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In the next few months we’ll be trying to plan our daily itinerary for our once in a lifetime trip to Japan.
Travelling with my wife and 3 kids (11,8,8).
We head there in early April for-
4 nights in Osaka
Shinkansen to Nagoya
2 nights in Nagoya
Car rental and drive to Takayama
3 nights in Takayama area
Drive to Oshino (Fuji area)
2 nights in Oshino
Drive to Tokyo and drop off car
5 nights in Sumida City (Tokyo)All of accommodation is now booked. But I’d love to hear any suggestions of things to do and places to visit in any of the above places.
Thanks in advance.
1. I suppose you have already checked the 1 way itinerary with the car. Some providers do not allow it (booo Avis) … with others it should not be an issue
2. I love you picked Osaka, I much prefer it to Tokyo but it is a crazy city and could be quite a stressful shock (specially with kids). I would do at least 1 day trip to Kyoto (you may need 2 actually so maybe you can book a cheap hotel there).
3. Check https://www.japan-guide.com/ for what to do in each place. Since you have a car it should be easy from Takayama to visit the nearby villages or go to the mountains for treks.
1. I suppose you have already checked the 1 way itinerary with the car. Some providers do not allow it (booo Avis) … with others it should not be an issue
2. I love you picked Osaka, I much prefer it to Tokyo but it is a crazy city and could be quite a stressful shock (specially with kids). I would do at least 1 day trip to Kyoto (you may need 2 actually so maybe you can book a cheap hotel there).
3. Check https://www.japan-guide.com/ for what to do in each place. Since you have a car it should be easy from Takayama to visit the nearby villages or go to the mountains for treks.
Thanks. Lining up a Toyota rental as they do 1-way rental and have pick up points all over Japan.
Thanks for the heads up re Osaka. I suspect that the whole thing (inc jet lag) will be a shock for the kids, so we’ll take it easy for the first couple of days. Kyoto looks like a good option for a day trip on Osaka.
Team Lab Tokyo – will be fantastic for kids (but you’ll also enjoy it), need to book in advance
From Osaka, I would suggest day trips by train to Nara and Himeji. Nara is small and charming. Assuming your children like animals, they should enjoy feeding the deer (buy a large supply of deer biscuits from one of the local shops and keep them hidden in a back pack). Nara has great temples, and the train ride is enjoyable.
Himeji has one of Japan’s best preserved original castles, which the kids might like. And really nice gardens.
See Osaka at night after your day trips. Or spend one day in Osaka instead of going to Kyoto. If you do go to Kyoto, go to Gion on the private (non JR) train.
Driving – toll roads are expensive. When route planning, look at avoiding tolls and seeing what difference it makes to your journey time. We used the toll roads to get from Tokyo to Nagano, but drove back mainly on the free roads, which are much more interesting and enjoyable. (We spent a week driving around Kyushu without going on a toll road.) You can see toll costs at https://search.w-nexco.co.jp/en/route.php
Buy a little notebook and collect souvenir stamps.
I would also recommend Japan Guide. In particular, their 3/2/1 dot rating system for things to see is very well calibrated.
I also agree that you’ve made a smart move starting in Osaka, especially if you’ve never visited Japan before. Tokyo is so large and full of things to do that it can be quite overwhelming when you’re fresh off the boat. In Osaka, I would recommend Osaka castle and going out in Matsuri/Namba at night. Himeji castle is day-trippable and a better/more authentic castle as Osaka is a 20th century rebuild, but I would lean towards saving your time and staying in Osaka. If this truly is once-in-a-lifetime, I would agree with the other recommendations to take a day trip to Kyoto (or Nara).
Nagoya is a bit of a leftfield choice – there aren’t really any major sights there. There is a nice railway museum on the edge of town. You could easily do a day trip to Kyoto though, it’s only about half an hour on the Shinkansen.
Hiring a car is a great decision. There is, however, a direct (and quite scenic) train ride from Nagoya to Takayama if you want to start your drive there instead. If you’re an outdoorsy sort, then you could take a bit of a detour on the drive up to Takayama and stop in Tsumago. As well as being a beautifully-preserved post-town, there’s an excellent trail over to Magome, the next town along (and also quite scenic).
Takayama itself has an attractive old town. The region is famed for its beef (like Kobe), so make sure you make the most of it. I have a soft spot for Yamatake Shoten, which is a butchers shop that has a little ‘restaurant’ upstairs. You choose your beef in the shop then take it upstairs to cook at your table. The Higashiyama Walk is worthwhile if you want a bit of exercise. I would recommend a trip up the valley to Furukawa. Whereas Takayama has developed into a fairly large settlement, Furukawa is much sleepier and quite charming. You could go up to Kamikochi/Okuhida to enjoy the mountain scenery and an onsen.
