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

Shinkansen Tokyo-Osaka - the fastest type run every 10min, the slower ones every 30min.
We don’t bother advance booking as it allows more flexibility on the day.

We had the same experience with our JAL domestic flight from Hiroshima. It was the smoothest airport experience of my life.

@PicklesMacGraw I’m also a big fan of Wanderlog. I only use the free version but it’s great. There’s no intrusive ads or anything like that and it’s brilliant for keeping track of everything.

@Permanentlytiredandgrumpy There’s honestly no need to book in advance at all (outside of golden week and new year) for Tokyo-Osaka. We weren’t sure how long what we wanted to do in Tokyo in the morning would take and didn’t want to feel rushed, so we just turned up to Tokyo station when we were finished with our activities for the morning. We booked at the machines for a train in half an hour and then popped into a bento shop to get a train picnic and then made our way down to the Shinkansen platforms. I was originally planning to pre-book but I’m glad I didn’t bother. I liked not feeling that I was on a deadline on that last morning in Tokyo.

Thanks Takoneko! Im glad to hear that since I found the website rather daunting! I think i prefer to book when I'm there but was worried the tickets will sell out!

Thanks! That sounds very frequent. Is it unlikely to sell out in summer on a weekend too?

Highly unlikely. I read an article on NHK this morning about today/yesterday being one of the busiest days of the year and those trains were still only “almost” fully booked.
Some of the other lines may need pre-booking at busy times but you’ll not have a problem between Tokyo and Osaka.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250506_09/

@Permanentlytiredandgrumpy One of the worst things about travelling to Japan is dealing with Japanese web design. I know some of it is cultural difference rather than just “bad design” but there’s also a lot of really confusing, archaic and just plain badly designed websites. It sometimes feels like some kind of special test or challenge just to book tickets or check opening hours.

@takonekoThe information on the shinkansen booking website is so long and complicated!

I couldn't agree more aboyt web design- hotel website are so different to navigate!

I've never encountered a sold out shinkansen, but I assume it happens during heavy travel holiday periods like Golden Week (which is just ending), and to/from major events.
If you want to book large luggage or want a specific seat then book ahead, it's also easy (I'm sure someone here can recommend an app or site to do it, or you can do it at a station ticket office when you arrive). Then you have peace of mind and a reserved seat. I could be wrong, but I think if you miss your train you can travel in unreserved seating on a later one for same route.

I second @MondayYogurt. My plan is to buy my tickets from Tokyo to Osaka at the ticket office after having done a couple of walks around the station and been on public transport across Tokyo for a while as to get an idea where to go on the day and how long it all takes realistically (Im travelling with an autistic child, so last minute panic and change of plan is a no-no). I'll ask for the equivalent of an open, peak time ticket that can be used if I miss reserved train, for peace of mind, but I think all are like that anyway.

My dd and her bf have been to both and said Borderless was better, I have only been to Borderless and it was amazing!

Thanks @OldieButBaddie we loved Planets so that’s good to know, need to decide whether it’s different enough to squeeze in!

we’ve moved our itinerary around and we’re now flying to Ishigaki for 4 days, can’t wait! Has anybody been/ have any recommendations please? Has anyone stayed at Osaka airport/ know how easy it is to get a taxi from the city for a 7am flight? Trying to decide what’s the better option, if a taxi is easy/ relatively quick I’d rather do that but need to work out which side of the city best to stay in.

we’re now in Kyoto 13-15/7, just before Gion Matsuri but I’ve read that there is something on 14th, I just can’t figure out what- does anybody know? Would be great to see some
of this.

On that note @Takoneko I can’t remember whether you are going to Takayama but they have a spring festival in April, a friend of mine said their autumn festival was one of the highlights of her trip to Japan. There is also an fab company who do cycling trips around the local countryside satoyama-experience.com Unfortunately Takayama and Kanazawa now off our itinerary but firmly on it for our next trip!

Thanks everyone, Japan planning helping with GCSE anxiety for Ds and me here 🤣.

@2025istheyeari Ishigaki looks fab. Hope you have a wonderful time.

Easter is early next year, so we’ll be too early for the Takayama festival unfortunately. We haven’t really firmed up exactly where we will visit from Kanazawa, but Takayama is definitely a possibility.

Which Osaka airport is your flight from? KIX or Itami?

