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

For a second trip I would choose Takayama type option, Matsumoto, Kurobe Dam, Kanazawa etc. Hida beef 😍

Generally prefer to fly back to Tokyo from one of the Osaka airports.

Kyushu can be third trip 😃Mt Aso is amazing.

@BlackSwan thank you for your comments/recommendation as well. Unfortunately all of the ryokans mentioned are showing no availability, but as it's so far away I'm going to assume for now that it's just too early to book!

This thread is so informative. Thanks to all the contributors!
We’re planning our Japan trip for next May/June at the moment. Does anyone have recommendations for accommodation in Kyoto? Mid range.

We stayed at CHISUN PREMIUM Kyoto Kujo for location and price. Was comfortable and suited our needs

Thanks @Sparklinggreen !

We stayed at Hotel Forza which was handy for the subway and bus stops just outside. We did hear some traffic due to the location so that's the only caveat in case that would bother you but it didn't disturb our sleep!

@Plan2025 thank you!

Thanks to everyone for all the super-helpful info on here. We are travelling to Japan for three weeks at the beginning of April next year, so I am avidly following!

We are planning our second trip to Japan, which I’m very excited about. The help we got from this thread was fantastic and I’m hoping to pick everyone’s brains again for advice for the next visit.
We are hoping to fly direct next time (November 2026) which means we will be flying in and out of Tokyo. On our first trip, we flew in to Haneda and home via Osaka. With this in mind, I’m undecided which is the best itinerary. We want to revisit Tokyo itself, then go to Nikko, Kanazawa, Matsumoto, and places on that route (if we use the Hokuriku pass?) then head down to Western Japan via Okayama and ending up in Kyushu. We want to use regional rail passes and want to avoid back- tracking to Tokyo. I guess we could potentially fly back to Tokyo from Kyushu. We don’t want to revisit Kyoto on the next trip, and we don’t really fancy seeing the central part of Osaka again. We want to stay in Okayama again because we loved it there. We like staying in each place for three- four nights, with the exception of Nikko which I think only needs one or two. We’ve got three weeks to play with as we’re retiring, so want to make the most of it! We want to visit in November to try and catch the autumn foliage, so I thought if we visit Nikko first (around the 9th) we might have a good chance of seeing some colour changes and then hopefully again in some other areas of central Honshu. I have read that autumn is a lot later in Japan, but we don’t want to visit in December. Apologies for adding so much detail in my post. I have searched the internet and chat gpt but your tips and advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

@Pusspot We took an internal flight from a regional airport and connected straight onto our international flight home. Flying back from Kyushu to Tokyo is a good option.

Good idea @TakonekoWe could do this instead of back tracking to Tokyo. We’re also considering hiring a car in Kyushu. We will probably stay there for a week, so an airport vehicle drop off would make sense.

We just got back from Japan/S Korea on Monday and the weather in both Tokyo and Seoul was fine, although DS says Seoul will get much colder in the coming weeks.

Right after we arrived into Haneda, DH and I travelled out to Yamanochi for a couple of nights' onsen and the snow monkeys. We delayed our plan to visit on our middle day as snow was forecast overnight on our second night and we opted to visit the snow monleys on our last morning before travelling back to Tokyo. It was a good call as snow was on the ground, and continued to fall, during our visit. We also opted to take the 8.30am shuttle from the ryokan so we were some of the first to arrive too, so I think we had the best experience we could have had.

Our thoughts were that it looked much better under snow (having seen other photos) and the monkeys were obligingly in the (man-made) onsen pool. We arrived as they were being fed, and although they are wild they obviously appreciate the food, as they swarmed in for breakfast. On the plus side the food was well distributed and they were no obvious fights, but if you watched there were clear leaders who had the best calls on the food (but I guess this is natural...). There is absolutely nothing to stop the monkeys from coming and going, and as they took absolutely no notice of the tourists I am sure they are not fed by visitors which is great. However, I worry that the 'instagram visitors' will not be as compliant with this clear instruction as the Japanese tourists have been... I am glad I went but I am also mindful that the experince was good purely because of the snow.

We saw Fujisan a few times, while travelling and from Tokyo too, so that was an added bonus of going in December.

@Specialnameforanoutingthread Sounds like a great trip.

I'm going to Japan this June / July first time going alone? Want to do Kyoto (visit Osaka from here) and Tokyo for 10 days combined, cheap budget. Any advice for anything this is my first time solo travel!

@ChristmasMad1 There’s some great value Japanese chain hotels if you’re on a budget. I’m a big fan of the Sotetsu Fresa and Daiwa Roynet chains.

What sorts of things are you interested in?

There's 2 of us going so a mix of culture / temples, food, sumo wrestling, etc.