Finally, may well be cherry blossom in full swing somewhere during your trip. There’s a lot of variability to the timing, so you’ll just want to keep an eye on reports of how the season is progressing (Japan Guide again is good for this) and adjust your trip accordingly.
We head there in early April for-
4 nights in Osaka
Shinkansen to Nagoya
2 nights in Nagoya
Car rental and drive to Takayama
3 nights in Takayama area
Drive to Oshino (Fuji area)
2 nights in Oshino
Drive to Tokyo and drop off car
5 nights in Sumida City (Tokyo)Good call on Osaka. Given the overall schedule, I’d agree with Alex G’s suggestion of day trips to Nara & Himeji rather than Kyoto. But if you do opt for Kyoto, try to secure an invitation to Saihoji – the moss temple – it’s worth the effort (letter to the abbot, timed visit, writing out sutras …).
Nagoya is good for 2 nights. If you have an interest in pottery(!?), it’s worth taking the short train ride down to Tokoname.
Takayama is a good base, though I’d also recommend travelling on the scenic train rather than driving from Nagoya. I found it hard to find restaurants that were available for walk-ups, but here are a couple of good options:
> Matsuki Sushi – great sushi (including Hida beef) and you’ll probably be the only tourist there;
> Jakson Curry & Coffee – awesome katsu, they have limited English, but Google Translate is your friend – and you may need to queue outside for a while.
Kamikochi is beautiful – but extremely busy unless you’re able to hike away from the main areas. However, I think it’s not accessible by private car.I really appreciate all of these suggestions and tips. We love eating good food, and our kids are up for trying most things, so the specific restaurant recommendations are great.
Thank you to everyone who has commented.
For food:
– Takayama: Hida beef (similar to kobe)
– Nagoya: they have a famous chicken there so you will find chicken wing joints (the specialty are peppery ones) and also places that to hot pots or even chicken sashimi
– Kyoto: Try the obanzai cuisine (simmered veggies or meats…really nice)A recommendation for japan is that food choices can sometimes be overwhelming (specially in large cities). In small towns options are limited (a soba or udon shop for instance and they display the dishes outside so it is easy to pick a spot). In cities that becomes harder with some buildings having restaurants on each of their 10 first floors! With a family this can be hard so I would recommend:
– use japanese chains! It may sound counter intuitive but you are in Japan and everything is foreign to you so they are very fun and different (and tasty!). If you spot one, save the name for another day/city (similar to being in London and eating at Nandos one day).
– Train stations and shopping malls tend to have in the top floor a place with plenty of restaurants. On the lower floors sometimes they have more affordable options or a food stall/market. These can be good options when you don’t know where to go.When you rent the car ask for an ECT (or ETC) card. It will allow you to simply drive around and you will be charged for tolls later on. You can ask google to avoid them and it won’t make a big difference in time and you get to try smaller scenic roads. (Maybe avoid that entering Tokyo or similar large cities).
For Nagoya, you can easily spend half a day in the aquarium. A day trip to Tsumago and Maguro is also an option (you can go to one and trek – easy- to the other and then take a train back).
I’ve now integrated a lot of these suggestions into our plan.
My wife is really keen to visit somewhere that sells (and ideally demonstrates) kintsugi. We’re not too bothered about doing a workshop, just happy to observe.
Does anyone have any experience of somewhere that does this in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya or Takayama?
There is one shop near Yasaka Pagoda in Higashiyama (Kyoto) that does this. I can’t remember the name but you may be able to find it on Google Maps. There are other small pottery shops around that might be doing it.
Anyone got experience of the Ninja training courses in Kyoto and Tokyo?
I really want to do the whole dress up cosplay thing, wielding a katana and throwing death stars.
Mrs Aston is going to go elsewhere to roleplay a Geisha or something, so I’ll be on my Jack Jones sadly.I’ve now integrated a lot of these suggestions into our plan.
My wife is really keen to visit somewhere that sells (and ideally demonstrates) kintsugi. We’re not too bothered about doing a workshop, just happy to observe.
Does anyone have any experience of somewhere that does this in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya or Takayama?
I recall that the Houkokusha Pottery shop in Takayama does kintsugi work. They certainly sell some good kintusgi’d pieces (as well as a lot of other high quality pottery). But I seem to remember there was someone working on repairs in a workshop at the back. Kintsugi repairs are a very lengthy process (I practice it myself) – about six months for a piece, using the traditional techniques. So I’m not sure there’ll be much to see in a single visit. Nevertheless, if your wife has an interest in Japanese Pottery, Houkokusha is worth a visit.
You can find them at 63 Kamininomachi, Takayama – quite near the Folk Art Museum.
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