Help Planning 2010 Trip
 

I'm looking at traveling to Japan next year for about a month (if I can go longer, I will, but right now, a month seems more realistic :)). I do have a few questions though.

1) What's the best way to stay in Japan? A month-long room at a guest house in Osaka/Tokyo, and rent a room for a night or two in other territories so I don't have to rush myself back? Or to stay in an area for a week, and move myself and my stuff to the next guess house?

2) What's the best place to stay? Any recommended cities? Any recommended guest houses? I am currently looking at Oak House and Sakura house in Tokyo, as well as Orange House in Osaka. Though I am trying to find, potentially, an area that isn't in such a large city.

Well, that's all I got for now. I know it isn't very specific, but I still have a year to make all my arrangements.

Thanks for your help! :vsign:

1. Depending on your budget. I personally don't like stationing in one place and make multiple trips back and forth. For a month long, you best select a few cities as your "home base", location will be highly dependent on what you want to do and where you want to stay. For example, for my HM this year (22 days), my base will be Fukuoka, Osaka, Yumoto and Tokyo. I usually go with Business hotels, I never truly look at budget guest house, but from my limited research on Japan Guide, it seems to cost more than business hotels, which is usually around 4500 - 6000 yen a night, I've seen stuff as cheap as 2500 yen a night. If you travel with a partner like I do, then it will be around 7500-9500 a night for the 2 of you, of course it can be more, depending on what you want

Won't be able to help you with your second question, as mentioned, I don't use guest house. In terms of what city to stay in, with a full month you can see a lot of things. What are your interests?

I agree with Godwine, I'd just move from place to place. If you're only there a month, you shouldn't have that much stuff to move around with you. Sounds like less of a hassle than having to move back and forth.

I ask because guest houses themselves, I have found quite a few at around $600 [about 60,000yen]. Then I can pay $40-$70 a night to stay at a hotel or other location in other cities, if I stay there longer than a day. [I know it would take a whole day, roughly, to get to the other end of Japan. I thought about a hotel for a night or two, and moving on, still keeping my "home away from home" at a guest house.]

Only reason I look at guest houses, is because hotels seem to go for about $40-$100 a night, and spread out over a month, costs alot more than a guesthouse, and staying at a hotel only a couple nights in particular regions that are far away from my guest house.

Where will you be staying? Maybe you can find guest house that will do weekly rent, then what you can do is to find one in Hakata (If you plan to travel Kyushu), one in Osaka (Covering MOST of the western cities), One in Tokyo and one north, like Takayama type location.

Are you planning to go east of Tokyo/Nikko?

Though I'm not sure of the order, this is a list of places I plan to go:

- Okinawa [Myself and a few friends will be venturing to Okinawa for a couple of days]
- Osaka [This is where I was actually looking at Orange House, but they are mostly monthly rents - though I think they say they offer weekly if necessary]
- Tokyo
- Hiroshima [for about a day]
- Mt. Fuji

Basically, I think most of my time will be spent in southern Japan, though I have thought about heading north towards the Sendai area, if I can find areas of interest up that way.

Okinawa you will have to fly in... so you can either make that the beginning or the end of your trip. Basing in Osaka will give you access to both Hiroshima and Miyajima, it will be a long Shinkansen ride, so I recommend staying at a hotel for the days you want to access Hiroshima.

Tokyo you probably don't need any of my advice, though I would try to stay closer to the west side, along the Shinjuku/Harajuku/Shibuya line, its more "central" if you are also visiting Yokohama and the Kanagawa area

Mount Fuji, do you plan on climbing fuji or just want to have a close look? I never climbed fuji before, so I won't be able to suggest how you can access it, but to see it you can do it through Odawara > Yumoto (Hakone) > Lake Shi or Travel from Atami

I was planning on scheduling about two days to climb Mt. Fuji, so I can pace myself, and schedule it so I can watch the sun rise or the sun set. I hear sun rise/dawn is the best time to be at the peak :)

As for everything else, there's no problem with using one guesthouse for the month, and rent a hotel or guesthouse in Okinawa and other locations so I don't have to race back? Or do you still recommend moving my home away from home around every few days to a week?

What it comes down to is how much that will cost, because then you will have to pay for the guesthouse + hotel charges. The flight to okinawa is not exepsnive, but if you have to pay for a place that you won't be using while you go and stay in Okinawa for a few days, you might as well spend that fund on something else

I would still recommend moving around, but then thats just me. I mean, assuming you can find a guest house for about 60000 yen for a whole month, and you will do as you suggested travel to differe places and just use hotel services there, let just say its just 2 week, and its 2000 yen a night, its still about abouter 28000 yen at least.....

Sounds like a nice trip coming up:)

maybe a good idea if you write down a small list, say stop at five for every location you are visiting.

Plenty of cheper places to stay in Japan and never seemed to be a shortage.

It will work, I never said it won't. I am just worry that if you do that, you will spend too much time traveling, but instead you can probably use that time to cover more grounds and attractions.

Have fun :)

I would just stay in youth hostel. They are all over Japan and then you would not have to worry about traveling back to one place each night. See
Japan Youth Hostels, Inc.
There are also gaijin houses that you can stay at for a week or so. In Osaka see
Guest House in Osaka

Ok.
Again, the problem I find is that booking hotels or guest houses in multiple areas for only a few days, but enough to span over 30/31 days, is costly. Currently, it seems cheaper to have a guest house for monthly use, and rent a hotel/room for 1 or 2 nights [or more] when I will be far away from the main guest house.

My concern is that I'm traveling on a tight budget, and I'm willing to travel more, if necessary, so that my budget can accommodate my stay easier.

So far, the following regions are on my list, though I'm not sure what order yet. Except that Okinawa will probably be first. Then, depending how expensive train tickets get for the rest of my trip, I'll activate a 21-day pass for use for traveling across Japan.

- Okinawa
- Osaka << Primary Residence?
- Tokyo
- Kyoto
- Hiroshima
- Mt. Fuji

Any other places you'd recommend? I know almost all of these are along the southern part of Japan, and I wonder if anyone knows of any must sees in other parts of Japan. This is a vacation, so I don't want to feel rushed in sightseeing, so I don't want this enormous must-see list. I want to enjoy the feel of Japan, while seeing as much as I can. So, I wonder what other places you recommend! :)

Thanks again for any input you may have! :rheart:

Sorry to bump so soon.
However, my question is if it is worth getting a Rail Pass or not before I leave.
It looks like a bit of traveling to Tokyo and such back and forth over the month I'm there, and I wonder if it is worth getting 7/14/21 day passes or not, or if there is a cheaper form of passes when I get to Japan for just particular regions or trains. Again, my itinerary is still up for debate, but with the itinerary listed above [southern Japan, ATM], is it worth getting a Rail Pass?