If you don't want to sightsee why don't you find a Ryokan (Traditional hotel) near an Onsen (hotspring) and chill out there for a few days?

When I say the only must do is Disney sea, I kinda meant like on top of the traditional sites you’d go to in these places

Still want to go to like Shibuya, Shinjuku, the typical stuff as well. I just haven’t really dug into it that much and I’ve never been anywhere in Asia before, but I definitely am interested in all the typical tourist sites

Osaka and Tokyo are super similar on the grand scheme of things. I think if you're spending a lot of time in Tokyo, you can skip Osaka unless there is something specific there you really want to see.

I'd add Kyoto into the itinerary. Spend a night there in a traditional ryokan. I can suggest the one I stayed at, I loved it. It's very much a tourist-thing to do.

Look up a town called Hakone, it's near Tokyo, at the base of Mt Fuji and is famous for its hot springs.

Outside of Tokyo, my next favourite place in Japan is Hiroshima. It's a bit further but super quick/cheap to get to. You can take the bullet train but I'd actually recommend a domestic flight from HND. Tourists can sometimes get special promotional airfares.

A friend also recommended to me the Tottori Sand Dunes in Japan.

A popular tourist destination for anyone who wants to visit a desert by the Sea of Japan. -quite a unique area outside of a city centre from what a buddy told me.

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e8102.html


The Tottori Sand Dunes (鳥取砂丘, Tottori Sakyu) are large sand dunes located just outside the city center and are Tottori's most famous tourist attraction. They span roughly 16 kilometers of coast along of the Sea of Japan and are up to two kilometers wide and 50 meters high. They are part of the Sanin Kaigan National Park.

The sand dunes were created over thousands of years, as sand from the nearby Sendaigawa River was washed out to sea and eventually redeposited along the coast by the ocean's currents. Today, the movement of the tides and the coastal winds continuously shape the sand dunes and provide an ever changing landscape.

Things to do at the Tottori Sand Dunes: Camel riding, Sandboarding. -like snowboarding except you are boarding on sand dunes.

Don't forget to add Soapland to your list of traditional sites :lawl:

I'm trying to put together a plan for a family vacation in Japan in 2026. I don't have any specific timelines yet, although I know I have no interest in going there between June - August.

Gonna be combing this thread to get ideas for cities to visit, and places to go. I have no interest in going to Disneyland there -- at least not this time, but it will have to include some kid-friendly places to see and such.

First weird question is -- what is the best option to pursue in order to have internet access (on cell phone) in Japan?

Honda has been MIA for quite some time now, but looking at his post here, his target travel period is directly coinciding with Spring Break in Japan, and all the Internet recommendations I've read so far is warning against travelling to Japan during their Spring Break (as well as Golden Week). I guess he has no choice on his dates if he is wanting to catch the F1 race there, and he probably wouldn't care about the additional costs. But I guess the crowds are gonna be pretty wild while he is there.

For cellphone data. I used klook to buy an esim.... I think it was airlo that I bought. My cousins referred one another to get a discount on Nomad for their data. 1gb a day was enough to use Google maps and browse the internetz while on transit. WiFi while at the hotel.

Yup definitely avoid Japan or really Asia in general during golden week. You're fighting essentially every salaryman that gets their measly one week annual holiday for booking hotels and every mode of transportation there is in any place worth going to.

I went in September of this year. Still really hot, but doesn't compare to HK pre-typhoon weather which sucked.

For cellphone plans I just chose a sim card from a vending machine at the airport. Probably wasn't the cheapest, but still affordable.

Things that we did that would also be suitable for kids is probably Snoopy Museum and the Cup Noodle Museum.

