Japan Planning Thread 3

[Takoneko]

Hi!

This is a new Japan Planning Thread for when our last one is full.

Feel free to ask any questions here related to travel in Japan, regardless of budget or style of trip.

@Takoneko Did you head over to Hakuba to the ski jump slope and onsen? They work very well on rainy days.

In Japan, being active outdoors on rainy days delivers some really memorable photographs due to the reflections in puddles and moody clouds which can turn an average scene into a masterpiece.

It also means clearer scenes which make the experience more pleasant a you get more of it to yourself.

Get an umbrella and enjoy the rain.

@FrauPaige Rainy evenings in the cities with my camera are a favourite activity in Japan.

We’re currently on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagano. We’re only there for two nights so I think Matsumoto will keep us busy enough tomorrow and we’ll spend this afternoon and evening in Nagano, visiting the temple and having a wander around. I’m not bothered about the rain, but I am aware that the snow monkey park can be a muddy mess in wet weather. Seeing as we’ll be back in February, it seems better to save it for then.

@Takoneko You should have plenty to do in Matsumoto and Nagano. Sounds an ace plan.

If you get the itch to explore, you could rent a car and do Hakuba and Norika kogen but that is a full day or two and can be done on another trip if you plan to return. Beautiful in the rain, though.

Rainy evening urban cityscape photography in Japan is unbeatable! Glad to hear that you use a dedicated camera not just a smartphone.

Thank you so much, I'm gonna take your advice on the viewing deck. I think it's just the pressure to plan it once in a lifetime holiday.

is there anything in Tokyo Osaka or Kyoto that anyone would suggest doing?

We’ve had a pretty chill day today. We took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagano this morning and then visited Zenkoji Temple and ate along the neighbouring streets. The local specialty there are Oyaki, dense little savoury buns that are fried on a flat grill. They were delicious.

We also had amazing puff pies filled with apples and custard.

We went out for some dinner just now (sauce katsudon) and a bit of photography in the rain and now we plan to just chill out at the hotel this evening and rest a bit. We did a bit of an insane day in Tokyo yesterday and it’s caught up with us today.

@Takoneko save the snow monkeys until it's snowy/snowing. I think Nagano area is 'appleland' for Japan, and we stumbled over and loved the oyaki too 😋

@ChristmasMad1 you need to make peace with the fact you will not get Japan 'done' in one visit so I would recommend you build a trip around what you want to see and do and not what the internet/commercial tours/Instagram says you should. Like others, some of our best memories come from doing 'small, insignificant' things rather than ticking off other peoples' 'Must See' list.

.... you should also be warned you may also get the 'Japan Bug' and feel you should return once more.

We've just left Tokyo and en route to Kyoto/ Osaka, so no recommendations for those places yet. But my favourite things in Tokyo were the shibuya sky (rooftop open air observation deck) and Akiba (anime town) on Sunday afternoon when they close the road to traffic. Its a stop on the Ginza line, so you can do it on the way to/from Senso-ji.

We also did skytree at night (sunset tickets were sold out) and I didn’t like that as much as Shibuya Sky, where we could see Mt Fuji.

Shinjuku was a little seedy late at night, but not totally in your face. You can spot the touts easily, but they completely ignored us as I guess families are not their demographic. But Shinjuku is absolutely vibrant and chaotic and really good fun. The kids loved the 3D cat and Godzilla head, and during the day it’s just as bright and loud as at night, without the pimps! And you don’t have to walk too far away from the Godzilla head to find some amazing small restaurants in narrow streets.

A quick tip re: Shinjuku:

I always suggest skipping Shinjuku at night if you are going as a family as having the sex adjacent industry in your face is something that no one needs to see. It's the dysfunctional side of Japan that you only need to experience by choice. Many Japanese never go to Kabukicho as they find it distasteful. The other parts of Shinjuku are fine.

@Specialnameforanoutingthread I knew Aomori was famous for it’s apples but wasn’t aware of Nagano being an apple place until we arrived and realised within about two minutes at the station.

I love how Japanese prefectures and cities have such distinct identities around food. You can’t pass out of the station when you arrive without realising that apples are a thing in Nagano, lemons are a thing in Hiroshima and peaches are a thing in Okayama. We just don’t have that in the same way in the U.K.

@Specialnameforanoutingthread is there any little insignificant things you would suggest doing?

@Actnaturally do you reccommend shibuya sky or do you think it's overhyped? I keep getting reconnections about the Mori building instead.

@FrauPaige what time would you say the cutoff time would be? We're going with a mid age child and staying in shinjuku and want to be out before all that stars (not staying in Kabukicho)

@ChristmasMad1 The promoters are out on the street from 6pm. For Japanese people, Shinjuku is a shopping, drinking and restaurant destination. So I would take in Takashimaya Times Square, the Southern Terrace, and Shinjuku Sanchome where Isetan is. These are the classy bits of Shinjuku.

If you want to go to the Toho cinema where the Godzilla head is to get the iconic night photos (as most families do!) go in from the Seibu Shinjuku station side. That way you avoid the main road where the maid cafe promotional girls are.

