How did you go about planning your trip to Japan? Give us your planning tips!

9 comments

1. 1. Google map gives pretty on point advice, including fees and platform to take.

   2. Get good walking shoes.

   3. I usually travel solo and stay in hostels so this might not be applicable. I usually only plan my major movements such as between cities and leave the rest to asking for recommendations from the hostel staff, including transport options for harder to reach areas. I find their advice are usually clearer/relevant than trying to read the schedule online.

   4. May be an Unpopular opinion, konbinis are nice but they get boring after a while. That said, they make for excellent snack/breakfast stops.

   5. Personally, I try to decide what’re the main things I wanna experience in a certain place. E.g. Big city vibes/mountains/shrines/famous spots then make it my focal of the trip of the day. Anything else I can slot in will be cherry on the cake but not necessary to have. This helps to manage my own expectations esp when there’s so much to see but so little time.

   Edit: it’s ok to try and skim on budget, In exchange for time lost/less things to see and eat. Japan can be expensive after all. I find this sub tends to focus on going for convenience at a premium, nothing wrong with that. But nth wrong too in seeing limited things with reduced expenses either.

2. 1. I bought the Lonely Planet Japan and Tokyo guides. The internet is amazing and has lots of info but is overwhelming.

   2. From the guides, I was able to narrow down parts of the cities that I was visiting and picked things to see. Especially Tokyo is very large and hopping from one location to another may not be viable. I made daily rough plans in MS Word and color coded them. The document included locations, travel times and opening hours.

   4. I marked all places I wanted to go to on Google Maps. I also found cafes restaurants in the guides and marked them on Google Maps (with different marker to make it less confusing).

   3. After that, I went on Google and searched for seasonal events and also interesting things (ie vegetarian restaurants for myself) that were not in the guides to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

   Yes, I love planning 😅

3. https://www.insidejapantours.com/us/ – Used these folks in 2011, and I couldn’t have been happier. I told them what I wanted to see and do (they also had a list of places of interest and activities to do for suggestions as well). When the time came for my trip, they sent me a booklet of my itinerary that told me how to get from place to place, event to event, etc. along with my rail pass, any tickets, subsequent train cards with preloaded credits, and anything else my trip needed. The booklet had detailed instructions for getting to each area I was visiting. It would tell me what train to go on, when to get off/at which stations, everything I needed to get around. My hotels/inns were all booked. If I didn’t have an event or something planned for the day, the booklet had suggestions to check out if I wanted. Or I could wonder around for a while and whenever I need to get back, I’d just get a cab and show the hotel/inn address. I didn’t know any Japanese when I went, but with the booklet to help me around, I spent two weeks there without any issues. The booklet even had tips and cultural norms and things to avoid doing and so forth. Also a pro tip, I carried a backpack most of the time, and just about every place I stayed I could ask the front desk person to deliver my bags to my next destination. They’d get it from me the night before or that morning sometimes if I was leaving later and send it and then at my next place, hotel or ryokan, and I then didn’t have to lug around my huge travel bags on a train. I could explore along the way unencumbered.

4. 1. My Maps on Google Maps
   2. Japan-guide.com
   3. Youtube videos
   4. OneNote and Word
   5. Google Maps for planning routes

   Re 1 – I plotted everything that was interesting into My Maps on Google Maps. From there I determined which places makes sense to visit on the same day and which places to cut from the itinerary. I also marked different places with different icons and colors depending on if it was an accommodation, activity or attraction. An example would be: Dark red – practical info, orange – shopping/stores, green – attractions, purple – experiences/activities, yellow – food, gray – suggestions if time and need.

   Re 2 and 3 – The internet is your best friend. I especially used Japan-Guide and YouTube videos a lot.

   Re 4 – I use OneNote a lot for idea dumping and Word in a table for structuring the itinerary.

