Japan - Travel Agent or On Your Own? Help!

[Anonymous]

Husband and college age DD are planning to travel to Japan for two weeks in late June or July. They have traveled extensively together and usually book trips on their own. However, because they don't speak the language we thought a travel agent might be the way to go for this trip. We reached out to a travel agent that came highly recommended and while she's been incredibly helpful, she told us that she usually books these trips at least three months in advance so we were playing catch up. She reached out to one of her contacts in Japan and he said he was unable to help due to the time crunch. She is waiting to hear back if another contact can help. So my question for those of you that have been to Japan:
Do you think a travel agent is necessary for this trip or could they book this on their own and be OK? (airfare, hotel, bullet train and try and find guides for local tours) If you do think it's necessary, is there a travel agent that you would recommend who might still be able to help them at this late date? Thank you so much for your help!

[Anonymous]

If they’ve traveled extensively together, I really don’t think they’ll need a travel agent. I work for in the travel industry and used to live in Japan, here’s what I’d do if they want to do it without one.

Do they have their flights yet? Use google flights and Look at both Tokyo and Osaka airports. Remember it takes roughly 2 days to get there and two days back so you need at least 10 days of travel.

Use the Japanese national tourism board site. Great resource.

Use TripAdvisor forums. They are invaluable and full or recent trip plans and helpful details. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g294232-i525-o135180-Japan.html

[Anonymous]

They will be fine without agent—I’ve been many times. Only thing that can get confusing is navigating train and metro stations but I’ve always figured it out and people are incredibly nice and will help if they get too lost. And maybe some restaurant reservations. Just stay in hotels with enough service support to book for you any specific tours or restaurant experiences. If you have help making reservations you will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Great site: https://www.japan.travel/en/au/

[Anonymous]

If they have travel experience, they don't need an agent. It's also not too late to book things so I find it odd that they've been told that. Team Labs definitely has to be booked in advance.

We used trip advisor, reddit, and even TikTok to help plan the trip we took with our 12 year old.

[Anonymous]

Do you just want to show up? Totally fine to do that on your own. But if you are planning to go and see specific things in a month or so, my recommendation is to plan to go in July and research things you want to do asap. Then decide if you want an agent to help you with planning.

Tickets for many things are sold in advance, and things sell out quickly. For example, we stalked Ghibli Museum tickets online and by the time we finished checking out they were all sold out.

[Anonymous]

Just be aware of the summer heat and humidity in most of Japan, don't overdo outdoor activities.

[Anonymous]

Not sure why they would need a travel agent. Just get them JR rail passes and book a couple of hotels.

[Anonymous]

We booked everything on or own. These days with Google translate, everything is so much easier. I remember we had trouble figuring out ticketing at a train station once— we spoke to the attendants using the translate app and everything turned out just fine.

[Anonymous]

I just got back from a first visit. It's doable without an agent. If you book at nice hotels with concierges, definitely use their pull for restaurant reservations. The food is great all over Japan but a few experience level ones were very important to us. The Bullet train is confusing within the terminal but you should be okay with Google translate. People are very nice but English speaking felt non-existent so leave plenty of time before boarding. We used Uber everywhere so language not an issue. You'll need transit cards for buses and subways. Book Viator tours in advance. The local ones at temples are only in Japanese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they have travel experience, they don't need an agent. It's also not too late to book things so I find it odd that they've been told that. Team Labs definitely has to be booked in advance.

[Anonymous]

Tons of recs on multiple threads in this forum. But also rainy season

[Anonymous]

Late July the rainy season is over. But the heat and humidity are no joke. Do not overdo the outdoor activities.

I lived in Japan for several years. We went there as a family of 4 a few years ago in July and we visited a lot of vending machines and convenience stores for hydration. Beverages such as Poccari Sweat and Calpis are unfortunately named but great in the heat. I also recommend carrying small hand towels for washrooms as paper towel isn’t ubiquitous, and a “sweat towel” for dabbing the sweat that drips down your face in the humidity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you just want to show up? Totally fine to do that on your own. But if you are planning to go and see specific things in a month or so, my recommendation is to plan to go in July and research things you want to do asap. Then decide if you want an agent to help you with planning.

Tickets for many things are sold in advance, and things sell out quickly. For example, we stalked Ghibli Museum tickets online and by the time we finished checking out they were all sold out.

I was online 10 minutes before the moment Studio Ghibli tickets went on sale for the month and I was number 30,000 in the queue. It’s like trying to get tickets to the Eras tour.

[Anonymous]

The transit signs in any major city are subtitled in English. There is absolutely no need for a travel agent in Japan.