand, snipping off a few bits, standing back and looking again and then repeat, all very slowly

faffadoodledo I’m heading straight to YouTube!

Yes! That's what it was - ikebana. Monty Don and his great big gardening hands doing teeny tiny tweaks to a single branch of cherry blossom, and getting it wrong. It was all rather charming!

https://m.youtube.com/user/cmbroad44/featured