Japan itineraries
Let Onigiro be your guide with original itineraries off the beaten paths of Japan!
Photos from travel to Japan are often identical because tourists always visits the most famous cities and places. But real Japan goes way beyond those cities: Onigiro’s mission is to bring you off the beaten paths across this country rich of history and culture!
Choose the itinerary that fits you the most, with places that other tour guides does not usually take into account!
Japan itineraries by duration
Japan itineraries by season
Japan itineraries by topic
In the following there are all the essential information to travel in Japan, like flights, tools and hotel reservations. Instead, if you’re looking for the travel essential gadgets to bring with you, give a look to this blog post. If you have any question, do not hesitate to contact us.
Hotels & other accommodations
Depending on your lifestyle, in Japan you can spend as much money as you want, but even the most economy hotels usually have high quality standards. To book accommodations we either use Trip.com or Expedia.com**.
Business Hotel
Inside big cities, the majority of hotels are business hotels, widely used both by tourists and business men. Rooms’ size are small (~13 sqm), costing around 40 $ each person for a night.
This type of accommodation offers many comfort for travelers: inside every room you’ll usually find slippers, yukata, loads of bath utensil (like toothbrush and hair dryer), water boiler with tea bags and much more.
Pros: proximity to station, low prices, good customer care.
Cons: anonymous, small rooms might be a problem with big luggage.
Ryokan
Ryokan have Japanese traditional style rooms, with tatami floor and futon beds. On hot spring towns, this is a common type of accommodation and the majority of them have their own hot spring inside.
Rooms are bigger than business hotels and usually the traditional style breakfast and dinner are included. Of course the prices gets higher, starting from ~100 $ each night.
Pros: Japanese real experience, incredibly comfortable.
Cons: high price, usually far from main station.
Apartment
Probably the most convenient accommodation if traveling with a group of 4~6 people. Usually the host will explain house rules at check-in, mainly giving instructions on how to use domestic appliances and garbage management.
Pros: Prices can be very affordable, rooms are bigger than normal hotel, kitchen and washing utilities.
Cons: Usually there is no 24/h reception staff during the stay to ask for help, cleaning service not always available.
Farm-stay
The best way to experience Japanese culture is to be their guests. Some of them offers apartments while others just a room, but the best thing is getting engaged on activities with the family, like farming in the garden or cooking.
Prices for these experience aren’t cheap, ~90 $ each person for a night, but cooking the vegetables that you harvested pays the bill, and Japanese hosts are always incredibly kind!
Pros: unique experience, traditional activities.
Cons: prices not low, usually far from train station.
Capsule Hotel
This is the Japanese big cities’ original accommodation, your room is a capsule of 2 sqm where you can only lay down. Baths are in common and rooms are gender separated. This is the cheapest accommodation, ~30 $ each person for a night.
Pros: low prices.
Cons: not comfortable, low privacy.
Pocket Wi-Fi
During your travel, it’s crucial to have access to internet anytime. Almost every hotel has free Wi-Fi, as well as JR trains and many other public spots do, but in the countryside this might not be so common.
To have your phone always connected, to call parents or search for a restaurant, the best solution is the pocket Wi-Fi, a device you can connect to multiple smartphone, tablet and computer at the same time.
At least a week before your departure to Japan, you have to make online reservation on one of the many pocket Wi-Fi websites. To do it you’ll need the rental days period, the arriving date, the flight number and the arrival airport and terminal.
With these information, the company will send the pocket Wi-Fi to the closest pick-up point, almost always at airport postal office. Some companies also offers the choice to deliver directly at your hotel.
After your purchase you’ll receive an online receipt with English instructions on pick-up and how to return the device, with a pre-franked envelope. If you buy your pocket Wi-Fi with Onigiro, you’ll have a 20% discount on Ninja Wi-Fi**, one of the best companies in the market.
Google Flights
Flight prices are continuously changing and a useful website to compare the offers is Google Flights, a flight search tool where you can filter flight companies, travel duration and so on.
After choosing it, we usually book the flight with Trip.com or Expedia.com**.
Now, let’s see which are the key features that makes Google Flights so good? In the following example, Onigiro will show how you can save up to 600 $ flying from New York to Tōkyō
Start date – 31 July
Return date – 17 August
This first screenshot is the main Google Flights page, let’s see our favorite options:
- on point 1 there is a list of filters, like the desired arrival time and airline companies. We always use the “No stops” option because we hate to lose time in flight connections;
- enabling the switch at point 2 (track prices) you’ll receive an email whenever the price of the current research goes up or down. The flight will be saved inside your “Tracked flight prices” section (top left corner);
- points 3 (date grid) and 4 (price graph) are the best tools to save money, if your dates are flexible. Let’s see how much we can save in the following pictures.
Date Grid
A direct round trip flight New York – Tokyo, starting 31 July and returning 17 August costs at least 1815$. But from the grid up here, google shows that if we move dates 2 days before or after 31 July, price changes by 200 $.
For example, we highlighted in red 2 better prices if the return date changes to August 18th and the start date becomes either July 29th or August 2nd, saving 200 $ with only 1 click!
Price Graph
This second tool shows a bigger timeline: with the trip duration fixed to 17 days, you can find better prices moving the start date back and forth.
For example, the price for a 17 days trip starting between July and mid August, costs ~1800$. But if we move the start date to September, the price drops to less than 1200 $, making you save 600 $!!
| Onigiro advice | The best time to buy flight tickets is 5~6 months before boarding, and using this graphic tools you’ll save even more just changing 1 or 2 days on your travel plan!
Japan Rail Pass
Japan Rail Pass is your access to travel across the country in a cheap way. You have to buy it online** or at your country’s retailers, with prices varying by duration and covered area.
For all the information about the Japan Rail Pass and how to use Japanese trains, read our guide on Japan railway system that includes many useful maps and travel tips.
Luggage delivery service
Inside our itineraries we love to see many different cities, and this is obviously a problem if you have big luggage with you. That’s why we always suggest to travel with a small suitcase (~10kg) to be left at the station’s coin-lockers or at the hotels plus a good backpack to always bring with you.
But we understand that fitting all the souvenirs inside a small suitcase is almost impossible, that’s why we suggest to use the Yamato Transport service system, also known as Takkyubin, to send the heavy luggage from a destination to the next one days ahead.
This company is the biggest express courier in Japan and you can send luggage either from their official retail stores, or from many convenience stores and hotels at a cost of ~20$. To make the shipping you will have to fill out a module in Japanese language, but ask for help to Japanese staff because they’ll help you for sure.
Finally, if you plan to send a luggage to a hotel that you reserved online, remember to print your hotel reservation receipt in Japanese language so you can show it to the staff that will read the address.
Down here, Onigiro shows you how to fill the Takkyubin module:
Travel health insurance
Japanese health system is private, so it’s really important to have health insurance for emergencies: hospitalization for a few days might cost tens of thousands of dollars, so it’s better to be foresighted.
On this Japan healthcare website you can find useful information (in English language) about healthcare system and clinics in Japan.
Airline companies often allow you to add health insurance with an additional price to the flight, a quick solution but not always covers everything.
A great alternative is to get an online travel insurance for travelers like the one of World Nomads* that offers simple and flexible travel insurance. Buy at home or while traveling and claim online from anywhere in the world.
* since 2002, World Nomads have been protecting, connecting and inspiring independent travelers. They offer simple and flexible travel insurance and safety advice to help you travel confidently. As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is information only and not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
** as an affiliate of Trip.com, Expedia.com, Jrpass.com and Ninjawifi.com, we receive a small fee when you buy something on these websites using our links, obviously without any additional cost to you.