Hi looking at a longer haul holiday this year and Japan is one on the list, anyone been recently? So usual questions
Where to go
what to do
When to go
Where to stay

We would like to use the trains and get around a bit especially to the mountains and sea…I like the mountains SO likes them sea…

Any vegetarians been? Or what it like for vegetarians?

All help welcome!

Travelled there in 2008 for Honeymoon. Fully guided involving bikes to get around (not tremendous distances, bus backup)

Write up here – Tea and Temples

The company still run the trip – easily accessible from their website – I won’t link here (I have no commercial interest anyway but just to be sure…)

Have heard that its a challenge finding the good parts away from the cities if you’re not a native speaker. Absolutely extraordinary trip for us and worth the money. Not to everyone’s taste though

TM

We waved goodbye to our newly made friends at Obama and headed north again to Japan’s “Lake District”, and had a taste of the local precipitation. Riding around the edge of a big lake once the rain had stopped with the adjacent plum trees dripping with rain was atmospheric beyond belief and soon we arrived at what become known at “the James Bond hotel”. I half expected a monorail to be hidden around every corner, whisking uniformed workers off to the secret part of the installation, such was the uniqueness of this lakeside hideaway. Sitting outside on the balcony sipping Asahi Dry beer watching birds of prey (Ospreys I think) dive for fish into the lake remains one of my very fond memories of the whole trip.

*sigh*

TM

We’re going at the end of March so I asked much the same question on here, many people were very kind in sharing their experiences;

Things to do in Japan

I went in 2014 for 10 days. Had a great time. If you email me I can send you our itinerary if you like. I would recommend doing a lot of organising beforehand – this came as a complete shock to me as I usually just book a flight somewhere and sort everything else out when I land. In Japan I’d suggest you have every night booked, and know what train tickets you need to buy – there are various passes, some are better value than others.

We went to Osaka, Nara, Koya-san, Kyoto, Arashyama, Kinosaki, Tokyo. Mostly city and culture based, as I’d heard non-natives can struggle in rural parts. We’d just had 2 months in Nepal and had 2 months coming up in Thailand so weren’t that bothered about mountains or beaches!

Thanks both…..

Much food is based on fish stock. Kaiseki Ryori is ace, but a bit pricey.

Lived there for a while, went back last year for another visit. Really you can’t go far wrong with the obvious tourist stuff – it’s popular and well-known for a reason (and also well organised for visitors, though remember that the vast majority of tourists in Japan are…Japanese).

The Magome to Tsumago section of the Nakasendo trail is a good bit of old japan and countryside rolled into one. Took my parents there but transport out of season is a bit limited. Easier logistically is Hakone and the Tokaido trail (these -do things are the original old long-distance transport routes that connected the country in early days).

Despite Japan’s buddhist history and culture, vegetarians struggle. There is some great vegetarian food, but it’s not available everywhere. I’ve known a visitor make do by eating the garnish off a fish dish – not my guest, I wasn’t responsible for that! I really recommend you try to relax your standards if you are strict. It’s only for a couple of weeks and will save a shed-load of stress and effort.

either starve or accept that almost everything you eat has fish sauce or fish stock in it

I spend quite a bit of time in Japan as a Longhaul pilot, mainly around the Tokyo Area.

For getting around by train, look at a website called Hyperdia. Once you get your head around the JR system it’s very logical, but quite daunting.

If you are there in July/August, that’s Fuji season! It’s climbed at night, and approximately 5000 people per day head to the summit to see dawn.

Head down to Kamakura on Tokyo bay, for Temples, Shrines, beach and a bit of a surfer vibe.

Catch the train to the end of the line at Hakone (or cycle up it!) – a mountain lake spa town famous for hot springs and outdoor art.

If you need help with signs, how to operate ticket machine, someone will always help if you look lost. and there are probably apps these days that will do it for you.

We’ve been there 3 times.

1. Honeymoon – 1 week in Tokyo (Park Hotel), 1 week in Kyoto (Westin Miyako) and day trips to Nara and a couple of other places. Middle of May. We didn’t plan too much, other than getting from one city to the other. Totally great and had fun exploring, getting lost and seeing a few sights. The great budha in Nara was worth the trip (plus the feeding the deer and seeing the carvings that Asuka from Street Fighter is based on).
2. with 18 month old – 2 weeks in Kyoto (Kyoto Royal Hotel [not as nice as Westin Miyako]) with a day trip to Osaka. Kyoto was lovely as ever, we even caught the start of the plum blossoms (just before the cherry blossom season, which is expensive). We were a lot more planned this time, as we knew what we had missed and what we could do with a toddler. Osaka wasn’t that great, and I don’t think I’d bother again.
3. with 3 year old and 18 month old – 2 weeks in Tokyo (Park Hotel again) + Disneyland in early October. Also great. Again, more planning. This time taking river cruises, visiting Tokyo Tower, seeing a few more sights.

There’s still more we want to see and do (also want to go to Okinawa sometime), but next holiday is a different country.

Cheers for the replies, been a vegetarian for 25 years plus so will struggle but the garnish off the fish is okay.

Went for 2 weeks in September, my son lives in Kyoto. Travelled mainly around Kyoto area, amazing shrines/temples, everywhere was so clean and safe. You have to bear in mind that it is a very dense urban structure, but once you get into the small streets it is so interesting. As in previous posts veggie food can be problematic and you do end up having soups/sauces that contain fish/meat.

Would love to go back 🙂

I visited a few years ago and would recommend Kyoto highly. We visited the snow monkeys at Jigokudani in February and stayed in a ryokan (guesthouse) with onsen (hot baths) and would highly recommend it if you travel in winter. Both these areas were very well set up for tourists with English /roman alphabet on the buses / trains and tourist office personnel at Yudanaka train station helping people find their accommodation. As a veggie, the ryokan was very good (I told them when I booked) to the point where the waitress interrupted and swapped a dish, apologising like crazy because the miso soup had dashi (fish stock) in it.

In Kyoto, there are plenty of touristy places that will understand foreigners being vegetarian. However, sometimes and especially in the middle of the day when we hadn’t planned where we were I ended up with a serving of fries from a fast food place or a salad and boiled egg (note the Japanese also serve raw egg).

For a special night, and if you like tofu, ask if there is a tofu restaurant near where you are staying. If you are very strict veggie then consider planning where to eat before you go out and grabbing lunches from supermarkets etc. Definitely best to try and learn a few keys words anyway – please, thank-you, I don’t eat meat or fish. There are a limited number of Japanese Buddhists who adhere to a vegetarian diet, shojin ryori, and therefore there are vegetarian restaurants in most major cities.