Japanese honeymoon - or multi destination?

[Noodlehen]

I am just getting around to booking my honeymoon, we will be going between end of April and May for approx 3 weeks.

Originally, the plan was Japan 10 days - Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) 6 days and Malaysia (KL) 5 days.

Researching Japan has made me see that most people say you need three weeks to really see a lot and appreciate the country, visiting Japan is the ONLY thing on DH’s bucket list so I’d really like to make it a trip of a lifetime, Vietnam and Malaysia are my choices because they are two of my favourite cuisines 🐷 🍽️

I am now leaning towards spending the entire trip in Japan, and visiting the other two another time.

any advice from any travelled mumsnetters? My head is wrecked from it all 😂

also, I have heard Japan can be quite racist in some places - I’m mixed race. does anyone who has been think this could be an issue?

I’d stick to Japan. I spent two weeks there and hardly scratched the surface. There just so much amazing stuff to see and do (and eat).

DH isnt white, but we had no issues because of that.

I also love Vietnam, and Malaysia (which was our honeymoon - not the same trip as Vietnam).

I could spend three weeks in all of them, but I’d pick just one destination per trip so you spend more time having fun and less time traveling.

I would definitely spend the whole 3 weeks in Japan especially if it’s likely to be the only time you ever go. I loved Vietnam but I wouldn’t spend 6 days in Ho Chi Minh City.

Definitely stay in Japan! I did 3 weeks honeymoon there pre covid. You will not regret it!

That's a lot to fit in to three weeks.

I loved Malaysia and Vietnam, never been to Japan but if I were you I would pick either just Japan or Japan and one of Malaysia/Vietnam and make sure you've scheduled in a couple of days rest where you do no activities or sightseeing, just chill. This will be much easier if you're only doing Japan, as travel between countries easily accounts for a full day of your holiday.

It's on my bucket least you need at least 3 weeks, if you can afford it do it. I'm still saving! Wendy Wu would be my choice excellent escorted tours with interpreters unless you speak Japanese

A travel agent recently told me that Japan are limiting the amount of tourists and they aren’t able to book flights for people wishing to travel. Have a look in to it before you set your heart on Japan this year

Hi OP, we've been to Japan twice, once for 3 weeks and then for 4 weeks second time.

I love Vietnamese food too but remember Japan has more Michelin starred restaurants than anywhere else... :) Good food is not a reason to leave the country!

You should definitely stay in Japan for 3 weeks.

We loved Tokyo, including the Ghibli museum in Mitaka; Osaka; Nikko; getting the bullet train; Kyoto, especially the Golden temple; Shibu Onsen and the Jigokudani monkey park; Kagoshima and Sakurajima, have a hot spring bath while the active volcano rumbles away; and then since we love to snorkel and scuba we flew to Iriomote and Taketomi at the south end of Okinawa for a few beachy, manta-ray viewing days...

If skiing is your thing then I've heard lots of people rave about going north to Hokkaido!

We spoke no Japanese apart from ear-worm teach yourself phrases. We sorted accommodation ourselves, combination of nice hotels and amazing traditional ryokans.

I couldn't comment on racism but found the people to be hugely friendly, welcoming and kind. Hopefully you'll find the same.

That’s very interesting. I thought it was all back to normal since October. I did nearly book flights earlier but I’m in between booking economy and trying to get a cheaper upgrade offer in app or just going straight into booking business. Thank god I didn’t just go ahead and book 😂

I have zero Japanese, sometimes I can barely talk proper English and I was born here 😂 but we’d rather not do a guided tour, I’ve already made a mock itinerary and I’ve a friend who lived there for a while who said we will be fine to do it alone.

if DH gets his way we will be mainly there for the car scene 🙄 but I have screenshotted everyone’s recommendations to add to my list.

thank you all so much

Go for three weeks in Japan, you could get a train pass for that amount of time.

We travelled around Japan for six weeks in 2008, it was amazing. Hiroshima is an absolute must do, Nara as well was amazing.

We travelled independently with just a Japanese phrase book (before smart phones too) and managed just fine. One thing (at least this was the case back then and probably still the same) is that you must prebook accommodation, you can't just turn up on spec as that is considered very rude.

Japan also doesn't really do credit cards- it's a cash economy. Our foreign cards could only use the post office atm machines which were only open Monday to Friday, so you need to be organised about having cash.

The food is amazing, we ate and drank so well for not that much money.

There was a recent thread on here re Japan, worth searching for, maybe 4 to 6 wks ago. Very informative and lots of contributions. Certainly inspired me.

@Noodlehen unsure how to do a link but I found the thread so tagged you on it.
"Anyone been to Japan?" started on 5/11/22, worth a read. Happy travel planning.

It's a while since I've been but three weeks in Japan would be well spent. If they still do a tourist's train pass (had to be purchased outside Japan) then that could be well worth it.
I went down onto Kyushu as well and Honshu; there's so much to see.
Tokyo, of course
Nikko
Fuji national park
Kyoto
Nara
Hiroshima
Nagasaki (bit of an A bomb tour, but both fascinating and moving in different ways)
Kumamoto
Mt Aso
Beppu hot springs
I've forgotten a heap from further North and I didn't even make it to Hokkaido!

re the restrictions on visitors. It does seem to be fully open to visitors since October 22. Visa requirements are also waived.

I read this on gov.Uk and found similar on the visit Japan website, does anyone have any info or sources to these apparent restrictions? I’m worried now !

I can’t answer the previous question but I would definitely spend the 3 weeks in Japan (or individually in Malaysia or Vietnam). There is so much to see and it’s easy to travel without Japanese. Look at the route you want to take and work out if a rail pass is economical - it’s not always for the whole trip if you spend longer times in one city or go the mountains where it tends to be buses.

I possibility wouldn’t pick Japan for a honeymoon though as I prefer a more relaxing trip for a honeymoon but that’s just me. We found there was so much we wanted to see and do in Japan that we were pretty exhausted by the end of the day. Hotels with onsens are great for a relaxing soak at the end of the day but they are single gender so you usually can’t go together (unless you pay loads for a private one or go to a mixed gender one which is quite rare since everyone is naked).

Thank you! Yeah we are not the relaxing holiday type, so I think it suits us a lot more than the typical honeymoon.

onsens will be an issue for us, as I have tattoos and some on my legs that can’t be hidden by swimwear. I’ve only found one tattoo friendly one so far. But I’m also not a big fan of communal pools etc so I’m not too fussed.

we visited a hot springs in australia and while nice it made me feel so icky I’m not sure
I’m too inclined to go again 😂😂 DH on the other hand loves that sort of stuff so he can go off while I visit a cat cafe or something.