Home
Back

Dear visitor, if you know the answer to this question, please post it. Thank you!

25-day journey 2024/1/9 08:17
I'm flying to Japan this spring with a friend, and we still don't have a complete travel plan, so I'm seeking assistance. Our journey begins from March 28th to April 21st. This is our first trip, and we're landing in Narita. We want to start with Tokyo for 5 days, but we're unsure how to plan the rest:
- Nikko - 1 day
- Kamakura and Enoshima - 1 day (Is it possible to see both places in 1 day?)
- Lake Kawaguchi - 1 day (or maybe 2 days for a better chance to see Mount Fuji?).
- Here, I'm not sure for how many days, and whether it's worth considering any of these: Kanazawa - Takayama - Shirakawa. Also, how to get there and from where is best?
- Kyoto - 3 days (or maybe more?)
- Nara - 1 day (for sure)
- Bamboo forest, Monkey Park, and something else? - 1 day
-Osaka - 2 days
- Himeji - half a day
- Rabbit Island - maybe 1 day (is it worth it?)
- Hiroshima - 1 day and Miyajima - 1 day
The remaining days will be spent in Tokyo and its surroundings unless you have other suggestions.

Our biggest challenge is that we don't know how to arrange everything in terms of train transportation. Is it worth getting a 14-day JR Pass? Are there other local train packages that would be more cost-effective, or is it better to buy individual tickets for each train journey?

Another question is about large luggage. We plan to use the Ta-Q-bin service by Yamato to send suitcases to hotels. Does this service operate in the cities I mentioned? Will hotel receptions assist in sending luggage, and should I prepare the suitcase in any particular way for shipping? Is this service also available in Airbnb accommodations? Can I send a suitcase from regular stores?

For Nikko, Kamakura, Enoshima, and Fuji, we plan to return to Tokyo for an overnight stay and send our luggage during the trip to Kyoto. Can I send luggage with a 2-day delay to have time to visit Kanazawa in the meantime? Then we want to send luggage from Kyoto to Hiroshima, also with a delay, and then from Hiroshima to Tokyo.

One more question: when do cherry blossoms bloom around Lake Kawaguchi? I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you!
by patrycjaaabb  

Re: 25-day journey 2024/1/9 19:09
Another question is about large luggage. We plan to use the Ta-Q-bin service by Yamato to send suitcases to hotels. Does this service operate in the cities I mentioned?
YES. IT WORKS NATIONWIDE
Will hotel receptions assist in sending luggage,
YES IN SOME / MOST HOTELS
and should I prepare the suitcase in any particular way for shipping?
THE SMALLER THE CHEAPER.
Is this service also available in Airbnb accommodations?
GENERALLY NOT. BUTc
Can I send a suitcase from regular stores?
YES, FROM CONBINI. TRY 7/11 THRY WORK BEST FOR ME. OTHERS CONBINIS MAY NOT USE YAMATO KURONEKO. SO I PERSONALLY ALWAYS USE 7/11

For Nikko, Kamakura, Enoshima, and Fuji, we plan to return to Tokyo for an overnight stay and send our luggage during the trip to Kyoto. Can I send luggage with a 2-day delay to have time to visit Kanazawa in the meantime?
YES, I THINK UP TO A WEEK DELAY IS POSSIBLE. GENERALLY DELIVERY IS NEXT DAY IF SENT IN TGE MORNING. BUT IN BUSY TIMES IT CAN BE 2 DAYS.
Then we want to send luggage from Kyoto to Hiroshima, also with a delay, and then from Hiroshima to Tokyo
SURE. HOWEVER CONSIDER TO JUST BRONG LESS STUFF. I CAME BY SHINKANSEN YESTERDAY FROM KYOTO BACK TO TOKYO AND WAS JUST SURPRISED BY THE ENORMOUS LUGGAGE PEOPLE TRANSPORT AROUND WOTH THEM. MOST HOTELS HABE WASHING MACHINES. ITS NOT COLD IN MARCH/APRIL SO YOU DONT NEED THAT MUCH. REALISTICALLY 1 CARRY ON CAN BE ENOUGH. (EVEN LESS)
by LikeBike rate this post as useful

