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.

This gives you an idea of what to expect at a provincial tour event. https://www.sumo.or.jp/EnJungyo/aday/

So I'm hoping someone will be able to offer some sage advice! Apologies in advance for the long post.

We're off to Japan in October as we're lucky enough to have a long half-term, so we get a decent amount of time but without (hopefully!) having to visit when it's either stiflingly hot and humid or super busy.

It's our first time so we're probably sticking to something Golden Route-esque. Hopefully we'll be able to come back another time to cover all the bits we'll miss this time around.

We've booked our first 7 nights in Tokyo and gone for the Mimaru Ueno-Inaricho. As we'll obviously have our two kids with us, 7 and 9 at the time, the room size and option to relatively comfortably eat in the room made sense. From a good bit of research and friends with two very similar age children who went last year, the Ueno/Asakusa area seemed like a good plan, and the proximity to the Yamanote line and the park sealed it. Has anyone stayed there before? We do have the option to cancel if anyone thinks we've made a really bad decision here!

As we're on the BA flight arriving at 11am ish, we thought the first afternoon in the park if the weather's decent would be a good way to avoid anything strenuous, stay in natural light and get to bed at a normal time and avoid the worst of the jet lag.

Trips to Kanagawa, Yokohama (the kids want to see the Pokemon manhole covers but is it worth a visit otherwise?) and everything else Tokyo has to offer will easily see us through the first week. Would Hakone also be worth a visit?

Now the conundrum - we're thinking it would make more sense to base ourselves in one place as much as possible for the next week and currently leaning towards Osaka rather than Kyoto. Thoughts? This would save extra luggage forwarding and 1 (or even 2) day trips to Kyoto would be easily possible, along with Nara and USJ. If we do go with this option then the Mimaru Shinsaibashi West looks a decent option. Again, anyone stayed there?

The main question is whether we take a trip down to Hiroshima and spend a night down there as well - given the travel time then i guess you're essentially looking at 24 hours there. Is that enough? Is it somewhere 7/9 year old children are going to have enough to engage them? Do you think the hotel would store our main luggage for the night so we could just travel light and take rucksacks?

Is a day trip to Himeji worthwhile? Any other good options for day trips using Osaka as a base? All of this comes to light because of @Takoneko highlighting the JR West pass, which looks extremely good value!

After all that, we'll than have to do a final night at an airport hotel in Tokyo due to a 9.30ish flight back from Haneda, so not worth rushing around with children in tow. Any good recommendations for Haneda airport hotels?

Phew, got there in the end! Feels like there's still an awful lot to plan but at least we've got plenty of time.

@InvalidUserID I don’t have experience of that specific hotel but we liked staying in the Shinsaibashi area. It’s convenient and well connected. There’s plenty of places to eat and drink near the main covered shopping street but it’s a little walk away from the crowds of Dotonbori. We found it busy enough that it felt very safe but not so busy that it was overwhelming. There’s a couple of big gachapon places that I’m sure kids would love and the PARCO has a character street with a Pokémon centre and Ghibli store.

@InvalidUserID the cup noodle museum in Yokohama was bizarre but fun - we were there on Wednesday. You can book the chicken ramen factory where you work in pairs to make noodles from scratch for £5pp - you get noodles to take home. Then you can design your own noodle cup, which they put dried noodles in and you choose the broth and toppings, which they seal up and bag for you to take home which cost £2.50pp. I think admission was £5pp, the cafe was fun too, they sell half portions of noodles from around the world to encourage you to try different ones. There's a funfair over the road with a wheel that has views across the bay, and boat trips.

Thanks @Takoneko .
anyone in Japan in July, pre sales are open for the Nagoya tournament, we’ve just put an order in, keeping everything crossed!

Hi @InvalidUserID
we went in October half term in 2023 and stayed in Ueno. We loved it, v easy to get around and Ueno park was fab, great idea to spend the afternoon there when you arrive, there are museums, a temple and lots of open space, great for people watching too.
we loved Himeji, great food and the castle was amazing. We did it on our way back to Tokyo from Hiroshima, left our bags in lockers ( or you could get them forwarded). We also liked Hiroshima, as well as the museum etc you can go to Miyajima Island which we loved, an easy train and short boat ride from the city. Hope this helps! There is so much to do that I’d suggest focussing on what you/ the kids want and doing those things. We’re going back for a 2nd trip in July as we loved it so much!!

My research is progressing!

What kind of markup do you think places like Trailfinders add if I book with them for peace of mind?

Also, DH is 6ft3...will he be able to be comfortable on a flat bed in business class if he can't stretch out fully? We've only ever flown extra legroom before.

