What to do in Japan for 2 weeks?

I went to Japan a few years back with work and took 1 week off while there to travel. Amazing how much you can see in 1 week.
Took a Shinkansen down to Hiroshima and did a different city every day working my way back up to Yokohama.

For Tokyo, I would say you need at least 2 - 3 days. But will very much depend on what you want to see etc..

As mentioned, JR Rail Pass is the way to go. I bought a week pass and was everything I needed for all my travels which included:
Hiroshima
Osaka
Kyoto
Nagoya
Mt Fuji
Yokohama

Good Luck and enjoy.
 
JR Rail Pass isn't always worth it - put your itinery through here to check: https://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/

I returned from two weeks in Japan last Sunday, for anyone thinking of going but wondering about costs we (me and my partner) spent £4091 between us for 14 days in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka (incl day trips to Kobe and Nara) and back to Tokyo again.

Parking at Heathrow: £143
Flights: £634.40 for me via Frankfurt with Lufthansa/ANA, return via Zurich with Swiss; £699 for my partner with China Eastern as they went back to China for a week before I arrived in Tokyo and we met up on the same day.
Accommodation: £943 which was mostly using business hotels (APA, Sotetsu Fresa, and a great one called Lamplight Books in Nagoya) but also a normal Japanese house in Kyoto for two nights.
Travel (Shinkansen): £60~ for the Narita Express, £123.49 from Tokyo to Nagoya and then £209.03 returning from Osaka to Tokyo - everywhere else was with our Suica cards which we kept topping up with 3000 yen as needed.
Cash (food, excursions, etc): £1265 in total which was mostly food (snacks from supermarkets) and eating out as well as gifts to bring back (incl £40 worth of KitKats). Excursions (not including temples and places open to the public) included the Mori Tower, Sumida Aquarium, Nagoya Science Museum, Nagoya Castle, Kyoto Railway Museum, Kyoto Tower, Monkey Park in Arashiyama, Osaka Aquarium, Mt Rokko Cable Car, and a meal at Mouriya in Kobe for the best steak I've ever eaten.

We withdrew £1048 in total over the two weeks, but to be honest the places that only took cash were in the minority so we could have used the card for more of that. We spent about £10 a day just buying snacks for breakfast in the hotel rooms tbh which we didn't need to but my partner isn't an early bird.

I paid £22 for a sim card with unlimited data and we used that as a hotspot everywhere we went, but all of the hotels also had free wifi and free wifi was available everywhere.

I'm already planning another trip to visit the north and south of the country in a couple of years, and I'm happily paying extra for direct flights but otherwise a similar budget.

For anyone going to Tokyo I'd thoroughly recommend staying in the Kanda area between Jimbocho and Ogawamachi stations - plenty of great restaurants, nice cafes and book stores, and within walking distance of stations to go anywhere. Akihabara is only a 15 minute walk too.
 
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MichaelAwkward said:
JR Rail Pass isn't always worth it - put your itinery through here to check: https://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/

I returned from two weeks in Japan last Sunday, for anyone thinking of going but wondering about costs we (me and my partner) spent £4091 between us for 14 days in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka (incl day trips to Kobe and Nara) and back to Tokyo again.

Parking at Heathrow: £143
Flights: £634.40 for me via Frankfurt with Lufthansa/ANA, return via Zurich with Swiss; £699 for my partner with China Eastern as they went back to China for a week before I arrived in Tokyo and we met up on the same day.
Accommodation: £943 which was mostly using business hotels (APA, Sotetsu Fresa, and a great one called Lamplight Books in Nagoya) but also a normal Japanese house in Kyoto for two nights.
Travel (Shinkansen): £60~ for the Narita Express, £123.49 from Tokyo to Nagoya and then £209.03 returning from Osaka to Tokyo - everywhere else was with our Suica cards which we kept topping up with 3000 yen as needed.
Cash (food, excursions, etc): £1392 in total which was mostly food (snacks from supermarkets) and eating out as well as gifts to bring back (incl £40 worth of KitKats). Excursions (not including temples and places open to the public) included the Mori Tower, Sumida Aquarium, Nagoya Science Museum, Nagoya Castle, Kyoto Railway Museum, Kyoto Tower, Monkey Park in Arashiyama, Osaka Aquarium, Mt Rokko Cable Car, and a meal at Mouriya in Kobe for the best steak I've ever eaten.

We withdrew £1048 in total over the two weeks, but to be honest the places that only took cash were in the minority so we could have used the card for more of that. We spent about £10 a day just buying snacks for breakfast in the hotel rooms tbh which we didn't need to but my partner isn't an early bird.

I paid £22 for a sim card with unlimited data and we used that as a hotspot everywhere we went, but all of the hotels also had free wifi and free wifi was available everywhere.

I'm already planning another trip to visit the north and south of the country in a couple of years, and I'm happily paying extra for direct flights but otherwise a similar budget.
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A 2 weeks JR Pass is about £300? you spent £400 there so a JR pass would've saved you money and it also works on some of the trains inside Tokyo.
 
Raymond Lin said:
A 2 weeks JR Pass is about £300? you spent £400 there so a JR pass would've saved you money and it also works on some of the trains inside Tokyo.
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£300 each isn't it? Those costs are for both of us.

With our Suica cards we spent a total of £170 on local trains and metro within cities, but that also included using it at 7-eleven occasionally so probably about £140 on actual travel. Saved us £70 vs using the rail pass roughly.
 
