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.

@SunnyTimes3 Im not sure how south you are thinking but if its any help we were in Himeji-Hiroshima-Nagasaki-Fukuoka between 10 and 15 Sep '23 are we didnt experience any wind, and our photos show we are wearing shorts and a T shirt. We popped off to S Korea for a couple of weeks and returned to the Osaka area 27 Sep- 2 Oct and the weather was still, and again, shorts and T-shirts.

Thanks for this thread OP, I'm starting to research a solo trip to Japan for 2 weeks this autumn - I'm thinking October would still be pretty mild, but a quieter time to go.

Just a quick question - I'm not a big fan of fish or seafood, do you think I will struggle to find places to eat at night time? I don't mind grabbing a snack for lunch, but would like to be able to sit and have a meal in the evening.

Hi @HornyHornersPinkyWinky!

I don’t think you’ll have any problem eating out. Ramen, tonkatsu, yakiniku, yakitori, gyukatsu and Japanese curry are all safe options for someone who doesn’t like seafood and they are plentiful. I like seafood but most of the people I was travelling with don’t, and they didn’t have any issues. We even had a meal at a Kura sushi and the non-seafood eaters found enough things to eat to make a meal there.

@HornyHornersPinkyWinky I travelled alone in Dec 2024. I tend to switch my meals when travelling alone and have lunch as my main meal. Jet lag had me up between 5am-6am so I was ready for a meal at lunchtime. I find it easier to got to a bar and have a snack in the evenings. I was asleep by 10pm latest every night. Have fun planning.

@Specialnameforanoutingthread thank you. I’m not sure where I’m going yet but it’s encouraging that the winds and temperature can be good for the beach.

@Takoneko i will take a look at the video thank you. I thought I wouldn’t return but reading the thread there is so much to see I’m going to try off the beaten track in 2026.

I LOVED that video, @Takoneko, thanks - I’m going to watch his others now. Only problem is it really makes me want to go back to Japan, immediately.

I've been to Kagoshima, on my first Japan trip when I was lucky to travel around a lot, and took the ferry over to Sakurajima (which he doesn’t do in the video). The volcano there is still active and they continue to have quite significant eruptions - there was one last year.

@Halsall me too! I’m going to watch the others. Thanks @Takoneko

Takoneko thanks so much, yeah hopefully there will be plenty of options, I will be sticking to the main cities I think, as I only have maybe 14/15 days to travel because of work.

SunnyTimes3 thanks, that's a good idea, having your main meal during the day rather than the evening. Do you have any tips for a solos female traveller?

Currently looking at flights, and thinking of flying into Tokyo and out of Osaka, just so I don't have to backtrack.

@HornyHornersPinkyWinky I had the Uber app but used taxi ranks/hailed taxis if it was getting late or I was too tired to walk or use public transport. Take a power pack out with you. Taxi drivers do not speak English and I had a near disaster when I had walked an hour through Kyoto not noted the address of my hotel only the name and my phone ran out of power while I was in the taxi back. It was a chain hotel so there were loads of them in Kyoto. I felt very safe in Japan. Bit of cash, Sucia card and a credit card had me covered. Everything is quicker solo. Eating alone is really well catered for. Join a couple of 1-2 hour tours if you fancy a bit of company/chat. Have a couple of nights in a good hotel with a pool, I liked swimming at 8pm before bed and it’s a relaxing base to leave your cases if you do decide to travel back to Tokyo to fly home. Are you in Japan long for business?

It was about 4.5 hours from Osaka to Tokyo by train if flights are cheaper/more convenient home from Tokyo

Thanks for that - sorry I worded it badly; I'm going for a holiday, but will only be able to take 2 weeks or so off work unfortunately - really I feel like I would need a month or so to see everything, but maybe I just need to go again next year :-)

Yeah I might try and fly into or out of Osaka, as it seems a bit cheaper. Thanks!

@HornyHornersPinkyWinky We did a very similar open jaw flight last time (LHR-KIX, HND-LHR). For our dates it worked out cheaper than a Tokyo round trip + an extra Shinkansen and saved us time doubling back on ourselves.

I think if you know there's the possibility of another trip in the not so distant future, it's best not to try and cram in too much. When it's a once in a lifetime thing then yes it makes sense to tick off all you can.

There's so much to see and do that if you have a packed itinerary, inevitably there will be places you wished you could have spent more time at and may well end up going back to.

I've been alone as few times and it's absolutely fine. Tbh I somewhat prefer it as when I'm with someone else we have to agree on what we're going to do but alone i can just please myself!

Sakurajima has just erupted again. Quite a dramatic eruption too.

