I am just beginning to plan a trip to Japan with my two children in their late 20's. None of us have ever been there and have always wanted to go. We are considering going sometime next summer. I am looking for basic suggestions of when to go, where to go etc. We will have about two weeks. Should we also try to add one other city in some other country to our trip? We are traveling from San Francisco. Any suggestions and help would be much appreciated!

Japan in summer is not a nice place to be visit. I realize that you are coming from California, but, be prepared for hot ans extremely humid conitions. Its not exactly pleasant at that time of the year.

Place to see....So many.

Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshoma/ Miyajima , Toyama / Gokayama / Shirakawago / Tayeyama. The list is endless.
More than enough to see in two weeks, In fact, two weeks is not enough.
Forget trying to take in any other countries.

Here's a link to get you started.
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/

Here's another helpful link:

http://www.japan-guide.com/

I agree that two weeks is very little time and that adding another city from another country doesn't make sense.

I think 2 weeks is a good amount of time. Of course you won't see everything, but it's an excellent way to get a taste of the place.

<b>Bluelark</b>, I don't know which country is your home, but let's assume it's the U.S., and let's suppose you have an internet buddy from Kenya who is coming to the US with her family for a two-week visit. What would you suggest for an itinerary?

Japan and the US are obviously different in many respects, but some aspects are very similar. In either place, you have a choice of moving around a lot (that is, not staying in any one location for more than 2 nights) in order to cover as much territory as possible, or you can stay longer at each location but see fewer of them. My own preference is for the latter approach, but your might be different.

For my money, with 2 weeks, I'd choose 2 cities and stay 4 nights in each. Tokyo and Kyoto are the obvious choices, but everyone does those two and there are lots of other options. For the other half-dozen or so nights, I'd find 2 non-city areas to explore: Hakone is a tried and true choice, but the northern mountains would be appealing in summer. Also, you might look for one of the summer festivals, and plan to visit a city where the festival is going on. That takes more planning (important to reserve accommodations well in advance), but well worth the effort.

I would go in the spring or fall. October or late March to April would be my time of travel.

mjs,

Totally agree with you. Lived in Japan for 5 years, and I would always escape back to Australia in August. I enjoyed the weather from October through March. Used to hate seeing the rice being planted, as that always heralded the sticky weather.

GOing north in summer is a good idea as well.

I arrived in Japan Sep 21, and it was still fairly hot, and very humid. (I live in NC, and know about humid sumers, and it was worse.) It has gotten better now, but I'd certainly not plan to be here in summer! (Although maybe Hokkaido would be better?)

Blue Lark...I last visited Japan in '07..and we wanted to catch the cherry blossoms..luckily we did..it was first two weeks of April. The blossoms impressed me very much on my first visit to Japan as a guest of the US government, with the esteemed title of "Private First Class". I would also suggest Tokyo and Kyoto as bases for your two weeks. What have you decided on Portugal and Morocco?
Stu

Bluelark;
I visited Japan in January of 2010 for one week, and had an amazing time. Although it was a bit chilly, there were very few tourists regardless of where I went. The only downside to visiting during the winter season was probably the lack of cherry blossoms, which I had always been so drawn to. So if you're hoping to avoid the tourist season, I would definitely recommend visiting during winter.

As far as other countries goes, I agree with gearsau and kja. Visiting another country is probably not the best option if you are only staying in Japan for two weeks.

Best of luck with your trip! Hope you enjoy your visit as much as I did.

Blue: We visited a couple years ago during cherry-blossom season, basing ourselves in Tokyo and Kyoto during our stay. It was absolutely splendid.

Here's our trip report thread:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...rom-mrmsgo.cfm

Hmmmm, I am going to give you a different point of view. Summer in Japan usually means go north. By north I mean to Northern Tohoku or Hokkaido. Take a flight from SFO to CTS via NRT and start from there. The weather will be the best in Japan at the time and the sights are fantastic. Click on my screen name and read a few reports that I have done on the area.

http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1101.html

Aloha!

Yes Summer is like Queensland in Summer but worse.