Summary of what is the best months to go for activities

Hi all, wrote this for a friend so I thought that I can also share here.

This is just a rough guide as Japan can have heavy snow in Hokkaido and Tohoku while Okinawa,Naha is still summer,  the exact time frame still depend on each year’s weather and where will you be going. 

 If you want snow is mid Dec 

If you want to ski is late Dec 

If you want to see snow fest is mid Jan 

If you want snow sleigh and advance ski is early Jan and Feb

If you want Sakura is late march

If you want to see snow wall is mid April 

If you want to see flower blooming is from late April  onwards 

If you want to ski when weather is warm is early May

If you love food and want to picnic is June 

If you love trekking is July 

If you want to see lavender and melon field is July 

If you want to see best fireworks is in august

If you want to see maple leaves is from Sept 

if you want fruit picking is from Oct.

If you want to experience green to light snow is mid Nov. 

First timer’s dilemma

 First time and not sure where to go?

Must you will have to decide which region as there are really a lot to share across the 9 regions, 47 prefectures. 

if you are near Nagoya, go to Gifu ,  hida furakawa, shiragawa-go.  

Edo themed is usually commercialise,  you can visit toei movie village in Kyoto. 

In Kyoto, there are a lot of known and unknown areas to explore especially outskirt ones nearer to the mountains. 

Mt koya,  Shoshazan good places to explore the untouched temples in the mountains.  Mt Rokko is the other one. 

But if you in Nagoya, go to Meiji mura then.

It’s preserved buildings and culture, even items , uniform etc are Meiji era . 

Karuizawa is another one to explore walking around the whole central and more to explore into the outskirts. 

Nikko known for its beauty within nature , temples and onsen. 

Toyama another than the alpine route, it has one of the beautiful waterfalls. 

Hiroshima has sandankyo gorge is beautiful but check the bus ride in as it’s 1 way in once only in the morning and 1 way out in the afternoon.  Taxi fare is high as very far. 

Iwakuni best known for the bridge Kintaikyo but it has a beautiful mountain and historic royal site and museums , nature to explore. 

My advise is keep to 1 region and explore wholesomely as there are many unknown to tourists but they are really beautiful places.

Gunkanjima in Nagasaki

Other than the popular atomic bomb sites in Nagasaki ,  this is getting known - battleship island or called gunkanjima, originally is called Hashima island.  The island looked like a battle ship from far. 

Need to take guided tour as is a ruin of a mining industry from late 1890 up to WWII.

The interesting thing is it was able to draw sea water and filter to be drinking water then in 1895, more than 220 years ago.  There are more technologies and equipments used that are so advanced. 

There were public facilities like post office, elementary and junior high schools, a movie theatre, a billiard hall, a ping-pong hall, a board game place, a mahjong hall, and other entertainment facilities. There was also a bar.

Credit: Picture from google 

But as Nagasaki gov didn’t plan to maintain or renovate the island, it’s slowly becoming dangerously potential collapsing buildings with the strong sea current .  

They have started to seal off some areas for falling debris from the buildings.  

Might totally banned entry in years to come.

Somewhere interesting in Tokyo and Kansai

 Just a list for anyone who wants not so touristy places:

Kansai :

Spain village in mie,  near Kyoto

Toei movie theme park, Kyoto 

Meiji village,  Gifu

Haiyukan aquarium , osaka

Kobe , Hyogo,  near osaka

Mt Rokko

Astro boy museum ,  Hyogo

Himeji castle

Himeji turtle rescue centre

In Tokyo metropolis and surrounding :

Ikebukuro Sun Plaza 

Gyoza museum

Yokohama cup noodle museum

Ramen museum

Yokohama port 

Odaiba 

Museums

Diver city Gundam 

Factory outlet 

Hakkeijima

Aquarium 

Theme park 

Ghibli museum

Mitaka

Inokashira park and zoo

Kichijoji

Where to go in Hiroshima

 Kure Yamato museum 

Miyajima - torii, aquarium , walk deeper into the island, there are many heritage temples , rope cable up mountain.  Food , buskers , deers 

Iwakuni - heritage Royal graveyard , white snake museum,  rope cable up to mountain, old street,  summer festival and food store along the river 

