Lurker > plasmabeam

To follow up: I just got an email for Japan fares at $760 from my airport. Check yours and see if you can find something similar.

Do you work weekends? Because you can get that same AA Mon flight leaving Sat or Sun for the same price.

Main thing about Tokyo it's basically like any other huge city, but with the best version of everything. So just do all the stuff you normally do when visiting a city like NYC, and it will just be surprisingly awesome. Bars, restaurants, theater, museums, lazer tag, etc. That also means it has the most niche activities you can think of, at absurdly high qualities. Card game trading, synthesizer shops, gardening, knitting, archery, whatever. Seek out what you like.

One thing I've heard recommended but never used: Klook

You can sign up for sites like Going that will alert you when cheaper fares are on offer. They often alert me to flights to Tokyo in the $700-$800 range.

Which airport are you flying out of?

United code-shares with ANA. I know as that's who I flew with both times. If you can get the ANA flight for the Japan leg it's significantly better than the United version as you get more leg room and the plane / service just seemed nicer to me.

You still technically fly United but the flight is operated by ANA

The main shrine itself is only open 9-4 but the grounds are open all night. From what I remember the inside of the shrine didn't have that much in it. It's mainly the grounds that were the main attraction to me

Something to keep in mind with Osaka/Kyoto. They are super close to each other and Osaka hotels were small, expensive and far dirtier than the other hotels we stayed in. You can easily stay in a hotel in Kyoto that is nicer and cheaper and make the train ride to Osaka. That's what I would do if I ever did that area again

I saw someone mention Asakusa shrine which is definitely worth the visit but my advice is go on an evening. We got a hotel by there and went in the day and outside of the bamboo forest (which was ridiculous), it was the busiest place we saw in all our time there. We then walked by there in the evening to get food and everything was lit up but there was barely a soul around.

Oh which reminds me, the subway trains have a hard cutoff time and don't run all night. It was some time between 1230 and 1 iirc. Then they literally shut up the stations and no more trains run until like 6am or something. It was easy for us to Uber after that time but just keep it in mind so you don't get stuck. It's super safe to walk around the streets at night in most areas so it's also not a big deal to have a 1-2 mile walk home.

My wife used a website called Wanderlog to plan stuff out. I'll see if I can pull up what she did later. I didn't really use it but she found it super useful for planning.

Nagoya - Tokugawa Art Museum, it's located within a nice garden and it has the Genji scrolls. Honestly Nagoya is a good central location because it's easy to day trip to Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo.

Tokyo - it's huge and there's a lot to do. You could spend most of your time there and not get bored!

There are two ways I used to spend there. One is to pick two big things near each other (like the Imperial palace and the Akhabara district) and spend my day in that area. Or pick a subway line (for instance the ginza line) and visit Asakusa shrine (it's huge and touristy but not insultingly so) and then take the subway to the other side (Shibuya) and take some stops along the way.

Other people might have better ways to make an itinerary than I do, but I like an anchor (location, subway line).

For hotels I stayed in a lot over the ~4 weeks. The ones that my wife and I both liked the most in Tokyo was 'Ginza Capital Hotel Moegi' and 'Nippon Seinenkan Hotel Tokyo, Shinjuku'. The first one was a business hotel so pretty no frills but it was cheap, clean and in a convenient location (station directly outside the hotel). The second one was a high end hotel that I got on a great deal (about $100 a night), it's where the Olympians stayed and was an amazing hotel. Again had a station within 5 minutes walk.

With the JR Pass, we found it really wasn't worth it. It has changed just before we got there. We used Suica and Passmo (Pasmo?) for Tokyo travel and then just got bullet trains as needed for other locations. Make sure this will work with your phone before traveling, it would work with my wife's iPhone fine but would not work with my OnePlus without me messing around with the regional settings.

I would say make sure you plan on your trip extensively and factor in the jet lag is going to fuck you up for your first few days.

I feel like there are two types of hotels: places only to pass a night and places that are an experience in itself. For the former, we'd just book a hotel next to a major train station or a subway stop just for the efficiency. For the latter, I'd definitely recommend trying out some Japanese-specific accommodations. I've never been to a love hotel or booked one by accident and at least on booking.com, I thought it's pretty clear what each accommodation is.

Finally, I think the best experience we had was going to a completely random Japanese fishing village and renting an Airbnb there for a couple nights. All the places you've listed are going to be swarmed with tourists especially Kyoto and it's a totally different experience going to a quiet, rural place. Japan's super safe in general outside some seedy areas like in Roppongi and Kabukicho though so definitely don't be afraid to be bold. Just make sure you have a phone with a translation app to make all the fly translation.

ExThaNemesis posted... Are you using Tokyo as like a main hub and going exploring from there, or are you just wandering from city to city?

Nagoya is the best city in Japan tbh

The moss temple in Kyoto was really cool. I also like the 1000 Torii hike in Kyoto too.

-Nagasaki is my favorite city, but not much to do there aside from relax so it's hard to recommend unless you really want to just chill for a few days. Has some nice onsens (public bath/sauna type of deal) with amazing views, some looking over the ocean and one that overlooks the city but you can find similarly great onsens in other cities too. Also some amazing views to see without having to be naked in an onsen, can't remember the name of it but you can take a cable car up above the city and the view is amazing at night seeing the city right along the ocean. Pretty nice restaurant up there too.

-I remember doing a bit of hiking and renting bikes in Nagasaki but would have to do some digging to try to remember where that was exactly.

• Hotels... Where in Tokyo and Kyoto should I be booking hotels? Are there certain types I should be wary of (I heard a story of someone who booked a love hotel by accident)?
• The whole Pocket Wi-Fi situation confuses me. Which should I get? Where should I buy it...the airport? Or get it before I leave the States? (I have an iPhone 12 with AT&T, in case that's relevant.)
• I've heard that you shouldn't bring a large suitcase. Is this true? Should I opt for smaller carry-on-sized suitcases instead?
• JR Pass worth it? Supposedly, it was a great deal until they jacked up the prices by 70%.
• I heard somewhere that Visa credit cards aren't accepted in many places, or that I can't reload a Suica card with a Visa card. Any truth to this?
• Where can I get hearty dinners? I usually eat big dinners, and I hear the portions are smaller in Japan.

• Tokyo, particularly Shibuya, Akihabara, Roppongi. Not that I'm looking for trouble, but I'd like to check out areas where the yakuza have historically operated
• Mount Fuji. Supposedly it's too dangerous to summit it in late October, but I'd like hike part of it if possible.
• Kyoto. Bamboo Forest, Golden Pavilion, temples, shrines, castles, etc. I hear it's worth spending at least 4 days here.
• ANY cool hiking/nature areas. I love hiking. If there's something you'd recommend for late October, let me know.
• Osaka. Dotonbori. Maybe Universal Studios... Is Super Nintendo World worth it?
• Hiroshima
• Totally open to other suggestions

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• +1250 The Dead Zone (1983)
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• +1000 Pet Sematary (1989)
• +1000 Prince of Darkness (1987)
• +2000 Childs Play (1988)
• +2000 The Lost Boys (1987)
• +1250 The Dead Zone (1983)
• +1100 Predator (1987)

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