Hi all,
We've just got back from our first trip to Japan and I found this thread really useful so thought I would add my thoughts. We are 2 adults and 14 year old DD and had a relatively short 12 day trip. As first timers we stuck to the very well trodden route of Tokyo-Kyoto-Hiroshima-Osaka-Tokyo, with day trips to Kamakura, Nara, Himeji (en route to Hiroshima) and Miyajima. We had a great time.
What went well:
Kyoto was my favourite place. It helped I think that it rained whilst we were there which perhaps calmed down the crowds a bit. We were only there for 2 full days. I scrapped plans to include Arashiyama and instead focused on a few temples, the Philosophers path, and Fushimi Inari (including the bamboo forest there, which helped with the FOMO of missing Arashiyama).
If like us we are not super fit and full of energy at all times, having a siesta most days worked well. The busiest time for most things was around lunch and early afternoon, so escaping to the hotel room was good. A lot of attractions were open late and Japan is great at lighting things up. Cities are fun in the evening. If you can make it to the To-ji temple light up evenings during sakura time, highly recommend this.
DD really enjoyed having a planned shopping day, which we did in Osaka where there is less pressure of sightseeing. She bought out most of Muji and Uniqlo and I still catch her humming the Donki theme tune. DH spent most of the day in bed as he was so exhausted!
I loved Miyajima Island, it was a good way to take a break from city life and although it was busy there was plenty of room on ferries and crowds could be escaped by walking for a bit.
DD and I both loved collecting eki stamps and she also loved the goshuin from temples.
We all enjoyed teamlabs borderless.
I really enjoyed a splurge we did at the Park Hyatt New York Grill lunchtime buffet; was expensive but I justified it with a big birthday (albeit 2 months ago!) and I'm glad we did.
First night we went and lay down and watched the light show on the Metropolitan building in Tokyo and this was one of DDs favourite things.
Hotels were all great, many of which recommendations came from this thread!
What I would have done differently:
Avoided Kamakura on a warm Sakura Sunday. I can see how it could be a great day trip, and due to our schedule didn't really have an alternative day to do it, but we did it on day 3 of of our trip and it was just far too busy to enjoy it. The enoden line was rammed, hardly room for standing, I was grateful we only did a 5 minute journey on it. I had a long day planned but had to immediately cut back to the basics (this was a recurring theme!). I was glad to have green car tickets for the train there and back.
I would have realised in advance that the Kansai-Hiroshima train pass (which was great value), didn't include Shinkansen from Kyoto (only the Hiroshima-Osaka line). I didn't realise until we got to Kyoto station, and we ended up having to take the local train to Himeji and pick up Shinkansen from there. This took 90 minutes (versus 45) which meant with the queues we didn't have time to go into Himeji castle. Still enjoyed the parks, castle surroundings etc but would have been nice to go in. I think that was the only planning failure!
I wouldn't have stressed about suica cards. Tokyo and Osaka metros you can now just tap and go with a credit/debit card , we didn't need a payment card at all.
Had longer! Another few days would have meant much less pressure on the schedule and I would have had at least one rest day half way through. Japan can be overwhelming and confusing and it's nice to have a break.
I downloaded Tabelog but found it impossible to use, we worked out in the end that you just have to be brave and pick a place from the street, food was always good and reasonably cheap. In particular when we first arrived in Shinjuku the restaurants were so tiny, didn't seem to have any tables we could sit together, and were just generally quite intimidating. It got easier!