squeakr

We are planning a trip to Japan from Xmas through Jan 6-7. We want to fly in/our of Osaka and visit Kyoto, Nara and maybe some smaller towns. But we're reading that many things shut down between Jan 1-4.
1. Is that true even of lodging? Our tentative plan is to say in Isaka thorough Xmas, Kyoto for a few days, Nara for a couple of days and then maybe smaller towns before we return to Osaka.
2. Is there anything we should be sure not to miss in that area? I realize it will be cold and maybe even snowing.
3. We have never been to Asia and am a bit intimidated about being somewhere where we can't even read street signs. So will small towns be more of an issue in that way during a holiday?
4. Any other general advice? We have traveled quite a bit in US, Canada, Europe and New Zealand on our own so we're pretty seasoned but this will be new for us.

Gradfly

The best resource to start, IMHO, is here: Visiting Japan During New Years.

1. - Lodging is still open but the period around Jan 1-3 is high season for some areas like Kyoto and the resort/onsen towns. If you're looking at traditional lodging like ryokan, some places open booking as far as 6mo in advance while others open at 3mo. Expect to pay higher than normal rates.
2. - It will be cold, but not that cold. I'd expect snow if you go further up north like to Nagano or Hokkaido.
3. - Depends on the small town. If the tourist presence is heavy, you should be OK. I found that Google Maps works pretty well in Japan. The maps.me app is a good option if want something that doesn't require data. One thing you should do is bring along business cards or small maps showing the location of attractions, hotels, restaurants, etc. They it make easier to ask for help in case you get lost.
4. - Be prepared for crowds and sharing small spaces with lots of other people. Public transportation in Japan is leaps and bounds ahead of anything in the US or Canada. Consider getting one of the regional rail/metro passes, on top of the IC cards, if your schedule has lots of travel between cities. (see here)

AlwaysAisle

No, lodging will be open. However, you should check with the lodging that which service will be closed during New Year. Not unusual that not all service will be open. Also, during New Years restaurants at hotels tends to be very busy because those tend to be few restaurants guarantee to be open during New Years.

It can snow, snow will not accumulate but last December between Christmas and New Years I was at Kyoto and it snowed at Kyoto.

Especially in a small town likely there is less English signs and no people who speak English. Also, especially in a small town everything (restaurants and shops) likely to be closed during New Years. You will likely to find things open at big cities during New Years. However, even in big cities a trend of past two to three years is to close business during New Years like old days. Even in big city of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto they observed more business closed during New Years than previous New Year.

Far East countries are very different in culture and language than places you have visited. Some people love Japan because of those differences, something they have never experienced before. Same time some people have overwhelmed, not enjoyed a lot, because of those differences.

If you have any concerns, then my advise is you should make your first visit to Japan or Far East countries to be a visit of a week or less, not 12 days long.

P.S.
Should add, New Years is a time to party in the U.S. However, New Years in Japan is not. New Years is a biggest religious holiday in Japan. People typically spend time with their family or friends, then go to a shrine or a temple for New Years wish. There will be no lavish fire work. In Japan fire work is summer event.

ksandness

Unlike most Western countries, New Year's is a family holiday, the one that everyone wants to go home for. (Christmas Eve is the big "go out on the town" night in that 99% non-Christian country.)

Temples and shrines will be open, especially since it is customary to go to one's local shrine at midnight on December 31 to pray for good luck in the coming year, but restaurants and shopping may be difficult. Even in the big cities, a restaurant owner whose parents or grandparents live in the countryside may shut down and go visit them. However, convenience stores brag about being open every day of the year, and you can easily pick up light meals, drinks, and other necessities there and use their ATMs. (The ATMs at the 7-11s take U.S.-based debit cards, as do the ones at post offices. Most other ATMs do not.)

While the first three days of the New Year may be problematic, the period before and after is just fine.

