Japan Travel |OT| One does simply not visit just once

hmmm, I'm reading the timetable for the East and West bound East and West bound bullet trains and I'm a little puzzled. with the JR pass I can't take any of the Nozomi and Mizuho trains right? or is that only when they're running in the Kyushu area?

for example, to leave in the morning from Hakata to Kyoto, the best way seems to be to take the Sakura train (S542) to Shin Osaka and then take the Hikari train (H466) to Kyoto. am I correct?
 
Has anyone traveled with actual roller luggage for weeks on Japan? Last time I did a backpack and I worked great but I was debating on doing it again vs. Luggage.
 
hwalker84 said:
Has anyone traveled with actual roller luggage for weeks on Japan? Last time I did a backpack and I worked great but I was debating on doing it again vs. Luggage.
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I did it last time (back in 2009) with a smallish roller case. not a problem at all unless you plan on going out to some middle of no where place without any paved road. and as you can see from the post above, shouldn't be a problem if you want to storage it in train stations.
 
Anony said:
where are you flying from and when
tokyo to toronto return trip is easily 1200+ when i look
maybe 1k if you're lucky on nonsummer times
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Me0AgP6.jpg
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.
 
How's the weather in May? I bought a compact travel umbrella in case of rains (which was a hassle last time in November for me).
 
Robot Carnival said:
hmmm, I'm reading the timetable for the East and West bound East and West bound bullet trains and I'm a little puzzled. with the JR pass I can't take any of the Nozomi and Mizuho trains right? or is that only when they're running in the Kyushu area?

for example, to leave in the morning from Hakata to Kyoto, the best way seems to be to take the Sakura train (S542) to Shin Osaka and then take the Hikari train (H466) to Kyoto. am I correct?
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This is correct. No Nozomi and Mizuho trains, so you need to take slower Shinkansen trains and do a transfer at Shin-Osaka when going from Hakata to Kyoto.


hwalker84 said:
Has anyone traveled with actual roller luggage for weeks on Japan? Last time I did a backpack and I worked great but I was debating on doing it again vs. Luggage.
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I've had roller luggage I've checked in + a smaller backpack as carry-on both times I've gone.
 
What are the most sought after places for Cherry Blossom viewing?

What is there to see in the Tohoku region? Hokkaido (I don't ski or any of that)? Shikoku?

Last time I went my path was:

Nov 9th-11th Tokyo
Nov 11th Nagasaki
Nov 12th Fukuoka
Nov 13th - 16th Hiroshima (Saw Miyajima)
Nov 16th - 20th Osaka (Saw Himeji and Kobe)
Nov 20th - 22nd Nara
Nov 22nd - 26th Kyoto
Nov 26th - 27th Tokyo
Nov 28th Hakone
Nov 29th - 30th Tokyo

This time I'll be there from March 21st - April 12th. Any suggested path's?

My main goals this time are to primarily see things I didn't last time. Attend a bunch of seasonal festivals/parties. Eat a ton. See the newly renovated Himeji Castle. So far I have my Hostel booked for March 21st - 24th with nothing after that.
 
hwalker84 said:
What are the most sought after places for Cherry Blossom viewing?

My main goals this time are to primarily see things I didn't last time. Attend a bunch of seasonal festivals/parties. Eat a ton. See the newly renovated Himeji Castle. So far I have my Hostel booked for March 21st - 24th with nothing after that.
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List of popular Cherry Blossom viewing places here:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_where.html

If you're going to Himeji Castle, remember that they won't fully re-open until the 27th.

And you've not booked hostels yet? You know that most of Osaka and Kyoto is fully booked by now?
 
MikeHattsu said:
List of popular Cherry Blossom viewing places here:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_where.html

If you're going to Himeji Castle, remember that they won't fully re-open until the 27th.

And you've not booked hostels yet? You know that most of Osaka and Kyoto is fully booked by now?
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I realize that. I fly by the seat of my pants. If I have to do a hotel for a few days during my travels that's fine. With Kyoto and Osaka I honestly I spent so much time in those two places last time I'm not sure I'll be back. Maybe only a day or two in each place.
 
Darksol said:
I go from Toronto to Japan and back (direct flight) at about the same cost :p The only time I really see the cheapest tickets going over $1000 is during new years and golden week.
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toronto to japan and back for under 1k at nonpeak times? (for how long? 1 week, 2 weeks?)
where are you searching for the flight prices
 
Anony said:
toronto to japan and back for under 1k at nonpeak times? (for how long? 1 week, 2 weeks?)
where are you searching for the flight prices
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For a couple weeks at a time. I do however buy my tickets a few months ahead of time, travel in the off season, and use incognito mode while I look for tickets. I don't have any preferred site I use, but I used Expedia last time.

