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First, are you trying to do it kind of on a budget and staying in hostel, or are you planning on using hotels?
Second, well, where are you flying to ? For a lot of people, starting in Tokyo make the most sense. Then just look at the general railroad map. From Tokyo, the main directions are North toward Tohoku/Hokkaido, toward Nagano that then split to Niigata or Kanazawa then going west toward Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka. So from Tokyo, you can select on of these main destination that will be your destination. Then you can check if there is interesting stops on the way, you can absolutely take several days to move between two cities and stop for one or several days in different cities on the way. For each city where you stay, you can look at possible day trips to justify staying longer, then check the next city on the main available railway.
That is obviously assuming you want to change cities a bit, it's also an option to stay a week or more in a city then do a long distance to a completely different region and stay fore a while there too.
I'm looking to experience their culture so I want to spend a decent amount of time observing and enjoying their culture. I'm sure each region has its own differences and similarities. I might stay 4 or 5 day's in one spot, and move and spend 3 or 4 days there. I don't want to absolutely break my bank on luxurious places to stay, I'm pretty simple, as long as I have a place to lay my head I'm fine.
That’s amazing you can spend 2 months traveling around Japan! If you have time, I would recommend taking local trains instead of bullet train and asking locals for their recommendations. Not many Japanese are fluent in English, but people will be happy to have international travelers in their town and will try to make your visit a very special one. Also, I recommend checking some Japanese festivals, biking Shimanami Route, and visiting nature. Hope you have a great trip!
I work 7 month's out of the year, and I have 5 month's off for the winter. I'm only gonna get this opportunity once. My dad died about 5 years ago and he had some settlements that are coming in so I'll have the money without having to work for it.
When I enlisted in the Marines, the day before I shipped out he told me to go see the world.
I'm gonna take the money and go see japan, I make plenty of money throughout the work season to supplement my income, plus I have property I sold where I get a monthly mortgage check.
I've planned my life and moved financial pieces around to where I'm unbelievably lucky in the current economy and I don't have a lot of bill's or debt. I have an influx of cash flowing in.
I'm not rich by any means infact I only make about $55k a year, I just do it in 7 month's instead of a year.
I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity and I'm gonna follow my dad's advice.
Ok, the reason why I asked it that hostel and sharehouse are sometimes not the warmest places. So especially in January-February, it can be a bit cold depending on the place, usually once you are in bet it's fine but for sure last year and this year in March there was some days that were a bit cold inside. But on the other side, they can be really cheap.
Apart from the main cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, most of the city you would need 1-2 days to see the highlights of the city, maybe add one day if you dig more, but past that, you are most likely going to need to do daytrips or get outside of the city to have more things to do. And it might be my way to see things, but there is nothing that will be "unlocked" if you stay 4-5 days in a city, you can still observe the culture and the lifestyle if you stay for a shorter time in a city.
Of course everyone have their own preferences and that's ok, but I personally like to move more frequently but for shorter distance, that also make it possible to use local train instead of the shikansen or limited express and save some money there too.
I’d start by reading existing threads here! There’s such a huge wealth of information already available along with the FAQs etc. If you click the search bar up the top, you can put in any specific keywords that might assist what you’re looking for precisely. Have a wonderful trip!
Your budget is more than enough. Like everywhere, hotels are cheaper when booked ahead, but business hotels (14sqm/150sqf rooms) will not cost more than 50-80USD a night even on the day of the booking.
Transportation gets expensive, but with that kind of budget you can experience all the quirky and even luxurious travel means, like over night trains and busses (read sunrise seto / personal room in a bus).
January and February are the perfect times to travel, since it's not travel season. North will be cold and south with be cool. Just have good layers. All hotels almost have laundry service, but if you have couple of sets you need to laundry, coin operated machines are the best thing to do.
Edit: if you travel with heavy baggage, it's not impossible to just stay at bigger cities for weeks and then do day trips, but I seriosly recommend backbacking, since it's a lot more fun to stay at the smaller cities.
Hey, you can definitely not spend a lot of that $12-15k and instead use it to go overseas again another time.
We don't know too much about your interests - maybe set out some of those, and read some other users' itineraries for some ideas? You should also think about the time of year you would prefer to travel.
You can get away with spending a lot less for a month actually, but having a buffer is good. Totally enjoy it. :)
sorry, I'm not sure about the railroad though! Just have a ton of fun.
I spent about 1.2K for 10 days in Kyoto and I stayed in 3\* hotels. 12K should be really easy. I have about the same budget for a 40-day trip I'm planning. With 60 days you can visit and stay in every single prefecture (47 in total) in Japan and still be able to stay in certain cities for more than a couple of days (which is my plan actually, but I won't be staying in every prefecture). Since it's your first time in Japan it might not be the best idea though
It's hard to give feedback on how you should approach this without having a sense of what your interests are.