Re: 25-day journey 2024/1/9 19:19
- Nikko - 1 day
- Kamakura and Enoshima - 1 day (Is it possible to see both places in 1 day?)
DO AS DAYTRIP FROM TOKYO. DOABLE IN 1 DAY IF YOU GETUP EARLY AND DONT SPEND TOO MUCH TIME IN KAMAKURA (I personally could take easily 3-4 days)
- Lake Kawaguchi - 1 day (or maybe 2 days for a better chance to see Mount Fuji?).
UNLESS YOU PLAN SOME ACTIVITY (HIKINGc) 1 DAY TO SEE A MOUNTAIN IS MORE THAN ENOUGH. Actually. While I like the area when cycling to there / through there itfs not that easy to reach and if you only want to see mt Fuji look at it from the train between Tokyo and Kyoto.
- Here, I'm not sure for how many days, and whether it's worth considering any of these: Kanazawa - Takayama - Shirakawa. Also, how to get there and from where is best?
KANAZAWA IS DEFINITELY WORTH IT. TAKAYAMA I PERSONALLY TGINK IS OVERRATED. SHIRAKAWA I NECER WENT BUT I HEAR TGERE ARE TOO MANY TOURISTS. AINOKURA WAS NICE BUT HARD TO REACH W/O CAR
KANAZAWA I WOULD SAY 2 DAYS MINIMUM
- Kyoto - 3 days (or maybe more?)
YES, MORE
- Nara - 1 day (for sure)
DO AS DAYTRIP FROM KYOTO
- Bamboo forest, Monkey Park, and something else? - 1 day
THIS IS IN KYOTO.
-Osaka - 2 days
CONSIDER DOING AS DAY TRIP FROM KYOTO
- Himeji - half a day
POSSIBLE AS DAYTRIP FROM
KYOTO SO YOU HAVE LESS HOTEL CHANGE.
- Rabbit Island - maybe 1 day (is it worth it?)
HAVNT BEEN. THERE WAS A REPORT FROM
RAINA ONG ON JG ABOUT IT. I THINK TGERE ARE MORE INTERETING ISLANDS LIKE INUJIMA, NAOSHIMA OR TESHIMA. BUT TGEY ARE FICUSSED IN ART NOT ANIMALS
- Hiroshima - 1 day and Miyajima - 1 day
STAY IN EOTHER MIYAJIMA OR HIROSHIMA. DONT CHANGE HOTELS
The remaining days will be spent in Tokyo and its surroundings unless you have other suggestions.
POSSIBLE OTHER SUGGESTIONS: HIKONE, HAKONE, IZU PENINSULA , INUJIMA, TESHIMA, MATSUMOTO
by LikeBike rate this post as useful

Re: 25-day journey 2024/1/9 21:54
All good advice from LikeBike, but since you are planning to rely heavily on takuhaibin, I will share some of my own perspectives.

If you are staying at lower-cost hotels you might want to check with them beforehand about sending luggage. I was surprised on a recent trip that one of my hotels (a standard business hotel, and not a particularly junky one) would only send luggage if it was sent COD (that is, charges paid on the receiving end), and some (many?) hotels will not accept it on that basis. Another hotel I was considering had the same policy, and I saw a forum post recently where a person reported that their hotel didnft handle luggage sending.

This all surprised me very much, as I have been using takuhaibin in Japan for years and never came across a standard hotel (i.e., not a hostel or a cheap minshuku or something) that wouldnft send my luggage. I wonder whether it has anything to do with the recent trend of hotels going gcashlessh (that is, only accepting payment by credit card or some other form of electronic payment). You cannot count on a hotel allowing you to pay takuhaibin charges with a credit card.

That said, nearly all hotels in Japan WILL send your luggage for you, but it doesnft hurt to confirm in advance. Most have their policies stated clearly on their websites, although sometimes only on their Japanese pages. You can always take the luggage to a takuhaibin company yourself (they are often located near large JR stations), but this can be inconvenient. I have never sent a suitcase from a 7-11, but heard recently that a few of them (generally smaller ones) donft handle suitcases. And in a few cases you wonft find any convenience stores at all near your hotel.

Note that one-day (i.e., overnight) delivery of suitcases is not a given. I recently sent a suitcase from Okayama to Kawasaki (near Tokyo), and the hotel said that it could possibly take three days because it was such a busy time (mainly from Japanese people sending year-end gifts to family and friends). They said Tokyo was even worse than Kanagawa-ken (where Kawasaki is located). So for times when you WANT a delay, no problem, but the gcommon wisdomh that takuhaibin is an overnight service except for airports is not something you can rely on. It can also depend on what time you get the luggage down to the front desk for sending. (Sometimes it has to be fairly early in the day to catch their pickup time.)

I generally use takuhaibin at least once on every trip, but it isnft a magic bullet. I rather prefer to choose hotels that are very near a train station and handle the luggage myself. It can be time-consuming to fill out the paperwork or give the hotel all the information they need, and the costs do add up. (If you are sending a large suitcase both to and from a hotel, it will cost at least 4000 yen, which in many cases is enough to cover the extra cost to pick a hotel that is right at the station.) However, even a medium-size suitcase can get too heavy to lift onto the overhead shelf on a train. (I actually prefer to use one small and one medium piece and distribute the weight evenly.) You cannot count on being able to find a place to store your large luggage on the train, and it can really be an encumbrance on a commuter train. Takuhaibin is definitely a solution. (I concur with LikeBike about simply trying to bring less stuff with you, but it has taken me years to get very good at that myself, and I always have to factor hotel coin laundry availability into my luggage management planning.)

The number of hotel changes you are making would be intolerable for me, but if you want to go to all those places I guess the only other alternative would be to visit more of them as day trips, and this can get very expensive if you donft have a rail pass. I donft know whether a rail pass would gpay offh in your case, but for most peoplefs itineraries the nationwide ones are more expensive than point-to-point tickets these days. (You can use a rail pass calculator or look up all the fares yourself, recognizing that some of the places you want to go involve non-JR transit.) Also, from Hiroshima to Tokyo is a pretty long ride in one day. Many (most?) people would prefer to fly or at least use a nozomi shinkansen.
by Kim (guest) rate this post as useful

reply to this thread