Originally Posted by
AlwaysAisle
- What is the length of your trip?
- "3. Want to cover all the major cities and tourist attractions." To literally achieve this, you will need more than a month, two months, or more
- ...
- What is your interest, what you want to do and see in Japan? Or what was the reason you decided on a trip to Japan in the first place?
Originally Posted by
LapLap
Visitors who do successfully get through an ambitious itinerary in the summer are those who are HIGHLY motivated. These are visitors who already know what it is they want to see and do. Questions from this kind of visitor are about exploring options and enquiring about pitfalls, specific queries related to their plans/interests.
If what you want to see and do feels a little hard to tackle, it can be useful to ask yourself more along the lines of
- What do you want to pass on - some people have no interest in shopping, Disney, Nintendo, Pokemon, cities, countryside, anime, museums, shrines/temples, really large crowds, or mix of all these. You can ignore sushi and wagyu, so no need to dive down those research rabbit holes or arrange travel around hardest to get dining reservations. My similar age friends and I travel in Japan quite differently when left to our own choices. If we go together, we prioritize, compromise, and designate time to split to do what is important to our own interests. They are all valid ways of experiencing Japan.
- What is your travel speed? Some really like short jaunts of 24-72 hours max per city. Others travel slower and want at least a week.
- Is anyone/everyone ok with staying away from social media Japan travel influencers recommendations or passing up short/tiktok "must do!" and "must buy!" lists? If not, allocate a lot of time to lines. Queueing is practically a national pastime in Japan and current influencer hot spots can have the longest.
- Would you be ok with planning another trip to Japan in the future? Perhaps this is a budget, time, or health thing which limits repeat visits, but sometimes people decide they really do enjoy traveling Japan and then it changes from "cover all the major cities and tourist attractions" in one trip to perhaps seeing the highlights and what you might want to revisit later. Or deciding that you'd like to explore another area of the world, first, like Shanghai or Beijing.
Shanghai and Beijing summers are also unpleasant for people not from hot and humid areas. These cities are also large and I usually don't see people asking to purposely make a combo trip, though it can be a flight layover option. Personally, though it is a long way off, I'd still try to book nonstop flights between your home nation and Japan if possible, especially with the conflicts which are restricting air space and flights.
Last edited by freecia; Mar 20, 2026 at 8:14 pm