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.

You are wonderful @Takoneko thank you! My 16 yos will LOVE this restaurant too! Thanks, going to look into it as sounds like it’s right up our street!
do you go this weekend or next? Bet you can’t wait!!

@Waffles21 This weekend! We’re super excited now.

@princesspadam would you go back to Japan?

I have got 7 days first week of October I would like to go to Tokyo, Osaka and 3 days in Okinawa. Is that a doable? I can’t work out how the travelling would work.

@Takoneko how exciting! Just as the thread is almost full you are off to Japan 😃

Have the most amazing time @Takoneko , please let us know how you get on!!

@SunnyTimes3 I'm doing the same itinerary soon but have 16 days. 7 sounds like a challenge, especially as you are going to lose 1 full day to travel and time difference. It could just about work though:
Day 1 Flight from UK to Tokyo
Day 2 Tokyo
Day 3 early flight to Okinawa
Day 4 Okinawa
Day 5 evening flight to Osaka
Day 6 Osaka
Day 7 flight home from Osaka

@Takonekohope you have the best time and thank you for all your help over the last few months.

ive slept now lol so feeling slightly more human!

what I loved:
Shinjuku National Goyen - stunning
egg sandos
bullet train
nara deer park
mario kart
memory lane in Shinjuku
subway
japanese toilets
snoopy museum
feeling so safe

what I could’ve lived without:
umeda sky
disney sea
shibuya crossing

i wish id done more walking tours / bar hopping tours / food tours as i think it would have enhanced my experience

loved Japan 💗

@SunnyTimes3 I have to agree with @NellyBarney that 7 days sounds very tight for Tokyo, Osaka and Okinawa. It’s possible but I’m not sure it would be that enjoyable. We want to go to Okinawa someday but our plan would be to combine it with Taiwan rather than mainland Japan. Taipei is a phenomenal city and much closer to Okinawa than either Tokyo or Osaka. Direct flights to Taipei are also usually quite a bit cheaper than to Japan. Is that something you might consider?

I’m glad you loved Japan. I think it’s pretty normal on a first-time trip to find you enjoy some things more than others. That was definitely the case for us last year (it wasn’t our first time but our first trip was so long ago that in many ways it might as well have been). For us we just treated it as a bit of a learning experience and I think it’s helped us to plan better for this trip.

Japan isn’t going anywhere, you could always go back for the food and bar experiences another time… maybe without the vegetarian travel companion. 😂

@princesspadam i didn’t rate the crossing either. Glad you had the best time overall.

@NellyBarney that is so helpful I was trying to go Tokyo, Osaka then beach then back to Osaka/Tokyo for flight home.

@Takoneko that sounds a great idea. I need to visit specific anime shops in Tokyo and the Nakanoshima Museum in Osaka. I think 9 days might be the tightest I could squeeze. Taiwan is a top tip for Okinawa!

Our phones are Android so we'll need a physical Suica card which can only be topped up by cash.

Was hoping to avoid cash withdrawal fees.

Any ideas of ways around this???

Friends told me they are rolling out a modern tap and go system for Visa etc credit cards in Tokyo, just like in London/most of UK. But I haven't experienced it. I think it's only for 1 metro provider (Tokio Metropolitan) yet. You can use credit cards to buy tickets and day/week passes from the ticket offices.But it might be advisable to take out some cash on arrival, just in case. I expect there will be many small places that take cash only. That reminds me - how does it work with tips? Who do you tip? Do you tip cash in hand for tax reason, like in UK?

I've read that tipping is frowned upon.

@NellyBarney pay by card started on a limited number of less busy train lines in Tokyo and is gradually being rolled out. Their IC cards have the fastest tap speed of any payment system in the world. The reason they have been slow to adopt credit card payment across their whole network isn’t because they are in the past, it’s because of concerns that credit card payment couldn’t get people through the gates at the same speeds in busy stations like Shinjuku. In Japan the gates are open by default and only close if someone walks through without tapping. As a Londoner the speed difference at the gates is really noticeable to even a casual observer in terms of the how quickly huge crowds of people get through the gates.

