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

Of course! We went in October half term, so probably 10 days or so later than you. We went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima and the only rain we had was in Kyoto for a day. It was low 20s and beautiful generally, we were in shorts and T-shirts. I’d suggest layers, and umbrellas just in case. It was slightly warmer than normal when we went but if you take cotton layers and a couple of cardigans/ light jackets you should be fine. If I was to go again it would be October or April.

I agree with the others about buying things you like when you see them.

I like Muji, which is very reasonably priced compared to the U.K.

Smaller town malls are also a better shopping experience than the central Tokyo flagship stores in my experience. They are quieter and more spacious with shorter queues.

@2025istheyeari thank you - that’s good to know and really helpful. We’re following a similar route so hopefully our weather will be similar.
I’m getting excited now - only 11 weeks to go!

@2025istheyeari - just eaten at your recommended place. Amazing! I think we’ll be rolling back to our hotel though.

Aah amazing!! So glad you enjoyed it!! We found the people lovely and good so reasonable. Hope you’re enjoying Hakone? Where are you staying? Where’s next?
@Pusspot keeping fingers crossed for you! You’ll have an amazing time! Are you going to Nara while in Kyoto? If so I can recommend an amazing place for lunch ( can you tell our holidays are centred around food!!).

@2025istheyeari yes we are! Our itinerary is
Tokyo 5 nights, Kyoto 3 nights, Hiroshima 2 nights, Okayama 3 nights, Osaka 1 night.
All recommendations and tips gratefully received!

Ok!
An amazing place for a special meal in Tokyo is Ise sue yoshi, it’s quite expensive for Japan but it’s incredible.
We also went to Kura, a conveyor belt sushi place a couple of times for lunch, our teens loved it, quite cheap and easy to try different things.

Nara recommendation is Izasa Todaiji Temple Mommae Yumekaze Hiroba. We had to queue for about 20 mins but it’s really good, they do sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves and a kind of pressed sushi, when we went it was cherry blossom which was delicious!

There is also a fab shaved ice place in the little shopping precinct on the way back to the station, they do seasonal flavours.

In Osaka, there’s a great Okonomiyaki place at the bottom of the Umeda Tower, v small and you may need to queue but it’s worth it!

To be honest there are so many fab places, you won’t struggle with food!

@2025istheyeari thank you - that’s brilliant. I have made a note of all of these. I like the idea of the sushi conveyor belt - probably my favourite food.

You’re very welcome. Ise sue yoshi have an instagram page so you can have a look. You would definitely need to book that one in advance as they only have 5 seats.
There are other sushi conveyor belt places too, one even has a Shinkansen delivering the sushi!

Checking in from Takayama! We've had an amazing 2 weeks - have visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Miyajima Island, Hiroshima and finishing up with 3 nights in Takayama which has been quiet and peaceful compared to the heaving hordes in Kyoto. Lots and lots of things to share but I will say that between this thread and the blog The Tokyo Chapter (for families with kids travelling) the trip has been pretty seamless.

Helps to have DS1 along who speaks quite a lot of basic Japanese (taught himself on Duolingo) but an amazing amount of Japanese is English with a Japanese accent (I've been ordering a lot of "iceu coffi" etc).

@Xiaoxiong I’m really glad to hear that you’re having a wonderful time. It’s a shame to hear that the heaving hordes in Kyoto are a year-round feature. We thought it was going in peak season that was the problem, but it sounds like it’s much the same in summer as in spring. Takayama sounds lovely.

I speak tourist-level Japanese and I definitely find it useful. It’s not strictly necessary, but I think it helps to have someone who speaks a bit. My most common interaction is usually asking where I can find the eki stamp in a station or the commemorative stamp in tourist information centres and attractions. I am now completely hooked on stamp hunting. In some places the staff are like stamp guardians and they keep them safely behind the counter until you ask.

