Travel: Japan - General

[dimitri_can]

xueyan:

Day 1 : Osaka Castle,

Day 2 : Minoo Park

Day 3 :
Instant Ramen Museum
Osaka Aquarium
Shisaibashi/ Dotonbori
Kuromon Ichiba Market

Day 4 :
Arashiyama
Togetsukyo Bridge
Tenryuji Temple 天龍寺 (bamboo)
Kinkaku-ji
Kiyomizu-dera
Floating Garden Observatory on the 39th floor of Umeda Sky Building

Day 5
Universal Studio

Day 6
Nara deer park, Todai-Ji, Harvest Hill,

Day 7
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Chion In
Sagano Scenic Railway

Any reasons why you don't want to visit Kyoto in 2 consecutive days? I thought it would be better if you swap Day 4 and 6 to put Kyoto as 2 full days, side by side.

For Day 3, you can consider adding Umeda Sky Building at night instead of putting it on Day 4. This will give you a better view of the whole Osaka.

http://www.skybldg.co.jp/skybldg/

For Day 7, consider to put Fushimi Inari Taisha, Chion In and Kiyomizudera (Day 4) together.

http://goo.gl/7EVadV

Move Sagano Scenic Railway up to 1st activity in Day 4, as it will land u at Arashiyama.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3965.html
==================================
With that, the suggested itinerary should look something like this

Day 1 : Osaka Castle,

Day 2 : Minoo Park

Day 3 :
Instant Ramen Museum
Osaka Aquarium
Shisaibashi/ Dotonbori
Kuromon Ichiba Market
Floating Garden Observatory on the 39th floor of Umeda Sky Building

Day 4 :
Universal Studio

Day 5 (Nara)
Nara deer park, Todai-Ji, Harvest Hill

Day 6 (Kyoto)
Sagano Scenic Railway
Arashiyama
Togetsukyo Bridge
Tenryuji Temple 天龍寺 (bamboo)
Kinkaku-ji

Day 7 (Kyoto)
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Kiyomizu-dera
Chion In

[dimitri_can]

You can try to add in Kobe (1 day), Himeji (1 day), Okayama (1 day), Hiroshima/Miyajima (1 day)


Kobe: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2159.html

Himeji: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3500.html
There is also a Hello Kitty cafe, if you are into Hello Kitty
http://goo.gl/nwlKaM

Okayama (famous for grapes, peaches): http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5700.html

Hiroshima/Miyajima (famous for lemon): http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2160.html

[xueyan]

Thanks for your advice dimitri_can


Sorry, I have the following queries :

1. I am thinking of trying ryokan. Do you have any reasonably priced one to recommend?

2.
Kobe : Kitano area, Kitano area, Mt Rokko Observation deck
Your suggestion for Himeji, Okayama and Hiroshima is mostly visit to castle?
What are the places of interest? Too much visiting of castle will be boring for my 7 years old boy.

3. Do you suggest that I stayed in Osaka throughout if I used the itinerary suggested by you?

4. Do I need a JR pass using the suggested itinerary?

5. Will I be able to go to Shin-Hokata ropeway. It looks so fun in Dnls-mum photos.

Many thanks!

[dimitri_can]

xueyan:

Thanks for your advice dimitri_can


Sorry, I have the following queries :

1. I am thinking of trying ryokan. Do you have any reasonably priced one to recommend?

2.
Kobe : Kitano area, Kitano area, Mt Rokko Observation deck
Your suggestion for Himeji, Okayama and Hiroshima is mostly visit to castle?
What are the places of interest? Too much visiting of castle will be boring for my 7 years old boy.

3. Do you suggest that I stayed in Osaka throughout if I used the itinerary suggested by you?

4. Do I need a JR pass using the suggested itinerary?

5. Will I be able to go to Shin-Hokata ropeway. It looks so fun in Dnls-mum photos.

Many thanks!

1. Am not sure what is your budget, i personally don't really like ryokan.
You can take a look over here.

http://www.insidekyoto.com/2012/01/best ... kyoto.html

Once you found a ryokan that you like, let me know the price, i might be able to get it cheaper if i book via the japanese website.

2. As mentioned in my previous post,

For Himeji: it's the castle that is famous. It's known as one of the 3 famous castle in Japan.

there is also a Hello Kitty cafe, if your child is into Hello Kitty.
http://goo.gl/nwlKaM

For Okayama: Kurashiki is nice. The city has a preserved canal area that dates back to the Edo Period (1603-1867), when Kurashiki served as an important rice distribution center.

Refer to here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5750.html

For Hiroshima: you can visit Miyajima, a small island less than an hour outside the city of Hiroshima. It is most famous for its giant torii gate, which at high tide seems to float on the water. The sight is ranked as one of Japan's three best views.

