My partner and I are currently on a ~7 month tour around Asia. For various reasons we’ve decided to end our trip early and finish with more time (and budget) in Japan. We’ll be arriving in late February and staying till mid April for a total of 46 days.
**Additional context**
– My partner’s first time in Japan, my 2nd (I’ve previously spent 5 weeks around the golden triangle and Hiroshima about 8 years ago)
– We’re into great food and drink experiences, nature and landscapes, and places of historical significance.
– We’ve spent the last few months backpacking in SE Asia and are packing light (<10kg backpacks each) – we’re used to moving often and at a decent pace.
– We’re not able to drive so will be relying on public transport exclusively.
– Earmarking around $250 per day but fortunately can flex beyond this if needed
– We realise we’re planning a lot at short notice during a busy time, so understand if we have to compromise!
We thought we’d start in Sapporo and work our way down southwards at a leisurely pace, but given cherry blossom season and the fact we’d like to end with a bunch of shopping in Tokyo, we’d like any feedback on our current (albeit rough) plan):
**Days 1-4: Arrive in Tokyo (Late Feb)**
Land in NRT
– Acclimatise, eat great food, get some rest.
– A bit of shopping as we need stock up on warm layers for:
**5-12: Sapporo**
Fly to Sapporo, flexible on the following:
– Day trip to otaru
– A day or two at Teine for skiing
– Mt moiwa
– Sapporo brewery / nikka distillery
– Overnight stay at noboribetsu
**13-15: Yakushima Island**
Fly from Sapporo via fukuoka.
– Hopefully arrange some organised day tours around the island
**16-18:Kumamoto**
Ferry over to Kyushu
– Day trip tour to Takechiho Gorge/ Mt Aso?
– Kurokawa day trip
**19: Unzen**
– Stop over Unzen Onsen
**20-22: Nagasaki**
– Hashima island
– Atomic Bomb Museum
– Mt. Inasama
**23: Fukuoka**
– Explore the city, eat ramen
**24-26: Hiroshima**
– Possibly overnight in Miyajima
**27: Naoshima**
– Camp on the island
**28-30: Osaka**
– Universal Studios
– Sumo tournament
– Koyasan
– Himeji castle
**31-35: Kyoto**
– The usual, well covered tourist spots
**36-37: Nagano**
– Would like to visit the monkeys in Jigokudani
– Are there any reasonable day hikes in this region?
**38: Fuji Five Lakes**
– Possibly a splurge ryokan in this area – Lake Kawaguchi?
– Anywhere with nice walks and a view of Fuji ideally
**39 – 45: Tokyo**
Back to Tokyo, immersing in the city and doing shopping. More time than we need but hoping to have a few days buffer in case we need to move things around.
**46 – Fly out of Tokyo (Mid April)**
**Random additional questions:**
– I assume it’s best to get warm weather gear in Tokyo before we arrive in Sapporo? Any recs for decently priced basics that aren’t Uniqlo or Muji? Particularly boots as we only have sneakers, which we imagine won’t be ideal in this weather?
– Would the more eastern parts of Hokkaido be feasible to work in this trip e.g. Shiretoko national park?
– Conscious I’m missing a lot from the Sendai area – Any must-see recommendations I could add?
– It seems like not the best time of year to go – but is there a way of including Okinawa that would make sense?
– We know the JR pass is absolutely worthwhile – I imagine the best time to activate is the approximate 21 day stretch between Kumamoto and Tokyo?
– Ryokan experiences – we are hoping to splurge on 2 or 3 different ryokans to experience regional hospitality – assuming a stay in Hokkaido, Kyushu, and possibly in the fuji five lakes are good places to start?
– I have a fascination with raw denim and indigo dying, is there a particular place en route where I could see the process up close?
– Lastly, I am a fiend for wagyu beef – any tips for trying out different regional examples in a reasonably affordable way?
Thanks in advance – any critique or recommendations most welcome!
9 comments
Recommend Uniqlo for the warm weather clothes. Skip Muji if you want to save money. Some of Muji’s stuff is nice but for clothes they can’t beat the value of Uniqlo.
It’s going to be very hard to explore the eastern parts of Hokkaido without a car.
Distance and price wise IF you did want to go to Okinawa it would be out of FUK but some of the islands around there are about as pretty as Okinawan islands. You wouldn’t be able to swim this time of year in Okinawa anyways so it would be a waste. Also all the resorts and hotels are dead this time of year, it’s eerie. I would skip it tbh and plan it for another trip.
You’ll be passing by Okayama, If you wanna see how $2000 USD raw denim jeans are made, you can reach out to Momotaro jeans people. They sometimes let people see their manufacturing process. Don’t really speak much english though.
These days pretty much each region has their own amazing beef. Kagoshima beef is really good, so try that. If you can find a place that serves Hida beef while traveling up to Nagano, try that. Honestly tho it all A5 wagyu tastes the same to me.
i’m thinking of hitting that sumo tournament too. i believe tix go on sale feb 5th.
Who are you and can be your friend? You travel fabulously. Looks great. I agree with Uniqlo.
I would say if you absolutely hate Uniqlo and muji. I like oshmans. They carry Arc’teryx, patagonia, and a lot of outdoor gear. They often have good discounts and I like their prices.
How does one get that much time off work. My work gives 2 weeks per year unpaid vacation
March might be a bit late to see the monkeys! I’d check the website to see when they expect them to return back up the mountains. We saw them in early Feb.
I would not personally try and buy things like snow boots on the road and try and get them before I go – especially in Japan – but I’m a really awkward size in just about everything and you and your partner may not be. (Last time I went, the people before us in the queue lost their luggage, and I was stood behind them thinking about how packing my underwear and spare pair of shoes in my hand luggage maybe wasn’t overkill after all…)
Curious if your budget is $250 per person or combined? Is this inclusive of everything for the day – hotel, food, transport, entry/entertainment/shopping? Thanks
Near Sendai is the Akiu Waterfall which was really pretty in Summer and people were able to walk into the pond at the bottom of it.
I don’t know about public transportation, though. It was a day-trip from Sendai by car for me.
For Yakushima, if you want to do the forest hikes, will definitively need warmer clothes than SE Asia and basic hiking gear (especially boots). I second the Uniqlo recommendation, just pick up their thermal (heat tech) base layer, they’re decently priced and very light to pack. If the hiking boots were exclusively for Yakushima, I’d tell you to rent there and not buy, but I think you will probably need them for the rest of the trip as well, especially Sapporo and Nagano. I don’t know many Japanese outdoors stores, but Montbell is a big brand and has stores in many cities.
For other advice about Yakushima, I just went in December, you can check out my trip report.
Stay a day and night in Koya San. You won’t forget it.