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.

For those considering Kyushu I 100% recommend Yakushima, it’s my favourite place in Japan and I actually cried when we left in the spring

@Citygirlrurallife Yakushima looks wonderful, but we decided not to include it on our trip. We did extend our stay in Kyushu from 9 to 13 days though. (Was intending to visit Shikoku as well).
I’m really looking forward to this part of our trip.

@Citygirlrurallife i can totally see why someone could fall in love for Yakusima. I’ve watched a few videos of people hiking around the island and it really is incredibly beautiful. I was just somewhat put off by the rain and the giant spiders.

Gulp www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/22/japan-heat-kokushobi-cruelly-hot-40c-weather

@Ladyeggo Yeah, I think I’m going to struggle in September. They had an unusually mild and cool June and early July but (in theory) the super El Niño this year means they are expecting a brutally hot summer from now on. I am rubbish in the heat, so will need to find ways to cope until it cools down.

@Tangerinesattack I’m sure I’m
not the only person who would be really interested in a trip report if have time and you’d like to share please? Your itinerary looks very interesting, I’m thinking of similar for next spring

Good thing about September is that even if the days are still very hot, the evenings are cooler than July and August especially toward the end of the month.

The last few nights have been very hot, very uncomfortable. You feel you can’t escape the heat.

@Remoter33 That’s somewhat reassuring!

@Tangerinesattack I’d also very much love to hear about your trip.

@Takoneko
@Apfelkuchen

We fly home tomorrow night so I'll try and post as soon as the jet lag wears off! We've had a splendid time although the heat has Indeed been brutal the last few days. The boys are broiling at Universal Studios today, poor things, while I gallivant round Osaka. Back to Tokyo tomorrow for our late night flight back to UK. Unless Qatari airspace gets closed and we are stuck in Japan - wouldn't that be terrible!🤞

@Tangerinesattack I’m glad you’re having a lovely time. Enjoy Osaka! It’s one of my favourite cities to mill around in. If you’re anywhere near Abeno harukas, there’s a lovely coffee shop with a great view and a free rooftop garden up on something like the 16th or 17th floor that I enjoy just hanging out in for a bit.

@Tangerinesattack enjoy your last couple of days, how are you dealing with the summer heatwave? I’ve seen lots online about the high temperatures this week. Good luck for your journey home, and looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

Hi there, I’ve been reading along as we have booked a very last minute trip. We fly next Friday, myself, husband and dd16 who is autistic. We have sorted hotels staying 5nights Tokyo near Tokyo station, 3 nights at Disney then fly to Osaka for 4 nights then, fly back to Haneda airport hotel for last night. Dd would like to do team lab planets and Sumo show in Asakusa. I think we are going to book a Mount Fuji sightseeing trip. I’m really struggling where to start. We’d like to see some of the sights but also conscious of not over doing it especially as it will be so hot. Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

@user626

I wouldn’t book a Mount Fuji tour in advance at this time of year. The chance of seeing Mount Fuji in August is pretty low on any given day. Leave yourself flexibility to take a day trip out there on a day when the visibility is good. The websites below might be helpful for checking visibility forecasts. I’d check the forecast the day before and on the morning before travelling out that way.

https://isitvisible.com/fuji
https://fuji-san.info/en/index.html

I am a huge sumo fan. There is another sumo show place in Ryogoku, which is the sumo neighbourhood. It’s called Sumoland. It’s pretty new and I’ve heard really good things about it. If the Asakusa one is sold out, I’d try that one.

I hope you have fun. If you’re a bit overwhelmed then I find the tourist information centres in Japan to be really helpful and useful. There’s loads of them around,

Agree with Takoneko on Mt. Fuji. There is a good chance it won’t be visible even if you get pretty close. Also, the best chance of seeing it is early morning and a day trip from Tokyo wouldn’t get you there in time.

One option might be to check the websites that Takoneko suggests and if visibility is good, go to the viewing floor at the top of the Metropolitan Building in Shinjuku Tokyo at dusk for a view from a distance. Even if you can’t see Fuji, you’ll still get a great view of the city. And it’s free because it’s a municipal building. The NS building next door is a good option for dinner with a view. There are restaurants on the on the 28th or 29th floors which are pretty reasonable and have wonderful views.

I’ve heard good things about Team Lab Planets. Haven’t been there myself though.

Another person who agrees with this! We’ve been to both Team Lab Planets and Borderless and much preferred Planets.
You’re going to have an amazing time!

Hello all, just found this thread by chance.

We are planning to do a trip to Japan, probably in Feb/Easter of 2028. Currently thinking of splitting the stay between Tokyo and Osaka, and have a few ideas on things we may want to do, but not done any more than that.

