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

S

sfedai0

Banned
nabe_shogun said:
Well, I'm back home. It was a fun trip, but I don't think I'll ever go in july/august again. Also I don't think I'll go alone again. On the plus side, it wasn't really that expensive of a trip, and I did bring a lot of money back with me that I can use on a future trip.

I'll also add, that its probably the worst I've eaten in a while. I only had four meals that didn't come from a convenience store. And several days I only had one meal.

Once I get all my pictures on my computer and hosted I'll post a link here if anyone wants to see them.
Click to expand...

Well, if you had researched, you would have known that the summer in Japan is no joke. Too bad you had a bad time with food there. Its the highlight for most people. Did you have allergy issues or do you just not like Japanese food?
 
N

nabe_shogun

Member
sfedai0 said:
Well, if you had researched, you would have known that the summer in Japan is no joke. Too bad you had a bad time with food there. Its the highlight for most people. Did you have allergy issues or do you just not like Japanese food?
Click to expand...

I didn't have too much choice with the date. A friend I went to school with planned a meet up for a bunch of us. It was also when they had free time, as they're teachers and its currently summer vacation.

As for food, it was mostly poor planning and being stuck on trains all day. I didn't eat breakfast or lunch on the two days I traveled to Fukuoka from Tokyo and back. So I ended up just eating convenience store bentos for dinner those two days.
 
M

Mairu

Member
shorty_symd said:
Two Ghibli Tickets purchased. Now to get back to sleep :)
Click to expand...

I didn't realize how fast these would go. I tried shortly after they went up, but it was already too late - the days I'm traveling were already sold out. Oh well, guess I'll have to try again next trip. 😕

If the ones for next month are already sold out via Lawson online, there's no way for people in Japan even to get tickets for those days, right? I assume the ticket kiosks in Lawson convenience stores share the same ticket pool?
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
Mairu said:
I didn't realize how fast these would go. I tried shortly after they went up, but it was already too late - the days I'm traveling were already sold out. Oh well, guess I'll have to try again next trip. 😕

If the ones for next month are already sold out via Lawson online, there's no way for people in Japan even to get tickets for those days, right? I assume the ticket kiosks in Lawson convenience stores share the same ticket pool?
Click to expand...

Actually... Looks like there's still Japanese online tickets available. Guess they're separate from the English online tickets then.
 
S

SKINNER!

Banned
MikeHattsu said:
Actually... Looks like there's still Japanese online tickets available. Guess they're separate from the English online tickets then.
Click to expand...

No way would they pool together the Lawson kiosks and online ticket allocation together considering how quick the online ones sell out.
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
shorty_symd said:
No way would they pool together the Lawson kiosks and online ticket allocation together considering how quick the online ones sell out.
Click to expand...

The Japanese online and Lawson kiosk ones should be the same:
Only some weekend days fully sold out of the Japanese ones

So there's probably 3 allotments now:
JTB tickets
Lawson English online tickets
Lawson Japanese online/kiosk tickets

Instead of there just being JTB and Lawson Japanese tickets before.
 
C

cablenathan

Member
Heading to Japan in a few weeks with my other half...and daughter. I am getting very excited. My daughter will be celebrating her first birthday in Japan. We had planned to go before our daughter was born but for medical reasons we had to cancel our trip, it'll be a very different trip (maybe less than ideal) to what we are used to, what with having a baby/toddler with us, but it'll be great regardless.

I thought I'd consult with you wise wise people here and see if there are any recommendations of handy apps for iOS that might be worthwhile grabbing to help while out there?
I have a few already including Japan Travel, Tabélog, Tabimori and Hyperdia.
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
cablenathan said:
I thought I'd consult with you wise wise people here and see if there are any recommendations of handy apps for iOS that might be worthwhile grabbing to help while out there?
I have a few already including Japan Travel, Tabélog, Tabimori and Hyperdia.
Click to expand...

