Guide - How to Plan a Trip to Japan and Stay Alive? 🗾

Yes, it’s true - Japan isn’t the easiest country in the world when it comes to planning. It requires research, a basic understanding of the train system, some use of technology, and reading a few articles on the Mr. Japan website 🙂

But it’s important to say this clearly: it’s absolutely doable. Anyone willing to invest some time in understanding how things work in the Land of the Rising Sun might even enjoy the process. You never know.

We’ll break the planning into 13 steps (you can click on each step for a detailed explanation).

Step 1 – Decide when to travel

Step 2 – Decide how long to travel

Step 3 – Buy flight tickets

Step 4 – Choose between an independent trip and a professionally planned trip

Step 5 – Breathe!

Step 6 – Build a day-by-day table

Step 7 – Research and choose destinations

Step 8 – Build a trip framework

Step 9 – Book hotels

Step 10 – Plan on a daily level

Step 11 – Make reservations for attractions, restaurants, and everything in between Step 12 – If needed, book a JR Pass Step 13 – Pre-flight arrangements and packing

And if there are others out there like me, with an unexplainable love for flowcharts - this one’s for you:

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Step 1 – Decide when to travel

So, you’ve decided to go to Japan! An excellent choice. When it comes to deciding when to visit, most travelers debate between two peak seasons:

🌸 Cherry blossom season (late March – early April)

🍁 Autumn foliage season (late September – early December)

Both periods are fantastic, comfortable in terms of weather (pleasant, not too humid, and usually sunny), and of course - crowded. Cherry blossom season is breathtaking, short, fleeting, and can bring heavy crowds and long lines in popular areas. Autumn foliage lasts longer and is slightly more relaxed in terms of crowds and queues, but you’ll have to “settle” for orange, red, and yellow trees, give up the coveted pink color, and possibly miss some of the nice events that sakura season brings with it.

Source: WeatherSpark

Step 2 – Decide how long to travel

A first trip to Japan that comfortably includes the main attractions ideally lasts 16–18 days. Of course, it can be shorter (with 14 days as a minimum recommendation), or extended to 30 days or more.

Step 3 – Buy flight tickets

I recommend searching on the world’s largest flight search engine: Skyscanner, preferably in Incognito mode.

Advanced tip: searching via a VPN connected to a remote country (for example, Albania) may sometimes result in lower prices.

Step 4 – Choose between an independent trip and a professionally planned trip

If you have the time, motivation, and ability — if you’re the type who loves planning every detail, the person everyone consults about a rare bird spotted in northern Israel — then independent planning can be very rewarding.

There’s real magic in researching, learning, and deeply understanding every detail of your trip. But there’s also a cost: hours of research not everyone has, possible confusion on the ground, timing mistakes (like visiting Takeshita Street on the wrong day), unnecessary expenses due to inefficient routing, and more.

If you want a fully customized trip with peace of mind, there are quite a few professionals (yours truly included) who do exactly that. More information about the service I offer can be found here.

If you’ve decided to plan on your own - move on to the next step.

Step 5 – Breathe!

It might take time, but it’s completely doable!

Step 6 - Build a day-by-day table

This table is your main tool for organizing the trip — very much in the spirit of Japan. To save you the effort, I’ve prepared a ready-made format for building complex trips.

Step 7 – Research and choose destinations

At this stage, you should explore what Japan has to offer and understand what interests you more (and less), so you can allocate your time accordingly. The challenge here is information overload: hundreds of websites, conflicting opinions, and that one neighbor who keeps reminding you every morning: “You must go to Popikon! Anyone who didn’t go to Popikon hasn’t really been to Japan!” (For the record: there is no place called Popikon.)

I’ve narrowed the internet down to five excellent sources that should be more than enough:

• Mr. Japan’s Destinations Page

• The excellent Japan Guide website (English)

• Google Travel – just search the destination and Google will show top attractions

• YouTube – plenty of great creators; personally I like Paolo from TOKYO (English)

• Tokyo Cheapo (English)

  
  

Step 8 – Build a Trip Framework

So you have a list of destinations? Great. How do you know how many days to spend in each place? This requires some understanding and experience. You can always check online or search something like: “How long to stay in Nikko, Japan?”

Before adding destinations into your table, you need to arrange them in a logical order. For example, if you’re visiting several cities, there’s always a more efficient route depending on geography. The point is: every combination of destinations has a logical and efficient order. This applies to any country in the world, and especially Japan.

How do you figure it out?

Use Google Maps to understand distances

Use Japan Guide → “Get There & Around”

Example 14-day itinerary framework:

• Tokyo

• Tokyo

• Tokyo

• Nikko

• Nikko

• Kyoto

• Kyoto

• Kyoto

• Kyoto

• Osaka

• Osaka

• Tokyo

• Tokyo

• Tokyo

Framework ready? Copy it into your table and fill in the “Start of Day” and “Overnight” columns.

Step 9 – Book hotels

Once your framework is set, it’s best to book hotels as early as possible - especially when free cancellation is available on Booking.com, and especially during peak seasons.

Split your bookings into two parts:

1. First and last hotel (arrival and departure)

2. All other hotels

For the first and last hotel, it’s recommended to stay within walking distance of a train station (10 minutes or less is ideal), so you won’t have to drag your luggage too far. I recommend to focus on stations with direct airport trains (Narita Express / Keisei Skyliner) to avoid unnecessary transfers.

You can find my carefully selected hotel recommendations here.

If you didn’t find what you’re looking for search on Booking like this:

• Search by station (e.g. “Shinjuku Station”)

• Rating: 9+

• Set a max price per night

• Sort by rating

Step 10 – Plan on a daily level

Now that you have a framework and hotels, it’s time to fill your days with attractions.

The easiest way is to assign each day to a specific area. For example: in Tokyo, dedicate a day to Akihabara, possibly combined with Asakusa (since they’re relatively close).

As for attractions, use the Mr. Japan map and other sources mentioned earlier. In general, I recommend 1–2 anchors per day - key attractions you really want to visit - and build the rest of the day around them. To make sure everything makes sense, add the attractions to Google Maps and check that the order and distances are reasonable.

Step 11 – Make reservations

Some places require advance booking - this is the time to do it. You can find a guide I wrote on how to make restaurant reservations in Japan here.

Step 12 – JR Pass or individual tickets

The JR Pass is not always worth it, especially after the price increase in October 2023. Use a calculator and input your route. If it’s worth it or borderline - you can book it online (usually arrives within a few business days).

Important: your name must match your passport exactly. If it’s not worth it - simply buy individual tickets as needed (or even on the spot, depending on the season).

For more information on the JR Pass and booking individual train tickets, click here.

Step 13 – Pre-flight arrangements and packing

Alright, so you’ve got a solid plan, you’ve got your pass - now it’s time to close the final gaps. Get travel insurance, prepare some currency (I recommend bringing a small amount with you and withdrawing the rest from ATMs in Japan - you can read more about that here). As for connectivity - briefly, and for those it fits, I recommend using an eSIM from Airalo. It’s not perfect, but it definitely gets the job done. For a full guide on communication options, click here.

And that’s it - all that’s left is to pack and get excited!

You did it!

Have a great flight ✈️

Aviv 良いフライトを 😊