Aah shame you’ll miss the festival but I have no doubt you’ll have an amazing time!
thanks, we’re flying from Kix.

Advice is to arrive 2 hours before a domestic flight at KIX and I don’t think the earliest trains and limousine buses will get you there for 5 AM. I think taxis are relatively easy to book with your hotel concierge or even online through something like klook or viator.

At Itami you only need to arrive 30-40 minutes before your flight, but I’ve read about very long security lines at KIX so would err on the side of caution and follow their recommendation to arrive early. I’ve not departed from KIX but we queued for 1.5 hours at immigration when we flew into there, so I can well believe the stories about long queues at security.

Eek, that will be something to look forward to then 🤣.
think we’ll stay in the city so we can hopefully get to the baseball and grab some food, thanks @Takoneko .

We land back from Osaka Saturday lunchtime and have that afternoon and all day Sunday free before we do our rearranged bike tour and farm lunch at Lake Biwa. Any ideas about places to go? We’ll already have had a half day and evening in Osaka. My default is Kyoto but an extra day and a half seems a lot there when we’ve been before, I looked at Kanazawa to squeeze it in but it’s quite a way and now I’m a bit stumped!

We also need early taxis to airports and generally are more comfortable with taxis than with negotiating massive train and metro stations and can't walk for much longer than 10min if there is no immediate excitement to distract (like inside a theme park). (My son has quite limiting mobility issues, autism and adhd). I have my normal Uber app but have heard that Go is the taxi app to use in Japan. I can't open it outside of Japan, though, to take a closer look. Has anyone used it? Also, are there other forms of personal transport? I would guess there are rickshaws? Are they thieves like in London? (due to son's limitations have been prone to pay silly amounts to London rickshaw drivers) 😂

We also have mobility issues/height anxiety limiting or ruling out the use of escalators, so trying to avoid public subway/trains as much as possible.

Yes, used Go before.
Rickshaws (2 wheel) are pulled by one person and only in specific tourist areas. I have never seen motorised tuk-tuks.
For Tokyo you could try S-Ride app for taxis as well, but I have never struggled to hail one or find a marked taxi queue outside stations. Make sure you have the address of where you are going (I screenshot) to show to the driver.

https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/getting-around/taxis/

@2025istheyeari I don’t think it’s always like that! I know other people have had very smooth experiences. Hopefully you’ll breeze through. We’ve never had a long wait at Heathrow but always get there early because I know the queues can be very long if you’re unlucky.

Have you been to Katsuoji? If you have a spare day near Osaka and haven’t been before then I’d recommend it. There’s also Minoh Falls nearby, but we didn’t go to the falls in the end. We ended up spending a lot longer at Katsuoji than we expected and decided not to go to the falls as we had plans in Osaka late afternoon-early evening that we didn’t want to skip so we just stopped for some food and a bit of shopping in the mall by the station in Minoh and headed back into Osaka.

We used buses a lot. They are very easy to use and are clean and comfortable.

@ImMeMeMe We are planning on visiting Akita prefecture as a day trip from Morioka. Our initial thoughts are to take the Shinkansen from Morioka to Kakunodate for the day and maybe also take one of the tourist trains out into the nearby countryside. As someone from Akita, does that sound like a good plan? Is there anywhere else in the prefecture that you think might be a better option? It would need to be somewhere accessible by train.

@Takoneko ooh I’ve heard that the cherry blossom in Kakunodate is amazing. Watching your emerging itinerary with interest for places to add as maybes to my list for our 3rd trip to Japan!!

We’ve decide to head straight to Kyoto from Osaka airport, there are a few things we didn’t do last time that we’d like to, and we’ll go to Uji for half a day. Decided to minimise hotels!! Thanks for the Katsuoji recommendation, we may do that with the half day we have, but otherwise on the list for next time!!

We’re considering booking a car on Ishikagi as transport seems limited. We’ve booked a villa on the north coast which is a bit out of the way so that seems the best option and we can then explore what looks to be a beautiful island! Just need to sort international drivers licences out!

We should find out whether we’ve got tickets to the grand Sumo tournament in Nagoya next week 🤞🏻. If we don’t we’ll change that bit of our itinerary to Kanazawa.

Slowly getting there after rearranging our entire plans about 3 times, anyone else do that 😳.