A trip to Japan has been our dream vacation destination for years! We were lucky to be able to visit in November of 2018. We love the food, anime, and culture of Japan. Japan is a long distance from Texas and we thought 3 weeks would be a great length of time for us to explore many cities in the country. I extensively planned our day trips, food options, transportation details, and more to make the most of our time.
This post is the first in a series for how I planned a 3 week trip to Japan for 2 people! Check out my My Travel Essentials Packing List for Any Trip for tips on what to pack for your trip to Japan.
General tips for your trip to Japan
A trip to Japan for non-Japanese speakers
I was nervous about visiting Japan as a non-Japanese speaker because I didn’t know how English-friendly the country would be. I was put at ease to see the country is very English-friendly! Announcements and signs in the subway station are in English, most restaurants had an English menu available, and even if the locals didn’t speak English, they were so kind to try to help you.
Temple and shrine etiquette in Japan
I was interested in visiting temples and shrines in Japan. The photos I’ve seen of these spaces look beautiful and I wanted to be respectful during my visits to these sacred spaces. I recommend reading these resources as a starting point to get familiar with what to do when you enter a temple or shrine. There are aspects such as purifying with water, an offering, bowing, and buying charms.
Safety in Japan
Overall, Japan is a safe country to visit. I felt safe riding the subway late at night and walking around the streets of Tokyo in the evening. Of course, this doesn’t mean you walk down the dark alley by yourself, but I was less on edge in this country.
Visa and vaccines for Japan
For my visit, Japan did not require U.S. citizens to have a visa. Check the latest information on visa requirements and vaccine requirements to travel to Japan through the U.S. Embassy & Consulates website.
Food to try in Japan
Eating Japanese food was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to visit! Here are some dishes I recommend you try while you’re there.
- ๐ Ramen
The ramen experience in Japan is on another level in flavor and service. I had thick and savory broths, chewy noodles, ordered via machines, given a neck napkin to protect my clothing, and even stumbled across a ramen festival. Try ramen and then try it again at other restaurants to see how everyone does it. - ๐ฃ Sushi
The sushi experience in Japan is also amazing! Their access to fresh fish is something I tried to take advantage of while I was there. I ate sushi off conveyor belts and ate fish I didn’t recognize. Try quick service sushi and sit-down restaurant sushi for a varied experience. - ๐ Takoyaki
I tried takoyaki for the first time in Osaka and loved the chewy dough balls. Takoyaki are filled with small pieces of octopus and topped with Japanese mayo and bonito flakes that move like they’re alive! I definitely recommend trying some from a street vendor, especially if you’re able to see them make huge batches of them at once. - ๐ต Matcha ice cream
There is copious amounts of matcha ice cream everywhere and it’s only right to try them all. - ๐ฅ Okonomiyaki
I also tried okonomiyaki for the first time in Osaka. We met up with our Japanese friend who took us to a restaurant with a private room that had a teppan, or iron grill, to cook on the table. We made our okonomiyaki by picking our ingredients. This pancake-like dish is made of a batter of cabbage, eggs, a chopped up protein, then topped with a sauce, mayo, pickled ginger, and bonito flakes.
Which airport to fly into Japan?
So you’re interested in going to Japan and now you need to decide what airport you’ll fly into. Tokyo is the most popular destination to fly into because of the flight options available. The two airports in Tokyo are Narita International Airport (NRT) and Haneda Airport (HND).
Haneda Airport (HND)
We flew into Haneda Airport because it’s closer to Tokyo. There are several transportation options to get to central Tokyo from the airport, including an express bus or taxi, and your travel time can range anywhere from 15-45 minutes depending on your destination. We used the monorail to connect to the train for the subway. We also picked up our travel wi-fi device at the airport, with details on the wi-fi device further down this post.
Narita International Airport (NRT)
Narita International Airport is another option to fly into Tokyo, however it’s located further outside of Tokyo. It will take you about 1.5 hours to get to Tokyo, but this airport does service more airlines. There are several transportation options to get to Tokyo from the airport, including the express bus, Narita Express train, and Skyliner train.
