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

@OneLilacEagle There’s always next time! I think it’s wise not to let FOMO drive your plans too much. Have you been to Japan before or will it be a first time trip?

@Takoneko It's our first time - ridiculously excited. I've started learning Japanese in preparation. I'm definitely seeing this as the first visit of many!

@OneLilacEagle Being able to read and speak some Japanese is really helpful, I find. You should be able to learn a decent amount in the time that you have.
If you’re likely to be repeat visitors then you might find something like this fun. Someone bought me one and I’m really enjoying scratching it off after each trip.

I also really recommend eki stamp collecting. Take an A6 size sketchbook to collect the stamps and buy some stickers in Daiso for your DC to decorate the cover with. I’m an adult and still love collecting them. I have a book for each trip, which makes an amazing souvenir.

https://gadgeticloud.com/products/japan-scratch-off-travel-map?srsltid=AfmBOoq6yp7t6TYk33fk5QB64MHC3920hhVNDp4nhCeaigLzRMZPuoTX

@Takoneko That map looks so cool! And thanks for the reminder about the stamps - autistic DS will be all over that!

As a start, look at some of the itineraries here https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400.html

Hello I’ve been very busy reading through the threads over the past few months.
its my 40th birthday in march and we have booked flights from 13th until 26th. My husband and I will be travelling with our 9yr old son. We have plans for Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto to stay with day trips out including universal and Disney sea. We have a million things on our list that I plan to chuck in ChatGPT at some point to organise by location but I also want to leave lots of time for spontaneity.

also can anyone recommend any hotels with good transport links? We are looking for a hotel with room 3 beds or 2 doubles as booking.com tries to put us all in one bed.. which would be fine if my son wasn’t the size of a teenager.

ive loved reading your itineraries and sharing experiences so thank you for taking the time to document

Hotel Granvia Osaka above Osaka Station is a great location with triple beds but small rooms. Large buffet breakfast and very helpful staff. Lots of eateries on higher floors.

We stayed in the Sotetsu Fresa Yodoyabashi in Osaka on our last trip. They have rooms with a double and a sofa bed, as well as interconnecting rooms. We were seriously impressed by the value for money there. I think we paid under £90 per night for a deluxe double room with breakfast for two people in the April peak season. It’s not in a touristy part of the city, but has an elevator that goes directly into the subway station and it’s within a few stops of many of the big tourist spots. It’s on the most convenient subway line in Osaka (the midosuji). The station is also a terminus for another railway line that takes you directly to Kyoto station.

https://en.sotetsu-hotels.com/fresa-inn/fresa-yodoyabashi/rooms/

I don’t think the Tokyo hotels we’ve stayed in have triple rooms. There are a load of Sotetsu Fresa hotels in Tokyo, so it’s possible they might have triple or interconnecting rooms in some of those. A lot of people swear by mimaru hotels with kids. Their rooms are very family friendly, but they are quite a bit more pricy. If you can afford the (usually somewhere around £300-£450 per night) price tag then they are supposed to be wonderful.

@Takoneko@TheyNotLikeUsthanks so much for the recommendations, will take a look.

has anyone flown juneyao airlines stopping at shanghai? When we were searching flights they were by far the cheapest, literally half price of anything else for march. They had bad reviews but when I dug into them, it was more about food choices on plane etc which I’m not bothered about. Anyway we took the chance with them.

Grandbach Ginza has triple rooms.

We also stayed in a triple at Hotel Groove in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Only a few years old, fancy. Smart toilet separate from shower and basin area which was handy.

Anyone stayed in Henn na Hotel Premier Kyoto Eki Hachijoguchimae or Far East Village Hotel Tokyo, Asakusa?

