Japan planning thread

[Takoneko]

I’ve just booked the hotels for my third trip to Japan next year and about to start planning the itinerary in earnest.

Japan threads pop up here quite a bit and I think people spend a lot of time on planning for Japan trips. I thought it might be nice to have a shared thread where we can pool questions, tips and share research for anyone who has a trip coming up.

All budgets and styles of trip are welcome, whether you’re going hiking, temple-hopping, skiing or visiting theme parks, maid cafes and arcades and whether you’re going to hostels or 5 star hotels. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to enjoy Japan. It has something for everyone.

We’re a couple in our late 30s and our trip will be mid-budget, probably up to about £3.4k per person with food and spends. We’ve splashed out a bit on direct JAL flights and have upgraded all our hotel rooms to at least king size beds in hotels that are in really well connected locations. They are all mid-range Japanese business hotel chains rather than luxury hotels though. (Candeo, Daiwa Roynet and Sotetsu Fresa). We like Japanese food but we’re definitely more likely to be eating eat in mom and pop restaurants and mid-range Japanese chains than in fancy kaiseki places. Any recommendations for mid range restaurants with relaxed atmospheres would be very welcome.

We plan to use the Sanyo-San’in rail pass in the second half of our trip and would be really interested to share ideas for places to visit with anyone else who is planning on using that pass (or who has used it in the past). At the moment we are thinking Iwakuni, Miyajima, Kurashiki and Onomichi from Hiroshima and Himeji and Uji from Osaka, but we are open to other ideas. I speak passable tourist Japanese and we are ok with going to places that don’t cater to English speakers and muddling through with broken Japanese and Google translate.

My bro is likely to be in Osaka until August 2026. I’m thinking of a trip with my 7 and 11 yos in late 2025 or spring 2026 ideally during the school breaks (more or less)
I have never travelled like this, solo or with kids. and never saved for a big trip.

where do you start?

@Umineko That looks like exactly the sort of place we would like. I have added that to our list to look out for.

I can’t say that is something I’ve noticed. I’d say one double bed is the norm. We sleep in a king bed at home and the standard hotel room at most places we looked at is a double room with a standard double bed. We want at least a king sized bed or a twin room if there’s no king rooms and had to shop around a bit. Small double rooms are definitely the norm in Tokyo and Osaka.

Which sites are you looking on and when are you travelling? If you try to book more than about 9 months in advance you’ll get odd search results as most Japanese hotels don’t accept bookings until 6-9 months in advance.

Which places are you going to be staying in?

I'd start with costing it out. Flights will likely be your biggest expense, so play around on Google Flights for next year to get an idea of costs. You'll likely be flying into Tokyo or Osaka, so I'd then consider if you want to travel within Japan or just stick to wherever your brother will be. It's not a necessity; you can do day trips from those cities (and possible from where your brother lives) and still have an awesome experience. I wouldn't worry too much about accommodations or specific attractions as it's too far out to book anything. Read the older threads here about Japan as a lot of the advice is still applicable and is somewhat timeless.

@MumonabikeE5 Osaka is a brilliant place to use as a base for exploring Japan. The transport links from Osaka are really good. If you plan to use Osaka as a base for day trips then I would choose a station on the Midosuji line anywhere between Namba and Umeda and get a hotel as close to the station as possible.

We flew into Osaka (KIX) with Finnair and would absolutely recommend it just on Helsinki airport alone. There are no direct flights to Osaka and Helsinki is the best airport for transfers that I’ve ever used. The non-Schengen to non-Schengen transfer process was a dream and the airport is a pleasant place to spend an hour or so waiting for your next flight.

@Takoneko we went back to the peace park for night time photos and then stumbled into this izakaya on our route back to the hotel. It wasn't flash but they did simple food cooked well with cold beer and it was one of DH's favourite meals. Definitely a jeans and T shirt kind of place and we were the only westerners in while we were there.

Our other dinner was in an Irish bar (the only place we could find that was showing the rugby) and while it was a great night to remember chatting with the locals over beer and rugby it isn't somewhere I would recommend in other circumstances.

@Specialnameforanoutingthread That’s exactly the sort of place we like. Are you able to share a link to the google maps location? I can’t for the life of me find the exact place myself.

Hi @Takoneko Im hoping this works - Google says its about a 3 minute walk from the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall.

It does! Thanks so much.

