ヤベェー((((；ﾟДﾟHahahaha..... we're gonna be on the same flight. That's hella crazy! Σ(゜д゜
))))))
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Japan Travel |OT| One does simply not visit just once
- Thread starter hwalker84
- Start date
))))))MikeHattsu
Member
Are you going to be in Norway all week? Where in Norway are you now?
I'm on the west coast around Geiranger, so far from Oslo! :<
(Should we keep talking about this here? Seems extremely off-topic.) I don't wanna get in trouble, lol.
MikeHattsu
Member
Spring, pre summer and autumn. Avoid mid summer and winter. Best month is October.
ThatCrazyGuy
Member
Why October? Why is winter bad? Just curious.
Winter is fine. Unless you go Nooooorth.
MikeHattsu
Member
You can use it in several Kansai cities:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_003.html
Looks like it's better to get a local Icoca card if you're gonna be living in Kansai though since that also works with various local non-JR transport in Nara, Himeji, Okayama, Hiroshima and Miyajima. + that it works in Suica areas too of course.
I've chosen start of November for that very reason. I figure the heat, rain and humidity would be mostly gone and the leaves would start changing colours. And coming from Canada, I know I can deal with any "cold" that a couple people have warned me of. I'm not going particularly far north, so I expect the temp will be just fine
ThatCrazyGuy
Member
Patrick Bateman
Member
MikeHattsu
Member
Hm... Is that Retro Game Camp?
Patrick Bateman
Member
I don't know what it was. But I bought Terranigma there.
MikeHattsu
Member
Ah, cool.
If it was Retro Game Camp then it was between Trader 3 and one of the MaiDreamin locations.
ThreePiMatt
Member
That's one thing I wish I did was find a nice retro games store. Seeing Chrono Trigger for the Super Famicom for under $7 would have been an insta-buy just so I could claim that I own every iteration of Chrono Trigger.
TransTrender
Gold Member
Whelp getting to LAX is still gross, driving around the airport is still gross, getting to the curb is terrible, checkin is gross, and security is gross, but at least the inside of the Tom Bradley International Terminal once you get through security is pretty nice. Big turn around in the past 2 years.
TransTrender
Gold Member
Awesome pics.
You could get a lot of crab meat for those games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tly1H8LaDAQ
TransTrender
Gold Member
Wow so the A380 is easily the quietest airplane I have ever been on. During takeoff I was waiting for the engines to spool to full power and get louder but they never did. Full power is practically just as quiet as idle. The air conditioning system is easily the loudest thing and they mask the engine noise.
Amazingly it was very quick and easy to board the plane. Easily the biggest seats I have been in.
The climb angle is very low but they allowed you to take your seat belts off at a relatively low altitude
Right now we are flying up the California coast. I wonder when we will start cutting across the Pacific.
Singapore air seems to put on a good show so far.
Amazingly it was very quick and easy to board the plane. Easily the biggest seats I have been in.
The climb angle is very low but they allowed you to take your seat belts off at a relatively low altitude
Right now we are flying up the California coast. I wonder when we will start cutting across the Pacific.
Singapore air seems to put on a good show so far.
rocksolidaudio
Member
Trying to read/keep up with this thread is almost as overwhelming as planning a trip to Japan! Which is fairly overwhelming, I'm finding.
So I'm going to Tokyo for work for TGS, after which my girlfriend flies out to meet me on the 21st, then we're there until we fly out from Tokyo on the 30th. So about nine days. Neither of us has been before, and trying to roughly plan the basics while leaving lots of room/time to explore.
Current plan:
21st-25th: Tokyo
- Staying near Shibuya (will book a cheap hotel or AirBnB; I have the TokyuStay Shibuya Shin-Minamiguchi reserved right now)
- Plan to visit the Ghibli museum, Tsukiji if we can get up early, and maybe a Sumo match with a buddy who lives there (and maaaaybe Robot Restaurant)
- Walking, eating, getting lost
25th-28th: Kyoto
- Staying near the main station (will book a cheap hotel or AirBnB)
- Have the middle night booked at a nice Ryokan (Ohanabo, which someone suggested in this thread); not ideal timing, but its slim pickings
- Walking, temples, monkeys (?)
