Planning a holiday to Japan, advice please.

techno12

Went for the first time last year, and heading over again at Easter.

Despite the huge price hike, a JR Pass is still worth it and cheaper than buying return tickets (I've just ordered mine again from Klook, who were the cheapest last year and are this year too for me - the price varies daily due to exchange rate).

I used Hotels.com last time (4 hotels). Got 6 booked this time as I'm Tokyo-Fukuoka and back via Hiroshima and other places. APA Hotels are all over and I think of them as "The Japanese Premier Inn" - the one I stayed at in Tokyo had amazing high rise city views for less than £50 a night.

Exchange rate improved further, which is nice, so it's already quite cheap over there (despite what you may have heard/read) but even cheaper now. Hotels are ridiculously cheap, and all come with fridges - an essential for me!

I bought a 10GB data sim from ebay for £20 (Travelcardspecialist I think - it's the main seller, Oz based) - worked a treat last time, and better than Vodafone's £6.85 daily roaming charge.

Agree re: Suica card. I did most of my spending on it as it's accepted in a lot of places. Oddly you have to top it up by feeding cash into machines. You will need cash too as that's often the preferred way to pay in local places or some bars/eateries..

There's an amazing value Tokyo metro pass (foreign visitors only) that's something like £8 for 72hrs unlimited travel on all lines - worth it as there's no Oyster-style daily cap so Suica charges can add up if you're flitting about the network like me...

Your Japanese will come in handy. I've been learning via apps for 4 years (Duolingo etc daily) and know a little. A lot of Japanese (servers in shops etc) know next to no English, but I got by so you will have no trouble if you're more fluent.

TheShape

I went to Japan in 2019.

Rather than fly to Tokyo and then have to return to Tokyo for the flight home we flew into Tokyo and out of Osaka (an open-jaw return flight I believe it's called).  We flew with Cathay via Hong Kong.

We stayed 7 nights in Tokyo, 4 in Kyoto, 2 in Hiroshima and 2 in Osaka.

We booked the hotel in Tokyo with our flights through Cathay and all the others through Booking.com I believe.

We used the JR pass and bought a sim card.

eDicky

It won't affect many visitors, but 2G cellular was phased out in Japan long ago, so older 2G-only handsets are useless there.

Doshwaster

I've never been to Japan (on the bucket list but never got around to it yet) but for elsewhere in Asia I have found that Agoda is better than Booking.com or Expedia for hotels which is odd as Agoda is owned by Booking.com but is more geared towards the Asian market.

amysquie

When booking hotels online, if you use a VPN set it to Japan.  I've heard prices are often cheaper if the website "thinks" you're local.  Cakes with faces on youtube provides lots of practical videos on how to plan/book a trip to Japan - check out her Japlanning playlist.

mvk0016

Make a draft itinerary, e.g. where you're flying from/to (guessing Tokyo), how many days you want to stay in each place, what you're interested in (architecture, museums, food, temples, any special interests etc.) and post it in the Tripadvisor Forum for Japan, most people are really helpful there and can help you pin down the details of the itinerary. I also am a bit traditional and use Lonely Planet guides for trip planning (always from my local library!).

Once you've got the dates down and have booked flights, you can start searching for hotels in the sites people gave above (I use Google Hotels and zoom in on the map to the area I want to stay in, as I always want to be walking distances from things, then check the price comparisons it gives and book through the cheapest option).

I work in Travel and I'm a keen traveller (47 countries and counting!) and that's what I do, hope this is helpful!

PS. Been to Japan twice, and to all the places you're planning to visit (apart from Hiroshima), you will love it. A suggestion is to add Nara when you're in Kyoto, it's pretty magical and a quick train ride away.

Ballard

As others have already said, the JR pass was terrific value when I went, although from reading this thread it’s got pricier. I put a lot of work into the planning (quite unlike me!) and visited cities around Tokyo, including the alps. I stupidly didn’t spot that to get back from the alps meant retracing our steps on three Shinkansen but they’re very comfortable. This does show that the hard work I put in wasn’t foolproof. 

My JR Pass expired whilst I was in Nikko (well worth a visit) so I got the cheap slow train back to the capital.

Very few people outside of the hotel staff spoke any English but we had little trouble making ourselves understood.