2 weeks in Japan - Tokyo, Kyoto and where else?

[FlossOnTheMill]

My husband and I are planning to visit in July or August. We have never been to Asia and neither of us speaks Japanese.

We are interested in exploring cultural sites but also hope to visit a couple of smaller cities and perhaps one or two rural locations. I have a guide book but feel somewhat overwhelmed...... where to start?

How easy is it to get around? Train or rental car?

I hear most Japanese don't speak English. Are restaurant menus and traffic signage, timetables etc just in Japanese?

Any information, tips, suggestions gratefully received!

Kanazawa is a gem of a place!

We did a lot of this too and Miyajima and Koya-San were our highlights

Look up Goodwill guides - every city has several organisations who run them. Volunteers who will take you off for a day and you don’t pay or tip. Try to get someone who is retired rather than a student who probably needs to practise their English. We had an amazing retired gentleman who’d lived in the states for 7 years and just loved showing people around Tokyo - we emailed a lot in the lead up so he could plan what to show us, took us off the beaten path and taught us how to navigate public transport, and took charge on our first day when we were jetlagged

I googled 15 day itineraries then ended up with a 19 day trip based on flight times and costs. Was planning on travelling by train. The JR pass is no longer worth it so PAYG.

5 days tokyo including Disney seas resort
1-2 nights in Hakone (can day trip it from Tokyo)
Travel to Kyoto by bullet train for 5 nights
Day trips to Kobe and Nara from Kyoto
Travel to Hiroshima by bullet train for 2-3 nights
Day trip to Miyajima essential
Travel to Osaka and stay at universal Osaka to do 1-2 days in the theme park
Can do Kobe and possibly Nara from here instead of Osaka.
Fly back from Osaka

I haven't done this yet as is crucifyingly expensive and the flights via China to get cheaper costs and shorter flight time were freaking me out with 24H layover in Beijing I really want to organise a travel visa and an escorted trip to the great Wall and the forbidden city in Beijing. With a 10yo and 13yo and 3 months to plan I went off it and now can't work out when will be a good time to go as no time right with school holidays etc.

I used to live there and work in JP tourism so a couple of thoughts. July/August are very hot and humid. It's the most unpleasant time to visit. March/April or Sept/Oct are far nicer.

Look into the train pass available to foreigners. There's a 7 day one you can use for around £250. Try to put all your 'travel' into those 7 days book ended by Tokyo and Kyoto. Buy before you depart and activate in Japan on arrival.

Japanese people learn english as a mandatory subject until 18 years of age so most can speak a bit if pressed. Obviously it would be great if you picked up a few Japanese words to use (konnichiwa, hai means yes, dozo means where?) because it will make people warm to you. Japanese hospitality is second to none. and they really are the loveliest, kindest people.

Try and have a bash at karaoke if you can. I know it looks daunting but it's more fun than you might think.

Gosh @jazzhands84 that has brought back memories of karaoke in a private room in Kyoto.
we went on a group tour with the now defunct Adventure Company when the internet was not like it was today ! We had a small group of 10 with a Japanese guide, it was brilliant, can't believe it was so long ago. We would never have managed without a guide then, no tripadvisor/forums/google translate !

and happy memories of ordering food from plastic displays in restaurants in the vast underground system in tokyo. It just blew me away, shops, restaurants, massages all underground in the Metro. And arriving in Tokyo from Narita airport on the train in rush hour that made London Victoria look like some country backwater in wales...

I'm a bit overwhelmed but thank you all so much! I'll try and draw a huge map with notes about the various places suggested and try and work out an itinerary. Unfortunately it'll have to be end July/beginning of August as husband has a conference to attend.

I think you'll be fine without the language. I lived there 25 years ago knowing none of the language when I arrived. It was in the early days of the internet, I didn't own a computer, there we no smartphones and I coped. I had friends to visit who travelled around by themselves and were fine just with a guide book. The bullet trains have announcements in English. And there are always friendly Japanese who can speak English and will approach lost looking foreigners and try to help. It is a very organised country with excellent, efficient public transport.

