Actually, there may be some truth. Last year,this time, when we were planning, Kensington Travel said they could not get private guides for Kyoto or Osaka! Eventually, like September, they were able to. But last year was a big year for Japan travel. I do not know if this year is.

Kensington, which has better contacts than I, could not get their first choice hotel for us in Tokyo. They found a back up.

I plan lots of travel on my own, but wouldn’t attempt
Japan on my own.

if transportation were refundable, I’d say book it now. But I agree with the poster who said to plug in some test dates.

Hotels on booking.com can be reserved on a refundable basis and you may want to book those now. If you have hotels and flights, you’ll be set. More detailed planning, such as what to do each day, can be done much later. So you may just want to be sure you set a number of days per city and think about jet lag. I would say a minimum of 4 if you start in Tokyo and 5 if you want to do Kyoto and perhaps 1-2 side trips from there.

weflew into Haneda and out through Osaka, stopping in Haneda. Osaka and Kyoto are very close together with two airports there. I do not think it makes a major difference if you fly into Haneda or Narita, by the way.

Kensington booked the bullet train for us and got perfect seats, facing Mt. Fuji and the ones we could put our suitcases right behind us. We travel carry on and I did not want to ship ahead.

Now free tours by foot May be available and the free greeters, too. A Context tour of Gion and a ramen tour on Airbnb experiences even I booked on my own and they were terrific.

I spent more on this trip than any other we have taken…a bucket list trip…but it definitely can be done more cheaply. The subway is safe. I didn’t figure it out til about Day 5, but there is plenty of English, but you may speak, read Japanese and I don’t. Subway info booth staff spoke English. Cab drivers don’t but do take credit cards. 7/11 has wonderful food to eat back in your room. Very reasonable. Totally unlike US 7/11s. It is wonderful to experience and I did not want to wait until I was too old.

ovtober last year had great weather..no fall leaves yet.

I'm in Japan now and have been reading articles about record number of tourists....I think you can book hotels now on booking.com with no advance payment required and cancel if you change your dates or find something you like better. I don't know if you mentioned your hotel room budget but you can find a wide range. I'm your age and have always traveled on my own. It is nice to get guides, I guess, not really necessary. I have used the free guides here and there over the years. It is easy to get around both Tokyo and Kyoto - but buses can be crowded. Whatever...enjoy your planning.

We each need to do what works for us, but FWIW, I found planning a trip to Japan on my own incredibly easy. Some guidebooks, japan-guide.com ... voila!

It is not "very late", but it is time, especially for Kyoto.

Virtually all of the OTAs (booking, agoda) and the hotel/ryokan websites have refundable options. I prefer to book with the hotel/ryokan directly online.

kja, you're the expert! I wonder if this is more for people who are very particular about where they stay and want to book Michelin restaurants. But I also want to see what others say, I do NOT like planning in a rush.

Alice

Hotel Mume in Kyoto seems to be very much loved by Fodorites. You could check out the availability for October. I just took a brief look, and I am not even sure they are taking reservations yet for after August. Maybe others know more about it.

You don't need a guide for Japan, and you can plan everything by yourself. I can't guarantee you won't run into a language barrier, but it will probably result in a comic misunderstanding more than a serious one.

I am not going to put down the idea of having a guide. They can be tremendously informative. But I wouldn't treat Japan any differently than Europe in that regard.

Thank you, but I am most decidedly NOT an expert. mrwunrful is an expert on Japan. Mara is an expert on Japan. I just had a successful, and very well researched, trip to Japan many moons (too many!) ago.

If you can nail down the time you will be in Japan, you could then (as others have suggested) book a completely cancellable hotel for a week in Kyoto and a week in Japan. That might give you a bit of breathing room.

I do not think you are too late for an October visit to Honshu. October weather is generally good although it seems to be getting warmer and warmer every year. Also you are almost out of Tyhoon season.

shelemm, this is all excellent to hear. I've been known to book hotels and cancel later myself (last year, I changed our hotel in Bayeux about 3 days before we GOT there).

And it's very helpful to hear that I can treat Japan like Europe. I make plans, they get changed sometimes, we go on those free walking tours sometimes, and lately, we pay for a private guide once in a while. Sometimes things go wrong, but you're right, in a comical way (we were in Mexico City in early Feb, and let's just say I had quite the experience dealing with a public W/C).

I will definitely check out Hotel Mume.

Thanks! Alice

kja, thanks for the correction and I will check out the posters you mentioned.