@ohim40 im in Tokyo now having flown with Juneyao from Manchester via Shanghai and they were fine. I don’t have much experience of long haul so was worried about how Shanghai stop would work but had no issues other than the security at Shanghai weren’t very smiley and took my water away ( possibly me being naive in having it in my bag)
check in at Manchester was great with no queue ( it opened at 7 for 11am flight , we checked in at 8.Flight was on time. Flight attendants spoke enough English for me to get by and the food was good
At Shanghai it was clear where to go for international transfers and people around to help .Bags turned up in Tokyo just as plasned
Entertainment system wasn’t brilliant but to be honest most people slept during most of the flight
we paid £680 return pp so a big savings on alternatives

@ohim40 I’m staying in the Tobu Levant hotel which has fantastic transport links and does have triple rooms .

Can I ask what was wrong with the entertainment system?

No, but I have stayed in one of their other hotels and I was very impressed by the value for money. It was super clean and modern and had good amenities. I’d stay in one of their hotels again.

@ChristmasMad1 One of the Henn Na Hotels, that is. Just realised that isn’t clear.

@ChristmasMad1The entertainment system had ganes which were ok and quite a few movies but the sound on them wasn’t great. So Ds watched Deadpool and Wolverine, and King Kong vs Godzilla which he could understand ok, but I was trying to watch something with more narrative and it was hard to catch what was going on .

Hi
We were there in July and did some of your itinerary, you’ll have the best time. We had to miss kamikochi too, lots to do in Kanazawa and Takayama. Are you travelling by train between the 2 of them? My only comment ( after having 15 nights and 8 hotels when we were there) is that 2 nights somewhere goes very quickly and it’s a lot of travel. I don’t know what to suggest other than make sure you build this into your thinking. Japan is incredible but it’s a very busy holiday with lots of walking and sometimes it’s nice just to have an easy day. We loved Kanazawa and Takayama, we had a bit of rain in Takayama so the morning market was affected but still lots to see. Have an amazing trip! Our July trip was the second in 3 years as we had such a fab time the first time, as others on here will attest we changed our itinerary so many times, so the other piece of advice I’d give is don’t try to squeeze everything in!

Exciting! We’re a family of 3 and hotels we’ve stayed in which have 2 beds in the triple rooms are

edo Sakura Ueno, Tokyo. This is a ryokan and was the first place we stayed on our first visit to Japan. During beds, we loved it and the neighbourhood

Henna Ginza was where we stayed this
time, great transport links and good value. Would recommend them both!

Wouldn’t necessarily recommend where we stayed in Osaka or Kyoto but there is an option on Booking.com where you can add number of beds as a filter.

good luck and enjoy the planning.

@2025istheyeari I've booked the Henn Na in Ginza for next month, good to hear someone has stayed and recommends it, I’ve booked the Beauty plus room which has all sorts of beauty gadgets included.
Getting very excited now, as I fly out on the 1st October

It was in a great location and yes lots of gadgets!! Breakfast is fine if you just want something quick and there are free evening drinks too. Have an amazing trip!!
in my last post, I meant futons at the Edo Sakura, not during🫣.

I stayed very close to that hotel in 2024. It’s also pretty close to the fried sandwich shop that has gone completely viral online. We popped in one evening. Whilst I wouldn’t queue for as long as some people seem to, if the queue isn’t too long, then the sandwiches really as good as people say.

It’s called Age 3 Ginza (pronounced ah-geh san, which is Japanese for fried sandwich). If you google it, it should pop up.

Anyone else going to the London Matsuri tomorrow?

@Takoneko we can’t make it, but it should be fun.
Have a great time, if you go.
It’s only 2.5 weeks before we go to Japan, and we have spent this afternoon sorting out various things for our trip. So far we have paid for our Sanyo San-in pass, booked Shinkansen tickets from Tokyo to Kyoto and filled in our immigration details for the QR code. It doesn’t sound like a lot written down, but it took ages just to do those three things. We need to decide which Suica card to download - I can’t see any benefit with the Welcome version though?
Apart from Disney Sea (booked) we haven’t got any concrete plans for Tokyo. We are hoping to visit Kamakura for a day, and the other two days will be divided into areas to explore. I’m hoping to spend most of the time outside, weather permitting. Any recommendations for attractions will be gratefully received!