Google Translate + download the Japanese offline language pack.


nabe_shogun said:
I've uploaded some of my pictures if anyone wants to see them.
There's also pictures from my previous trip in there too.

http://daijoubanai.imgur.com/
Click to expand...

Bakuon ;P
 
S

SKINNER!

Banned
Quick question, I got some $$$ left over from my LA trip earlier this year and I decided to save them for Tokyo. Considering the £ dropped after brexit I'm glad I did this but I discovered that foreign exchange places here won't convert straight from dollars to yen (unsure if this is a law thing or the place were just dicks). I gotta convert it to GBP first (boooo) and then convert that GBP to Yen....which will probably get me like 20 yen given her majesty's currency is fucking worthless.

Soooo, any decent places to convert money in Japan? A lot of websites say to do it in your home country but I can't exactly go the US to convert it :p

Any suggestions?
 
S

SKINNER!

Banned
Mairu said:
Thanks for the heads up! GF was able to get tickets for 12 PM on the date we wanted to go. Yay 😀
Click to expand...

Yassss! Nice one man :D Glad you got it sorted in the end. Thanks to MikeHattsu and this thread for letting us know about the Lawson website.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
shorty_symd said:
Two Ghibli Tickets purchased. Now to get back to sleep :)
Click to expand...

Got my tickets, filled all the information... then my CC didn't work for some strange reason. Then the one other guy who was online at the time had forgotten his so he couldn't buy any, and by the time the other guy showed up it looks like the ticket pool was at under 3 tickets for all dates and we could go there.

Guess we'll have to try purchasing the tickets in October so that we can go in November, once we've returned from Osaka.
 
Z

Zatoth

Member
Is the Peach airline the cheapest option to go to Ishigaki? From what I saw it would be ~3000 JPY for each flight + 1800 JPY for the luggage.
 
D

Darksol

Member
I have a friend visiting in Japan right now. He's asked me where he can find Hatsune Miku guitar peddles. I assume they could be found somewhere in Akihabara but I've never noticed them before on account of not following vocaloid or guitar tech.

Heading there tomorrow -- any suggestions?
 
D

Dilli666

Member
Darksol said:
I have a friend visiting in Japan right now. He's asked me where he can find Hatsune Miku guitar peddles. I assume they could be found somewhere in Akihabara but I've never noticed them before on account of not following vocaloid or guitar tech.

Heading there tomorrow -- any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I would try looking in music equipment / guitar shops as this pedal is manufactured by Korg (a well known musician company).
I haven't went to Ochanomizu my self, but I would try it there instead of Akiba:
http://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/ochanomizu-guitar-street/4658

The Korg Miku pedal is (or was?) - btw - available worldwide and not exclusive to Japan.
 
N

nabe_shogun

Member
Darksol said:
I have a friend visiting in Japan right now. He's asked me where he can find Hatsune Miku guitar peddles. I assume they could be found somewhere in Akihabara but I've never noticed them before on account of not following vocaloid or guitar tech.

Heading there tomorrow -- any suggestions?
Click to expand...

If he's talking about the korg miku, he might as well check online. Though in Tokyo, if you get off at ochanomizu station, there's tons of music stores. I was there last week, didn't see any hatsune miku pedals.

BTW, I bought my Korg Miku pedal from reverb.com. I would just tell him to search there.
 
D

Darksol

Member
Dilli666 said:
I would try looking in music equipment / guitar shops as this pedal is manufactured by Korg (a well known musician company).
I haven't went to Ochanomizu my self, but I would try it there instead of Akiba:
http://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/ochanomizu-guitar-street/4658

The Korg Miku pedal is (or was?) - btw - available worldwide and not exclusive to Japan.
Click to expand...

nabe_shogun said:
If he's talking about the korg miku, he might as well check online. Though in Tokyo, if you get off at ochanomizu station, there's tons of music stores. I was there last week, didn't see any hatsune miku pedals.

BTW, I bought my Korg Miku pedal from reverb.com. I would just tell him to search there.
Click to expand...

