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.

@Waffles21 my advice would be to monitor the sumo ticket release date as they went pretty quickly when I tried to buy for a Tokyo tournament and we didnt get any. While we were in Japan we watched the half hour TV programme each evening and kind of got into it though. The outcome of a match can turn in an instant (or at least to our untrained eyes!) and we could start to understand the skills we were watching. Great fun (but I'm not sure about the front row 'seats' - it just seems to be a matter of time before you get trodden or fallen on!). The January Tokyo tournament has just finished but it's here if you're interested.

When we went to Osaka Castle it was heaving but interesting and we didnt go inside because it was so busy and Googlestreetview showed me the inside and its been modernised and not a patch on Himeji. But to be fair it was a Sunday afternoon as far as I recall so it was probably at its worst.

@Takoneko, you are a star! Now I’m super confused 🤣
we too are normally stuck with school holidays but my son does GCSEs this year so we’re making the most of going outside and are very luckily in Nagoya for the first couple of days of sumo. We replanned the last bit specifically!
I must admit the last time we’re in Osaka it was just really for Universal ( we got free tickets!). We just really went to see the running man so not done much! The Umeda building does look amazing.
not been to either of the places you mention but thinking of Uji as a half day trip from Kyoto albeit I guess if we did Osaka we could do it enroute to Kyoto.
other places we were thinking of were Kamakura or Uji.Amanohashidate Looks phenomenal, have you been?

@Waffles21 I agree with @Specialnameforanoutingthread abput making sure you get in quickly for the Sumo tickets. If you want to get a flavour of sumo I also can’t recommend the tournament that has just finished highly enough. It was a cracking tournament and there was loads of drama. It will probably be up on NHK for the next couple weeks at least, but they take them down before the next tournament. They don’t keep a back catalogue up online, so bear that in mind if you get into it. It’s a great sport.

No, I’ve not been to Amanohashidate yet. It’s on my long-list for future trips though. There’s just so many places.

I loved Kamakura and we have a day planned in Uji for this year. I’m really looking forward to Uji. We’re planning to go to Byodo-in, (and the omotesando), kosho-ji, the Uji shrine, the daikichiyama observation deck, the tale of genji museum and the chazuna. If you put those things into google maps in that order you should get a fairly logical route around the place if you’ll be arriving to the Keihan line station like us. The Keihan Uji station is also a very cool looking bit of architecture.

Thanks so much, we’ve pre-registered so 🤞🏻. We’re also there on the second day which is a Tuesday so hoping that may help!
thanks re Osaka Castle, hmm!!

@Waffles21 I looked back at my photos - it was a Sunday afternoon, 1st Oct 23 around 3pm so it probaly was a busy day. I have shared a couple photos and they dont look as bad as I remember. DH hates crowds and, for example, couldnt leave Dotonbori fast enough so that probably colours my memory too.

I dont want to put you off as it is impressive! You could do what we did which was to go in and play it by ear as to whether to linger or leave. It wasn't expensive

We went to Osaka castle in the lead up to sunset. We didn’t go inside but the area got quieter as it got later. We really liked it as a nice outdoor space to wander around and the castle looked very pretty at that time of day.

Thanks both. We went to Himeji last time and really really loved it. Now pushed back Kyoto by a day and have 3 days to play with, we can go straight to Lake Biwa from somewhere not too far away ( prob Osaka) and do the bike tour then go back on ourselves by half an hour to see Uji I think.
We also have the option to go to Kamakura for the day on the way from Nagoya back to Tokyo. Weighing up options! We don’t really want to tread old ground too much, we liked Kyoto but found it super busy so don’t mind too much if we miss it this time.
I looked at the Izu peninsular but I’m just not sure. I’m going round in circles😩. The place I’d really love to go is Okinawa but I don’t think I can bring myself to get back to the airport to do that🤔
edited to say I think I’m overthinking now, after advising others to not pack too much in, what am I doing!

@Waffles21 It can be so tempting to try and squeeze in just one more place. I’ve definitely had to reign myself in a bit. We’ve now dropped plans to go to Okunoshima because I realised I just had too much squeezed into that bit of the trip.

I know 🫣
I think we have it sussed! We’re having 1 night/ 1 1/2 days in Kamakura, 2 nights / 1 1/2 days in Hakone and 2 nights / 1 1/2 days in Osaka- what do you all think- too much or a good balance? My thinking is that Kamakura is easy to get to from Haneda ( we land at 7am!) and close to Hakone so quite easy to combine them at the beginning.
thanks.

There’s a lot of logic in that route. I think I might be inclined to spend 2 nights in Kamakura and one in Hakone and just set off first thing for Hakone on the second morning. You’d still have a day and a bit in Hakone and almost 2 days in Kamakura. You’re coming off such a long flight that you might want time to catch your breath a bit. There’s plenty in and around Kamakura to keep you busy. Loads of temples, the beach, Enoshima island, the Ofuna Kannon. We were only there for a day trip and there was loads we didn’t manage to do or see.

I haven’t been to Hakone though, so I might be underestimating the value of an extra handful of hours there.

