Having to travel in crowds of people during your vacation in Japan can be an exhausting experience.
However, when you see the photos of people travelling, it seems as though there is no one there! We often hear that their experience could have been better if only there weren’t so many people! So we did some asking around, and here are some tips to avoid having to have to steer through crowds of people!
- Avoid Weekends and National Holidays
This is no rocket science. However, if you happen to stay for more than a week, you will be faced with this problem. The smart way to travel is to keep tourist places for the weekdays, and weekends for rural places or places where you have to make reservations. Places such as the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka where they only allow a certain number of people a day will keep your trip fairly spacious! Due to COVID19, some museums will only let certain people at once, so it’s best to keep these places booked and scheduled for the weekends. Yes, it may be hard to book it for your trip, hence we advise you to plan as early as possible!
Other options are to travel to a nearby park or hiking trail (example: Ten En Hiking Trail in Kamakura or Mt.Takao in Tokyo) where nature is what people came to enjoy hence not a lot of people will be in one particular spot!
During weekdays (when no school events/holidays are on), you can enjoy some space, as most people in Japan will either be working or attending school/lectures.
- Travel Bright and Early
I like to sleep in to kick my day off with a coffee, read some news on my phone, send photos to mates at home to show off some cultural photos, and post ones that made my day. Well, so do most people I believe! If you are looking to travel efficiently being out of your hotel by 7 or 7:30 is your best bet! Some temples or shrines open earlier than others (around 8 o’clock) so check for the ones opening early to start your plan there! Grab your Coffee on the way, as Conbini coffees aren’t bad at all (personally). Eat your breakfast early, so you can time your lunch around 11 when some restaurants open.
Avoid eating lunch between hours of 12-14, that should be the time where places are less crowded! Having earlier lunch is better than having one late, as Japanese people don’t usually have anything against lining up, and some restaurants will be packed until the afternoon.
- Check for web pages run by the city council
Believe it or not, places such as Kyoto provides real-time data of how crowded each part of the city is. If you happen to be around people who think alike and are following the travel tips above, be ahead of the game and change your schedule accordingly!
Unfortunately, these radars are only available in Japanese for most web pages, however, just looking at the map will give you an idea of where to avoid them! Examples for the web pages are as follows:
Kamakura:
https://www.konzatsu-kamakura.jp/
Kyoto:
https://ja.kyoto.travel/comfort/
VACAN.COM
Some cities are yet to implement real-time data hence looking at average data may help!
To search this info in Japanese type these in your search bar!
[CITY NAME] 混雑状況
OR
[CITY NAME] 混雑状況リアルタイム
↑ For real-time（リアルタイム）data.
All in all, having a flexible schedule may just help you during weekdays as crowded places vary depending on its trend! Sometimes a shop may attract so many people because it was on TV last Thursday, or some famous actress Tweeted about some fancy meal. Vice versa, places can be dead empty because of some “rumours” and so on.
I hope these 3 tips above can come of use during your travel! However, I have to let you know that there is no definite solution to the problem as to how crowded a place can be can change due to aeroplane fares, public holidays, media influences etc. I guess you’d know that if you’re a traveller ✌
As always, we hope you enjoy your trip to Japan!
Until next time, travel safely ✌
RK