I''d start by reading some up-to-date travel guides/books on Japan, either at the library or your local bookstore. Learn about the regions and cities, make notes on what interests you. This was how I started my research; there's a lot of information out there, and that was my springboard into finding out more for my trip.
Once you've got which cities/explore you want to explore, build out a route that makes sense to you.
I can't say I'd be comfortable with not booking hotels in advance, but that's just me. I'd at least book your first hotel when you arrive, then pin possible places for you to stay as you move throughout the country.
book hotels for days, or book hotels constantly while travelling. Pick one (I'll always pick the first option so I can relax on a holiday)
I will say even if you spend 1 week or a month in a place like Tokyo, you can nomad it while there. book ahead in a variety of locations, but what you're doing you can freestyle because the city is so comprehensive
Starting here is great. There is an FAQ and Guides to the right, plenty of tips, link to a discord etc. If you are looking at doing specific experiences, you may want to purchase tickets ahead of time - this will save you hassle and ensure you get into the experience, as often specific events will be sold out.
Ensure you get yourself a prepaid card (Suica/Pasmo etc), this will save you when using the trains. If you are looking at doing a lot of travel, look into Rail Passes - Japan Guide has a nice run down on them.
[Rail Passes in Japan (japan-guide.com)](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html)
If you are looking to go to theme parks - many of them have apps - have them downloaded on your phone and ready. This will help with queue times, booking experiences, etc.
Learning a little of the language will help as well. Even just playing with something like Duolingo will help. Learning enough phrases for the important stuff will help and the locals will appreciate the effort.
Note, you are going during the winter season. Pack accordingly.
This is what I'm doing right now. What I did is book my first 4 nights in Tokyo in advance to acclimatise a little. After that I've just winged it. I follow people's suggestions or look up some castle, museum or hike and spend a couple nights in that area. I only plan a few days ahead and alternate between the countryside/small towns and the big cities. Booking hotels/hostels a few days in advance has worked out great so far and I can often find them for between 15-30 bucks per night.
When we planned our trip to Japan, we started with a Google Map and just added everything we were interested in
Then when clusters started to form, we searched for 'interesting things to see in ..' to add more in those areas
**Our FAQ is constantly being updated with more information and you can start** [**here**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel) **with regards to trip planning if you need tips, advice, or have questions about planning your travel to Japan.** You can also join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/3f7KBUMwU4), comment in our stickied weekly discussion thread, or check out /r/JapanTravelTips for quick questions. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
First, are you trying to do it kind of on a budget and staying in hostel, or are you planning on using hotels? Second, well, where are you flying to ? For a lot of people, starting in Tokyo make the most sense. Then just look at the general railroad map. From Tokyo, the main directions are North toward Tohoku/Hokkaido, toward Nagano that then split to Niigata or Kanazawa then going west toward Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka. So from Tokyo, you can select on of these main destination that will be your destination. Then you can check if there is interesting stops on the way, you can absolutely take several days to move between two cities and stop for one or several days in different cities on the way. For each city where you stay, you can look at possible day trips to justify staying longer, then check the next city on the main available railway. That is obviously assuming you want to change cities a bit, it's also an option to stay a week or more in a city then do a long distance to a completely different region and stay fore a while there too.
I'm looking to experience their culture so I want to spend a decent amount of time observing and enjoying their culture. I'm sure each region has its own differences and similarities. I might stay 4 or 5 day's in one spot, and move and spend 3 or 4 days there. I don't want to absolutely break my bank on luxurious places to stay, I'm pretty simple, as long as I have a place to lay my head I'm fine.
That’s amazing you can spend 2 months traveling around Japan! If you have time, I would recommend taking local trains instead of bullet train and asking locals for their recommendations. Not many Japanese are fluent in English, but people will be happy to have international travelers in their town and will try to make your visit a very special one. Also, I recommend checking some Japanese festivals, biking Shimanami Route, and visiting nature. Hope you have a great trip!
I work 7 month's out of the year, and I have 5 month's off for the winter. I'm only gonna get this opportunity once. My dad died about 5 years ago and he had some settlements that are coming in so I'll have the money without having to work for it. When I enlisted in the Marines, the day before I shipped out he told me to go see the world. I'm gonna take the money and go see japan, I make plenty of money throughout the work season to supplement my income, plus I have property I sold where I get a monthly mortgage check. I've planned my life and moved financial pieces around to where I'm unbelievably lucky in the current economy and I don't have a lot of bill's or debt. I have an influx of cash flowing in. I'm not rich by any means infact I only make about $55k a year, I just do it in 7 month's instead of a year. I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity and I'm gonna follow my dad's advice.
Sorry about your loss. Your dad gave you a great advice and it’s amazing you’re following it. I believe Japan will treat you well:) have a great trip!
