I looked into it for my trip a few years back. Driving gives a lot more freedom, but driving in the city can be pretty disorientating. I considered renting a vehicle from outside the city. Using a Shoshinsha mark (Japanese version of a N at the back). Getting a internationals drivers permit from BCAA. Youtubing driving in Japan really helped get the nuances of the roads and familiarization of the symbols.

Good luck on the camper rental. Report back on how it went.

Edit: Found some more resources on driving.
https://www.3rdmlg.marines.mil/Porta...rsHandbook.pdf
http://www.supermelf.com/japan/ajetd...riversTest.pdf

There are tons of rest stops along the freeways. They usually offer a lot of useful services, clean bathrooms, and the restaurants can actually be pretty good!

Van Camping isn't really a thing there, but you might be able to make do with renting a small van and sleeping in the back or something... Good luck finding one that is big enough for you halo LUL

Randomly booked a trip to Japan from June 5-19, looking for suggestions. I’m going with my girlfriend and we’re looking to split our nights between hotels, hostels and Airbnb to save costs. I’m pretty sure I want to check out Disney sea and universal but not too set on everything else.

has anyone gone to the robot restaurant at all?
look cool but curious if the hype is real?

Robot restaurant was worth it for us.

I just found out that I'll be missing the beginning of the Sumo Tournament in May by a few days... anyone have any experience going to a Sumo Ryogoku to watch a practice?

going to HK May 3rd until the 8th
BALI 8th till 15th
japan 15th-22 then stopping in NY

Ended up renting a camper van and going to climb FUJU. any suggestions on BALI did not want to make a new thread... Looking pretty straight forward, Scooter waterfalls beach food, etc

Robot restaurant is LEGIT

There is a climbing season for Fujisan. FYI. Out of the season it can be quite dangerous, from what I've read. If it is out of season, please don't dishonor us gaijin by requiring a rescue. Not that they'd risk their lives, they've let bodies freeze up there and waited for the season to open because it was too dangerous to attempt.

I am a decent climber...
I have looked into it and it's a pretty basic hike. Long and boring and repetitive

But yes if it is too snowy still, we will pass

So, heading back to Tokyo again for a week.

What's a good itinerary if we want to include Mt. Fuji (Hakone to be precise)?

But not sure how to plan this. Ideally, we'd still want to stay in Shinjuku (AirBnB) given the easy access to everywhere. But not sure if it's still the best option if we were to go to Hakone (is a day trip worth it? Or should we be there longer?)

Hakone isn't really "including Mt Fuji" unless you mean the views (it has great views). I'd recommend staying overnight at a traditional ryokan. Ride the tram, do some hikes, enjoy the onsen, do some souvenir shopping

Yeah. We are going for the Mt. Fuji view rather than actually the mountain itself.

Sorry for not clarifying.

I've done some more readings. It seems most of the guides are either day-trip or 2d1n kinda thing. Am I missing anything by doing a day-trip only?

I guess my question is... is it feasible to be based out of Shinjuku (hotel/AirBnB) and plan a Hakone trip in the plan? Or am I better off staying a day or 2 in Hakone before coming back to Tokyo proper?

What's a good ryokan in the area? The big problem is from what I heard is that any good ryokan aren't very kid-friendly (some of them outright ban them) and I'm going with kids.

By not staying overnight, you'd be missing out on one of the best experiences Japan has to offer, in small, traditional Ryokans. I would highly recommend it if you can fit it in.

I've done Hakone on day trip, go morning come back evening kind of thing. Hectic, but it certainly can be done. Depends on what works for your budget and also how much moving around do you want to do.

Ryokans can be hit and miss with kids, I recommend reaching out to them directly to confirm if it will be a problem. Most of the ones that cater or accept foreign tourists will have staff on hand that speak English. Keep in mind, Ryokans are no theme park and more about the ambiance etc, kids could have some problem being occupied depending on what they're into.