Awesome, good to know. I'll pass along the info, thanks.
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
Japan bus pass getting released next month:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...perators-partner-tap-surge-overseas-visitors/
Facing this surprising growth in inbound tourism, 59 major bus companies have joined forces in a bid to boost business from the flood of visitors.

On July 20, the companies officially launched the Japan Bus Lines consortium, with a plan to start selling unlimited ride passes for foreign tourists that will cover as many as 100 expressway bus routes nationwide.

Starting next month, a seven-day pass will be priced at ¥20,000, and a 14-day pass at ¥28,000, much lower than the price of a Japan Rail Pass, which is popular with tourists and offers unlimited rail travel across all routes of the six Japan Railways Group firms.
Click to expand...

Guess this is the site to watch if you're interested:
http://japanbuslines.com/en/
 
S

suberzat

Member
I'm in Tokyo for another week and my American iPhone has cracked making it unusable. Is there a place I can purchase an unlock phone for cheap to use until I get back to the states?

My carrier is AT&T.

Thanks in advance.
 
T

Trevelyon

Member
In line for a shinkansen non-reserved car on JR East pass only. But with no ticket. Will I be able to get on?

Edit; um, how do they account for JR/Passes when figuring out non-reserved seating capacity. There's definitely a fixed amount for non-reserved, you can see it on ticket displays. How do they account for passes, where you're just sort of there out of nowhere?

For example. I could've bought a ticket, despite my pass, for a non non-reserved train, lined up, but found there were no seats left, with let's say 20 tourists on passes on board. Who just passed through at ticket windows and arent officially accounted for on that train.


Kind of lost on this one.
 
Z

Zatoth

Member
Trevelyon said:
In line for a shinkansen non-reserved car on JR East pass only. But with no ticket. Will I be able to get on?

Edit; um, how do they account for JR/Passes when figuring out non-reserved seating capacity. There's definitely a fixed amount for non-reserved, you can see it on ticket displays. How do they account for passes, where you're just sort of there out of nowhere?

For example. I could've bought a ticket, despite my pass, for a non non-reserved train, lined up, but found there were no seats left, with let's say 20 tourists on passes on board. Who just passed through at ticket windows and arent officially accounted for on that train.


Kind of lost on this one.
Click to expand...

You are not guaranteed to get a seat on the non-reserved cars. Good chance you'll find no free seat for you ride. Which can suck for longer distances.

I think in the worst case you will not even be able to enter the car. But that never happened to me.
 
T

Trevelyon

Member
Zatoth said:
I think in the worst case you will not even be able to enter the car. But that never happened to me.
Click to expand...

I'm on hakutaka shinkansen from Tatsaki to Tokyo right now that is way over capacity. Just standing in the area between cars with like 20 other people. This is going to be a fun 90 minutes.
 
C

Copons

Member
Heyoo, as my trip comes near my anxiety grows bigger.
I'm now wondering one thing about the bus trips I'll have to do between Kanazawa - Shirakawa-go - Takayama.

I found Nohi Bus that serves both routes, it seems comfy enough and it even has a booking site in great English.
But!

This is the timetable PDF and this is the booking site.

Our idea is to take the 9.10 bus from Kanazawa (reservation required) and the 16.10 from Shirakawa (reservation NOT required).
Unsurprisingly enough so, the booking site lets me purchase the first one, but it completely doesn't show the second one.
I can't seem to find a confirmation about why this happens, so I'd just ask you: does this mean that "reservation not required" actually means "reservation not possible", and I'll just have to purchase the Shirakawa-Takayama tickets at Kanazawa station or even at the Shirakawa stop?

I hope it doesn't mean it's sold out, because then I don't expect walking from Shirakawa to Takayama to be such fun. :D
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
Copons said:
Our idea is to take the 9.10 bus from Kanazawa (reservation required) and the 16.10 from Shirakawa (reservation NOT required).
Unsurprisingly enough so, the booking site lets me purchase the first one, but it completely doesn't show the second one.

