1. What is your budget
2. Which cities will you be staying in?
3. What do you want to see?

OK - you don't seem to have much idea of what you want to do yet, so I'll just make one suggestion - take a look at this website:

Tokyo travel guide for essential sights & attractions in Tokyo Japan - UnmissableTOKYO.com

I've done most of the things it suggests and I can guarantee that they are all really great unique-to-Japan experiences.

Other than Tokyo, be sure to go to a hot spring resort at some time (Hakone is great, and very day-tripable from Tokyo). And Sumo will be on in January in Tokyo - be sure not to miss it.

It really depends on your interests, what you like, what you want to see and learn, etc.

I was in Tokyo for 2 weeks and I felt I didn't have enough time to visit everything I wanted to see, so make sure you plan ahead, maybe leave yourselves a day or two of free in case you might find out more of what you want to do when you get there.

Also, I found that making friends with one or two people online before going helped me a lot. I was glad to have them to hang out with and visit Tokyo with when I went, especially since one of them was good in japanese, since I'm not. Lol

Traveling Smart in Japan
 

Hey there,

There's a lot of planning involved if you are traveling for 1-2 months. Plenty to see, do, eat, drink and more.

If going for over a month, I suggest at least 3 weeks in Tokyo and its surrounding cities, another week in Kyoto/Osaka/Nara/Kobe area, and another week in Hiroshima and perhaps further south.

January is of course winter time, so going south (perhaps even Okinawa) could be nice, especially if you are into outdoor adventures which would be difficult in the cold.

I have a lot of things on my blog that could be useful (http://smartjapantravel.wordpress.com), and I am soon publishing a book that shows the right way to experience Japan and how to do it economically.

Personally I'd get out of Tokyo after a few days, but like the others I'm not sure what you like! Japan has tonnes to see, and all of it very varied. If you like the bright lights and big cities stick to them, but I think Japan is a lot more than that, there are beautiful areas of coastline and countryside which give you a better understanding of the country and its customs.

As you are going for so long, you can definitely travel right from the north (Hokkaido) to the south (Okinawa) and experience lots of things along the way. How are you planning on travelling around, most people buy the Japan Rail Pass but you would need 3 x 21 day ones perhaps, very expensive! If youre budget is not that large then you'll need to look into places you want to stay in for a while, and buy fewer passes, and activate them only when you leave a place heading to the next. Japan Rail Pass - buy the JR Pass online

Three weeks in Tokyo is about two weeks longer than anyone probably needs to see what they want to see.

I have a feeling he meant 1-2 weeks, not months.

For some reason people think the longer you spend in a place on vacation, the better. Two months on vacation in Japan could cost several times that in salary. On top of that, Japan is not a "resort location" so unless you have bottomless bank accounts, spending weeks in any city will frankly get boring and expensive unless you are visiting friends or family.

I'm going to have to disagree - Tokyo and its surrounding areas have more than enough to offer for 3 weeks. The trip is actually cheaper when you move around less.

Unless you have a bottomless money supply, I think spending more than a week in Tokyo is going to leave you scratching your head for what to do.

Things in Tokyo are quick and easy to get to, relatively, so seeing two and three attractions in a day is no problem.

So after Tokyo Tower, Akihabara, Harajuku (Meiji Jingu Shrine), The Tokyo Metro Govt building, Ueno Park, Odaiba, Ginza, Kaminari-mon, Yokohama's China Town, Kamakura for the Daibutsu and maybe a day at Disneyland, and a night at Nikko, how are you going to fill the next two weeks?

I think naive travelers make the mistake thinking more is better. "The longer you spend in a place the better the trip will be. " I know by experience this isn't always true.

I have taken groups of high schoolers to Japan, an invariably they are disappointed we don't schedule a week of traveling in Tokyo. At the end they are always happy we schedule just three or four days.

I took teacher of Buddhism on a tour of Japan, and after 15 temples in a week he finally said "I have seen enough." Even though he originally wanted to see about twice that many.

Sometimes when traveling less is more.

Since it comes to discussing "how many days are adequate for visiting Japan", I'd like to ask my question here.

I haven't been to Japan before, so it will be my first time. I guess 5 days falling on a weekend should be good for me? (for example, Thursday to Monday)

To OP, I think you should think about transportation too. If it's your first time too may be you can visit those popular spots as the others have already mentioned.

That's a long way go to for just five days.

