Japan 10 day Itinerary

Snow monkeys in Nagano

My wife and I spent 11 days in Japan, we got to see a decent number of places without it feeling rushed and I’ve uploaded the itinerary here if you would like some inspiration (or to copy it)!  I must give credit to www.thepinaysolobackpacker.com for her Japan budget itinerary, from which I based my own. Whilst we ran our trip on more of a mid-range budget, there are a couple of very good hotel recommendations in this itinerary, based on location, as well as key attractions.

Our dates were 5^th to 15^th February, which is not the peak season.  You would need to bring warm clothes as we did but it meant for better prices for flight and accommodation and there was the benefit of beautiful snowy landscapes in Nagano and Kanazawa.   All in, the trip cost around 1,000GBP per person including return flights (from Hong Kong).  You could definitely do it cheaper (Japan doesn’t have to be as expensive as everyone says) but we wanted to make the most of what was on offer.  

Our schedule was:

·         Day 1 – 3 Osaka (activated 7 day JR pass for rail network)

·         Day 3 – 6 Tokyo 

·         Day 6 – 7 Nagano

·         Day 7 – 8 Kanazawa

·         Day 8 – 11 Kyoto

As where we live in China (Zhuhai) is very close to Hong Kong, we booked with a low-cost carrier (LCC) called Hong Kong Express which turned out to be incredible value.  It has the system where you pay for what you want i.e. luggage, weight of luggage etc.  We saved money by only having one piece of check-in luggage at 20GK, all customers are allowed a piece of hand luggage up to 7KG at time of writing.  Hong Kong Express also have many destinations in Japan, regular offers and a low fair finder.  Whilst it is no frills, the staff are excellent, and I would use them again.  I was also able to pay for flights via WeChat (which was a first) and as it’s a Hong Kong airline, when checking in to the ferry from ZH we didn’t have to check our bags in again at HK airport.  Happy days!

Depending on your itinerary, you should consider getting the JR pass.  Whilst it isn’t cheap, if you are taking a lot of trains whilst in country it will work out better value than booking individually (you should work out the difference as it is only cheaper if you're planning to move around a fair bit).  Transport will burn a big hole in your budget if you’re moving around Japan.  Whilst I believe that you may be able to get the JR pass whilst in Japan, most people recommend ordering the JR Pass vouchers and having them in hand before you depart as we did (via Trip.com, though it was via the Chinese site and not sure if possible via English site).  When you get to Japan, you convert them for your rail pass and inform the clerk in the JR office when you want it to be activated (if future dated). 

Some people recommend the app, Hyperdia, for trains etc.  We found that trains were pretty frequent, and google maps worked just fine.  Most public areas have free Wi-Fi which whilst not 100% reliable is usually good enough to help you get from A to B and we didn’t feel the need to purchase a SIM card during our trip.  

Japan is very safe, but it’s always prudent to book insurance.  I once again purchased this via World Nomads, and whilst I haven’t yet had to claim I’m reassured by their generally positive feedback.

I really wanted to see a Sumo wrestling match however as we were visiting Japan in February there were none to be had.  However, it is possible to get in touch with the 'stables' where wrestlers train and call ahead to see if you can attend a session.  Whilst we didn't get round to it I left it in the itinerary and you can find out some good information on the stables, including numbers to call in a Japanese Times article here.

One other thing I was interested in booking before the trip was the famous, classic Japanese Kabuki theater.  This is a very traditional show that tends to offer a few acts per day.  However, booking online can be a hassle and pricey as the cheaper seats tend to sell out very quickly! I’ll go into more detail about the show, which is highly recommended, however my advice would be not to prebook and instead to purchase tickets at the theater on the day you wish to view a show.  More info in the Tokyo post!

My FairFX travel card which I've been using now for almost 10 years once again came in very handy, it's easy to top up and you don't have to worry about getting bad exchange rates or ludicrously high fees when using abroad.  There are other options out there but this card has saved my butt on many occasions and to date, there has only been one ATM in rural Cambodia where it hasn't worked.

*I don't have any endorsements for the above links and all have been provided with 100% impartiality