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[meltingparappa]

Is the Yakushima Forest worth visiting (via guided tour, probably) in late December?

It looks drop dead gorgeous in photos, but I can foresee it raining and being incredibly cold.


Hoping to fly to Tokyo, take a connecting flight to Kagoshima, doing the island, then hitting Osaka/Kyoto while making my way back to Tokyo.

 

[Worthintendo]

That site tells me that the JR Pass is not worth it for me (will be there for 3 weeks).

Tokyo -> Kyoto
Kyoto -> Kobe
Kobe -> Osaka
Osaka -> Hiroshima
Hiroshima -> Tokyo

About 43, 000 JPY for all those trips, and 59 000 JPY for the 21 day JR Pass.

Does the JR Pass let you ride regular trains and busses in each city as well? Or it's just the shinkansen?

Any train thats branded as JR is fine, but I get confused with it in Tokyo as some of the lines are JR but most aren't :/

21 Day pass is going to be worth its weight in gold for me on the trip looking at how things shake out

Tokyo → Sendai 10,500-11,000 yen
Sendai → Tokyo 10,500-11,000 yen
Tokyo → Nagoya 10,500 yen
Nagoya → Kyoto 5,000-5,500 yen
Kyoto → Nagoya 5,000-5,500 yen
Nagoya → Kyoto 5,000-5,500 yen
Kyoto → Nagoya 5,000-5,500 yen
Nagoya → Osaka 6,000 yen
Osaka → Hiroshima 10,000 yen
Hiroshima → Osaka 10,000 yen
Osaka → Nagasaki 17,000-18,000 yen
Nagasaki → Osaka 17,000-18,000 yen

Total 111,500-116,500 yen

If I pass on the trip up to Sendai and just get the 2 week one for everything outside of Tokyo I'm going to be laughing at how much I'll save with the pass.

 

[MikeHattsu]

That site tells me that the JR Pass is not worth it for me (will be there for 3 weeks).

About 43, 000 JPY for all those trips, and 59 000 JPY for the 21 day JR Pass.

Does the JR Pass let you ride regular trains and busses in each city as well? Or it's just the shinkansen?

How long are you going to be in each place though? Would a 2 week pass be enough? And you're not going to Miyajima island or Himeji castle?

It looks drop dead gorgeous in photos, but I can foresee it raining and being incredibly cold.

Hoping to fly to Tokyo, take a connecting flight to Kagoshima, doing the island, then hitting Osaka/Kyoto while making my way back to Tokyo.

Average high temperature seems to be around 16 degrees Celsius and low about 10. Doesn't seem that cold. 50/50 chance of rain, but it rains less than in Spring and Summer at least

 

[havokex]

How long are you going to be in each place though? Would a 2 week pass be enough? And you're not going to Miyajima island or Himeji castle?

Didn't think about Himeji castle, will have to check with my friends but I'm sure we could swing it on our way to Hiroshima. Figured miyajima would just be part of our hirishima time.

Trip is roughly

Tokyo 7 days
Kyoto 5 days
Kobe 1 day
Osaka 4
Hiroshima 3
Tokyo 3

Or something like that.

 

[MikeHattsu]

Didn't think about Himeji castle, will have to check with my friends but I'm sure we could swing it on our way to Hiroshima. Figured miyajima would just be part of our hirishima time.

Trip is roughly

Or something like that.

Well, if you can get all the travel from Tokyo->Kyoto ... and back from Hiroshima->Tokyo into 14 days total then a 14 day JR Pass should be worth it.

Minimum would be
Tokyo-> Kyoto 13080
Kyoto->Kobe 1080
Kobe->Osaka 410
Shin-Osaka->Hiroshima 9710 or Shin-Osaka->Himeji->Hiroshima 10990
Hiroshima->Miyajima->Hiroshima 1180
Hiroshima->Tokyo 18040 or Hiroshima->Himeji->Tokyo 22890

So, that's 43500 JPY minimum (with unreserved seats) if you skip Himeji, or as much as 48350 JPY if you do Himeji last, while the JR Pass is 46390 JPY for a 14 day one.

You'll also get access to a JR tourist bus in Hiroshima, 1-2 possible useful JR lines in Kyoto (if you're going to Fushimi Inari, Arashiyama, Nara, Uji etc), some useful JR transport in Kobe and Osaka. You would still need to do non-JR transport in Kyoto and Osaka at least, depending on what you're planning to see and where in the city you're staying.

 

[havokex]

Well, if you can get all the travel from Tokyo->Kyoto ... and back from Hiroshima->Tokyo into 14 days total then a 14 day JR Pass should be worth it.

