Japan - any tips?

[Igzilla]

Hi All,

We've booked our flights to Tokyo for next Easter, initial plan is to spend a few days there, then Osaka or Kyoto, maybe Hiroshima. Has anyone got any good tips or experience of places to visit, things to do, please. We plan to hire a car so we can be quite flexible.

TIA!

[Hamilton]

Hang around until September?

https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/fixtures

[Psychobilly freakout]

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Hi All,

We've booked our flights to Tokyo for next Easter, initial plan is to spend a few days there, then Osaka or Kyoto, maybe Hiroshima. Has anyone got any good tips or experience of places to visit, things to do, please. We plan to hire a car so we can be quite flexible.

TIA!

Tokyo is amazing and we filled nearly two weeks in Tokyo alone, we took the bullet train to Kyoto and spent a day, to be honest we could / should have stayed over maybe one night to see more.
The trains are amazing and no need to hire a car

http://www.northstandchat.com/showth...ighlight=japan

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3029.html

We got a JR Pass amazing and great value for money, no worrying about parking etc and it is good to see the locals on the trains and tubes.

https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/tokyo-to-kyoto-and-osaka

[Brian Parsons]

It has been a long time since I was there. '89 in fact. The roads are amazing mostly but the big drawback then was the quantity of cars on the roads. I was there for a motor race and from our hotel to the circuit at Suzuka took for ever. I think the fastest we went was 42mph. On the downside I've only had food poisoning twice in my 72 yrs, once in the RAF and at a MacDonalds in Tokyo!!!!

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[Wilko]

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Hi All,

We've booked our flights to Tokyo for next Easter, initial plan is to spend a few days there, then Osaka or Kyoto, maybe Hiroshima. Has anyone got any good tips or experience of places to visit, things to do, please. We plan to hire a car so we can be quite flexible.

TIA!

Interested in this as I too am planning two weeks at the same time of year as your good self. Have you booked flights yet? If so can I ask who you booked with? Thanks.

[Igzilla]

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Tokyo is amazing and we filled nearly two weeks in Tokyo alone, we took the bullet train to Kyoto and spent a day, to be honest we could / should have stayed over maybe one night to see more.
The trains are amazing and no need to hire a car

http://www.northstandchat.com/showth...ighlight=japan

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3029.html

We got a JR Pass amazing and great value for money, no worrying about parking etc and it is good to see the locals on the trains and tubes.

https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/tokyo-to-kyoto-and-osaka

Thanks, useful links and food for thought re trains. We're taking our (will be) 11 year old and the missus always hates lugging suitcases around on public transport, thus the car hire idea. She also wants to see more than just Tokyo, hence the idea of having a 2 or 3 base holiday as we want to sample history/culture/landscape etc etc.

[Igzilla]

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Interested in this as I too am planning two weeks at the same time of year as your good self. Have you booked flights yet? If so can I ask who you booked with? Thanks.

We booked Aeroflot, cheapest we could find!

[Trufflehound]

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Hi All,

We've booked our flights to Tokyo for next Easter, initial plan is to spend a few days there, then Osaka or Kyoto, maybe Hiroshima. Has anyone got any good tips or experience of places to visit, things to do, please. We plan to hire a car so we can be quite flexible.

TIA!

Given the choice between Osaka and Kyoto, I'd say go for Kyoto 100 times out of 100. Kyoto is more manageable and prettier, and packed full of amazing temples. A side trip (from Kyoto) to Nara is also worthwhile.

And definitely go to Hiroshima. The Peace Memorial Park and Museum are among those places (like the Killing Fields in Cambodia) that you can't fully appreciate just how emotional it will make you feel until you go there and experience it first-hand.

Miyajima Island near Hiroshima is lovely too. And if you're traveling between Hiroshima and Kyoto it's worth stopping off to check out Himeji Castle.

PS Spent a week in Kyoto and easily could have stayed longer without running out of things to do.

[daveinprague]

Bearing in mind this was the 70s. We got a train from Sasebo to Nagasaki, ended up on wrong train that seemed to go everywhere but Nagasaki, so we all got off at some village. People there were so suprised to see westerners, never mind westerners in navy uniforms in their bar, they wouldnt let us buy a drink, so we stayed there all night. Brilliant night really. Find a village is my tip

[Mr deez]

Yeah get the Jr pass. Check out the izakaya 'piss alleys' for some old school Tokyo bars and food. Wouldn't bother staying in a ryokan if I went again, expensive and the food is very much an acquired taste - lots of pickled stuff.
Go to a nice place for a steak.
We found an amazing skyscraper bar and watched the sunset over Tokyo.
We enjoyed Kanazawa - now on the bullet train and has a cool old town area. We went there en route to Kyoto.