Planning a “conceptual” trip but getting stuck when I get to Tokyo

10 comments

1. Question, is you 4000 $ budget for 1 person of for 2 person ? If for one, no problem at all, if for 2, then not impossible, but you might not be able to do everything you want.

   For me, 10 days is the bare minimum if you want to do both Tokyo and Kansai. Think is, you do not have to do both. I would consider staying in Kansai only, that would also save you the money to go to Tokyo. To add a bit more, going to Iga, you can check to get a Kintetsu pass and spend a couple of days in Nara prefecture, for example to check places as Asuka (that was an old capital of Japan before Nara), Kashihara, Sakurai.

   Just some things I can think of. Woodworking, there is a woodworking tool museum in Kobe, at also display Japanese woodworking techniques. Tea, if you want to have deeper experience, there is places you can go check tea farming, for example there is a place in Wazuka (that produce Uji tea) that offer tour, can check this video about them [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEh697_p79I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEh697_p79I) Ryokan with onsen, the most known in that area are Arima onsen or Kinosaki onsen (the cheapest in regard to transportation would be Arima), and depending on your planning, that can take one day or even most of two days. Whiskey, there is the Yamazaki Distillery in Osaka. Why not go check an original castle such as Himeji (that also have a garden) or Hikone ?

   For samurai, is it something really general or do you have any favorite period of Japanese history, some favorite historic figures ? I personally really like Bakumatsu, so I would go check historic location, or places related to specific people like the Shinsengumi or Sakamoto Ryoma.

   Right now you have 5 days planned, can add 1 Kobe, 2 Nara prefecture, 1 castle (Hikone/Himeji), 1 Wazuka, and you are already at 10 and it would not even be hard to do find much more things to do.

2. When it comes to ryokan/onsen, you have a lot of options for overnight trips from either the Osaka area (something like Arima Onsen or Kinosaki) or the Tokyo area (Hakone, Kawaguchiko, something in Gunma). I would recommend doing an overnight to get the full experience, and you can often find interesting stuff in small towns/rural areas. At the least, you could find a place in nature. So that’s totally doable from Tokyo.

   How do you feel about museums? You could lose yourself for a day or two in Ueno park between all the temples/shrines and museums, and a lot of that is focused around history. There are also a bunch of more modern tea places in Tokyo, including my favorite, Sakurai Tea Experience. Tokyo also has a ton of crafting areas and crafting streets to explore.

   So I guess what I’m trying to say is that Tokyo and the Tokyo area can definitely fill the needs for a lot of the things you like, and I wouldn’t worry about not finding things suited to your interests there. It will require research and decisions, but it’s there.

   I’d be wary of capsule hotels. They are fine for a night if you just want to experience them, but they are often uncomfortable, not suited to multiple night stays, separated by gender or one-gender only, and sometimes not even cheaper than a simple business hotel. It might be easier to find one cheap place and not move around.

3. Yeah I personally would avoid capsule hotels. Many business hotels in Japan are super cheap and also very comfortable, and the novelty of a capsule hotel just isn’t actually fun in reality.

   Agree with everyone that with just 10 days I would stick to Osaka and Kyoto! You’ll have a cheaper and more enjoyable trip this way. If you did do Tokyo, mt Takao is gorgeous and fun for nature! If you just stick to Osaka and Kyoto, fushimi inari and the bamboo forest are so gorgeous and Will totally fulfill a need to see nature!

4. You’d probably be better off visiting Hikone or Himeji than Osaka castle, which is a bad, concrete reconstruction that does not that much in common with any of the three historical castles at that site.

   You’d be much better off taking a train to Iga-Ueno, rather than renting a car for a party of two. Car is not going to be that much faster from Osaka, but definitively more expensive.

   Note that old Kyoto means almost exclusively Imperial Palace, temples and Higashiyama. If you are into historical Japan, then perhaps renting a machiya rather than staying at a hotel/ryokan might make more sense (and certainly much more reasonable in price than a historical ryokan).