What cities to include in your trip in Japan?
Each city in Japan offers something different for visitors. I was most interested in learning about Japanese history, visiting temples, trying local foods, and shopping. I also try to balance visiting the large popular tourist cities with smaller, less-visited towns for a well-rounded experience. With 3 weeks to work with, I took notes of all the activities I wanted to do and the popular things to do in each city to compile a big list before narrowing it down.
Activities I wanted to experience in Japan
I recommend writing down a list of activities or things that come to mind when it comes to Japan that you want to experience. It will help you look at your list and decide what parts you really don’t want to miss. From there, this can help you pick which cities to visit or what experiences you can combine. Some things on my list included:
- Eat sushi and ramen
- Try an onsen (hot spring)
- Visit a temple or shrine
- Participate in a tea ceremony
- See Mount Fuji
- Visit a Pokemon store
- View a sumo wrestling match
- Watch a Kabuki show
- Take a cooking class
Cities we visit in Japan
I knew I wanted to visit the most popular cities of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. Tokyo is a huge city that offers so many things to do and is the basis of movies and TV shows. Kyoto is a smaller city that offers more traditional experiences like the famous Bamboo Forest. Osaka is also a smaller city that’s recommended for foodies.
I found the city of Nikko when researching small towns to visit and it coincided with a great spot to see the autumn leaves changing. It’s located outside of Tokyo and needed an overnight stay to visit. I also found a day trip to Nara is most often recommended to pair when visiting Kyoto. Nara is a small town full of deer that you can interact with!
Hiroshima is a city with deep historical significance and I really wanted to pay respect to its history. Near Hiroshima, the island of Miyajima is located. In my research of Japan, I saw an image of a large shrine on the water and I looked into where I could find this site. Miyajima is home to the Itsukushima Floating Torii Gate, a shinto shrine that changes due to the tides rising and receding.
Friends recommended experiencing onsens, or hot springs, in the Hakone area near Mount Fuji. I looked into ryokans, a traditional Japanese inn, to see which ryokans offered hot springs to cross both things off my list.
With all of these great cities and experiences, I mapped out how to best spread out these recommendations over 3 weeks.
Our city itinerary ended up looking like:
Tokyo > Nikko > Kyoto > Nara > Hiroshima > Miyajima Island > Osaka > Hakone > Tokyo Airport
Cities we did not visit in Japan
With so much to do in Japan, we decided not to visit these cities given our time limit, travel distance, or prioritizing other experiences over them. Most of our visits were in central Japan but in the future, we hope to spend more time in south and north Japan areas.
- Himeji
Home to the Himeji Castle, one of Japan’s best preserved castle from the 1600s. - Matusmoto
View castles and visit a wasabi farm - Jigokudani Monkey Park
Located near Nagano, this park is home to snow monkeys bathing in onsens. - Kanazawa
A traditional town with a beautiful samurai and geisha districts - Kobe
Home to the famous Kobe beef, a type of wagyu beef, we were able to try Kobe beef in another city
How many days to visit each city in Japan?
I had an idea of the cities we would visit and now needed to decide how many days to spend in each city. This is usually tough for me, but Iโm a visual person! The best way I do this is by drawing a calendar and filling in the departure and arrival dates we were aiming for.
To decide how many days to visit each city in Japan, I researched each city to see how many days people typically recommend staying there, or if it’s better as a day trip. I literally Google this phrase, โHow many days to visit Osakaโ for each city to get an idea. This will bring up search results from news articles, message forums like Reddit and TripAdvisor, and blogs like this one!
Iโll map out this info on the calendar to see if itโs enough time in each place, moving days around as I learn more info. I typically donโt like being too rushed or moving around too much, but for this trip I put this aside to fit in as much as possible. The trip ends up looking like this on the calendar:
Booking a hotel or AirBNB in Japan
I considered staying in AirBNBs or hotels for each city in Japan. I ended up picking hotels so that I could have a front desk resource incase we needed help with something. AirBNBs could cancel our reservation unexpectedly and I didn’t want that chance. The biggest downside is that hotel rooms in Japan are really small! Most of the hotels we stayed in were just large enough for 2 people and our backpacks.
