Have you cancelled the trip to Japan?

We are supposed to fly to Japan on March 19 and spend 1 week in Niseko for ski then another week in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo (last 2 days). Wasn't too worried about the trip when the earthquake news hit because most of the places we go were not really affected then heard the nuclear radiation thing which totally freaked us out.

We have planned long for this holiday and really lookingforward to it. It's just so sad to watch the devastating news on TV and think about how people are suffering there.

Need to make the decision whether to cancel our trip tomorrow and would like to know whether anyone else was going to Japan this week and what's your decision.

Thanks

If the news about the radiation freak you out, I recommend to cancel your trip. The situation is unlikely to completely stabilize by the 19th and keep you in a freaked out state beyond.

I am supposed to leave on the 29th arriving at Narita on the 30th...it's looking like a strong possibility I have to cancel or postpone. I'm heartbroken but am not sure if the situation is the best for tourism.

My hubby and I are flying in on the 18th. At the moment we are still planning on going. Just watching the news tomorrow closely for any more developments. We are travelling Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Yokohama, Hiroshima and Nagoya. Really just waiting to see how the cities are like tomorrow.

lostdecoy, fortunately you still seem to have a few days to observe and wait to make a decision. I believe that many confusion causing issues will become easier to understand over the next few days.

I'm in the same boat. I leave on the 22nd and will arrive in Japan on the 23rd. I'm planning to stay in the Tokyo area Shinjinku/Shibuya area until the 28th. I'm keeping myself current with the situation day by day, but from the sounds of it, the worst that I may experience are the rolling blackouts, aftershocks, and some of the more tourist areas (muesum and what not) will be closed.The decision to cancel your trip or not depends on how much potential risk you are willing to accept. From what I've read on the fourms on Japan Guide, I believe I will be okay. (Of course if the 3rd power plant start to have issues I may rethink it.) I think only you know whats best for you, so do some research and some soul searching and make a decision. Good luck!

I forgot to say my trip is in March.

I waas supposed to go march 13 but I cancelled. I think now is not a time to visit kanto region. A friend over in tokyo says that a,lot of tourist places are closed and trains are going to be disrupted with the rolling blackouts.

I too planned this since january but I think it was best not to visit tokyo. Because I only had this week off work, I will not be able to go until summer.

If you visit osaka and kyoto, you should be okay though.

Sorry to see what happen in Japan.
Me and my wife too will be travelling to Tokyo. And staying @ Shinjuku. Now we are also wondering should we proceed or cancel. Keeping close attention with the CNN and NHK now.
Undeniable nuclear issue is a big concern to everybody i think. Hope that things will be settle and goes well this few days.

God Bless Japan !

Regards,
dreamerz@Malaysia.

I have emailed our hotel in Shiodome and JTB tour operators about the situation now in Japan and if we should reconsider canceling our trip this April 1. JTB told us of course that our tours in Kyoto, Nara & Osaka are fine but still the decision is up to us to continue-though they said that they have received LOTS OF CANCELLATION.

Our hotel on the other hand have informed us that this week is not a good time to travel to Tokyo, trains are not functioning and some stores are closed, and it is ok to cancel our accommodation - no cancellation fees of course.

Delta Airline is also waiving our rebooking and no cancellation fee is being charged if we decide to not pursue our trip.

For someone like us who have our hearts set on visiting Tokyo, Yokohama and Kamakura (Kyoto and Nara are ok) it really saddens us, that we may have to postpone our trip :(

My heart goes to the people in Japan and I do hope the Hanami may bring some shine to what is happening now.

We still want to go and my husband is still set on it. We will wait and see what happens, its the reactor we are most worried about - power outages, irregular schedule of train and closed shops doesn't bother us - we will stay most of the time in open parks and shrines and benches with view.

I'm also in the same situation. My flight is the 29 and I arrived on the 30 in Tokyo for 5 days. I'm looking for news and hoping that some question will be answer before then. It would be kind of the one that are going to continue to keep us in touch on what is the situation.

Good luck everyone,
Jeff

Checky,
The thing is,that,tokyo is trying to get back to normal and while things,are ok there, its not 100%. Now, with constant train disruptions and such, it will be an inconvenience and,the japanese gov will scramble to try and get those people to work and home. I think that as a tourist, wed be in the way. Not only that but if another crisis occurs, the government will not only have to deal with their own people but the tourists as well. Personally, I think thats the reason behind advisories asking people to avoid tokyo.
I would postpone tokyo but the other cities are fine.

I am in the same boat as you guys but my plans are a bit harder to cancel since my reason for going is for an exchange program at Akita's AIU. I will be arriving at Narita on March 31st around 5pm and I hope transportation will be more stable by then.