Raymond Lin said:
It is cheap though and low season so it's basically like normal but colder with pretty Christmas lights. It would be a good time to avoid the crowds IMO.
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Agree with this. It was very quiet for us from 16-30th Dec. The only busy place we visited was Osaka Aquarium on Christmas Day. However, Tokyo Station (last minute gift buying from the character shops) on the 29th was absolutely manic. New Years is a bigger event for them and lots of people were travelling for the longer weekend.

We did have KFC (though to be honest we ended up eating some form of fried chicken almost every day) and Christmas Cake on Christmas Day though, and watched the sunset over the Port of Osaka.
 
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MichaelAwkward said:
Agree with this. It was very quiet for us from 16-30th Dec. The only busy place we visited was Osaka Aquarium on Christmas Day. However, Tokyo Station (last minute gift buying from the character shops) on the 29th was absolutely manic. New Years is a bigger event for them and lots of people were travelling for the longer weekend.

We did have KFC (though to be honest we ended up eating some form of fried chicken almost every day) and Christmas Cake on Christmas Day though, and watched the sunset over the Port of Osaka.
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Ah Japanese Christmas Cake! it's just strawberry cream cake. KFC at Christmas, I guess it's got to be done as it's tradition!
 
BowdonUK said:
There seems to be a lot of earthquakes happening these days in Japan.
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Not really more than there has ever been, in fact I can't say I've actually felt one at all in all the times I've been out there (although I did miss the big Kumamoto one by only a few days a couple of years ago). It something you should be aware of but not really worry about and consider that if there is one then it is something which Japan is, or course, well prepared for.
 
With accommodation, depends what you like but I stayed in mainly hostels or traditional bnb places.
Felt more "Japanese" than a standard hotel.
One guest house even gave traditional robes for guests to wear. Unfortunately they did ask for them back at the end as they were proper ones and not cheap "give away" robes. Added to the whole experience.
 
BowdonUK said:
There seems to be a lot of earthquakes happening these days in Japan.
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There has always been a lot of earthquakes in Japan.

As I recall there is a town somewhere in Japan where everybody walks around in hard-hats because the local volcano randomly spits out high velocity rocks.

The Japs are generally very good indeed at dealing with earthquakes

Though I accept, it doesn't always work out well. But unlike other types of natural disaster. There is no warning for earthquakes and only very limited warning for tsunamis. Nevertheless, they generally take the consequences in thier stride and just deal with it.

Back with the Fukushima earthquake, I recall an article referring to a section of motorway that had been totally destroyed.

A week later.

A WEEK!

There it was, two carriageways of multi-lane shiny new black top.

Over here it would have take 6 months just to fill in the bloody paperwork! Not even the ****** can put down tarmac in that time!

(As an aside, I have always felt really sad that we ever ended up on opposing sides during WW2, it really is one of the tragedies of history :(, I have always had the greatest respect for the Japanese. and as a fellow island nation, we probably have more in common with the Japs that almost any other nation on the planet! In My post-brexit universe, next to doing deals with commonwealth nations, the Japs would be at the top of my list. I hope OP enjoys your holiday. I would love to visit myself but unfortunately I cant. As a child of the Empire (White, British) I have a very unfortunate place of birth. If I only went to France I would probabally end up having a camera stuffed up my Bum, anywhere further afield is completely out of the question (Not quite North Korea, but close!:eek:)
 
Orionaut said:
and as a fellow island nation, we probably have more in common with the Japs that almost any other nation on the planet!
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Not sure on that culture wise and their values they are in a completely different place to the UK. Also with the whole Sino-Japanese war going on in the early days of WW2 I'm not sure they really come out as particularly allies material https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes (albeit two sides to that story).

BowdonUK said:
There seems to be a lot of earthquakes happening these days in Japan.
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That whole part of the planet tends to become increasingly seismically active during times of solar minimum for some reason.
 
Great place. Went for the second time in February this year and can't wait to go back! Went to Tokyo again and then flew north to Hokkaido for the ice festivals in Sapporo, Asahikawa and Sounkyo with some dog sledding thrown in for good measure :)

Raymond, if you didn't do it last time in Tokyo and are looking for a mental bar try Kagaya.

https://www.tofugu.com/travel/kagaya-izakaya/

Demented place run by a madman who will do crazy performances based on the country your beer comes from when you make an order. Was nearly crying with laughter the entire time. You have to sing what you have ordered from the menu as soon as you get in to the entire bar so best to be already a bit ****** before going in.

Kagaya.jpg
 
EvilSooty said:
Great place. Went for the second time in February this year and can't wait to go back! Went to Tokyo again and then flew north to Hokkaido for the ice festivals in Sapporo, Asahikawa and Sounkyo with some dog sledding thrown in for good measure :)

Raymond, if you didn't do it last time in Tokyo and are looking for a mental bar try Kagaya.

https://www.tofugu.com/travel/kagaya-izakaya/

Demented place run by a madman who will do crazy performances based on the country your beer comes from when you make an order. Was nearly crying with laughter the entire time. You have to sing what you have ordered from the menu as soon as you get in to the entire bar so best to be already a bit ****** before going in.

Kagaya.jpg
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I've heard of him and seen videos but I can't say that is my kind of thing.

memyselfandi said:
Going late next year (will be the 7th time) is the current plan. Was hoping to go back this year but work took a problematic turn which means I'm changing employer which impacted my ability to do so.
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I booked 8 days for £1300 all in, I think it is a great deal and so good I might pop down to Osaka or Kyoto for a day and stay over.

I can book this and will cost me nothing in a capsule hotel. For the lolz and the experience!

5CPxYzX.jpg
 
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