It is likely that you will be flying into Kansai International Airport (KIX), which a lot of U.S. airline types refer to as "Osaka," although it is on an artificial island in the bay quite a distance from the actual city. From KIX it is equally easy to reach Osaka or Kyoto by the Haruka express train, so I would suggest going to Kyoto first, spending the New Year's period in Osaka, which is not such a tourist destination, and then saving your small town adventure for the last part of the trip.

The cities in the area are closer together than you might think. Nara is only 30 minutes by train from Kyoto, and Osaka can easily serve as a base for day trips to Kobe and Himeji, maybe even Hiroshima, if you get up early enough.

For information on what "not to miss," that varies from person to person. I suggest going to your nearest major bookstore and buying a guidebook for Kyoto. There are several out there, and they all contain information on the rest of the Kansai region.

If you have to match your trip to a school vacation, winter is certainly more comfortable than summer. As a resident of the Bay Area, you will not be accustomed to the heat and humidity that plague places like Osaka (and especially Kyoto) in the summer. During the period you are planning on visiting, daytime highs will probably be in the high 30s to low 40s Fahrenheit, with dry air and little or no precipitation, and although it may snow in some years, the snow quickly melts in the urban areas, although perhaps not at higher elevations. I once led a January Term trip to Japan for college students, and there was no snow anywhere until we took a day trip to Hida-Takayama (located in the foothills of the mountains between Tokyo and Nagoya) and found ourselves in ankle-deep snow.

As far as language is concerned, all train station and airport signs are in Japanese and English, and sometimes Korean and Chinese as well. All Japanese people under the age of about 70 have studied some English in school. This does NOT mean that they speak it--the prospect of speaking English may terrify them--but most younger people can read simple written English at the very least or can call upon a friend who is more proficient.

To simplify getting to your first hotel, print out the map that will be on the Japanese-language version of the hotel's website. After you have taken the train to your first city, show that map to the taxi driver.

Of all the Asian countries, Japan is one of the easiest for English-speaking visitors, so I see no reason to limit your trip to fewer than 12 days.

CrazyInteg

If you like aquatic life, then the aquarium is a must see.
If you're into coffee I would recommend the UCC coffee museum.
If you like alcohol, I would recommencement a sake brewery tour or three.
Kobe beef. I'm from Nebraska and was blown away by the Kobe beef.

squeakr

This is all such helpful information – thank you.
I didn’t realize Kyoto was close to the airport or at least as close as Osaka proper so we may rejigger our visit based on the advice given here. Happy to hear more if anyone would like to add I didn’t realize Kyoto was close to the airport or at least as close as Osaka proper so we may rejigger our visit based on the advice given here. Happy to hear more if anyone would like to add anything.

northsideguy

May I offer a word of advice. You may want to rent a pocket wifi. They are very popular in Japan. Many companies will have it shipped to the airport for your arrival or directly to your hotel. I used it often, and can recommend a company I use.

There are two airport for Osaka. Kansai, KIX, is the larger airport for international flights and a few domestic flights. Itami, ITM, is the domestic airport in case you want to fly domestically. Both are accessible by train.

If you are going to be taking the bullet trains, Shinkasen and Haruka Express, do not stop at the main Osaka Station, but a station called Shin-Osaka. In Kyoto, they stop at the main Kyoto Station. The fastest way from KIX to Kyoto is the Haruka Express. It will take about 1 hour 20 minutes, but it is a train with luggage racks which other trains do not have.

Growing up (I’m American Japanese) on New Year’s day we enjoyed a special soup called Ozoni. It is believed eating this will bring good fortune in the New Year. Ozoni varys from prefecture to prefecture, and the Kansai style is a miso based soup with mochi and other ingredients. I am sure you hotel staff can recommend a place to try Ozoni.


