14 day Japan itinerary thoughts?

11 comments

1. Most train stations have lockers you can purchase so that you don’t have to carry goods around.

2. If you are doing multiple cities on the trip, don’t plan much on your travel days. Tokyo to Kyoto is a bit of a trip, so you’ll lose a good chunk of that day.

   The couple times I have gone, I have learned to spend more time in places than 1 to 2 days. You end up feeling like there is so much that you have missed.

3. > Was told to start in Tokyo for 3/4 days, 1/2 Kyoto, 1/2 Osaka, 1 Nara, 1/2 Hakone. These days were just rough estimates given to me. Not sure if I should add other stops or just extend days at some of these places.

   I would personally not add more stops. Travel days from Tokyo > Kyoto is going to be a bit of a wash. DisneySea will eat up a whole day. If you want to actually enjoy Onsen at Hakone you will want more than one night. If you want to do things like Michelin Star restaurants you’ll want to give yourself extra time around those: You won’t want to go sweaty and in your tourist clothes from a full day of sightseeing right to the restaurant.

   > Also, wondering if we should add a day or two at the end for shopping. I was told that it’s best to leave this to the end to avoid carrying stuff around.

   You can ship luggage using takkyubin. It’s very easy. So you can shop to your heart’s content in say, Kyoto and then ship a bag to Haneda to arrive up to seven days later. Then just pick it up at the airport.

   > I was also told that Japan has amazing quality of stuff, even better then the North American equivalents (like Hermes, etc.). Is this true?

   Do you mean Japanese brands or like, better quality Chanel than what you can find in the States? There are definitely Japanese exclusives for certain brands. There is also a thriving secondhand market. I *believe* Japanese luxury goods in general are more expensive than in the US but that may have changed. I recommend looking for a forum specific to the brands you’re interested in and asking them, since it can vary brand by brand.

   I will say home appliances manufactured in Japan are consistently better, if you’re looking for a rice cooker lol.

   > Any spots that have better Ryokans than others?
   You’re going to basically the largest tourist hot spots in Japan. There are good ryokans in Hakone, Kyoto, and Nara.

   If anyone in your party has tattoos, you will want to check with any Onsen in advance if they’re OK. Hakone may be challenging. Since they have a lot of Japanese tourists they tend to be strict about tattoos (unless that’s changed post-COVID).

4. I’d spend some more days in Tokyo, but depends on your preferences. Each district in Tokyo has its own unique charm, it’s like 10 cities in one. I always found Hakone suitable as just a day trip, but again, it depends on your preferences.

5. Depends on how you like to travel. I would rather get more of a quality experience by spending min. 2 nights in any city due to travel time (first night in, spend the day, spend the night there, then depart). Japan is one of those countries that will have you returning for more. I would make Tokyo your first and last (for shopping), then decide on two other locations. When you get to a location, capitalizing on knowing your directional bearings is a huge advantage, esp. in Japan where English is not commonly spoken or printed. Knowing where the train station is, coffee shop, hotel, landmarks, short cuts – all become an advantage. There is also plenty to do in each that it’s almost unfair to you to spend a night in places like Kyoto or Osaka.

   For Sumo fights, I have been to a large tournament and went to a weekday qualifying event on a Friday afternoon, there was basically less than 20 spectators in a 5k seating auditorium because it was on a weekday. Interesting to watch for 30 mins but it didn’t hold our interest for more than an hour as we just wanted to see what the experience was like.

6. One idea for when you go to hakone, if you’re going there from Tokyo, leave your luggage in a locker in a train station, then make that one of your days for exploring Tokyo. Then head to hakone in the evening, check into your lodging, so you’ll have the entire next day to explore hakone. Then spend a 2nd night there, and the next morning you can continue on southward

7. There are quite a lot of things to see and do in Kyoto so you’ll want at least 2-3 days there. Try to plan your travel early in the day or late in the afternoon so you can maximize the amount of useful daytime to actually doing something and not sitting on a train.

   As for being foodies, how much (high end) sushi have you had in Japan? I sometimes feel like people who go for those won’t be able to appreciate what they’re getting because they simply don’t have a baseline to compare it to. In that respect, it’s probably better to just go to a quality sushi restaurant a few times vs. some place like Jiro once, because that’s what the price difference will be. It also means you could potentially save money on the hotel, as you won’t have to stay in a 5-star, which means even more money for food.

   As for sumo, they’re generally a fairly boring thing where you sit there and watch ceremonies most of the time while the occasional sumo bout happens. There are 6 tournaments through the year and they take place in various cities in Japan. If you’re not in that city during the tournament, there won’t be much sumo for you to watch.

8. As somebody who stayed 2 weeks straight in Kyoto and still could have done so many more things don’t underestimate how much time you should stay in that amazing city. I have spent time both in Tokyo and Kyoto and I would suggest adding one more day at least to your Kioto trip and take 1 away from your Tokyo trip.Tokyo is an amazing city with so so much to offer but for slightly more culturally unique Japanese experience I would suggest Kyoto for a minimum of 3 days.

   But being honest either way you’re gonna absolutely love your trip to Japan!!!

9. >some Michelin star places

   You shouldn’t limit yourself, there are many really good restaurants without a star that are worth visiting. My favourite was La Rochelle, but that might have been coloured by the fact that Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai was there to meet his customers (this was many years ago, so I’m not sure if he’s still does that anymore). I’ve also been to several really good omakase restaurants.

   >I was told that it’s best to leave this to the end to avoid carrying stuff around.

   Yes, it’s a bit of a pain carrying stuff around. Even though public transport is great, it’s not easy dragging your stuff through the stations (lots of stairs, tiny lifts). You could consider using a luggage forwarding service though.

   >I was also told that Japan has amazing quality of stuff, even better then the North American equivalents (like Hermes, etc.). Is this true?

   The international brands you get in Japan is pretty similar to what’s available overseas. But they have a big second hand market for luxury goods. And the Japanese take really good care of their stuff, so many things look just like new. Komehyo is a chain of stores that sell these, and from the outside, its indistinguishable from any other high end department store. There are also lots of smaller stores all over the place.

10. You can do fly into Osaka and stay in Osaka/Kyoto as 1st base. Do you visits around that area for a week (depending on what you want to do) and then travel to Tokyo as 2nd base before flying off. That is if your airlines do fly to these 2 airports.

    You can find Ryokans outside of the cities and it is all over Japan. There’s no specific which Ryokans is better since every Ryokan may have different themes. So if this is your first time, just stick to Hakone first. If you like it, you can explore other Ryokans in other areas in your future visits. I had been to Ryokans in Hakone, Kawaguichiko, Nagano (Snow Monkey), Tochigi, Aomori, Sendai and Hokkaido. Each of them is unique. Bear in mind you need to be naked in onsen and if you have tattoos most of the onsens do not allow entrance. U will need to find one that is tattoo friendly.

11. Just a note on food, I would highly recommend using tabelog instead of michelin stars as reference for restaurants