JAPANiCAN Arvostelua 10

I normally use GoogleMaps to narrow down my choices for accommodation.
I searched for ryokans in the Kyoto area, for a November 2026 stay. While proceeding through the reservation process, I did not realize that the check-in date had reset itself to a couple of days from that day I was making the reservation. Hence, any cancellation would result in a penalty from the moment I booked. I only realized my error once I got the confirmation email - and phoned Japanican customer service within minutes of having made the booking error. I was phoning from Canada and there was no way I intended to make a booking that soon, given that I was not leaving for Japan till later in the year.

I was told that there were absolutely no exceptions to their cancellation policy. It feels punitive as the cancellation was not from having changed my mind and was clearly an error. At first I thought it was just a language barrier as I even phoned the Kyoto hotel. Turns out the Japanican policy on cancellation has no room for flexibility at all. Be aware of this as it would be better to deal with a company that does not like to benefit from obvious customer errors (as opposed to wilful non-compliance with company policy)

I used Japanican for booking3 weeks accommodation in Japan as I thought that it would have an accurate understanding of the country. I have been disappointed by the accommodation descriptions and photos not accurately showing what existed. Meaning we ended up in 2 star places that looked like 4 star on the app. App needs to improve so that you can contact the hotel directly via email or phone. App could also state more clearly if meals are available as we were caught out in isolated towns with no alternative food. In future I will return to using Booking.com

I booked a Ryokan in Hakone for late October 2025. I realised after about an hour that I had booked the wrong Ryokan, so I have been trying to cancel the booking for the past week. Thir website allowsfree cancellation u to 7 days before the intended stay. I am 4 1/2 months away from my stay, but their cancel booking option does not work and I get the message that I should try customer service. When I try to send an email to customer service, I get the message that this option is not available and to phone them. Why should I have to place an overseas call from Canada to cancel a reservation? This is not a problem with other booking sites, like Booking.com. If I call the number, I am not even sure that I will get to speak to someone in English and I don't speak Japanese well enough to be able to have this type of conversation. I expect I will eventually have to call and have someone who speaks Japanese on the call with me.
This should not be so difficult. I definitely will not be using JapanIcan again.

Dont book through this website. I had no confimation of my booking, no reminder email and they charged me for no show on the day.
I contacted them to ask for a refund and they were still arguing that i had to pay for the whole booking despite me cancelling it.

Do not book with Japanican. Customer service member Cruz and Yokota are horrible. Cannot process a simple request.

I used to book via JAPANiCAN, never again though. Stick with Rakuten Travel! I should have taken notice of a post on JAPANiCAN's website speaking about a previous traveler having booking problems.
You can tell a lot about the culture of a company in how they deal with customers if they have a problem. In the case of JAPANiCAN, they have problems and glitches with their booking system, (it's often down due to "system maintenance") and is indeed a confusing site should you need to make any changes. It took 3 attempts just to change my contact details. If you make any mistake, or their website doesn't acknowledge your instructions, they retreat into self defence in an adversarial way, happily leaving their customers out of pocket!
In the end I only got my refund for them not providing the room I’d paid for after I got my credit card company involved. It shouldn’t be such a hastle to get one’s money back when JAPANiCAN has errors. – and no apology just an adversarial attitude.

I would like to express our disappointment of Japanican’s poor handling of my hotel booking.

In Oct, I cancelled my hotel reservation on 30 Nov booking via their website to avoid being charged. With the cancellation, the hotel booking was also correspondingly removed from “My Booking” page.

On 28 Nov, I received an email from Japanican informing me about the 30 Nov booking which I informed them that I had already cancelled and requested them to remove the booking as well as update their system. Thereafter I started my travelling and did not have access to my emails.

With the above, I provided clear instructions that the hotel booking was no longer required. Unfortunately, despite my multiple email clarifications, Japanican still asked me to bear the cost of “No Show”. This is an unfair imposition on me.

I request that Japanican should absorb the cost and not impose myself and hotel to bear the cost.

I booked and paid a hotel room and after successful payment I got the notification that there was a error, I didn't got a booking confirmation of the hotel. I refreshed the page everything seems fine again, I paid successfully again but I got the same error message. I thought they would take the money but they did!!!!

Beware that some of the hotels on their website are prepaid bookings even if it says free cancellation. Cancellation is not free anyway, even if you realise it straight away and cancel the booking on the same day they will tell you it takes up to 2 months to refund your money and you may be charged a fee as well as exchange rate difference in 2 months time.

One of my most beloved sites to book tours/events and hotels in Japan. I've used them since 2017 and have always had a great experience with tours and hotel bookings. My most recent booking through JAPANiCAN were back in December 2019 before Christmas: 1) Yaeyama Islands Four Island Tour (Iriomote Island, Yubu Island, Kohama Island & Taketomi Island) (Round Trip from Ishigaki Port) and 2) Hotel East China Sea in Ishigaki with a traditional Japanese ryokan style room and it was payment on arrival. Everything went smoothly as expected and I enjoyed the amazing island hopping tour and the hotel was located near the port which made it very convenient. I've never had any problems and will always keep using this site for future holidays to Japan. 5/5.