And Osaka to London for the return leg, how long do we need to transit at Tokyo?

From everything I’ve seen, the trailfinders markup is incredibly steep.

Just to give an idea, their “perfect fortnight” starts from £7500 for two people without flights. 13 nights B&B accommodation in 3 star places, plus 1 night ryokan. Yes it also covers some tours, trains and meals but those things are pretty cheap in Japan.

For context all of our accommodation, food, transport, souvenirs and activities for two people for 12 nights last time came to under £3,000. There is a lot to be saved by booking yourself and in terms of “peace of mind”, Japan isn’t a country where I’d say it makes it worth paying the premium. It’s a very safe, low crime place where accommodation is reliably good and the transportation network, though complex, is very easy for foreigners to navigate.

https://www.trailfinders.com/tours/china-hong-kong-and-japan/japan/tour-the-perfect-fortnight

I looked at several tour operators and their mark up was insane. The hotels they used were also not places I would consider staying- all very old, unmodernised, not stylish, the lower end of 3 stars. Most tour operators charge in the region of 7.5k for 10 -14 days for the 'basic' option. If that includes flights, it's cattle class with Chinese carriers and a stop and plane change in China. The small print then still says that you need to arrange your own transport to the meeting points, so you have to arrange for your own airport transfer and find your hotel on your own and then have to get the next morning by 7am on the dot by yourself to somewhere miles from your hotel to get on the bus for a city tour!!! That's definitely not my udea of a holiday. It's room service for me at tgat time :-) I found that about £150 - £200/night gets you a very modern, stylish Japanese luxury hotel with a spa, a traditional Ryokan or the more upmarket 4 star American chains like Hilton, Sheraton, InterContinental etc. £400 per night gets you international top range 5 stars, like Shangri-la. If you want to pay for peace of mind, I would spend my money on booking directly with a luxury hotel. They have a dedicated concierge service that can advise or book airport transport, tickets etc and advise on all matters in fluent English and you are still quids in.

@Takoneko @NellyBarney thanks.

DIY looks like £150 pppn for a 4* chain including breakfast and we are 3 adults to a room (so c.£6K for 14 nights), and c.£4K each for return business flights in July. So £18K total.

Yes, you're spot on, a tour operator quoting c.7K each, no taxi transfer but including one bullet train so c. £20K.

All a lot more than I was thinking of spending!

You can definitely do hotels a lot cheaper than 6k for three people for 14 nights. We are staying in decent chain hotels in upgraded rooms in April (which is more expensive than July) and our hotel bill was £1600 for two people for 13 nights, so only about £60pppn. £450pn for a room for three people is at the really expensive end of the spectrum.

@Takoneko that's interesting, I was using booking.com and I thought several seemed similarly priced.

I like a big hotel (so not boutique) with a great breakfast and as it's our first time in Japan a good location would be helpful.

If you can recommend anything that fits that bill in both Tokyo and Osaka that'd be great.

HI everyone, first time posting but trying to read and absorb as much info as possible from this hugely informative thread. Sorry if this is going to be a long post.....

I have just booked return flights to Tokyo! Myself and DH - mid 50s . 3 week trip from 8th May 2025!! Yes we are going in 11 weeks and have only booked flights!!! Madness...

Choose these dates to avoid golden week, avoid peak crowds of blossom season and avoid full on summer heat.

We flew into Tokyo 6 years ago and spent 4 days in the city before getting on a cruise to Singapore. We loved what we saw of Japan and this is our return trip. The cruise was excellent too! but this time we are going solo. We had a one day trip to Mt Fuji and Hankone skyway so don' t want to do this again. We had amazing views of Fujio and the weather was perfect ( december) . We also did an ebike tour of Tokyo and the fish market which we loved . We had one day in Osaka which we also loved and want to spend more time here. We visited the aquarium and the castle and both were fabulous.

So for this trip im trying to sort out an itinary and want to book accomodation asap.

Please can you all help!!

Flying in and out of Tokyo- Haneda
Want to base ourselves in 4-5 places and day trips from there
Not an action packed agenda, need some wandering and chill time
Happy to use trains and metros
Would like a hotel with a gym maybe somewhere along the way - weights.
3/4 star hotels ,
love cities, love cycling , love food
? Sumo ? Keirin racing
Would love to see Japaness gardens / nice parks
possibly thinking of okinawa... just come onto our radar due to its aquarium but no idea how much faff to get there or if its worth it, seems a long way on the map! ? internal flight?
We do want to visit kyoto for a couple of days
Possibly Hiroshima
Definatley Osaka ( its the world expo there whilst we are visiting any thoughts on this being visit worthy>??)

