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.

@Pusspot I think you probably want the same pass as us. The Setouchi Area Pass. It lasts 7 days and would cover those journeys. You can buy it directly on the JR West website up to one month in advance.

This is the link.

SmartEx can be used for booking Shinkansen tickets too, but you’d only use that for any Shinkansen not covered by your rail pass. It’s also fine not to buy Shinkansen tickets in advance and just buy them at the station on the day.

@Takoneko thank you very much for the link.
That looks like the right pass for us. I hope they don't hike up the price in the meantime!

One other question - do you have any experience of public holidays in Japan?
I now realise that we are in Tokyo on October 13th, which is Sports Day. I have mentally changed our Disneysea date, as I think it will be extra busy. The 13th falls on a Monday, and I guess the Japanese will want to make the most of their long weekend. I'm assuming that places like Kamakura will be mobbed.
Our rough Tokyo schedule is:
Arrive evening Wednesday 8/10
Spend 9/10 in the fresh air, local sightseeing
Friday 10/10 Disney (to avoid the weekend)
Saturday 11/10 Tokyo sightseeing/museums/galleries
Sunday 12/10 Kamakura
Monday 13/10 Tokyo sightseeing and shopping (Sports Day)
Tuesday 14/10 Shinkansen to Kyoto
I'm hoping that there will be some events planned to celebrate Sports Day - maybe not though?

All advice gratefully appreciated!

@Pusspot No experience of public holidays but your itinerary makes sense to me.

For Disney, the ticket prices give a reasonable indication of how busy you can expect it to be. The more expensive the ticket, the busier they expect the park to be that day. We went on cheap ticket days and the queues were very reasonable.

We went to Kamakura on a weekday so it might be busier at weekends but I think you’ll be alright. We were in peak season and the trains were very full but the temples and shopping streets weren’t overcrowded and the ones near Kita-Kamakura station were near-deserted. There were crowds trying to get the instagram shots of the enoden line trains, but other than that it was fine.

Thank you @Takoneko that's interesting to know about the pricing dynamics at Disney.
Tbh I think that the Friday will be the only day we can go, given the weekend and public holiday. We grabbed our flights when they came up, without considering the impact of the weekend ahead. Oh well!
I'm particularly looking forward to Kamakura. It will be nice to see the ocean as well. We will do our best to avoid the Instagrammers!

@Pusspot Disney tickets are pretty cheap in Japan, and Friday is just a normal weekday. They are usually 8900 or 9900 yen for an adult and 4800 or 5800 yen for a child (so about £25). That's less than half of Orlando or Paris. Entrance for my children even on weekends in high season is less than what we'd pay for very basic places like a zoo or theme park like Thorpe in the UK. You can buy tickets on the app exactly 2 months in advance.

@NellyBarney thank you! I'd heard that Disney is much cheaper in Tokyo. My only concern is the business of the park, but I'm sure Friday will be fine. I also heard that food is less expensive in the parks, compared to the US.

PS @NellyBarney I will set a reminder to book the tickets!

The Disney tickets range from ¥7900 to ¥10900. The main advantage of the cheap days is the lack of crowds rather than the price. The
lower price is to try to get more local people to go on those days rather than on the more crowded, expensive days. We went on ¥7900 days and it was really quiet for a theme park. Tuesdays to Thursdays seem to often be slightly cheaper than Fridays and Mondays, which are cheaper than weekends and public holidays. I’d expect the Friday will be your best bet, but when tickets go on sale the prices should give you an indication of which days they expect to be busiest.

The food is really reasonable compared to the US or Paris. Try the little green alien mochi. They are great.

@Takoneko thank you for the insight. I just googled the mochi and they're on the list!

@Pusspot Most of what we ate in the Disney parks was really nice and reasonably priced. There were also a wafer seashell filled with salted caramel ice cream that we got from a stand somewhere that was divine.

We had curry in the Aladdin food court for lunch, which was a nice alternative to the burger and chips that you often end up with in theme parks.

@Takoneko thank you - this sounds like a big step up from the food in Disneyworld!

@Pusspot The food in general is just so good in Japan. There’s just so many lovely things to eat wherever you go.

Hi, I wondering if someone can help me with my itinerary. I am going to Japan for two full weeks in May. My plan has been:
Tokyo
Hakone
Tsumago
Kanazawa
Kyoto
Hiroshima
Tokyo (for return flight)
I wanted to go to Tsumago for the mountains and countryside but have now decided that it is a little difficult to access by train and I don’t want to overdo the travelling so have removed it.
Can anyone suggest an alternative place to enjoy the mountains / countryside or is this possible from Kanazawa?
Or can you suggest any places a little more off the beaten path that I can go for the day from one of the other places on my itinerary?

thank you!