Thank you! Would it be better to skip the night completely in shinjuku Kabukicho and go in the day?

we are staying near the Tokyo toy museum, so is there anything there we can do in the evenings without going near Kabukicho

@ChristmasMad1 Absolutely! It is always best to skip Kabukicho at night.

The great thing about Tokyo is that it has amazing cheap and and efficiently public transport. You will be staying in Yotsuya Sanchome (nice area) but you can hop on the Marunouchi line or Shinjuku line and go anywhere.

I've seen your to do list for your 11 day trip - but let's start at the beginning: When are you going? (Japan is seasonal). Who are you going with? (Adults only, children). What are your key interests? What is your general age range?

@ChristmasMad1 this might already implicitly be on your list for Osaka but the castle is interesting and it’s definitely worth going to Dotombori one evening to get lost in the neon lights, noise and chaos, have some street food and walk along the canal. There are lots of exhibitions if you like art and if you have kids endless entertainment places on a rainy day. We popped in at parks shopping which has a nice selection of shops and a huge roof terrace with gardens. Also loads of places to eat there. There’s spa world- not been but it’s like a mega centre of pools and spa experiences inside and outside on several layers! A spa (go for a natural one) is a must while you’re here.

ive been surprised by how cheap it’s seemed to eat out. We went to Saizeriya another chain (my ds lives here for uni and has tried all sorts of places to eat). We got cheap pizza pasta, soup all pretty decent at about £30 for all of us (5). I always thought it was really expensive! stuff like tickets for places isn’t that much.

@ChristmasMad1 I loved shuibuya sky. It’s commercial for sure, and ‘selfie spots’ that had queues. But it’s a rooftop, not claustrophobic. It was a lovely sunny day and we went and lay on the helipad enjoying the sounds and watching the clouds. The glass escalators were really fun for the teens. There were hammocks to lie in (and loose the coins out of your pockets). I thought it was much more chill and way less corporate than Sky Tree. I’m sure someone on here was discussing viewing platforms a while back and said how skytree is so high you loose all perspective of Tokyo. I totally get that. Sky tree made Tokyo look pretty flat, although it was pretty cool to see how far it stretches out every direction towards the horizon. But from Sibuya sky you keep all the depth. I really enjoyed watching the shibuya scramble from above for a few cycles of traffic.

This is the view from the Mori building. I think it’s hard to beat. It isn’t open air though.

I wanted to ask, is it possible to visit an Onsen on its own without having to go to a Ryokan? I'd only want a private Onsen as I don't really like the thought of sharing it with strangers. I believe it's customary to do that in Japan. Regarding Ryokans, are they something other travellers consider an essential part of any visit to Japan? To me they are something I might try once, but other than that, I think I'd prefer staying in hotels.

Today we messed up a bit. We made a last minute decision to head to Toyama this morning only to get there and find the thing we were most excited for (the glass museum) was closed today. We went to Ueda in the afternoon. That’s a lovely little town but it was very wet. The Sakura there was beautiful. On a sunny day you could tell that it would be absolutely glorious.

We did get to do some shopping in the mall in Ueda, which was great. My hot take is that the big cities are super overrated for shopping. Smaller town malls have the same chains and are far more peaceful and pleasant places to shop. If you want to shop in muji, loft, daiso, Uniqlo etc, try to go in a smaller town if you can.

Going end of June, 2 adults and 1 older child. Key interest is food (one is gluten intolerant), culture and shopping. Ages are 15-30

Hi all, sorry I’m sure this has been asked a million times but how has everyone bought their shibuya sky tickets and do you have any tips? I know you can only book 2 weeks in advance and they sell out extremely quickly. I’m after sunset if we are lucky enough. Is Klook ok to use? I tried the Japanese website but very confusing!

I can't guarantee this will work as |I haven't tried (I still have a Japanese bank account / card from a spell as an expat there), but as a thought, if you have an iPhone you can add the Suica travel card to your phone from anywhere in the world, and link it to one of your debit / credit cards. Lawson accept Suica in-store, so maybe they will also accept it for checkout online using Apple Pay?

@Tryingtokeepgoing There wasn’t an option to checkout with Apple Pay when I was trying to buy tickets a couple of months ago. Trying the Suica is a good idea if they ever add that option.

Thankfully, the pay in store process was very easy once we got here. For our next stint in Japan we’ll be here for months at a time, so should be able to use that option for a lot of things.

@ChristmasMad1 First things first, you are well suited to a holiday in Japan and will love it as your interests align with Japanese life very well. Foodie, culture, shopping - all excellent and affordable (often zero yen to take in the atmosphere at architectural spots or famous viewpoints). Your group is young which is great as Japan is a walking holiday - think 10,000-15,000 steps per day - so you will devour those kilometres easily.

It's easy to put together a memorable plan with these parameters and yours is pretty good.

One thing: the end of June is in the middle of the rainy season. It's not a Thai monsoon season but it will typically rain everyday and will be about 27°C and be quite humid. Were you aware of that?

Reporting back from the glass museum!

We’ve stopped in Toyama on our way to Kanazawa and we’re glad we tried again. The glass art museum is really cool. There’s a lovely cafe here too, where we’re currently chilling out for a bit.

@Takoneko I looked up the glass museum- what a fantastic building! It’s now on my list for November. Did you leave your luggage in lockers, or send it on to Kanazawa?