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.

Ah thanks @Takoneko
I'm considering a day trip to Uji from Kyoto.
I'm also looking at booking some guided meditation in a quieter Kyoto temple. I'm a fan of doing things on holiday even if it's not doing like meditation!

Our stay in Gion was one of the highlights of my trip to Japan - especially the Lanterns and Lanes walking tour. It was so atmospheric.

When in Kyoto may I suggest To-ji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The pagoda and surrounding buildings are amazing, and when we went it was relatively quiet compared to say, Fushimi Inari Shrine (the one with all of the red torii gates).

If any are visiting during these dates, they open up the treasure exhibition hall, only two time periods a year.

Special opening:
March 20 - May 25
September 20 - November 25

www.toji.or.jp/en/

And regarding Fushimi Inari Shrine, if you are someone who is relatively fit, although the base of the shrine is insanely crowded, the higher up the mountain you go, the less crowded it becomes. You can even hike all the way to the top, if you are so inclined. I think it takes about 3 hours in total.

For anyone not aware of the Adachi museum - it has one of the best viewing gardens in Japan (i.e. not one you stroll around but just look at).

We've both done this and some of the gardens in Kanazawa (while on honeymoon).

Bookmarking for now - have got 15 days in March booked but flights only at the moment so looking for recommendations. We're spending 3 days in HK on the way out and it's unlikely we'll be back that way again so want to make the most of if.

We have also been to Japan 3 times 😄Definitely go to Onomichi, we stayed there for 2 nights on our second trip and loved it. I wanted to cycle on the Shimanami Kaido bridges. We decided that it was too far to do the whole thing so got a ferry to one of the islands and hired bikes and cycled a bit of it. The temples on the hills in Onomichi were really beautiful and quiet with gorgeous views and a cable car.

@TheGirlWithTheArabStrap I’m really glad you enjoyed Onomichi. It’s good to hear from someone who has actually been. The way you have described it is exactly what we hoped it would be like. We really want somewhere with quiet temples and beautiful views without the crowds. It looks amazing. Out of curiosity, did you encounter many cats? We have heard that there are lots of cats in Onomichi, which we would consider to be a nice bonus.

I came across this article today while doing a bit of searching on the train home and thought it was worth sharing.

https://toddfong.com/5-cities-other-than-kyoto-tokyo-in-japan/

This really jumped out at me.

“And while Kyoto is choking on tourists, other Japanese cities and regions that are equally charming or beautiful or historic are being almost completely ignored. Japan is not homogenous. Every region has some special food or tradition or cultural event that makes it unique from every other region. But for those regions where the population is aging, young people are fleeing for jobs in bigger cities, and tourists rarely show their faces, sustaining their lifestyles, and in many cases, their unique traditions and cultures will not be possible forever…
And yet, you can help prevent this. By spreading your tourism money around to lesser traveled regions, you simultaneously help reduce the harm of over-tourism and help the regions that are in economic need. And you only reap rewards by experiencing Japan in a fuller, more holistic way…
If you don’t get to see everything you wanted to see in Tokyo or Kyoto, don’t worry, you can always come back again, and those cities will still be here. For other villages and small towns scattered around the country, I’m afraid I can’t say the same with certainty.”

I watch quite a lot of Chris Broad’s stuff on YouTube and he often says very similar things about the less popular destinations in Japan, which has probably influenced the way we’ve designed our itinerary for next year.

It feels that half the people I know at the moment are thinking of going to Japan. I work in travel but have never been. I would love to go. My friends got a BBC Travel presenter Carmen Roberts who is also an agent to book it for them and says she did a great job as she is half Japanese and goes there a lot. Let us know how it goes!

@DuringDinnerMints Have you seen these? Your DS might enjoy looking for them.

https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/where-to-find-all-the-pokemon-manhole-covers-in-and-around-tokyo-100323

I don't particularly remember lots of cats but it was quite a few years ago. I agree that cats would be a bonus!

I will just cross my fingers and hope for cats. 😂

Joining this thread! Hi everyone.

We are off on a return trip to Japan this autumn.