Minimum would be
Tokyo-> Kyoto 13080
Kyoto->Kobe 1080
Kobe->Osaka 410
Shin-Osaka->Hiroshima 9710 or Shin-Osaka->Himeji->Hiroshima 10990
Hiroshima->Miyajima->Hiroshima 1180
Hiroshima->Tokyo 18040 or Hiroshima->Himeji->Tokyo 22890

So, that's 43500 JPY minimum (with unreserved seats) if you skip Himeji, or as much as 48350 JPY if you do Himeji last, while the JR Pass is 46390 JPY for a 14 day one.

You'll also get access to a JR tourist bus in Hiroshima, 1-2 possible useful JR lines in Kyoto (if you're going to Fushimi Inari, Arashiyama, Nara, Uji etc), some useful JR transport in Kobe and Osaka. You would still need to do non-JR transport in Kyoto and Osaka at least, depending on what you're planning to see and where in the city you're staying.

Pretty sure everything after Tokyo up to the return to Tokyo is within 14 days of heading to Kyoto. Is the JR pass useful in Tokyo as well?

Or should I look into some other sort of pass for travelling within the city?

 

[MikeHattsu]

Pretty sure everything after Tokyo up to the return to Tokyo is within 14 days of heading to Kyoto. Is the JR pass useful in Tokyo as well?

Or should I look into some other sort of pass for travelling within the city?

Just get a suica or pasmo card for travel within Tokyo. It only costs like 160-240 JPY for a single train ride. Not really worth getting any kind of pass unless you got specific plans or a couple of day(s) where you'll be taking a LOT of trains.

 

[Deleted member 245925]

I'm thinking about doing a day trip to a beach from Tokyo when I visit in August. I guess I could use some relaxation between all the sightseeing. After reading a few articles, Hayama seems to be the most recommended destination. Does anyone have any impressions or other recommendations? I don't need to stay at the beach the whole day, so a few interesting places to visit would also be nice. Maybe Kamakura would be an alternative? Although that seems to be pretty crowded?

Also, I just noticed that the Hiroshima lantern ceremony is on August 6th. Do you guys think moving my Hiroshima+Miyajima day trip to this day is a good idea? Seems like an event that's definitely worth attending. Makes my JR pass plan a bit more complicated though.

 

[havokex]

Just get a suica or pasmo card for travel within Tokyo. It only costs like 160-240 JPY for a single train ride. Not really worth getting any kind of pass unless you got specific plans or a couple of day(s) where you'll be taking a LOT of trains.

If I do Himeji Castle, is there a place where we can leave our luggage in Himeji like a train station (rented locker) or it's better to leave from Osaka, go to Himeji and then return to Osaka before heading to Hiroshima the next day?

 

[MikeHattsu]

Rainy season started:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...-season-begins-western-central-eastern-japan/

The rainy season appears to have started in wide swaths of eastern, central and western Japan, the weather agency said Wednesday, warning of downpours and natural disasters during the roughly six-week period.

The latest announcement by the Japan Meteorological Agency covers the Chugoku, Kinki, Tokai and Kanto-Koshin regions of Honshu Island as well as Shikoku, another main island of the country.

Rainy and cloudy weather of the early summer season usually continues until mid — to late July in most regions of the country.

The rainy season was declared in Kyushu on Tuesday, and the southern island of Okinawa and Amami region in Kagoshima Prefecture on May 13. It is projected to start in the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions next week, the weather agency said.

If I do Himeji Castle, is there a place where we can leave our luggage in Himeji like a train station (rented locker) or it's better to leave from Osaka, go to Himeji and then return to Osaka before heading to Hiroshima the next day?

There's lockers, but they could get full. Depends on how many other people are checking the castle out the day you're there

 

[Triteon]

Rainy season started:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...-season-begins-western-central-eastern-japan/
There's lockers, but they could get full. Depends on how many other people are checking the castle out the day you're there

my last day last year I spent at least 90 minutes running around Namba station looking for 2 large empty lockers.

We got lucky eventually but for a long time there was a worrying possibility we would be carrying our luggage for the rest of the day.

 

[Laevateinn]

Rainy season started:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...-season-begins-western-central-eastern-japan/

A friend of mine leaves next Tuesday. I hope he has a good time!

 

[Raw64life]

Went to Japan last year June 17 through June 30. I got extremely lucky in that it only rained a few of the days I was there, and it was never heavy rain. The sky was grey pretty much 24/7 though.

 

[PowerTaxi]

Having to put accommodation stuff on the backburner until this Qatar situation is sorted out. Mostly because the Dublin - Doha route that's part of my trip hasn't actually started yet.

 

[Sir Doom]

I hate driving here.
These small roads have done numbers on my car

 

[Jesse-]

Hey GAF!

I'm going to visit Japan in late august this year and I've got about four days to spend alone in Nagoya because my travel partner has a conference over there, which is also the reason we're going to Japan in the first place.
I've been checking out japan-guide on Nagoya but could really use some extra tips on stuff to do and places to visit/eat.

