Japan and currency

[SingaporeSlinky]

We’re looking at travelling to Japan in the next few years and I know the exchange rate is really good at the moment. Can anyone advise if you need to carry cash while in Japan or will cards be accepted everywhere? I’m wondering if it’s worth buying some Yen now, but then if the exchange rate stays the same as it currently is, you get a better rate just using the card whilst there. Plus, if I exchanged say £1-2000 there’s the possibility that losing a few years worth of interest on that negates any benefit of the good exchange rate.

Also, while I’m here, I know flights from UK to Japan are currently taking the long flight routes due to avoiding Russian airspace so it’s adding a few hours to the flight time. Is there an obvious stopover we could do for a few days to break up the flight, or would you advise just getting one long flight over with, to spend all available time in Japan? We have young teens so a 14 hour flight is doable, but would be the longest flight they’ve ever done, and not particularly pleasant for adults. I’m torn between thinking it’s a good opportunity to see another county / city for a few days (maybe Dubai or Singapore?) but it would still be 2 long flights and once you factor in the extra travel time to and from airports, and waiting around at the airport etc that’s time we could have just had in Japan.

Sorry that’s so long!

@ImnotadickheadIpromise thank you, that’s what I’m thinking. I’m sure I’d find it ok, there will obviously be some things to see, as with any city, and I’ve heard the food is good - not sure I could eat octopus though! At the moment I’m leaning towards a day trip to Nara, and spending the rest of the time in Kyoto just exploring Kyoto. Even if we used a day to just slowly wander and do a bit of shopping. Just wasn’t sure if I was missing a ‘must see’.

@SingaporeSlinky I admit I put my ethical food considerations to one side while I was there, would never consider ordering octopus otherwise! I’d say skip it tbh and can see another poster said the same - not sure if I’m biased though as it was also the very last stop on a very long trip for me.

The market tour in Kyoto I previously mentioned is very good, also the same guide does a tour of Gion and Pontocho Alley and he’s really knowledgable about the geisha, tea houses etc. - so interesting! I also embraced the tourist spirit and had a photo shoot dressed as a courtesan - or should I say they dressed me as the kimonos were so heavy I couldn’t walk!

@BarrelOfOtters thank you, so similar views. We will have around 14-16 days I think, so could spare a day in Osaka, but I’m leaning towards skipping it. We’ll have had about 5 days in Tokyo at the start, and probably 4-5 in Kyoto so plenty of time to explore and they’re obviously very different to each other. I think another 2 nights in Tokyo at the end before flying out.

Cash - we took a lot of cash and glad we did as it isn't a given places take cards. I also withdrew cash as my First Direct debit card lets me do that without additional fees. Revolut was patchy - I think in the end only one hotel took it but we basically stopped trying it.

It's a lovely very easy place to travel round and you'll be wowed by whatever you end up seeing.

The food is fabulous.

Yes, I think going back to Tokyo is a spot on idea, and look at day trips from Tokyo too - Nikko if it's not already on your list.

Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto is amazing, we did a private tour with a guide that took you through the back way up the hill so basically missing all the tour groups. We also went back ourselves about 8pm at night and walked a bit of the way up (not all the way as it's far and there are wild boars) but enough for it to be atmospheric and no people.

@BarrelOfOtters its such a beautiful place isn’t it… although we went the morning after our Japanese whisky tasting and I had a snooze in the visitors area instead of doing the hike 🤣

Your username also reminds me of the otter cafe I went to in Harajuku where I had two of them curled up asleep on my knee - adorable!

@BarrelOfOtters Thank you, that’s something I’ll look into. I know everyone wants that perfect photo of the orange gates with no one spoiling the shot, and I did read that if you just keep walking through, you’ll get it, because a lot of people just pose at the start and don’t do the entire long walk.

I can’t remember who was asking about tea ceremonies, but we did one in Kyoto through an organisation called WAK Kyoto. It’s a women’s cultural organisation housed in a traditional Japanese building. I think it was about two hours during which time we were dressed in traditional Japanese robes and kimono, had photos taken, then participated in a tea ceremony (or a section of it, apparently the full Traditional ceremony takes four hours!) And then had a short origami workshop. To be honest, it was the part of our holiday that we were most unsure about – in this day and age, it seemed possibly like cultural appropriation to be dressing up and taking photos with traditional paper parasols etc. However, it was very tastefully done and we were the only people there. The tea ceremony was fascinating, absolutely every movement and every element has a meaning and tradition behind it. I think you would have to decide for yourself, whether your teenagers would enjoy it or would get a fit of the giggles. I expect there are probably several places where you could participate in tea ceremonies, but I’d certainly recommend this one.

I lived in Japan for a bit and I have to say that a full on tea ceremony is not something I'd partake in again.

We dropped in to tea houses at a couple of temples and gardens and had a cup and a cake and admired the view and that was sufficient. I had to drink DH's tea and eat his cake as neither was to his taste.

It's 2 ours of something not terribly exciting to most teenagers I would expect, whereas popping in for green tea and a cake might be....

Yes I was wondering about tea ceremonies. I think DH and one teen would rather do something else. I could probably convince the other teen to come with me, not sure I’d feel the need to pay extra to dress up though. Tea and sweets or cake sounds better.