Im so glad I found this thread. We are flying out to Narita from Perth in March next year.

We have 5 nights in Shinjuku with lots of day trips planned. Then 4 nights in Okinawa, then 5 nights in Kyoto, 2 nights in Nagoya, 3 nights in Yokohama and 4 nights in Narita which we are using as a base to do other trips.

We have been to Japan before (it's cheaper for us to fly to Japan than it is to fly within Australia in most case). We have decided this time to spend longer in each place rather than moving around all the time.

I am looking forward to going to Okinawa. Have any of you been there? I would love to hear about it. ❤️

@cocobean We did a little detour to Okinawa (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Okinawa, Tokyo). We had a lovely time. We stayed on the main island, just over 1 hour drive from Naha airport via the hotel limousine bus, which was very quick and convenient. The main island is full of family friendly resort hotels..You need to squint a bit though to look at the nice bits and blend out the industrial/concrete bits everywhere. The main isle is not Carribean/Maldives pretty but lovely enough for a spot of swimming/diving/snorkeling and getting a break from the concrete jungle that's most Japanese cities. You can get a connection flight at Naha to Ishigaki which seems more unspoiled. Hotels seemed good value but food and activities are significantly more expensive than in places like Tokyo and even in international resort hotels staff, including reception, don't speak any English. But they have translate pager thingies. Overall, Okinawa was our highlight of the trip. More of a proper holiday. I wouldn't have survived 2 weeks of city trips without 3 days at the beach, but the mid trip break in Okinawa balanced it perfectly between relaxation/fun water sports and urban sightseeing.

@cocobean Oh, and I forgot to mention, Okinawa was another level for food! The best of the Japanese cuisine plus wagyu steak, oysters, tropical fruit, salads etc. And that's just for breakfast.

@CocoQueen2024 we’ve just come back from our 2nd trip to Japan and had 3 days on Ishigaki. It was lovely, we swam with manta rays, drove around the island and took a boat to Taketomi which was a highlight for us, hired bikes and cycled around finding the star sand beach etc. the weather wasn’t amazing when we were there and we stayed outside the main town which in hindsight wasn’t the best thing to do as we struggled finding restaurants but I’d definitely recommend it. There are resort hotels if that’s what you want. There are stingers at this time of year but they have nets on the beaches and lots of warnings. Tide times are an issue if you want to swim though, when the sea’s out you can’t! The manta snorkelling to we did was amazing and it wasn’t too busy. Have a great trip!

@CocoQueen2024 I’m staying on the main island NW first week of November. The average temperatures are still c24 degrees and I’m staying at a resort hotel that was dictated by the fact it was the only one that has pools remaining open after October. I’m planning to take trips but mainly to read, swim and rest. I will let you know how it goes.

@NellyBarney did you book the limousine bus via the hotel or through the bus web page? Or did you just turn up at the bus stop?

@NellyBarney i like the idea of a swimsuit with arms and skirt.

Thanks to everyone on this thread for the great tips, it's been so useful in planning our trip for autumn this year. We have flights and hotels booked so a rough itinerary based on that but finding the planning beyond that more daunting with so much to try and fit in whilst not exhausting the kids (young primary).

My focus for now is any attractions or sites that need pre-booking as feel that's the most pressing thing. I have teamlab planets on the list and a diary reminder in to book but wondered if there were any other things others have booked in advance? We won't be doing Disney and route is Tokyo, Takayama, Kyoto and Osaka with a definite day trip to Nara included.

The other thing I'd appreciate help on is trains and luggage. I'm comfortable with forwarding the luggage from Tokyo to Kyoto and taking cabin size bags on the shinkansen (from reading I think we won't need to book luggage spots then). For Kyoto to Osaka, they feel very close together but assume still worth forwarding luggage to not be wrestling big cases on trains with kids in tow?