 

[havokex]

There's lockers, but they could get full. Depends on how many other people are checking the castle out the day you're there

OK, will do a trip out of Osaka or Kyoto to go to Himeji and then back.

 

[MikeHattsu]

Hey GAF!

I'm going to visit Japan in late august this year and I've got about four days to spend alone in Nagoya because my travel partner has a conference over there, which is also the reason we're going to Japan in the first place.
I've been checking out japan-guide on Nagoya but could really use some extra tips on stuff to do and places to visit/eat.

Go to Moricoro Park and check out the Totoro House
https://www.aichi-koen.com/moricoro/shisetsu/satsukitomei/

 

[havokex]

If I want to try some sake, should I just hit up some Sake bars in Tokyo or are there places that you guys can recommend?

 

[NyMartin90]

The Japanese ticket lottery for entry in July to the Ghibli Museum is up:
http://l-tike.com/ghibli/

Looks like the English tickets for July will still be regular sales though:
https://l-tike.com/st1/ghibli-en/sitetop

Do the English tickets start to get sold by Japan time? I know they'll sell the July ones on June 10th but I want to be ready tomorrow to grab the tickets for the day I need it.

By the way, thanks a lot for all of your replies MikeHattsu. You've been an enormous help in planning my trip.

 

[MikeHattsu]

Do the English tickets start to get sold by Japan time? I know they'll sell the July ones on June 10th but I want to be ready tomorrow to grab the tickets for the day I need it.

Yes, 10 AM JST

 

[Tzeentch]

21 Day pass is going to be worth its weight in gold for me on the trip looking at how things shake out

I got back from a month long stay in Japan on Sunday. The 21 day JR pass was an expensive upfront cost but egads I don't even want to add up what it would have cost to travel like I did. It's WELLLLLLLL worth the money for the convenience, speed, and coverage. Arguably the best purchase I made for the trip aside from my nice baffled earplugs

 

[MikeHattsu]

TripAdvisor Top 30 Attractions in Japan by International Travelers 2017 list:
http://tg.tripadvisor.jp/news/ranking/inboundattraction_2017/

Fushimi Inari Shrine has won 4 years in a row

 

[sfedai0]

Rreally dont get why Inari gets all the praise. Even from a hiking perspective, its very repetitive and the end result is very underwhelming.

 

[Laevateinn]

They are all Star Fox fans.

 

[Akira]

Looking to spend post Christmas / NYE in Japan. Do any flight deals for NYE pop up ever? Also, should I just focus on booking AirBNB over hotel lodging?

Edit: Also the plan is to fly into Tokyo. And then spend a day in Niseko snowboarding and a day or two in Kyoto. Shinkansen is totally fine for getting to those cities from Tokyo right?

 

[hwalker84]

TripAdvisor Top 30 Attractions in Japan by International Travelers 2017 list:
http://tg.tripadvisor.jp/news/ranking/inboundattraction_2017/

Fushimi Inari Shrine has won 4 years in a row

Been to 3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12,13,14,16,17,19,21,25,29

Don't know why I didn't make it to Fushimi Inari. I think i was tired. LOL.

 

[Laevateinn]

Been to 2, 8, 16, 21, 29, and 30. We decide against a few of those due to construction on our last trip. I need to make it to Hiroshima some time.

 

[MikeHattsu]

I've been to 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 21, 26, (sort-of) 28 and 29.

Also the plan is to fly into Tokyo. And then spend a day in Niseko snowboarding and a day or two in Kyoto. Shinkansen is totally fine for getting to those cities from Tokyo right?

Yes, but it's gonna take you about 8 hours to go to Niseko from Tokyo.

 

[sfedai0]

Looks like AirBnB is legal now.

 

[Laevateinn]

I've been to 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 21, 26, (sort-of) 28 and 29.





Yes, but it's gonna take you about 8 hours to go to Niseko from Tokyo.

slacker

 

[leroidys]

Looks like AirBnB is legal now.

Link?

 

[sfedai0]

Link?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ight-in-japan-with-home-sharing-law-s-passage

Remains to be seen if prices will skyrocket....

 

[MikeHattsu]

Looks like AirBnB is legal now.

It's always been legal as long as the people offering their rooms follow the laws. They've made it easier to follow the laws now though, but it's still up to whoever's place you stay at to do so.

 

[Won]

Rreally dont get why Inari gets all the praise. Even from a hiking perspective, its very repetitive and the end result is very underwhelming.

Ha, my impression was the complete opposite. Actually surpassed the already high expectations. That usually doesn't happen.


Seen about a 1/3 on the list. Looks like my second trip will focus around Kyoto again. Still so much left to see on top of things I want to check out again.

