Thanks. Sights indeed seem to be far appart, which isn't good for a day trip. I'll probably drop it.
Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem.
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Japan Travel |OT| We have to go back
- Thread starter MikeHattsu
- Start date
Thanks. Sights indeed seem to be far appart, which isn't good for a day trip. I'll probably drop it.
Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem.
I think Nikko is probably worth it if you want to spend a few days there, take in the temples but seems to have some good hiking routes as well. As a day trip it does seem a bit awkward, more so in the spring and autumn when daylight hours are shorter.
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More info and links to the app here:
I'm back home again.
Trip was fantastic as usual.
Highlights were TGS, the metal gig I went to, mixology bar in Akasaka, and all the arcades I made a point to visit.
First time I didn't spend the whole time westside. Spent the first few days in Asakusa. I think for how I like to spend my time, (music and good Bars) it was a mistake. Westside, especially Kichijoji and shimokita are more my thing.
Also Tokyo seemed really busy, even more so than last year in october/November which I wasn't expecting considering September is supposed to be low season.
Trip was fantastic as usual.
Highlights were TGS, the metal gig I went to, mixology bar in Akasaka, and all the arcades I made a point to visit.
First time I didn't spend the whole time westside. Spent the first few days in Asakusa. I think for how I like to spend my time, (music and good Bars) it was a mistake. Westside, especially Kichijoji and shimokita are more my thing.
Also Tokyo seemed really busy, even more so than last year in october/November which I wasn't expecting considering September is supposed to be low season.
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The last couple of weeks probably would have been extra busy as it is the rugby World Cup. Be a lot of people staying in and travelling via Tokyo.
The Japanese team were staying in my hotel for training. They took up alot of room in the elevators.
I went out to the boonies, about an hour out of Tokyo proper to see Gotsu Totsu Kotsu, a death metal band with some amazing bass. I was also a bit of a fan of the headliner Phantom Excaliver. A very good, kinda power metaly screamo group with a humorous tone.
Neither one disappointed. Even with a technical fault during Gotsu Totsu Kotsu where the guitar failed the bassist just kept rocking, if anything it made it better.
But all the band's were pretty great, I was surprised by Japanese Folk Metal a very fun party band and Helldump, a kind of hair metal parody group.
There were a couple more that wern't my thing.
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Oh cool. I bought one of Gotsu Totsu Kotsu's CDs at a Disk Union last time I was there.
Anyone have any experiences with monthly apartment rentals? I've previously used Fontana for a six month stay several years ago, heading to japan for a month and looks like they have a minimum of two months for a full apartment. Contacted them and Sakura House just in case. Could always do the guest house route but like my own bathroom lol
Didn't realize my stay overlapped the rugby!
Didn't realize my stay overlapped the rugby!
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There's less than a week left till the consumption tax increase in Japan on October 1st, so if you're travelling there in the next 3 months or so you should probably order any kind of JR Pass now if you need one.
at The end I didn't got Catherine vita, it was like 60-70K yens, and even with the tax refund + 5% visa ends up more than buying in playasia.com.. or at least in the places I found it new.
How much the consumption tax will increase?
How much the consumption tax will increase?
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It will go from 8% to 10% but if you are shopping tax free it should not make a difference
So I'm officially redundant as of November 29th, starting to organise stuff for Jan.
So question, do I do 2 nights in Hakodate and 1 night in Noboribetsu before heading up to Sapporo from Tokyo or 1 in Hakodate and 2 in Noboribetsu?
Was thinking of doing the later, but kinda leaning towards the former now, is there much to do in Hakodate outside of the markets, great view and a few landmarks?
So question, do I do 2 nights in Hakodate and 1 night in Noboribetsu before heading up to Sapporo from Tokyo or 1 in Hakodate and 2 in Noboribetsu?
Was thinking of doing the later, but kinda leaning towards the former now, is there much to do in Hakodate outside of the markets, great view and a few landmarks?
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I just installed the Suica app. It wants me to create a new card. Can I add a pre-existing one?
