One week in Tokyo

[BerserkerCatSplat]

ANA biz class is really nice, strongly recommend. I prefer HND as the monorail gets you into the city proper on the quick, but it's not like NRT doesn't have good train access as well. Go with whichever gets you the better flight option.

[g-m]

The Japanese are vaccine hesitant for some reason. Anyway my trip is 8 months from now so hopefully they have it sorted. Our key hotels are free cancellation till Jan so all good

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...y-coronavirus/

[Manhattan]

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ANA biz class is really nice, strongly recommend. I prefer HND as the monorail gets you into the city proper on the quick, but it's not like NRT doesn't have good train access as well. Go with whichever gets you the better flight option.

Awesome biz class just check to make sure you're booked on a flight with staggered seating for some privacy.

[C4S]

April is the high season, (Sakura, April ish ) especially Kyoto area, not too sure about the Covid situation, may be not as busy as normal, who knows.

However, if you like to see the Blossom, sure worth to go, plane tickets isn't bad, business or not, but the Hotel is expensive in April, easily from the normal ~$500 per night, jump to ~$1,000+ If you booked early enough, not bad. last time we did last minute hotel swapped, since we found a nice hotel with "traditional" Japanese style, expensive!! (but kids love it, cool experience)

I still prefer to go in January (if Tokyo), good weather, not too hot to walk, it is a walking city, you can walk 10+ hour a day to difference shops! Sale season!

July is another sale season in Japan, and it is nice to go Sapporo (Or anywhere in Hokkaido) crazy good ramen and seafood ... yummy ... yummy ...

Living in Calgary, can't go Japan all the time, if I live in Vancouver, can go every few month!

[saiyajin]

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April is the high season, (Sakura, April ish ) especially Kyoto area, not too sure about the Covid situation, may be not as busy as normal, who knows.

However, if you like to see the Blossom, sure worth to go, plane tickets isn't bad, business or not, but the Hotel is expensive in April, easily from the normal ~$500 per night, jump to ~$1,000+ If you booked early enough, not bad. last time we did last minute hotel swapped, since we found a nice hotel with "traditional" Japanese style, expensive!! (but kids love it, cool experience)

I still prefer to go in January (if Tokyo), good weather, not too hot to walk, it is a walking city, you can walk 10+ hour a day to difference shops! Sale season!

July is another sale season in Japan, and it is nice to go Sapporo (Or anywhere in Hokkaido) crazy good ramen and seafood ... yummy ... yummy ...

Living in Calgary, can't go Japan all the time, if I live in Vancouver, can go every few month!

have gone to Japan numerous times and I still firmly believe Japan's autumn is the best time to go (Oct, Nov), weather is great and the foliage is just amazing

and agreed on the walking, walked like 25k steps daily easily

[C4S]

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have gone to Japan numerous times and I still firmly believe Japan's autumn is the best time to go (Oct, Nov), weather is great and the foliage is just amazing

and agreed on the walking, walked like 25k steps daily easily

Yes, Oct, Nov are great time too, nice weather, low season, cheap tickets and cheap hotel ... but not holiday for kids .. :P

[Buster]

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Yes, Oct, Nov are great time too, nice weather, low season, cheap tickets and cheap hotel ... but not holiday for kids .. :P

Maybe I will look at the fall. I can take kids out of school, that's not a huge deal.

[C4S]

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Maybe I will look at the fall. I can take kids out of school, that's not a huge deal.

With two young kids, Christmas is pretty much the only time to go ... near double price for tickets and hotel, but the Christmas lighting is awesome! Kids love them! (something you don't see in Calgary)

And you can book the " KFC Christmas Dinner " ... lol

[Buster]

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With two young kids, Christmas is pretty much the only time to go ... near double price for tickets and hotel, but the Christmas lighting is awesome! Kids love them! (something you don't see in Calgary)

And you can book the " KFC Christmas Dinner " ... lol

I'd only be taking one of my kids, the 12 year old.

It sounds like Oct might be a good time to go. January will be too soon to covid.

[g-m]

$500 for a hotel? We've found more like $120 - 250. That's crazy I didn't even spend $500/night a block away from the Sapporo winter festival

[Gainsbarre]

Yeah I don't follow the $500/night for a hotel room in Japan. IMO it's one of the big myths out there about Japan being prohibitively expensive. Yes, it's pricey compared to the rest of Asia, but not much different from Western Europe - in fact I'd say that places like the UK or Scandinavia are significantly more expensive than Japan. I've made 6 separate trips to Japan over the past 7 years and stayed across the 4 main islands and Okinawa, with nearly every hotel I've stayed at averaging in the CAD$50-$70 range per night, which has included a stay at a ryokan in Sapporo in February 2020 ($64/night) and in decent locations in Tokyo (Meguro for $59/night, Shiomi for $50/night). All hotel rooms with private bathrooms, and many included breakfast. The most I've paid for a room in Japan was in Kagoshima in November 2018 - $84/night. You can certainly spend a bundle on a hotel room (or just about anything else in Japan) but there are deals to be had on accommodation if one is willing to shop around...