Thanks for getting this far..... Please help!!!

.

Which sorts of chains are you looking at? .

The more premium Japanese chains are granvia, Intergate etc.

The Intergate Osaka Umeda looks to be about £250 for a triple room per night in July including breakfast.

£450 feels very steep to me.

We’ve booked a deluxe room at the Sotetsu Fresa Yodoyabashi for Osaka this year, which is a 3 star chain. It has a very well reviewed breakfast, which we’ve booked even though we’re not normally that bothered about having hotel breakfast. It also has a lift directly down into the subway station, which was a huge draw for us because we’re doing quite a few day trips from Osaka and it is in an area we really wanted to check out this time for the waterfront cafes and restaurants. You might be looking for something a bit plusher though. It’s location is great though.

You could even get the Granvia at Umeda for around £350 per night with breakfast for three people and that is a huge, pretty plush hotel right on top of Umeda station.

Hi

Osaka is great for day trips, easy to get to Kyoto, Nara, and Hiroshima and upthread takoneko gives advice on a JR pass which is good value.
Not sure there are any major sumo tournaments in in May but there are visits to sumo stables etc in Tokyo if you fancy that.
We looked at Okinawa and really fancy but but can’t easily fit in with our 2
weeks, you could fly v easily from
Osaka though and internal flights are reasonable.
Where else you stay really depends on what you’re looking to do. Have a look on https://www.japan-guide.com which gives itineraries and places of interest. Good luck!

@omega4ever There is a sumo Grand Tournament in Tokyo in May.

You can fly to Okinawa from Osaka or Tokyo but it is quite far. I think people underestimate distances in Japan. It’s a very sprawling country. This map gives you a good sense of scale for Europeans of how far apart places are. It is about a 2.5 hour flight to Okinawa from Osaka and three hours from Tokyo. Not far, but longer than an internal UK flight.

I suppose it depends on whether that’s worth it to you.

I think where you go is really personal preference but recommend having a browse around on the site that @Waffles21 linked to and seeing what appeals.

https://images.app.goo.gl/qcnZ7aDwb5sxP2xy7

@ I meant £150 - 200 per room for up to 2 adults and 2 children. Most US hotel chains and the more modern Japanese hotels have 2 double beds per room as standard.

Thanks @Takoneko , some really fabulous suggestions here. I'll try those hotel websites direct as booking.com etc still coming in a bit higher.

Feeling more excited than overwhelmed now, all thanks to this thread!

@NellyBarney thank you for clarifying, if you can name any US chains in Tokyo and Osaka I can try searching those.

@YesYesKitten There are all the usual suspects in Tokyo: Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott etc but it's also worth looking at Japanese chains. Osaka e.g. has several Candeo hotels, that seems a popular more upmarket chain. In Tokyo, the Bay area has a lot of US resort style hotels with family rooms and is much cheaper than central Tokyo. So if you want to do Disney, I'd stay there for that. At sites like Booking.com you can look up options for 2 adults and 1 child, whether that's 2 double beds or a King plus sofa bed.

I've read that cash is used a lot but that my UK debit card with chip on the front may be problematic ti withdraw cash. My UK credit card also has a chip at the front too.

Any ideas how I should pay for stuff???

@YesYesKitten the BA business beds are in 2 parts that slide towards each other to go flat. There is a hard end to the foot end but not at the sides so you can dangle feet off to the side if lying flat. Dangle in a window or middle seat or your DH’s feet will be in the way or bashed by other travellers. There was no trolly, meals and drinks were handed out individually so no trolly bashing if in aisle seat. I fell asleep 3/4 flat and that was comfortable enough. So if he is too tall the seat can be adjusted in increments to almost flat. Have a great time.

None of our group had any issues withdrawing cash or using our U.K. cards with chips on the front. We used the 7/11 ATMs.

I’ve got five weeks left until our flight now. Anyone else in their final countdown? The itinerary is now pretty fleshed out and we’ll be booking our rail passes and Shinkansen in the next week or two.

@Takoneko not long to wait now. I hope you have a great time!
We don't go until October, but I'm getting excited already. We haven't booked our Hiroshima or Osaka hotels yet, but Tokyo and Kyoto are sorted and paid for.
Please can you remind me about the JR Western pass? I had a look online, and am confused about which one I can get. Is it the Sanyo (sp) one? We would need a 7 day pass that includes the bullet train from Kyoto to Hiroshima, and return to Osaka. Also do you book direct with JR? I have seen a smart ex (?) website, which I think is for Tokyo.
Thank you for starting this thread, it's been really useful.