Japan for a week in autumn

[LilyLemonade]

Is it crazy to go to Japan for just a week? Our family arrangements don't lend themselves to a 2-week holiday any time other than in the summer holidays and I know it's very hot then. I am thinking of autumn half term - maybe taking one or even two days off school exceptionally.

What is your budget? Flights are expensive so it makes sense to go longer.

Budget wouldn't really be a blocking factor, we are more cash-rich, time-poor. I. just wonder if it would be enjoyable in such a rush, or whether we would just be exhausted from jet-lag and travel fatigue.

It’s a long way! Even if you fly business with a flatbed you are going to be zonked on the first day. And even if you do an organised tour you will be really pushed to do fit in much more than Tokyo, Kyoto and maybe Hiroshima in a week.

But lots of Americans do it.

I think it's doable if you add the extra days from term time, but if you are paying for a premium experience, better to wait for spring/cherry blossom and have 2 weeks.

We don't normally have two weeks in the spring, that is the problem. The only time when we can easily arrange two weeks is the summer, and I know it is not the best season to visit.

Flight times will eat into your week. I can't remember what time my flight was but I arrived afternoon local time, which would have been late night/early morning UK time. Basically it was time to be asleep but I pushed through (the allure of shopping in Tokyo was strong!) and adjusted to local time. Felt a little wobbly at one point but otherwise OK.

How old are your children?

I would probably do it with the whole week in Tokyo, with maybe a day trip outside the city.

I'd rather have two weeks when it's a bit hot than a week in better weather.

I found the jet lag difficult, but I’m old. And we flew business class.

Tokyo for a week would be fun, with a couple of day trips. But if you can go for longer, do.

I spent a week in Tokyo and it was a little short, especially after you’ve adjusted to the time there. Given the cost of the flights and the time difference I’d go for two weeks!

I think it will be fine , I went recently and didn’t have or notice any jet lag . You’ll appreciate you won’t see too much on a whistlestop tour but enough to know if you want to go back and explore more .

I would have found it difficult as the jet lag absolutely finished me and it took a while to acclimatise which was shocking as I’ve been further east and not struggled so much. Also are you including both flights into the week or a whole week there with travel either side?

I'd make it a full week there with the flights on either side... but it sounds like it could be unrealistic with the jet lag.

It depends how you want to do it. I don’t think you could go to Japan for a week. But you could properly enjoy three or four days in Tokyo, assuming you’re going to lose three or four days to jet lag and in travel. Whether that’s worth the time or money only you will know.

OK it seems not really to be feasible.
What is Japan like in summer? Still worth it or unpleasantly hot and humid?

I would personally find a week a bit of a waste of the cost of the flights. We’ve always spent longer.

However, I can’t say I’ve ever lost 3 days to jet lag. On our last trip we landed in Tokyo around 7am. We took a shower at the airport and then went and dropped our bags at our hotel reception and went sightseeing for the day and visited a couple of museums. We stopped by at our hotel for an hour or so at about 4pm and then went out for dinner, had a couple of drinks in a little bar that I love and then did some after dark sightseeing around Skytree and Sensoji temple.

You can’t do a full on tour around Japan in a week, but you could have a really nice time in and around Tokyo in that amount of time. There’s someone on the Japan planning thread who did the golden route in around 8 days. I think that would be a bit much for me, but Tokyo with some day trips is easily doable in a week.

It's a long way, we went last year and not going to lie, the journey out there kicked my ass. Not for three days though, the adrenaline of just being in Tokyo woke us up!

We did two weeks, we're going again in September for three weeks- there is just so much to see. But if I could only manage a week, I'd still do it, and just stay in one city.

We have friends there with teens at the moment. They are taking it slower than at cooler times but it is doable, particularly with older kids. Lots of stops for iced drinks and aircon, also getting up early. They have two weeks.

If I was planning a trip to Japan and had your choices I would go in the summer holidays and plan a reasonable chunk of time in Hokkaido, or look at the temperatures and things to do/see in Tohoku and I would also look at the Alps regions.

We visited Hokkaido in the autumn and hired a car, and it was one of favourite memories of Japan. DH is not great at cities so needs a bit of 'down time' and we like to try to get off the beaten track and see 'small town Japan.

Autumn sounds so lovely there to me.

Autumn in Japan is really pretty but the peak for the autumn colours is later than you might expect. On the Golden Route it’s around late November to early December. In October half term it will still be green leaves.

If you have the full 7 days there I think it would be worth it. Fly into and out of Haneda as it’s much closer to central Tokyo than Narita, so you can jump in a taxi to save time.
I would spend 2 days in Tokyo, 2 days in Fujikawaguchiko and 2 days in Nikko, Nagano or Takayama, then the final day in Tokyo or Yokahama. If you plan train travel in the mornings you’ll arrive with half days to spend in each place on arrival rather than taking up full days.

Very hot and humid in summer. You need to carry a towel to wipe away sweat. We went in August and I found it to be very uncomfortable. My relatives who live in Tokyo said it's normal for summer. A week in Spring or Autumn is doable but you'd be better staying in Tokyo and having a couple of days trips outside the city. Autumn around Mt Fuji is beautiful. Cherry blossom time, even in the city, is gorgeous.

What time off do you have for christmas, could you do two weeks then?