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 i love that it’s actually called the most deserted Raman bar in the world.

The cherry blossom forecast has been updated. It’s shifted a bit more this time. Looks like it will be an early blooming this year.

https://n-kishou.com/corp/news-contents/sakura/?lang=en

Hello, I’ve just found this thread, so haven’t read any of the previous posts yet but will start to work through them as I’m sure there’s lots of useful info.

I’m planning a solo trip to Tokyo for a couple of weeks in November. I’m a bit overwhelmed with flight options at the moment! Currently looking at Mcr to Haneda on Cathay Pacific / Japan Airlines with a short layover in Hong Kong. Are those airlines ok? I’ve only been long haul once to the USA and that was in 1993! So I’m a bit wet behind the ears.

Is it better to have a longer layover and see some of Hong Kong? I’m just put off by having to deal with luggage etc, and I’ve never travelled solo apart from in the UK so I’m slightly apprehensive!

@MargotMoon Cathay and JAL are really good airlines. Hong Kong is also a great city, although I haven’t been since the national security law came into force. If you only have a couple of weeks for Japan, then I’d probably just take the short connection though.

@TakonekoThank you for your reply.

I’m very lucky in that I’m going to visit a friend so will have free accommodation in his apartment. But he will be working during the week so I’m planning to make myself scarce, maybe take the bullet train and have a few days away and then come back to hang out and explore Tokyo with him at the weekend.

Once I’ve booked my flights I’ll start planning where to visit. It’s very exciting! My understanding is that Japan is very safe in general, so I’m not too worried about going alone - is that right?

@MargotMoon Japan is super safe! You’ll have no trouble travelling around.

Could I ask another (possibly daft) question? If I book flights with a layover through a booking site like Trip.com and there are two separate airlines for each leg but it’s booked as one journey, what happens if something goes wrong with one leg? Is it safer to book direct with the airline? Or book separate flights??

@MargotMoon If it’s booked as one flight (for example with two airlines in the same alliance) then you should get booked on the next flight in the case of an issue with the first one. In any situation where something goes wrong with a flight, it’s generally more straightforward if you’ve booked directly with one of the airlines though. That way you can deal directly with the airline staff rather than having to go through a third party. There’s a thread on this board where a poster has had an absolute nightmare trying to correct a minor booking error with a third party. It’s reminded me why I should stick to booking directly with the airlines, even when the cheaper prices of the third parties might look tempting.

@Takoneko Thats great - it’s what I kind of assumed happens but couldn’t find anywhere that said it explicitly. Definitely worth paying a little bit extra for peace of mind!

Hello
Does anyone have any recommendations for a travel company? Im interested in Japanese gardens (especially Moss gardens) and crafts - mainly ceramics and textile art.

I'm going to be travelling alone, never been before and don't speak Japanese, so wondering whether a package holiday would be better. Probably based in Tokyo and Kyoto.

I have fibromyalgia so was thinking that it would be nice not having to worry about trains etc.

It's not imminent as I currently have caring responsibilities.

Anyone got any recommendations? Thanks!

@BerfyTigot I used InsideJapan last year and they were excellent. Although they do guided tours etc I just used them for booking hotels , sorting transport etc . Everything worked out perfectly but it was reassuring to have contacts in Japan in case I got in a mess !

@BerfyTigot I didn’t use a travel company, but I visited a few gardens last October.

Hamarikyu in Tokyo was beautiful. A big open garden with tea houses and guided tours in English. We saw several coaches arriving so I guess it’s on tour company itineries. It was walkable from Ginza.

Korakuen in Okayama (one of the big three gardens). This could be visited as a day trip from Kyoto, and it’s walkable from the train station. My favourite so far. The koi carp and turtles in the ponds are also amazing.
The gardens at a Himiji are also wonderful, and I wish I’d had more time to spend there. Himiji is very doable from Kyoto, Osaka or Okayama, and could be combined with Korakuen.

The gardens at Hasedera temple in Kamakura are stunning. They have a small bonsai garden created by Kazuyuki Ishihara Cha No Nina, who won Chelsea last year. It’s near the main temple building.
Kamakura is an easy trip from Tokyo, and lots of tour companies had groups of visitors there.

This year, we are planning to see Kenrokuen gardens in Kanazawa, and also Ritsurin in Takamatsu.

@BerfyTigot In addition to the excellent list of gardens given to you by @Pusspot I’d add Shukkeien in Hiroshima.

Sakura forecast updated again.

https://n-kishou.com/corp/news-contents/sakura/?lang=en

A little bit of movement on the last forecast but nothing drastic. It’s still looking like it will be on the early side this year.

@Takoneko @wizzler @Pusspot thanks so much for all the recommendations! Plenty to think about there.

Anyone know if it's possible to see small independent craft workers especially potters and textiles? I appreciate it might be difficult to see people who are off the beaten track. In Somerset there's an open studios week every year in early summer, so I'm wondering if there's something similar in Japan?

That Sort of artist space would be lovely…I’ve been reading about the crafts around Kanazawa area but haven’t quite worked out if it’s more shops or workshops yet….

