Booked Japan for Easter 2023!

[Geordieprincess]

Originally Posted by 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!

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Wow, thanks, lots to research there!

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by 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!

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Have you got as far as hotels for Disney, or Tokyo itself, or just stay in one all the time and commute?

Which airport your arriving to? We used the limo bus to get from Haneda to Hilton Tokyo Bay forDisney stay.

We are planning on Osaka couple of days on the next trip , last time we did Kyoto for day trip via bullet train. Make a point of looking round Kyoto station, it is one of the wonders of modern world, vast “cathedral” feel to one side of it.

One trip on bullet train generally pays for the JR pass, we also used it on trains around Tokyo. After ours ran out we used Suica card to pay, so convenient!

[Geordieprincess]

Originally Posted by AntonyJ

Have you got as far as hotels for Disney, or Tokyo itself, or just stay in one all the time and commute?

Which airport your arriving to? We used the limo bus to get from Haneda to Hilton Tokyo Bay forDisney stay.

We are planning on Osaka couple of days on the next trip , last time we did Kyoto for day trip via bullet train. Make a point of looking round Kyoto station, it is one of the wonders of modern world, vast “cathedral” feel to one side of it.

One trip on bullet train generally pays for the JR pass, we also used it on trains around Tokyo. After ours ran out we used Suica card to pay, so convenient!

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Flying into Haneda on Japan airlines.
Plan to stay Shinjuku area for first 4 days, then Osaka/Kyoto in middle then back to Tokyo Bay Area for Disney at end.
I’ve grabbed some fully refundable hotels for now just to lock in a price incase they start increasing but still open to change as I have more time to research and when disney release their rooms but I’ll probably not pay the price.

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by Geordieprincess

Flying into Haneda on Japan airlines.
Plan to stay Shinjuku area for first 4 days, then Osaka/Kyoto in middle then back to Tokyo Bay Area for Disney at end.
I’ve grabbed some fully refundable hotels for now just to lock in a price incase they start increasing but still open to change as I have more time to research and when disney release their rooms but I’ll probably not pay the price.

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The limo buss from airport (sorry, it is just a coach!) was very good and easy to use for us, their timetable says they go to Shinjuku too:

airport-bus-alliance...lang=en&frto=1

Am not sure the terminals you fly into but when we flew in with ANA we bought the tickets from Orange machines in arrivals hall, walked 100 yards and then down escalator to coach area.

I would love love love to stay at Miracosta at Disney but my non-Disney partner balks at cost and the faux Italian theming ! We stayed at Hilton Tokyo Bay and loved it, treated us so well and my Hilton Gold status really felt like it got us something.

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by sky13

Places to visit
- Shinjuku
- 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
- Ginza for shopping

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

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

- Shiseido - apparently there's a whole building with food items?

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

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I badly edited your post to quote but hear goes ….l

Shinjuku - we made Shibuya our base and will do again, as we “know” our way around it now (only made 1 trip! ) but Shinjuku is top of list of places to go to as never made it there last time. The new Disney flag ship store and the 3D billboard I want to see outside the station, is it sad to be excited by an ad?

Skytree - we went for the shopping at the Pokémon and Ghibli stores but it was a great place.

GINZA - very un-Japanese area with all the luxury brands there but loved looking. GINZA Six “mall” was fascinating, Uniqlo flagship store a let down as promised western sizes but found it only on random things like plain white t-shirts and undies! Spent out final night in Muji hotel as love the brand and room we sooo nice. The Kitkat choclatory there was fascinating but the cafe part upstairs sooooooo pricey - the new one at Miya≈≈≈≈a Park looks interesting.

Don Qui etc are stores I can wander round for hours!

The Parco building in Shibuya has a flagship Nintendo and Pokémon store too.

Shishedo store with food, the cosmetic brand, tell all!?

