Japan was another bucket list for us and we had more reason to go there because my brother lives in Japan!!! So we were super excited to find trips from Minneapolis to Tokyo for $970 a person with stops in Canada for two weeks. This trip included E, myself and my siblings.
Since we were visiting my brother, we decided to stay 5 days in Yokosuka and the rest of the time in Tokyo. Tokyo has a lot of different districts so we were able to split up the days in the order of districts we were visiting.
Some of the districts we visited in Tokyo are Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ginza, Asakusa, Harajuku, Ueno, and many more!
AIRLINE | STOPS IN CANADA | HOTEL IN CANADA
We flew on AirCanada and booked directly on the AirCanada website. Our flight included 2 stops in Canada. This may seem daunting but our stop in Toronto was fast but our stop in Calgary was overnight. I do recommend booking a direct flight. It may be better for those who hate flying but for avid travelers like E and me...we sometimes like to stop to explore or to take a break.
I do want to note that our flight back from Japan was on the same airline and we had the worst experience at the Toronto airport. Our luggages were lost between the airline and the airport which resulted in us missing a total of 4 rescheduled flights for us.They gave us a free hotel night stay for losing our luggage so we stayed overnight in Toronto. They told us to come back in the morning at 5:30AM because our flight was fixed and our luggages were found. But when we came back, they told us they never found our luggage. So we again had so many back and forth conversations. In the end, they couldn't book us a direct flight to Minneapolis and told us to fly out the next day but we did not want to wait another day. We wanted to get back home so our only option is to fly to Chicago and rent a car to drive up. In Chicago, AirCanada was also no help. We filled out forms for missing luggages and waited to hear back. Turns out AirCanada reps in Chicago never filed our paperwork so I had to call customer service again to fill out new paperwork. We received our missing luggages 1-2 weeks later. Worst experience in my entire life. AirCanada definitely did not resolve this customer service issue and only emailed me with a $500 off coupon for next flight. We will never fly AirCanada again after this experience.
Our stop in Calgary was overnight, we rented a room at the airport hotel called Delta Hotels Calgary Airport In-Terminal for $230. In the morning, we jetted back through airport security to wait at our gate. Calgary had the nicest TSA that we've ever been through. We decided one day we would come back to Calgary to explore in the future.
Basic airline food on AirCanada. There are other options if you cannot eat this.
ACCOMMODATIONS
We stayed almost a full week at my brother's apartment in Yokosuka. We definitely saved a couple hundred dollars doing this.
The following week in Tokyo, we rented two Airbnbs. One Airbnb in Nakano District and the other in Shibuya District. The Airbnbs are reasonally priced and if you look for ones with pocket wifi then you save money on not renting one.
I recommend staying near Shibuya Station or Tokyo Station. Those are the main big stations in Tokyo and if you stay in walking distance, you'll save money on not riding the bus to get to the train station.
TRANSPORTATION
There are a couple ways to get to Tokyo. You can take trains, buses or taxis. We took the train all the way to Yokosuka. It took about 3 hours to get there. Japan has the Pasmo card or Suica Card that you can use to take trains and buses. They're basically the same card which you can use to refill as you go. It's super convenient when you're on the go and don't have time to get single tickets. We opted for the Pasmo card since it was the option available at the station we were at in Yokosuka.
CURRENCY
For our one night stay in Canada, we took out some cash for the night but used mainly our credit cards. 1 USD = 1.31 CAD but make sure you check the conversion rates as it changes.
In Japan, we took out mostly cash to use since most places we went to were small mom and pop shops. There were not that many money exchange places in Japan. But there are ATMs that take foreign cards so you can take cash out that way. The bigger stores do take credit cards / debit cards but make sure you check what your bank charges for foreign fees. (1 USD = 112.09 Japanese Yen but make sure you check the conversion rates as it changes.)
WHAT TO PACK
We went to Japan in the summertime (June) and it was really hot. Japan is also a walking country so you'll be walking everywhere besides taking the transit so I recommend bringing a good pair of walking shoes. Also bring a day bag to bring water with you and carry other things you will buy. Bring an umbrella since it might rain.
Another thing to note is if you're planning on doing shows or museums, make sure you check to see if you need to book in advance. We went to the Ghibli Museum and they're usually sold out so we bought the tickets two months in advance for our trip.
Japan is definitely worth visiting. Even though we mostly stayed in Yokosuka and Tokyo, there were so many things to see that filled up our two weeks in Japan. The next time we go, we will be visiting Kyoto and Osaka.
Happy Planning!