Japan 3 weeks April 2025 ItineraryGood morning, I have an updated itinerary to share
 

Good morning, I have an updated itinerary to share with you and a few more questions. We will be arriving in Tokyo on 4/9/25 via Haneda. Plan to stay in Asakusa area.
7 nights Tokyo with side trip to Nikko and Kamakura
2 nights Matsumoto
3 nights Takayama side trip Shirakawa-go
2 nights Kanazawa
6 nights Kyoto side trip Nara
2 nights Hiroshima
Flight leaves from Narita the next afternoon.

So, I have just a basic idea for connections between these sights. Train travel for most of these day trips but I am unclear if a rail pass or point to point tickets is more cost effective . I will be in Japan for 3 weeks. Bus travel from Tokyo to Matsumoto and Takayama? Also travel from Hiroshima to Narita originally I saw nonstop 1 hour flights? Now it is via Haneda. I saw online where there is a train from Hiroshima and then a shuttle or connection to Narita. Which route would be best?
Lastly, I have emailed several of my preferred hotels directly and have not received a response back. I appreciate any and all advice.

I'd probably do 3 nights in Kanazawa and 2 in Takayama, but it really depends on what you want to see and do and how, exactly, the timing works. Otherwise, looks to me like it should be a great trip. Enjoy!

I agree with kja that Kanazawa needs more than one full day. You might also consider spending the night in Shirakawa-go.

Add a night to Kanazawa
Tokyo (Shinjuku) to Matsumoto by train. Bus might be less expensive. Bus then to Takayama. I think the bus company has a multi day pass.
pretty sure you don’t need a rail pass

If you can’t fly to Narita then Shinkansen to Tokyo and then Narita Express

You could also add a night for Shirakawago. Stay there or add to Kanazawa or Takayama. Shirakawago is between Kanazawa and Takayama. Check bus schedule: might be a better day trip from Kanazawa. You could skip Shirakawago but be sure to visit Hida no Sato in Takayama if you do.

You don't need a rail pass
Japan Rail Pass Calculator - find out whether a JR Pass pays off

Thanks for your comments. I have swapped a day from Takayama to Kanazawa. For those of you that have been to Japan before, what items do I need to reserve ahead of our arrival? Do I need to buy JR Shinkansen tickets the day of travel or ahead of time? Cellphones? We usually pull our sim cards and replace with a local country card. Is there a preferred company for 3 weeks? We will be in Singapore prior to our arrival to Japan. I am not aware of these 2 countries cell requirements. Any tips or Fodor threads that come to mind would be grateful. I don't think we will be as fortunate as Progol with the ticket agent drawing us a map!! That was priceless.
Thanks Everyone

My tip: Make japan-guide.com your go-to option for anything related to your trip to Japan. It is a truly amazing resource.

>> swapped a day from Takayama to Kanazawa
Ok, that's fine. Just to be clear, my posts advising adding to Kanazawa/Takayama/Shirakawago meant taking 1 or 2 days from Tokyo and/or Kyoto. Instead of 5 days for those places, am suggesting 6 or 7. Am assuming you don't have the Tokyo/Kyoto days planned out.

>> what items do I need to reserve ahead of our arrival?
Lodging. Especially if you are planning to stay in a traditional ryokan (you should) or other kind of specialty lodging or location. You need to get bus reservations in advance.

>> buy JR Shinkansen tickets the day of travel or ahead of time
You can get reserved seats for Kyoto to Hiroshima on the day. Thoe are major origin/destination stations, and it is a relatively short trip. I would probably get the tickets for Hiroshima-Tokyo/Narita Airport at the same time. The shinkansen part is a long haul, the Narita Express is an all-reserved seat train, and you probably want to arrive at a certain time. I would probably make that trip the night before the flight home.

>> usually pull our sim cards and replace with a local country card
A data-only sim is easy to find. Voice is different. Cell Phones in Japan

You do need to know some Japan geography, especially for the Tokyo ... Kanazawa trip.

