I am planning to visit Japan for 2 weeks in October & want to stay in Toyko,Kyoto & Osaka would it be too much to try to stay a couple of nights in Nagasaki as well? We plan to get JR passes - any advice would be appreciated -Thanks- Helen

On my first trip to Japan, I spent about two weeks on this itinerary: Tokyo- Kyoto- Matsuyama- Hakata- Nara- Hakone- Tokyo. So, I visited two places enroute from Tokyo to Hakata and two more on return to Tokyo.

Substituting Nagasaki for Matsuyama and/or Hakata, as you would do, sounds reasonable to me.

Nagasaki is two hours by Limited Express train from Hakata (Fukuoka). The Hikari shinkansen trip from Hakata to Tokyo can be done in 6 hours (for example: depart 6AM, arrive Shin-Osaka at 8:45 AM, transfer, depart 9:03, arrive Tokyo at 11:53).

Fukuoka is one of few places in Japan from where you can fly to Narita airport (instead of Haneda, the Tokyo domestic airport). You might see some special fares at www.jal.com or www.fly-ana.com, or via the JNTO site, www.jnto.go.jp (look for Chowari fares). You could take the train out to Nagasaki, stopping along the way, then fly back the morning of (or night before) you return home.

If this is a once in a lifetime trip to Japan, then going to Nagasaki is not too much. If you plan on returning, you could easily spend another two weeks on Kyushu. On the other hand, you could spend more time at the other places and skip Nagasaki, thinking that maybe, someday, you will return. I regret, a bit, not having visited Nagasaki, but I didn't have time to go everywhere I wanted.

Thankyou for your reply it was really useful.This will almost certainly be a once in a lifetime trip so I want to see as much as possible but without trying to see so much that you end up seeing very little of anything (if that makes sense!)
After reading up a bit on Nagasaki I would really like to go there & think it would be quite a contrast to Tokyo so Iam now encouraged to try and work it into the scedule after all it's probably my one & only chance!
Thanks again-Helen

Yes, that makes sense. So, when I said "reasonable to me", I should have mentioned that it really was only 11 nights. For those 7 destinations that I mentioned, I spent the following number of nights: 1+2+1+2+1+2+2. This was followed by 3 nights in Beijing!

So, I blew right by the deer park in Nara, but that was ok by me. Where I really missed out was in Kyoto when jet lag came down heavy on the second day there.

I'd add Hakone to your itinerary (if it wasn't included in your Tokyo time). Think about a stop at Himeji to visit the castle. Also, you could stop in Hiroshima and visit the Peace Park.

Rather than booking a Fukuoka->Narita flight, you might make your international ticket be an open jaw ticket. That is, fly from home to Narita and return home from Fukuoka.

just found your reply -coincidently I was reading up on Hakone last night and think we could add an extra night in Tokyo and do it as a day trip. The open jaw is not an option as our younger sister is a flight attendant for British Airways so we only pay 10% of the flight cost but have to go on standby - with the saving on flights we plan to stay in fairly upmarket hotels and have found great deals with priority club, although we do want to spend a couple of nights in a more traditional ryokan (probably in Kyoto?)-as we will have a fair amount of luggage I don't want to move hotels too many times!
We spent 7 nights in Beijing in March last year (is'nt it a fabulous place with great people?)& stayed at the 5*Crowne Plaza in Wanfujing which was perfectly located, fantastic hotel & cost only y300 each for the whole stay-it was a bit of a struggle to fit everything into a week but we just about managed all the major sights. China was incredibly cheap -I keep hearing how expensive Japan is but when prices are quoted they seem no dearer than at home (which I suppose is expensive !!) how did you find the living costs (food,drink etc)?

You said "any advice', so: travel lightly.

There are well-publicized luggage forwarding services in Japan. You mentioned Osaka, though I'm not sure why. You could make Kyoto a base for visiting Nara & Horyu-ji and/or Osaka. Maybe stop and visit Kyoto on your way to Nagasaki. Leave some luggage at your Kyoto hotel and travel light to Nagasaki. Come back to the hotel & get your luggage. Then visit Osaka/Nara, etc. on your second stay at the hotel. Leave some of the clothing that you wore in Tokyo and Kyoto with your Kyoto hotel to be laundered. Pick it up on return.

I took one wheel-bag and before I left Fukuoka, I mailed home some clothing and souvenirs to lighten my load. This was not cheap, but it was convenient since the Japan Post office is right next to Fukuoka station. There are lockers available in the train stations where you can stash some luggage.