Having settled on an itinerary we seemed to have stalled on actually booking accommodation! Has anyone got any advice/tips about booking as a family of 5 - did you book airBnBs, large hotel rooms/suites or 2 rooms??

There seems to be availability but it’s very fiddly getting the right number of beds per room when we’re looking…..

Hi everyone. This is my first post on the JPT. I very much appreciate the advice and experiences which have been shared by other Mumsnetters on this thread and its previous iterations. I am in the very early stages of trying to plan my first trip to Japan. The main thing I want to ask about right now is, would you recommend using an organised tour company (Inside Japan is one example) or is it better to arrange every element of the holiday yourself? This means arranging and booking flights, hotels, activities, restaurants, etc yourself.

When I've been abroad previously, I have typically preferred package holidays where you pay a lump sum upfront and then relax until your departure date arrives. I understand it to be cheaper (usually) if you are booking every element of the holiday individually, but the trade-off is the convenience which an all-inclusive package provides. I really like the look of Inside Japan's tours which I mentioned above. I would definitely want a tour guide, at least for my first visit.

@SecondSpare Most people on here have self-organised, but I know there’s at least a couple of people have posted who used Inside Japan or similar.

If you really want a guided tour then Inside Japan is very reputable. For me their prices are just far too high. Their 13 night itineraries for their small group tours would be more than double the cost that we pay for two weeks and I’d rather just go twice!

If you take a look at their Japan Unmasked tour they charge £3.4k pp for two people sharing a room in budget to moderate hotels without flights.

Our hotels for 14 nights at Easter have cost approximately £750 pp and include some nicer hotels and upgraded rooms. I’d expect us to spend well under £400 pp on transport including all Shinkansen and luggage forwarding. All of the other things that they include are small incidental costs. So you’re paying at least £2k per person for the guided tour aspect. It’s up to you if you think that’s worth it.

Japan is very safe and very tourist friendly so a tour isn’t needed but it’s a perfectly valid choice if that’s how you want to travel and have the money to spare.

@Takoneko, you mention luggage forwarding and I’ve done a little bit of looking into this. Can I ask for your experience in the reach of this? Or anyone who has experience of it?

I understand it’s relatively cheap and easy to send luggage from one big city to another, for example I’ve read you can go to multiple places in Tokyo to get luggage sent on to an hotel in Osaka. But is it the same to get luggage sent to smaller places? Like to Amanohashidate from Tokyo? And what about to an air bnb rather than a hotel? And does it go same day? Or can you decide to have it delayed - so if I took a detour where I don’t want my luggage for a few days, just a backpack, but I send my luggage onto the next stop to meet me in a couple of days?
I’m wondering how it all works.

@Actnaturally I’ve actually never used it before. Going from Tokyo to Osaka or Osaka to Hiroshima, it was easy enough to just take our luggage with us on the Shinkansen. This time we have a stint where we’re going from Kanazawa to Morioka with a one night stop on the way and will forward our luggage straight to Morioka and then just take backpacks with us for our one night stop in Omiya on the way. I expect it to be easy as our hotel front desk can sort it for us.

We’re planning to take a much longer trip this autumn and have discovered that you can arrange for it to arrive a up to a week later if that suits you better.

Airbnbs are less convenient as you would need to wait in for the delivery. I think you can nominate certain convenience stores for pickup. Luggage delivery may not be convenient in an Airbnb if you don’t have a pick up point nearby.

The usual delivery is next day. So you would send it the day before you leave if you want it to be there on arrival day.

@Takoneko Thanks. When I looked at the prices for the Inside Japan tours, I did think at first glance that they seemed quite pricey. I suppose if I could organise my own holiday with a very similar itinerary to what they offer, but for much cheaper, then that would make more sense. That does seems a bit daunting for a first-time visitor though - knowing what trains you need to take and how to get to all the places you want to get to. I'd worry about getting lost or getting stranded somewhere. Has the language barrier been an issue for you on any of your visits? I should mention these concerns apply to going to any country as a first-time visitor and not just Japan. I am sure plenty of people have organised a trip on their own and had no problems, but I'm not sure if I trust myself to pull it off. That's what makes the idea of going with a tour group appealing to me.

I have another thing to ask while I'm here - would you ever recommend a trip to Japan which involves just staying in and around Tokyo? At the moment I'm weighing up just staying in Tokyo for a week or two, or actually only spending a day or two there, with the rest of it spent travelling around the rest of Japan. The latter is what Inside Japan offer on their guided tours.

Has the foreign office recommended no travel to Japan

Have I missed something? Why would the foreign office advise against travel to Japan?

@SecondSpare On our first trip to Japan back in 2008 we stayed only in Tokyo.

My advice would be something in between those two extremes. For me the Inside Japan tours are a bit too much moving around and not enough time in each place, but I do think it’s worth travelling outside of Tokyo if you have a couple of weeks to play with. For a first timer, I’d just stay in 2-3 cities and explore in and around those places. I particularly love Hiroshima.