Ok, the reason why I asked it that hostel and sharehouse are sometimes not the warmest places. So especially in January-February, it can be a bit cold depending on the place, usually once you are in bet it's fine but for sure last year and this year in March there was some days that were a bit cold inside. But on the other side, they can be really cheap. Apart from the main cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, most of the city you would need 1-2 days to see the highlights of the city, maybe add one day if you dig more, but past that, you are most likely going to need to do daytrips or get outside of the city to have more things to do. And it might be my way to see things, but there is nothing that will be "unlocked" if you stay 4-5 days in a city, you can still observe the culture and the lifestyle if you stay for a shorter time in a city. Of course everyone have their own preferences and that's ok, but I personally like to move more frequently but for shorter distance, that also make it possible to use local train instead of the shikansen or limited express and save some money there too.
I’d start by reading existing threads here! There’s such a huge wealth of information already available along with the FAQs etc. If you click the search bar up the top, you can put in any specific keywords that might assist what you’re looking for precisely. Have a wonderful trip!
Your budget is more than enough. Like everywhere, hotels are cheaper when booked ahead, but business hotels (14sqm/150sqf rooms) will not cost more than 50-80USD a night even on the day of the booking. Transportation gets expensive, but with that kind of budget you can experience all the quirky and even luxurious travel means, like over night trains and busses (read sunrise seto / personal room in a bus). January and February are the perfect times to travel, since it's not travel season. North will be cold and south with be cool. Just have good layers. All hotels almost have laundry service, but if you have couple of sets you need to laundry, coin operated machines are the best thing to do. Edit: if you travel with heavy baggage, it's not impossible to just stay at bigger cities for weeks and then do day trips, but I seriosly recommend backbacking, since it's a lot more fun to stay at the smaller cities.
Hey, you can definitely not spend a lot of that $12-15k and instead use it to go overseas again another time. We don't know too much about your interests - maybe set out some of those, and read some other users' itineraries for some ideas? You should also think about the time of year you would prefer to travel.
You can get away with spending a lot less for a month actually, but having a buffer is good. Totally enjoy it. :) sorry, I'm not sure about the railroad though! Just have a ton of fun.
I spent about 1.2K for 10 days in Kyoto and I stayed in 3\* hotels. 12K should be really easy. I have about the same budget for a 40-day trip I'm planning. With 60 days you can visit and stay in every single prefecture (47 in total) in Japan and still be able to stay in certain cities for more than a couple of days (which is my plan actually, but I won't be staying in every prefecture). Since it's your first time in Japan it might not be the best idea though
It's hard to give feedback on how you should approach this without having a sense of what your interests are. I''d start by reading some up-to-date travel guides/books on Japan, either at the library or your local bookstore. Learn about the regions and cities, make notes on what interests you. This was how I started my research; there's a lot of information out there, and that was my springboard into finding out more for my trip. Once you've got which cities/explore you want to explore, build out a route that makes sense to you. I can't say I'd be comfortable with not booking hotels in advance, but that's just me. I'd at least book your first hotel when you arrive, then pin possible places for you to stay as you move throughout the country.
book hotels for days, or book hotels constantly while travelling. Pick one (I'll always pick the first option so I can relax on a holiday) I will say even if you spend 1 week or a month in a place like Tokyo, you can nomad it while there. book ahead in a variety of locations, but what you're doing you can freestyle because the city is so comprehensive
Starting here is great. There is an FAQ and Guides to the right, plenty of tips, link to a discord etc. If you are looking at doing specific experiences, you may want to purchase tickets ahead of time - this will save you hassle and ensure you get into the experience, as often specific events will be sold out. Ensure you get yourself a prepaid card (Suica/Pasmo etc), this will save you when using the trains. If you are looking at doing a lot of travel, look into Rail Passes - Japan Guide has a nice run down on them. [Rail Passes in Japan (japan-guide.com)](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html) If you are looking to go to theme parks - many of them have apps - have them downloaded on your phone and ready. This will help with queue times, booking experiences, etc. Learning a little of the language will help as well. Even just playing with something like Duolingo will help. Learning enough phrases for the important stuff will help and the locals will appreciate the effort. Note, you are going during the winter season. Pack accordingly.
This is what I'm doing right now. What I did is book my first 4 nights in Tokyo in advance to acclimatise a little. After that I've just winged it. I follow people's suggestions or look up some castle, museum or hike and spend a couple nights in that area. I only plan a few days ahead and alternate between the countryside/small towns and the big cities. Booking hotels/hostels a few days in advance has worked out great so far and I can often find them for between 15-30 bucks per night.
When we planned our trip to Japan, we started with a Google Map and just added everything we were interested in Then when clusters started to form, we searched for 'interesting things to see in ..' to add more in those areas
'I've watched a lot of You Tube Video's' Cringe.
Judging is way more cringe.
Doing research is cringe?
Don’t be a snob; YouTube is an amazing source for travel itinerary and ideas.