Rabbit island - Ōkunoshima

Kintaigyo 

Sandankyo

Onomichi

A dome, peace park, peace memorial museum

Tomonoura

Okonomiyaki Mura

Hiroshima castle

Knowing Tokyo in summary

 Within Tokyo 

Traditional Asakusa , asakusabashi, Ueno, kawagoe 

Mixed modern 

Harajuku , Meiji shrine, Omotesando , ameyoko

Neighbourhood 

Mitaka, kichijoji , Ikebukuro , Kawasaki 

High end shopping

Ginza , Roppongi 

Reclaimed land ( full of activities) 

Odaiba

Hakkeijima 

Night active area/ shopping area 

Shibuya 

Shinjuku , kabukichio

Outskirt of Tokyo 

Traditional 

Kamakura 

Nikko

Narita

Hitachi

Modern

Yokohama 

Omiya

Waterfalls, nature and into the past recommendations

 Non tourism area across the 9 regions, 47 prefectures. 

if you are near Nagoya, go to Gifu ,  hida furakawa, shiragawa-go.  

Edo themed is usually commercialise,  you can visit toei movie village in Kyoto. 

In Kyoto, there are a lot of known and unknown areas to explore especially outskirt ones nearer to the mountains. 

Mt koya,  Shoshazan good places to explore the untouched temples in the mountains.  Mt Rokko is the other one. 

But if you in Nagoya, go to Meiji mura then.

It’s preserved buildings and culture, even items , uniform etc are Meiji era . 

Karuizawa is another one to explore walking around the whole central and more to explore into the outskirts. 

Nikko known for its beauty within nature , temples and onsen. 

Toyama another than the alpine route, it has one of the beautiful waterfalls. 

Hiroshima has sandankyo gorge is beautiful but check the bus ride in as it’s 1 way in once only in the morning and 1 way out in the afternoon.  Taxi fare is high as very far. 

Iwakuni best known for the bridge Kintaikyo but it has a beautiful mountain and historic royal site and museums , nature to explore. 

My advise is keep to 1 region and explore wholesomely as there are many unknown to tourists but they are really beautiful places.

What to do around Hiroshima region

 Hiroshima is a very huge and beautiful place to visit.  Many people just go to A bomb and peace park.  Museums are gem !  Hiroshima castle too.

Islands linked to WWII,  the rabbit island and the island where chemical warfare researches were done which are safe to visit. 

Yamato museum in Kure being the best marine design and technology then.  

Not only that , there’s isle islands which are breathtaking. 

City of Hiroshima,  Kure, outskirt to Iwakuni, Onomichi 

There are really heritage and yet not even tourism related,  100 years historic town - Tomonoura. ( need to bring drink and snacks as it’s totally a town left in the past )

Not to mention Miyajima that is not only the heritage coastal, low tide torii, it has aquarium,  cable to visit the mountains and then many other heritage temples that are out of tourism territory!

Iwakuni other than Kintaigyo, has a huge area of many interesting places like royal burial site, the white snake museum , the cable up the beautiful mountain etc etc.

Food: okonomiyaki,  oysters during year end,  yakisoba,  maple cake .

If you have time, explore  Yamaguchi, Okayama,  shimane, totorii too. They are the forgotten places yet they have really beautiful garden,  places of interests too.  

In Okayama,  kurashiki (water village). Walking distant from Okayama jr station, you walk pass the old shopping street before reaching Kurashiki . Very interesting history and different food and shops too.

Exploring Tohoku

 If anyone wants to explore Tohoku, 

omiya , utsunomiya, Nikko,  Sendai,  gunma, Yamagata, Aomori, Akita, nagano are good places for snow and even for spring trekking. Cooling in summer. 

Nikko is a heritage and place where there’s red bridge for good marriage, other than the temples.

Very quiet place and with good onsen establishments along the way to the temples. 

 Utsukoshi and omiya has interesting food . Both have great Sakura viewing unknown to most. 

Anime related places

Kyoto toei movie park has a building for anime exhibitions.

Traditionally, Kurayoshi City, 665 km from Tokyo, has been known for its “retro” white-walled storehouses. 1000 figurines .

Shinobi Village- attraction of Nijigen no Mori, an outdoor anime theme park on Awaji Island.

