Reasons for visiting:
Unless you come from Korea, Japan is probably more different to your homeland than anywhere else, unless you live in Amazon jungle or Antartica. That alone makes it worthwhile.
It is affordable. Japan used to be named as the most expensive place to be, but these days accommodation, food and drink are roughly the same price as Australia/USA.
Flights have got much cheaper.
Reasons for not visiting:
There is nothing here you can’t get elsewhere except for a glimpse of their culture and the food (if you are a fan of Japanese food).
These things are a all better in other lands:
- Volcanoes (Japan has heaps but are pretty much inaccesible)
- Disneyland – meh
- High buildings and towers – meh
- Museums – too biased
- Beaches – not enough good ones to mention
- Castles, most here are recent rebuilds and not that great anyway. Europe does way better
- Scenery – 99% of the country looks the same. Every city looks the same. The mountains are the same shape and densely forested. No part of the country has individual character. Note: I haven’t been to Okinawa or Hokkaido
These are issues:
- The monotony gets to you
- Japan has a huge tourist industry but individual locals typically aren’t keen. They will pretend you don’t exist
- Most restaurants and bars are not welcoming to foreigners. Even places like Italian restaurants. Touts for prostitutes will ignore you.
- Outside of a very few locations, English is very rarely understood, even at a basic level. Worse than probably any other country.
My advice:
Come and take a look, but unless you have a specific mission (like skiing), a week is more than enough.
If I were to bring someone here I would:
2 days in Osaka, concentrating on the insane nightlife and shopping
1 day in Kyoto doing. Cultural stuff
2 days in Matsumoto and the highlands
3 days in Tokyo, visiting the unique suburbs, plus Golden Gai.
I would ignore every single “tourist attraction”