Japan travel tips!

[fernfriend]

My family of 4 is planning on visiting Japan next Easter time. We have not travelled out of the UK since 2012! I'm feeling quite overwhelmed and inexperienced...

Please can I ask for your tips on which airline to choose, when is best to book the flights (if we book them now, are prices likely to come down/go up), where to visit and any other useful tips you may have?

Thank you so much!

Ahhh, you're in for a treat! Japan is am amazing country!

Top tip - Hire a 4g hotspot. Free wifi in Japan is surprisingly rare and getting around without internet access is next to impossible.

Download Hyperdia train app - shows all times and connections

Get the rail pass, I think you need to but this in the UK before you leave.

Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima/Miyajima were our highlights.

Get out to Nara from Osaka to see the deer and the huge shrine there. And make sure you see the Fushimi Inari Shrine but get there as early as you can. By 9am, its heaving.

Easter will be cherry blossom season so expect it to be busy, but its very beautiful.

Language is definitely a problem but you'd be surprised how far a smile and showing some pictures on google images will get you.

Pack for warm days but also pack for rainy days.

Eat everything - its all amazing. Japan isnt cheap but you can eat well for not much money. Ramen is your friend in this respect.

Fruit and veg is crazy expensive, dont expect to see much of it on your plate.

Fly direct into Haneda airport rather than Narita if possible; its the closest one to Tokyo. Taxis are extremely expensive so do not use. Their metro service is very good. There is a coach service from Narita to the centre of Tokyo which is very reliable and inexpensive.

Many Japanese people on the streets are very friendly and helpful but can be reserved. Many of them only speak vestigal English e.g hellow, thank you, goodbye etc. Tipping in hotels, bars and restaurants is not necessary.

I would book the flights asap due to the time of year you wish to go there. Prices can and do increase nearer departure day.

As Japan is in a major earthquake zone you should familiarise yourself with safety procedures in the event of an earthquake or tsunami, and take note of instructions in hotel rooms. I can attest to this!.

Japan is mainly a cash society. You may have difficulty using credit and debit cards issued outside Japan (we were ok and many places did accept Visa and Amex). Cirrus, Maestro, Link and Delta cash cards are not widely accepted. Japanese post offices, 7-Eleven stores and JP Post Bank have cash machines, which will accept some foreign cards during business hours. Cash machines at banks and post offices generally close at 9pm or earlier and may not operate at the weekends or on national holidays, however, ATMs in convenience stores and some shopping centres are available 24 hours a day. Check with your bank before travelling and take sufficient alternative sources of money for the duration of your stay.

Make sure you have adequate travel health insurance that covers pre-existing conditions and accessible funds to cover the cost of any medical treatment abroad and repatriation

PPs have given excellent advice here.

I would particular echo booking your flights asap. Spring is high season for Japan.

We flew direct from Heathrow to Haneda with Japan Airlines and would recommend highly

The only thing I would add to the excellent advice above, is that the Hyperdia app no longer works for planning rail journeys - the best alternatives are either Navitime or Jorudan.

I would join some of the Japan travel groups on FB. Ther is a lot of current information on there. The JR pass is going up in price in October, so it may not be worth getting. There is a JR pass fare calculator which will tell you if it's worth it or not. Also, I think that more places accept cards. We were there in 2019 ad I don't remember cards being a problem. I would also book the hotels asap, the prices go up quite quickly.

Small tip...there are stamps everywhere (as in ink stamps in tourist attractions, train stations etc) so take a book to stamp on your travels. It's great to look though afterwards.

Thank you so much for all of the excellent advice and tips. I will try and get it booked asap - seeing as it is peak season, and prices will only get higher.
@AttilaTheMeerkat thank you for flagging that it is a major earthquake zone - it is not something we had thought much about! But you're right - it's important to understand the safety procedures.

@Hyperion100 - thanks! Those are the places we are planning on visiting - and thanks for the tip about getting to the shrine super early to avoid the crowds. My daughter has been studying Japanese for 2 years (she's hoping to do GCSE Japanese in 2 years) and she has learnt a lot of the key phrases, and can read a bit of katagana and hiragana (sorry for the bad spelling! I have no idea!) so I'm hoping she knows enough to help us get by.

@tracylamont13 my two will LOVE the stamps - thanks for the tip!

@cherryassam - thanks for the tip - we were looking at Japan Airlines and ANA airlines.

@Solotravelleragain - noted! Thank you!

@watermelon89 - thanks for the tip about hotels. We usually book everything really last minute, but we will be unusually organised this trip.

Thanks again everyone for the helpful and fun replies!

Does anyone have any experience of food allergies in Japan? My daughter has a severe peanut allergy. Is packaged food well labelled there? We might end up cooking our own food, as it could be too risky to eat out.

@fernfriend

I know they are unfashionable in some quarters but don't forget that if you are travelling out of the UK then BA do LHR-Haneda, HND, non stop so might, be worth at least checking out for price and timings.

I think BA have dropped Narita, at least for now, and in any event Haneda is the much better option of the two for central Tokyo

I’ve got food allergies and intolerances and found it somewhat difficult in Japan compared to here.