 Ishinomaki Mangattan Museum

Yokote Masuda Manga Museum

Ikebukuro in Toshima-ku is popular as "Manga Town" because in the past, great Japanese cartoonists such as Tezuka Osamu, Ishinomori Shotaro and Akatsuka Fujio lived here. In the area connecting Shiinamachi Station, Higashinagasaki Station and Ochiaiminaminagasaki Station, there was an apartment house "Tokiwa-so" where young great future cartoonists lived, so there is a street called "Tokiwa-so Street", which has become a tourist spot.

This seemed to be an event annually:

Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair 2023

Knowing Tokyo and Osaka better

 I know many are new to Japan and want to enjoy the best experience during their trips.

There are many places to visit and explore other than the normal tourist spots. Sometimes, it might not be as stressful as trying to get all the best reservations yet the blood pressure shot up as it was so hard . 

The best places, best hotels, best attractions and best food might not just be in the list that 60% shared here .

Therefore wanting to introduce Japan more thoroughly, I will list the below for more to enjoy Japan.

If you are in Tokyo,  please explore chiba, Narita ( it’s not only the airport), Kamakura, mitaka, hitachi, odaiba, omiya, Ikebukuro, Hachioji, Kichijoji, Kawasaki, Kawagoe, Asakusabashi,Yokohama. 

If you enjoy walking around, ueno to Ameyoko walk to Asakusa ,Asakusabashi, there’s the oldest theme park very near to Sensoji in Asakusa. There are very small stores 2-3 streets away from Sensoji that sell unique hand craft items.

Walking from Meiji Shrine, Harajuku,  Takeshita, Ometesando to Roppongi.  There are museums and good restaurants without the need to make reservations. 

You can even walk to Akihabara.

At Kawasaki

There’s Toshiba Science museum ,

Akachan Honpo (kid one stop mega store) , 

Kawasaki Aquarium 

Yodobashi

Plenty of good food  especially the underground link .

There’s an old huge shopping street area to explore too. 

There’s Kiyose Sunflower Festival near Ikebukuro 

Where to buy souvenirs:

Asakusabashi

Okashi no Machioka

Niko no Kashi

Tirol Chocolate

Gyumo

Flea markets 

Food wise

Omoide Yokocho

Market of the Sun (kachidoki station - second Sat & Sun of the month) 

Flea markets 

Not forgetting there are really plenty of good food range from Japanese food, Japanese western to desert etc that do not need reservations. 

If you are in Osaka,  other than Kyoto, Nara, there’s Hyogo where nature parks are beautiful, wakayama, Mie, Himeji, Kobe, tomonoura.  Mt Rokko, namba , umeda,  Takarazuka, Arima Onsen,  Shirahama.

A little further, there’s Hiroshima,  Okayama, iwakuni, onomichi, miyajima, Shimanami.

Byodin 

Uji

Hieizan

Enryakuji temple

Mt Koya

Toei movie park

Spain village ( theme park in mie)

Shoshazan 

Enryoji temple

American mura, linking to namba , donbori , shonsainashi. There’s a super long walking underground city to explore. 

Can actually walk from namba to Osaka castle with the museum and plenty of restaurants and cafe along the way. 

Some of the interesting islands: 

Island of rabbits :

Okinoshima

Island of cats: 

Aoshima 

Island of fox:

Zao fox village

Island of dogs:

Inujima

Island of battleship:

Hashima or also known as Gunkanjima

There are so much more to see and do other than what I have wrote and what are commonly known and shared.

Good winter clothing tips

 

The following to consider: 

Not just keep warm but dry. Sweating will cause cold / flu and fall sick.

Winter jacket/ wool jacket ,  insulated jacket ( Uniqlo winter thin yet warm heat tech type)

Heat tech turtle neck inner layer ( protect neck, keeping warm and reduce coughing ) 

Sweater 

Jean with winter layer/ inner fleece

Or thick water proof pant plus a heat tech tights( unisex)

A good pair of  waterproof & anti slip boots 

Cotton sock / synthetic socks ( wool will be too much and sweaty, no good to be sweating) if you’re wearing winter boots with thick layered.  Sneakers and sport shoes will need thicker socks.