So what are my options if my friend and I want to visit the Ghibli museum between Oct 3-6 and 12-15? I checked GoVoyagin and the Japanican tour but am out of luck. I hoped from checking the OT it would be easier by knowing someone there, but I asked someone I know who lives there and he said it's sold out locally too. Is there any other way I'm not aware of? I'm pretty desperate for tickets but haven't been able to find any.
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The app is just for people without a pre-existing card. If you already got a card, then check the info here:
You're SOL. Should have booked earlier :p
Will be back from 03.11 - 14.11 and want to do some hiking this time too. Will start to eat my way through Osaka the first few days, but after that I would like to do the Komano Kodo. Is there a day tour for the waterfall? I will also take a look at Mt. Mitake which Mike recommended. Last four days I will be in Tokyo with a day tour to Yokohama.
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So, now the regular tax rate is 10%:
With some exceptions:
With some exceptions:
So, now the regular tax rate is 10%:
With some exceptions:
That's not confusing at all. So I'm guessing conbini staff will be asking constantly if we're taking food to go, and it will be cheaper to stand outside to eat.
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It depends on what they choose to do :P
I just come back from my trip, i used sushi-wifi to get a 4G modem, it worked really well in all areas, and it came with a battery so it lasted all day with no problem, if someone wants it, they gave me a coupon, but they didn't clarify what discount it gives, lol:
btw: remember that if you choose the welcome suica, to not deal with the return, you can spend the remaining amount in the airport, there are candies for 100 yens, or sodas for 140 (probably now more due to the tax?), but i have 300 remaining on them, and bought that stuff to expend it =p.
Hidden content
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If you get the Welcome Suica (instead of a normal Suica) there's no returns even if you got several 1000's of JPY on it.
Yep, of course, but if you plan is easy to avoid =p, i was charging from 1K at the time and was fine, and going to narita is like 1300 from shinjuku, so it should be safe.. unless you want to charge a lot in a normal one and then plan to return it.
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If you get a normal Suica (and not the crappy Welcome Suica) it's valid for 10 years since the last use, so you got plenty of time to use it again the next time you visit ;P
I booked last month to go on the 31st of Oct. Had to stay up til 3.30am in the morning on a work night constantly refreshing the archaic website.
The old way of booking was much better where you just shot them an email way in advance with a few possible dates you might like, and they replied with what ones are available.
Speaking of booking, I'm wondering if I should book a restaurant in Kobe in advance. Currently my first option is Genkichi and secondary options are one of the Mouriya restaurants. We'll be there on a wednesday.
I've already had to book a couple of hostels in the smaller towns for March. Theres a weird mix of hostels not taking bookings (which makes sense as its 5 months away) and a few that are down to small numbers already. Good thing is they're all free cancellation which means I can still change/amend/cancel if plans change but when I check over the weekend it came as bit of a shock. One of the hostels in Kamakura looks amazing, albeit expensive. It looks more like a spa with dorm rooms.
I'm about a month away from my Japan trip with my brother family and a few friends.
Airbnb is paid for and got our JR pass for the Osaka and Kyoto part of the trip.
My part is to provide a pocket wifi.
Airbnb is paid for and got our JR pass for the Osaka and Kyoto part of the trip.
My part is to provide a pocket wifi.
Cheers, but I was fortunately successful in booking them during my late night efforts! The only way to get them here in the UK is through JTB, where they offer them as part of an extortionate tour package deal or to buy tickets directly from Lawson's website like I did.
Only 17 more days til I go. Can't effing wait!
Alright, got my pocket wifi. The process can be a bit much but given that they need to know what the rough time, airport, and to insure that it is me who picking it up I kinda get it. Now just a matter of doing the last process when I get to the airport.
Hey, how's Aomori for an overnight stopover? Trying to think of the best way to get from Saporro to Nagoya.
I'm thinking of 3 options
Fly from Saporro to Nagoya: Fastest but will cost me more money.
Train straight from Saporro to Nagoya: Will be easy using the rail pass but it's a super long trip to do in one go.
Train from Saporro to Aomori, then next day train from Aomori to Nagoya: Splits the trip up, not sure what's worth seeing there though that can be easily done in one night.
I'm thinking of 3 options
Fly from Saporro to Nagoya: Fastest but will cost me more money.
