Advice: Trip in one year

19 comments

1. If you love animals, you might want to avoid the fox village as people say that animal welfare is not their strong point.

   There is also several cat island, if it’s Tashirojima in Miyagi, that is a good 9.5 hours of train from ther to Ōkunoshima (bunny island) and you need to use a ferry to get to each of the island, so that does not look like a realistic plan. Going to Japan only for a week is already so short (considering how long it takes to reach), so I would not waste a full day in the train.

   The islands are not the most visited place by tourist, so I am not sure about how much English there will be around there, like in hotels and restaurant, so it can be harder than if you go to area that are used to foreign tourist.

2. Considering how far these locations are from each other your plan isn’t very realistic. As someone who’s been to fox village (and regretted it) as well as bunny island, I recommend avoiding the fox village for starters.

   For bunny island, the one I went to was Okunoshima which is an easy day trip from Hiroshima but not possible from Tokyo. Now if you’re in Japan for a couple weeks and planning on staying a few days in Hiroshima its more possible, maybe with 1 day to sightsee in Hiroshima, 1 day trip to Miyajima to see the deer and 1 day trip for Okunoshima for the bunnies. There isn’t much for facilities on the island so bring water and snacks and don’t plan on overnighting.

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4. Japan has like 5 million cat islands but if you’re only going for a week you might be better off just going to a cat café in Tokyo or something. I know it’s not the same but it’s cheap and accessible. They have bunny cafes too. And hedgehogs, and capyabaras, and pigs… some are sketchier than others so do your research beforehand. I definitely recommend just picking one place and day tripping from there rather than spending most of your trip on trains, buses and ferries.

   The fox village is pretty rad though, if you’ve ever been to a zoo you’ve probably seen animals kept in shittier conditions. No great reason to stay up there unless you want to explore Miyagi Prefecture a little more, which is totally worthwhile btw but not so easy to do in a hurry unless you have wheels. You could head up from Tokyo and see the foxes then spend the night in Sendai and head out to Matsushima Bay the next day before you head back to Tokyo or wherever – although you could conceivably day trip to Tashirojima cat island from there too. If you decide to shell out for a rail pass for the week you’re there, get your money’s worth and take a day trip to Osaka and see Super Mario World if those are the kinds of games your brother likes. And in terms of gaming stuff Tokyo has all manner of rad arcades, virtual experiences and super niche gaming & merch stores, more than enough to keep you busy.

   Wherever you decide to stay, you’re going in summer so there’s likely to be a cool fireworks display or festival not too far from where you’re staying. Whatever it is don’t miss it, it’s probably gonna the most fun thing you’ll do (unless it’s the setagaya firefly festival which sorta sucks). Have fun y’all

   EDIT: I assume the downvotes are coming from folks who read the article on the fox village that folks have posted since I posted this. It was written about a year after I visited and could not be further from my experience at the park – no cubs in cages, no “morbidly obese Arctic fox”, no fly-blown plates of food lying out, very little competition for snacks and certainly no smell other than a faint whiff of fox piss, because foxes. A few foxes and a badger in very small cages, the foxes because they were injured and needed to be kept still and one that was overly aggressive and being relocated. The person who wrote the article talks about “at least 6 rare breeds of fox” but what I think they actually saw based on at my visit there was regular foxes in colours they didn’t know existed. Again, I guess they went about a year after me, so things may have gone to shit in the intervening period but you could also just not believe everything you read on the internet.

5. I spent about 3k in three weeks, though my situation was a little unique in that I didn’t pay for room and board apart from 1 week. Very doable for the budget, but I would recommend doing Tokyo for longer than 1 day. There is so much to see (and eat) there. I’m guessing a private onsen? You don’t stay at the public ones of course so if you just wanted to do that then it would only take an hour or two of your time. Would recommend staying longer if possible, depending on your ages I think hostels and AirBnB are fine choices for lodging and relatively inexpensive, thus extending your money a bit.

6. If he’s an animal lover I’d check out the link someone posted about Fox Village below, as well as [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Rabbits/comments/8k1l1g/hey_guys_thought_you_might_want_to_know_that/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) thread on Bunny Island with some informative articles about it. I’m wary of animal cafes as well, if you go to one I’d really do your research. [This](https://matcha-jp.com/en/7333) cat cafe has rescues that are up for adoption and seems to treat their animals well.

