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

@Riverswimmers Just stayed in Kyoto yesterday. I would stay in a Ryokan in Gion. There are many nice ones combining modern comfort with traditional style - the Japanese equivalent of a modernised English townhouse boutique hotel or a 'period style' barn conversion 😂 Gion is about 10 min drive from kyoto station. Don't bother looking for a city bus like we did at first, black caps are cheap and super plentiful. A taxi fare for 4 is roughly the same as 4 single bus fares (1k -1.5k yen). Gion itself then let's you walk to lunch and dinner, the theatre and museum at Gion Corner and many shrines etc. Again, for bamboo forest etc I'd call a taxi on the app Go.

Oh, if you can get something along the river or canal, that would be my choice. On a hot day, being directly on the water side is lovely.

Can anyone recommend somewhere to book for a kimono experience? Ideally in Kyoto? Thanks.

I’ve never done the kimono/yukata thing (I’d be far too self conscious) but there are tons of places renting them in Kyoto. We must have walked past dozens of places advertising that they rent kimonos around Gion and Higashiyama. Hopefully someone will have a specific recommendation, but if they don’t, I’m confident you won’t have any trouble getting one.

Do you just want to hire a kimono to wear for the day, or do you want to do hair and make up, too? I haven't done it yet - I'm already struggling to walk around in the heat everyday in trainers and t-shirt- but after passing dozens of kimono shops I get the idea that some are simple hiring places similar to fancy dress hire places where you can just pick up on the day or pre book the day before, and some are bridal and bridal party outfitters, so you book in in advance, ideally with your bridal party, to have your hair and full face make up done, which will take many hours.

No recommendations but search for kimono hire on google maps near where you want to hire and you will see hire shops on every street. Sort by review scores.

Have you already bought the JR passes? Are you certain about the cost working out?

It looks like you only have one Shinkansen journey in the whole first week of your trip.

A two week JR pass is ¥30,000 more expensive than a one week pass and the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto only costs around ¥14,000 for a ticket that lets you use the fastest trains. With the JR passes you can’t use the fastest trains (which also run more frequently) unless you pay a surcharge fee of around ¥5,000 from Tokyo-Kyoto. From your itinerary it looks like you might be paying more than double what you need to for that Shinkansen journey and the journey will take you 40-90 minutes longer than if you bought that ticket as a standalone and then a one week pass to cover the bit from when you leave Kyoto back to Tokyo.

I missed this earlier. Sorry if it’s now too late for this to be useful.

Anyone else looking at next Spring? I've started looking at flights and at the minute the flight prices look absolutely eye-watering. I’m hoping they come down a bit in a few months time. For our last trip we booked in August for April, so might wait a couple of months and look again. The same economy flights that we took this year are £1200 more per person than what we paid this year, nearly double the cost.

Ooh @Takoneko you may have saved me some money - I did price up all the trains and they were more expensive than the 2 week pass but I didn't clock that all the trains bar the Tokyo-Kyoto one were within a week of each other!!! So subtracting that one, the remaining trains/ferries now total up to be significantly more than the cost of a one week JR pass.

I have ordered the 2 week passes, but it looks like I can cancel and pay an idiot tax cancellation fee. And then re-order one week JR passes.

So THANK YOU!!

@Xiaoxiong Really pleased that it’s saved you some money. I hesitated before posting in case it was all too late, but I’m glad I did.

Sadly airfares are one of the things that have gone up recently, there was an article I read which talked about the strikes which had impacted production of Boeing aircraft, and Rolls Royce engine problems, both of which mean airlines aren’t able to expand their fleets as quickly as they’d like to. Alongside increased demand, and the fact that airlines don’t fly through Russian airspace still, this means it’s sadly likely that we may see higher prices. If you’re able to be even slightly flexible with dates and airlines you may find something cheaper. Maybe set an alert up in one of the search sites so it lets you know if there’s a price drop?
We’re going to the Far East at Christmas, booked flights pretty much as soon as they came out and v glad we did as they’re now 50% more expensive 🫣.
I think I remember that you’re a teacher so need to go in school hols, we are too, that also doesn’t help!

