Future travel

My girlfriend (Guam) and I (Hawaii) would like to plan a trip (7/2020 cancellation) when Japan re-opens. Hopefully by the Fall of 2021.
We would be there about 7 days arriving probably at Narita Airport.
We would like to see the Hachiko statue, one of the 5th Stations at Mount Fuji and some of the tourist things in the Hakone Region such as the Ropeway and Pirate Ship cruise. Any other things that are recommended? Most travel will probably be by public transportation (train or bus). Should I plan on spending most of the time in the Hakone Region? I'm pretty sure the weather will be considerably different from the July trip originally planned but we've been so looking forward to this trip. Crossing my fingers for possibly Sept or Oct 2021. I would welcome and appreciate any suggestions (especially transportation suggestions).

Thank you in advanced,
Mark

Hakone may be better as a day trip or a one-night stay. Staying most of the 7 days there would be overkill.

In terms of other suggestions, have you had a good look at this website? There is quite a lot to see and do in Tokyo, and all you have so far is seeing Hachiko. Take a look at the Tokyo section of this website.

Making suggestions is difficult without an idea of your budget, interests, etc. - you may be better off doing some more research yourself first. There are also suggested itineraries (including half and full day options just for Tokyo) on this website that may spark some ideas.

September or October 2021 seems unrealistic to me. Nobody knows for sure, but from what I read, I do not expect Japan to open for casual tourists at all this year. Also, those of us from the USA will be among the last to be welcomed anywhere (and with good reason). I assume that both Guam and Hawaii would be treated the same as the rest of the USA.

My first suggestion is, do not book anything that is not fully refundable if you cancel. Second suggestion is, start thinking about going in 2022 and hope for the best.

�u I'm pretty sure the weather will be considerably different from the July trip originally planned but we've been so looking forward to this trip.�v
Actually, the weather will probably be much more pleasant in September/October than it would be in July. Midsummer in Japan is incredibly hot and humid, and it can be very uncomfortable to be out and about, especially if you're lugging a suitcase or backpack as you make your way from one town to the next (and I saw this as someone who grew up in Los Angeles and hates the cold). Summer is also the season with the most rain in Japan.

On the other hand, Autumn has much milder temperatures, lower humidity, and fewer mosquitos, and also more sunny days than summer. As a tourist I'd actually say it's the nicest season, weather-wise, to travel in Japan.

�uWe would be there about 7 days... Should I plan on spending most of the time in the Hakone Region?�v
I would say no. As much as I love Hakone, it's really best as a one-night trip, or at the very most two nights. The ropeway/lake cruise is pretty easy to do in a day, and there aren't all that many must-see attractions aside from those. While Hakone is a beautiful town in the mountains, there actually aren't a lot of outdoor activities, and the shops and restaurants close up pretty early in the evening, so most overnight travelers spend the majority of their time relaxing in their hotel and its hot spring. So while Hakone is definitely worth visiting, you can get pretty much the full experience in one night/two days.

If you're into Mt. Fuji, the drier the better. So October will better than September, and definitely better than July. When the weather is cold and dry, you can even see the mountain from various places in Tokyo. You may want to climb a building or two for the view.

If you're going to see Hachiko, you're going to tour Shibuya and Harajuku. Shibuya is rapidly and literally changing, to the point that old streets are disappearing, but you might enjoy the magnificent new buildings there.

In Harajuku, you may want to walk both the broad avenue of Omotesando, and the little alleys so-called "Ura-Harajuku". If you don't mind walking, you can walk from Hachiko all the way to Harajuku, either through Yoyogi Park or the street of Meiji-Dori.

I wonder why you're interested in the statue. Depending on your interests, perhaps someone could suggest you other things such as museums.

Enjoy planning!

Where you are in your planning right now sort of strikes me like someone who has never been to Hawaii saying "I want to go to Waikiki Beach and also go to a luau. Oh, and maybe ride a mule on Molokai. Is there anything else I should do there?"

The good news is you have lots of time to do some research. This site (Japan Guide) has plenty of good information about Tokyo (and Hakone and Mt. Fuji). You don't have very many days there, so you are going to want to find things that are of interest to you personally. Other people's recommendations are going to be the things they like (or the things they think other people should like), and they might really not be your cup of tea. So look to see what else you can do in the area besides the things you already mentioned, and then learn a little more about them.

Another site I recommend for Tokyo information is this one: https://www.timeout.com/tokyo
You have a lot of time before you can even consider booking a trip. Keep going back and looking at different pages there and making notes of things that look really interesting to you. Japan Guide is great for the "classic" tourist things, but Time Out Tokyo is a little more dynamic. (But make sure things that tickle your fancy will actually be available at the time you are there.) There are plenty of other information sources as well. And you can keep coming back to the forum and asking questions.

Have you really researched what you will find at any given fifth station of Mt. Fuji? It takes a lot of time to get there, the transit isn't particularly cheap, and you might end up being disappointed if what you really want is just a great view of the mountain and possibly a nice little day hike. (I believe there are better places for both.)

