Japan this July

Hi all, and thanks in advance for your assistance.

4 of us will be arriving NRT June 30th and leaving Osaka KIX July 14th. First time to Japan. Unfortunately, this is the only time we can go (summer).

I'm beginning to fill in the blanks so to speak on our trip, starting with Tokyo. I'm realizing there are various recommendations for the number of nights to stay in Tokyo. I'm leaning towards 5 or 6 nights (4 or 5 full days to explore). We'd like to do 1 or 2 day trips from Tokyo. The first being to Yokohama. Primarily to visit the Nissan area (also ramen museum). Our son is a car enthusiast, and this trip is for his college graduation. He's requested to visit Nissan, Mazda in Hiroshima, car parts shops, and possibly drive/learn to drift (that's a big maybe, and I welcome direction from anyone on here regarding this).

Question 1 - does anyone have advice on Yokohama? Especially pertaining to Nissan and factory tours?

Question 2 - what else would you recommend seeing/doing in Yokohama?

Additional day trip(s) from Tokyo.

Question 3 - Would a day trip to Hakone/Mt.Fuji area be worthwhile versus staying overnight in that area (1 or 2 nights)? Hakone comes highly recommended, and a stay at a ryokan is on our list.

Question 4 - How is Hakone/Mt. Fuji area in early July?

Question 5 - is there another area in Mt.Fuji region worth a day or overnight trip that is a better option over Hakone?

Im struggling with deciding to day trip this region or stay one or 2 nights. Again, this will be early July. We're open to exploring, easy hiking, relaxing.

Question 6 - we will visit Hiroshima and Miyajima. How many nights are recommended?

Question 7 - Would those nights be all in Hiroshima or all in Miyajima?

Question 8 - Would Miyajima be the place to stay in a ryokan versus Hakone/Mt. Fuji area?

I was initially thinking 2 nights for Hiroshima/Miyajima. We'd then finish up our 2 week trip in Kyoto (no questions on Kyoto at this time).

If you are visiting Hiroshima also. Then you probably need to drop a few days from your Tokyo itinerary. And maybe also Fuji 5 Lakes depending on what you wanna see, as it isn't the best place to access between Tokyo and Kyoto.

Hiroshima is gonna need 2-3 days depending on when you travel in and out of the city. The city sights itself need 3/4s of a day. Miyajima is easily and all day affair if you visit all the sights. Although the Mazda tour is small, it is somewhat time consuming. Talks at the start, the tour itself and the free time at the end. Expect to use up half a day. you'll also need to book your places well n advance. It is popular.

You are probably gonna need to use 6 days Tokyo (include day trips), 2 days Hiroshima, 6 days Kyoto. And adjust those numbers accordingly to what you have planned.

Question 2 - what else would you recommend seeing/doing in Yokohama?

I enjoyed the traditional Japanese garden and Chinatown in Yokohama. Chinatown is essentially for eating. It combines very well with the garden as they are both in a similar direction of Yokohama. The garden is somewhat hard to reach.

Additional day trip(s) from Tokyo.
The classical ones are Kamakura and Nikko. Also Enoshima is nice and Takao can also be an idea.

Traveling in July as you seem to realize is not the best time if the year as it gets rather unbearably hot. Kansai being generally slightly worse than Tokyo.

Regarding cars, have you considered the tour of Toyota in Nagoya? I haven�ft done it, but it�fs probably the most famous of them all. Reservation early on is required.

In Tokyo an other spot that needs reservation many months ahead is the Ghibli museum. In case you are interested.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

In terms of your son driving, he must have the correct documentation to do so. The type you need will depend on the country you are from - you may need an International Driver's Permit (obtained in your home country), or an official translation of your licence. See here for details: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2022.html

I think I remember reading about the possibility of hiring sports cars for pleasure drives in the Fuji area - perhaps that is something your son may be interested in!

IN Tokyo you can also drive through the streets in a kart:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/maricar.com/en/akihabara.amp.html

Maybe there are also other companies that offer this. I haven�ft done it and do not know what license you need for it. It looks slightly dangerous but not really too dangerous.

http://fun2drive-japan.com/

But he is into drifting etc, then you'll need to hire a car and drive to some circuits that have learn to drift days. I probably wouldn't recommoend it due to being time poor for the three locations you already wanna visit.

Hakata14, thank you for your advice. I am very intrigued with Miyajima and right now, I'm leaning towards just a day trip to Hakone from Tokyo and 2 nights on Miyajima, preferably in a ryokan.

I agree about the drifting. From what I've gathered so far, the Ebisu circuit in Fukushima prefecture is big for drifting. I'm not keen on trying to navigate out there, at least on this our first trip to Japan. I think between the factory tours, maybe finding a car meet up in Tokyo, my son will be very happy. He can return on his own later to drift!

LikeBike, thanks for chiming in! I appreciate your suggestions for Yokohama. I'm a big fan of good food and Chinatown locations.
I hadn't considered Toyota simply because my son has a Nissan and Mazda he's refurbished. But I personally would be interested in Toyota's tour. Is this stop in Nagoya able to be done in a day, say from Tokyo to Hiroshima? Is Nagoya worth staying overnight?

By/ guest,
Thank you for your response. I seem to recall reading about a sports car pleasure driving experience in the Mt. Fuji area as well. Thanks for bringing that up! That might be a nice option in lieu of drifting lessons.

LikeBike,
What a fun way to spend a day in Tokyo, in a go cart?! I suspect for safety purposes, the speed capability would be nil. Which would drive my son and husband crazy not being able to get on the gas! LOL

Just be careful with the gokarting in Tokyo. It's currently very much a grey area - they don't require helmets or seatbelts due to loopholes in the law. It's actually annoying a lot of the locals as the go karts drive on normal roads, and can be quite dangerous when driving next to large vehicles like trucks. As long as your husband and son are careful and drive appropriately, they should be fine; it's tourists who get distracted by the novelty that pose a danger to themselves and the other road users.