Taking the family (4 adults) to Japan in July. I know we are starting late with the planning but I am seeking advice in what to make sure we see.

On the list already are Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima.

Looking for advice on 1) What others cities to consider and 2) What to make sure and see within each of these 4.

Plan to be on the ground there for about 14 days.

Thanks in advance.

Good routing already, I'd put Hakone in there for an onsen experience especially with all adult travelers.

Also, if anyone has stayed at some good, reasonably priced hotels that they would recommend that would be very useful.

We don't need fancy. Clean and well located is paramount.

It will be hot and humid, so prepare for that.

My wife and I just spent 2 weeks there in October. We spent 5 nights in Tokyo, 3 in Osaka, then 5 in Kyoto before spending our last night in Tokyo before flying back.

Three nights in Osaka was plenty, and we took a day trip to Nara from there for one of the days. I highly recommend the day trip to Nara. It was a 45 minute commuter train ride from Osaka and I think a bit longer from Kyoto. The famous Nara deer are there and they are taught to bow for food rewards, but they can get aggressive if you have food in your hands. Our favorite temple we visited on the trip, Todai-ji (big Buddha temple) is there. Also one of our favorite meals of the entire trip was at Zagin Sobu in Nara and walking distance from the train stop (excellent ramen).

In Tokyo, visit Shinjuku in the evening to see the 3D cat, giant Godzilla and if you are interested in bar hopping for a night, the Golden Gai bar district. We enjoyed Tokyo Skytree as well, it's the highest observation tower in the world. It's near the best temple to visit in Tokyo, Senso-ji, so we did both in one morning.

Definitely visit Fushimi Anari Taisha (orange gates temple) in Kyoto. We stayed at the Kyoto Hilton, which was a great location for walking around downtown Kyoto. We felt the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest was a bit overrated. Finally, two excellent meals in Kyoto were Katsukura Tonkatsu (breaded, fried pork) and Chao Chao Gyoza (japanese dumplings).

If you have larger luggage, or two carry on per person, look into luggage transfer services at your hotels. There's little overhead room on the shinkasen (city to city bullet trains) and for larger luggage like you would check on a flight, you have to reserve space for it and there isn't a lot of space available. We transfered our larger suitcases and traveled with our carry on on the trains. Made it a lot easier to navigate the train stations too. Very reliable and reasonably priced. You get the suitcases the next day.

One more thing, I wouldn't add another city to stay in, 4 is plenty. Then look at day trips like I recommended for Nara.

You're going to have an incredible trip but I'm going to be direct: July in Japan is peak season, and you're already tight on timing. Biggest mistake I see. Waiting. Right now, hotels, guides, and tours are booking out and some in-country operators are already limiting new requests. I only say this as I have several clients traveling to Japan this summer.
If you want this to go smoothly, lock in ASAP:

• Hotels in prime locations
• Private guides (Kyoto/Tokyo)
• Timed tickets + trains

Your route is great just don't over pack. Add Nara or Hakone at most and keep it strategic.
I work with a lot of Japan clients and am already seeing limited availability for summer. If you want help securing everything, my contact info is in my bio.

How many days are you planning on spending in Osaka? Aside from Universal Studios and the Osaka Castle, there isn't much to do there that you couldn't do in Tokyo or Kyoto. Osaka is basically a smaller version of Tokyo, so I wouldn't spend more than a few days there.

I say this with all sincerity, go to a Women's Professional Wrestling match.


I bought tickets to one thinking it was a regular WWE match and found out later it was a Women's league. It was one of the most bizarre and wonderful cultural experiences of my life.

The venue was in a random warehouse right on the bay. Despite what you might think it was not a bunch of old creepers ogling young women who pranced around the ring. I was for sure the only westerner but the crowd was a good mix of men and women from all age groups. They wrestlers also went all out.

I mean they really beat the **** out of each other. Like bruises forming during the match. I had purchased a premium seat which translated to a chair at the ringside. At one point a wrestler was thrown head first directly into the chairs and I caught a stray foot as I scrambled to get out of the way. The matches themselves were over the top and not speaking Japanese didn't matter. I could still follow along with the storylines, who was the heel, etc. The night finished with a battle royal of 5 or 6 wrestlers going all at once, no team mates.

At one point I found myself looking around and thinking, "WTF is going on and how did I end up here?". Everyone was super nice though and genuinely seemed happy that I was interested and in attendance.

Here is the official league website. It looks like they have some matches at the end of July!
https://seadlinnng.com/

You should also see if Baseball or a Sumo Tournament is in season. The baseball games are a lot of fun, and seeing sumo wrestling is on my bucket list.

Captain Winky said:

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You should also see if Baseball or a Sumo Tournament is in season. The baseball games are a lot of fun, and seeing sumo wrestling is on my bucket list.

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Agreed on the baseball game. I saw the Chiba Marines but the Tokyo Dome is on my bucket list.

Since it's both hot and a very busy season, you definitely should plan really early visits to the sites. Most temples and shrines open at 6AM. Late October was mid busy compared to summer and cherry blossom season. We were lazy and arrived in the 8AM to 9AM range and usually it got too crowded by the time we finished up. I bet everything will be slammed by 8AM everywhere in July.

I'lll second getting to places early. The temples and shrines fill up quickly early in the morning. Also, don't underestimate the heat. Almost everything is outside, and it is relentless.

One more thing would be to take advantage of the food at 7-11.

We're going in late July 16~27 : Kanazawa, Kyoto and Tokyo.

This thread has been super helpful, thanks to everyone that's posted tips.

An additional note on Shrines and Temples

Consider buying a Goshuincho aka a Book of Seals
https://www.japan.travel/en/blog/collecting-goshuin-shrine-and-temple-stamps/

When you visit a shrine or temple you can have the seal (Goshuin) of that shrine or temple stamped and inscribed in your Goshuincho. It's basically a record of your visit that day. The Goshuin are usually less than 500 yen and the priest/attendant will fill it out for you. You can buy the books online but most larger temples or shrines will offer them for sale. I've also found the selection to be much better in Japan vs online. Because it's considered a sacred book, you wouldn't put other stamps in it (like train station stamps). This is the one that I got in Sensoji, but the have more plain ones too.


And here is what the seals look like


Sometime they will have premade ones if for special occasions or if it is exceptionally busy. You just paste them in when you get home. This is one was handed out during the Cherry Blossom season


Looking back it's probably my favorite souvenir of my trip and a cool reminder of all the places I went. Also there are so many shrines and temples that you should look at branching out beyond the big ones. One of my favorites was the Temple for Tobi Fudo. He is the deity associated with safe flights. I ended up buying an Ema (wooden prayer/wish board) and writing the name and number of my flight home on it to hang at the temple for good luck. I also bought a little Tobi Fudo sticker which goes everywhere with me on my laptop
https://www.gltjp.com/en/directory/item/13933/