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.

@Tangerinesattack Yep, welcome to the club. 😂

Trips to Japan breed more trips to Japan. There’s just so much to see and do that I always leave wanting to come right back.

Thank you @Jellyslothbridge, that’s so helpful. I’m also on the wobbly side but I think after a long day of tramping about an onsen will be wonderful. I’m really looking forward to it.

Complete derail but I don't have anywhere else to talk about this. We visited a Honda salesroom yesterday and saw a kei car!

https://www.honda.co.uk/cars/new/super-n/overview.html

Honda are starting to sell an electric kei car in the UK this year. It was such a surprise to see one - and for anyone who has visited Japan they are part of the life of the country. It was very cute.

Back on topic: debating July for northern Japan or December for southern next year.

@MondayYogurt thanks for sharing! We also saw lots of these cute little cars in Japan last year. I just had a look at the website, as I’m hoping to get a small EV soon. I might book a test drive!

@MondayYogurt We rented a little kei car for a day on our last trip and really enjoyed it. They are really comfy and spacious inside.

Deciding where next is always so difficult. I’m sure either option would be wonderful. We went to Northern Japan this spring and there’s some really beautiful places up north and almost no tourists. Some of the places we went to felt almost eerily devoid of people.

@Takoneko did you pre book the car from the UK? We will be hiring a car for about three separate days when we’re in Kyushu. I read somewhere that some companies don’t rent to drivers with international licences?
We have been busy planning our November trip.
All hotels are booked, and our itinerary is:
Tokyo 4 nights, with a trip to Nikko on day 3.
Fukuoka 3 nights, and hopefully a chance to see Sumo while we’re there.
Nagasaki 3 days, with a hire car on day 2, to visit the pottery towns etc.
Kumamoto 4 nights, again with a car one day to see Mount Aso/Takachiho gorge and then another separate day to drive to Amakusa islands.
Kagoshima 3 nights, where we want to visit Sakurajima, Sengan-En, Ibusuki (and the sand baths), and travel on the Ibusuki no Tamatebako train. We might fit in the Kagoshima flower garden too, although it will be more for the scenery than the flowers in November.
Then onto Kanazawa for five nights, to hopefully see the autumn foliage (third week of November). I haven’t really thought much about that part yet, apart from the gardens at Kenroku-En, and possibly a gold leaf class. We will also have a few days out further afield on the train from Kanazawa.
We had originally planned a shorter stay in Kyushu, but it looks and sounds like we will enjoy ourselves there.
We’re having our final night at an airport hotel as we have a 10am flight home. We think we will drop our bags off at the hotel, and then head back into Tokyo for one last look.
All tips and suggestions for these places will be gratefully received! Thanks to everyone on this thread - it’s been a fabulous resource.

@Pusspot We hired cars twice and both times we just booked them online the night before. We used the JR rental car company (ekiren). You need an international driving permit in addition to your UK licence but all the main companies seemed to be fine renting to tourists. We used ekiren because there’s a discount if you are using them in conjunction with a rail pass. There are usually several options near any major JR station though. Toyota are everywhere.

We’ve only spent one day in Kyushu before, but we are really excited about spending time there in November-December. We’re doing 2 nights in Kitakyushu, 3 in Beppu, 7 Fukuoka, 5 Nagasaki and 7 Kumamoto.

We did spend 4 nights in Kanazawa this spring. It’s a great place to stay. We really enjoyed a day trip to Fukui from there (one of the places where we rented a car). It was a very short hop on the Shinkansen and then we picked up a car and drove out to the dinosaur museum, Echizen Daibutsu and the castles. We also stopped at nearby Toyama on our way from Nagano and that was worth it for the Glass Art Museum alone.

@Takoneko thank you for the car hire tips. Good to know we can be a bit spontaneous for those driving days. We need to get our international licenses sorted out. Did you find it easy to charge an electric car? The Kei cars don’t have a huge battery range (I think).
We’re also going to buy our 21 day rail passes next month, before the price rise. I’ve worked it out, and we will easily benefit from the pass. This is more because the difference between 14 and 21 days isn’t a big leap. I was pleased to learn that some of the scenic trains in Kyushu are JR/included. Apparently the Ibusuki no Tamatebako trainline is the most scenic in southern Japan. I mentioned before on this thread about the Michael Portillo train journey tv series - he travelled a lot in Kyushu and provided plenty of inspiration.
I remember you mentioning the dinosaur and glass museums - they both look really interesting. We need to spend some time focusing on that part of the trip. Ideally we would have visited Kanazawa first, before Kyushu, but we felt we would miss out on the foliage if we stayed too early in November.

@Pusspot The cars we rented weren’t electric. We just selected the basic kei car/compact option. We got a Daihatsu Tanto kei car in one place and at the other one it ended up being a Honda Jazz. Both were petrol.

@Takoneko Ah I see! Thank you!

@Pusspot we always do some driving, it’s so much more enjoyable than in the UK.
We drove a Nissan Moka and Honda N Box, booked in advance online. There are loads of rental places but I read bad reviews of the ones catering to Chinese tourists near Kansai. We stick to Japanese rental companies.

@MondayYogurt thank you - we will probably only drive in Kyushu. I will make a note about the Japanese rental companies. All our hotels are near railway stations, so I think we will hire from those locations.

Hi there, sorry to hijack.

I am in a bit of a pickle; heading to Korea and Japan next weekend with my 4 children (17, 15, 12 & 9). Husband no longer coming with us so I have had to rethink the whole trip. Cancelling not an option….

I’ve booked two hotel rooms at most of the destinations we are visiting; are they likely to have an issue with my 17 & 15 year olds sharing a room without an adult?

Thank you all for the tips - these threads are such a valuable resource! It really is so generous of those of you who take the time to post advice / feedback, etc.