We also stayed in ryokans, or traditional Japanese guesthouses. This type of accommodation can vary from a hostel budget to fancy bougie and we tried both! With a ryokan, you essentially sleep on a Japanese futon bed, a type of sleeping pad that sits on the floor. It’s surprisingly comfortable! The flooring is also lined with tatami mats. There can be other perks of a ryokan at more expensive accommodations, such as an onsite onsen or in-room meal service.
I used these websites to search and book hotels:
- Trip.com
I found my Tokyo hotel on this site. - Hotelworld.com
I found a small ryokan hostel in Nikko. - Agoda.com
I found most of my accommodations with this website, including my Kyoto and Osaka hotel, Miyajima ryokan, and Hakone ryokan.
How to get around Japan
We used trains, subways, and buses to get around Japan. Their public transportation is really efficient, reliable, and on-time. Google Maps helped give us directions on which train lines or buses to use with the stop names as helpful guides.
Buy a Japan Rail Pass ahead of time
If you want to buy a Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass), order this on their website to get it delivered to your home in time for your trip. The JR Pass is a benefit for tourists visiting Japan for nationwide travel. If you forget to buy this pass ahead of time, you could try buying a pass at the Haneda and Narita airports for an increase in cost. This pass is offered for 7 days, 14 days, and 21 day lengths.
For us, this pass was super helpful getting from city to city and worked on certain subway lines in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo. For more information on where in Japan this pass works, check out the information on this website. This pass gives you unlimited rides on the JR system, including the shinkansen high speed bullet trains, JR buses, and JR subway lines. You can also reserve your seat on some trains. Check out this website to learn more about how it works.
Using the bus in Japan
It might sound silly, but I wanted to see if there was anything particular to know about riding the bus in Japan. This article on Local Buses in Japan shared information on how to board, how to pay, and what the signs on the bus mean.
Transportation within each city
I recommend you Google terms like “how to get around in Tokyo” or “how to use the subway in Tokyo” to understand each city’s transportation methods and how to pay. Some cities use metro cards and some are small enough to walk in. I exclusively used the subway system in Tokyo and Osaka and added a mix of the buses in Kyoto.
Rent a pocket wi-fi
A travel wi-fi device is a small portable device that you carry with to have access to the internet. This was essential to our trip! It put me at ease to always have travel directions on my apps, look up things to do when out in the city, or use an app to translate if needed. You can buy different data packages and connect multiple devices to this pocket wi-fi, saving you money from buying international phone plans for multiple phones.
Here are options to start with for renting a pocket wi-fi:
- Global Advance Communication
I used this company to place my order, pick it up at the airport, and drop it back off at the airport when I was done. - JR Pass Pocket Wi-Fi
This was advertised to add on to your JR Pass order and features unlimited data.
Apps to download for your trip to Japan
Technology made our lives so much easier when visiting Japan. With my pocket wi-fi, I used these apps very often to help navigate around cities and translate menus when needed. Download these before your trip!
- Google Translate
The best feature of this app is its capability to use your camera to hover over a word and it will live translate in front of you. You can also speak into it and it will voice the translation. I used this for Japanese menus and even to conversate with a sushi chef! - Google Maps
I used this to get train and bus directions and follow which stop to get off at. I also used the walking directions to make sure I’m going in the right direction. - Japan Travel by Navitime
I used an app similar to this one to help see the train schedules to plan ahead. It also has a route planning option to see what routes use a JR Pass. - Japan Official Travel App
This app is the official Japan travel app for tourists. I don’t recall how often I used this app, but it might be useful to have just incase
Start planning your trip to Japan!
I hope this information helps you get started when you’re thinking about planning your trip to Japan. The next posts will go into detail on what I did, where I stayed, and what I ate in each city!