Ski glove with good grip

Scarf 

Hand and body lotion as very dry.  Use after bathing or washing hands. Not forgetting lip gloss/ lip palm and facial cream.

Gala yuzawa on Dec - Feb and other recommendations

Temperature then in Tokyo is 0-10

Gala yuzawa is -10 to O .

Can consider Nagano , Tohoku : Aomori 

Mt Gassan 

Shizukushi

Hachimantai

Appi Kogen 

I used Jr regional Pass when travelling over. 

Instead of just go to gala yuzawa, can go to echigo-yuzawa. It’s the spa town where you can eat and then go wait at the bus stop with free foot spa beside . Bus Timing I remembered is every 30 mins . 

Then return directly from gala yuzawa. 

Choose a hotel that is clean yet cheap, might need walking distance from train station to keep it affordable. Can be in Tokyo  or in Tohoku. If you can afford onsen, can consider staying in yuzawa itself . 

Food in Tokyo is easy as there’re plenty of small restaurants ( yoshinoya / sukiya) , chain or self own store around. 

Can grab bento and eat in bullet train on the way up. 

Buy from supermarket / bento store . Can be as cheap as 300-500 yen with wide variety. 

Exploring Japan other than the tourist areas

 I know many are new to Japan and want to enjoy the best experience during their trips.

There are many places to visit and explore other than the normal tourist spots. Sometimes, it might not be as stressful as trying to get all the best reservations yet the blood pressure shot up as it was so hard . 

The best places, best hotels, best attractions and best food might not just be in the list that 60% shared online. 

Therefore wanting to introduce Japan more thoroughly, I will list the below for more to enjoy Japan.

If you are in Tokyo,  please explore chiba, Narita ( it’s not only the airport), Kamakura, mitaka, hitachi, odaiba, omiya, Ikebukuro, Hachioji, Kichijoji, Kawasaki, Kawagoe, Asakusabashi,Yokohama. 

If you enjoy walking around, ueno to Ameyoko walk to Asakusa ,Asakusabashi, there’s the oldest theme park very near to Sensoji in Asakusa. There are very small stores 2-3 streets away from Sensoji that sell unique hand craft items.

Walking from Meiji Shrine, Harajuku,  Takeshita, Ometesando to Roppongi.  There are museums and good restaurants without the need to make reservations. 

You can even walk to Akihabara.

At Kawasaki

There’s Toshiba Science museum ,

Akachan Honpo (kid one stop mega store) , 

Kawasaki Aquarium 

Yodobashi

Plenty of good food  especially the underground link .

There’s an old huge shopping street area to explore too. 

Where to buy souvenirs:

Asakusabashi

Okashi no Machioka

Niko no Kashi

Tirol Chocolate

Gyumo

Flea markets 

Food wise

Omoide Yokocho

Market of the Sun (kachidoki station - second Sat & Sun of the month) 

Flea markets 

Not forgetting there are really plenty of good food range from Japanese food, Japanese western to desert etc that do not need reservations. 

If you are in Osaka,  other than Kyoto, Nara, there’s Hyogo where nature parks are beautiful, wakayama, Mie, Himeji, Kobe, tomonoura.  Mt Rokko, namba , umeda,  Takarazuka, Arima Onsen,  Shirahama.

A little further, there’s Hiroshima,  Okayama, iwakuni, onomichi.

Byodin 

Uji

Hieizan

Enryakuji temple

Mt Koya

Toei movie park

Spain village ( theme park in mie)

Shoshazan 

Enryoji temple

Porto Europe ( theme park in wakayama)

Wakayama Marina City ( theme park in wakayama)

American mura, linking to namba , donbori , shonsainashi. 

Can actually from namba to Osaka castle with the museum and plenty of restaurants and cafe along the way. 

If anyone wants to explore Tohoku, omiya , utsunomiya,

Nikko,  Sendai,  gunma, Yamagata, Aomori, Akita, nagano are good places for snow and even for spring trekking. Cooling in summer. 

Nikko is a heritage place where there’s red bridge for good marriage, other than the temples.

Very quiet place and with good onsen establishments along the way to the temples. 

 Utsukoshi and omiya have interesting food . Both have great Sakura viewing unknown to most.

There are so much more to see and do other than what I have wrote and what are commonly known and shared.