Japan - convince me!

[MaraScottie]

I've always loved Japan, spent a few days in Tokyo years ago and loved it. Would love to spend 2 weeks travelling around - the culture intrigues me, the food is the best in the world, and the tech is fascinating!

I also have 2 kids age 9 and 11 who are obsessed with sushi and are adventurous and would love the opportunity. So am tentatively thinking about last week in March to 1st week in April next year.

However ....the cost is holding me back! Its going to be astronomical. We can afford it in that we'd take money from savings but flights will be more than 5k euro, that's before we even get a meal in.

So tell me, was it worth it for you? Would you go for it? I'm more than happy to eat in local restaurants and stay in hostels too, but did you find you just haemorrhage money when you were there?

Part of me wonders what I'm waiting for, life is short, it'll be too late if one of us gets sick etc, and there are no pockets in a shroud ... but it seems so indulgent too whereas in other countries your pound/euro will go a lot further.

Thanks for your feedback.

@MaraScottie thank you. That's the sort of prices I've been finding. Is that each? Or in total? Sorry!

That's the total cost for 4 of us!

Look on Kayak and use the table to find the best combination of outgoing and return flights - set the flexibility to +/- 1 or 2 days.

Make sure you book a no smoking room, the smoking rooms are vile.

When you're on the Shinkansen, keep your eye on the conductor when they enter and leave the carriage 😉

October is typhoon season and March/ April is Sakura so very busy and expensive.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. It's unusual for Japanese people to offer help, it's seen as them imposing but if you make the first move, most are happy to help.

Never, ever close your taxi door, they're automatic and drivers are very protective of them!

Hiya

We are going to Japan in October, flying with Qatar who were cheapest we could find at around £900 pp.
we were told that while typhoon season is May to October. aug and sept are the worst months and by October it’s calmed down and is a great month to go 🤞🏻. April will be amazing though, seeing the cherry blossom!
there were so many places we fancied but in the end we decided on Tokyo, Kyoto and Hakone so we didn’t spend all of our time travelling! We’ve booked ryokans in each place, some more expensive than others but none extortionate! We were told about Toyoko inns- small rooms but free breakfast ( and transfers some times) and also kshouse.jp/index_e.html
Hostels which are good value and have family e suite rooms

some accommodation doesn’t start booking until 3-6 months before.

be to boxes, convenience stores and vending machines are going to be our friends I think! Our 14 year old is making a list!!!

happy planning!

Sorry for typos🤦🏻‍♀️

I spend way too much time watching these videos. They're addictive!

Absolutely worth it. You might look into JRAIL pass whilst still in the UK.

People of Japan place high value on hospitality, and going to even 7/11 or Lawsons will feel like a 1st class experience.

Tokyo, a megacity of 16 mil or so ppl might be too stressful though during the night it should be very quiet.

No matter where you go, you are most likely to have fun. Avoid summers bc they are very hot and humud. Autumn would be best.

Hi exciting! Have a look at Wanderlog. Is a brilliant app where you can store your itinerary and tickets etc, It also maps where you are going.

I'm a step ahead of you! It's an amazing app isn't it? I can see myself upgrading to pro at some stage too... did you?

You will love it

@MaraScottie

It's really good isn't it!
I did pay for full use of the app and for us it was 100% worth it.

We uploaded everything onto the app - flights, hotel confirmation emails, attraction tickets and reservations. It was a work of art 😅. The people I travelled with were not in my household (and were using a mix of android and IOS ) so it was extra useful to be able to have somewhere to plan and 'store' our trip.
If you pay you get a feature called route optimisation but that doesn't work that well for Japan (apparently it works better on other countries so the upgrade wasn't worth it for that feature but was worth it for the uploading feature.