Japan has always been a country I yearn to go. So I was really excited when our honeymoon destination was set to Japan. It was definitely the first time I took part in extensive planning and researching for a trip. If you are planning a trip to Japan, do read on for tips prior to your trip!
- Determine which season you would like to experience.
Dec-Feb: Winter ☃
Mar-May: Spring 🌸
Jun-Aug: Summer ☀
Sept-Nov: Autumn 🍁
Spring is definitely the most peak period as people swarmed to Japan to view the beautiful cherry blossom 🌸. Do you know that cherry blossom season may differ depending on the location? The best time to view cherry blossom in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto would be around end of March to early April. You can check JNTO for more specific information.
We managed to book cheap air tickets from AirAsia and our travel period was end of May to early June. We missed the cherry blossom season but that also means that we avoided the crowd, which I thought was a good choice for our first trip 👍. - How many places do you intend to cover?
We booked our air tickets to and fro Osaka. We only found out later that people usually fly in to Tokyo and depart from Osaka. It would be costly for you to travel Osaka-Tokyo-Osaka as train tickets are not cheap in Japan 😓... As we want to have a leisure trip, we decided to focus our 12 days in Kansai region. We made the right choice 👍as Kansai is so huge that we couldn't finish exploring the region! For our trip, we explored Kyoto, Osaka, Uji, Nara, and Kobe. - It would be good for you to check out the estimated weather of Japan ⛈during your trip. If you are planning to go to Disneyland or Universal Studio Japan, I would strongly advise you to pick a date that is sunny⛅. I will explain why in my next post.
If you are expecting a lot of rainy days☔, it would be good to purchase a raincoat. Else, you can also buy it in Japan. Do note that most Japanese would use only transparent or white rain coat. So if you buy a blue, pink or orange raincoat, you will look like the odd one out. They seem to prefer umbrella over raincoat as well. Most Airbnb would provide umbrella so you really don't need to bring your own.
Interesting fact:
In Japan, you will be required to put your umbrella at the rack outside of the shop or restaurant. Don't be alarmed if you cannot find your original umbrella when you come out. Japanese has this weird umbrella exchange culture where you could just take whichever umbrella you want at the umbrella rack. So blend in and exchange! Else, bring an umbrella that is extremely colourful and I'm sure nobody would take it. - Spend your Fridays stalking on Klook 😆
You would be able to purchase most passes and tickets from Klook. This saves your time spent on queuing as most passes can be redeemed just by showing your mobile vouchers. We purchased our Osaka Amazing Pass , Randen Pass, Universal Studio Japan ticket and PocketWifi at Klook.
Why Fridays? Because Klook normally has promotion on Fridays. We were one of the lucky ones who managed to purchase a buy one free one USJ ticket 👏 from Klook. Remember to keep an eye to Klook's Facebook as well for their latest promotion. - Bring a comfortable pair of shoes. 👟If you are not engaging with any travel agency, it would be best for you to bring along a pair of comfortable walking shoes. Believe it or not, I could easily walk up to 23,000 steps a day in Japan. It dropped to 1,500 steps a day when I'm back in Malaysia. No wonder I don't really see people who are obese in Japan. 😮
- Book your accommodation early and have some backup plans!
We booked our accommodation through Airbnb. If you use this link, you will get RM120 travel credit for free! It is best for you to book your accommodation that is near to train station as it not only saves time but also saves energy. We heard so many stories of Airbnb host cancelling the reservation last minute, so its good to have some backup plans. We are thankful that we don't have to experience that.
Tips:
In Japan, there is a one-time fee charged by host to cover the cost of cleaning their space. So you have to pay for cleaning fee every time you change accommodation. Hence, its best for you to stay at the same place and make a one day trip to other city.
That's about it for now. I will try to cover more soon so stay tuned ! 😉
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