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.

Hoping I'm not derailing but wondering if anyone has gone via a Tour Operator either Uk or Japan based and had any + thoughts if not ?

My DB & Sil are hoping to go for a significant birthday in October for 2-3 weeks and had found a couple of options but then looking at itinerary we're concerned that perhaps they would end up with time on things they are not wanting to do/see and lots of going/Dring rather than perhaps a base from which to go out from

My itinerary is done now but I just wondered if there's anyone on here who can advise me on travel / rail passes?

@BeaLola Not at all! This thread is for anyone to discuss plans.

I think it’s a matter of horses for courses. There’s people who have had really good experiences with tour operators on here and recommend them. I’m sure someone will be along that has direct experience of using one and offer a counter to my view.

I haven’t ever used one. They are really expensive compared to self-booking and they also tend to offer really packed, whistle-stop itineraries. I don’t want to stay in 8 different hotels in a two-week period. I prefer to book myself and spend a decent number of nights in a few base cities. Japan is very safe, hotels are reliably clean and pleasant and the transport network is excellent and easy to use. It’s just not somewhere where I feel you really need a tour operator. It’s pretty hard to go too far wrong with self-booking.

I’ve spent a lot of time looking at different rail passes. What places are you visiting and for over what length of time?

The JR pass almost never makes sense now, so you can probably rule that out. However there are regional passes that will make sense for some itineraries, especially if you’re spending a fair bit of time in West Japan as the JR West passes are generally better value than the JR East ones.

We are going from Osaka to Nara park & Kyoto (hopefully on the Aonyishi)

Then from Osaka to Tokyo on bullet train

Using metro/subway in both cities

No rail pass for this itinerary. Just buy a ticket for the Shinkansen and the Aoniyoshi and then use Suica/Icoca for everything else. Suica will work on everything except the Shinkansen and limited express trains (like the Aoniyoshi). Apart from the Shinkansen these are not expensive train tickets.
Even something like the kintetsu pass won’t be worth it unless you’re going to be doing multiple trips between Osaka and Kyoto/Nara.

@Takoneko thank you so much for your reply.
Great info to know.
Honestly this trip has fried my brain 🤯

One more random question - what vaccinations (if any) did anyone have for their trip? I can't see that there are any required jabs but there are plenty "recommended" but I'm not sure how necessary they are? Thanks.

I’ve never had any travel vaccinations for Japan. If you going to be spending extended periods in very rural areas in summer-autumn then Japanese Encephalitis is probably worthwhile. It’s not necessary in winter-spring or for the usual golden route sort of trip even in summer.

And tick borne encephalitis is worthwhile if you’re going to be hiking rurally. You don’t need to worry about ticks if you’re going to be hiking on popular tourist trails though. Fuji, Mt. Takao, Mt. Misen etc are all very well trodden paths.

I think the only out of city section will be Hakone but that's also v touristy so I guess not an issue? We are going in the summer though so I'm not sure of that changes anything.

JE is more likely to be transmitted between July and November but it is still vanishingly rare in Japan. Your chances of catching it during a couple of days in Hakone is almost zero. There are fewer than ten cases per year across the whole country.
For me the risk for a short, mostly city-based trip wouldn’t be enough to outweigh the potential side effects.

Great tips in this thread - following with interest as booked for this year too.

@BestImitationOfMyself Welcome! When is your trip and where are you heading to?

I'm very deep into planning/booking everything for April. I have also been watching a lot of Abroad in Japan on Youtube in preparation!

I am still planning on trying for Ghibli and Kirby Cafe tickets next month but DS had also found this Monster Hunter bar which might be of interest: en.paselaresorts.com/collaboration/mhsb/

@libertineagain Is that the Ghibli Park or the Ghibli museum? I’ve not been to either yet. They look great though. We think we might try the Ghibli park in 2026, as we’re planning on being in that part of the country.

Ghibli museum - on sale on 10th at 10am JST. I have looked at other ways of purchasing tickets but think I'm just going to try to get them when they go on sale. It's the same day as the Kirby cafe tickets.

Good luck! I know the tickets can be like gold dust, so I hope you’re successful in getting them.

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

The cherry blossom forecast was updated again yesterday. It’s moved back by a day to two days in most places. Looks like it will be another relatively late flowering this year.

Just found this thread & reading with interest. We’re going in September it’s been on my Husband’s bucket list for years. He is a great Kurosawa, Bushido/Samurai fan.

I would be extremely grateful if anyone has any recommendations for places to visit to see that side of Japan. We plan to head towards Osaka after an initial few days in Tokyo

Thank you

@MrsK Kurosawa is buried at a temple called Anyoin in Kamakura. Kamakura is a great day trip from Tokyo, especially if you can go on a clear day and get the view of Fuji.

Have you got Himeji on your itinerary? It’s an easy day trip from Osaka.

Thank you @Takoneko, I will tell MrK

https://www.japan-guide.com is useful as a starting point for itinerary ideas

Sorry, I’ve been away but second this recommendation, we loved it there!

For anyone else who is going to be in Japan in April, the dates and locations for the April provincial sumo tour are available online. These are exhibition and training events, rather than main competition events but if people are interested in seeing some Sumo during their trip, this is where the wrestlers will be in April. Getting tickets for the tour is also a lot easier than for the honbasho (the competitive grand tournaments that decide the rankings).

https://www.sumo.or.jp/EnJungyo/schedule/