My wife and I were in Japan for 2 weeks (7/19–8/1) and would like to share our experience.
This was our second trip to Japan in 12 months. We're middle-aged travelers in good health.
Original Plan:
Tokyo – Hiroshima – Osaka (flying into Narita and out from Kansai).
Revised Plan (after air-tickets to Japan and Taiwan were purchased):
Tokyo – Sapporo – Osaka; wife was concerned about the heat and thought Sapporo would be cooler. Unfortunately, Sapporo was quite hot in July.
Planning
Reddit and YouTube videos to find places of interest in Tokyo and Sapporo.
Budget
Roughly around USD $5–6K (excluding personal spending). I believe we ended up spending slightly more. Here's a rough breakdown:
Flights – US$2,700 total:
- International: LAX – Narita; Kansai – Taipei – LAX
- Domestic: Narita – New Chitose – Kansai
- Additional: My one-way ticket from Hong Kong to Narita
HK Express (HKG–NRT):
Affordable ticket, older plane and arrived on time at 7:00 AM. Likely won't fly again.
Peach Aviation (NRT–CTS–KIX):
On-time flights, newer planes, excellent ground staff at CTS.
- NRT–CTS: Smooth, despite our carry-ons exceeding the weight limit.
- CTS–KIX: Our bags were overweight. We had to put some items to the checked bag and also checked my larger backpack. The nice ground staff helped us along the way and tagged the remaining overweight carry-on to bypass the gate check. No extra baggage fee was incurred.
Starlux Airlines:
Great value. Flew on the very new A350-plane with 32” legroom, new interiors, and more than decent food.
Accommodation
The average price per night was around USD $150 (including breakfast); about $30 – $40 more than we paid on the previous trip. I used Agoda and Trip.com for hotel reservation and selected each one based on reviews.
Tokyo
- Asakusa Tobu Hotel
Located Across from Tobu Asakusa Station and a 2-minute walk to the Ginza Line entrance 7 and 8. Walking distance to Senso-ji Temple and all the tourist attractions in the area.
Clean and reasonably sized (~200 sq ft) room. Breakfast was decent but nothing special.
- Nippori Almont Hotel
About a 7-minute walk from Nippori Station. We had previously stayed at an Almont in Kyoto and loved it. This one did not disappoint: clean, good-sized room, very good breakfast with more varieties, and friendly staff.
We found an inexpensive Udon restaurant near the station (next to a DVD store and near Chinese pull-noodle joint); 2 bowls of udon with tempura for just ¥1,570—great value.
Ueno Park was a 20-minute walk from the Nippori Station.
Sapporo
- Keikyu EX Hotel (at a Super convenient location)
2-minute walk from Sapporo Station West Exit. It’s also only one subway station from the city center; Hokkaido University is also within walking distance.
Room was clean and comfortable, but the breakfast ranked lowest of all our stays.
A Lawson is located next door; 2 large bookstores and a huge electronics store are across the street; a large mall is also right next to the Sapporo Station.
Osaka
- Odysis Suites Osaka Airport Hotel (1 Night)
Located at Rinku Town Station, shared building with Stargate Hotel; the room we stayed was surprisingly large (~300 sq ft).
Breakfast is served on the 54th floor with a stunning view of Kansai Airport and Osaka. Food was just okay, but the view made up for it.
Transportation
SUICA and JR Passes
SUICA Cards: We purchased them at a JR counter at Narita Airport terminal 2; we used the card in both Tokyo and Sapporo.
JR Passes:
Tokyo Wide Area Pass: We bought this at Narita terminal 2 JR Office using credit card as I was unable to buy them on the JR site before the trip.
Sapporo-Furano Pass: Bought via Klook pre-trip (saved ¥1,000 each). Redeemed at New Chitose Airport. Each pass came with a protective sleeve.
One-way local train tickets
Used vending machines quite a few times to use up coins. The purchases were smooth except I got stuck once buying express train ticket from Sapporo Station to New Chitose Airport.
Bus rides
Bus rides could be expensive outside of Tokyo. We paid 9,360-yen roundtrip from Karuizawa to Kusatsu; only viable non-driving option.
Nikko Bus Passes: 4,600 yen for two. Quite expensive but still cheaper than renting a car.
Taxi Travel
Used taxis five times to avoid heat or when transferring between hotels in Tokyo.
- 2,200 yen to transfer from Asakusa to Nippori; no need to carry all the luggage up and down the subway.
- 2,840 yen from Biei Station to Shikisai-no-oka in Hokkaido
Phone Service
Used Ubigi eSIM (10GB / 30 days for $17). Good connection in all cities visited.
- I used ~8GB (mostly Google Maps and sending photos).
- My wife used ~9GB (mostly YouTube).
- Don’t forget to apply a discount code if using Ubigi.
- Also used Ubigi in Hong Kong to avoid real-name SIM registration.
Food and Drinks
We averaged US$30/day per person.