I'm aiming to head back to Japan around February and I'll be surprised if I pay more than $850 for it :p
 
Darksol said:
For a couple weeks at a time. I do however buy my tickets a few months ahead of time, travel in the off season, and use incognito mode while I look for tickets. I don't have any preferred site I use, but I used Expedia last time.

I'm aiming to head back to Japan around February and I'll be surprised if I pay more than $850 for it :p
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Which airline? I'm kinda wed to air canada for upgrades
 
shorty_symd said:
Cool. cheers buddy. Gonna have to resort to Google Translate since I can't read Japanese but hopefully they'll accept my card details without any issues.
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That's what I did, and they accepted my Norwegian Visa card fine.

Looking at the TripAdvisor reviews it seems that express passes sometimes sell out even before the park opens, so I guess it's good to get those early if you can:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...udios_Japan-Osaka_Osaka_Prefecture_Kinki.html
 
ah excellent! Girlfriend and I will sort that out tonight. Thanks very much again. We were wanting to go to a theme park in Japan but we're sick of Disney ones (she's been to Paris and haven't been to Florida since I was a kid but I don't think Disneyland Tokyo will top Florida) so we decided on Universal Studios. We would've checked out Fuji-Q but everyone I've spoken to says it sucks and not worth the hassle/trip to check it out.
 
shorty_symd said:
ah excellent! Girlfriend and I will sort that out tonight. Thanks very much again. We were wanting to go to a theme park in Japan but we're sick of Disney ones (she's been to Paris and haven't been to Florida since I was a kid but I don't think Disneyland Tokyo will top Florida) so we decided on Universal Studios. We would've checked out Fuji-Q but everyone I've spoken to says it sucks and not worth the hassle/trip to check it out.
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Well, there is Tokyo DisneySea that's supposed to be different from other Disney parks, but I've never been myself.
 
looks like I'm gona be staying overnight in a manga cafe for sure while I'm in Osaka. anyone know of one near Umeda or Namba station maybe? I've done it last time when I was in Sapporo and it's kinda fun. hopefully I can find one with shower again this time.
 
Is the Tokyo Sealife aquarium worth visiting? Is there another aquarium in Tokyo that's better, I'm a huge fan of aquariums so I wanna visit the best one in case I can't visit more than one.
 
Zyzyxxz said:
Is the Tokyo Sealife aquarium worth visiting? Is there another aquarium in Tokyo that's better, I'm a huge fan of aquariums so I wanna visit the best one in case I can't visit more than one.
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Hm... The one outside of Yokohama might be better:
http://en.japantravel.com/view/yokohama-hakkeijima-sea-paradise

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...adise-Yokohama_Kanagawa_Prefecture_Kanto.html

Takes 30-40 minutes longer to get to from Shibuya and it costs more than Tokyo Sea Life Park though.
 
MikeHattsu said:
Hm... The one outside of Yokohama might be better:
http://en.japantravel.com/view/yokohama-hakkeijima-sea-paradise

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...adise-Yokohama_Kanagawa_Prefecture_Kanto.html

Takes 30-40 minutes longer to get to from Shibuya and it costs more than Tokyo Sea Life Park though.
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Damn it does look nice but it does costs 6 times the price of the Tokyo SeaLife, and honestly I just want to see fish in a tank, I don't care about the shows with seals and whatnot. Maybe next trip when I have more disposable income but thanks for the info, I'll keep it in mind for the future.
 
OK so have pretty much decided on all the dates for my trip now.

Flying out to Tokyo on the 1st of October to stay until the 10th. Then staying in Nagoya from 10th till the 12th and then heading to Osaka from the 12th till the 16th. After Osaka heading to Singapore for a 5 days before having a week to relax in Bali before heading home on the 28th.

Already got me schedule done up and pretty much confident I'll get to do almost everything I want to in Japan. Going to spend one day in Osaka heading out to Kyoto to do some stuff there, also have some free days in Tokyo to give me space to do other things outside of what I've gotten planned.

Now the fun part of saving up for spending money for the next 7 months, going to be a really tight couple of months.

October can not come soon enough.
 
Going to Japan from the 4th through to the 19th of May, I'll be flying to Osaka and staying there til the 11th or so before taking the Shinkansen to Tokyo to stay there for the remainder of the trip.

