I've been to many places in Japan on numerous occasions.
So allow me to entertain you on some of my adventures and hopefully I can give you some useful tips as well.
How to get there
I felt I should start off at that.
By plane obviously, but your two main options are Narita and Kansai.
Depending on where you want to start, where you want to go, where you want to end up, you should know the difference.
Narita (Narita International Airport) is located in the Chiba prefecture, which is adjacent to the Tokyo Metropolis.
If you want to start from Tokyo, fly here.
If you want to go to Tokyo last, leave from here.
Kansai (Kansai International Airport) is located in the Osaka prefecture.
If you want to start your journey off seeing Kyoto and/or Osaka, fly here.
You may be restricted with choice, depending on which airline you choose to fly with.
So it may be wise to plan your trip around which airport you intend to fly in to first.
Accommodation
My friend and I did our rounds of backpacking, so I can recommend you some.
We didn't plan our accommodation because we hadn't figured out exactly where we wanted to go. But there is hardly any reason to panic if you don't have accommodation for the night, because there are plenty of other things you can do.
For those who want to plan, I recommend Khaosan Tokyo, a chain of youth hostels around Tokyo and Beppu.
They are in a good location, but may not be as convenient as some hotels/hostels closer to the heart of tokyo. The closest tourist sites to the hostel are Asakusa and Akihabara (walking distance).
They have a number of different buildings within close proximity to each other. Depending on your luck with vacancies you may get the recently refurbished place, or the roach infested place. Vacancies tend to disappear during tourist seasons so book early.
These guys were by far the friendliest hostel in Japan. The staff were very approachable and many of them will party with you if they are not busy. They have self-made booklets and helpful pages stuck on the walls to guide you in planning your tourist activties.
As stated above you can walk to Asakusa to go see the shrine or go shopping.
You can also walk to Akihabara, but it is a trek and paying for the train trip may be a sensible option. Akihabara is your electronic station to all things geeky. If you like anime, manga, games, porn go here, you will not be disappointed. This place traditionally was famous for being the place to buy your electronics, you still can, but perhaps nowadays its popularity spawns from the anime and manga stuff.
There is one other place I can recommend if you decide to go visit Hiroshima.
It's the Hiroshima International Youth House. Essentially it is a normal hotel, but if you have a foreign passport, you pay cheap hostel prices. My friend and I liked it so much we prolonged our stay in Hiroshima.
So if you don't have accommodation for the night?
Go party, do an all-nighter. You can put your luggage into a coin locker in any station. There are two main areas for clubbing, Shibuya and Roppongi.
Roppongi has two clubs side by side that have free entry, but they do nag you to buy a drink (the drinks are expensive). On a busy night you can sneak your way through without being noticed drinkless. Be warned there are lots of foreigners in these clubs and lots of business men too, so don't be shocked by the audience or average age.
Shibuya has more clubs on offer and many love hotels nearby (the ultimate combo), but they do require an entry fee. Some more expensive than others. These clubs are more likely to have more Japanese youngsters.
They like to play hip-hop, RnB and pop songs from the US on many nights, so if those aren't your genres then maybe clubbing in Japan won't be for you.
Go to an internet cafe. You can sleep, read, access the internet, play games etc. Some places even offer free shower rooms and free beverages. They will kindly take your luggage aswell. Although it may not be the best place to catch some z's because the lights are always on.
Prices can be as low or slightly lower than a night in a youth hostel, if you choose 10 hour plans after certain hours.
My friend and I stayed at an internet cafe for sleep on one occasion. The lights were too bright that we covered our faces with towels. We could hear the staff laughing at us, but we were too tired to care.
Go to Macdonalds. They have 24 hour Macdonalds here and there, just order a drink and sit down (or get some shut-eye like some of the business men around).
Getting your way around
Train
You will do most of your travelling by train (unless of course you rent a car, hire a cab, or get someone to drive you).
If you intend to do a lot of travelling (across the country), set yourselves up with a JR pass before you leave your country.
Japan Rail Pass
What it is is a folded piece of cardboard which you carry around and show to the fellow looking over the ticket gate to receive unlimited travel. It can be used for trains, buses and ferries.
The cost varies depending on how long you want the pass to last. The prices are on the website.
It is limited to Japan Rail (JR) transport only, though they do run most of the transport around Japan anyway (you can't use it on the Nozomi either, don't ask me why).
But for those looking to get around Tokyo, it may not be of much use, as the subway is much more convenient.
Word of advice, don't lose it (especially on your first day). You can not replace it.
