Why We’re Putting Off Plans To Visit Japan Until 2025

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While our plans to revisit Japan started months earlier, we’ll join the story in January 2020 when I found business class award flights with the points we had in the bank. Over the course of the year, it became clear that the trip would never happen. It took me until September to cancel our November flights, mainly because that’s when the airline waivers allowed me to redeposit my miles at no cost.

We shifted our plans to 2021 because surely by the end of the following year, things would be better with vaccines, testing and therapeutics. I found award flights on JAL for 60K AAdvantage miles. I also had several options to book our flights home and eventually found ANA First Class space.

I don’t need to tell the end of the story, as in September 2021: we had to postpone the trip again.

Since we tried in 2020 and 2021, it would make sense to try the trip again in 2022. However, we already had plans in place for this year. It was time for our Hawaii vacation and we also have a twice-postponed cruise to take this summer. Add those to our trips to Texas to visit Schlitterbahn and New York to see shows, and our schedule is packed.

Looking at the calendar, I’m happy to put our trip to Japan off until 2025. Why so long, you ask?

Studio Ghibli Park

Located on the site of the 2005 World’s Fair in Aichi, this themepark will be a physical representation of several of Studio Ghibli’s most famous films. From the Princess Mononoke village to locations from Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro, it’s sure to be a hit with fans of the iconic animated movies.

While the park is set to open in November 2022, some parts are not set to open until sometime in 2023.

Tokyo DisneySea

The largest expansion to Tokyo DisneySea is set to be finished by 2023. IMHO, this is the best themepark anywhere in the world and knowing there’s an expansion that will bring new lands to life is incredibly exciting. I was fine visiting the park before, but seeing another in-park hotel and new rides is worth waiting a little while longer.

It also means we’ll get to see the Tokyo Disneyland expansion finished as well.

So…why not just visit in 2023?

Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan

Universal Studios Japan in Osaka opened Super Nintendo World with a Mario Kart ride. The land is so popular that it’s being expanded with a Donkey Kong-themed area. While Sharon might not know Mario Kart, she does remember playing Donkey Kong at the arcade. We’ve never visited Universal in Japan because it seemed to be a clone of the US parks but there’s now enough to make it worth a visit.

The Donkey Kong-themed area is set to open in 2024.

Then why would we wait until 2025?

EXPO 2025

In 2005, I convinced Sharon and our friend Steve to travel to a city outside of Nagoya, Japan to see the 2005 World’s Fair.

It was mainly because visiting the Knoxville World’s Fair in 1982 was one of the most memorable events of my childhood. Getting to see the event again in a foreign country as an adult was a totally different but just as memorable experience.

If things had been different, I’m sure I would have wanted to visit the 2020 EXPO in Dubai.

I only recently heard that the 2025 EXPO was returning to Japan, this time outside of Osaka.

If we’ve written off 2022 and have other plans for 2023, our next year for a big trip would be 2024. But why visit if we could pack all of these things into one big trip in 2025?

Final Thoughts

We could easily take a trip next year and then return in 2025. However, we have plenty of other places we want to visit. On the shortlist is a return visit to Iceland, taking a trip to Southeastern Asia like my dad did a few years ago and bucket list trips to Australia and Norway.

We’ve already delayed our trip to Japan twice. If we can do a couple of those trips in the upcoming years, it will make putting off our trip worth it.

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