5. 1. Japan-Guide.com should be your bible for general overview of your trip to Japan. Looking closer at the area you are visiting in Google Maps or at local travel association guides helps you fill out the day.
   2. For first time visitors: do not attempt to do Kansai in less than 5 days and Tokyo in less than 4 days – you will be extremely rushed. Unless you are very confident in your timing, expect that things will take a little bit more time than a little bit less.
   3. FOMO can lead to overloaded, unbearable itineraries. You will get overwhelmed with ideas, but the selection process will give you experience in adjusting your itinerary. Weather in Japan may make a havoc of your plans, but if you go through that process – you will find an altenative itinerary for the day.
   4. Knowing that something is there increases your chances of seeing it. On one hand do not overload your schedule, on the other hand – there are almost always cool secondary targets to explore. Overloading your itinerary is a cardinal sin, but unless you are travelling solo or in ‘chaotic’ peer group – it’s better to know where to go next.
   5. Knowing where your emergency konbini/restaurant close to your accommodation is can be a lot of help – heavy rain means downpour, heavy snow means blizzards or heaps of snow and you don’t want to spend more time outside than necessary in these conditions.
   6. [Jorudan](https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/?c=10) is your best friend to plan your train transportation. Checking Google Maps with regard to station exits and transfers to buses is vital to avoid silly mistakes. Transfers as shown by transport apps are set up quite reasonably, but knowing which exit you want to take saves a lot of hustle.
   7. If you like semi-organized or organized itinerary, try to provide reasonable time to find your lunch. I tend to plan an activity near to the local eatery hub near noon-1pm as many places in Japan are open only during lunch and dinner hours.
   8. While it’s possible to survive on konbini breakfast – it’s better to opt for hotels with breakfasts or breakfast options near-by. Note that below metro level cities these options can be somewhat lacking.
   9. Always plan for intensive activities in the morning (unless it’s impractical). Lunch places, whether ramen shops or tonkatsu places serve fairly big meals and for an hour or so after – you are bound to have to slow down.
   10. Check out what the major and local festivals or events are. Know that this create opportunities, but can result in an extreme scarcity of accommodation.
   11. There are [sites](https://www.timeanddate.com) where you can easily check the weather condition in the last 10 years. Use the same site to account for sunset.
   12. JR Pass or regional passes may be or may be not worth it. Note that unlike in many western cities, 1-3 day passes for tourists in cities like Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto are not always worth it since they do not cover all (or all important) modes of transport.
   13. Buy Travel Medical Insurance. In an event of serious accident, the medical transport costs to your country of origin can be sky high (as in $150,000-$200,000 high).
   14. Expect to walk a lot. As in 10-15 miles per day on a standard day. Also, expect a lot of steps. Good set of walking/hiking shoes is really, really recommended.
   15. When creating a spreadsheet with travel costs – do not convert expenditure from JPY to your local currency to avoid nasty surprises.

6. I usually don’t overplan my trips, for the major cities I usually just pick 1 or 2 areas per day to explore. However I did have to plan quite a fair bit for my last trip to Tohoku since trains there come in hourly intervals instead of every 3 mins. Hyperdia (RIP) was my lifesaver for that; knowing the best time to catch each train helped me make the most of my time in each area. Sucks that Hyperdia has now died, I’m gonna need to start exploring the alternatives for my next trip

7. I bought a plane ticket and just went all 3 times.

   Staying at hostels, me and my roommates decided what to do that day. No point in planning anything, never works out.

8. Usually i go through Google and some YT videos then list down the places that i wanna visit. I don’t really like planning so my itinerary is all over the place!

   My first ever trip to Japan was with 0 itinerary, i just YOLO after i touch down.

9. Made a Google map. Whenever I come across a place I’d like to visit, I put it on the map. When it’s time to plan out my trip I can look at the map and it makes it easy to figure out which/how many places I can go to in a given day and how much time it’ll take me to get from point A to point B.

   Also for most places, especially restaurants, I’ll look on YouTube and if there’s a video of the place I’ll copy the link into the description for that pin on my map in case I forget what about that place made me want to go there.

   I’ve been to Japan twice and I mark all the places I’ve already been to, note it on the map and give them different icons, so it’s easy to tell where I’ve been and where I’ve yet to go.