Sumo I can help with. There’s no sumo honbasho (the six main tournaments of the year) in June. There’s one in July in Nagoya starting July 12th. Tickets have become frustratingly difficult to get in the last couple of years. Be prepared for disappointment.

The other option is to buy some of the expensive guided tour options that include the tickets if you really want to see a proper tournament. Usually they are somewhere in the £120 price range, which is a huge markup on the face value.

Alternatively, you could go to a sumo stable for morning practice in June. It’s also a pricier option but that will get you up close with the wrestlers. At a stable like Isegahama the intensity of practice is pretty high because they have so many sekitori (the guys in the top two divisions). If I was going to spend £80pp on morning practice tickets that would probably be my choice of stable… unless you follow one of the others on YouTube and have lower division favourites.

I don’t think there will be a provincial tour in June so that leaves the sumo dinner show experiences being run in the Ryogoku neighbourhood by former wrestlers. Not really my thing, but they seem to be very well reviewed.

Joining in and trying to read through and catch up! Planning our trip for this summer (yes I know v hot and humid but school holidays and work are somewhat restrictive) and really need to crack on with getting accommodation (family of 5). Trying to decide which route to take

No idea why it cut off the rest of my post….should continue:
option a) Japanese “alps” for some hiking or option b) the “art islands” and maybe a beach….? Flying in and out of Tokyo and a city stop on the way home so think we could miss Osaka…Planning Tokyo and Kyoto with one of the options above….any thoughts/pointers gratefully received!

@SorrengailFables I’ve only been to Japan once, so definitely not knowledgeable. How old are your children? We stayed in Osaka for the last two days of our trip, and we thought our kids would have loved it there (we travelled as an older couple). The Dotonbori area was really lively at nighttime with lots going on. Osaka was also cheaper than Kyoto. We didn’t like Kyoto much, as it’s saturated with tourists.

We did visit a few of the islands in the Inland Seto Sea, but not to Naoshima art island due to time constraints. We went to Rabbit Island (Okunashima) instead and loved it there. Miyajima near Hiroshima is also worth a visit. Hiroshima is a fabulous city, and the museum, peace park and memorials are a sobering experience. The little islands around Ominichi town are lovely too.
There are good beaches at Kamakura and Enoshima, which is only about an hour from Tokyo. It’s an easy day trip. We went in October and lots of Japanese were surfing along that coast.

@Takoneko hope you can help me please with flight advice? We are planning our next trip for November, and have seen flights with JAL that look good. Outbound is via Helsinki with Finnair, then JAL on a 2-4-2 configured plane. The return flight is direct (again 2-4-2) but at 1am. The seat configuration is very appealing but I’m wavering over the increased price and the late departure time.
We had an excellent experience with JAL flying out in October, so I’m happy to travel with them again. ANA direct is the other possibility.
Can you remember if you booked your seats at the time of booking? I believe JAL don’t charge for standard seat selection in economy. Thanks!

@Pusspot thank you - I’ll take a look at everywhere you mentioned…think I need to sit down with a map! It’s a bit overwhelming as it all sounds so good…need to accept we can’t fit it all in and decide on our priorities.

kids will be 10/12/14 - very active so they’ll need more than just cities and sight-seeing although their priority is food experiences!

I’ve heard Kyoto is very busy and touristy…I’m torn between doing the classic first-time visit with all the obvious stops or trying something a bit different….

@SorrengailFables what about Kanazawa instead of Kyoto? We’re planning on going there in November, using the Hokuriku Arch rail pass.
The regional train passes are good value and your youngest child would be eligible for a 50% discount.

We’ve taken that specific 1am flight twice. You can book the seats at the time of booking for free.

I quite like that flight. It’s late but not outrageously so. You get free lounge access included with the ticket for that flight and the JAL lounge is quite nice. They don’t serve a meal after take off so you can eat in the lounge and then the flight goes lights out pretty quickly with just a drink service at the start. I find that a late flight like that helped me to sleep some and makes the jet lag more manageable when we get home.

@SorrengailFables Theres no getting away from the fact that Kyoto is very busy and very touristy. Beautiful, but I personally didn’t find it an enjoyable experience.

There’s nothing wrong with doing the usual first-timer route if that’s what appeals to you, but my advice is not to treat it like anything is a “must see” if you don’t personally fancy it. I’ve skipped so much stuff that regularly makes in onto big “must see” lists and don’t regret it at all. We only have so much time for our trips and I’m glad we’ve explored some less heavily touristed places.

Like @Pusspot, we are heading to Kanazawa using the Hokuriku arch pass on our next trip.

We also loved Hiroshima and the surrounding region including bunny island, Iwakuni, Onomichi and Miyajima.