   I went to Nagano in the winter months and we were able to observe Japanese snow monkeys bathing in hot springs. We weren’t allowed to interact with them at all or feed them and they can roam freely (there are no fences) so it was just like watching them in their environment which I think is better for everyone. They were careful to explain the rules to us before we went. I believe they’re around in the summer too. I went on a day trip from Tokyo and also spent some times in the onsens there.

   I also like Nara, which is famous for its sacred bowing deer, who come up to you willingly. I have seem some issues with tourism (being overfed and swallowing plastic waste) but you can also just go observe them without feeding them. Nara also has some cool temples and shrines and is close to Kyoto, which is amazing but I don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for. There’s a monkey park in Kyoto but I don’t know anything about it but I think they roam free there too.

   A week is a bit short on time to be traveling around a lot.

   What kinds of games does he like? Some games have cafes or pop-up cafes in Japan, which could be fun. Super Mario World opens this year too at Universal Studios. There’s Pokemon Centers, a Square Enix Cafe, and more too. And there’s tons of Japanese arcades. He might enjoy checking out Akihabara. All of these (except Universal Studios which is in Osaka) are in Tokyo.

7. I’d say stay at hostiles or capsule hotels and stay longer. Tokyo is amazing and you will both like it. Eat at 7/11 to save money. Do anything possible to stay and see more and eat less.

8. This sounds like a wonderful idea! And a really sweet graduation celebration for your brother. I’ve spent a lot of time in Japan but I haven’t been to any of the animal-centric locations so I’ll talk more about the general travel questions. I think 3k per person is a pretty reasonable goal. Know that one of the biggest costs is the airfare (could you say where you are coming from?). I highly recommend sort of picking your time frame well in advance, then just check flight prices every day on Google Flights as prices can fluctuate severely. For example, I picked my dates from Portland, OR to Tokyo, and for 3 months the price jumped between $770-900, then all of a sudden ~5 months out there was a flash sale and I ended up scoring a round-trip nonstop flight for $500, so getting good tickets can make a huge difference. Once you’re *in* Japan, know that one of the biggest costs will be transportation within the country, trains being the big one. So if you can spare more *time* while seeing a similar number of cities, you can add a good number of days (say from 7 to 14) without adding too much in terms of cost per person, and you end up dropping your cost-per-person *per day* quite a bit. Services such as Airbnb and lower-cost hostels can get accommodations for two down as low as $40-60 per night (pro tip, make sure when you’re looking for lodging to remember to select “two people” in the options as a *lot* of places in Japan charge per person, unlike in the US where generally hotel rooms will have the same cost for 1 versus 2 people). Food is actually surprisingly cheap in Japan as long as you are not going to higher-end restaurants or posh bars, you can get very filling meals of ramen/okonomiyaki/meat+rice bowls in the $6-10 range, and doing breakfast every day at convenience stores (“conbinis” are a huge staple of day-to-day Japanese life and are nothing like US convenience stores) can help keep costs down as you can get a good filling breakfast of onigiri, sandwiches, chicken skewers etc. for $2-5, with tons of great drinks for just about $1-1.50. For a decent rule of thumb on my personal fairly low-budget (but not super low-budget trips) I’ve budgeted ~$100 per day for one person for everything *except* airfare and travel from city to city; with things like a night in a ryokan/onsen or a fancy splurge meal on top of that. That budget includes trinkets but excludes larger-ticket-item shopping. Obviously everyone’s budget will be different based on your person needs, but I do think that Japan can be much cheaper than people think going into the process. This is also to say that I think that ~14 days will be *much* more rewarding that 7. Doing a 7-day trip with a number of different stops will be *exhausting*, keep in mind that you will likely be very jet-lagged for your first 48 hours, and then each time you change locations you are spending a lot of time packing up, checking out, hauling your stuff to a bus-train station, then travelling, checking in to your next place, etc.