The cherry blossom forecast for this spring has been updated. Not much change from the first forecast.

i know there’s quite a few of us with spring trips this year.

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

Thinking of going in July/August. I know it's supposed to be very hot but how hot is it really? One friend went and she said it was hot but OK. Another said she spent most of the time indoors where there was aircon.

For context, we are fine with heat as a family - had no issues sightseeing in Bangkok last July and have been in Florida multiple times in July/August - not just beach but doing sight seeing too. Oh and Venice in August too - all fine for us.

If going in the Summer, which are the top sights/things to see and which perhaps to avoid?

Thanks in advance.

@yabbadabbadoo2025 I’ve heard the same as you about the July-August. I haven’t been to Japan at that time of year but I have been to Taiwan in August (which is similarly hot and humid). Whilst we found the weather quite oppressive, we did still have a fantastic time. If the only time you can go to Japan is in the summer I’d say it’s better than not going at all. It sounds like you have far higher tolerance than me for heat and humidity and I survived in Taiwan.

The very first time I went was in August and it was hot, close to 40 some days. I'm a heat hater and you'll always find me on the summer hating theads 😂 but I coped.

I wouldn't ever go at that time again as I can go anytime now. But there is an abundance of air con. I'd avoid anything that places you in hot sun all day with no respite. But as long as you can pop into places and cool off you should be fine.

Something I did notice that really helped is that it gets dark in Japan at around 7/7:30 even at the height of summer. This helps a lot. I live in London and the heat build up when it stays light till 10pm is horrendous. It's also lovely to walk around and see everything lit up. I found that above everything made the most difference.

Has anyone on here been to the Teamlab Botanical Garden in Osaka? If so, what did you think of it? I’ve seen mixed reviews.

We’re considering that or maybe Teamlab forest in Fukuoka instead.

@Takoneko we visited Teamlab Botanical Garden in Osaka but we didnt think it was "Wow!". It did feel to us like a series of Instagramable installations in the park. All very pleasant and a nice evening stroll but I wouldn't plan around it as a main feature. If and when we return to Osaka we wouldnt go back - we had much more fun at the baseball...

We didn't visit Teamlab in Fukuoka as we were only there for the afternoon and overnight ready for the ferry in the morning, so I cant advise about that one.

@Specialnameforanoutingthread That’s made my mind up I think. I like a nice evening stroll but I’m not really bothered about instagram photo ops. I’m not sure it sound like it’s worth going out of our way for.

Hi everybody

sorry I’ve been a bit quiet, we’ve been finalising ( read replanning and replanning 🥴) our itinerary for July and I’m hoping someone can help!!

We’re now going to Hakone for 2 nights as soon as we arrive and have booked somewhere with half board and onsen, v excited!
We then have 2 nights and 2 1/2 days before we meet our friends for a day and half in Kyoto ( silver palace and philosophers path that we missed last time and a cycling tour and farm lunch at Lake Biwa), then heading to Takayama, Kanazawa and Nagoya where we’re hoping to go to the grand sumo tournament somebody mentioned, the boys in our party are v excited! And doing part of the Nakasendo trail before heading back to Tokyo for 3 days.

any thoughts on what to do before Kyoto? I fancied Naoshima, but my son doesn’t, we looked at Mount Koya but it’s a bit of a schlep and also considered the Shinamani Kaido cycling trip but worried about the heat and poss rain so that’s a no too!! We did Himeji and Hiroshima last time and loved both.

We did a half day in Osaka last time so considering there but what else is there to do? Osaka Castle looks good but for 2 days? We are hoping to see more of the rural Japan so any other ideas? We also looked at Izu peninsular but that looks like quite a schlep too. Argh!! What a problem to have hey!

thanks so much! Oh and ps I’ve changed my user name so you prob won’t recognise it, sorry forgot about that!

Sounds fab. How did you book your accommodation in Hakone?

Placemarking for ideas

First of all I see my user name hasn’t changed, sorry for confusion 🤦🏻‍♀️
I used booking.com, we’ve booked the Mount View ( sorry tried to do a link but clearly having one of those days!!). We looked at loads of places, it’s quite an expensive place to be compared to other places in Japan but we cancelled last time we were there and it looks fab so bit the bullet!

@Waffles21

That sounds amazing. I’m very jealous that you are going to the grand sumo tournament. I’d love to go someday but the tournaments don’t line up well with school holidays and I’m a teacher.

In Osaka, Katsuoji Temple and Minnoh Falls could be an option. What did you do last time you were there? I loved Shinsekai and have heard very good things about the aquarium. The Umeda Sky building also looks very cool.

Have you been to Uji or Amanohashidate? Could they be possibilities?