 

[kubus]

Those who have been to the Ghibli Museum, does the museum focus heavily on certain films, or is there an even distribution of exhibitions and stuff?

I've only seen My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away (ages ago, don't remember much), Nausicaa (even longer ago, remember nothing), Grave of the Fireflies and Princess Mononoke.

I've got 4 days left before I go to the museum, so I thought I'd watch one movie every day to catch up and prepare to make the most of my visit.

What are your recommendations?

 

[MikeHattsu]

Watch Laputa and maybe Porco Rosso. There's not really a focus on the movies themselves as such in the exhibits.

 

[SomethingWitty]

Are any of the Persona 5 cafes still open? Currently in Tokyo right now so hoping I can fulfill a fanboy dream while I'm here lol

 

[kubus]

Watch Laputa and maybe Porco Rosso. There's not really a focus on the movies themselves as such in the exhibits.

Thanks! (And for the tweets) I just rewatched Spirited Away and I'll make sure to watch Laputa and Porco Rosso, as I planned to do that anyway .

Are any of the Persona 5 cafes still open? Currently in Tokyo right now so hoping I can fulfill a fanboy dream while I'm here lol

Yeah but you gotta be quick. The one in ikebukuro is open until the 15th this month. Apparently it's inside a place called Princess Cafe . Details here: Link.

 

[Akira]

I've been to 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 21, 26, (sort-of) 28 and 29.





Yes, but it's gonna take you about 8 hours to go to Niseko from Tokyo.

Gah, that's like a whole day just traveling. Might just have to do it. I saw that it's a 4.5 hour Shinkansen ride to Hakodate in Hokkaido and then 2-2.5 hours on local train to the closest stop to Niseko. And I suppose a couple more hours to Niseko.

 

[Deleted member 245925]

Okay, I think I have pretty much finalized my itinerary for my trip in August. Any last minute comments before I book the accomodations tomorrow? I tried to incorporate as many of the suggestions I got in this thread over the past weeks as possible. Still couldn't fit everything though, sadly. The thread title seems to be accurate.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/dA5Bmxv.png[/IMG]

 

[MikeHattsu]

Any last minute comments before I book the accomodations tomorrow?

You know that the JR Pass won't help you get to Koya-san, right? Might as well switch it with one of the Kyoto days since the JR Pass will at least get you to Kyoto Station.

 

[Deleted member 245925]

You know that the JR Pass won't help you get to Koya-san, right? Might as well switch it with one of the Kyoto days since the JR Pass will at least get you to Kyoto Station.

Damn, no, I didn't know that, thanks for the notice. I specifically moved the Kyoto trips out of the JR pass coverage because you said earlier that it would be a waste because it's such a cheap trip from Osaka.

Well, as you suggested I switched the Koya-san trip with the Sunday Kyoto trip for now. This way I'll have a buffer day between each Kyoto visit to hopefully prevent temple overload.

 

[MikeHattsu]

Damn, no, I didn't know that, thanks for the notice. I specifically moved the Kyoto trips out of the JR pass coverage because you said earlier that it would be a waste because it's such a cheap trip from Osaka.

Well, a free cheap trip to Kyoto is more helpful than no savings at least

 

[Deleted member 245925]

Yeah, and I guess I could use this day to visit Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari Shrine, since you noted in an earlier post that those are reachable by JR lines.

 

[MikeHattsu]

Yeah, and I guess I could use this day to visit Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari Shrine, since you noted in an earlier post that those are reachable by JR lines.

Yup

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Those who have been to the Ghibli Museum, does the museum focus heavily on certain films, or is there an even distribution of exhibitions and stuff?

I've only seen Howl's and Spirited Away but imo it seemed pretty evenly distributed. There might be a slight bias for Totoro but that's like their mascot or some such so it's understandable. There was a Totoro short film screening when I was there; not sure if the short film they air varies.

 

[MikeHattsu]

There was a Totoro short film screening when I was there; not sure if the short film they air varies.

It does. This month it's A Sumo Wrestler's Tail:
http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/006018.html

 

[SiegfriedFM]

It does. This month it's A Sumo Wrestler's Tail:
http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/006018.html

I caught that last year, it was pretty sweet.

As for the museum itself, I felt that it was more about the creative process than any specific film. There's the catbus and the Laputa robot of course, but those are more incidental and part of the overall decoration. There really wasn't that much in the way of film displays, except Lupin for some reason.

I bought a Nausicaä flyer model that I've yet to put together and an Arrietty artbook, but note that artbooks can be found pretty much anywhere.

 

[RoaringMdog]

I'm going to be in Tokyo on culture day (Nov 3rd) and i have no idea what to do that day. Are all the stores closed? What kind of things are there to do that day?