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

I'm going to Japan again in April 2027 so starting to think about what to do.

Places we went before
Tokyo
Izu Peninsula (to see friends and will end up there on this trip to go to a music festival)
Hakone
Osaka
Kyoto
Hiroshima/Miyajima
Onomichi/Shimanami Kaido

WE loved everything!

So what to do second time round? I would like to start in Osaka and end up in Tokyo I think but would like to do some different things

Any advice very welcome!

Oh sorry I should have said we will have a Japanese speaker with us so can go to weird and wonderful places where the language might otherwise be a barrier

@Plan2025 I'm with your kids, I LOVED the yakitori on Memory Lane 😁we went back twice whilst we were there

@Takoneko sorry, I have another question about JAL. I think you mentioned getting a free domestic flight included? I can’t find anything on the website, but I have heard about a Japan Explorer Pass (via JAL). I’m at the stage of booking our flight from London, but don’t want to miss out on a free or cheap internal flight from Kyushu back to Tokyo.
Thanks!

Maybe they aren’t doing it anymore. When we booked our 2025 flights last year we got our flight from Hiroshima to Tokyo for free. We are going in and out of Tokyo this time so wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t available then.

@Takoneko thanks for replying. it does sounds like it was a seasonal offer.

Hi, first timer to Japan. Flying into Tokyo. Has anyone got a recommendation for accomodation in Tokyo (4 people - myself, DH and teenagers) that’s a good area to explore from?

@Actnaturally Tokyo is really well connected. Stay as close as possible to a metro station and most of the more central neighbourhoods are good bases for exploring. I like the area around Ginza and Tokyo Station. Next time we’re staying in Asakusa for a change.

I've always booked my accommodation in shinjuku, is there anything nearby we can do on the first day?

@ChristmasMad1. The Metropolitan building in Shinjuku has a great free 15 minute light show each evening (was at 6pm ish and 9pm in October). There is also a free viewing deck which we didn’t go to, but it’s on our list for next time.

I promise I’m rtft, but I’m staring from the first thread and it’s slow going because I’m having to google every recommendation and going down itinerary wormholes every post. So far today I’ve got to page 2 of thread 1 😂.

I’ve got another question that I’m hoping someone might be able to answer. We’re looking at the Osaka to Busan ferry because we’re flying home from Seoul. Has anyone done that ferry? Reviews online are mixed, and I’m also worried about allocation of beds as we’re travelling with 2 teens who appear to be classed as adults for the ferry (13+) and I don’t want to risk them being put in a shared room with strangers. I can’t see a family room option, and paying for 2 x 2 berths really hikes the price up.

Anyone done that trip and got any tips/insights?

Hello, apologies for not RTFT but I’m about to start looking for flights into Tokyo from Birmingham/Manchester/Glasgow or other regional airports, has anyone got any tips of routes that work well, flying out towards the end of August. Thank you so much.

I did Japan with my son a couple of years ago. Flew from Glasgow, first Japanese stop Osaka, flew home from Tokyo. From memory, I think we did: Osaka 4 nights, Kyoto 2 nights, Hiroshima (and Miyajima) 2 nights, Takayama 2 nights, Tokyo 4 nights. We used the Japan rail pass and it was all very easy to travel, the only tricky part was the vastness of Tokyo transport, but if we missed a train another would be along shortly. Kyoto was busy but when we visited the bamboo forest out of town we went early, and for Fushimi Inari we went before sunset and it was super quiet. My only regret was not doing more research on vegetarian restaurants. We therefore ate a lot 7/11! My teenage son loved it. Apart from the flight, the holiday was very reasonably priced. Excellent standard of hotels (breakfast, special in room toiletries, onsens) for approx £100 a night. Should add, learn some basic Japanese. Even at Universal Studios, we didn't meet many English speakers.

Are you veggie? How did it go?

Yes I'm vegetarian. We ate out a few times, but honestly half the dinners were us eating in hotel room with 7/11! We did use Google translate in restaurants but my confidence wasn't great with the language barrier. I found out afterwards that there's plenty of websites that give good vegetarian restaurant recommendations. That's what is do in future if I go back.

@Fuckingfuckssake we flew via Dubai to Tokyo then home from Osaka, again via Dubai, all Emirates. The alternative for us was via Amsterdam but that was more expensive and didn't think a short plus extra long flight would necessarily be any better than two long flights.

Thanks, which UK airport did you fly from?

Newcastle

Ok so I have been down a million rabbit holes but think we are narrowing in on a potential itinerary - I would welcome some advice! As a reminder we’re a family of 5 - not huge city lovers….
My tentative idea:
Tokyo 3 nights
kanazawa 3nights
kyoto 3 nights (I’m nervous of the crowds!)