[AntonyJ]

Google maps tells me the GINZA kitkat place is now permanently closed :-(

[AntonyJ]

Found the Shishedo food places - in GINZA!


parlour.shiseido.co.jp/en/index.html

[CosmicGirl]

Love all the tips in this thread! Compared to all the planners on here I should be ashamed of myself, but our trip has been in the making for 4 years now and I still haven't really planned much because we never got close enough to actually going to put in all the effort. I'm trying to keep TDR a surprise as much as possible and I've put off looking up everything else because I would be even more disappointed every time it got postponed again.
Roughly speaking we want someting along the lines of:
TDR: 4 days in the parks
Tokyo: 3-4 days?
Kyoto
Mt Fuji
possibly Universal but not set in stone
and I'd like to go to Fuji-Q Highand for the rollercoasters but I don't know if there will be enough time to do that.

I love to bake and French patisserie is my fave so I definitely want to visit Philippe Conticini's boutique in Tokyo and shop around for ingredients we don't have here.

I'm currently rescheduling for April next year, as the international fuel surcharges are going up for bookings beginning in June, so the flight will become a lot more expensive if I wait to book for May, as I have been doing in previous years. The good news is that this should mean we'll be there for the 40th anniversary.

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by CosmicGirl

Love all the tips in this thread! Compared to all the planners on here I should be ashamed of myself, but our trip has been in the making for 4 years now and I still haven't really planned much because we never got close enough to actually going to put in all the effort. I'm trying to keep TDR a surprise as much as possible and I've put off looking up everything else up because I would be even more disappointed every time it got postponed again.
Roughly speaking we want someting along the lines of:
TDR: 4 days in the parks
Tokyo: 3-4 days?
Kyoto
Mt Fuji
possibly Universal but not set in stone
and I'd like to go to Fuji-Q Highand for the rollercoasters but I don't know if there will be enough time to do that.

I love to bake and French patisserie is my fave so I definitely want to visit Philippe Conticini's boutique in Tokyo and shop around for ingredients we don't have here.

I'm currently rescheduling for April next year, as the international fuel surcharges are going up for bookings beginning in June, so the flight will become a lot more expensive if I wait to book for May, as I have been doing in previous years. The good news is that this should mean we'll be there for the 40th anniversary.

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Well I am the opposite when comes to Disney there - I watch YT videos of Japanese people walking around the park just to get my bearings and see where things are! Plus some of them are semi pro and their videos on rides are just amazing.

2 days in each park should be plenty - unless you want to go into every building and do every ride and the parks are busy. With 2 days I think it will be fine - leaves you time to go see the “wonder” of Ikspiari too :-)))

Thoughts on a hotel for your Disney days?

Kyoto - we did a day trip on the bullet train to see the temples etc (we mostly like to see modern cities) and the one there woh all the red gates up the hill (forget it’s name) gets very busy with ill mannered foreign tourists during the day, so my tip would be to get there early as you can. Also have a look round to Kyoto station - one part of it is huge / cathedral like and stunning in scale.

Tokyo - 3-4 days will keep you busy - have you thought of the places / stores you might want to go?

[CosmicGirl]

Originally Posted by AntonyJ

Well I am the opposite when comes to Disney there - I watch YT videos of Japanese people walking around the park just to get my bearings and see where things are! Plus some of them are semi pro and their videos on rides are just amazing.

2 days in each park should be plenty - unless you want to go into every building and do every ride and the parks are busy. With 2 days I think it will be fine - leaves you time to go see the “wonder” of Ikspiari too :-)))

Thoughts on a hotel for your Disney days?

Kyoto - we did a day trip on the bullet train to see the temples etc (we mostly like to see modern cities) and the one there woh all the red gates up the hill (forget it’s name) gets very busy with ill mannered foreign tourists during the day, so my tip would be to get there early as you can. Also have a look round to Kyoto station - one part of it is huge / cathedral like and stunning in scale.

Tokyo - 3-4 days will keep you busy - have you thought of the places / stores you might want to go?

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For a hotel near TDR I'd love to be on the monorail but for the time being I'll be booking something a bit further away to be sure I have an affordable option if I end up having to go solo. The Hilton is around €220/night whereas the Ibis Styles is €60/night. So it's a big difference.

I've really not looked at the details for Tokyo city, so funky food shopping is the best I've got so far. And yes, the 3D billboard you told me about!