   Other general advice

   -Regarding not knowing Japanese, this is not a problem! Japan has a huge tourism industry and no one will except you to know any Japanese. THAT SAID, most people speak little to no English. People are extremely helpful, but it’s good to also plan ahead (use Google maps for directions, get a Mobile data SIM card so you can have access to the internet on your phone) to minimize problems. Also, I always recommend to folks that it’s great to learn a little bit of Japanese before you go, really just little phrases. Before I went I made flash cards out of a sort of cobbled together “top 50 phrases” (good morning, where’s the bathroom, delicious, excuse me) and it has been invaluable.

   -Be prepared for LOTS of walking. All travel involves plenty of walking, travel in Japan takes this to the next level. Be ready to walk 6-8 miles per day, if you’re not in great shape (and hey, I’m not in great shape personally) prepare for the trip by doing good-length daily walks in the months leading up. Have a number of *good* footware options, do NOT buy hiking shoes 2 weeks before your trip. Also, it’s a good idea (but not necessary) to get shoes that you can get in/out of quick as there are *lots* of places in Japan where removing shoes is required.

   I hope you two have an incredible trip. Planning is half the fun!

9. >He wants to go see Fox Village, Bunny island, and Cat island

   I strongly recommend against going to Zao Fox Village for reasons already stated elsewhere in this thread, and actually I’d very much recommend against the other two ideas as well. These things are kind of all over the place (though there are multiple cat islands) within a country that isn’t exactly small and has so much more to offer. Don’t waste your very limited time running all over the country to see what essentially amounts either sad petting zoos or packs of stray animals.

   >The trip will probably be in June or July.

   For much of the country (including Tokyo) mid-June to mid-July is rainy season. This is arguably the most miserable time of year to visit. On top of the very real possibility that it might rain the majority of days that you’re in the country, the heat and humidity can be absolutely unbearable. The only reason I would ever recommend going in July if you have a choice the matter is for the festivals, which are particularly numerous at that time of year, especially in Kansai.

   >He hasn’t given me anything else he’d like to do and I was planning to go for a week and spend about 3k per person going, is this realistic?

   In USD? Including airfare, accommodations, and domestic travel expenses? Depending on where you’re coming from, what standard of accommodation and food you’re expecting, and how much shopping you’re planning to do, it could end up being quite tight or it could be fine. Note that things like traveling all over the country and the onsen stay (especially if you’re talking about staying at a ryokan) will eat into that quite a bit though.

   >Could anybody recommend me any activities or places to stay? I’ve been trying to come up with idsas and I’ve been looking at quite a few things.

   See the [general advice page](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/advice). For such a short trip I would generally recommend picking either Kanto (Tokyo area) or Kansai (Osaka/Kyoto area) and sticking to that area. It is extremely easy to waste a lot of time and money running around the country trying to do too much, so limiting yourself to one region will ultimately mean you’ll spend less and see more.

   That said, if putting the trip off for a while would allow you to stay longer when you do go, I definitely would. If you’re spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on plane tickets and a day in transit each way (to Japan and back), it really pays to stay for 2+ weeks. Depending on how you handle jet lag and long flights you might even end up losing much of your first couple days, and when your trip is only maybe 7 full days to bein with, that’s a huge proportion of your time.

   I’d also recommend hitting up your local library for some travel guides. Since you’re just in the “idea getting” stage, I especially recommend looking for picture-heavy city/region-specific books about Kanto (Tokyo, Yokohama, Kamakura, Hakone etc.) and Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, etc.). If your public library doesn’t have much selection, a university library or bookstore might. Use this information to decide which region you’d prefer to visit, make a list of some specific things or areas you want to check out (though note that many Tokyo guides will feature Tsukiji Market, which is now mostly closed), and then mark them on a map so you can group them together in ways that make sense.

   >Neither of us speak Japanese either. Are there things I should look out for?

   You will have a much easier time if you don’t stray too far off the beaten path (yet another reason to avoid the above mentioned animal attractions). That’s not to say that you absolutely cannot do things off the beaten path without Japanese, but even in major cities and tourist areas your average Japanese person isn’t going to speak much English, and off the beaten track you’re more likely to run into situations where there is much less English signage and guidance available.

10. He’s lucky to have a sibling like you

11. Also consider looking up well rated cat, owl and hedgehog cafes! I visited Toms mr Hedgy in Kyoto a few times while I was there and loved it!