Thanks @Takoneko , that’s a good shout! I have booked many different combos of hotels so hoping to sit down tonight and finalise! 2 days in Kamakura will be lovely and we could even leave Hakone lateish on the 2nd day and have a day and a half in Osaka which will be plenty.
we want to do the circuit in Hakone, have some onsen and do some walking.

I found this video useful. It goes through different regional pass options and how to buy and use them.

I have read through most of this thread, which has loads of helpful information.
I'm a bit stuck on my Japan itinerary and would appreciate any advice. (First visit).
We have booked our flights for early October, flying into Tokyo Haneda and returning via Osaka (KIX). We have 15 days in total; I added on an extra night as we're arriving in the evening. I'm thinking 5 nights in Tokyo (as we're arriving late), but I'm not sure of the right number of nights at other places. Haneda sounds lovely, so I'd like to include that. Where else should we include please?
We will be travelling via trains/buses, so we probably can't go anywhere too rural.
BTW, would a day at Disney Sea be wasteful of our time? It sounds like fun (in our 50s, no kids in tow!)
Thank you all very much.

Sorry for my typo. I meant Hakone!

@Pusspot If you think that Disneysea looks fun then it’s definitely not a wasted day. It really is a beautiful park and the Japanese do theming like nowhere else. We loved it and were a group of adults all 30+.

I think where else you include is really all personal preference. Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Kanazawa, Kamakura, Takayama are all popular. I don’t think you can get it wrong.

You won’t be out in the deepest countryside, but public transport doesn’t limit you to big cities either as the transport network is so extensive. The West Japan regional rail passes offer really good value for getting to see the Kansai and Chugoku regions.

@Takoneko thank you for your reply. I think Disney Sea is on the list!
Can I ask if you (or anyone) did day trips from Tokyo, or did you make them overnight stops? I'm not sure if we should do Hakone/Mt Fuji as a bullet train journey or book accommodation. Tbh I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all!

@Pusspot In October I’d say a day trip for Fuji would be better as the mountain is not visible most days at that time of year. If you book accommodation then it ties you to a particular day and you’re more likely to miss the view. I’d plan for it as a day trip but keep the day that you do it as flexible as possible. I linked to a Fuji visibility forecast upthread that can be used to check the weather conditions.

We did a day trip to Kamakura from Tokyo and have another one planned for Kawagoe this year. I like day trips because they allow you far more flexibility to switch days around depending on weather or how you feel.

@Takoneko thank you - that's a good idea about the day trips. I might add an extra night onto Tokyo to accommodate them. I'm also wondering if I should stay in two different areas of Tokyo to allow for Disney (as I might do for a trip to Paris).
So much to think about!

@Pusspot Disney is in Chiba prefecture but nowhere near as far from Tokyo as Disneyland Paris is from Paris. If you stay within easy reach of Tokyo station or Hatchobori station in central Tokyo then there is no need to move hotels for Disney. You can get all around central Tokyo and out to Disney really easily from there. I think our train to Maihama took 15 minutes from Hatchobori.

@Takoneko that's great advice - thank you again.

We were in Japan in October and got the bullet train to and from Tokyo and on neither occasion could we see Mount Fuji so I think @Takoneko has (yet again!) given great advice!

Love this thread

@Pusspot we also went to Hakone (twice) as day-trips from Tokyo, though the first time we did the whole circuit and it was a pretty full day! Still easily do-able, though. Second time we wanted to spend much longer at the wonderful open-air museum of art, so the pace was much more relaxed.

We've also, like @Takoneko, done day trips to Kawagoe and Kamakura from Tokyo. Kawagoe was because we'd spotted there was a matsuri scheduled to happen, and it was a full-on day of massive celebrations with the whole town packed. I’d urge anyone who can get to one of these to experience them if possible; it was amazing. We went to one in another beautiful and very historic town, Sawara, where they parade enormous lifelike statues of sacred figures (the guidebooks described them as 'puppets’ but they’re gigantic and eerily lifelike). That took a bit more getting to and we ought to have stayed over for the night, really, but the day there was still great.

We also went to Nikko for the day and again lucked out as we just happened coincidentally to have picked the day of their huge historical autumn parade, when hundreds of people process past in gorgeous costumes, many on horseback and looking like something out of old Japanese prints.

@Halsall that sounds like a fabulous trip. You were very lucky! Thank you for posting. I need to check if there are any festivals etc when we're in Japan. Atm I need to get my head around an itinerary - I'm so confused!
@Takoneko I'm still thinking of an overnight stay in Hakone, after Tokyo and enroute to our next city (Kyoto?) I think we will need a break from the business of Tokyo by then. All thoughts welcome! We will almost definitely do a day trip to Kamakura from Tokyo, as the map tells me that it makes good sense. Nikko also looks wonderful.
So far, I think we will do 6 nights in Tokyo, 2 final nights in Osaka (flying home from
there), but the remaining 7 nights are very undecided. Btw I'm happy to stay an extra night in Tokyo, if we can get a decent mid price hotel (I'm thinking the equivalent of HIX type of accommodation).
Also, (sorry) I'm reading mixed reviews on the value of the JR pass. We will definitely use the metro in big cities, plus local trains, and the Shinkansen for longer trips.
Thanks everyone - this thread is invaluable.