For this trip, I am going to try...again, to get my husband involved in the planning. I'm really tired of him saying AFTER the trip, 'look how well everything turned out, you worry too much'.

Alice

I can imagine a lot of things that would be even worse to hear!

You don't need to rush. Assuming you have booked your flights, it is time to start figuring out where you want to stay. Booking sooner means getting more options but not necessarily the best price, so cancellable reservations are (to me) necessary.

Western hotel chains (thinking Marriott, Hilton) can be booked now. Some Japanese lodgings don't show availability for October yet. When you expressed interest in Hotel Mume you were getting particular. As of a few days ago they only showed availability through July. You can keep an eye on it (or ask them) to find out when bookings can be made for October.

What do you think about my advice for staying in Hakone (or somewhere with more nature than Tokyo and Kyoto)?

if you go to Tokyo in the fall make sure to plan a day trip to Nikko. Take a tour bus plan the day you will not be disappointed,

Well, I thought I owed all you helpful people an update.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with heart failure. At this point, I figured I had things pretty much under control and so far travel hasn't been an issue.

However, my cardiologist is recommending AGAINST such a long flight. Well, she said IF I walk a lot, and IF I take medication A, B, and C with me just in case... enough to make me rethink this trip.

It is a GREAT disappointment to me, this is one of my bucket list trips, but you know what? I want to be able to get to the other bucket list trips too, and plenty of them don't require such a long flight. I haven't figured out what to do instead in October, mostly because I'm pretending I'm still going to Japan, but I'll get over that and find something else on the list.

Thanks so much for all the good information, as always, Fodor's users are always amazing. Anyway, I'll let you know what I figure out.

Again, thanks so much, wish I was using all this good information!

Alice

Oh, Alice, I'm so sorry to hear of your disappointment! But I would hate even more for a trip to Japan to be the end of you.

If visiting Japan remains a priority, you might explore options for a trip that includes multiple short(er) stops. I don't know your home location (and if you mentioned it above, I'm too lazy to find it), but you could, for example, consider a few days in Honolulu before heading to Japan, and if necessary, a few days somewhere along the western coast of the US before Honolulu.... I realize even those flights might be too long ... I'm just throwing the idea out in case it would be an option.

IMO, the world is full of places that are well worth seeing. Thank goodness your current heart condition allows you to explore some of those other places!

Best wishes Alice9. Thanks for coming back. Adjusting a bucket list does help to focus.

There are only two places in the world that I have been to that I think everybody should consider putting at/near the top of their list. You could move them up on your list if still on it. Maybe you'd think I would say Japan, but no. The two places might be easier for you to get to: Yellowstone National Park and Jerusalem

Alice9, kudos to you for making this tough decision and having a positive perspective on all of the other places you'd love to visit. Would you consider updating this thread again when you decide where to go in October, so we can follow along? it's true that every time we say "yes" to something, we say "no" to something else (unless or until we can be in 2 or more places at once!).....well the reverse is true as well: saying "no" to something opens up all sorts of possibilities for saying "yes" to something else.

I dislike the term 'bucket list' and it's too bad it has become so popular. I have no such list. I always focus on where to go next, and that changes depending on factors well beyond my control. I have planned many trips that didn't come to fruition for one reason or another. Sometimes I get to them, and some may never happen.

But then again, I am a big believer in serendipity. If Japan is out, then it's out. Not that big a deal.

Go whichever way the wind blows. Then you can't say you lack for direction.

October is the time when cruise ships migrate from the West Coast to
Asia. There are usually a couple that do LA/San
Diego/Seattle/Vancouver to Tokyo/Yokohama and, like most
repositionings, they are inexpensive.

For example: Holland America Westerdam Seattle 28 Sept to Yokohama 12
October for $1049 pp oceanview.

The reverse journey is typically in April and I prefer those.

You'd need to find a way to get back and as suggested above, breaking
the journey in Hawaii is one way. Would a flatbed help? If so,
checkout zipair.

More details: https://adumbrate.org/pics/traveltips.html#cruises

Alice9, I think that someotherguy has a fabulous solution to your long flight issue!! I am older than you and have various medical issues but evidently not so serious that any of my numerous docs have advised me not to travel....fingers crossed. I was thinking about how long the trip from NYC to Tokyo is - going in March I did do premium economy which was more comfortable than regular economy which I did to return....but I also wondered about going to LA for a day or so and then leaving from there to Tokyo...I guess it would be more expensive but maybe worth it....
Anyway, good luck to you whatever your decision is....