From Tokyo, Hakone is a nice day trip (if you can get up early--I wouldn't recommend it if you like to sleep in and not leave the city until late morning) or overnight stay. An advantage of doing it as a day trip is you can (hopefully) pick a day with good visibility. In that case, if what you are mainly interested in with Mt. Fuji is a great view, then you can get it there. But it will be a fairly fast-paced day, especially if you try to do the full round course. Hakone is also frequently recommended as an overnight stay, in particular to experience an onsen ryokan. But in that case, you will want to book in advance, so you could possibly get skunked on the weather/visibility. (Dry weather does not in itself mean good visibility.) Another consideration about when to go to Hakone is to try to avoid the weekend if at all possible. In any case, do a lot of research beforehand. There are many ways to experience Hakone, and if you play it right it can be fabulous but if you don't use your time effectively it can end up being disappointing. As for the onsen ryokan experience, it is a high point of a Japan trip for many people, but you should know what you are getting into. (You have to take your clothes off to get into the baths, you will probably sleep on a tatami mat, you might get served fish at breakfast, etc.)

An alternative to Hakone if you are interested in an excursion with Mt. Fuji views is the Fuji Five Lakes area. This might be a better choice if you like roller coasters, for example. There are other excursions with Fuji views as well, but Hakone and Fuji Five Lakes are the ones that are most famous and have the most readily available tourist information.

Transportation in the Tokyo metropolitan area can be quite complicated but you can simplify things greatly by getting a prepaid IC card (look into Suica). Don't try to save money with day passes (such as a three-day metro pass or all-day JR lines pass). Those things are great if you really know what you are doing. (Wait until your tenth trip or so.) Otherwise, an IC card is the only way to go. Learn what it does and doesn't cover, and it will be your best friend. For Hakone transportation, there's a good chance the Hakone Free Pass is what you will want. Read up on it.

I don't think that sept is an ideal time to visit Japan. Isn't sept the typhoon season? You should consider Oct/Nov. Also, 2021 seems a bit unrealistic because of the pandemic. Japan has a 14-day quarantine and has the borders closed for foreign tourists. Based on your itinerary, I doubt that (if they open borders for foreign tourists) you'll be spending 14-days closed in your hotel to later enjoy only 7-days of Japan. Perhaps, 2022? You really need to think seriously about it before booking things.

As for the trip. This website is one of the best with info about Japan. You can find plenty of information about Hakone, Tokyo and Mt. Fuji here. And since you have decided on those places, I would recommend Fuji Five Lakes. 7 days is not much, but if you focus only on those areas, you won't have any problem at all. Hakone can be done as a day trip/overnight stay.

I wish you the best for your trip ;)

What are your interests? I assume there is some reason beyond Hachiko and Hakone you picked Japan as your destination. If you reply with your interests and reasons for the attraction to Japan, I am sure you will receive more specific and helpful replies.

It sounds like your trip will be Kanto-centric so without knowing anything about you my recommendations would be:

- Yokohama Chinatown for a pleasant atmosphere at night and great food. Yakishoronpo is popular and highly recommended.
- Miura for an escape from the city where you won't find too many other foreign tourists. Also if you like sushi it's one of the best places in Japan to eat tuna in my opinion.
- Bunkyo Civic Center near the Tokyo Dome for an underrated and free view of the city.
- Mount Mitake if you're interested in a hike. It's much wilder and also has fewer tourists than Takao, and still offers lovely views.

All of these are very easily accessible from any station in Tokyo.

As mentioned, unless there is some specific reason you want to visit the 5th station I think that whether or not it will be worth your time is up for debate. The view of Mount Fuji itself from there is easily beaten by those offered by the Five Lakes, Hakone, and even some mountains within Tokyo itself. There are some nice views from the 5th station if the weather is good enough but it is still basically just a car park on the side of a mountain.

September or October 2021 seems unrealistic to me. Nobody knows for sure, but from what I read, I do not expect Japan to open for casual tourists at all this year. Also, those of us from the USA will be among the last to be welcomed anywhere (and with good reason). I assume that both Guam and Hawaii would be treated the same as the rest of the USA.

My first suggestion is, do not book anything that is not fully refundable if you cancel. Second suggestion is, start thinking about going in 2022 and hope for the best.

And I hate to be a downer but it wouldn't be fair to not echo this sentiment. Do not book this trip unless you are guaranteed free cancellations or rebookings. Japan hasn't even begun vaccinating frontline workers yet so I think it's extremely unlikely that a return to normal tourism is only eight months away.

Personally I am aiming for summer 2022. Had to cancel my most recent trip twice already and I'm not willing to do it a third. I believe next summer is somewhat realistic because with the way vaccination programmes are going we would have to hit a pretty major unexpected setback for things to not be significantly better this time next year. Also regardless of anything else that happens there is going to come a time when economics demands that businesses, communities, and borders open back up. Japan's tourism industry would be devastated if it had to endure more than two years without foreign customers.

Katy wrote:
I don't think that sept is an ideal time to visit Japan. Isn't sept the typhoon season? You should consider Oct/Nov.