My concerns are in relation to food, because we need to fit in a celiac and a vegetarian.( not the sane person). If anyone had any tips on eating in Japan, when gluten free or vegetarian they would be very much appreciated.

I did try looking it up l, but wasn't sure from what I found, as to whether we could take food into Japan from the UK. Would be much, but just some safe snacks to have in bags in case we couldn't find things when out and about.

@Takonekothank you for the links I will definitely be keeping an eye on visibility before booking anything.
@26inprogress pleased you enjoyed teamlab planets. We weren’t sure which one to book.

@Talkingfrog Some snacks should be fine to bring in. Most shelf-stable stuff would be allowed. There have been some vegetarians on this thread too who might be able to offer more specific advice.

Even if you’re not in self catering places most hotels will at least have a microwave station where you can heat up something from the convenience store or supermarket if you get stuck though.

@Talkingfrog

I have some experience with dietary restrictions in Japan. I can say the situation is much better than it was in the past but it is still a challenge.

There are gluten free options in health food sections in larger supermarkets like gluten free pasta, sauces, curry etc. But these are for people who have access to a kitchen. There are some gluten free restaurants, especially in larger cities. You’ll struggle to find much outside of large cities though.

Being vegetarian can be difficult too. Basically there aren’t many vegetarians in Japan so there’s little need for restaurants to cater to them. Many Japanese people would consider, for example, miso soup containing dashi fish stock suitable for vegetarians because “it only has a very little amount fish stock in it” and “fish stock isn’t the same as a piece of fish”. I’ve heard this a lot.

And fish stock is in so many things like the batter for takoyaki and okonomiyaki, nabe hotpots, shabu shabu, tamagoyaki omelet…

Sorry for being a bit negative. Gluten free and vegetarian is possible in Japan but is more challenging than you might expect.

It’s possible to avoid gluten, I think, after reading this thread. But you’d need constant vigilance!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Celiac/comments/1e5ypo4/my_life_as_a_celiac_in_japan/

I have spotted more vegetarian cafes opening up the last few years. And of course the monks are veggie.

https://www.japan.travel/en/gastronomy/article-zen-and-the-art-of-vegetarian-cuisine/

Thank you for a realistic response, which supports what I thought would be the case. Knowing there may be dome options in supermarkets helps.

Not sure what is available but may need to try abd find somewhere with a kitchenette so we have some facilities.

We managed in Iceland and Norway by having a hotel room with a kitchenette, but they cater more now to vegetarians than I expect Japan does. I hadn't been diagnosed as celiac then either.

We’re planning a Japan trip later this year and are thinking of doing a few days of driving rather than relying only on trains. We’d like to explore some of the quieter areas where public transport is a bit less convenient, especially around Hokkaido and some countryside areas. I’ve been comparing rental options and will probably book through QEEQ as I’ve used comparison sites before to check different companies and prices, but I’ll still compare the usual providers too. It’s our first time driving in Japan so I’m interested in any tips from people who have done it, especially around toll roads, parking and navigating smaller towns.

We hired a car for a week from New Chitose airport. My paperwork says we used Orix. DH and I agreed it was our best ever care hire experience - we were talked through the indicators/lights etc and got a good check in when we returned it (a check list of items we may have left in the car sunnies etc), even the 'hard sell' for additional insurance at collection was not bad.

The car itself was fine - small but it was only us and we travel light, easy to park etc and I have a feeling we put £40-50 of petrol in after a weeks driving around the island. The driving itself was easy but have a check of the roadsigns etc before you start driving (we diddn't and must have been annoying to follow as we didnt understand the 'end of speed limit' until we looked it up at the hotel). I think parking at Otaru was tricky as we didnt have coins but dont really remember it being an issue anywhere else.

For the toll roads we used the pass (like a Dart pass i guess) and would definitely use it again as we just paid the balance by card at the car hire return. it was a bit pricey i think but not wild. The roads were well worth it - well maintained and fairly empty. Easy driving 😎. We had an esim on my phone and DH hotspots of that so we just used that to navigate as usual. We found it really easy and one of the best bits of our trip - autumn was arriving up there, and we had a fabulous onsen experience in a very local, very basic community onsen (whch we spotted on Google maps). Fabulous.

@oliil4l We’ve hired cars a couple of times and just like @Specialnameforanoutingthread we found the experience very straightforward. Parking was generally either free or very reasonably priced.

Rentals usually provide an ETC card for toll roads, although I don’t think we actually ended up using any roads in with tolls in the end.

The speed limits are low and cars mostly trundle along sensibly, so it felt like a very safe place to drive in. DP is the driver and he really liked the boxy little kei car that we rented in Fukui.