Does anybody think I'll have a hard time catching a train or limousine bus from Narita to Tokyo Station? Also, I have a bus ticket for the Willer bus company for 930 pm that day, does anyone know if they will be back up running and providing services from Tokyo Station to Akita station?

I guess its a bit early to tell but I would appreciate any input.

Friends, me and my family scheduled to arrive Tokyo by Mar 30th. One of the itineraries is to visit Yamadera and Sendai which is not possible now. We decided to cancel the trip just this morning as the news about the nuclear rector still uncertain. JAL and the hotels are all very nice. We will reschedule our trip once the situation is undercontrol. However, we have given parts of our money planned to spend in this trip to the Japanese via The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and hope for best to the Japaneses. May God be with you.

Dev- From what I've heard there's trains running from Narita,not sure if all the buses are running from there. That might have changed, but there's transport from the airport.

As for willer http://willerexpress.com/bus/pc/3/top/
Go there for their information. To the left side is their news, a little ways down the page. Appears that certain area they are not going to, the northern areas, but other routes are up and running on time.

Just thought I'd add to this thread also that I have not canceled. I realized that in the panicky haste that it's only been 3 days ( feels like a million year with all the tragedy), so I should give it time. Considering how big of a disaster it has been, the Japanese people have mobilized admirably.
Not sure if this is true, but on a news site they said that some Tokyo blackouts were postponed because people are working hard not to use extra power. They also said some businesses closed as well on Monday to help this as well.
My friend ended up having to go to work but she said they didn't have heaters on and kept low lighting on to conserve energy.

So I am going to wait and see. Try not to go into blind panic every time I see another news cast about it. And pray for Japan and the healing that can hopefully come soon.

I have not canceled my trip.

I live in Japan (Hokkaido) and have been planning a trip to Honshu since probably October. Under normal circumstances I would probably cancel (since its not that far and I'll have plenty of opportunities to visit in the future) however my family is also flying in from the US and meeting me there. We planned on spending 4 days in Tokyo, 1 day in Hakone, then another 4 days in Kyoto with a day trip to Nara. We are scheduled to be in Tokyo by the 16th. At this point, the trip is still on, however it will probably be altered. I'm pretty sure we won't be making it out to Hakone due to the rolling blackouts and trains not running. And we may end up decreasing the amount of days we spend in Tokyo. If the situation gets worse we may end up nixing Tokyo all together and replacing it with Osaka or Kobe.

Kyoto and Osaka are very far the nuclear situation so I figured I'd have no reason to be more worried about it down there then I would up here in Hokkaido. I asked my family if they still wanted to come, and they said yes so so far its still on. But we will probably have to be very flexible.

Hello friends,
Thank you to Uji and other helpful folks who have been keeping us posted on the events in Japan. Our hearts and minds are with you.

We are San Franciscans scheduled to leave Los Angeles and arrive in Tokyo on the 26th March - we planned on spending 4 days in Tokyo before heading out to central Japan: Takayama - Shirakawaga-go and Kanazawa, then Kyoto, Osaka and Beppu. Then it's back to Tokyo for 2 days before leaving on the 15th April.

Currently we don't have plans of canceling though we're monitoring the nuclear situation closely.

Hey Anne,

We were also supposed to fly in on 19 Mar and spend a few days at Niseko before heading to Osaka and Tokyo. Looking at the situation, we have decided to cancel our trip. Heard from a relative who touched down in Singapore from Tokyo that transport etc. Is bad.

Just wondering if you have checked with your Niseko hotel if they would refund should you decide to cancel? The hotel we booked, The Vale, is adamant about their no refund policy which, I feel, is very unreasonable given the current situation. Their reason is that "affected areas are far from Hokkaido and everything wt the resort is functioning as per normal." It is our wedding anniversary trip and they are asking us to "consider coming back later in the season"? We have children, why would we risk going at a time like this?

We feel for the people of Japan at their moment of difficulty, but the resorts' response and rigid policies are very disappointing.

I just want to say thank you to all and I am so glad I found this site. Everyone's positivity is reassuring as I and my friend are planning to travel to Japan on the 28th March for 3 weeks. Still two weeks away and time I feel to guage the situation. We are flying into Nartia and are to spend one night in Ginza then onto Kyoto and Osaka then onto Hokane and Shinjuku.
The advise and the amount of responses that people will continue on with their travel plans is comforting. However, I will still continue to monitor the reactor situation over the next week. Hard to believe all this has happened only since Friday.
What the rest of Japan needs is the support of tourisms. Yes, stay out of the affected areas and don't be a site see-er of the tragedy and let those affected and those working hard to help those that have had their lives upheaved do their job without having us get in their way.
This has helped me at the moment definitely want to continue on with this travel. I've been trying to plan it for over a year and have had everything booked for 6 months.
Prayers and thoughts with all in Japan and those with loved ones affected.
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