My friend lost his on the first day we got ours, we searched everywhere we went that day, asked train staff if they had seen it, filled out a lost form at the police station for it. We went back to the place we got it and tried to negotiate our way into replacing it (almost impossible in Japan). Then my friend had one final look in his bag and surely enough there it was, marking a page in his travel book.
Don't worry, you aren't doomed if you opt not to go with the rail pass. There are other ways of getting around the country.
Bullet Train
All bullet trains are run by JR, so you are probably better off getting the JR pass instead of paying for a one-way or two-way ticket. You may find that the price of a pass can be in the same price range as your one-way ticket.
If you decide to use a bullet train, even if you have a JR pass, you have to book your trip. You can do this at any bullet train station. The service window shouldn't be hard to find, usually close to or next to the ticket machines. There is no extra cost, just show your JR pass and tell them where you want to go and they'll set it up for you.
Bus
There are night-ride bus services that go to almost all major corners of Japan. These are very cheap in comparison to bullet trains, and if you don't have a JR pass, this will be your best option.
Most buses though are small and can be quite cramped (the buses were designed to fit Japanese people). If you mind having an uncomfortable night, you might want to consider otherwise.
You have to book these trips. You can arrange your ticket at major bus terminals such as Shinjuku.
Sights to see
My guess is that if you're interested in Japan you're pretty familiar with the touristy sites.
So I'll give you a run down on where I've been that's touristy.
Hokkaido
Popular destination for Aussies to go skiing (specifically Niseko).
You can catch a bullet train over from the main island, but it does take it's time. Train speeds are low in Hokkaido and it does make it hard to travel around.
If you really want to enjoy Hokkaido, you should arrange a car. Trains only go to the main parts of the island, but there are many sights that are worth going to.
I didn't have a car when I went, that is still on my things to do list. But one thing I did notice about Hokkaido, especially Sapporo, is that the girls are super cute here. My friend and I, being blokes, that is one of the things we look out for. The majority of the girls we saw were the cutest we found in all of the places we visited. Maybe we were hallucinating from the exhausting trip (we went from Kyushu to Hokkaido in 2 days), or we went there on a luckily cute weekend.
Nikko
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Those three monkeys are here.
A place with traditional shrines, pagodas and graves. Very touristy. There may not be a day you go there and there are not hundreds of more tourists than you.
There is lots to see and it will take up most of or your entire day. Greatly photogenic.
Tokyo
Not the place you want to go to see serene views, more for those shopping days (and night life of course). There is much to do in Tokyo, and if I go in-depth I may take up too much space. Click the link to visit the Tokyo Page.
Nagano
Another popular destination for skiers.
There are some castles and shrines to see here. Not your popular tourist destination, more for those who like to ski. I just put it up here because I did work in a hotel in Nagano for a few months.
Hiroshima
Where the atomic bomb dome is located. The museum is worth going to and having a look at. It is very moving.
There is a shopping district close-by. It is rather large and may take more than a day of shopping to feel as though you have seen everything.
Also take a day to go to Miyajima. They have wild deer roaming around, which you can feed if you buy the right food for around the place. There is some mountain hiking, nothing too rigorous, just don't go in high heels. Great scenery.
You can even give your tastebuds a try of wasabi flavoured ice cream. You can get a strange mixture of a brain freeze and a nose freeze at the same time.
You can get there by ferry, if you have a JR pass, it's free (the ferry is run by JR).
Kyoto
Your one stop for all things traditionally Japanese. If you really want to experience Kyoto, you should try to do it in more than one day, the shrines and temples they have on offer are magnificent.
My friend and I skipped through this place when we went down to Osaka, because we both had seen Kyoto once before (on our own spearate occasions). Instead of shrines and temples, we went to a bamboo forest. Yep you guessed it, lots of bamboo. But it was quite photogenic.
Kyoto really is quite magnificent.
Osaka
Great place to find food. There is a humongous shopping district with food stalls everywhere. Definately try takoyaki while you're here. Lots of shopping to do, not enough to do in one day. Night life here is also very lively.
There is also a castle that you should go visit, Osaka-jyo (Osaka castle). It is quite large and a good spot to take photos.
Nagasaki
The other place that was hit with an atomic bomb. They have a memorial park full of statues received as gifts from nations all over the world. Some of them are bizarre, especially the main, large one.
Try a dish called chan-pon while you're there, it's what Nagasaki is famous for.
You can get by on trams in this place.
That sums up the brief intro of the touristy sites I've been to. Of course, if you want more info I'm more than happy to provide that to you, just give me a yell.
Or you could visit this website that has a collection of other blogs about Japan as well.
Japan Blog List
As I said above, I will do a Tokyo guide later on, as I've spent a lot of time there and I have a lot to tell.
So that's it for now, hope it was of some help.
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