Japan Planning Thread Part 2

[Takoneko]

This is a thread for anyone planning a trip to Japan. All budgets and styles of trip are welcome.

I got so much out of the first thread and would love to be able to continue the conversation with everyone who has been so helpful.

I fly tomorrow morning!

First Thread

That looks amazing…. way outside my budget though. One night costs over twice what we’ve paid for 14 nights of accommodation for next year. It does look idyllic though.

Thanks for the tip - we've walked past this lots without knowing it was up there! We went tonight and it was lush - great views and great breeze. Travelling with teen DDs so not a late one, but it had a great vibe and a live DJ.

@Riverswimmers it looks like the entrance to shops and very easy to miss. Glad you found it! Where are you off to next?

Phew spoke to JAL. My ticket will never show up in the app. I just take the e-mail and my passport to the desk on day of flight they will check me in and issue a boarding pass.

@JapanOnceMore That’s a relief. At least you got confirmation that all is ok with your booking.

I’ve now booked all 6 hotels for our next trip. We went for the Villa Fontaine at Haneda for the last night as recommended. It does look very good and it feels worth it to be right on top of terminal three for our early flight.

@JapanOnceMore we’ve just had 3
nighta in Ishigaki, Okinawa. It was beautiful but very little going on and many restaurants closed other than weekends. We snorkelled with mantas and took a day trip to Taketomi. Not sure whether you’re on the main island,
if so probably much busier!
we’re on day 11 of our 17 day trip, it’s going so quickly!
think we overestimated what we’d be capable of day 1 and missed most of Kamakura! Loved Hakone and it was pretty quiet, so beautiful, would recommend! Weather has been generally good, cloudy and a bit of rain late afternoon. Favourite place so far has been Kanazawa, we had 2 nights but could easily have had a third, samurai and ninja history fascinating. We’re in Takayama at the
moment which is lovely, Gifu tomorrow then Tokyo for 3 days, mostly shopping, amazing restaurant reservation and contemplating TeamLab Borderless ( have been to Planets), any views on whether it’s worth it? Also anyone been to the tower in Roppongi?
enjoy your trips everyone!

We went to Bordeless last week and enjoyed it but we've not been to any others so not sure if that affects things. It's good value though. Weather looking a bit more unsettled for the rest of our stay so you might find you need an inside option other than shopping of course!

I’ve just booked this hotel for my last night before flying home . No worries about traffic delays etc getting to the airport in the morning .

@hattie43 That was our thinking too. It’s a relatively early flight in the morning and because we’re travelling down from Tohoku we’d have to do a one night stay somewhere in Tokyo to make the flight. It seemed like a no-brainer to just stay directly at the airport. The hotel looks really nice for an airport hotel too.

Any tips for jet lag? We'll be on the 1310 from LHR to Tokyo, so when should I nap? Did it affect you with early waking or wanting an early night?

Also, rougly what time are the meals on BA? I've splashed out on Business class for the first time ever. Apparently there is a fridge you can access anytime but people empty it by midnight!

Is the BBC weather app for Tokyo accurate? 28-30 degrees and rain for the next couple of days?

Looks like there is a band of rain over much of Japan. There was a typhoon in Taiwan and the resulting low pressure has been circling around for days. We had rain in Takayama this morning and Gifu looks like a wash out tomorrow!! It looks like it clears by Thursday afternoon. We’re thinking of shopping in Nagoya, has anyone been there?
On the jet lag, my recommendation would be if possible to stay up all day and have an early night, other option is a strict 2 hour nap and make yourself get up! We went right through to 3pm but we were hanging and then had 2 hours sleep and went to bed around 10/ the BA flight timing is a killer! We flew Qatar last time and landed in the evening which was much easier to deal with!

I’m thinking of hiring a car while in Kanazawa, I generally hire a car in Europe and America. Has anyone any experience good or bad if driving in Japan please

@MyCatsSlave we drove in Japan, but only rurally as we were up in Hokkaido.

The interraction with the car hire people was the best car hire experience we had. Very smooth at the desk then escorted to the car and given a run down of the location of petrol tank release, the lights and wipers etc. It sounds abit nanny ish but it is meant genuinely. On return they gave us a laminated visual checklist (presumably of the top 8 things left behind) to make sure we hadnt left anything in the car.

The driving itself was easy, and the our fellow drivers were courteous. Parking was generally easy but i think i remember one afternoon i think we had insufficient coins for the time we thought we wanted so had to leave early than we intended (but it turned out there was less there than we anticipated).

We would drive in Japan again but check the road signs in advance as there was one we didnt understand and i think it marked the end of a speed restriction so we probably irritated a few drivers behind us until we caught on!

We'd do it again, no problem.

We drive in Ishigaki, so again very rural. Smooth process and pretty easy m, not sure how it would be in a city though.

