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!

@FeltCarrot how was your trip?

@SingaporeSlinky It was amazing although very cold when we were there (March) so we missed the promised early cherry blossom. We had snow flurries in Kyoto!

Have you finalised your trip yet?

@FeltCarrot what a shame about the cherry blossom!
What were the highlights for you? Anything you’d say is a must and anything you’d say to avoid?

Highlights for me and the rest of the family (DC 24 & 26) we’re definitely Hiroshima, seeing the A dome was quite sobering and the museum and peace park were very interesting, we had a day on Miyajima which we all enjoyed too although it poured with rain and was very busy.

We found getting around using the Shinkansen was easy and very comfortable, other modes of transport were fantastic too. Trains run on time and there are usually plenty of them. We used buses quite a lot in Kyoto, just make sure you have plenty of coins. We had a special “bus coin purse”!

For views of the Shibuya crossing, go to the Magnet building, you have to buy a drink to go up but the view of the crossing was much better than Shibuya Sky, although we were there at sunset (take an extra layer - it got cold!) so a great view of Tokyo with the sun going down.

We had a tea ceremony in Kyoto, the lady that did the ceremony was so graceful and explained all the movements - so different to making a mug of Tetleys at home.

Nara is worth a visit, we had a morning there to see the deer and the temple with the huge Buddha that was shown on Race Across the World.

We also spent a day at Universal for my sons birthday which was great fun.

Im not sure if it is still available but Jane Macdonald did a series on Japan which gave us a few ideas (think it was channel 5).

I could ramble on for ages about how clean (no litter anywhere - take a small rubbish bag with you and hand wipes, some of the toilets had no hand drying facilities) and how respectful and polite everyone was, it was sometimes just the little things, umbrella bags so you don’t drip in the shops or you leave your brolly in the racks and it WILL still be there when you go back for it! 7/11 Lawson etc are great for snacks/ lunch. Edamame crisps were a particular favourite!

Take an empty suitcase because you will fill it with souvenirs and weird flavour kitkats!

@FeltCarrot sounds brilliant!

Can you not use the Suica card on Kyoto buses?

Can I ask which tea ceremony you booked if you don’t mind?

Thanks for the tips - yes I’ve seen both Race Across the World and Jane Macdonald programmes, will try and watch both again if I can.

I’m using Trailfinders to plan, but to be honest they’re being a bit pushy in trying to get me to book every single thing with them - trains, day trips, walking guides etc. when all I’ve asked for is a basic flights and hotel package for now. I’m starting to wonder whether to just book it all myself. I’ve used them in the past and they’ve been great, but maybe it’s the extras they make their money on, so are trying to push that side of it, making it sound so easy, like they’ll guide us round everywhere. Just not sure that’s what we want.

We didn’t bother with a suica card and I think they were in short supply when we went anyway.

We booked it all ourselves. Didn’t use a travel agent but I suppose it depends where/what you want to do.

We started with a simple plan of Tokyo/Hakone (to stay in an Onsen hotel near Fuji/Hiroshima/Kyoto then fly home from Osaka.

We broke Tokyo in to areas and then planned sightseeing in those areas so we weren’t spending too much time travelling.

Shinkansen were booked in advance, but the local trains were fairly easy to navigate with Google maps and tech savvy kids!

For hotels we tried to stay near to the stations so we weren’t adding on extra travel. The stations are huge!

Hello, this is all v exciting and useful as we’re off on Sunday for two weeks, doing lots of things suggested here and also collecting ideas.
Given how bloody cold it’s been here (Scotland, forecast to hit a giddy 10 degrees today) I’m a tiny bit anxious about the heat and more the humidity. Any tips for chilly pale people to survive?!

Buy lots of fans! I also wish I’d bought a sun umbrella to start the trend over here!

Have an amazing time @Smartishpants

@Smartishpants have a fab time! What’s your itinerary like?

Thank you 😊 We’re in Tokyo for 4 days then Hakone for 2, then one night in Nagoya and then two nights in a ryokan in Takayama, then three nights in Kyoto probably with a trip to Nara, and then Hiroshima and finally Osaka where we’ve booked sea kayaking at Miyajima Island, fly home from Osaka.

We booked through a company called Stubborn Mule who basically did it all for us, so far they have been great. We have a DS16 so the teen list is particularly useful. I can’t believe it’s this weekend!

@SingaporeSlinky we usually book flights, accommodation and travel separately when we go on holiday and plan our route ourselves and we did the same for our trip to Japan and south Korea last year. If you are used to doing it (or even if you are not) I would recommend it - it worked well for us.

We used our Suica cards in Kyoto and other places without an issue.

We are in the middle of our trip right now. The weather is currently hot and dry but we did have some rain a few days ago. In particular in rained heavily for the whole day we had booked to go to see Mount Fuji which was disappointing and I wish we had cancelled.

You can use Suica on trains and buses in Tokyo, Kyoto Hiroshima and Osaka, probably more but those are the places we have already used it. If you have an iPhone you dont need a physical card as you can use the digital version in your wallet. Works really well as you don't even need to have the card open on your phone and double click like you do when using a credit card in apple wallet you just tap your phone on the gate. Do bring some cash, not much but there are some places which are cash only. We have also used it for laundry as most of the hotels have a self serve washer and dryer.

We used the luggage service for one of our longer journeys as we have done a 2 day bike ride and we didn't want to leave it in a station locker. This worked well but did cost us about £40.

Hiroshima was very moving. We walked round the museum in absolute silence as everyone was taking it all in. It's quite graphic and doesn't hold back on the details.

I would recommend trying to plan some time away from the major cities. The scenery is stunning particularly around the islands.

Hope you all have as good a trip as we are having.

What kind of airfares are people paying? Looking next Easter, around £1000 each return is so expensive

We paid around £1200 return in March this year. Booked last July, Manchester to Tokyo and return from Osaka.

@MakeTeaNotWar I’m seeing more like £1500 each, it’s gone up so much, partly because you now have to fly around Russia which adds hours onto the flight

We paid £1900pp this Easter for LHR-HEL-KIX and then HND-LHR which was eye watering. We probably could have got the same flights for about £1500pp if we’d booked last summer but had to wait until October for people to get their work rotas and book leave.

We’re looking at about £1700pp for next Easter for LHR-HND and then HIJ-HND-LHR. We could save a few hundred quid by flying BA rather than JAL but our experience in JAL economy this year was so good that we’re happy to pay a bit more to fly with them for the wider seats, 2-4-2 layout and their generally excellent customer service. We flew Finnair on the way out and JAL on the way back this year and Finnair was fine, but JAL was a noticeably better experience.

£1000 return sounds like a real bargain to me… I couldn’t find anything close to that price with a decent route for our dates. Flights are expensive but hotels are reasonable and food/attractions/souvenirs/general spends in Japan are really cheap with the current exchange rate.

We think our two week trip next year will cost about £3500 each for everything.

£1700pp in flights, up to £1000pp in accommodation, approx £200pp in Shinkansen travel and up to £600pp for food and general spends. We can afford to spend more if we want, but don’t think we’ll need to.