Hoping prices decrease for you as that seems a ridiculous amount of money for a flight to Japan 🫣

@2025istheyeari Yes, also a teacher so tied to school holidays. I think it doesn’t help that Easter is early next year either. I think I may just have to suck up the cost. If they go up more then I’ll need to look at indirect options. I’m reluctant to go with an airline outside of the OneWorld alliance, but at the minute other OneWorld Airlines indirect aren’t really coming out any cheaper than direct.

Sorry if already posted but this calculator saved us money

JR Fare Calculator - See how much you save with the Japan Rail Pass

It was a lot cheaper to buy individual tickets than the JR Pass

Ooh that was really helpful @OldieButBaddie - it confirmed that for us we'll save money using a 7 day rail pass, but not a 2 week pass. Super useful!!!

We found that domestic flights can be much cheaper than Shinkansen. We also found it very easy and comfortable flying domestically, all flights we took were on time, we just walked on, arrived 45 min to 1 hr before take off, and the airport limosine buses are all very comfy, regular and all got us to our hotel directly, so no managing large train stations, changing trains and logging luggage around.

@NellyBarney We also had a good experience with our domestic flight. We mostly used the Shinkansen for getting around but I’m so glad we took a connecting flight back from Hiroshima to Tokyo before our flight home. It was so much better than coming back on the Shinkansen and cheaper. The airport experience was a breeze. Our bags were checked all the way through to London so we just walked straight through to the monorail station to change terminals. We thought changing terminals might be a bit of a nightmare but it was a breeze.

We also had an impressively easy domestic flight experience with JAL (Osaka- New Chitose)😎

For anyone who missed Ghibli museum tickets, there is this new exhibition until Sept.

https://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/ghibli-3d-sculpture-exhibition/71578

@MondayYogurt That looks amazing!

Just returned from our 17 night trip to Japan. This thread was really useful so adding in some feedback.
We bought sims and suica cards at the airport as we have android phones too old to use an e sim!
We had modest luggage so didn't forward especially as mainly staying in apartments.
Really enjoyed the traditional onsen stays with tatami mats and yakata robes. The first onsen baths we had to ourselves which helped break the reserve we felt. No one looks and we happily used the onsens after that.
We went to Tokyo (3), fuji 5 lakes (2) Kyoto (5) with day trips to Osaka etc. Takyama (3) Tatyama (1) for the Alpine route Omishi (1) and back to Tokyo (2) via Matsomoto.
The only hic up we had was not being able to use the alpine luggage forwarding service as we stayed in an onsen in Tatyama. This meant taking our luggage on all the, trains, ropeways and cable cars. There were lockers however so we still got our hike in the snow.
We booked the trains as we went with no difficulty. Sometimes the early bus was booked so perhaps book any key bus,s you need.
We didn't book any restaurants and were able to find places for 4 with no or minimal waiting.
Fantastic country and holiday, very comfortable and easy to get around. Enjoy planning your trips, we found it good to have some flexibility or lighter days.

@Jellyslothbridge That sounds fab. Do you mind me asking what you did in Matsumoto and whether you enjoyed it? We’re thinking of taking a day trip there from Nagano.

We went to the castle which was walking distance from train station, having stored our bags there and had some lunch. We went inside the castle which was interesting (steep steps warning but worth it)
I am sure there is a lot more to do there but we were changing trains so it was a shorter stop off (3.5 hours)

Sounds like an amazing trip @Jellyslothbridge . We’ve sadly had to leave the alpine route this time, too much, but would you recommend?
Any specific recommendations for Takayama? We’re there for 2 nights and can’t wait!

@2025istheyeari We had an amazing day in Kamikochi (get off at the first pond stop and walk to the bridge) You can then take a break and do another walk. We saw the snow type monkeys too which was cool. We also visited the hida folk village and went at different times of day to the old wooden streets area (good oppertunity for sake tasting with tokens) Lots of oppertunities to eat Hida beef. The morning market was also fun - if you like coffee a stall had coffee cups made out of biscuits with really good coffee in!