March/April 2024 trips to Japan

[Aleks]

I am excited I will have two short leisure trips to Japan, one in mid-March and one in early April. Both are full five days, Friday through Tuesday (landing early morning on Fridays, leaving late night on Tuesdays). The March trip will be with a base in Fukuoka, and April in Tokyo.

 

Just spent time planning the March trip. The first two days will be a visit to Kagoshima by shinkansen. Will spend some time riding Kagoshima trams and probably visit Shiroyama and Sakurajima. I think Kagoshima fish market works on Saturdays, so will try to get there too. Back to Fukuoka on Saturday afternoon, I am staying this time conveniently right next to Hakata station, so planning a trip to the nearby Yodobashi to do train shopping in the evening. Sunday will be some sightseeing, I think plum is in blossom at that time, and a concert in Fukuoka, and early Monday morning I am departing on Nozomi shinkansen to go to Okayama and then early afternoon take Nanpu Limited Express to Kochi. I got the front window seat in green car (1st car) on Nanpu to enjoy the scenery. Returning to Fukuoka via the same trains on Tuesday night to catch my flight back. Will plan to ride Okaden and Tosaden, check out local castles and whatever else might hit my eye. It's very quick and fairly little time though to do anything. There will be opportunities for great food as I booked a kaiseki meal in a ryokan in Ino (across the river from the end of the Ino tram line) where I will be staying, and my hotel in Kagoshima also has great food choices.

 

With all this large amount of JR train travel, I concluded JR Pass still did not make sense, although it was very close. For one, I could not go with any regional passes as I will be in Kyushu, Honshu and Shikoku. For two, I have to use one Nozomi to make it work and possibly one Mizuho, and this would cost extra. I did also want to have a front seat on Nanpu, which has to be in green car. Also, being able to buy in advance using Smart-Ex did bring some discounts on shinkansen which made going with individual tickets more cost efficient. 

 

Hokuriku shinkansen will start running to Tsuruga right in those days, and I considered going there, but this would have been very difficult to do from Fukuoka in the timeframe I have. I may try to hit it when I am in the Tokyo area in April. I have never been to Kanazawa or anywhere between Toyama and Kyoto. Alternatively I am also considering going on Saphir Odoriko if I can get a front seat. But I have been to Izu peninsula a couple of times now, and if I go this will be literally in and out due to timing constraints, so not sure it's worth it. Yet another option, since the Tokyo trip should be in the middle of the sakura blossom, trying to find some new spots to see the blossom. I have not been to Chureito pagoda or Kawaguchiko, and there are also some nice train lines around there that go over the mountains. Exploring suburbs of Tokyo could also be interesting. There are a lot of train lines there that I have never seen. Oh, and I think E8 will start running on the Yamagata shinkansen too...

Edited February 25 by Aleks

[mojo]

Sounds like you are in for a good time. Agree about the JR Pass, and I think that even if it was borderline worth it I'd end up being influenced by trying to get value from it rather than thinking about what I really want to see and do.