Also, you really want to make a plan for luggage, in particular learn about the brilliant luggage delivery services in Japan.
Luggage in Japan

Takuhaibin (Takkyubin) - Delivery Services

I am just starting to think about a trip to Japan in Fall 2025, and am very glad to have found this thread, as your itinerary looks very similar to what we would want to do! Not sure if we'll do a full 3 weeks, or slightly shorter. The one point I'm mulling over is whether to begin or end our trip in Tokyo. As we've gotten older, travel is a bit more wearing and we've found that building in a 'soft landing' for our first few days, especially when jet lag is involved, is really helpful......I worry that Tokyo might be overwhelmingly crowded and noisy and we may not enjoy it as much at the beginning of our trip.

@ adlmllr -- We're all different, but I think I would have found Tokyo unpleasantly overwhelming as a start to my trip. By the end, I was ready to deal with its energy and chaotic organization and intensity. YMMV.

@kja, we're thinking along the same lines. we've learned that a quiet, gentle start to a weeks-long trip, in accommodations that are a step up from what we usually book, really sets the stage for our trip.

Thanks mrwundrfl and others, We are actually 5 weeks in to our trip when we arrive to Tokyo. We are using that city as a base for our day trips and its transportation options. Appreciate your feedback everyone.
MCS

Mrwunrfl, Do you use a data only eSIM card for your travels throughout Japan? Do you email hotels to confirm arrival or make contact for whatever reason? With such a language barrier would I even have a restaurant that I could call to make a dinner reservation? Rather have the hotel arrange for us for special dinner requiring reservations? I have never not had the ability to place a call, but I am asking if it is necessary in Japan? Thanks for all your advice and obvious knowledge.
Mike

>> Do you use a data only eSIM card for your travels throughout Japan?
Yes. I did not see (Amazon) any voice+data option for my October trip to Japan. I was just curious about that option. Saw something about the necessity of renting a phone to get voice or otherwise setting it up after arrival in Japan. That seemed like too much hassle given that I figured that I would not need it and, anyway, I don't speak Japanese so who was I going to call.

>> Do you email hotels to confirm arrival or make contact for whatever reason?
Yes. I email in English and the replies are often in Japanese. I use the Translate to English option (in Yahoo mail in Edge browser) or c/p into Google translate. That works: the Nihonjin obviously was doing the same,

I have booked lodging at places whose website is only in Japanese (most recently a Kyushu ryokan in 2023). I booked the Rihga Royal in Hiroshima years ago using the Japanese webpage because it offered a substantial discount that was not offered on their English page (forwarded the Japanese confirmation email to KimJapan to translate even though I got the gist of it - the date, #guests, rate were correct).

>> With such a language barrier would I even have a restaurant that I could call to make a dinner reservation?
It is possible. I don't make meal reservations, but the basics of the communication are date, time, number of guests, right? That is easy enough to communicate. See if you can book online in English or Japanese.

>> Rather have the hotel arrange for us for special dinner requiring reservations.
That would work best. You are more likely to find an English speaker at a hotel than restaurant. Definitely do that if you have any dietary restrictions. You can also book a reservation in person at the restaurant via a translator app. Fully expect that they will have a translator app

>> I have never not had the ability to place a call, but I am asking if it is necessary in Japan?
It is not necessary. I have never had the ability, or need, to place a call in Japan. I did try once on a pay phone, about 20 years ago, but it failed.

Just rembered that I could have booked the Kyushu ryokan on the agoda website in English but it only offered the standard dinner. The Japanese website for the place had several options.

