JAPAN ITINERARY THAT ACTUALLY WORKS | How to Plan Your Dream Vacation

JAPAN ITINERARY THAT ACTUALLY WORKS | How to Plan Your Dream Vacation

Building in Japan has been kind of the hype recently and I hear lots of different opinion pro and cons. Sometimes becomes fun of Japan some leaves Japan unfortunately without nothing much about it. So is Japan still worth visiting? The answer depends on your travel plans and the choices you make. In the last video I explained about the different regions of Japan and what to see. Just hopping popular spots to popular spot might not be that much far anymore in this over tourism. But don’t worry because Japan has a lot more to offer to avoid being stuck in the hotel room on in the city keep scrolling what to do next or stuck in the train for a long time. Designing your travel in advance is the key. So in this video I’d like to go over some key factors that might help you to design your travel with some different sample itineraries from different regions. This is a part two of s travel tips of Japan and this is about designing your travel. [Music] Do you plan everything before you arrive Japan or you are more spontaneous travelers? And if you have a little bit time, it might be helpful to plan a little bit of the travel or have rough idea of the travel at least a month before the travel considering the booking time of the things. So to get the most out of your time and budget in Japan, planning starts from understanding the how far you can actually go from the point you arrive in Japan. For example, Tokyo. Japan has lots of islands. So some detached island like Okinawa, you have to take airplane or fies. But from the northern tip of Hokkaido, Wakana to southern tip of Kyushu Island or Kagoshima, you can travel by trains. Japan might not be the big country, but it might be helpful to understand the distance from Wakana to the southern tip of Kagoshima is almost same as from London to Istanbul or the state of Maine to the Key West in Florida. So you may get some idea that it might be a little difficult to travel in a few days from north to southern tip. So it is possible but it will be very shallow trip like most of the time you’ll be on the trains. For this the most important thing is the time it takes more than the distance. So let’s see the approximate time it takes for the major spot from Tokyo to Kyoto which is probably the most major route among international travelers. It takes 2 hours and 15 minutes. So if you don’t consider the cost actually you can even do a day trip from Tokyo. And in case you go to a limited express like from Tokyo to Matsumoto it takes 2 hours and 40 minutes and for longd distance buses from Tokyo to Koshiko known for the Mount Fuji is about 2 hours. So it is possible to the day trip. So but from Shinjuku to Kamikoi in the Japan outpost it can take 5 hours. So it is impossible to the day trip. We can decide where to go seeing your schedule and time and also the cost. Is it worth losing spending this much time and money especially the time from my personal experience I only have regret when I save try to save money and decide not to do something or decide not to go somewhere and just ended up just staying in the hotel because I thought around that time I can do it again maybe in the future but I have never done those thing because I didn’t have a chance to go to the country or or the situation of the world changes so for the more details about this budget and train tips. I just to talk about in the future topics of this 30 travel tips of Japan travel. And something important to know is there are some places that you can only access by cars or I should say it is possible to visit by public transportation. But but it can be very unrealistic. It can take so long just a bus takes or waiting for the bus. And mostly the good place to rent a car is Hokkaido and Kyushu and Okinawa. And also in near Tokyo, the Mount Huji area is also very difficult to get around by public transportations. If you have lots of time, it might be possible, but definitely it takes a lot longer by taking public transportation and also and you have to skip lots of scenic places by taking buses. So if you have a choice of renting a car that is something you can consider. And now let’s see some sample itineraries that I came up with. First let’s go over the two types of the golden route. And the first one is a classic golden route. You go to Tokyo Hakone Kyoto and Osaka. For example in this 10 days topics you have 3 days in Tokyo and 3 days in Kyoto. You can stay without moving around the suitcases. And this is like the typical courses that even the tours take. And you can see Mount Huji from Hakon. You can see temples and old Japanese gardens in Kyoto. And you can see the cities in Tokyo. So for the first time visitors, this might be a good ideas. And in case you like to go to more quiet places, you can add the different regions that I talk about later. Or you can go to off the beaten path around the area you visit. Even in Tokyo, Kyoto there are lots of quiet places. And second route is the new golden route. Sometime it’s called new golden route. It is a route going to Hokuriku and end up in Kyoto. Same as the classic golden route. In this one, you take the Shinkansen to the north shinken go to Nano Toya. So again this is just a sample and this is skipping Osaka and Hakon and instead it’s going to Kanawa and Nagano you can go to Toyama instead of Kanazawa you can go to too and this one you can use the hokuriku arch pass for 7 days in this sample it you can start using on the day three and you can finish in day 10 coming back to Tokyo the only thing is you have to take this hokuriku route so when you come back from Kyoto to Tokyo So you cannot take toko shinkasen. You have to take this hokurik shinkasen going around. So in case you like to see some different side of Japan, this is a good idea. And next case is more it can be more easy for beginners. This are Tokyo based stay. This one you only stay in Tokyo and you make some day trips or maybe a night trip. The great benefit of this is you don’t have to move the hotel or move around the suitcase. When you arrive, you can open the suitcases and that’s it until you leave Japan. So you can make any day trips. This one as a sample I chose Kamakura