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 don’t want to add to your ‘to do list’, I’m so grateful for all of the tips you’ve already given me! We go at the end of March and will be in Seoul middle of April. Thank you for the information on the bus - now we’ve booked the ferry I think we’ll try to book accommodation in Seoul this weekend. We’re looking at getting eSIMs in advance of travelling, but I’ll definitely be asking you again if we can’t manage that 🙏

Still not got Japan all planned out - we’re sort of working backwards!

We roughly plan to spend 4 nights in Tokyo. We have booked an onsen on the coast north of Kyoto for 3 nights to decompress from Tokyo, but want to do a stop at Mount Fuji for a night or two en route. Anyone got any recommendations for places to spend a while around Mt Fuji? We’d like to travel from Tokyo to Kyoto on the bullet train, so somewhere along that route would be ideal.

What’s all this about animal experiences and deer feeding in Nara? I’ve been telling my husband what you’ve all been saying about Kyoto - there’s stuff he really wants to see in Kyoto but crowds of tourists are really not our thing and we find it quite stressful (we’re country bumpkins in normal life). We do like to do big city stuff, but in moderation and have to build in downtime too. So I think we had decided to stay in Nara and travel into Kyoto. And now I really want to do the anima
experiences!

@Actnaturally You can’t miss the deer in Nara, they are everywhere. There are stalls all around selling shika senbei (deer rice-crackers). You buy a stack of crackers for about £1 and then (and this is crucial) zip them away in your bag and walk past the huge crowds of deer and go find a deer off by itself. Take out one cracker at a time, bow at the deer and it will bow back, give it the cracker and then show it your empty hands so that it knows that you don’t have more. Repeat with the next deer that you see off by itself. Don’t feed them in a crowd. They will bite to get your attention if you do that.

It’s really good fun.

This sounds incredible! I can’t wait to try this!

So, should I buy some yen now do you think? We don’t travel till October but the rate seems pretty good just now?

It’s impossible to say one way or another for certain but I think you are likely to be better off just waiting and withdrawing cash from an ATM on arrival with a zero fee card.

The yen has been weak for a long time now and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to change anytime soon.

Having a look online, most bureau de change are giving somewhere around 200 yen to the pound but I’d get 212 by withdrawing from an ATM with my zero fee card. The exchange rate would need to get quite a bit worse to cancel that difference out.

@Takoneko This is such a lovely and useful thread. Can you start a part 3 please when this one nears the 1000 posts. 🙂

@Jellyslothbridge I will! I hadn’t noticed how full this thread had got, but I will keep an eye on it and make a new one.

I'm sure that no one else is as dim as me, and will actually research properly BUT a couple of tips for anyone going to Korea-

they don't use the same electrical plugs as Japan, they have the European style ones.

Google Maps does not work in Seoul! We had a few moments of absolute confusion outside Seoul station, blinking blankly at Google saying it couldn't give us the route to the hotel! There are other apps however that you can use (thank feck!)

I did Korea a great disservice by not researching properly and assuming it was just a similar add on to Japan- it's very different, and we loved it.

Thanks for this!

What was the food like? I have fond memories of a Korean restaurant in Hammersmith a long time ago. Everything was so beautifully presented, and included stuff like raw skate and pear, and pickled ferns?

My father and brother were offered ginseng brandy after the meal (good for virility, apparently) and I (F) was not!

@Fuckingfuckssake we had a similar thought about currency last year. In the end we waited until just before we travelled, and the rate hadn’t changed much in the intervening months. We didn’t need cash very often, but some small restaurants and cafes didn’t accept cards. I think we took about £500 of yen, and didn’t need it all.
@Takoneko we have booked our flights, going for 23 days in November. We’re retiring this year, so we can have a much longer trip this time. I’m considering getting the 21 day JR pass, because the cost difference between 14 and 21 days isn’t huge. The online calculators tell me that it’s more than worth it for our potential itinerary. This would include the Shinkansen from Kyushu to Tokyo at the end of trip (instead of a domestic flight). I looked at stringing together various regional passes, but the flexibility of the national pass is appealing.
At the moment, our trip will start in Tokyo, then Nikko, Kanazawa (plus lots of side trips), somewhere in Western Honshu, then 8/9 days in Kyushu. We’re thinking of ending the trip in Fuji Five Lakes area, as the foliage should be turning by that stage. Has anyone been to the Fuji area please? Or has anyone been to Japan in November? Thanks!