Interesting to hear others views of Osaka. We actually prefer it in lots of ways to Tokyo. It’s a bit like comparing London and Manchester, Osaka is still a fairly large city but a lot less crowded. It’s called the kitchen of Japan, if you are a fan of seafood, I’m thinking Takoyaki and Okinomiyaki then it won’t disappoint.
The castle is pretty stunning (I thought) and if you are travelling adults or have older children, the night life is great.

If you aren’t going to go back to Japan for a while, I would suggest checking Osaka out, even if you just spend one night and only head to Dontonburi. I would also suggest flying into or from there as the airport is smaller and very well organised.

I’ve heard Fukuoka is great, very calm and tranquil. I’ve never been, may check it out next time we are there

@EddieHoweBlackandWhiteArmy thanks for the other perspective. Funnily enough I was going to say earlier in the thread that I realise it’s like visiting London from overseas, and then asking “is it worth visiting Manchester too?”. So it’s funny you used the exact same example. Actually none of us are big seafood eaters and we have young teens, so nightlife wouldn’t appeal either.
I think we’ll plan not to stay there, certainly, but will research some more and decide if we want to visit for a day trip from Kyoto.

@EddieHoweBlackandWhiteArmy loved the Takoyaki! But the best Okonomiyaki I found was in Hiroshima

Hiroshima is also on my list to visit next time we are there!

Oh I wish I could get Okonomiyaki here, so delicious! The peace Park in Hiroshima is a wonderful place to visit, peaceful, but very sobering. They do volunteer tours in different languages, and our tour guide introduced himself by simply saying. “My name is Masato and I am a survivor of the bomb”. He was six months old at the time and his 10-year-old sister, who was asleep on the other side of their home died.

@AlohaRose its surprisingly easy to make in a frying pan! Totally agree about the peace park, and the museum was heartbreaking too

Hi @SingaporeSlinky (love the name, i lived in SG for many years!). We (DP, DS2 and I) were in Japan this past summer, and had about £300 in yen in cash, but we mostly survived on card. Bigger kid friendly restaurants took card, but the smaller (and frankly more fun/authentic places) didn't so we did have to get a bit more cash out while there.

Def recommend the direct flight. We flew BA, but you have JAL and ANA from London as well. Another good option was BA to Frankfurt then JAL, or BA to Helsinki then Finn/JAL. DS passed out on the overnight portion, then we just powered through to get from Tokyo to Kyoto. The first night we were wrecks, but seemed to all adjust pretty quickly the next day!

based on your plans, are you planning to get the Japan Rail Pass? It went up massively in cost in October, but might still be worth it. It covers the main metro lines in Tokyo and Kyoto, so if you take more than 3 return long distance train trips, it might be worth it!

All in all, it was a super fun trip, so you guys are going to enjoy the * out of it 😂

@CityGirlintheCountry thank you. I will need to work out nearer the time whether the JR Pass will be worth the money. I did read that if there’s not much of a cost difference, it might be worth it for the convenience of having one pass, rather than needing to constantly book and pay for individual tickets, but I’ll have to see.

Latest version of plan is fly direct to Tokyo for 5 nights, Hakone for 2, Kyoto for 5, Hiroshima for 2, then train back to Tokyo for 2 final nights. But May still change.

We’d have to get the 2 week pass which I know will cost a fortune for 4 of us.

@SingaporeSlinky I’ve just realised the company I went with does a family trip as well which might give you some more ideas as it’s a similar itinerary to where you’re planning on going. Here is the link:

https://thedragontrip.com/tour/12-day-japan-family-adventure/

I’m glad I did an organised trip as I’d have been so stressed making all the separate bookings and my rail pass, etc was already included

I would recommend klook.com if you want to book any activities in advance- they have travel passes on there too

Theres a calculator on the JR website where you put in where you’re going and it tells you if it’s worth buying the pass. I put in your itinerary and it said that the JR pass would be ¥33,000 more expensive per person than buying individual tickets. You will probably also use it for some local journeys but nowhere near enough to come close to breaking even.

With the most recent price increase you need to have an insanely packed itinerary for a JR pass to be good value. Your route would just about justify the cost of a 7 day pass… but who would want to squeeze Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto-Hiroshima-Tokyo into 7 days?

@Takoneko thank you for that, that’s good to know. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be worth it, but you’ve saved me a job. I can’t see us adding much to the itinerary, even with a few side trips to Nara etc. They’re not long distances. It’s a shame they’ve put the prices up so much as it certainly would have been convenient to have one card for all those trips, but never mind.

@ImnotadickheadIpromise thank you, I’ll take a look at that itinerary.

Something I mentioned on another thread was the hugely convenient baggage service. Every hotel desk does this or local shops. Especially if ypu have anything larger than carry on and are going to hakone. Send your main bags on to the hotel after hskone from tokyo . its about £5 a bag but so worth it. www.global-yamato.com/en/hands-free-travel/scene02.html

@BarrelOfOtters thats a very good point, totally forgot that. When we went to Hakone we left the bags in one of the rail station lockers and just took a small backpack each for our night there