MrWunrfl and others. thank you so much for your reply and valuable information. I looked online and did find one company in Japan that offers voice and data package. Mobal. They offer a 30 day plan with 7GB data and voice and text, however you pay a small fee for this per call or text. 7,920 yen per month. I am going to stick with the data only per your advice.
On another note do you think I should be ok to buy my train tickets the day before for Asakusa station to Nikko and also to Kamakura. Those are our planned day trips from Tokyo . We will also head by train to Matsumoto, bus to Takayama and Kanazawa I believe. Train from Kanazawa to Kyoto. Train Kyoyo to Nara day trip. Train Kyoto to Hiroshima. Hiroshima fast train to Tokyo and then Narita express to airport.
If I remember your previous response the only reserve ahead of time was the Hiroshima to Tokyo leg ? For our 21 days in Japan would you buy a Suica card online in USA? Secondly, the standard Suica with refundable deposit or just a welcome Suica card. I do not know if you or others use the card for dining . Do you prefer this card to buy your longer range train trips or a American visa card? Sure do appreciate all your tips and wisdom.
Mike

>> Mobal. They offer a 30 day plan with 7GB data and voice and text, however you pay a small fee for this per call or text. 7,920 yen per month. I am going to stick with the data only per your advice.

Data-only for 10GB ¥3,850 over 31 days. Much better than ¥7,920 to get voice/sms that you likely won't need and you get more data. I might pay ¥5000 but not ¥7,920. Mobal uses Docomo network, so :tu:

>> the day before for Asakusa station to Nikko and also to Kamakura
For Nikko I assume you mean the Tobu Railway express train from Tobu Asakusa station tto Tobu Nikko station. IDK much about that line. Nikko is very popular, and I would want to get reserved seats in advance. IDK how far in advance.

For Kamakura you will use JR ordinary trains (remember that ordinary means local or rapid and no reserved seats) and maybe subway. You could have figured that out using google or rome2rio or jorudan (e.g. This is the transit route of the search result from Asakusa to Kamakura - Japan Transit Planner | Norikae Annai)

>> If I remember your previous response the only reserve ahead of time was the Hiroshima to Tokyo leg ?
Yes, that and the Narita Express. And those bus rides in Japan Alps.

The N'ex requires seat reservations. The reason you want the Hiroshima to Tokyo seats in advance is because there will be pax who book seats between intermediate points (Hiroshima to Kyoto, shin-Osaka to Nagoya or Tokyo, Hakata to Tokyo, etc) but you want the same seat for the trip. And you want to get to Narita at a certain time.

For that trip, I would consider it a necessity to get seats in advance. It is a good idea to do the same for the other trips for which reserved seats are available (i.e. shinkansen and JR limited express trains).

Reserved seats are worth it.

To Kyoto you take shinkansen to Tsuruga and transfer to a l'ex. IDK what the capacity or frequency is. I would expect there to be quite a few empty seats, but who knows.

To Hiroshima is a shinkansen. They have high capacity and frequency. And they are popular. You really don't want to end up standing in an unreserved car.

To Matsumoto is a l'ex and you can just show up for that and go unreserved. Probably :)

Hello Fodors, Thank you for your help with our trip planning so far. I was planning on picking up a data only e sim at Haneda on arrival and also a Welcome Suica card. I have seen a few posts when researching these cards and on more than one occasion a comment was made that you can not use a Visa card for buying and or topping off the cards? We currently only use a Visa card. Can anyone please speak to this issue? MCS

Follow up, The Welcome card requires cash only for purchase. What I meant to ask is are any of these cards available to purchase via US bank card? we load up a Schwab debit card for cash withdrawal in travel outside US to eliminate ATM funds. However, we tend to limit cash withdrawal to once a week. Thanks.

>> However, we tend to limit cash withdrawal to once a week.

Ok, it is a tendency of yours. So?

That seems arbitrary to me. Get some cash at the airport ATM when you arrive. Get more if/when you need it. Use up your cash to partially pay for your final lodging bill.

The question is the same and I did not see your answer MrWunrfl. I have looked on Japan guide and other google search but I can not see if one of the cards allow me to purchase via Visa card and also top off with the bank card. You may prefer to visit atms more frequently then us. We look at it as wasted travel time but again thats just us. If Japan prefers a bank card other than Visa then I would have to get one before our trip? We also in the past have paid for most of our dining, exhibits etc. via a card not cash. In Tokyo for example, do most Fodor's travelers go to a bank for ATM withdrawal? Thanks everyone