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 sounds like a great itinerary.
Not sure if you’ve stayed in Okayama? We thought the local people were lovely, and it was a much cheaper town to stay (compared to Hiroshima). It’s also not touristy (yet!). We stayed at the Koraku, which I highly recommend. It was overall our favourite hotel of the trip.

We’ve not stayed there yet, but stopped there on a day trip and I also remember how much you liked it too. It’s definitely on the list for our gap between Osaka and Fukuoka. We just haven’t worked out the finer details for that bit of the trip yet.

@Takoneko wow 80days how fab! I love travelling with D.C. but also looking forward to when it’s just DH and I and we can do much longer trips not in the school holidays!

@Pusspot will def report back, hoping it will be a relaxing adventure with not too many tourists as it’s a bit of a ballache to get to!

Just booked flights yesterday for 4 of us for 2 weeks Mid October - excited but nervous also about the planning aspect. Had been dithering but direct flight prices only seemed to be heading one way!! I feel really nervous about messing it all up for everyone as its such a big expense so will be reading all advice on here.
Where is anyone else looking for advice ?
Got vague itinery we're DH and me and 2 x 22 year old boys who like music, fashion,eating and drinking !

Tokyo x 4 nights (Akasaka area ?) considererd Shibuya but might be too hectic for that long ? - day trip to Fuji ?
Hakone - want to experience a Ryokan
3 Kyoto - stay Gion area for shrine, monkey park, temples etc
Hiroshima x 2 nights Peace park and Miyajima island ?
3 nights Osaka - Dotonburi area?
1 Night Tokyo airport hotel

Have read that getting a two week JPR pass isn't worth it
Thinking about booking a half day tour on day 2 to get our bearings ? any thoughts welcome
Mount Fuji trip ?
Sumo wrestling?
Any ideas welcome is you see this post

@Sundayagain27

Thats a good itinerary with a decent amount of time in each place.

The JR pass won’t be worth it, but you should get a 5 night Kansai Hiroshima pass. This should save you money. https://www.westjr.co.jp/travel-information/en/tickets-passes/jrwest-rail-pass/kansai_hiroshima/

For a first time in Osaka Shinsaibashi station is a good base and there’s a lot of hotels there.

If you’re going to Hakone, you should be able to get a Fuji view from there if the weather is good. I probably wouldn’t do another Fuji day trip if you’re going to Hakone anyway.

There’s no sumo tournament in October. Your choices in October for sumo would be between:
A sumo dinner show.
A jungyo (regional tour) event. The schedule for these isn’t out yet though.
A morning practice at a sumo stable.

There’s pros and cons to each one.

@Takoneko thats so exciting! What an amazing opportunity to have an 80 day trip!

I am wondering, has anyone in the thread hiked to the top of Mount Fuji? Would you ever want to attempt it?

@Hyacinthbulb we attempted to hike it in early Sep 23. We arrived in 5th station and walk up to our ryokan towards 8th station which was all straightforward. But overnight a typhoon blew in and we were not allowed to ascend to to the top for dawn as we had planned. In fact they shut the mountain and sent everyone down as soon as the dawn light appeared.

They have introduced limits and other restriction since so I think you would need to do your homework, and you would need to visit 'in season' as Fuji San is closed for winter.

@Specialnameforanoutingthread That was very useful. Thanks. I have a couple of other questions I wanted to ask you all. Upthread, people have mentioned that getting tickets for popular attractions requires a strategy. Some of the attractions I would be interested in seeing in Japan include Universal Japan, Studio Ghibli Park, Disney Sea and the Tokyo Skytree. Can they all be booked in advance? For people who have been to them, how hard was it to get tickets?

Another thing that I remembered - do the shrines of Nikko and Himeji Castle require tickets, or can you just visit them and walk around them for free?

We have not been to Universal Japan, Studio Ghibli Park, Disney Sea, Tokyo Skytree (we went to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building) or Nikko shrines but Himeji Castle requires a ticket which we bought on the door. Their website says its 2,500yen for adults. we were travelling from Tokyo to Hiroshima (I think) and left our bags in lockers at the station.

@Hyacinthbulb we bought Disney Sea tickets via the app last year. It was really straightforward. I think we booked about a month in advance.

