Japan

Before purchasing any JR Pass, use the The JR Pass Calculator to work out if it works out cheaper. Punch in your itinerary and then see. I find these days since the price rise it isn't worth it anymore. You really have to ride that rail to get your money's worth. In the old days, you can literally break even with a single return trip from Tokyo to Osaka. Now you have to do it 2 and a half times.

Japan Rail Pass Calculator

A simple calculator to compare regular JR fares with the cost of the Japan Rail Pass.
www.japan-guide.com www.japan-guide.com
 
Just piggy-backing onto this thread as I'm heading to Tokyo in September too for work (Tokyo Game Show), it'll be my first time and a trip that's always been on my bucket list. Excitedly nervous, but luckily we have a colleague who lives in Tokyo to help us around the place and another colleague who's visited before.
Only going to be there for one week sadly, but I have 2 days to spend after the show that we'll use for a bit of sight-seeing/touristy things before I fly back. The 17+ hours travel time each way is going to be fun as I have to hop across to Amsterdam from the UK to pick up my connecting flight to Japan. :)
 
@Raymond Lin

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but since we're on the topic of wider Japan planning, I'd love to get your thoughts on my very high level draft plan for 20th Oct - 4th Nov.

First time in Japan. Couple in our mid 30's. Open to anything - be it food, experiences, sightseeing, travel, hotels etc. The only thing we have booked at the moment is direct flights from Heathrow to Haneda.

Mon 20th: London > Tokyo (depart 09:10)
21st: Tokyo (arrive 07:00)
22nd: Tokyo > Kyoto
23rd: Kyoto
24th: Kyoto > Osaka
25th: Osaka
26th: Osaka > Hiroshima (day trip)
27th: Osaka > Hakone (overnight for ryokan with onsen)
28th: Hakone > Tokyo
29th: Tokyo
30th: Tokyo
31st: Tokyo
1st: Tokyo
2nd: Tokyo
3rd: Tokyo
Tues 4th: Tokyo > London (depart 09:35)

2 nights Kyoto
3 nights Osaka
1 night Hakone
8 nights Tokyo
Day trip to Hiroshima

Open to any changes - either more day trips or shifting the nights around. The obvious tweaks to me are reducing Tokyo to 7 nights and spending 1 night in Hiroshima rather than a day trip, or doing 3 nights in Kyoto instead of 2. Also mindful that we want to minimise travel where possible (advised this many times by friends and others across reddit etc).

Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Robi said:
@Raymond Lin

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but since we're on the topic of wider Japan planning, I'd love to get your thoughts on my very high level draft plan for 20th Oct - 4th Nov.

First time in Japan. Couple in our mid 30's. Open to anything - be it food, experiences, sightseeing, travel, hotels etc. The only thing we have booked at the moment is direct flights from Heathrow to Haneda.

Mon 20th: London > Tokyo (depart 09:10)
21st: Tokyo (arrive 07:00)
22nd: Tokyo > Kyoto
23rd: Kyoto
24th: Kyoto > Osaka
25th: Osaka
26th: Osaka > Hiroshima (day trip)
27th: Osaka > Hakone (overnight for ryokan with onsen)
28th: Hakone > Tokyo
29th: Tokyo
30th: Tokyo
31st: Tokyo
1st: Tokyo
2nd: Tokyo
3rd: Tokyo
Tues 4th: Tokyo > London (depart 09:35)

2 nights Kyoto
3 nights Osaka
1 night Hakone
8 nights Tokyo
Day trip to Hiroshima

Open to any changes - either more day trips or shifting the nights around. The obvious tweaks to me are reducing Tokyo to 7 nights and spending 1 night in Hiroshima rather than a day trip, or doing 3 nights in Kyoto instead of 2. Also mindful that we want to minimise travel where possible (advised this many times by friends and others across reddit etc).

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

It looks good, not too rushed and I approve.

My first trip was quite similar but I worked my way up from Fukuoka, and then from Kyoto to Tokyo I stopped over at Hakone too.

Things I would recommend....or change

I would take 1 day out of Tokyo and add it to Kyoto, you only have 1 full day there and IMO, not enough. To see some of the places, like Fushimi Inrari and Arashiyama, need to go to these 1st light each day so that is 2 separate days. Unless of course you don't mind crowds. Kyoto btw is ABSOLUTELY rammed at the moment and not like how it was, I have been like 4 times so I am happy to skip it. But if I am a 1st time visitor, I would be torn between staying too long vs seeing all the places at an hour where it is lowest of tourists. Kyoto has enough to see for a week if you like historical stuff.

Do you have plans in Tokyo? 8 days is quite a lot, perhaps a day trip to Kamakura/Enoshima or even a day trip to Mt Fuji view from Lake Kawaguchi? You have time to do all those and enough time left for the usual Team labs/Cat temple, Shibuya, Pokemon center and all the retro game hunting you want to do.

p.s. if you do plan to get 2nd hand games, try Hiroshima over Tokyo. Prioritise that, as Tokyo has been cleaned out by tourists for a while now. What's left are stores charging prices that is not much different than eBay prices.
 
Robi said:
@Raymond Lin

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but since we're on the topic of wider Japan planning, I'd love to get your thoughts on my very high level draft plan for 20th Oct - 4th Nov.

First time in Japan. Couple in our mid 30's. Open to anything - be it food, experiences, sightseeing, travel, hotels etc. The only thing we have booked at the moment is direct flights from Heathrow to Haneda.