In

freecia

Small towns can be quite limited in food and public transit options. I’d advise a ryokan stay with dinner and breakfast included. Many will also offer a shuttle ride to/from the train station. Advise them of any dietary restrictions when booking. Since your schedule has some ordering flexibility, I’d spend New Year in a bigger city to take advantage of lower rates and at a ryokan before the New Year rush (and high season prices).

Reading - it can be useful to learn 1-10, entrance, and exit in kanji. Sometimes prices are written in kanji and signs for enter/exit on buses. You can always use the calculator function to ask for total price and follow where people are getting on vs off, but it might be a little less stressful to learn just these few things.

Pureboy

If you are reasonably tech savvy then smartphone apps can make your life easier. Between Hyperdia (web version) and google maps, getting around Japan is easier than ever. If your phone won't work there or the rates are prohibitively expensive, definitely rent a Japanese smartphone or a pocket mi-fi. In a store in Tokyo frequented by Anglo tourists, the Japanese staff all had devices that did 2-way audio translation. I'd see if there are some recommended apps for that.

I agree about learning a few basic kanji, and if you are really ambitious, learning a few phrases and reading hiragana and even katakana: 2 similar phonetic alphabets that some find daunting but in college I picked up in about 2 days.

One important thing to know is that (in my experience) outside of Tokyo, random strangers in general will go out of their way to be as helpful as possible to friendly tourists. They may know some basic English but are generally afraid to use it. I had many experiences in my travels around Japan where folks would walk with me to a destination I was looking for. So while I understand the apprehension, I wouldn't be worried about being totally lost somewhere with no recourse or assistance.

Gradfly

I encountered that a couple of times this past winter. First time was in a Osaka subway station. I had an issue with my IC card and tried to talk to the station agent. He pulled out a tablet (Ipad I think), spoke to it, and then the tablet spoke back in English. Other time was at the Seiko after service center in Tokyo. My concierge directed me to this place, so I had assumed someone spoke English. As soon as I spoke, the service attendant takes out a tablet and starts a video conferencing app. On the other end was an interpreter, who facilitated the entire conversation.

RichardInSF

If you can't find lodging that meets your requirements in Kyoto or Nara, bear in mind that Kyoto is only a 30 minute train ride from either Osaka or shin-Osaka station. Nara, admittedly, is a bit longer at 50 minutes. Since a lot of people travel to see relatives in the countryside or travel internationally, the big cities (i.e. Tokyo or Osaka) can have plenty of availability during this period.

evergrn

As Gladfly said, get one of the train passes.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357_kansai.html

Since you're going to be there for a long time, I would consider going to Hiroshima, especially Miyajima. Miyajima is fabulous.
If you plan it right, you could do both Hiroshima Peace Park and Miyajima (5-6hrs in Miyajima) as a long, but manageable, day trip from Kansai.

You should really consider doing spending one night at an onsen. Kinosaki is a good one.

Dec-Jan is really a great time to visit Kansai, weather-wise.

MSPeconomist

Since you're in the area, I think Kobe (and its castle) is worth visiting. I wouldn't do more than two days in Nara, while I think Kyoto deserves more than two or three days. Kyoto has a very respected lacquer producer with showroom/museum on the edge of town IIRC which is very interesting and somewhat different from the other things you're likely to do in Kyoto. I like the idea of doing Hiroshima on your trip.

I don't think it's common in Japan (versus Southeast Asia) but make sure that your hotel doesn't require an expensive NYE party or banquet dinner. If it matters, check whether hotel restaurants, spa facilities, etc., will be open as usual during this period.

ksandness

Wait, Kobe has a castle? I find castle ruins on Google Maps, but no complete castles.

Do you perhaps mean Himeji, which is within easy day trip distance of the major Kansai cities?

tide

Be aware many attractions may be closed before Jan 1 but I think, as others have said, New Year’s provides a unique lens into Japan.

Don’t need to learn Kanji or Hiranaga. Most signs in big cities will be romanized and for all else, use Google Translate to live translate signs, labels etc in real time.