and Kawaguchon Muji. The great part of this day trip is you can decide when to go to the day trip depend on the weather. So there’s some difficulty of not making reservation in advance. you have to take maybe local train instead of limited express because it can be full booked but still it might be better than seeing the Muji in the rain. So if you need to see Mount Huji, that’s kind of good options. And so this one you cannot see Kyoto or west side of Japan or other parts, but it’s good idea maybe for some someone who find it difficult to make a long distance travel and maybe who likes Tokyo especially. So in case you like to see more traditions and not much into Mount Tokyo, there’s also a choice to have the cancer region like Kyoto and Osaka as a base. And this one you can keep Osaka as a base and go to Kyoto, Nala and Himage Castle or Mount Koa or anywhere in Kai region. And Kai has a lot more variety of places especially traditional one next to each other. So you can see a lot more things and Kyoto and Osaka is a two major cities with lots of hotels. So you can change this Osaka base to Kyoto and visit Osaka from Kyoto too. If you like to enjoy night life, maybe it’s good to stay in Osaka. If you like quiet night, maybe Kyoto is good. So now we went over the two major golden route and two ideas for having the base in the major cities. If that is too boring for you, one idea is to add some of the beaten path area of Japan to either as independent itinary or add to those Tokyo base itinary or add to the golden loot. And one idea is this alpine loot going around Japan’s alpus. And this one has lots of gems like nature and traditions like Nagano and you can see Zenoji you can go to Kanazawa Toyama Taka and nearby Shiraakawago and also you can enjoy the Kamikoi in summer and here hot springs in winter time. You can see cast masto too. So around this arpus circle is a great place to add to your major iteries. And another idea is adding the stouchi route. This is a beautiful area with a coastal scenery with lots of islands. Go around this inner bay that are connected by fera bridges, Hiroshima, Onomichi, Matsyama, Takamatu and some famous island like Noshima that are famous for the museums. This is a very fun area. You can enjoy the bicycle riding and also ferry rides. Now let’s see the driving route as an option. This is again you can add to the golden route or other trips. In this one I like to do the driving route I actually have done for myself and one loot is the going around Mount Fuji area. This is a difficult course to go around by public transportation. So if you like to see Mount Fuji from different directions, it’s a good idea to get a car. And second one is a Hokkaido. It’s definitely a place you can see a lot more by car. There are many airports in Hokkaido. And I drove to the hotel in eastern side of the Hokkaido and I drove through beer and drove up to the north to Cape Soya. As it says it 14 hours, I did three nights in between and I still felt very busy. So probably it’s better to have a little more stop on the way. Hokkaido you can travel along by train too but it’s where you can see is very limited and most of the observatories and and quiet forest is only accessible by cars and no public transportation. So Hokkaido is definitely some places you can consider about getting a car. Kyushu Kyushu has a lot of train lines but if you are thinking of going across the hot springs or going to Asa mountains it’s a good idea to have a car now did you find any favorite itineraries or ideas came up to you there are lots of thing to consider but I hope you enjoy the process of making it doing research about the important places and visa is important but binge watching can be not be a good idea nothing like your visiting in person. By not seeing too much you can also avoid a unnecessary disappointment. For example, Muji never look like this. Having the expectation is great but not too much expectation. So it’s good to see as an art and entertainment but not as a reference for your travel and also by not seeing too much information you can avoid unnecessary anxiety. For example, you might see lots of different videos about Japan, but you don’t get arrested just by being the regular tourist. And every time I see someone say good about Japan, I see the comments like, “But it’s very different if you live there.” But you don’t live here, right? Even if you live here, it’s all about what you do and who you are. Japan’s problem is not your problem. So you don’t have to worry too much about it and you can get more excited about your Japan trip. So I’m sure you will be okay. But in this time of the flood of the short contents and different informations and fake news AI is coming up. In my opinion, I think it’s very important you enjoy your travel planning and see things in your eyes. So now you know where to go. But before you finalizing your travel ideally, there’s one thing you might want to check and that is the seasons of Japan. And Japan has a four seasons and depends on when you come to Japan, your experience can be really different. I want to say any season is amazing, but there is a good season and not so good season. So in the next video I like to explain the best season to visit and also in case you cannot visit in the best season I’d like to show you some solutions that you can still enjoy Japan trip. Thank you for watching. Have a great trip to Japan.

Planning the trip across Japan isn’t easy before you know the maps and transportations. In this video, I explain the tips upon planning a trip and some sample itineraries of Japan trip. This is the second video of our “30 Japan Travel Tips” series. From planning and packing to traveling smoothly and even leaving Japan, we’ve got you covered.

Slides in the video: https://www.tokyokenchan.com/how-to-design-a-japan-itinerary-that-actually-works/

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Chapters:
0:00 Why Important to Have a Travel Plan
1:20 Japan might be longer than you think
2:24 How long does it take by trains?
4:41 Itinerary : 2 Golden Routes of Japan
6:42 Itinerary : Tokyo/Osaka Based Plans
8:54 Additional Plans Alps & Seotuchi
10:17 Sample Driving Routes in Japan
11:51 My Tips – Enjoy Your Planning

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