Packaged food did usually list ingredients and allergens - but obviously only in Japanese. We spent a lot of time using Google Translate, and did learn the relevant words in Japanese to try and speed things up. We used allergy cards in Japanese too to ask store clerks for help.

Restaurants were a mixed bag. I’m lactose intolerant and most chain restuarants were fairly well set up to advise on this. I’ve got some unusual allergies too though and this wasn’t so easy - it would take a long time for the staff to check ingredients etc. and they often said they couldn’t guarantee no cross contamination. There were several places where they said we couldn’t eat there because they couldn’t accommodate us.

We usually booked in advance and would always flag the dietary requirements - I would suggest doing the same. We had better experiences at places we had booked than places we dropped in on.

I’d also recommend taking allergy cards written in Japanese explaining the situation. Don’t underplay things - we found being fairly blunt and direct was needed.

You can pay most places by cc, covid stopped the cash thing.

The rail pass is increasing significantly in price in October, plan carefully.

Check the Cherry blossom tracker for peak blossom time. Blossom in Tokyo is. More like the last two weeks of March (it peaked 22 March this year) and in Kyoto maybe still the first week or so of April. Depending on when easter falls next year, you may miss it (i haven’t checked dates). Blossom arrives and is gone again in 2, 3 weeks tops. In Kyoto - blossom around the philosophers walk is amazing, 2 kms of trees. If you want to do anything like boat/canal trio, book now. This year blossom viewing in Shinjuku Goen was ticketed for the top days, have a google to check to avoid disappointment.

The Japanese conbini is a thing of wonder and you can live out of them!

The tourists are back in a big way! Ninetendo store/Pokemon centre are HEAVING on the afternoons.

Don’t expect English.

In Kyoto, I can highly recommend Resistay Cotorune. Small kitchen to self cater and laundry facilities. The locals have lead a small revolt against the tourist bus pass so just double check the latest.

Taxi’s are INSANELY expensive.

Fly into Haneda.

Check the flight time - it is now almost 15 hours due to the russian air space ban.

The travel japan threads on Reddit are very helpful for info/checking the latests. Time Out Tokyo, Tokyo Weekender, Tokyo Cheapo also handy.

Tokyo Disney is AMAZING (i am not a disney person) and if you can spare it, go! Booking tickets is a nuts process that requires a drink in hand even before you start - Klook is your friend and TDE (The Disney Explorer)

My top tip is if you are traveling from city to city you can use a luggage collection service to send your luggage ahead of you. It's advertised in most of the hotels and is really easy to use - much better than trying to hump bags around!

Great choice for a holiday.

I visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka, hakone and I think one other town.

This was all part of a tour which was helpful to be on and met a lovely group of people.

We stayed in hotel and small family guest houses so really got a taste of Japan.

Can't remember who we flew with....sorry.

When there we used local buses, underground and bullet trains.

Japan is amazing. you'll love it. It's clean, safe, friendly, fascinating, stunningly beautiful with so many varied things to do.

I was glad we flew into Osaka and out of Tokyo as I wouldn't have fancied Tokyo with jet lag. Osaka is a much easier city to navigate if you are really tired. It has a pretty castle and really cool USA retro area full of games cafes and stunning architecture. The walk along the river with all the reflected coloured lights is amazing too.

Spend at least 3 nights, ideally 4 or 5 in Kyoto. There is SO much to see. Day trip to Nara, Golden and Silver Pavilions, incredible food markets, geisha district, the castle, Fushimi Inari etc.

We loved Arashiyama where you climb a hill to feed wild monkeys. There's also the golden pirate galleon boat trip and bamboo grove but the monkeys were the best bit imo. There's also a shop which sells pikachu shaped cakes and donuts - so cute.

Hakone is lovely with its onsen hot springs and gorgeous outdoor sculpture park as well as the cable car ride and stop off to the weird sulphur springs where they boil black eggs.

We did gorgeous hikes along the old Samurai trail - like walking into a Ghibli film (don't miss Ghibli museum in Tokyo if your children are fans - mine loved it)

My favourite moment was staying in a Buddhist nomastery on top of Mount Kobe. Everything about those two days felt like living in a fairy tale.

Tokyo is great - the crazy fashion in Harajuku, the shopping, the amazing museums, the sushi fish market and other amazing food experiences (the singing ice cream makers, the yakitori alley.

This was the 2023 blossom dates for example , it usually comes out around Feb for the new season and is updated weekly.

https://www.japan-guide.com/sakura/

Looks like easter2024 is 31 March

You don't need a rail pass -it depends on what you do as to iif it's worthwhile

I am flying into Tokyo and out Osaka so just one big rail trip so not worth it.

Just stumbled on this thread, great useful info. thank you.

I'm looking at going to Japan with my DH, and my teen DD and DS in the autumn of next year. We were originally planning to try the cherry blossom season but I'm nervous that it'll be too busy and DS is skiing in Easter too.

Would love to go for 3 weeks but I think we can only manage 2

I want to see Mount Fuji, Kyoto/Tokyo/monkeys/some sort of amazing theme park?