The kids might find the Snoopy Museum a little boring, the outdoor attractions are cool, but it's a museum so take that as you will. Gift shop was dope af. It was mostly comics on the wall, pre-dates me so I don't really have an interest in it. It was cool getting to know all the characters, but ok la.

https://i.imgur.com/3iJQPuU.png
https://i.imgur.com/WGVLjaL.png
https://i.imgur.com/SEDotLg.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/GrjGetO.png

If you go early enough for the Cup Noodle museum, there are plenty of activities (chicken ramen factory + cup noodles park) that you can sign up for and do. It's a super cool experience. We also learned about the history of Nissin noodles and got to make our own cup noodles as well. Souvenir shop wasn't cheap (ofc), but I bought a super plushy and cute chicken bath towel for my niece LOL.

https://i.imgur.com/7Rqww2w.png

Honda Collection Hall was also really cool, if you love Hondas and Honda bikes, but I don't so I found it ok la. There's F1 cars there but I found the insight way cooler LOL. Idk if I would say its kid friendly tho. I'm sure if your kids are well behaved, it would be fine, but if I found it boring.. LOL.

https://i.imgur.com/i8L7oQ7.png

I'll throw in the coolest picture we have - we rented a S2K Type S and a S660 Modulo X (you prob wouldn't do this with the kids, but I figure you guys would enjoy this pic)

https://i.imgur.com/MPUGpKS.jpeg

There was a sumo wrestler exhibition when we went, I didn't get to go but wanted to. That seemed like it was packed full of families and young kids, so it might be a cool experience.

Nissan Crossing at Ginza is boring, I'd skip. I'd only go if you want a place to "tan lan hei" with the kids LOL

We went to A LOT of temples in Osaka. I would honestly skip on Osaka Castle, but the activities surrounding Osaka Castle seem cool. There was a j-rock competition that was super cool, along with boat rides that seemed cool. But the Castle itself was just jam packed full of people and overall unpleasant environment to be in. I'd also skip Kyoto for that same reason, there was way too many people jam packed into a tiny street. The coolest temple was a Daruma temple, it was cool to see them scattered everywhere and if you buy one and read the instructions, you'll learn why. It was also a good opportunity to reflect on things and it actually felt peaceful there.

https://i.imgur.com/Z5khAXX.png

Nara is cool if the kids want to see deer and feed deer. But growing up in BC and learning not to ever fuck with wildlife, I wasn't down with it.

Osaka also had a really cool Nintendo, Harry Potter, Tomica, Capcom and others department store - it was so damn cool. Plenty of kids and I felt like one of them lol. You might lose your wallet in there with the kids cause its a multi level toy store. Idk if kids are still into Harry Potter but there's numerous HP themed attractions around Japan.

Also in regards to car rentals - if it's within budget and you're staying somewhere as your "home base", it's definitely worth it to get around and go to different cities (18 cities/2 weeks: Osaka -> Minoh, Nara, Kyoto; Tokyo - > Fukjikawaguchiko, Uenohara, Machida, Yokohama, Mitaka, Yashio, Nagareyama, Noda, Tsukuba, Shimotsuma, Tsuchiura, Ishioka, Motegi). Trains is very good, but lots of travel time if you have a variety of cities you want to go to. The Nissan DayZ is a complete gutless piece of shit (as is the S660), you can't even pass semi-trucks while merging onto the hwy. We also rented an Alphard and that was really solid to get around Japan, plenty of power, and the dimensions aren't as bad as you think for the tiny Japanese streets like Fuji or middle of nowhere towns.

With China's travel ban to Japan, it should definitely be less crowded at many of the tourist attractions. But that may or may not be a mute point, if the crowd levels are only dropping from 120% down to 90% lol~

We are travelling with kids, and kids are a major PITA to travel with. I miss the backpacking days in my 20's when we can decide on things on a whim, and have the energy to go all out. Keeping the little buggers entertained (and therefore not whiny) is not an easy thing to do LOL~

i dont have kids but even then i cant go out all day anymore in my 40s.
after like 2-3 places im ready to recharge at the hotel till dinner lol.

Oh no, we definitely only did 2-3 places/day. This was over the course of 2 weeks. I was so jetlagged I napped on transit or in the car LOL. Probably spent as much time sleeping as I did exploring places.

We went in October, which is still hot, but not unbearable. We have two kids, but travel with kids is pretty good in Japan so long as they're willing to walk.

Aside from Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto, we visited Hiroshima which is a chill city and of course, has historical significance. My kids are big into Kawaii-culture, so we checked out PopMart and visited a lot of arcades with claw games and capsule machines. We also did a day at Universal Studios while in Osaka.