[saiyajin]

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Yeah I don't follow the $500/night for a hotel room in Japan. IMO it's one of the big myths out there about Japan being prohibitively expensive. Yes, it's pricey compared to the rest of Asia, but not much different from Western Europe - in fact I'd say that places like the UK or Scandinavia are significantly more expensive than Japan. I've made 6 separate trips to Japan over the past 7 years and stayed across the 4 main islands and Okinawa, with nearly every hotel I've stayed at averaging in the CAD$50-$70 range per night, which has included a stay at a ryokan in Sapporo in February 2020 ($64/night) and in decent locations in Tokyo (Meguro for $59/night, Shiomi for $50/night). All hotel rooms with private bathrooms, and many included breakfast. The most I've paid for a room in Japan was in Kagoshima in November 2018 - $84/night. You can certainly spend a bundle on a hotel room (or just about anything else in Japan) but there are deals to be had on accommodation if one is willing to shop around...

for $500 i can stay at a pretty nice Ryokan that will include a fancy Kaiseki dinner, I did that for a night in Hakone at a Ryokan and was worth it for the experience even had my own private hot spring in my room.
I have stayed at $50/night business hotels in Osaka and chose the Tatami rooms and it was great

[RX_EVOLV]

Got caught in a storm couple years ago when I was about to board a plane in Tokyo so I had to find a hotel to spend the night. It was a last minute (5pm) booking and I wanted to get something nice since I was tired and the cost would've been covered by insurance and/or work. I ended up booking the most expensive available hotel I could find that's closest to the Tokyo Station and it was 'only' ~$430 for the night. It's really no different than any other major cities in Europe or places like NYC.

[C4S]

In the old day, when I went Japan by myself .. I was staying in cheap crappy tiny hotel room too, I woke up at 6am, would go out till 1am or so, as long as close to shopping/restaurants.. Hotel room was just for few hour sleep/shower.

However, with wife and kids now, need a bigger room for 4, (Hotel in Japan charges by heads, single person and family of 4, difference price, many hotels, are not for small kids) and somehow, wife and kids rather spend their time at hotel room ... room service breakfast ... slow lunch, slow dinner .. I just rather eat reman for breakfast, reman for lunch, Pancake as tea time (this part is same boat with wife and kids), reman for dinner, and reman for late night snack again... fast and good!!

Hotels near by Haneda are decent and good price too, not a bad idea for first night stay.

If not because of the shops, I would rather go Kyoto, Sapporo, Hakodate etc .. but those toy stores in Tokyo are so addicted ... new toys every day .. I can live there and easily spend thousand and thousand ...

Damn .. so sad we don't know when can Canadian go Japan!!

[Buster]

Is the supply of Marriott hotels in Japan good? We generally stay Marriott whenever we can because of status - although happy to do something else if there is a worthwhile novelty factor to it.

I'm NOT interested (anymore) in trying to pay cheap hotel prices.

[benyl]

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Is the supply of Marriott hotels in Japan good? We generally stay Marriott whenever we can because of status - although happy to do something else if there is a worthwhile novelty factor to it.

I'm NOT interested (anymore) in trying to pay cheap hotel prices.

We stayed at the Sheraton near Disney at the end of our trip. The club lounge was great. Robotic beer dispenser that does a perfect pour every time. Snacks were decent too.

It's only worth staying there if you are actually going to Disney. There are a number of Marriott properties sprinkled throughout Tokyo depending on what part of town you want to stay.

[C4S]

Well, still months .. could be a year away from we Canadian can visit Japan, just don't worry about it now, perhaps next year, Covid cases will be much lower, and boarder re-opened, and we can plan about it!

[g-m]

you can get nice hotels <$200/night. Its cheaper than Canada. Marriott is similar pricing though, I would try to stay with the Japanese brands but I know what you mean I always stay Marriott with work and have 300k unused points

[hurrdurr]

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We stayed at the Sheraton near Disney at the end of our trip. The club lounge was great. Robotic beer dispenser that does a perfect pour every time. Snacks were decent too.

It's only worth staying there if you are actually going to Disney. There are a number of Marriott properties sprinkled throughout Tokyo depending on what part of town you want to stay.

I stayed there too - great property - I echo that you only want to stay there the days you're going to be at Disney

[BerserkerCatSplat]

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Yes, Oct, Nov are great time too, nice weather, low season, cheap tickets and cheap hotel ... but not holiday for kids .. :P

Agreed, Sept-Oct-Nov are great if you're not Sakura-crazy and if you go later the fall colours around Kyoto are incredible. July/Aug are way too fucking hot.