Then that leaves airport transfers. We're staying in Ueno and the skyliner seems to take luggage ok. Although the station to hotel might be not the most relaxing walk, it should be doable when we arrive early evening. I don't know about Osaka to KIX though and the best option there? It'll be evening if that matters for a 10pm ish flight.

Any experiences / tips much appreciated! And and must dos with young kids (or restaurant recommendations) would also be amazing

@Plan2025

How much luggage will you have? We took the train from KIX to central Osaka with our luggage without an issue and most other people seemed to be doing the same. We had one medium checked case per person and then everyone had some sort of backpack or other carry on each. You might find a limousine bus easier depending on where you’re staying though.

In terms of luggage forwarding, I’d say that Kyoto-Osaka with luggage would be far more stressful than taking the Shinkansen with luggage. We’ve never used luggage forwarding and had no trouble taking our cases on the Shinkansen in normal seats. Once you throw busy metro lines and/or buses into the mix then luggage forwarding is a no-brainer.

Whilst we don’t have kids, I think Kura sushi would be great with young kids. It’s a sushi train restaurant where you order on iPads and there’s even a little game that you play by putting your empty plates into a slot as tokens. They always have some sort of anime collaboration running with themed dishes and little gifts if you spend over a certain amount of money. When we were last there it was Pokémon… at the minute it seems to be Chiikawa. There’s loads of locations all over Japan.

Thank you for the restaurant recommendation, making a note of that as it sounds great.

I'm not 100% sure on luggage as it's the first long haul with kids. We will definitely wash as we go (2 week holiday) and aiming to pack light since it seems hotels provide a lot of toiletries. Maybe 2 medium suitcases plus 2 cabin sized for the 4 of us as want it to be possible to carry between me and my husband. Kids keen to have their own cases but know we'll likely end up managing them ourselves. I thought we could then just use the cabin sized cases for takayama and forward the larger cases.

I'm assuming since Kyoto and Osaka are so close the luggage arrives quite quickly. We're only in Osaka 2 nights so didn't want to be checking out before luggage arrives! Good to know that the train between the two would be worse with luggage than the shinkansen!!

And want space to bring shopping back too!

@Plan2025 If you are with kids and luggage, I'd definitely get a taxi from the station to the hotel and then again from the hotel to the station or airport. If you have young children, you'll need to be able to move and carry all your luggage in one hand and hold the hand of your child with the other. You'll then have the problem that you can't look at your phone with google maps, which is absolutely essential, so ideally you want a bagpack and both hands free, or 1 large suitcase for the 4 of you. At many stations in Japan, there are literally 10000s of people passing by at any minute, you'll lose each other if you let go. And you will get lost at some point and end up carrying everything up and down steps for 45 minutes in circles. Give everyone a mobile phone that can be tracked and agree meeting points in case you lose each other.

We’re leaving Kyoto today for Osaka and have just come up from arranging the shipping of our luggage to our next hotel. 4 large suitcases has cost about £50 but we’ve been told they won’t arrive until tomorrow.

Interestingly from Tokyo to Kyoto for the same cases was also about £50 and they arrived the next day too.

We’ve found shipping the luggage to be pretty straightforward. We’ll also ship them from Osaka back to Tokyo.

Second kura sushi, our teens loved it and great for trying lots of things!
We also got a train from central Osaka to Kix, but it’s a fair way and was very busy, so I would look at a bus or taxi too I think.
we forwarded luggage from Kamakura to our Kix hotel and it was super easy, we had to allow 2 days but that worked for us.
We went to Team Lab Borderless this time but we definitely preferred Planets. If you want to go up any of the towers you may need to book but other than that you should be ok. We loved the Hida Folk village in Takayama and got the train to Hida Furukawa where the kids can feed to koi in the canals, it was very peaceful and lovely. We also found a great retro museum
in Takayama- Showa Kan, it’s set up as shops and schools etc from the 59a, old toys, gaming machines etc and is v hands on. We went as it was a bit wet but we all really loved it!