The onsen and Izumi Tenku Dining there are great.

We drive all over - heart of cities and through mountains. The only bad experience was missing the turn off on a toll road and having to do the whole leg again.

3 times.

The toll guard could not believe his eyes.

I would avoid any Chinese hire companies, usually located near airports with budget flights from China. Their reviews are considerably worse.

@TheyNotLikeUs Try to get some sleep on the flight but when you land the best advice I can give is to push through until as close to a normal bedtime as possible. Also plan your first day to be outdoors as much as humanly possible. No musuems, art galleries, aquaria, shopping centres etc on that day. You need the natural daylight to reset your body clock.
Gardens, castles, temples, palaces and parks until it’s gone dark.

I would not advise napping at all unless you can stick to a strict 30 minute
power nap. On my first trip to Japan many years ago I made the mistake of sleeping in the afternoon and I screwed my body clock for the best part of a week. We woke up absurdly early every morning when nothing was open and were wrecked by 8pm.

@2025istheyeari thank you! I am on main island near Onna. A port is accessible I will probably go to the North West islands. I wanted to go to Boarderless but neglected to book in advance so check if you can get tickets.

@TheyNotLikeUs i got in at 7am to Tokyo and stayed awake until 9pm (taking OPs advice on previous thread). Go to the parks, palace, shrines etc first day. I’m flying BA business again this time as I had a good experience. I think food service is different depending on times of flight but roughly you eat 2 hours after departing and 2 hours before landing. Watch a film, eat then sleep until woken for more food worked for me. I think window or the middle seat of 3 are the most private. The fridge seemed to be stocked when I woke up briefly but I didn’t need anything as you also eat in the lounge before departure. You can ask for drinks any time in the flight. You get a pillow, blanket, eye mask and socks. Enjoy! It’s a huge treat.

@TheyNotLikeUs i was awake by 6am the next day but early days and nights suit me as I walk a lot and travel alone.

@TheyNotLikeUs We were starving on the BA flight to Haneda. Food was served pretty soon after take off, as an early lunch, but then nothing for over 10 hours. I'd bought at the airport only 1 small bag of m&ms (£7.49 at Heathrow!!! It was daylight robbery, so was stubbornly refusing to buy more ) and water for my son, so he also got really hungry as he didn't like any of the plane food. So I'd pack something just in case and definitely be quick to raid the fridge😂 We landed at 7am and did a small amount of sightseeing, lunch and a puppy cafe, but at 2.30pm were in our room. We thought we'd have a nap and then maybe go out later at night for dinner, but my son slept from 3pm to 7am the next morning and I went to bed after a bath at about 4pm and slept till 6am the next morning. We didn't have any jet lag after that but really needed the sleep, especially as we didn't get much sleep the night before take off.

Thankyou for the tip about food on the BA flight , I’ll remember to pack a sandwich / drink / snack

Just making our approach to Haneda. Flying on ANA. Very comfortable flight and excellent service. Just got to try and stay awake for the next 12 hours!

Loving both threads so much I was totally clueless before I started reading so thank you so much
We are hoping to visit end May 26, myself DH, DD (20) and DD boyfriend
Flying from Scotland which limits choice but want to avoid London so it’s looking like Emirates via Dubai
I’ve a few questions
We would land at 22:25 at HND has anyone just stayed in airport hotel for the night or should we go to our Tokoyo hotel ?
Is Asakusa a decent place to stay - OMO3 hotel
This is a very rough itinerany any thoughts ?
we don’t want to move too much would rather do the day trips via train ( totally copying your latest trip Takoneko)
Tokoyo 4 days
Hiroshima 3 days
cycle shimanami kaido 2 days
Osaka 1.5 days late flight home from here
we can prob stay an extra day if I can get someone to watch the dog 😄
Would love to hear your thoughts
kids keen to see Mount Fuji but I know weather dependant
Disney sea we aren’t sure - maybe the 5pm pass
i guess main thing is to get flights booked
thanks

Asakusa is a lovely place to stay and relatively easy to get to from the airport, so I'd just go straight to the hotel and then you can sleep in and have a full day and avoid rush hour traffic in the morning. Asakusa is on the Ginza line so apart from exploring the local temples and shops it's very quick and easy to get to Tokyo Station/Imperial Palace/Ginza shopping and of course Skytree. We did those areas in a couple of days and then moved hotel to other areas in Tokyo (Disney and Shinjuku). In Asakusa, the temple forecourt is super busy but somehow the surrounding streets were eerily quiet and empty when we were there, so a good place for a quiet sleep but could get a bit boring at night. It's not very 'Tokyo' /cosmopolitan in feel. Apart from the temple, it's not 'period' at all (not like Kyoto) but not modern (glas and steel) either. The area has a abit of a 1960/70 feel but has some few smart but affordable hotels/guesthouses and the row along the river seems to get more trendy.