Hotels are really the high priced item in Japan. You can pay $250 for a hotel room in Tokyo, New York, or London. The difference is that the one in Tokyo will be significantly smaller. It's at the budget lodging level where prices seem high to me. For example, pay $20 for a futon on the floor and shared bath in Japan vs half that price in other parts of the world. A tiny "business hotel" room will cost $60-$80.

The JR Pass is a great bargain.

If you like rice, fish, and green tea then you can eat cheap. If you want beef, potatoes, and coffee or a "dining experience", then you can pay more.

There was an onsen between Hakata and Nagasaki that I wanted to visit. You might look there for a ryokan.

You should go here: http://www.jnto.go.jp get their phone number and give them a call. They will send lots of info. At www.fly-ana.com, I saw domestic Japan flights available for about $105 for foreign visitors. I think they were round trips, but maybe you could just use the ticket to get from Hakata to NRT and not use the return. Your JR Pass will get you from Nagasaki back to NRT. Is it worth it to you to spend the ~$100 and 3 hours to fly or spend 12 hours total travel time by rail?

I stayed at the same place in Beijing. You will, of course, find huge differences between there and Japan. One of them is taxis.

I also would have asked about staying in Osaka but "mrwunrfl" got to it first. I always skipped Osaka especially when the time is tight because it is much like Tokyo. Yes, I had stayed in Osaka on business. But if I had a choice I would have stayed in Kyoto.

In Japan, what I felt was that there were unspoken different classes of food, activities and accomodations. If you "know" what is meant for common commuters and families, you can do it quite cheap. But if you stumble into the area meant for expense account to "impress the guest" you will not believe how much things cost. The difference between these two may not be obvious until you step in.

As "mrwunrfl" indicated, if you stick with rice, fish, and green tea then you can eat cheap, provided you don't stumble into those expense account mostly places. You can usually tell these places by parents brining in children with them or business people on lunch break by themselves without any clients to entertain.

Non traditional food, such as beef, potatoes, and coffee or mostly western "experience" would costs you a fortune.

This is all great advice-thankyou.

I think now that if we do decide to visit Osaka it will just be a day trip from Kyoto (if the guide books are right it's only about 17mins on the shinkansen so would'nt take up too much time for a quick look ). I had'nt thought about leaving some luggage behind and returning to the same hotel which would be well worth looking into as then if we are travelling light it would enable us to stop off at say Hiroshima, the whole trip travelling light would probably not work for us as I am travelling with my brother so my family (including 2 greedy teenagers& my brothers 2 younger kids) will expect lots of presents and I am a bit of a shopaholic myself plus we plan a visit to Tokyo disneyland as I collect disney bean toys which will all be far too much to post back -so i think we need some careful planning to accomodate this.
In Beijing we were told by a waiter that they have one price for Chinese and another for tourists so l 'm sure it pays to do plenty of research -I don't like organised tourist tours but prefer to discover things myself so need to be well prepared.
-I want to eat mainly Japanese food although I'm not very keen on fish would could present a bit of a problem , in China I had pre-prepared cards with details,map refs.& approx price range of various restaurants searched for on the internet which worked really well although for Japan it would have to be on a much larger scale.
I will check out the domestic flights at fly.ana as that could save quite a lot of travelling time.
Thanks again - any more advice is very welcome.

If you are going to Nagasaki for two nights, it would be nice to stay first night in the city, and second night in a Ryokan in Unzen. Unzen is a famous Onsen

Yes, basing out of Kyoto to visit Osaka (for the castle? or is there another Disney thing there?) is a good idea. It is 17 min. (or less) on the shinknansen, but that is to the Shin-Osaka station. You'd connect from there to get into Osaka and use the subway to get around the city to your destination(s). It's a big city. You might be better off taking a local train to Osaka (not Shin-Osaka).

There are two classes of service, as greg mentioned, but it is not like you mentioned about Beijing. Some business owners don't like dealing with foreigners because of differences in customs and language. If you watch where the commuters and families eat, then you will do ok. If you see a bunch of guys in suits (and if they're shouting "Kampai!&quot then you might be in the wrong place.

You're quite a planner. I'm sure you'll work the logistics so that your luggage doesn't limit your travel options.

Is a visit to the castle worthwhile? there is a Universal studios in Osaka but that is not a priority as there is so much else to see so that would be on the "if we have a spare day" list - should we be adding Nara for a day trip?
We will have to keep an eye out for those men in suits!! I can't remember what "Kampai" means but will look it up later as I have a book on learning japanese -I do like to be prepared!! although I'm not too good at languages so probably won't get much past a few simple greetings and then be too shy to use them.
Any idea's on what kind of small things I could bring from home incase a gift giving situation should arise? -Thanks -Helen

Nara is a "must visit" and Osaka is not.