   It would really make more sense to spend more time in Kansai – with time alloted to Nara, visit to sake distilleries in either Kobe, Nara, or Fushimi sake district in Kyoto, Suntory Yamazaki Whisky Distillery, a trip to Uji to to see Byodo-in, and sample tea shops there.

   Another trip that I would suggest is Bizen, which was a major swordsmithing town (and has a museum) and is still a major pottery production centre with tours of workshops available.

   Looking at your interests, it may be actually better to leave Tokyo off your trip menu, I would probably recommend going to Kanazawa to see Kenrokuen, Nagamachi, Higashi Chaya, Myoryuji (aka Ninjadera) and visit Omicho Market, than go into Japanese Alps to Takayama (historical town that specialized in caprentry and woodworking) and Kamikochi (hikes, nature).

   Note that capsule hotels are based on gender-segregated floors, so that make some shine of the idea.

5. Tokyo can be as cheap or as expensive as you want, coming from a US perspective. Once lodging is covered, most things for my style of travel aren’t any more expensive than they are in my neighborhood in New Orleans. There is a wide range of pricing for lodging, depending on the experience you want.

   You can also fairly easily lookup the prices of things online, and let your browser translate.

   Skip the capsule unless you just want to take one for a few hours to check it out. Stay somewhere else.

6. I think 4,000 I presume USD is plenty for spending money m? There’s so many japans you can do, expensive, moderate or cheap. It’s such a lie that Japan is expensive, not the case at all.

   There are plenty of affordable nice small hotels for no more than 80USD per night, food at a local izakaya including drinks for two can often be done for 30-40USD, it’s insanely crazy how affordable food and drink is in Japan for “normal” stuff. Yes there’s luxury sushi and meat places around, but it’s that’s not necessary an authentic experience.

   My only question is that if you add lots of experiences like tea ceremonies or classes you might eat into your budget. Plenty of things to do like gardens or temples which are mostly free or a small entry charge. Your most expense items will be the train to Tokyo and a ryokan with an onsen.

   Feel for me, my flights to Japan over NY are 3,000 USD for two people; and that’s just economy.

7. If $4000 is going to have to pay for airfare x2 as well, then it’s not going to be enough. Who knows in 2026 but things don’t usually get cheaper, but hopefully airfare will compared to the insanity of now.

   Osaka castle is nothing compared to Himeiji, but if you do go to Himeiji which I highly recommend, note that you will have to climb stairs that are quite steep at times (all in barefeet, since shoes are not allowed). I remember thinking that many larger or older type tourists wouldn’t be able to handle it.

8. One thing I would recommend is to start buying your yen now. Its at a 10 year low against the usd so your money currently goes pretty far. You can use services like wise so you don’t have to physically hold all that yen

9. In Tokyo there isn’t a single “Downtown” you’d be looking at several major commercial/business districts like Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza. There are the Shitamachi areas in Tokyo which encompass the wards along the Sumida River but within those would also be several commercial/business districts like Ginza, Nihonbashi, Akihabara, etc.

   There isn’t as much of a concentration of Edo period Japan in modern day Tokyo compared to Kyoto. If you’re still looking for more of that traditional architecture you best bet is to go to ~~Narita~~ Sawara, there is also the Edo Museum in Ryogoku (sumotown). The folk house museum in Kawasaki is also a good place to see some historic buildings.

   For Whisky you’d probably want to checkout the Yamazaki distillery between Kyoto and Osaka there is a nice tour and tasting room. If you’re just looking at drinking whisky in Tokyo there are lots of bars to choose from. You might want to go into liquor stores as well, some offer the ability to pay for small pours of a bunch of different liquors they have available. I enjoy going to Liquor Mountain in Ginza and Liquors Hasegawa to do this.

   For the crafts stuff check out the neighborhoods around Asakusa, Skytree, and Nakai good number of traditional craft workshops in these neighborhoods.

10. In Asakusa there’s a really cool wood block print store. It’s worth checking out if you’re in the area, it’s right near the big shrine in Asakusa.

    https://youtu.be/bPt8ADPnV_w