Family trip to Japan
 

My partner and I want to take my son, his wife and twin daughters (who will be 6 when we go) to Japan in April next year. I would love some advice on where to go, stay etc. 2 weeks max. They want to stay in Tokyo and Kyoto and I would like us to visit a former homestay student whose wedding we attended in 2008. He is now a father and lives in Hiroshima.

Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto is a very standard itinerary and will fit in a two week trip. Read some of the many Japan posts here, buy/borrow some guidebooks, and spend some time on http://www.japan-guide.com

Consider flying into Tokyo and out of KIX. Decide whether you are comfortable sleeping on tatami rather than beds for a few nights, and whether you want a ryokan experience.

Are you aiming to be there for cherry blossom viewing, or to avoid it?

Have you asked the former homestay student? You may need to build your itinerary around his schedule, and I bet he'd have some great ideas for what you could see too.

But all three cites are connected by high speed train, it'd be easy to do all three in two weeks. So I think your question is a bit too vague. What is your group interested in?

Like thursdaysd, I think this plan should work well, and with the research she suggests, you should be able to get a bit more of an idea of what might best suit your interests and needs. Once you do that, I think we'll all be in a good position to help you fine-tune whatever plan you develop.

Enjoy your planning!

Would love to see cherry blossoms if possible.
My partner not too keen on tatami. Former student has suggested a couple of things in Hiroshima but nowhere else. He showed us around Tokyo in 2008 but we didn't have children with us then. I know my son wants to take his daughters to some of the kid stuff in Tokyo, so I am not worried about filling in time there,
I guess what I was really looking for was some suggestions for accommodation.
Thanks
Sue

It seems to me that if you want suggestions for accommodation, you need to say what kinds of accommodation you want and why booking.com is not serving your needs. JMO.

>>some suggestions for accommodation

what's your budget for lodging?

Medium priced

"Medium priced" is of no use as an answer. Your medium priced may be either my budget level or my extravagant.

You need to provide an answer in Japanese yen or USD if you want useful help.

And you need to state if you're trying to jam all six people in one abode or if you're willing to find two lodgings close together.

Ultimately, there are TONS of listings in Tokyo and Kyoto for rental flats and rental machiyas (esp. Kyoto).

>>He is now a father and lives in Hiroshima.

That means they live in Hiroshima-ken, Hiroshima prefecture. They may or may not live in Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima city. Hiroshima-shi has eight "ku", i.e. city wards.

Outside of Hiroshima-shi they may live in another shi or cho or machi (or maybe a -gun) within Hiroshima-ken.

So, is his address like:
Higashi-ku, Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima
or
Fukuyama-shi, Hiroshima
or
Kumano-cho, (Aki-gun,) Hiroshima
?

Thank you. My problem is that at the time we are looking there is very little available, so I am about to give up and look at China or somewhere else in Asia and try for Japan another year. I do appreciate your help but it all seems too hard just now.

Of course there is still availability for April 2018. I just checked on Agoda.com. But you don't say your exact dates, what your budget is, and what kind of acommodations you are willing to accept.

I must admit that I have trouble believing that you would find it easier to plan a trip to a different part of Asia, but then, like so many of my fellow Fodorites, I have trouble understanding the difficulties you say you are facing.

Good luck!

The problem is it is Cherry Blossom time and all the more reasonably priced hotels are already booked.

Not necessarily.
You just have to think outside the box. Some people stay in Osaka for example to visit Kyoto. More inconvenient, but it's just 30 minutes between the cities.

In my case, I visited Kyoto during cherry blossom season and naturally all the budget hotels were filled up. So I picked Otsu in Shiga. Nobody really goes sightseeing there, so I got a hotel room no problem. What the tourist hordes still don't know yet is that it's just 2 train stops to Kyoto Station. I still got the convenience, and saved a lot of my money.

Your problem with hotel availability is you are looking too early. Japanese hotels do not open their reservations until 3 or 4 or 6 months before. Look again in November and there will be plenty of rooms available.

Oh that is great news. Thank you for the help. I will indeed look again later.

Hi karana12, I just traveled to Japan last July 2017 with my husband and daughter (kid). Instead of booking a hotel, why not try the AIRBNB? It is cheaper and you can choose whether you like to rent a whole house or share it with other guests. Also, you'll experience living in a Japanese house. Just find the right host of the house.
Feel free to read my blog about Japan and watch our trip to Japan.

http://thought-toro.blogspot.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbjVOxtKQ24

If you are in Kyoto-Hiroshima area i recommend going to visit the Koya-San temples, about 40 mins from Hiroshima if i m not wrong. It is a beautiful complex of temples on top of a mountain and it is a fantastic place to visit