I can't seem to find a confirmation about why this happens, so I'd just ask you: does this mean that "reservation not required" actually means "reservation not possible", and I'll just have to purchase the Shirakawa-Takayama tickets at Kanazawa station or even at the Shirakawa stop?
Click to expand...

You mean the 16:15 bus from Shirakawa to Takayama? Then yeah, that means reservation not possible.
 
C

Copons

Member
MikeHattsu said:
Well, you could book the 17:20 if you want to be safe and that's not too late.
Click to expand...

Yup, it is. :(
We got a ryokan in Takayama which serves dinner at 18.00 or something - or at least they say that checking-in after 18.00 would likely make us miss dinner time, something we definitely don't want to miss. :D

17.20 bus would arrive at 18.10, and then from the station it's at least 15 minutes walking to the ryokan, and I guess half an hour may be a bit too late.
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
Copons said:
Yup, it is. :(
We got a ryokan in Takayama which serves dinner at 18.00 or something - or at least they say that checking-in after 18.00 would likely make us miss dinner time, something we definitely don't want to miss. :D

17.20 bus would arrive at 18.10, and then from the station it's at least 15 minutes walking to the ryokan, and I guess half an hour may be a bit too late.
Click to expand...

Ah, too bad.
 
N

Nista

Member
Still working on our reservations and trip planning, less than a month away now so I need to make some decisions and it's tough!

Has anyone gone to Kibune to try the kawadoko restaurants? Is it worth the train ride and short hike around the area to get out of the Kyoto heat in Sept?

I see that September is also typhoon season, so I'm not sure if we should try to go to Yakushima or not? I love nature and animals, but the cost to take the ferry and stay overnight is a bit pricey if we're just going to get torrentially rained on. I'm also not the best hiker in the world, so we'd probably only be able to do a shorter hike up to the cedar area.

At least we managed to get some sumo and ghibli tickets. Those websites were almost as bad as trying to get LCS worlds tickets. And they hate my Discover card even though it's supposed to work on JCB network.
 
R

Rowena

Neo Member
I leave for Japan on Sept. 13. I thought I had all my plans in order and was ready to go. But I didn't realize I needed to buy Ghibli Museum tickets way in advance. Anyone know a work around for me to get tickets for any days between Sept.15th through the 26th. Thank you
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
Rowena said:
I leave for Japan on Sept. 13. I thought I had all my plans in order and was ready to go. But I didn't realize I needed to buy Ghibli Museum tickets way in advance. Anyone know a work around for me to get tickets for any days between Sept.15th through the 26th. Thank you
Click to expand...

There's still some Japanese tickets left, so if you know anybody in Japan, then you could get them to buy some for you. If not, then:

Either the tour here:
http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/F601/

Or overpriced scalper tickets here:
https://www.govoyagin.com/activities/japan-tokyo-get-tickets-to-ghibli-museum-in-tokyo/186?lang=en

Edit: Oh, yeah, and these guys might be able to help if you don't know anybody in Japan:
http://www.bridge.jpn.com/services/tickets
 
R

Rowena

Neo Member
MikeHattsu said:
There's still some Japanese tickets left, so if you know anybody in Japan, then you could get them to buy some for you. If not, then:

Either the tour here:
http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/F601/

Or overpriced scalper tickets here:
https://www.govoyagin.com/activities/japan-tokyo-get-tickets-to-ghibli-museum-in-tokyo/186?lang=en

Edit: Oh, yeah, and these guys might be able to help if you don't know anybody in Japan:
http://www.bridge.jpn.com/services/tickets
Click to expand...

Thank you! I tried your third option. I'm hoping they come through.

Edit: I got tickets! For Sept 15th. Thanks again for the help!
 
J

JulianImp

Member
I have two questions for you guys:
  • Is there a chance that Kizumonogatari part 2 would still be on theaters by the time I arrive to Tokyo on Sept 12th?
  • Are there any sites where I could look at a list of theaters that have the movie so that I can choose whichever's closest to where we'll be at and/or get the tickets in advance?
Any help would be appreciated, since I'd really like to go and watch it there if I have the chance.
 
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