Have previously been to Tokyo, Fuji Five Lakes, Shin Hotaka, Takayama, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Himeji, Fukuoka.

If anyone is planning a trip and wants any info on those places happy to answer any questions!

This trip will be Tokyo, Osaka, and then around 10 days around Shikoku and the surrounding islands including Naoshima. Can’t wait!

Also interesting to hear your views of Kyoto @Takoneko. I didn’t enjoy it. Over-tourism definitely a problem and felt really uncomfortable seeing groups of tourists hassling Geisha/Maiko, waiting outside tea houses and following them down the street. They were just trying to get on with their daily lives. I wouldn’t go back to Kyoto and really looking forward to the less visited Shikoku this year.

@ChilliPB I agree completely about Kyoto. You’ve articulated really well that it’s not the crowds themselves that I disliked but rather the uncomfortable feeling of being part of an over tourism problem that is making life miserable for the locals.

We are going to Hiroshima and Himeji on our next trip. Do you have any particular tips or recommendations? It sounds like we may have pretty similar likes and dislikes, so I’m interested to hear what you did and what you thought of those places.

Did anyone visit Hachiko’s statue? If so, how was it when you went? When we went, it was very crowded and someone had graffitied his sash, and there was a lot of litter about 😕 Made me sad to see.

We saw it in 2008 when we first went to Japan and the number of tourists was far lower. There were no crowds of people waiting to see it then and it was just a statue near the train station. This year my sister really wanted to see it so we stopped to visit it while we were in Shibuya and it was cordoned off and he had a garland of flowers round his neck. It was very different to 2008, with tonnes of people filing past to get a picture. It felt a bit odd. Just like I think it would feel weird if suddenly thousands of tourists per day wanted to file past the Kindertransport statue at Liverpool Street Station.

I can’t say I saw any significant litter though. Certainly no graffiti.

Placemarking.... We've booked for Easter 2025 too with flights via seoul into Tokyo and out of osaka with a layover in Seoul on way back. We're away for just over 2 weeks and taking all 4 children aged 11 to 21.
So far we have 7 nights booked in an omo hotel in Tokyo and 2 nights in a Airbnb type house stay in kyoto. I haven't booked last week yet as I'm not sure how to split hiroshima/osaka or go a bit off the normal tourist route.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to get inspired!

Do you mean people couldn’t physically interact with the statue due to the cordon? (Sorry if that’s weird phrasing, not sure how to word it).

Yeah, it was roped off so you couldn’t actually go up to the statue. Don’t know if that’s a permanent thing of if there was some kind of maintenence going on… or even if it might have been to do with the garland that had been put round his neck. There was a banner up that seemed to have more information but it was beyond my level of Japanese to read it.

Does anyone recommend any apps/resources to learn Japanese. I'm doing duolingo but feel there may be better out there

Ah ok, I’m really glad to hear about the litter. I wonder if the cordon is due to the graffiti we experienced or unrelated (this was last summer).

For grammar and vocab, Bunpro is very good

https://bunpro.jp

For Kanji, primarily, WaniKani

https://www.wanikani.com

Both Osaka and Hiroshima have really excellent transport links out to other places. I don’t think you can go too far wrong with how you divide your time between the two as long as you stay in the right places. By that I mean within a couple of stops on the tram of the main station in Hiroshima and somewhere along the Midosuji subway line in Central Osaka. The midosuji line connects the three main stations in Osaka (Shin-Osaka, Umeda and Namba) and will also get you to a lot of key tourist spots in the city itself. You should check out the Setouchi Area Pass for your travel between Osaka and Hiroshima and to explore the surrounding regions.

One thing to be aware of is that in a lot of places getting seated as a group of six in a restaurant may be tricky. Anything over 4 seems to be considered a big group. We were a group of 5 and sometimes we ended up a bit squished in a booth that only really had space for four or sitting in two groups. If you’re ok with being seated at different tables, the phrase “Betsu betsu, daijoubu” should get the message across and avoid you being turned away. If you want to be sure to sit together, I’d make reservations.

I think it’s definitely possible that the two things are linked.