Refer to here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3401.html

3. If you are going to Hiroshima, Okayama and Himeji, you should reserve 1 day to stay in either Hiroshima or Okayama (1 hour away from each other)

Hiroshima->Okayama (1 hour via Shinkansen)
Okayama->Himeji (40 mins via Shinkansen)

4. Based on the travelling, i would recommend you to get the JR Nationwide pass instead.

Tokyo->Osaka via Shinkansen: 13620 yen
Kansai-Hiroshima Pass (5 days of unlimited travel on Shinkansen non-reserved seats and JR trains): 13000 yen (book via online)
Total: 26620 yen
=========================================
JR Nationwide pass (7 days of unlimited travel on Shinkansen reserved/non-reserved seats and JR trains): 29110 yen

If you are not taking open-jaw ticket, plan your itinerary such that on your 7th day, you should be back in Tokyo.
E.g
Day 1: Travel from Tokyo to Osaka
Day 7: Travel back from Osaka->Tokyo (if you are not going for open-jaw ticket)

For open-jaw ticket, based on my experience, airlines will charge around extra $50-$80 per person (i.e You fly into Tokyo, exit from Osaka). You save about 3 hours of train ride back to Tokyo.

5. Based on the map, it seems to be quite far from Takayama.

http://goo.gl/ASqvP9

If you want, you might want to try to Shin-Kobe ropeway instead.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3563.html


Happy planning. (^_^)

[dasalo]

Sorry my pics came late. As promised, the pics of meals provided on board ANA.


They have a choice of Japanese or Western food.

Breakfast - Japanese

http://i60.tinypic.com/29z8x13.jpg\">

Dinner - Japanese

http://i59.tinypic.com/9qzc5g.jpg\">

Oh yes, they provided another refreshment meal before landing. A sandwich or a bun. In between meals you can request for instant noodles or soup too. Sorry, no pics for the refreshments.

Love to recommend our Ryokans to you but we are mostly at Shikoku, not in Tokyo. We stayed in a variety of accommodations this trip. Ryokans, Biz Hotels, Guesthouses and Youth Hostels. We also have a choice of Japanese/Western style of rooms in Biz Hotel and mostly bunk beds at Guesthouses. A different kind of travelling style in Japan.

[dimitri_can]

Think they cut down on the portion a lot... =(

Last time used to be better.

This was mine from China Eastern Airlines.

SIN to Pudong
https://imageshack.com/i/idlcDC3aj

Pudong to Kansai Airport
https://imageshack.com/i/eyzxuojEj

Kansai Airport to Pudong (night flight)
https://imageshack.com/i/p8DaQe7jj

[dasalo]

Well I guess the meal portion is a little small for a guy’s appetite, just right for me though. Btw, how much is the flight for China Eastern? Do they offer mammoth baggage allowance too? Well, I guess can’t compare because yours is to Osaka and mine is to Tokyo.


China Eastern is not bad too in my memory to Shenzhen.

Oh yes, the transport fees in Japan Kills! Dimitri, you recommend Shinkansen like taking bus or mrt?

[dimitri_can]

My flight was $600 (all-in). 23kg x 2 pieces.


I think for China Eastern, the only thing you need to worry is about delay of flight, but usually arrival is still quite on time.

China Eastern is ranked 35th out of all the airlines, SQ is ranked 23rd.
This is my 3rd time flying with them. Other than a lot of ah tiongs, i think their service is not bad.

If you have the JR pass, you can just take Shinkansen as many times as you want. I usually try to clock 2 to 3 times the price of the pass (e.g if the pass is $350, i will try to make my savings worth by taking as many Shinkansens, JR trains equivalent to the price of $700 or $1k)

If you don’t have JR pass, then take night bus or something ($30-$40 per trip) from Tokyo to Osaka.

My budget for 1 trip is around 1.5k-2k (all-in) for a 9 days trip, so got more budget to go there often in 1 year.

[MyPillow]

dasalo:

Sorry my pics came late. As promised, the pics of meals provided on board ANA.


They have a choice of Japanese or Western food.

Breakfast - Japanese

http://i60.tinypic.com/29z8x13.jpg\">

Dinner - Japanese

http://i59.tinypic.com/9qzc5g.jpg\">

Oh yes, they provided another refreshment meal before landing. A sandwich or a bun. In between meals you can request for instant noodles or soup too. Sorry, no pics for the refreshments.

Love to recommend our Ryokans to you but we are mostly at Shikoku, not in Tokyo. We stayed in a variety kinds of accommodation this trip. Ryokans, Biz Hotels, Guesthouses and Youth Hostels. We also have a choice of Japanese/Western style of rooms in Biz Hotel and mostly bunk beds at Guesthouses. A different kind of travelling style to Japan.

dasalo, nice meals enuff for ladies.
My children kids meal were very good too , with cute toys i think the kids snack after take off or before landing are great too . The toys they got from 2 Jap trips include varied materials of model ANA planes, jap mini puzzles etc

would like to hear/read about your varied accommodations - also trying to exp from biz hotels to guest houses to ryokans for future trips. thats how we can see the culture

[lwm99]

ter_wen:

re: accommodation in Japan


2A2C travel in Tokyo MUST stay in 2 hotel rooms de ah?
as in 1 room for 1A1C
is it bcos they are all small in design?
there are few hotels with rooms equipped with 2 Twin beds?

thks for any precious inputs.

Not necessarily.
Hotels near Tokyo Disney usually have big rooms with beds enough for 2A2C (e.g. Sheraton).
In Tokyo you can find rooms that fit 3 beds. We stayed in Hotel Century Southern Tower and chose Scenic Twin Room, which came with 2 full size beds (1.2m width), and can add 1 single bed.