Compiling a list of desired destinations is a family favourite in our household. And after 20 years of travels together, I like to think that my husband and I have got our planning process down to a fine art.
But this year, things had changed. With the kids hitting their pre-teen years and fully immersed in online travel content (of the YouTube and TikTok variety), it dawned on me that suddenly we had four opinions to consider, rather than two.
It seemed there was only one plan that everyone could get on board with. The Japan plan.
But while we were united in our opinion on the destination of choice, everyone’s motivation for going and ideas of what we’d be doing there, were really quite contradictory.
Kid A wanted to see the huge amusement arcades with “the most grabbers in the world!”, dog cafes and Kawaii food, Kid B wanted to be immersed in all things Studio Ghibli and Super Mario, before buying Ramen from a vending machine, my husband wanted to embrace the language, see temples and stroll ancient Edo trails, while I was mainly in it for the udon, tempura and vintage kimonos.
So how do you book a holiday of a lifetime, when time is short, money is a factor and everyone has an opinion?
Here’s how we started…
When
Anyone who has researched a trip to Japan will know that timings can be key. Summers promise hot weather, autumn offers a chance to see vibrant leaves on the trees, winter brings stunning snow scenes and of course, spring is famous for its cherry blossoms (Sakura).
With school age children, our options for a trip long enough to warrant the cost of flights were limited. With Christmas discounted (despite Kid B’s interest in the fact that for many Japanese people this is a time they eat fried chicken), it was down to the freedom of a longer summer visit, or a whistle stop tour at Easter.
Heavily inspired by a million beautiful instagram images, we decided it had to be spring and started looking for flights for the start of April, predicted to be peak Sakura season. The upside of this was the chance to encounter incredible blossom-based scenes, the downside was we’d have 14 days max to fit everything in.
How
Japan has the reputation of being perilously expensive. But with the Japanese Yen currently weak against the pound, in many ways, it’s never been more affordable.
The flights are the sticking point, with non-stop returns from London to Tokyo regularly sitting at around the £1200 per person mark.
Deciding in June that we would make Japan happen the following April if we could, I saved a Flight Price Tracker on Google Flights and signed up to offer emails for British Airways, who seemed to have the best selection of direct flights to Tokyo, along with their partners, Japan Airlines.
In September a British Airways flight sale came up with the goods, with the flights before selected seating dropping to the upper £800s per person if we were willing to shorten our planned trip to 13 days. Safe in the knowledge it was the cheapest we had seen it direct we booked, celebrated, then moved on to the next bit: where we would actually go in Japan and how we would get there.
We’d already looked into the legendary Japan Rail Pass, which at the time of our booking offered seven days of unlimited travel on all state services, including most bullet trains, for £195 per adult (£100 per child). Given that Japan’s famous rail system is much quicker than travelling by road and a standard return from Tokyo to Kyoto will set you back upwards of £110, we concluded this was a relative bargain and we would endeavour to limit our travel outside of Tokyo to seven days and travel by train.
Where & What
Therein lies the rub. A proposed 14 day trip was now 13 due to affordable flight times, which was 11.5 days once you'd factored in the 14 hour flight time each way.
11.5 days, four people’s opposing itineraries to factor in and an entire country to cover. It was time for some intense negotiations, previously unseen in our house.
Research was done, friends who had been were tapped up for advice, the kids watched yet more YouTube videos and then everyone was asked to select one “non negotiable” destination.
They looked like this (although, of course, mentally I had at least five non-negotiables of my own).
Kid A: Mame Shiba Dog Cafe, Harajuku, Tokyo
Kid B: Super Nintendo World, Universal Studios Japan, Osaka
Husband: Yogen-in Temple, Kyoto
Me: Gamou Udon, Kagawa Prefecture
Bonus everyone agreed: The brand new Ghibli Park, Aichi
The essentials agreed, it was time for some itinerary tetris.
The Itinerary
Tokyo - Yanaka - 3 days
Initial city exploring, based in one of the city’s oldest districts
Magome Chaya - Nakatsugawa, Gifu - 1 day
A day hike between Edo-era post towns on the historical Nakasendo route, with a one night stay in Magome.
Aichi - Ghibli Park - 1 day
A trip to the very exciting, very hard to get into and just opened Ghibli Park.
Kyoto - 2 days
Gion district, blood temple, bamboo forest, monkey Park, Nishiki food market.
Osaka - 2 days
Universal Studios Japan, Dotonbori district, road trip to Kagawa and Kochi Prefectures (1 day car hire).
Tokyo - Shinjuku - 2.5 days
Last days of city exploring and shopping, staying at the very heart of things in Shinjuku.
The Japan plan was complete. But what is it about the best laid plans of mice and men often going awry? Well, that is another story. Maybe several other stories.
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