@Hyacinthbulb We’ve done USJ and the two Tokyo Disney parks. We booked about a month in advance on the app for each one. It was easy.

With hindsight, we should have left buying tickets until a couple of days ahead, when we could have worked around the weather forecast. Disney don’t generally sell out in advance.

Wr had lovely weather for Disneysea but on our Disneyland day the weather was torrential rain for hours on end.

If you intend to buy fast passes for USJ, then they sell out in advance. If you aren’t planning to book fast passes then you can leave those tickets until closer to the time too.

Forgot to add… Most shrines, temples,
museums and castles are free or a pretty nominal cost of a few pounds. This is charging in some of the most popular places. There have been price rises and in some cases two-tier pricing for tourists vs local residents. Himeji castle was ¥1000 when we went last year. This year they have upped the price to ¥2500 with a discounted price of ¥1000 for residents of the city of Himeji. I’ve heard that some popular Kyoto attractions are doing the same.

I think even at the increased price it is very reasonable.

An adult ticket to the Tower of London is now £37 for comparison. Incidentally they also have a heavy discount for local residents. If you live in Tower Hamlets you only pay £1 to visit.

@Hyacinthbulb Ive just bought tickets to Skytree, as well as the Shibuya sky view platform (we love a big view!) for about 10 days time. There were plenty of tickets for both, but the skytree was booked up around sunset. I’ve booked just after sunset instead and hope we can catch a bit of sunset/twilight and then enjoy Tokyo at night. The prices are really reasonable relative to similar stuff in London, New York etc. We’ve found all the websites are really easy to use if you can get over the fact it’s an online translation service and you might need to be creative in your interpretation of the translation.

The Ghibli museum tickets sell out fast and are only available one day per month for the next month - think it’s the 10th of the month? And 1am uk time. I considered staying up to 1am to try to get tickets for us, but it turns out I’m not that big of a fan. We’ve not been able to get tickets.

I’m also planning on going to Tokyo Metropolitan Govt Building, @Specialnameforanoutingthread as we’re staying close by in Shinjuku. What was it like? We absolutely can’t resist a viewpoint whether it’s climbing up a hill or a building!

@Actnaturally we found Metropolitan Govt Building super easy. We just walked in, no queue for eaither viewpoint and went straight up. It was a lovely clear day and Mt Fiji was really easy to see but the floor was not busy and really easy to linger infront of all and any windows. BUT we were there on 15th December so that may well make a difference, but if you are in the area, like a high view and have time then it would be a no-brainer to pop in.

Is anyone else affected with the Dubai connection? We are due to fly end of May connecting via Dubai with emirates. I know it’s just a waiting game but wondered if anyone else in same position ? We are looking at different holidays in case but obviously are in limbo until it’s actually cancelled. All accomodation can be cancelled at last minute

I’ve looked at direct from London but as it’s so close it’s nearly twice the price

It’s not a super tall building, but I really recommend the view from the top of the Tourist Information Centre in Asakusa. There’s a brilliant view over Nakamise street and one over towards Skytree. It’s especially magical in spring. They also have a commemorative stamp if you are stamp collecting, which I always do in Japan.

My other favourite view is from the JP Mori Tower in Azabudai hills. It’s nowhere near the top of the building but has the best view of Tokyo Tower in the city. You now have to buy something in the cafe to access it and pay a small cover charge.

This time next week we’ll be on our way. It’s come around so fast!

It looks like the sakura season has also officially kicked off in Tokyo now.

@shannie That sounds stressful. I hope it all works out for you. Luckily, we are flying direct.

We’ve been planning this trip for a year and we’ll be there Thursday. We’ll be crossing each other in Tokyo @Takoneko 🌸

@Actnaturally Safe travels!

Have you done your Visit Japan Web registration and customs declaration yet?

We fly next Thursday too! DH finally got round to getting his international licence

No! I didn’t realise I could do that! Googling now!

@Actnaturally https://www.vjw.digital.go.jp/main/#/vjwplo001

It’s recommended to complete this before you travel.

@Takoneko done it now. That was relatively straightforward and I imagine has saved us lots of time and confusion at the airport!