Yes, Oct is considered to be the month with the best weather in Japan. (If it weren't for the U.S. sponsors, the Tokyo Olympics would've been in Oct like it was for 1964!) But Sept is not exactly bad either. In fact, I would say that it's the best month to enjoy summer, because the vacation crowd is back to school/work, and it's not as critically hot as Aug. Hakone is quite a chilly area, so you might even prefer the warmer climate of Sept.

But Sept is the month with the most rainfall of the year. As for typhoons, Aug used to be the typhoon month, but in recent years, we're experiencing the harshest ones in Oct, so you never know!

Late September shouldn't cause issues. October is nice also.

Maybe a light thin jacket needed if in the shadows of tall city buildings. But you wont need it from 9-10am onwards.

Wow, I appreciate all the responses. My girlfriend and I have both been to Japan before (not together) but mine was part of a baseball tour group. We both just wanted to go somewhere other than Guam and Hawaii for a week or so to just get away and relax. It is a casual trip and we were planning on going where we wanted and when we felt like it. Not trying to do as much as we could each day. She wanted to go see the Hachiko statue (I've been there before).
Initially I had toyed with the idea of hiking up Mount Fuji but I think I'd rather just relax on this trip. The Hakone region was near enough to Mount Fuji (probably just try go up to Station 5) and my boss had recommended the Pirate Ship tour. The Fuji Five Lakes sounds appealing. I think I did stop at one of the lakes as part of the baseball tour I was on.
I've been to Hiroshima in late July. It was really hot with some downpours. Personally, I like cooler weather. Late October through the end of the year is probably out as it is a busy time for both of our jobs so we probably wouldn't be able to take vacation. Hopefully we don't need to wait until 2022 but we'll have to see how it goes. I'm still excited about the trip but not knowing when is a little discouraging.
Again, thank you all for your responses and suggestions. Best wishes and stay safe!
Mark

Hi!

The Mt. Fuji official climbing season tends to end in early September and it is not recommended to climb outside of the official season. There are some specific tour groups that do, and require a certain level of skill, but doing it alone is very risky and people have died.

Hakone is not all that near the 5th Station. That's closer to Fuji Five Lakes. You can get between Hakone and Fuji Five Lakes, but it's going to take you at a minimum 1.5 hours and that is everything is perfectly timed and you are starting from Togendai or Sengoku in the Hakone region. From Kawagushiko you need to catch another bus to the 5th Station. It's not a great day trip from Hakone.

Good luck!

Ugh typo that should be Kawaguchiko not Kawagushiko. Kawaguchiko is the main train station and start/ending spot for a lot of the bus routes.

I personally hate the pirate ship in Hakone. It's boring and boring and just boring. Some people really like it, but I am not of their number. Hakone tends to be popular for its onsen and in mid June has some amazing displays of hydrangea. We were there in February 2020 right before everything closed down because my daughter wanted to go to Yunessun.

Don't you think Japan will reopen its borders for international travel when the Japanese population is vaccinated (i.e. protected)?

Japan will reopen its borders when the conditions are judged to be correct. I really doubt that the Japanese population being vaccinated will be the only condition for that but it seems likely that it will be one of them. Will there be another condition that tourists can only come from countries whose populations have also been vaccinated? Will you need to show proof that you personally have been vaccinated at the border? Will they wait for the global outbreak to die down a little bit? We really don't know.

The current state of the Japanese vaccination program is that it is a complete joke, unfortunately. The way things are going there is no way the entire population is going to have received two doses this year. They've made a lot of mistakes and things are not great, especially compared to the countries that are speeding ahead (UK, Israel, UAE, etc.) and even to Europe and the US. Luckily the spread of the virus is relatively (compared to a lot of other countries) under control. That's the most important thing but with vaccinations going the way they are basically I don't even think it's worth speculating on when tourism will be possible again. The borders will reopen. We don't know when this will happen. Personally I doubt it will be too long but they have kind of shot themselves in the foot.

They don't have to vaccinate the "entire" population, according to scientists about 70% is enough.

But, if the population in my country is vaccinated, I will probably be able to go to Japan even when they haven't completed their vaccinations there?

As @LIZ stated, they have not made up rules for a possible reopening. All we can do is guess, for now. They will reopen of course, tourism is important for the economy, but we don't know when it will be. It's too permature to give an answer about vaccinations and which country will be allowed to enter and which country will not.

We have to wait patiently and see how it goes...

No, I don't think it's fair to say that that will "probably" be the case. Probably suggests that we have some information about about how the vaccination programs of other countries relate to the Japanese government's exit strategy for all of this. We don't have that information. Maybe that will be the case. I'm not an epidemiologist or a policymaker so I don't know. But with the understanding that the vaccines on offer are only truly effective when most of the population has them, if I had to bet money I would say that I doubt they will start letting people in without a significant number of Japanese residents having been vaccinated. But what do I know? Nothing. Like I said, speculation is pointless.

@Sophia You mean they will reopen of course. But for some countries they will never reopen again?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.9news.com.au/article/52f9bb09-b776-4e...

That's what epidemiologists say. It's for Australia (whose border reopening seems to be a lot stricter than Japan's) but I think it's valid for all countries.