Mon 20th: London > Tokyo (depart 09:10)
21st: Tokyo (arrive 07:00)
22nd: Tokyo > Kyoto
23rd: Kyoto
24th: Kyoto > Osaka
25th: Osaka
26th: Osaka > Hiroshima (day trip)
27th: Osaka > Hakone (overnight for ryokan with onsen)
28th: Hakone > Tokyo
29th: Tokyo
30th: Tokyo
31st: Tokyo
1st: Tokyo
2nd: Tokyo
3rd: Tokyo
Tues 4th: Tokyo > London (depart 09:35)

2 nights Kyoto
3 nights Osaka
1 night Hakone
8 nights Tokyo
Day trip to Hiroshima

Open to any changes - either more day trips or shifting the nights around. The obvious tweaks to me are reducing Tokyo to 7 nights and spending 1 night in Hiroshima rather than a day trip, or doing 3 nights in Kyoto instead of 2. Also mindful that we want to minimise travel where possible (advised this many times by friends and others across reddit etc).

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Depends what your likes and priorities are of course but I'd definitely add more time to Kyoto and include a day down Hiroshima way to visit Miyajima. The Kyoto public transport system in comparison to Tokyo makes it harder to dash about so quickly in my opinion which takes up more time if you're walking more.

We had a bit less time and didn't go to Osaka but split it 4 nights Tokyo, 4 nights Kyoto, 2 nights Hiroshima then 1 final night back in Tokyo before travel the next morning. Stopped off at Himeji on the way back from Hiroshima > Tokyo. Didn't feel too rushed anywhere really even though there would, of course, be more still to see if we went back.
 
Last edited:
Raymond Lin said:
It looks good, not too rushed and I approve.

My first trip was quite similar but I worked my way up from Fukuoka, and then from Kyoto to Tokyo I stopped over at Hakone too.

Things I would recommend....or change

I would take 1 day out of Tokyo and add it to Kyoto, you only have 1 full day there and IMO, not enough. To see some of the places, like Fushimi Inrari and Arashiyama, need to go to these 1st light each day so that is 2 separate days. Unless of course you don't mind crowds. Kyoto btw is ABSOLUTELY rammed at the moment and not like how it was, I have been like 4 times so I am happy to skip it. But if I am a 1st time visitor, I would be torn between staying too long vs seeing all the places at an hour where it is lowest of tourists. Kyoto has enough to see for a week if you like historical stuff.

Do you have plans in Tokyo? 8 days is quite a lot, perhaps a day trip to Kamakura/Enoshima or even a day trip to Mt Fuji view from Lake Kawaguchi? You have time to do all those and enough time left for the usual Team labs/Cat temple, Shibuya, Pokemon center and all the retro game hunting you want to do.

p.s. if you do plan to get 2nd hand games, try Hiroshima over Tokyo. Prioritise that, as Tokyo has been cleaned out by tourists for a while now. What's left are stores charging prices that is not much different than eBay prices.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the detailed response.

We accepted a long time ago that most sights will be packed with tourists, which is fine. We also have no issue with early or late starts to avoid the crowds. I think removing a night from Tokyo and adding it to Kyoto makes most sense.

In terms of plans in Tokyo, apart from all the typical stuff we were considering a day trip to DisneySea and Mt Fuji (possibly to view from Kawaguchi). I'm on the fence regarding Nintendo World (appreciate this isn't Tokyo) and we're going to Disneyland Paris in December, whereas DisneySea appeals because it's unique to Japan.

Yes, we're planning on lots of shopping, including retro / 2nd hand stuff. Do you think it's worth spending a night in Hiroshima and throwing in a visit to Miyajima too?

Hakone onsens - do you have any experience or recommendations? We're after a private open-air onsen with kaiseki breakfast/dinner, ideally with a decent view. I heard Gora is a good location and also to avoid paying a premium for a view of Mt Fuji because the chances of actually seeing it are slim at best.

Kinnotake Tonosawa, Gora Hanaougi and Madokano-Mori are all on our list, but I won't lie, there are so many options to choose from it's actually quite overwhelming.
 
Clarkson said:
Depends what your likes and priorities are of course but I'd definitely add more time to Kyoto and include a day down Hiroshima way to visit Miyajima. The Kyoto public transport system in comparison to Tokyo makes it harder to dash about so quickly in my opinion which takes up more time if you're walking more.

We had a bit less time and didn't go to Osaka but split it 4 nights Tokyo, 4 nights Kyoto, 2 nights Hiroshima then 1 final night back in Tokyo before travel the next morning. Stopped off at Himeji on the way back from Hiroshima > Tokyo. Didn't feel too rushed anywhere really even though there would, of course, be more still to see if we went back.
Click to expand...
Good to know re: transport in Kyoto. Thank you.

Miyajima + retro shopping in Hiroshima likely now justifies an overnight stay (on top of the original stuff we had planned).

As posted above, I think we're also going to reduce Tokyo by a night and add that to Kyoto.
 
Kyoto has only 2 underground/train lines in the city.

Kyoto Subway Lines – Kyoto Station

www.kyotostation.com www.kyotostation.com

The most popular places are not near any of those stations and I always walk from the center to Kiyomizu Dera, 30mins walk. I try not to catch the bus from the center of Kyoto out. I would catch it back in but never out because it is packed like sardines.
 
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