I know but I don't have that many holidays :( (and money... shhhh) On the other hand, if it works out, I will plan to visit Japan from time to time after (like, every or 2 years)

Tokyo isn't exactly a place I would go unless I could really afford it.

I'm on my 3rd year here and I still haven't seen all that I want to see of Tokyo. There are the popular landmarks which all the tourists like to see, and those can be seen quickly enough. But the best parts of Tokyo are those which are off the beaten path.

Tokyo is ever-changing. One thing about Japan is that people always want something new. Items in convenience stores change on a weekly basis, things in the city also change frequently. It kind of sucks in a way because when you finally develop a taste for something it disappears from the shelves and is replaced with something "new".

Rather than spending a short time looking at many places in Japan, it would be better to spend a lot of time fully enjoying a single place. When visiting a large number of cities in Japan you will probably end up spending half of your holiday sitting in a train or on a bus. It's bad enough that you have to endure two 1 day plane trips (2 days of your holiday gone already), why follow that up with even more hours sitting in a small seat while staring out a window?

Find a region which you would like to see, and center your trip on it. Save another region for another trip.

As for other questions to ask yourself, "What should I bring" is a good one. It's cold in Japan in January, so you'll need to bring warm clothes. You'll do most of your getting around on-foot, so wear the most comfortable and broken-in shoes you can find.

You don't have to bring too many clothes, coin laundry shops are common throughout Japan, so you should bring enough clothing to last 3 or 4 days, and visit a coin laundry shop once or twice each week.

Print out maps of places you want to visit. I like Google maps, and I often print copies to carry with me when I am visiting new parts of the city. Google maps tends to show helpful landmarks like convenience stores and restaurants.

Hotels are expensive, but hostels are easy enough to find, and in January they are likely to be nearly empty, so getting a bed shouldn't be a problem. If hostels are too small, and regular hotels are too expensive, there are internet and manga cafes which you can pay for by the day and sleep at during the night. Most of the intermediate to larger train stations have inexpensive hotels located nearby for those who are unlucky enough to miss the last train. Lastly, love hotels are interesting, they are expensive by the hour, but the daily rate is not that bad. You may get a looks from people if you check-in with another guy, but whatever.

Don't plan your trip too precisely. Leave a little wiggle-room so you can spend more time in one place if you like it, or less time at a place you don't like. Have fun.

The experience of living in a city as a resident and visiting a city as a tourist is very different.

If you are visiting friends of family, then that is a different experience, as well. For someone visiting Japan for the first time paying out of pocket for every meal and for a hotel, at a certain point you are going to get diminishing returns.

Visiting a foreign country, especially as one as different from the West as Japan, can be a mentally (and physically) draining experience. When everything is new "off the beaten path" doesn't really make a difference.

I like your idea of focusing on certain areas. It is a good way to get to know a place. However, that works best for people (like you or me) that know how to speak some Japanese, ride trains, order at a restaurant, etc. I lived just outside of Osaka for three years, and there are TONS of places I never had a chance to see. Even know when I go to Osaka I make a point of discovering some of those "hidden gems".

I have to say Tokyo has little to offer if you are after a traditional Japanese cultural experience since it was essentially flattened after WWII and rebuilt from scratch. It kind of reminds me of Seoul, another ancient capital that got bombed to oblivion by the North Koreans so everything is kinda new.

I would suggest to goto a city where it hasn't been bombed by the Allies, like Kyoto, there is always Osaka if you want the metro fix.

Are you kidding? There's 100's of ski resorts throughout the country which would be great to visit in January. Coming to Japan in mid winter you may as well experience some of the best snow on the planet.
Spend a few days in Tokyo and then head to the mountains!! :D

I spent my two weeks just in Tokyo for that exact reason. To stomp all over it or as much as I could and get to know it as a city. Not to see the sights of Japan.

I would agree it depends on the type of tourist you are or the trip you want.

My focus was visiting a Metropolis and Tokyo delivered.

What I mean is, most of Japan is not like Las Vegas or Honolulu or Mazatlan or other very tourist-friendly places.

Japan Rail Pass
 

If you're still considering a Japan vacation, you might be interested in Japan rail passes which offer visitors the chance to experience some of Japan's greatest attractions by rail. It's an economical way to travel throughout Japan’s extensive rail network, considered to be one of the most efficient in the world. You can get rail passes at ACP Rail International.