Any advice on Japan family holidays?

[VoteForPedro]

I’m looking to take my family (me, DH and 3 teens) to Japan (from the UK) in 2027 with some inheritance I received. We’ve always wanted to go there and it’s the ideal time and opportunity given the kids ages now and having some extra money.

I have no idea where to start with research though! Does anyone have any advice for what time of year is best (will have to work around the school holidays), any companies who are good to go with, or is it easy to arrange it all myself? What destinations are best too? Thanks

April would be a good time to go if you need to go within school holidays. The summer can be really hot.

It is very possible to do your own trip to Japan. Getting about on trains and on the underground isnt too bad. There's a lot of English signage. We had 4 days in Tokyo and stayed in two different locations as its such a big place. I really enjoyed Kyoto and Nara.

We looked where the tour companies go and booked our own transport and hotels.

Thanks, I think April is out as there’s exams too close to then. Would have to be either around Feb break or October break. Do you think those times might be good?

I have visited in October. It was warm and we had 100% humidity at times. Apparently the week before we were there was very hot.
Unfortunately I only stayed in Tokyo so cannot comment on other places. I would recommend 2/3 days in Tokyo but wouldn’t be spending too long there. I agree with pp that travel in Tokyo is very easy and very cheap

There are 3 Japan planning threads which have a lot of useful information on this forum.
Very easy to do it yourself, the issue is deciding where to go and you may want to go back.

@Jellyslothbridge thanks I’ll check them out

I took my teens and we booked it all ourselves - I looked up some itineraries (as suggested by pp), then my teens chose two "non-negotiables" each and we worked around those - our favourite place was Osaka and we all wished we had spent more than 2 days there. We also did Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya (for the Studio Ghibli theme park and to watch proper Sumo training (not the tourist style places since one of mine is a fan)) Hiroshima and two nights on Miyajima. Be sure to check what needs booking in advance - some things need it and you can't just turn up on the day and queue. At least one trip on the bullet train should be factored in, We also went to Universal Studios and Disney Sea. The food is brilliant - we did a couple of foodie walking tours which were a great way of sampling lots of different things and getting super food at places we would otherwise have walked past. The one thing I would say is travel light - all the hotels (we didn't go 5 star except for the last couple of nights) have laundry facilities and if you are moving around it makes way more sense - we ended up leaving our big suitcases at the luggage storage at Tokyo Station and circling back every few days when we were passing through to swap stuff in and out!. We got pocket wi-fi to support four phones but e-sims might be cheaper now - enjoy it - we had a great time

@JamieFraserskneewarmer that sounds amazing!

I’ve tried to find the existing Japan threads but don’t know where they are, can anyone put a link up?

Ive decided now that the only times we can really go are late May / early June or late Aug / early Sept to fit around exams, school and uni. Summer sounds far too hot and humid but if we stayed in air con places would those months be an option too? What time out of those times would be better??

@VoteForPedro

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays/5482261-japan-planning-thread-3?reply=150363452

Late May to early June is probably the better bet. We went at that time on our first trip and had pretty good weather.

Last summer was ridiculously hot, hottest summer ever recorded. We were there for 72 hours, just passing through on the way back from Australia. We had some of the cooler August days (miraculous luck) but it was still very warm. I would definitely travel May time if it's an option. I lived over there for a short while previously, very easy to get around, and I remember it being hot but not completely unbearable like last year.