Did anyone watch David Attenborough, Asia, last night? It had a section on Nara and dears.

I’m packing and flying in the morning. Tokyo is forecast 13-17 degrees during my stay, I will take that.

I didn’t but I will check it out. I loved the Nara deer. They were definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. Apparently there have been quite a lot of tourists injured recently, but I didn’t see any random aggression from deer. I did see deer biting and ramming when people with stacks of crackers were trying to feed groups deer together. If they feel like you might overlook them they get bitey. Only ever have one cracker at a time in your hand (keep any spares zipped in your bag) and only feed one deer at a time and you should avoid any issues.

13-17 degrees sounds like perfect sightseeing weather to me. I hope you have a fantastic time. What’s your rough itinerary?

Day 1 walking through Shibuya through park to Meiji-jingu train to Shinjuku for evening food tour.

Day 2 early bullet train to Kyoto wander around nightlife
Day 3 Kyoto and Nara
Day 4 train to Osaka spend a day there get a train back to Tokyo
Day 5 Teamlabs & Senso Ji
Day 6 Akihabara

I haven’t decided the detail beyond day 2. I’ve got a long plane and train journey to do that part. Maybe Sushi Hajami in Shibuya for dinner one evening.

@Takoneko yikes! It’s the rutting season too. I will stick to admiring rather than feeding.

It sounds a bit scary but their behaviour was very predictable. I didn’t once see a deer doing anything that you couldn’t predict or steer clear of if you keep your wits about you. I think some people just forget that they are wild animals. If you treat them like wild animals and keep cautious and back off if they aren’t interested then it’s nice to be able to interact with them and they do love a biscuit.

@SunnyTimes3 Wow! That’s a busy itinerary. You’re really packing in the greatest hits there. It sounds very busy, but really great fun.

Have an amazing time! I agree, Nara was one of our highlights, it wasn’t too busy and we saw no issues with the deer. The temples and the Buddha were stunning! We went to an amazing place for lunch which did fab bento boxes including a cherry blossom one, it was called Izasa Todaiji Temple Mommae Yumekaze Hiroba.
Weather sounds perfect for your trip, looking forward to hearing all about it!

Everything is so much closer than it looks on a map. I walked from Shibuya station, over Scramble Crossing and up to Meiji-jingu entrance to park in 30 mins. Very quite at 9.30 then very busy at 10.30 so get there early for no crowds. Beautiful time of year to visit, yellow and red foliage is out.

@Waffles21 glad you enjoyed Nara. I think we mistimed our trip. We went on a sunny saturday and found it far too busy for our liking. I didn't like the way the deer were treated either. In contrast the deer on Miyajima were given much more space, with signs everywhere telling p[eople not to feed them or engage. The deer crackers sold in Nara exacerbated the problem I felt. Wild animals should be allowed to be wild, and I felt Nara had created a bit of a problem.

It looks like you had glorious weather. The autumn leaves look beautiful.

I also find Tokyo a very walkable city. It’s such a lovely place to walk around.

I had a very different experience to expected in Kyoto last night. It was very quiet in the Geisha district. The side streets have mostly been closed off for privacy. The area was void of people except for the tea houses comings and goings.

I saw a Maiko with her teeth painted black walking to her graduation as a Geiko.

Wish I had of taken notice of the tip to use storage at the train station. There are hundreds of lockers. I’m probably repeating things but, the Shinkansen carriages 1-3 are for unreserved seats. This helps if you want to plan but don’t want to be tied down to a particular timed train (get delayed) I arrived 15 minutes early and the beginnings of very orderly queues for carriages 1-3 were forming on the platform. I had a choice of many seats. A family of 4 got on at the last minute and still found seats although they sat apart. Take water on this journey as you can’t buy it on the train (or can you and I just sat thirsty 🤔)

I’m walking over 10 miles a day. There are masseuses everywhere ¥3000 for 30 mins to help tired feet. I thought that was a good price.

@SunnyTimes3 I’m glad you had a good experience in Kyoto. Maybe I might try it again one day at a less hectic time of year.

We also did a huge amount of walking. I liked these cooling gel patches that you stick to the bottom of your feet at the end of a long day. They sell them in drugstores and konbinis. Most evenings involved a long soak in a bath with some bath salts and then some of these stuck to my feet before bed.

Oops! Picture didn’t work.

@SunnyTimes3 How did the rest of your trip go?