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.

@OldieButBaddie I think the deer population in Miyajima has now settled and the situation is a lot better now so I wouldn’t let that put you off. I don’t think you’ll be seeing starving deer in 2025.

However, if you are looking for places a bit off the usual tourist path along your route then take a look at Kurashiki and Onomichi to see if they appeal to you. We’re also looking forward to spending a day in Uji, which is easily reached from Osaka or Kyoto.

It’s hard to say whether you might enjoy Kyoto enough that you can look past the crowds but I visited Kyoto at the exact time you are planning to in 2024 (our trip was 31st March-13th April) and like your friends I found it to be “hell on a stick”.

Osaka and Tokyo can also be very crowded in the most touristy spots in early April but the infrastructure of those cities just copes so much better with the numbers.

Thanks! That's very helpful

I had a look at those two places but they both seem to be cities, we are looking for a break from cities, somewhere rural for some nature and hiking. If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful!

(we are not that fussed about looking at lots of Temples btw)

Ah… I see. Wakayama prefecture? Very reachable from Osaka and has some beautiful scenery and outdoors hiking stuff as well as coasts and beaches.

https://www.visitwakayama.jp/lsc/upfile/pamphlet/0000/0031/31_201_file.pdf

@OldieButBaddie Also, if you’re not that fussed about lots of temples then I think staying in Osaka rather than Kyoto definitely makes more sense.

The hike out to the Minoh Falls and Katsuoji temple in Minoh, Osaka might be up your street.

Sorry I missed that. Thank you

We are planning on a Japan trip later this year: this thread has given lots of food for thought. Thanks all!

For anyone with a spring trip, the first Sakura forecast for this year is now out. I’m sharing this with the caveat that last year’s initial forecast was wrong by 1-2 weeks.

https://n-kishou.com/corp/news-contents/sakura/?lang=en

I think some temples are a must though. It’s Japanese culture and seeing none is missing an important part of the country. The hike from Magome to Tsumago is good. Look at the old post route trails.

We're going to Japan at Easter and I have a few questions, if anyone can help. We're two adults and two teen boys (17 & 13). We're visiting Osaka, Kyoto, half day trip to Nara, Hakone and Tokyo with day trip to Nikko.
My questions are:

• if you travelled with teens to those places (particularly teen boys), was there anything that your kids really loved?
• where did you stay in Hakone and would you recommend it? There seem to be three or four separate villages and the accommodation is quite expensive. I've reserved a place near the lake, but it's more than we'd really like to spend, so I'm open to suggestions.
• if you did a guided tour of Tokyo, which one did you do and would you recommend it? I've reserved (but not paid for yet) a group tour that's 9-10 hours long and I'm pretty sure that our kids are going to hate it. The plus for that is that it's very comprehensive and it includes all the entrance tickets and lunch, but I've been looking at private tours, which I think would work better. However, I'm just wondering if we'll have a problem getting into the big sights and how long we'll have to queue in peak season as the private tours seem to include car + driver (who provides info and commentary), but he just drops us off in each place. Any recommendations for this would be very welcome. TIA!
• if you did laundry on your trip, how easy was it to find a laundrette?

@cheezncrackers which area are you staying in Tokyo and how many days/nights?

@SunnyTimes3 6 nights staying in Shinjuku

@cheezncrackers thats great. I would do away with the long tour, walk or take the loop train to different places on different days and book shorter fun tours (2-3 hours long) like the go carting/bikes/ninja/food tours/boat trips etc

@SunnyTimes3 so just do the sightseeing ourselves and don't worry about a guided tour at all? That's quite appealing tbh. What is the loop train? Is that the whole metro or a particular line?

Magical Trip Tours was recommended to me further up the thread.

I am back as I’m thinking of going to Japan again in September 2026. I would like to tour Southern Japan and beaches. Are the winds too high in September?

@cheezncrackers yes go for it yourselves. Plan out one or two sights a day and throw in a fun short tour now and again. There is a train line that is a bit like the circle line in London, which I found comforting to start using first as if I missed my stop or got it wrong it was only a matter of time before I circled back.

@cheezncrackers The loop line in Tokyo is called the Yamanote line. It goes through a lot of the key tourist areas. It isn’t always the quickest or most efficient way to get from one part of the city to the other, but it can be convenient for a lot of journeys if you’re staying along it.

@cheezncrackers OP is brilliant at details if you read back I’m sure there are links to the train map.

@cheezncrackers Many hotels will have a coin laundry. Some even have a feature where you can check on the status of the laundry machines on the tv in your room so you know if there are machines free and how long is left on any loads that are running.
We plan to make more use of that on our next trip.

Thank you both! Okay, long day trip of Tokyo sights is cancelled and I'm planning out something more laid back. DH was keen to hit everything in one day, but we have lots of time, so there is no need for that and our teens need their sleep - if we get them up too early they just whinge and whine all day and I don't want to hear it!

@cheezncrackers Thats so much more sensible. With 6 days in Tokyo there really is no need to try and cram everything into one day. It’s much more sensible to group attractions together geographically and see a few things per day with time to just explore and enjoy being in Japan.

@cheezncrackers We stayed near the railway station just up the line from the sculpture park. I cannot remember the name of it but it was an onsen hotel.

However the upper Tozan rail line is fantastic and then you link to the cable car and the boat trip across the lake. That, for us, was in a replica galleon. Overall we found the area had quite an elderly clientele. Lots of onsens. When we were there, the low clouds spoilt the views from the cable car and kept the sulphur fumes at “ground” level so absolutely impossible to see the sulphur springs unless you don’t mind rotten eggs in every breath. We gave up! Audley Travel explain this route and I expect Japan by Rail does too. The sculpture park was exceptional in my view. However the area is about onsens and scenery so you need to think if the sights there appeal to teens.

What we did enjoy as a day trip from Tokyo was the monorail which linked up with the Enoden line. A monorail is quite an unusual experience and the Enoden line is a private line serving Hase and Kamakura. These towns also have sights worth seeing - a big temple complex at Kamakura. You can then take a conventional railway back to Tokyo. This is all explained in the Japan by Rail book.

I agree with @TizerorFizz about Kamakura. It makes a brilliant day trip. If you can time it for a clear day you get a great view of Fuji from Cape Inamuragasaki.

We visited Kotoku-in for the giant Buddha and got some of the best pictures of our whole trip, but our favourite part of the day was actually the quiet temples nestled around Kita-Kamakura station. They were genuinely peaceful and we saw hardly any other tourists in that area. It was very relaxing.

Pay the extra for the green car for the train from Tokyo. It’s only about a fiver extra and makes the journey so much more pleasant. Green car isn’t really worth it on Shinkansen but makes a huge difference on commuter lines.

The monorail and Enoden line are not commuter trains. The Enoden line literally does down streets. You can see all the houses close up. It’s a slower way to travel.

I was taking about the Yokosuka line, which connects Tokyo and Kamakura. On that line I think the green car isn’t worth every penny.

The Enoden Line and Shonan Line are a good option once you’re in the area but first you have to get there from Tokyo. For most people that will be the Yokosuka Line, which are the commuter trains where I’d recommend Green Car. The ordinary cars on that line are like tube carriages where you’ll often end up standing, which is tough on an hour long journey in the middle of a trip where you’re on your feet all the time. We paid the extra £5 for Green car on the way back and having a nice comfy seat was worth every penny. We wished we’d done it on the way there too.