Not sure how many side-trips I'll be taking to other cities, but with the railpass I'll be able to dedicate a few days towards going to Kyoto, Narita, perhaps Himeji as well.

I'm a bit worried that I'm spreading out my time too thinly though, there's a lot of stuff to see and I don't want to end up feeling rushed going to a different city every day.

Aside from the decision to go 50/50 on Osaka/Tokyo everything's flexible though, it's going to be a fun trip either way.
 
my friend as me to go to Disney sea tommorow.

on one hand I like to go to disney sea.

on other hand

-Weekend + White day will definitely cause long queu.
-Forecast it will be rain tomorrow

so do you think is a good idea?
 
Hello Japan-travelling GAF!

I went to Japan last year for the first time ever with my gf. We had an amazing time over there. For me it was kind of the realization of a long-cherished dream as I have been a fan of Japanese pop-culture since my childhood (and later on became more serious about it by completing a B.A. degree in Japanese studies;)) and I probably grinned like an idiot for the whole trip.

We were there for 2 weeks, from the 28th of March to the 11th of April, just in time to enjoy the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. Tokyo was our main destination, but we also undertook trips to Nikko, Kamakura, an organised bus trip up and around Mt. Fuji (which included Hakone) and made a 2 day trip to Nara and Kyoto. The latter was of course way to short, and it was raining a lot, so I put a longer stay in Kyoto on my bucket list.

Now that brings me to my question on planning future trips: which time of year would you recommend? The beginning of April was pretty awesome as the weather and the temperature was just right (except for 2-3 rainy days), not cold anymore and not hot yet. I have heard summer is pretty hot and humid and if you're not used to that it may take a toll on you. Also I have heard horrible stories of huge insects roaming around during summer. So I guess fall would be another good time where the temperature is pretty mellow? Any recommendations on which months are a good time?
 
OrochiJR said:
Hello Japan-travelling GAF!

I went to Japan last year for the first time ever with my gf. We had an amazing time over there. For me it was kind of the realization of a long-cherished dream as I have been a fan of Japanese pop-culture since my childhood (and later on became more serious about it by completing a B.A. degree in Japanese studies;)) and I probably grinned like an idiot for the whole trip.

We were there for 2 weeks, from the 28th of March to the 11th of April, just in time to enjoy the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. Tokyo was our main destination, but we also undertook trips to Nikko, Kamakura, an organised bus trip up and around Mt. Fuji (which included Hakone) and made a 2 day trip to Nara and Kyoto. The latter was of course way to short, and it was raining a lot, so I put a longer stay in Kyoto on my bucket list.

Now that brings me to my question on planning future trips: which time of year would you recommend? The beginning of April was pretty awesome as the weather and the temperature was just right (except for 2-3 rainy days), not cold anymore and not hot yet. I have heard summer is pretty hot and humid and if you're not used to that it may take a toll on you. Also I have heard horrible stories of huge insects roaming around during summer. So I guess fall would be another good time where the temperature is pretty mellow? Any recommendations on which months are a good time?
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Regarding Tokyo weather:

April/May are pretty good! I like September too, the exchange between summer and fall makes it a very good month. Avoid June because of the rain/typhoon season. July is good too but the weather can be unstable and it is very hot.

Personal favorite time of the year is April/May and September. October is great too, but the heat is decreasing fast and will maybe stay around 20C on average. It probably depends on where you are, but insects aren't really a big problem in the city.. perhaps you will get bitten by mosquitoes (they seem to love pale skin. I never get bitten in Europe but here they feast on my legs) but there are tons of sprays/creams to help out. I love July because of the cicada sound! They scream "THE HEAT IS COMING, THE HEAT IS COMING!" but it really feels like a great summer when you're surrounded by cute girls and loud cicada.

Winter in Tokyo doesn't usually have snow (and if it does snow, it only lasts like 12 hours). Rain happens, it's unpredictable. It gets a bit cold too (although I can't say it compares to north of Europe) But February/March is good to avoid rain.

If you like to fry to death, August is great. :3
 
shorty_symd said:
delay it until the end of May so I can tag along too :P
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Already got the flight and hostels booked, so no can do :/


scogoth said:
I'll try for mid may too, GAF travel meetup!
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Wait... Didn't you just come back from Japan? :p

Axispowers said:
Im down for a meet up in May!
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Sometime between 12-14th is the best for me.

Zyzyxxz said:
Oh crap this could be an epic GAF meetup or amazingly socially awkward
prob both

I'm down.
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Hehe
 
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