Train straight from Saporro to Nagoya: Will be easy using the rail pass but it's a super long trip to do in one go.
Train from Saporro to Aomori, then next day train from Aomori to Nagoya: Splits the trip up, not sure what's worth seeing there though that can be easily done in one night.
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It's great. Can check out the Nebuta Museum in the afternoon and get the Nokke-don at Furukawa Fish Market in the early morning before you leave.
Bit much? I always had just to put in my arrival and leave date and send some data and pay the thing and then I was always able to just get to post office at the airport and receive it by showing the mail lol. Couldn't be easier.
OK I'll do that, so plan at this point is looking like the follow
Tokyo: 03/01 to 10/01
Hakodate: 10/01 to 12/01
Noboribetsu: 12/01 to 13/01
Sapporo: 13/01 to 20/01
Aomori: 20/01 to 21/01
Nagoya: 21/01 to 26/01
Fukuoka: 26/01 to 28/01
Hiroshima: 28/01 to 30/01
Osaka: 30/01 to 03/02
A lot more moving around than the last 2 times but I really want to spend more time out of Tokyo and Osaka and see more of the countryside.
That's a lot of Hokkaido winter time, I'm interested to hear what you think.
I went this year (April) and boy was it miserable lol. I mean it was Japan so it was still great but man it was cold as fuck (my understanding was that it was kind of a rough an late winter this year in general going by the late cherry blooming season) and generally everywhere I went people where like "LOL why would you come her on vacation haha"
If you really wanna go countryside check out the ramen shop in Horokanai and ask the dude if he remembers the two westerners and a funny google translate conversation lol
I'm from Australia and I've never seen snow, I'm going to be freezing my fucking arse off :p
Honestly I'd rather have been there for there start of winter just as it's starting to snow but the timing on when I can go kind of worked out this way.
I just need to rug up, have all the layers and clothing and hope it'll be as good as it can be.
So I've got two weeks blocked out in January next year for Japan, but I dunno how to divvy it up.
Initially I was thinking Tokyo for the first week, and then Kyoto for the second week. Now I'm thinking I could flip it, so the trip to the airport in the latter half of the trip is less stressful and relatively more direct from in Tokyo than coming from Kyoto. Also now I'm reading about some New Year stuff that goes down in Kyoto that could be of interest.
I know I'm way early on this by a few months but I kinda wanna get this stuff nailed down. >_>
Initially I was thinking Tokyo for the first week, and then Kyoto for the second week. Now I'm thinking I could flip it, so the trip to the airport in the latter half of the trip is less stressful and relatively more direct from in Tokyo than coming from Kyoto. Also now I'm reading about some New Year stuff that goes down in Kyoto that could be of interest.
I know I'm way early on this by a few months but I kinda wanna get this stuff nailed down. >_>
Go to Kyoto first, or spend a night in Tokyo when you land and then go to Kyoto. It's much better to not have to deal with travelling far on the return day.
I'm not sure Kyoto is worth spending an entire week. I did that in 2001 and was a little bored by the end, but then again I didn't have Google at my fingertips so I couldn't find everything. You get templed out pretty quickly. I did Ryoanji, Kinkakuji and Sanjuusangendo last time. This time I will just be there a day and return to Sanjuusangendo (because it's that awesome) and go to the palace. I guess Gion and Kiyomizu-dera are also well worth visiting. Maybe three days there and then a day each in Osaka and Kobe and then back to Tokyo? That way you could get a 1 week JR Pass and cover travel. A return trip to Kyoto will be pretty expensive by itself.
I'm not sure Kyoto is worth spending an entire week. I did that in 2001 and was a little bored by the end, but then again I didn't have Google at my fingertips so I couldn't find everything. You get templed out pretty quickly. I did Ryoanji, Kinkakuji and Sanjuusangendo last time. This time I will just be there a day and return to Sanjuusangendo (because it's that awesome) and go to the palace. I guess Gion and Kiyomizu-dera are also well worth visiting. Maybe three days there and then a day each in Osaka and Kobe and then back to Tokyo? That way you could get a 1 week JR Pass and cover travel. A return trip to Kyoto will be pretty expensive by itself.