We ate a good breakfast at hotel before daily activities so lunch was often snacks or something light. We ate a proper dinner each evening. All dining experiences we had were at least decent, some better than expected. We also consumed a lot of soft-serve ice cream and water.
Cash vs. Credit Card
We used credit cards, when possible, mainly at restaurants, for larger purchases, and admission tickets. We also used quite a bit of cash for small items like snacks, transport, and drinks or places only accept cash. We withdrew yen using a no-fee debit card from ATMs.
Immigration and Airport Experience
Arrival (Narita):
Despite pre-registering with Visit Japan Web, I was advised by a staff at the arrival hall to use the paper card for faster processing. My wife spent 45 minutes in immigration due to multiple flights arriving around the time.
Departure (Kansai):
Security check took over 30 minutes due to long lines, not sure if it’s related to the Osaka Expo.
However, immigration clearance was quick; we spent about 5 minutes or so.
Places Visited
Forewarned by the people on Reddit, I did not plan many activities for this trip. Hence, for 4 days we just walked around different places in Tokyo and spend considerable time indoors. No sure if it’s a waste of time and money but I believe it was the best arrangement based on the circumstance.
Day Trips from Tokyo
Karuizawa: Took the 1.5-hour Shinkansen ride from Ueno. Visited Shiraito Falls and Kusatsu. The falls were a bit overrated, but Kusatsu made the trip worthwhile even on a rainy day. The plaza at Yubatake was nice with a free, onsen for the public to soak their feet in the plaza. The last bus back to Karuizawa station departs at 4:40pm; remember to buy ticket at the bus terminal, cash only. We stopped by the old town Karuizawa a little bit as many shops were closed by the time we returned. We just took a tax to the Karuizawa Outlet for dinner and headed back to to Tokyo by train.
Nikko: Took a 2-hour JR train there and then bus (bus day pass is 2,300 yen each) to the Kegon Falls. We went down to the observation deck (600-yen admission); the waterfall was magnificent. The Nikko Toshogu Shrine and the 2 other temples were beautiful as well; it was less crowded in the late afternoon. The Shinkyo Bridge was just alright; after a couple of pictures on the roadside, we headed back to Tokyo for dinner.
Atami:
Another 1.5 hours by JR from Ueno to this small beautiful coastal town. After lunch at a sushi place in one of the 2 shopping street, we took a bus to the Atami Ropeway (¥900 per person) that took us up the hill for the attractive view of the Pacific Ocean and the city. We went back to the same sushi restaurant for dinner; great food at a great price.
Sapporo
I noticed we spent more time walking for longer distance in Sapporo than in Tokyo. We walked over 20 minutes to a Toriton sushi location that’s close by our hotel and walked back after dinner. The sushi were tasty but not sure if it worths the 3 hours wait (arrived around 5pm and sat down after 8pm).
The underground shopping streets in Odori Park Station are VERY LONG and so as the Tanukikoji Shopping Street. The night scene at Odori Park was nice; we visited the Sapporo TV Tower observation deck one night. The view was beautiful but the observation deck is a bit small. We spent 2,600 yen on taxi fare to the Mt. Moiwa Ropeway only to find out it was closed for maintenance. I walked around the Hokkaido University campus for a couple of hours while the wife was shopping at the hall; it’s a beautiful campus with lot of trees; worth a visit for sure.
Otaru
It’s beautiful and definitely need to spend a day there. We took a 40-minute train ride to the South Otaru station and walked down the street to the music box store and the shopping area. We spent too much time at the Kitaichi Glass stores and at LeTao that we missed all other stores when the rain came. We took the ropeway to Tenguyama in late afternoon when the rain stopped; unfortunately, the fog was so thick and we could not see the city from up there. The cannel was beautiful at night time but the short boat ride was quite expensive.
Biei & Furano
We took an express train from Sapporo to Asahikawa then switched a local train to Biei and a taxi ride to Shikisai-no-oka. We asked a staffer at the information center (a short walk outside the train station) to call a taxi for us. The staff asked if I wanted a one-way or return taxi ride and I said one-way. We ended up walking 30 minutes from Shikisai-no-oka to Bibaushi Station after the visit because there were no taxis available.
Shikisai-no-oka is beautiful in late July with various flowers blooming; definitely worth at least 1.5 hours to walk around the farm and take pictures.
Farm Tomita: Not many lavenders were out there when we arrived in the afternoon; so, we were a bit disappointed when visiting Farm Tomita. We ended up staying at the farm longer than we should in order to catch the last Norokko Train of the day at the Lavender Farm Station back to Asahikawa and switched another train back to Sapporo.
Final Thoughts
Summer travel in Japan can be enjoyable despite the heat — just don’t overschedule, and allow time for rest and indoor activities.
We definitely had fun on this trip but we probably won’t plan to visit Japan again in summer any time soon.
by Inner-Movie9797