12. I did this for my little brother’s high school graduation trip as well, we did a big trip with our other siblings. (We did an 8 day trip Tokyo -> Hakone -> Kyoto -> Sapporo, I studied in Sapporo and wanted to visit there). We went to Hakone for one night at a Ryokan (Japanese Inn with Onsen), the whole experience was amazing, food was delicious, you guys will enjoy it.

    I recommend getting the **JR Pass** if you’re going between cities. The Shinkansen is a fun experience. I recommend renting a **Pocket Wifi Router** for your trip and bring charger packs. They’re available for pick up and drop offs at airports.

    **Airbnb** is a great option for accomodations. We had no problems with this.

    Good luck and enjoy your trip!

13. Skip the cat, bunny, fox stops. They’ll make you sad. The animals are in bad shape.

    The deer in Nara and on Miyajima, and the snow monkeys in Northern Japan are way better.

14. Bunny Island and Cat Island are really far from each other. The majority of your trip will be traveling. My thoughts – give up on cat island and go to a cat cafe instead. Munchkin cats are very common in Japan and I don’t see them much in the US.

    What I would suggest… skip Tokyo unless there is something he NEEDs to see there. Fly into the Kansai area and stay in Osaka, Nara or Kyoto. Nara is full of deer you can feed and they are beautiful and fluffy. The town is basically a giant park surruonded by a huge hill and ancient forest. Kyoto is famous for onsen and temples where you can spend some serious money if you want to on the full onsen experience. Osaka will have cat cafes, hedgehog cafes and shiba inu cafes he can visit. All three cities are in a triangle and about an hour from each other so it is easy to take trains. From there you can take a day trip to Hiroshima where you go on a ferry to Miyajima which has great shops, food and miniature deer. Hiroshima is also where bunny island is near altough getting there is a little tougher. It is also poisonous gas island so spending a day walking around it would be fun. Osaka has many of the general things Tokyo has – big shops, an AMAZING aquarium (see a whale shark!), a castle etc. If he likes anime there are still plenty of shops to find anime stuff, themed cafes, the KyoAni shop is there and the manga museum is in Kyoto. Also in Kyoto is a huge hill full of monkeys you can hike up and around!

15. As for Onsen, you may want to consider Hakone, which is a village neighboor to Tokyo and close to Mt. Fuji. They have great and immersive onsen. You can also find them pretty much anywhere. Make sure to have a go at night at least once, since it will be hot weather and I consider it to be a relaxing night-experience.

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17. As most others are saying, I’d probably avoid the fox/cat/rabbit islands. Do some research on cat cafes that are rescues and give the cats plenty of their own free time.

    Does cute fluffy animals extend to cartoon ones? There’s the Hello Kitty theme park Puroland, and of course either Disney park. There’s tons of cafes themed around a specific cute character or franchise. If the appreciation for animals extends to their spiritual appearances, you can try a trip to Gotokuji cat shrine or any of the various small Inari (fox) shrines in Tokyo, or if you’re brave the very large Fushimi Inari in Kyoto.

    With just a week, I would either stay in Tokyo the entire time or you might be able to swing both Tokyo/Kyoto if you don’t mind the train ride in between. Hakone is day trip from Tokyo with plenty of onsen.

18. We did 22 days across Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Takayama, Kawaguchiko with a bunch of day trips for around 3k. Lodging with airbnb was around $30 per night on average. For context, we stayed in Shinjuku during our 10 days in Tokyo. We also scored a JAL flight from scotts for <600. JR 2 week was around $500.

    What I did when making my itinerary was looking at other itinerary’s on the sub/youtube and googling each place to see if it was cool, then plotting it on google maps to form a route.

    The average restaurant meal was around $10-15 and I also had 7/11 food in between (onigiri, fried chicken, ramen, menchikatsu) because they had a lot of stuff that is sold at a premium in the states such as the michelin soba ramen. We even had kobe and hida beef that was our biggest splurge at around $140 and $60 respectively.

    If you can find deals on lodging and flights, you should be able to splurge and still be under 3k.

19. Mate. Get a lot of pocari sweat. Literally you drink one bottle, and you can punch the sun in the face