Japan

[Ponderingwindow]

It turns out every member of my household not only dreams of a trip to Japan, they have a list of specific things they want to do while there. It was an interesting dinner conversation.

the catch is that we are all massively intimidated by such a trip. How do you even start thinking about planning?

I've been to Japan and it wasn't at all intimidating, it was however insanely expensive everywhere. Everyone was very kind and helpful and there were lots of tourists from all over the world holidaying there

I’ve been twice and there really is no reason to be intimidated by a planning a Japan trip.
Japan is really safe and really easy to travel around by public transport. Whilst you can plan and plan a trip for months you will also be just fine with just a rough idea of things you want to see and places you want to go. It isn’t necessary to have a strict day-by-day itinerary.

Book flights and hotels, make sure you have an idea of where the things that you want to see are located (so that you aren’t cross-crossing cities for no reason) and make sure you are aware of any attractions that need advance booking (like the Ghibli museum) and book them in advance. If you do that you’ll be fine.

What are the things on your list? As long as you’re realistic about the amount that you can do and see and the distances between places then there’s no reason to worry about it being complicated.

I have done it pre-children, about 15 years ago. It wasn't hard then and we didn't have google maps or google translate. DH and I booked return flights to Tokyo, and also hotel in Tokyo and Kyoto. We food a premier inn equivalent in Japan and booked directly with the hotel. It felt very safe and everything was very easy to do. Public transport was excellent. The only bit of planning we did was find out where we can withdrawal cash using our Visa cards! They had a different banking system then and most machines won't accept Visa or Mastercard. We had to get money out from postoffice machines. I'm sure things have improved by now.

I think the most important thing is decide how many places you want to visit and then book your accomodation accordingly.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays/4731167-family-trip-to-japan

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays/5079189-2-weeks-in-japan-tokyo-kyoto-and-where-else

Went to Japan in April. Just me and DH, no agents, no group tours, no language, covered a loop of 1300km in the central part, coast to coast. BA flight is direct, and getting from Haneda to Tokyo is quick and easy (express train or reasonably priced taxi). Getting around Tokyo is an absolute breeze, public transportation is insanely well designed and all routes are numbered AND colour coded, very easy to navigate! Major tourist attraction spots have English announcements on trains/buses. Speed trains to destinations like Kyoto or Osaka are a breeze as well. To be honest, the hardest part was getting restaurant bookings, as there is no centralised online platform to book and to call you obviously have to speak Japanese. But the hotel reception staff were incredibly helpful throughout and always did their best to help us make a booking.

Thanks. It helps to read about others experience.

I went to Japan a few months ago and found absolutely everything to be WAY cheaper than the UK - hotels, transport, meals out, coffees, snacks, entrance to attractions. I bought a bag, shoes, loads of toiletries whilst there because the prices were so reasonable. We came home with £500 we hadn't spent out of the budget we thought we'd need. So - complete opposite experience to Tara336! I do live in London so maybe that's part of it.

At the railway stations there are ticket offices with people who can help you (unlike the UK) and they tend to speak sufficient English.

Cafes and restaurants are slightly different but most of them have plastic displays of the dishes on offer outside (I kid you not) and you can always just point and smile.

I found it a very energising visit, so many interesting cultural differences to take in, a great variety of sights and landscapes, and being treated with smiles and politeness everywhere you go is extremely refreshing. It's great to see thriving cities, no boarded up shops, very few signs of extreme poverty like homelessness or begging, just everything clean and busy and efficient. All the big cities we visited (Osaka, Kyoto, Matsuyama, Hiroshima) had rivers and canals running through. Very appealing.

@Ponderingwindow We are fortunate enough to use tour agents who put together a bespoke tour for us. We do have enough money to do this and consider where we stay as part of the experience but it’s not cheap. We look at recommendations from the company regarding where to go and what to do but of course have our own ideas too. They are accommodated and we also had a cooking lesson and went to the Pontocho Kamogawa Odori in Kyoto as well as a walking tour of Kyoto which were very enjoyable. We also walked part of the Nakasendo Highway.

We wouldn’t go near a theme park. The hotel in Kyoto made restaurant reservations for us. We found everyone very helpful but I don’t want to do every last bit of the detailed planning and booking. We like taking advice and doing our own research and it’s then not daunting. Except getting the wrong train back to Tokyo from Kamakura!

@TizerorFizz

did you do a group tour or just use a company that plans your itinerary?

my fantasy vacation is Disney’s flight around the world. It’s not because I love Disney that much. It’s because I hate planning, Disney are great with allergies, and I value comfort when I travel. That holiday is far outside of my budget, but if we do go to Japan we will want to do it with an eye towards ease and comfort.

