Booked Japan for Easter 2023!

[Geordieprincess]

So I took the plunge and booked Japan for Easter 2023.

The flights were more than I wanted to spend really but my other holiday ideas weren’t looking viable and I’m limited to peak school holiday time, so I’ve minimised risk and booked a BA holiday (adding one night in Heathrow hotel) so only £200 deposit for 4 of us with balance 4 weeks before, and all Japan hotels fully refundable on booking.com.

Plan is
Fri 31 March NCL to LHR
Sat 1 Apr LHR to Tokyo arriving Sunday am
4 nights Tokyo
Day trip to see Mount Fuji

3 nights Osaka
Universal studios
Day trip to Hiroshima

3 nights Kyoto
Day trip to Nara

3 nights Tokyo Disney (leaving for airport very late sat night)

Sun 16 April Tokyo to LHR to NCL

Let the proper planning begin…
Please hit me with your must see sights / advice on day trips and bullet train etc. Would like to do some traditional touristy things for the kids like geisha/tea ceremony, sumo wrestling etc if anyone has any ideas.
What I’m not sure about is whether I’m better off with 7 day rail pass for the middle section only or whether a 14 day ticket gets me on many of the trains around Tokyo? Quite a big difference in price when buying for 4.
Interested in knowing more about luggage transfers too to save lugging our cases to Osaka and Kyoto.

Trying not to get too excited after the last few easters of disappointment!

[ScoopsAhoy]

Sounds fab!
We are hoping to go Easter 24 as already have holidays planned for next year.
Will be interested to see how you get on .
Happy planning!

[Geordieprincess]

Originally Posted by ScoopsAhoy

Sounds fab!
We are hoping to go Easter 24 as already have holidays planned for next year.
Will be interested to see how you get on .
Happy planning!

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I already had disney cruise from Miami booked for next Easter (cancelled from 2019 when my dad died then 20,21 with covid and couldn’t do this year due to son’s GCSEs) but Miami flydrive was looking really expensive and feel like we’ve lost the love for that holiday now. Hong Kong was my other option but more hopeful of Japan being open so took the plunge.

[ScoopsAhoy]

We lost a west coast / hawaii holiday to covid so planning to do that next year but was originally going to be Japan .. could possibly still do Japan instead but in October as just found out DD’s new high school has 2 weeks off in October now which is very interesting!

[jampxx]

We will be there too with a fair wind. We are aiming for Tokyo, Disneyland, Kyoto and the new Ghibli Park rather than universal. There are some really good deals on hotels and airbnbs (refundable) about if you are prepared to put deposits down. We got an amazing apartment in Kyoto!

[Geordieprincess]

Originally Posted by jampxx

We will be there too with a fair wind. We are aiming for Tokyo, Disneyland, Kyoto and the new Ghibli Park rather than universal. There are some really good deals on hotels and airbnbs (refundable) about if you are prepared to put deposits down. We got an amazing apartment in Kyoto!

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I was surprised that hotels were so reasonable to be honest (especially since the only hotel BA offered for 2 weeks in Tokyo took the holiday to over £18,000 🤣&#129315

Not heard of Ghibli Park, off to google that now.

[jampxx]

It isn’t opened yet so we will be watching for reviews! I am sure TDR explorer will be there sometime. I think it will be saving for food from now one - having seen the prices at the Pokemon Cafe!

[AntonyJ]

Congratulations on biting the bullet!

I think our October trip is still iffy so think we too will plan for early May next year.

Ironically Facebook decided to remind me that 3 years ago we were at Tokyo Skytree today buying Pokémon and Ghibli merch - thanks for that memory! Lol

So four of you going - is it 2 kids? If so what are their ages and they have any interests etc that might be furthered in Japan?

I would recommend the TDR Explorer web site and YT channels for the parks.

For greater Japan the colourful Cakes With Faces YT covers other areas of Japan , as well as thisNatasha on YT - she was my personal bible for my trip as while she loves her Disney parks she goes all over Tokyo and Japan - just do not play a drinking game on how often she says “amazing” :-)

Will do a longer reply later - we are in Copenhagen this week instead of Tokyo, so just firing off quick reply in a coffee shoop!

[Geordieprincess]

Originally Posted by AntonyJ

So four of you going - is it 2 kids? If so what are their ages and they have any interests etc that might be furthered in Japan?

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Yes me, hubby and 2 kids - boy age 16 and girl 13. He loves sightseeing, trains, planes etc and she loves disney, theme parks (and pool holidays) so thought it gave a good mix, although I’m guessing lacking any pool/downtime at that time of year. Daughter should have her karate black belt by then too, not sure if that is something she could see out there too?

Enjoy Copenhagen. Will check out your links, thanks.

[sky13]

I've only been to Tokyo and any trip to Japan in my near future is likely going to be a quick short trip (few days) to Tokyo - this is my current incomplete list of things to visit and eat in Tokyo (being added to) and places I've been to before in Tokyo.

To be honest, my last trip to Tokyo a few years back is a bit hazy now and I didn't really plan most of it (was too busy at work) so I'm probably missing a lot from my list.

Places to visit
- Askusa, Sensoji shrine and the Nakamise market. Love the market, it has so much food and it's really fun to browse through everything there
- Tsukiji market - apparently the actual market has moved? But there were all these random food stalls outside of the market that we really liked
- Meiji shrine - also liked the park we walked through to get to it
- Shinjuku
- Tokyo Tower
- Tokyo Skytree - honestly I want to go shopping there but also want to go up the tower!
- I think the Tokyo Municipal building or something - this was a tall building that had free entry and you could take a lift up to quite high to get a good view over Tokyo
- Jiyugaoka - not been, looks like an interesting area
- Kichijoji - another place that I've not been but looks interesting
- Ginza for shopping

Shops I want to visit
- Disney flagship store at Shinjuku!
- A Pokemon centre

(Also Don Quixote, Tokyu Hands, Daiso...)

Food items or shops that might be interesting to check out (I have a mild obsession with Japanese food and have tried a lot on this list) in addition to the usual suspects like ramen, sushi, sashimi...
- Tokyo Banana
- Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory
- Gaufrettes (really thin wafers) - Ueno Fugetsudo and Tokyo Fugetsudo seem to be some places that do these
- Wagashi (traditional Japanese snacks)
- All the random Japanese Kit Kat flavours
- Taiyaki
- Takoyaki
- Okonomiyaki
- Manju
- Dorayaki
- Parfait ice cream (especially the green tea/mochi ones!)
- Royce chocolate
- Langue du chat cookies - Shiroi Koibito
- All the different types of mochi - daifuku, warabi, kuzu
- Japanese jelly, there are many types!
- Shiseido - apparently there's a whole building with food items?
- Lupicia tea - I like tea and this is one of the tea brands I like that is hard to get hold of where I am
- Karel Capek tea - ditto, even harder to get hold of than Lupicia tea - packaging is the cutest packaging I've ever seen and makes fantastic gifts, and the tea is pretty good.
- Ippodo tea

I'm sure there is more that I just haven't explored or thought of yet...

Oh and also apparently you can day trip out of Kyoto to go to Uji which is a major tea producing area and grows what is supposed to be some of the best green tea in Japan - not sure of specifics of how to do this though!

Sorry this is so long, got a bit carried away!