- Probably should take a day trip to Nara, from the sound of it?
28th-30th: Tokyo
- Would like to find a different, interesting hood to stay in, hotel or AirBnB: Shinagawa? Ginza? Asakusa?
- Eating, ??
So a good bit of moving around, but I figure that will provide some nice variety, too (and it's similar to this suggested trip). And still don't entirely understand the JR Pass, but seems like it will be worth it if we're training from Tokyo-Kyoto and back. I guess its just relatively expensive either way, but thats much more convenient?
Id love any feedback on the above, if were missing anything that we really shouldnt be. Im trying not to overplan, which is hard for me, but also dont want to miss any serious musts since we may not be back for years. Most excited about food, sights, nature.
Thanks for any thoughts!
So I'm going to Tokyo for work for TGS, after which my girlfriend flies out to meet me on the 21st, then we're there until we fly out from Tokyo on the 30th. So about nine days. Neither of us has been before, and trying to roughly plan the basics while leaving lots of room/time to explore.
Current plan:
21st-25th: Tokyo
- Staying near Shibuya (will book a cheap hotel or AirBnB; I have the TokyuStay Shibuya Shin-Minamiguchi reserved right now)
- Plan to visit the Ghibli museum, Tsukiji if we can get up early, and maybe a Sumo match with a buddy who lives there (and maaaaybe Robot Restaurant)
- Walking, eating, getting lost
25th-28th: Kyoto
- Staying near the main station (will book a cheap hotel or AirBnB)
- Have the middle night booked at a nice Ryokan (Ohanabo, which someone suggested in this thread); not ideal timing, but its slim pickings
- Walking, temples, monkeys (?)
- Probably should take a day trip to Nara, from the sound of it?
28th-30th: Tokyo
- Would like to find a different, interesting hood to stay in, hotel or AirBnB: Shinagawa? Ginza? Asakusa?
- Eating, ??
So a good bit of moving around, but I figure that will provide some nice variety, too (and it's similar to this suggested trip). And still don't entirely understand the JR Pass, but seems like it will be worth it if we're training from Tokyo-Kyoto and back. I guess its just relatively expensive either way, but thats much more convenient?
Id love any feedback on the above, if were missing anything that we really shouldnt be. Im trying not to overplan, which is hard for me, but also dont want to miss any serious musts since we may not be back for years. Most excited about food, sights, nature.
Thanks for any thoughts!
distantmantra
Member
Shimokitazawa.
MikeHattsu
Member
With or without JR Pass?
If you don't have a JR Pass the best is to use the Keikyu trains from Haneda. If you get on the correct one it will take you directly to Asakusa.
despite being a 10min walk from JR as opposed to 5min, tokyustay shibuya has much better reviews - i was tossing up between both and went with shibuya over shin-minamiguchi. apparently all the tokyustay's are pretty great for the price though so i doubt there's much difference in it.
December, January, and February is too cold. March and April rains a lot. May is the start of summer which heats up very quickly, and it is also high season in respect to flights. June, July, and August is stupidly hot at times. September is still high season. October and early November have some great temperatures, its the end of high season, if you come early you'll still have that summer feeling and if you come in the mid then you'll experience the beautiful Autumn changes.
Makes sense?
MikeHattsu
Member
I'll have a JR pass
You can then take the Tokyo Monorail and transfer to the Toei Asakusa Line at Hamamatsuchō/Daimon station and save 400 JPY compared to just taking the Keikyu train directly.
If it's worth a transfer just to save that amount is up to you
Hell nah.
You disagree? You don't think it is cold during those months?
matt360
Member
Obviously it depends on the location, but no, Japanese winters are generally not very cold at all in my opinion. And I'm from Florida. We get a decent amount of snow where I'm at now and I can still get by in a parka and some shorts. Sometimes jeans.
but in respect to an ideal time to go on holiday? Unless people want to go to an outdoor onsen during the winter which feels fantastic.