Then I’m looking for recommendations for 3 nights around Hiroshima/Miyajima - wondering about Miyajima itself as I’ve read there are some nice walking routes and beaches…

we then have 1 stop on our return to Tokyo - I’m thinking Kirushiki
or should we do 2 nights around Hiroshima and 2 nights along this stretch of coast?
and a final night in Tokyo before our early flight out to Singapore…

I think averaging 3 nights will avoid it feeling too rushed for our family but allows to see our highlights. We are not doing Osaka or Nara on this trip; I know some people will think this is not enough time in Tokyo 😂

@SorrengailFables Kurashiki is a lovely town, but easy to get to from Hiroshima. Shinkansen trains are so quick, and you can cover long distances really quickly. My DH likened it to going from London to Birmingham in half an hour. (More or less!) My preference would be to stay in the Hiroshima area and use it as a base. The station there is relatively easy to navigate, and we thought the Japanese people in that area were really friendly and helpful. If you get one of the regional train passes you will be spoilt for choice of where to visit.
We found that accommodation was a lot cheaper in Hiroshima too, if that’s a consideration.
We stayed near the station at the Randor, which was recommended on this thread. We did a day trip to Miyajima (arrived early - it is very popular) and then went to Iwakuni in the afternoon (recommended by @Takoneko)
I know you said not to visit Nara, but it’s a really easy trip from Kyoto. The Nara line takes you into the town and then it’s a short walk into the deer park. The temples are stunning (Toda Ji is amazing), and it’s quite straightforward to go to Uji afterwards, as it’s on the same train line going back towards Kyoto.

I missed Hiroshima from my list. We stayed there for two nights and on one of the days we travelled to Miyajima for the day. We stayed at a hotel right next to the train station, which was fine and very convenient for travel.

@Actnaturally DH and I have done that crossing, and have fond memories. Well, actually we went from Fukuoka to Busan on the now defunct catamaran ferry and returned Busan to Osaka on the Panstar Dream, but I hope I can help. We travelled in Sept '23 and it looks like the ship was replaced by Panstar Miracle early in 2025, so my info may well be out of date. There is definitely a lack of info about this journey on the internet, when we went I could I only find one blogger's account.

As far as I remember it sells itself as a bit of a 'mini cruise' but we felt the Dream was more of a 'nice ferry' than a cruise ship, but the morning of our second day was spent travelling up the Seto Inland Sea under a warm, clear, blue sky which was lovely. It looks like the Miracle is modern and much more 'cruise like' as the Dream only had a buffet for dinner and breakfast, a tiny shop, and the onsen. I'll add a photo of our room, and we had shared bathrooms (for alternatives, the price catapulted and, frankly, we're too tight!). I would say it's much more interesting than flying...

I have just had a look back through my booking info and we booked through Direct Ferries so I probably struggled with the Panstar website. I have also just tried a dummy booking and it allows you to enter the children's ages but it does look like they are classed as adults. If you select a 4 person cabin they must be really unlikely to split your booking, so I am sure you will be fine with you all four together in one cabin. Did you find the cabin info on the fares and cabin info Panstar pages?

I can't help you with departures from Osaka as obviously we arrived into there. However, we have arrived into Busan port from our Fukuoka catamaran. I don't remember much so I think they must have been quite swift, and it's more like an airport than the ferry terminal at Poole!

Will you have eSims? If not you will need to get them at the port terminal in Busan before you leave the building and set off. We once made the mistake of not picking a sim up on arrival and it was a wild goose chase taking 3 days (I think) before we got the right info and right directions in Seoul to get one, so this is a STRONG recommendation even if you are at the back of a queue. eSims are SO much better, yay for a new phone! On our last visit we flew to Tokyo for a few days and from there flew on to Seoul for a week (DS lives there) so I bought an eSIm which covered both countries - easy peasy... DH just hotspots off me.

When you arrive in Korea you should also pick up T-Money cards from a convenience store (CU/GS25 etc), and you will need to load them as they come empty. I cant remember if you can pay by card in the convenience stores so I'll ask DH. We were there in Dec and I think the machine in the subway only took cash, but again I will check to see if DH can remember.

You can walk on a covered, high level walkway from the port to the train station in Busan. The bus station is about an hour north on the tube and is not very convenient.

Are you staying in Busan or heading straight to Seoul? When do you go?

Can I ask for some thoughts please, my husband is very anxious about travelling but would really love to visit Japan, one option is a cruise to keep his stress levels down or his suggestion is just to stay in Tokyo for 10 days and do day trips to see other parts of the country, is this doable? If so which area would we be best to stay in? Thank you.

@Fuckingfuckssake would a group tour help DH? We have only travelled independently in Japan so have done neither but I think a tour would give you a much more 'Japanese' experience than a cruise.

@Fuckingfuckssake There’s people on here who have done cruises. I personally think a cruise misses out on a lot of the best things about Japan.

10 days in Tokyo with some day trips is perfectly reasonable though. On our first trip in 2008 we stayed only in Tokyo. There’s lots to see and do in and around Tokyo and plenty of places to day trip to from there e.g. Nikko, Kamakura, Kawagoe, Mt Fuji, Sawara etc. You could fill 10 days easily.

Osaka is also somewhere that you could happily fill a full 10 days with a regional rail pass and lots of day trips. Kyoto, Uji, Nara, Minnoh, Kobe, Himeji, Okayama and Kurashiki are all easily reachable from there. Even Hiroshima is possible as a day trip from Osaka.