What to book in advance for a trip to Japan, and when

On a trip to Japan, most sites can be visited without booking. About twenty cannot: they run on named slots, timed tickets or capped numbers, and without a booking the planned day falls apart. The earliest is booked eleven months before departure, the latest the day before.

Below we have listed everything our Japan itineraries require you to book, sorted by lead time. The lead times and prices are those in force at the time of writing, in September 2026: they are site rules, which change, to be checked again on the official website before paying.

What to book in advance in Japan, by lead time

When to book	What	Where
11 months ahead	A night in a temple (shukubō)	Mount Kōya
6 months ahead	Accommodation for the cherry blossom season	Yoshino
Up to 3 months ahead	Katsura Imperial Villa, Himeji Castle ticket	Kyoto, Himeji
2 months ahead	Saihō-ji, the moss temple; Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea	Kyoto, Tokyo
Weeks ahead	teamLab Borderless, the Harry Potter studios, Shibuya Sky, Universal Studios Express Pass, Fuji-Q Highland	Tokyo, Osaka, Fuji
As soon as sales open	Naoshima and Teshima museums, sold out several days ahead in season	Inland Sea
2 weeks to 2 days ahead	Takachiho Gorge rowing boats	Kyūshū
The day before	Jōmon-sugi shuttle bus	Yakushima

Eleven to six months ahead: sleeping where beds are few

Mount Kōya. Sleeping in a Buddhist temple, with the morning service, is planned very early. At Ekō-in, for example, bookings open eleven months ahead on the official website and go fast. The fifty-one temple lodgings can also be booked through the official shukubō association, a useful resource in high season. The night tour of the Okunoin cemetery, guided by a monk in English, is booked separately: it is often full from March to November. The full picture of a temple night is in sleeping on Mount Kōya.

Yoshino in spring. The cherry blossom mountain is stormed during its bloom, from early to mid-April. Accommodation there is full six months ahead and prices double, and road access is regulated, or even closed.

The same logic applies on a smaller scale to the ryokan of Kinosaki during the crab season, from November to March, those of Ginzan Onsen in high season, and accommodation on the Fuji plateau at cherry blossom and maple time: all of them fill up months in advance. The hotels of Yakushima, which have few rooms, should also be booked early.

Three to two months ahead: visits booked in your name

This is the category that most often catches people out: places that only admit visitors registered by name.

Katsura Imperial Villa, in Kyoto, can only be visited on a one-hour guided group tour, booked in your name with the Imperial Household Agency, online up to three months ahead. ID is required at the entrance, minimum age twelve, one visit per person per month, ¥1,000. The English-language slots are set at 9:20 AM, 11:20 AM, 1:20 PM, 3:20 PM and 4:20 PM. Shugakuin Villa and Sentō Palace are booked the same way, in your name with the Imperial Household Agency.

Watch out: on site, you can only sign up for tours in Japanese. For an English-language slot, booking online is the only way.

Saihō-ji, the moss temple, has been open by reservation only since 1977. The visit lasts about ninety minutes and includes copying a sutra. It is booked online from two months ahead up to the day before, or by return-paid postcard, between two months and one month ahead. Two people at most per request, minimum age thirteen, ¥4,000.

Himeji Castle does not require it, but the timed ticket can be bought online up to ninety days ahead, at a discount. The adult fare rose to ¥2,500 on March 1, 2026. In spring, the line can reach an hour.

Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea sell named, dated tickets in limited numbers, released online two months ahead. Saturdays and public holidays sell out within a few hours.

A few weeks ahead: timed-entry slots

Here, the lead time is set not by a rule but by demand: weekend and sunset slots go first.

• teamLab Borderless, in Tokyo: named, timed ticket, compulsory. Weekend slots go weeks ahead.
• The Harry Potter studios, in Nerima: dated and timed ticket, several weeks ahead.
• Shibuya Sky: the sunset slot is booked one month ahead. The rooftop closes in rain, strong wind or storms.
• Universal Studios Japan, in Osaka: the Express Pass is bought online at the same time as the dated ticket, and the seven-ride versions go weeks ahead. Without it, two or three rides in a day is a normal result. The Nintendo area may require an additional timed ticket at busy periods.
• Fuji-Q Highland: the unlimited pass for Saturdays and public holidays goes weeks ahead. Arrive at opening: by noon, the lines for the big roller coasters often exceed two hours.
• The Chichū Art Museum on Naoshima and the Teshima Art Museum: entry by time slot, to be booked as soon as sales open. The Chichū costs ¥2,500 on weekdays and ¥2,700 on weekends, ¥300 more on site. It closes for maintenance at the start of the year, between January and March: check the dates on the official website.

A few days ahead, and the day before

The Takachiho Gorge rowing boats, in Kyūshū, have a very narrow booking window: online booking only, open from two weeks to two days before the date, payment by card, never by phone. Allow ¥4,100 to ¥5,100 per three-person boat, for thirty minutes.

Watch out: in high season, no tickets are sold on the day if the slots are full.

The Jōmon-sugi, the ancient cedar of Yakushima: from March 1 to November 30, the Arakawa road is closed to cars and a compulsory shuttle bus takes its place. Its ticket is bought the day before, and the first departure is around 5 in the morning.

In Hokkaidō, the ground trails of the Shiretoko Five Lakes follow a guided slot system during the bear season. We covered it in detail in How many days do you need for Hokkaidō?.

What cannot be booked

The other half of the answer matters just as much: there is no point looking for an online ticket office that does not exist. Kinkaku-ji is visited without booking. Nara’s Tōdai-ji has no online ticket office and is paid in cash. The Kyoto Imperial Palace is open to visit freely.

Tip: on Naoshima and Teshima, neither the buses nor the ferries can be booked: at busy periods, arrive thirty minutes to an hour before departure, and build the day around the boat timetable.

And car rental

Hokkaidō, Tōhoku, the Alps, the San’in coast, Shikoku and Kyūshū are done by car in our itineraries, and renting one runs into an administrative snag: the document Japan accepts depends on the country that issued your license. You need a 1949 Geneva-format International Driving Permit for a US, UK, Canadian or Australian license, among others; an official Japanese translation for a French, German, Swiss or Belgian one, issued by the JAF or by another approved body. Without the right one, no agency will hand over the keys. On Yakushima and Okinawa, rental cars are limited in number and quickly run out in high season.

So, what should you book before leaving for Japan?

The long lead times first: eleven months for Mount Kōya, six for Yoshino in April, two to three for Katsura, Saihō-ji and Disney. Everything else fits into the last few weeks, and a good half of the sites cannot be booked at all.

Every booking in this article is flagged in our travel books on the day it is needed, with its link and, where one exists, its lead time. Katsura, Saihō-ji and Shugakuin are in Kyoto in 14 days, Mount Kōya, Himeji and Universal Studios in Western Kansai, Disney, teamLab and Shibuya Sky in Tokyo and the Kantō, Naoshima and Teshima in Shikoku, Takachiho in Kyūshū. The rest of the country is on the Japan page.