Oh I missed that you have kids, sorry. I've definitely seen local tourists with kids at ryokans, but it's up to you to know if you think yours will behave in that kind of environment. These kids are probably used to being quiet in such environments.

We stayed here when we visited Hakone:
About FUKUZUMIRO?FUKUZUMIRO

Possibly the oldest Ryokan in town. It wasn't fancy by any means. I didn't have any experience with Ryokans before but it had an amazing breakfast/dinner spread with great service. The onsite indoor onsen was rustic and pretty cool.

I stayed here at Hakone; 2 day 1 night. 300USD

It was just not worth it just to go and visit. We took the train, did the sea tour etc. Not really worth to do it under 1 day. The Hakone train ride WITHIN Hakone was 1.5 hrs. Then you do the site seeing. FYI, it's often cold + raining + foggy, so do not expect super fantastic views all yr round. Just setting proper expectations.

I stayed @ Hakone Pax Yoshino

1) GF wanted private hot spring tub in our own suite. They of course have public hot spring.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...-ATuv96uUUv058

For premium
http://www.pax-yoshino.com/en/images/home/img_hot06.jpg


2) it had 2 beds + tatami
https://pix10.agoda.net/hotelImages/...0044544314.jpg
3) Stay included a 6 course Kaiseki (懐石) or kaiseki-ryōri (懐石料理); traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. Super epic.

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/me...b9/caption.jpg
4) liquor store was easy 15 min walk.
5) this was morning breakfast buffet
https://t-ec.bstatic.com/images/hote.../109695354.jpg

It's a couples location destination, lot of sex, lot of drinking, touristy shit was an extra, let's just put it that way.

I've stayed at that exact one lol. Those pictures made it seem glamorous but like you said it is far from fancy -- gf and I personally found it a bit run down.

Hakone was a miss for me, the stay at the Ryokan was an interesting experience but the lack of things to do and the rather cumbersome travel there made it not worth it.

My suggestion is go to a small family run place rather than an old 70's resort style inn (though those can have their own charm).

If using google for research, look for more Japanese reviews, or if reading tourist reviews, make sure you're looking for the same type of experience as them.

I have found some really nice, small places using Jalan in conjunction with tourist booking sites (or sometimes use theirs). You can actually get better deals from foreign sites sometimes.

There are some nice new high end places as well. I went to the onsen of one in Hakone when it was brand new about 10ish years ago, and it was very nice.

They only thing I wasn't crazy about was the shared bathrooms. Luckily for us it was right across from our room so it wasn't a huge deal. I agree the Ryokan was the best part of our Hakone visit.

In my mind if you stay at a Ryokan it should be "rustic" and have some historic cache. I dunno about others but we stayed at a more modern one afterwards in Takayama and it wasn't the same.

Thx for all the recommendations. I’d look into a night in ryokan.

Now, what’s the best data sim for Japan? I was thinking to use google fi as I’d be in China and hk too. But 10/Gb is not exactly cheap.

There's a new train that goes from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko/Mt. Fuji in under 2 hours. It's 4000Y each way, but can condense Mt. Fuji into a daytrip, unless you wanted to spend some time in the area.

https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/routemaps/azusa_kaiji.html

Room tour @ Yoshiike Ryokan in Hakone.


Very very pricey ($970CAD), but considering that we had our own private open-air onsen that I probably could've safely cannonballed into, it was well worth the price (even if our room was family sized and way overkill for my wife and I). We decided on this place based on Mark Wiens' Youtube video and was expecting to get the same room as him but were blown away when we realized our onsen was bigger than most public jacuzzis.


https://i.imgur.com/3Qk800m.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cCZAkKc.jpg

Just came back from my trip to HK-BALI-JAPAN-BOSTON-NY

I met up with skinny in HK, very cool to meet up with someone I have been chatting with on RS for years.

Renting the camper van was the best idea ever for JAPAN, I will load some pics. The amount of Japan I saw because of driving, was unbelievable