No tipping in Japan. It’s not practiced there, except in ryokans where the tip is handed over to the room attendant in an envelope. It should be notes and not coins. Very tourist-heavy places might have a tip jar but elsewhere you’ll just be met with confusion or resistance if you leave money on the table or try to tip.

@YesYesKitten Check your cards’ terms. My credit card has no fees on foreign cash withdrawals and I get a great exchange rate. You could also try something like a currensea or revolut card if your current cards all have fees. DP uses currensea and thought it was great. He has a referral code. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll send you it by PM, which gets you £10 extra for free if you spend £100.

Hi
on the subject of Suica cards I’m a bit confused! When we were in Japan in Oct 2023 they had temporarily paused them so we bought Pasmo cards from a station.
how do I buy an online suica please and, can it like Pasmo be used countrywide, I’m
reading conflicting reports.
I think I can also now book Shinkansen and get my ticket on my mobile too can’t I? Is this a month before and do I just get the option to collect the tickets on my mobile?
finally one for @princesspadam, you said you’d give the Umeda Sky Tower a miss if you were doing your trip again, this is something we were considering in Osaka, out of interest why wouldn’t your recommend? Thanks!

Sorry found the suica info, website here for anyone who needs it https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/wsmlp/

Do you still have your passmo cards? You can just use them again if so. They work nationwide. If you have an iPhone you go to apple wallet and then add transit card and select suica (or any of the other Japan ic cards) and install. You can then add money with Apple Pay.

There is the smartex app for JR Central Shinkansen. Whether you can use the app for the Shinkansen will depend on which Shinkansen you are taking. JR West and JR East have their own online booking platforms.

I’d just use the apple wallet suica and not the welcome suica app. It’s very easy to install on iPhone and it doesn’t expire after six months and ‘“eat” the
remaining balance like the welcome suica does.

support.apple.com/en-gb/108772

Aah thank you! Super helpful as always! We don’t have the Pasmo cards any more 😳

That's so interesting about the adoption of technology @Takoneko, thanks for explaining. I'll look into all our card fees and come back to you if I need the referral code.

We'll be near Shinjuku Station, I've read navigating it an be tricky the first time. Yikes!

Just popping on with a psa....
Fuji q highland theme park is closed indefinitely..... Don't do as we did and drive all the way out there.
Also hiring a car/ driving in Japan is a massive pita. Just dont do it 😂.
Otherwise it's fabulous here....

Oh no! How far had you driven?

we considered hiring a car but were a bit put off by tales of Japanese bureaucracy. Glad we decided to stick with the trains.

I wonder if it was a Hokkaido thing - we had our best ever car hire experience there ...

First limousine bus of the day (5.50am) from near Osaka Station gets us to Itami Airport exactly 2 hours before our domestic flight back to Tokyo (to then catch our international flight back to the UK).

Is that cutting it a bit fine? Should we get a taxi instead to arrive 2.5 hours ahead of time?

Maybe I should rephrase it.... Don't hire a car in / around Tokyo 😂. Lots of the main roads are under ground and sat nav didn't work as no GPS.... Toll card thing didn't work... Drove for an hour and a half from tokyo to fuji 5 lakes area.... Sadly theme park closed and Mt fuji clouded and drizzly.

Very "character building".
HOWEVER having a great time otherwise- Tokyo is a fabulous city. Loving the food, energy, cherry blossom, shopping and shrines. Really enjoyed ( in no particular order) Skytree, big shrine in asakusa ( name escapes me), also I really like shibuya in the evening and rainbow karaoke.

I usually get to the airport super early and I’d be ok with that. Itami say 40 minutes for domestic. If it was KIX I wouldn’t cut it that fine.