I'm not sure about hiring a car. I drove a company car when I lived there but don't think it's the best way to travel and see the best of Japan in a short time. The trains are excellent and fast. Some restaurants have English menus but lots have pictures of the food so it is easy to choose something you like the look of. Food is generally very good including in cheaper places. But these days with an app on your phone you can scan Japanese characters and translate them. When we travelled in China more recently, hotel and restaurant staff used their phones to translate conversations with us. You can always write something on your phone and Google translate it if someone doesn't speak English. I think you'll be fine.

Another vote for Nara. We travelled there from Osaka which we also enjoyed.

As a PP mentioned, we found having an international sim card really useful while our and about for helping with travel and maps. People were lovely and so helpful with directions but there is a language barrier so having Internet access is really useful.

It's amazing, just did it at the end of March beginning of April with my DD's. We did a couple of day's at a traditional Japanese Onsen (actually the oldest hotel in the world - it holds the world record as there has been a hotel on that site since 705 AD) in between Tokyo & Kyoto.

Japan is super easy to get around, the subway system is easy to navigate in Tokyo. Get an IC Card you put credit on them and can use them everywhere to pay to get around on the subway or buses, into palaces buy things in shops etc.

They drive on the same side as we do in the uk so if you fancy hiring a car it's really easy to get around. Also the Japanese people were lovely and friendly. I knew a bit of Japanese but only by doing duolingo but found it comparatively easy to understand as lots of words sound the same in Japanese and English.

I was there this Spring and will be going back next year. This year we spent 5 nights in Osaka and 6 in Tokyo. From Osaka we visited Kyoto, Nara and USJ and from Tokyo we visited Kamakura and spent 2 days at Disney.

My main takeaway for next year is to focus less on the famous sites instead use the bigger cities as bases to explore smaller towns and cities on day trips.

We won’t be bothering with USJ or Disneyland again (although we enjoyed both) but will probably try to fit in Disneysea so that we can see the new Fantasy Springs section, which hasn’t opened yet.

We loved Osaka. It’s like nowhere else in the world and feels totally different to Tokyo. I loved the food there. If you stay in a good location it’s a brilliant place to use as a base for visiting other places because it is so well-connected. We’re going to go back there next year and plan to go back to Nara (one of our favourite days) and to visit Wakayama and possibly Kobe and/or Himeji from there on day trips.

We are also going to spend 4-5 days in Hiroshima and use that as a base to visit Kurashiki and Onomichi on day trips. From Tokyo we’re going to head out to Kawagoe and Nikko.

I now speak and read some Japanese (have been studying for a couple of years) but you don’t need to and I couldn’t speak any beyond a few phrasebook phrases when I last went back in 2008. We survived just fine and there was far less written English around back then and we didn’t have Google translate in our pockets. I’d advise learning please (kudasai/onegaishimasu), thank you (arigatou gozaimasu), excuse me (sumimasen) and how to order things (point at the menu and say “kore hitotsu kudasai”) but you could get by without any. The camera translation feature is a game changer for reading packaging, menus and signage and you can download languages in the Google translate app so that you can still use it offline. You can also speak or type into it and show the translation to staff if needed. I used that a couple of times when I needed to ask for help with something that was beyond the reaches of my Japanese proficiency.

Take a 2-day trip from Tokyo to Nikko. You won't regret it. Even the train to get up there is an experience.

Osaka.

If you go to Hakone make sure you take the mount hakone rope way over the sulphur springs. The ropeway is a cable car and you get to it up a funicular. It's absolutely brilliant. If you get the Hakone Free Pass you can go via all sorts of exciting modes of transport including a ferry styled like some sort of old warship. The sulphur springs smelL revolting but it's still a fun thing to do, especially if you can persuade your travel companion to eat one of the black eggs that are the speciality of the springs
https://en.japantravel.com/kanagawa/black-eggs-of-owakudani-hakone/1052#:~:text=Owakudani's%20Black%20Eggs&text=These%20eggs%20are%20cooked%20in,the%20shells%20their%20unique%20color.