I’ve just booked 2 nights at lake Kawaguchi. We’ll be there at the end of March.

I’ve just discovered this today when I was researching hotels on the airport bus route. I’ve DLd NAVER Maps which seems really good.

@Pusspot I think the 21 day JR pass can be good value if you’re travelling a lot. The main disadvantage being that you can’t use the fastest classes of shinkansen without paying a fairly hefty surge charge.

We’re thinking of taking some time out from work to travel a bit more extensively ourselves. My list of possible places to visit is getting a bit out of control though.

@Takoneko I agree about the slower trains, but we found that the Nozomi was the least comfortable of all the bullet trains we travelled on last year. I felt queasy on the train from Tokyo to Kyoto, and couldn’t eat my much anticipated eki ben!
I have read so many negative things about the JR pass (since the price hike) so I was really surprised to see that the 21 day version is actually still viable for us.
It’s a shame that we have had to wait until retirement to have longer trips away. Do it if you can!

@Actnaturally sounds good! Please tell us all about it!

@Pusspot would love to hear what side trips you’re planning between Tokyo and Kanazawa? My list is forever growing…😂

@Actnaturally can you share where your coastal onsen is please?

Has anyone done the onsen towns with kids….?? I’d love to do one but it’s my kids idea of hell given the nakedness…I think we will plan for a Ryoken either with an in-room mini-onsen (spenny) or the ability to private book for an hour….

@Pusspot It’s funny you say that… We’re actually looking into the possibility of taking a some time out from work to travel for a more extended period from this autumn to next spring.

Peanut Allergy & December weather

What an incredible wealth of information here and amazing trips planned, have loved reading about all the adventures and deep research (good to know I'm not the only one that loves the planning)!

I'm planning our first visit, leaving the UK in mid-December for two weeks, coming home on the 29th Dec. Timing is due to school / uni holidays and upcoming exams.

For anyone who's been in December ... is it likely to be grey, wet and cold (like the worst of the UK in winter)? I've read the days are usually, bright, crisp and cold but need to convince OH that we'll get to experience Japan in all its glory (even though we'll likely miss the autumn leaves).

We'll mainly be travelling between Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Nara and Takayama for regional context.

Also, has anyone travelled with a severe peanut allergy with JAL / around Japan? In the past when we've travelled we've brought translated information cards which have worked fine but it's causing me some worry!

Thanks in advance for your help and guidance!

@Actnaturally yes Naver Maps is good - I find I use Google maps and Naver Maps. Naver tells you which carriage to get on for an efficient change of exit which is super helpful. The platform has the crriage numbers on the doors and the floors. It also will show you the best exit and you just follow the 'black number in the yellow box' to your exit.

Oh and some other things i Could have mentioned as well as the plugs/sockets... Cash - we have struggled on occasion to get cash from ATM but DS directed us to Hana Bank and we've had success so look out for that.

Another tip would be you can hand your phone over in a restaurant and ask them to recharge it for you 😎.

We dont do caffeine more than once - in a day if this is relevant for you Ediya Coffee have a good selection of decaff options.

Cutlery is often in a drawer at one end of the table. Seats may have coat/bag storage inside. Chopsticks are usually metal and trickier than the Japanes ones but you'll be old hands with them by the time you get to Korea...

We love a Daiso and Artbox.

Like Japan the convenience stores carry a wide rangeof stuff. We often have breakfast and perhaps lunch from one just to have some fun with the food on offer. Make sure you try some banana milk (and the melon one).

I'll think of more....

@CrystalSingerFan the food was amazing! We didn't do anything fancy/high end in Korea, but we ate at several 'mom and pop' sit down restaurants, an incredible fried chicken place and just grazed our way around all the street food!

@SorrengailFablesNoto Peninsula, Fukui and Toyama are on the list. Hopefully we will get further afield too. We will probably have four nights in Kanazawa.

😀

@Actnaturally I’m just looking at accommodation in the Kawaguchi area. Do you have a recommendation please? Thanks!

@SorrengailFables we’re going to Amanohashidate - which I understand is known as ‘Kyoto by the sea’. My DHs
friend had a trip to Japan planned for them last year, and they gave us a copy, so we’ve had the benefit of looking at the itinerary a travel agent planned, and this place looked so incredible, we wanted it on our trip. The sandbar, the onsens, the towns around it. I’ll try and upload a photo but this hotel with onsen just looked phenomenal. This is Armano Hashidate Hotel.

That’s some superb info there, thank you!