Sutton Dagger
Member
Wife and I are looking to go to Japan in late December (we don't worry about the cold) for 9 days. We obviously want to go to Tokyo and have a good look around, and we would love to go to mount Fuji as well. What other place should we look at going to in that time frame? Osaka for 4 of the days?
We love shopping, eating, exploring the culture, going off the beaten track etc if that factors in.
We love shopping, eating, exploring the culture, going off the beaten track etc if that factors in.
matt360
Member
Even still. I would wholeheartedly recommend someone visit Japan in the winter. There are plenty of cool things to do and see. Maybe not ideal compared to spring or fall, but I would absolutely endorse coming in the winter and wholeheartedly advise against coming in the summer. That's just me though.
MikeHattsu
Member
Just go to Fuji or climb? It's not recommended to try climbing it in the winter unless you got some experience with climbing mountains.
matt360
Member
Are you even allowed to attempt climbing Fuji in December? I thought it was against the law?
It is pretty cold, but not as cool as many other places (Scandinavia, for instance).
This is true! Onsen is amazing during cold weather. I can never do it during the summer, at least not out-door onsen.
9 days is not a lot for traveling outside of Tokyo. But I think you can do it if you use a quick way to get around (such as Shinkansen). Regarding Fuji-san, you have to know that it has official climbing seasons, which is only July and August. It's considered extremely dangerous to climb outside of the season! The weather in unpredictable and you might actually blow off the mountain (this has happened in the past). A lot of the stations are closed because of this, which makes it even more hard to get up (you even have to file a report to the police in order to go there off-season). You can still hike the bottom trails of the mountain any time of the year, though. Here is a lot of great information about climbing Fuji-san. http://wikitravel.org/en/Mount_Fuji
Japan is great in winter as well. It has a lot of wet weather in the cities, but if you go into rural Japan is looks even more amazing. And I find it very romantic during winter. :3
MikeHattsu
Member
Yes, you can, but you're basically on your own and you need to contact the police beforehand and fill out some forms and stuff.
Sutton Dagger
Member
Thanks for the info about Fuji guys, only planned to climb the bottom trails anyway. So Fitting in Tokyo/Osaka in 9 days isn't possible, or just not ideal?
MikeHattsu
Member
Not ideal if you're doing Fuji as well or are you no longer planning to go there? Any special reason for going to Osaka? You could do some day trips to cities closer to Tokyo and it'd be just as interesting. Nikko, Kamakura and Hakone are some of those places.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Winter beats summer Ill tell you that.
matt360
Member
It's totally doable, depending on how much you wanna squeeze in. I mean, you could spend months in Tokyo alone and not even come close to doing all the cool stuff it has to offer. But if you pick a few spots you wanna see and budget your time well, you could do Tokyo and Osaka in 9 days. Will this be your first time in Japan?
Kyoto is right next to Osaka and you can see tons of cool stuff in Kyoto in just a day and a half or so.
You can then take the Tokyo Monorail and transfer to the Toei Asakusa Line at Hamamatsuchō/Daimon station and save 400 JPY compared to just taking the Keikyu train directly.
If it's worth a transfer just to save that amount is up to you
I guess I'll pay the few bucks more and head there directly without transfers. Less chance I'll get myself lost
Valkyr Junkie
Member
Eh, not a whole lot really. Palette Town is the main attraction and mainly just has the ferris wheel, the Toyota museum thingy, and shopping/arcades. There will probably be a lot of calendar-specific things going on that may impact your interest or itinerary.
The Yurikamome is a fun ride to the island though, and there are a lot of really architecturally interesting buildings there. I'd probably plan just a few hours, ending after sunset since you get a nice view of the Rainbow Bridge from there.
Thanks! I had the yurikamome ride once already, on the way to last winter comiket. So going in the late afternoon would probably be best?