@Evamaisie were you planning on doing them in that order? I wouldn’t go from Hakone to Kanazawa to Kyoto. Kanazawa and Hakone are on different Shinkansen lines and so that’s something like a 4-5 hour journey by local trains. Do one on the way from Tokyo to Kyoto and one on the way back in the other direction. It will be far more time efficient to use the Hokuriku Shinkansen for Kanazawa and the Tokaido Shinkansen to Odawara for Hakone.

There’s some less heavily visited places within easy reach of Hiroshima (e.g. Onomichi or Iwakuni) or you could try somewhere like Kuruizawa on the way back from Kanazawa to Tokyo on the Hokuriku Shinkansen.

*Karuizawa

@Takoneko i was planning on doing them in that order but I was struggling to find the best way to achieve that so thank you - it definitely makes sense to rearrange as you’ve suggested. Is there an easy way of getting from Hiroshima to Hakone if I altered the route like that? Not sure if that makes sense!
thanks for the other suggestions too

@Evamaisie Hiroshima to Odawara station (for Hakone) is straightforward. You’d need to change trains once. The best option takes about 3.5 hours with one change of trains in Nagoya.

Thank you very much, it’s very kind of you to be so helpful

Hi everyone!
@Takoneko i bet you’re getting so excited for your trip now! Anyone else going at Easter?
Our planning has taken a bit of a stall, but we’re not off until July and we have all our hotels booked, albeit I booked a different one in Tokyo last week as an option b!! We’ll hear about sumo tickets in May 🤞🏻. We’re taking a bit of a random detour as going to Nagoya from Kanazawa when we’ll already have been to Kyoto but that’s because of Sumo dates and there is one direct Shinkansen a day! We’re also hoping to do the Nakasendo trail the following day.
can anybody remind me how I book Shinkansen if I don’t have a JR pass please, I’ve completely forgotten! Tickets are available 30 days in advance aren’t they? Thanks!

@Waffles21 We’re really excited, probably more so this year than last year. I think the last trip helped us feel more confident so we can just be excited and not nervous this time.

I think you can buy Shinkansen tickets on the SmartEx website or on the website of JR West/JR East.

Wishing you luck with the Sumo tickets. It’s such a great sport. We will be going to a tour event and have tickets for the London tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in October. I’d love to be able to go to a proper tournament in Japan one day though.

Evening all, any casual eating recommendations or listings for Shinjuku?

Some of us love sushi and we all like ramen and rice. But one of our party doesn't eat fish, the other no pork. Also a western food rec in case the teen becomes fussy.

I know we'll stumble across stuff but it'd be nice to aim for an eatery with tired legs.

Thanks so much, you’ve been so so helpful! I bet, you’re going to have an amazing time! Remind me of your itinerary?
ooh the tour event and RAH sound fab, I just had a look at the latter but sadly sold out!
@YesYesKitten I don’t sorry, we ate from the sushi place when we were there at lunchtime, we didn’t do an evening there: hopefully someone else can help, or Tripadvisor may at least give you some ideas? I just had a v quick look
and first place to come uo
was an Okonomiyaki place, we loved it when we tried that! https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g14133707-d25272601-Reviews-Okonomi_Teppanyaki_Teppan_Rush-Shinjuku_3_Chome_Shinjuku_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefectur.html.

@Waffles21 We are flying into Tokyo. We’ve got three nights there and are doing a day trip to Kawagoe, a day at a Sumo event and a day in Tokyo visiting places we didn’t see last time.
Then we’re moving onto Osaka for 5 nights. We’ll be visiting Uji, Himeji and Kurashiki from there.
Then we’re finishing with 5 nights in Hiroshima and we will be visiting Onomichi, Iwakuni, Miyajima and Fukuoka from there.
We’re then flying back from Hiroshima via Haneda.

@YesYesKitten I don’t have any specific restaurant suggestions for Shinjuku but can suggest some Japanese chains that might be the sort of thing you’re looking for.

We ate at a Kura sushi. They are a huge chain of sushi train places and have non-fish things on the menu too. Sushiro and Uobei are similar chains.

We ate at a bikkuri donkey on our first night, which is a hamburg place (like a Salisbury steak). It was nothing to get too excited about but the food was pretty good for a casual restaurant.

Coco ichibanya is a Japanese curry chain. I love coco ichi. They are all over the place and the curry is great.

We didn’t eat in a Gusto, Denny’s, Royal Host or Saizeriya last time but they are chains of family restaurants serving western dishes and they usually have unlimited drinks bars. You’ll see them all over the place.

Mos burger and freshness burger are good options if the teen just wants a burger and chips.

@YesYesKitten If all else fails for your fussy eater, the excitement in our travel party for Makudonarudo holds no bounds 😂
P