Two questions about Japan
 

Hello everyone!

My DH and I are still on track to go to Japan for the first time in April. We have not yet purchased our airfare, as cost is still over $1,400 each, and we're hoping for a little decrease now that oil prices have come down.

I have two questions I'd love to have answers to before we book our flights:

1. Our preferred dates are April 16-27. Are there any school holidays at this time, or anything going on in Tokyo or Kyoto that might bring larger crowds or closures? Since it's before Golden Week, we were hoping this would be a slower time to visit since many would be vacationing after the 27th.

2. If we had a flight at 3pm or later from Narita, would we be reasonably safe to travel by shinkansen from Kyoto the morning of our flight and go straight to the airport, or would it be better to take a late night train the night before and stay in Tokyo?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

1. Not that I know of. I think the schools start their term in April so kids should be in class. Maybe a local will chime in with better info.
Crowds will be large as this is the ending of cherry blossoms

2. Japanese trains run on a precise schedule and are so accurate it is said you should set your watch by them. I would feel safe taking a shinkansen to Tokyo and tranfering to NRT on my day of travel. Just remember, it makes for a longer travel day as you will be on a train then a plane for quite a while.

Aloha!

Hi, lmgsonic -

As hawaiian traveler says, you shouldn't have a problem getting to Tokyo from Kyoto on the day of your flight, but you might consider flying out of Kansai so you don't have to get back to Tokyo.

Enjoy!

1. No school holidays (they all go back on Apr 1) and no public holidays. April is a popular month for domestic tourism, so there will be crowds. No closures. Probably too late for cherry blossom viewing (hanami).
2. You should stay the last night in Tokyo. You have to be at Narita by 1 pm for your flight, and it takes at least 4 hours from Kyoto by Shinkansen and Narita Express to the airport including connection, meaning an early start and no leeway for unexpected delays (unlikely, but can't be ruled out). If your flight isn't till 5 pm or later, you can stay in Kyoto.

Thanks for the info thus far! We'll adjust our schedule based on whatever flight we get. I want to aim for a later flight out of Tokyo so we get more time in Kyoto, unless I can find a good fare out of Kansai...so far no luck either way on decent fares. Of course, if fares are still high by the end of January, we'll bite the bullet and buy. We're just hoping...

I too do not think there will be anything out of the ordinary in Kyoto or Tokyo during your dates. Too late for cherry blossoms. I also would fly out of Kansai. If you had to fly out of Narita I would get back to Tokyo the day or night before your flight home. Although transportation is uber reliable in Japan it would make me nervous if I had airline tickets which were nonrefundable or difficult or expensive to change. A small earthquake for example could shut down the trains for hours.

Hi again, rereading your post I see you have not purchase your tickets yet.

Have you made your accommodation reservations yet?

If not may I suggest you change your vacation two weeks and arrive earlier April 1 - 12? You don't know what your missing not seeing the cherry blossoms and the crowds will be the same as when you are traveling, well almost;) Either way you should make your hotel reservations now! Make a set of two different ones until you get your ticks in Jan.....thats what I do when I can't decide, Just don't forget to cancel the ones you don't use so you don't get the charge

The open jaw out airfare out of KIX, even though a little more expensive, should save you money as you won't have to pay the train fare back to Tokyo and then to NRT(unless you have a rail pass which you might not need if you don't have to train the last day)and we all know that on a vacation your time IS money.

Aloha!

ht,

We picked the dates we did because it's considered "Value" time at the Tokyo Disney Resort. We're spending 1/3 of our time in Japan there (we are Disney fans). I'm not sure if DH would consider changing the dates to accommodate the cherry blossoms. I don't mind either way - it would give me an excuse to convince him to go back to Japan anyways! (Not to mention wanting to go in the autumn to see the fall colors!)

We have one of our 3 hotels booked so far. It seems a lot of hotels are only taking bookings through March, but I'm sure that will change in about a week or two.

We were planning on getting a 7 day JR rail pass, although if we fly out of Kansai, it wouldn't make sense. We come out just a bit ahead of the game if we are doing the roundtrip shinkansen Tokyo-Kyoto as well as roundtrip Kyoto-Himeji using the rail pass. At least I think we do. I did the calculations using Hyperdia basing it on the total sum for each trip. Was I correct in my estimations?

Thanks again everyone for the help.

lm,

sorry, thats right I remember you now. I get confused sometimes answering so many threads, lol

You will be pleasantly surprised at how fanatical the Japanese Disney fans are. We have been to all the Disney parks worldwide and have never seen so many people wearing Disney hats around. I mean, wherever you go in the Disney parks you will always see people wearing hats and such but not to the extent that the Japanese do, you'll see. Have fun!

I get confused, too, ht! And I'm mostly just reading threads, not answering them!

We are really looking forward to this vacation. We love the fact that we get to combine the fantasy of Disney with the big city, high tech vibe of Tokyo, and then the charm of old Japan in Kyoto.

I wish we could give the country more time, but we can't be away from work too long. I have a good feeling that this trip will start a new "love affair" for us in that we will be dreaming about returning to Japan again and again (just like our trip to Europe did - we still talk about going back very soon if money and time allow).

hi lm we are traveling to Japan this month and are taking the train from Kyoto to Tokyo for a 3pm flight, this is our itinerary:

leave Kyoto 8:03 am on Shinkasen Nozumi Express (bullet train), arrive Tokyo 10:18 (135 minutes), leave Tokyo 10:58 on Ltd. Express to Narita airport, arrive 11:54

The concierge at the Tokyo Westin suggested taking an airport limo bus from the hotel that would arrive at Narita airport at 2:25 PM for my 4:10 PM flight on United to LAX.

I made it clear to him that this was an international flight and wondered if I should go earlier. He said that it would be plenty of time.

I decided to take an earlier bus and arrived at 1:20 PM. I had checked in at the hotel, so only had to check bags. There was no line. I got through security and passport control and was airside by 1:45 or 1:50 at the latest. By 2PM I could have been at the gate.

The guy at the Westin was right.

That was last Saturday.

Thanks for the info!

I'm noting everyone's comments, and we'll make final plans either way once we have our flights.