I booked a flight to Japan for the last week of October and the first two weeks in November.
My plans so far are very vague: For the first week I want to stay in Tokyo, and in the other two weeks I would like to visit two or more cities or towns around the main island or Hokkaido (the northern island). I plan to travel by train and bus.
I would appreciate any tips and inspiration from your experiences in Japan – or just write me some locations that you would like to see when you travel there yourself.
My budget will be around $3000 excluding the flight. A friend will accompany me, so will be able to split the rent.
I read somewhere that there are train passes that you can buy. I think one was named Suica or something. You can charge them with money and then you can just ride any bus or train. The cost is charged from that card afterwards. I think you can also add the Suica card to Apple Pay.
Late to the party here - yes, the App is Suica. You can use a VPN to get it and load it ahead of time. Sept of 2022 I couldn't add Visa or MC as payment, but I could add Amex. By putting the Suica app/card in your Apple wallet it becomes the default payment for transit. I think I got a JREast pass as well as my travels took me to Sendai and it was cheaper for a 5 day JREast than to pay the Shinkansen fare by itself. (I was there longer than the 5 day pass, so I use Suica pay-per-ride outside the 5 days)
Thank you for the info. I saw somewhere that the price for the Japanese Rail Pass will increase by around 80% in October. But I will buy it online, before the price increase.
What was your #1 favorite thing you did or place you visited in Japan?
I really enjoyed Kamakura, south of Tokyo. It had a bit of history, a bit of touristy stuff, and what seemed like a laid back vibe. I'll admit that I didn't really plan much for what I'd do when I was there. I went to see an old friend (hadn't seen him in 25-30 years) on an absolute lark. He's lived in Tokyo for at least 15 years now, so he took me to a few popular places around Tokyo along with two spots I wanted to go (Mt. Takao and Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum; I won't call either "exciting" and the latter was a little weak on the interpretation imho).
Thank you for the inspiration. I’ll add Kamakura to my list.