1 Month in Japan Itinerary!!

6 comments

1. Please don’t visit the Fox village. It’s been popularised on instagram but it’s a place with a lot of animal abuse, from foxes locked in tiny cages for months, forced petting, fox fur items in the gift shop, etc. Foxes are not social animals and are not meant to be kept in close quarters with each other, so this leads to a lot of fighting and injuries, especially over food.

   It’s hard to comment much in a practical sense since there isn’t an itinerary per se, just a list of places (you may want to check the spelling of some these names, especially your Kyoto list lol).

   Togakushi shrines will be closed and inaccessible due to snow in December. Note that Miyajima isn’t in Osaka, it’s a day trip that will take several hours roundtrip, likewise Kanazawa from Kyoto. Some of the things on your Kyoto list aren’t in Kyoto city either, they’re day trips (like the Kibune and Kurama hike, Yoshiminedera, Himeji) so expect them to take at least half a day just for access’ sake.

   For the 27th, you leave Sapporo at 9am but arrive in Sendai ~8pm… what transport are you taking? It shouldn’t take 11h to get there. Are you stopping somewhere along the way?

2. Himeji Castle, Osaka Kuromon Ichiba Market, Mount Koya-Okunoin

3. I see you’re concerned about spending too much time in Osaka. I’ve read opinions ranging from 3/4 nights to recommending just to skip it. I think it depends on the person, but for me it was one of my favorite cities and I wish I would’ve spent 5 nights instead of 4.

   I see your spending almost an entire day taking the train to Sapporo. I highly recommend looking into flying, even if you have a rail pass. A one way fare only cost me like $80 with ANA and there were cheaper options available. $80 might seem like a waste when you could do it at no extra cost, but to me $80 is worth almost an extra 3/4 to 1/2 day of your vacation.

   I’m not sure if you’re staying overnight in Hakodate? That might be worth looking into instead of Sendai. I enjoyed it more than Sendai and you could take the Shinkansen back to Tokyo first thing the next morning.

4. Wish I could be a month in Japan.

   I just want to add that travel fatigue might come into play when travelling for so long (I was a backpacking for 4-6 months, twice).

   It is fine to stay in bed, have some easy meals (or room service) and do nothing/watch videos. If you are willing, perhaps send some things back home you don’t need anymore (or souvenirs) to keep your luggage compact.

   Have fun!

5. For the Osaka day why leave on train at 2pm and then arrive at night?

   The hotel may make you check out of the room by noon. If your train is at 2 pm you may have an awkward 90-120 minute of having to store your bag somewhere or take it to the train station at noon and wait for your train for 90-120 minutes.

   Just take a train that leaves for Osaka at noon or 1 pm.

   I don’t think you’re spending too much time in Osaka. Especially since you a re doing a long day trip to Miyajima.

   I think you’re spending a day too long in Kyoto.

   Since Osaka and Kyoto or only 30 minutes apart by train, I’m an advocate of just stayin in Osaka the whole time and doing 2 day trips to Kyoto to see the temples.

   Right now, you have 10 nights between Osaka and Kyoto. If I were you I’d do 7 nights Osaka, include 2 day trips to Tokyo, and then 2-3 nights in Hiroshima and do the Miyajima day trip from there.

   I’d also skip Nara. God knows you’re going to see enough temples in Kyoto. Nara is just some less impressive temples, huge crowds of tourists, and some deer.

6. If you’re spending a month in Japan, I would cut out several of these day trips and actually stay in those places. For example, if looks like you’re planning to visit Kanazawa from Kyoto. Which I believe is 2 hours via train. So +4 hours in transit eating into a day where you’re likely going to want to do quite a bit.

   And you’re going to be travelling in that direction when you go to Nagano. Why not actually go to Kanazawa?

   Similarly, you have a day trip from Osaka to Miyajima. Lot of time spent in transit to and from. I would much rather go to Hiroshima. Stay a couple of days and see what it has to offer at a slower pace.

   Nara from Osaka makes sense because its such a short journey and Nara is a relatively compact experience.