Yes, I wondering @Tara336 was maybe there some time ago? Japan was crazily expensive 35 years ago, but since then they have stagnation and deflation.

Some prices from our trip last year:

• 500ml Coke from a vending machine 85p
• Set lunch (soup, main, rice, condiments) £6
• Bottle of decent Italian red wine at the 7/11 £4.50

@Ponderingwindow
We had reward flights. Audley Travel did all the planning within Japan. I cannot see what Disney has to offer!? Audley did a bespoke holiday for us. I think several other companies will do such tours for you. Inside Japan is worth looking at.

So we looked at what itineraries Audley suggested and changed it a bit to suit us. Everything was then sorted out by them. You can get other hotels or book one yourself if you don’t like their suggestions. We did this in Chile.

Some places I organise myself, eg USA, but Japan seemed like a good place to get some help and insights into activities like the cooking. I wanted the theatre and they sorted out the tickets. We stayed at some places that get very booked up and I’m quite choosy so getting in early was good because Audley knew when booking opened.

@TizerorFizz The Disney holiday she’s talking about is about a month long and you travel by private jet to every Disney park in the world, with private tours in the parks, at certain studios and tours of the cities. They also take you to the Pyramids of Giza and the Taj Mahal. It includes all meals and accommodation in the top tier Disney hotels.

I think it’s about £100k per person. It’s not for me, but I can see why the sort of holiday where you just turn up an they whisk you around the world in luxury and you don’t have to think about planning any transport or meals or logistics might appeal to the OP, even if they aren’t really into Disney.

It’s a bit like those year long round the world cruises. I don’t seriously think I’d enjoy it but I can see the appeal.

Just had a great holiday in Japan with DC. So much easier than I expected. Just do it!

@Takoneko Cannot imagine anything worse than a Disney holiday like that! A bespoke holiday can include all arrangements though. If that’s what you want and will pay for.

Went to Japan at Easter with my DC (5&7) and DH.
we had an amazing time! Like you we were intimidated by organising the trip ourselves and ended up doing it through trailfinders who were great. It was self guided but all transport and accommodation was organised in advance.
i am now so much more comfortable and would be able to book myself now. We flew into Tokyo, stayed for 5 nights then went to Hiroshima for 2 nights and Kyoto for 5 nights (with day trips to Osaka and Nara). It was fabulous.

Hi does anyone know the best time of year to buy flights? We are hoping to go to Japan next summer (tied to school holidays and exam schedules!) thanks

For long haul flights we tend to book as soon as they publish the flights, which is about 11 months before your return date. By then we'll have been keeping an eye on the various airlines/available routes for a few weeks so we have some idea of price and which airline/route we're going to purchase tickets for. There are quite a lot of options with Japan - both direct and indirect - so it's worth doing some research to figure out the right option for you.

Placemarking this post.

In the late stages of planning our trip which starts in 3 weeks. We have done it all ourselves as everything is online. Hoping it all goes to plan and there isn't something I haven't thought about.

Hope you have a great time! What do you have planned?

We used a company just to book our hotels and train tickets as were short of time to plan it. We used trailfinders last year, went everywhere by train, didn’t get the JR pass as it was more expeNaive than separate tickets.

it’s perfectly possible to do on your own, you don’t need a tour group.

once you are there it’s not that expensive if you eat set lunches, or noodles, and hotels even if cheap will be safe and clean, (though the cheaper ones may have shared facilities).

Following as we have just started to think about having a family trip to Japan in a couple of years time 😊

My carer has been a few times. He does speak some Japanese and on his last trip found an English language rakugo group.

He has mostly gone to Tokyo but has been to Kyoto.

He stays in hostels and get the cheapest flights available. He's going back in September.

@Takoneko our itinerary is as follows
5 nights in Tokyo to include Teamlabs planets and a Day trip to Mount Fuji which are booked. The rest we have designated an area per day to explore

3 nights in Kyoto to include Ashiabara forest and Fushimi Inari and a few other temples/ just wandering.

1 night in Hiroshima to include Peace park museum/ gardens/ myajima if we can fit it in

2 days and 1 night on the Seto inland sea islands doing the Shiminami Kaido bike ride (weather permitting) to get away from the cities for a while.

2 nights in Osaka to include Osaka castle and Dotonbori area

2 more nights in Tokyo to include sunset from Shibuya Sky if I can get it booked at the right time 🤞🏼

Then on to New Zealand/Hong Kong and Mumbai.