Travel: Japan - General

[dimitri_can]

i3mum:

1) How to go to Yokohama Cup noodles museum from Shinjuku? Does it take about an hour? Recommended to to go for the Ramen museum too?

2 routes: Expensive and cheap

Cheap (610 yen per ride) -about 48 mins
1) Take JR Yamanote Line to Shibuya
2) Change to Tokyu Toyoko Line (特急)to Minato Mirai station
3) Walk from Minato Mirai station

http://goo.gl/gGLFEt

Expensive (730 yen per ride) -about 38 mins
1) Take JR Shonan Shinjuku Line
2) Change to Tokyu Toyoko Line to Minato Mirai station
3) Walk from Minato Mirai station

http://goo.gl/zwzP16

Map: http://goo.gl/BrkdKG

NOTE: Cup noodle museum closed on Tuesday. In the event of public holiday, it`s closed on Wednesday.

If you are going cup noodle museum, i don't recommend going to Ramen museum.
This is how the inside look like. It's just a remake of the ramen shops back in the 50s/60s and filled with different ramen shops. Note that you still have to pay entrance fee to go inside.

http://www.japan-guide.com/g2/3202_01.jpg\">
http://www.raumen.co.jp/english/images/en_img_1.jpg\">

i3mum:

2) Any recommendation for Ryokan at Kyoto on 18 Dec night?

Any budget constraints? For how many people?

i3mum:

3) Based on my itinerary, I don't have to buy the 7 days JR pass right? Just single JR pass (Tokyo-Kyoto) & (Kyoto to Osaka) will do?

Yes. Just normal JR ticket will do. Do go for the Puratto Kodama ticket to save more money.

[dimitri_can]

dimitri_can:

If you are not coming back to Tokyo, then buy single trip will do.
If you wanna save more, you might wanna look at Puratto Kodama Shinkansen (3.5hours / those shinkansen that stop every stop compared to Nozomi (2.5hours ) , but you will save about 3000 yen per person)

http://www.jrtours.co.jp/kodama/en/

Tokyo to Kyoto:
Nozomi: 2.5 hours
Hikari: 3 hours
Kodama: 3.5 hours

Correction. Kodama takes about 4 hours. Apologies for the wrong info.

[i3mum]

dimitri_can:

Thank you for this information.

i3mum:

1) How to go to Yokohama Cup noodles museum from Shinjuku? Does it take about an hour? Recommended to to go for the Ramen museum too?

2 routes: Expensive and cheap

Cheap (610 yen per ride) -about 48 mins
1) Take JR Yamanote Line to Shibuya
2) Change to Tokyu Toyoko Line (特急)to Minato Mirai station
3) Walk from Minato Mirai station

http://goo.gl/gGLFEt

Expensive (730 yen per ride) -about 38 mins
1) Take JR Shonan Shinjuku Line
2) Change to Tokyu Toyoko Line to Minato Mirai station
3) Walk from Minato Mirai station

http://goo.gl/zwzP16

Map: http://goo.gl/BrkdKG

NOTE: Cup noodle museum closed on Tuesday. In the event of public holiday, it`s closed on Wednesday.

Ok, maybe I should change it to Thursday to be safe. Tskuji Market should be open on that Wednesday (16 Dec 2015)?

i3mum:

2) Any recommendation for Ryokan at Kyoto on 18 Dec night?

Any budget constraints? For how many people?

For 5 pax budget about $300-$400 for 1 night

i3mum:

3) Based on my itinerary, I don't have to buy the 7 days JR pass right? Just single JR pass (Tokyo-Kyoto) & (Kyoto to Osaka) will do?

Yes. Just normal JR ticket will do. Do go for the Puratto Kodama ticket to save more money.

[MyPillow]

dimitri_can:

sparks:

BTW, I have more or less confirmed my trip: staying in Shinjuku for 2 nights, go Highland Resort near Mt Fuji & stay for 3 nights & return to Shinjuku & explore rest of Tokyo for another 3 nights. Can I check with you if I need to buy bus tickets in advance to/from FujiQ (February) or it is safe to get the day before? I'll be staying at Keio Hotel very near Shinjuku station. Thanks again, you have been a great help!

You can try to do online reservation nearer to your dates of travel.

http://highway-buses.jp/fuji

sparks, i stayed in keio plaza last yr, very near to Shinjuku highway bus terminal .fr the hotel ,u can reach the bus station before JR station -walk on top dun use the underpass next to hotel

[sparks]

MyPillow:

sparks, i stayed in keio plaza last yr, very near to Shinjuku highway bus terminal .fr the hotel ,u can reach the bus station before JR station -walk on top dun use the underpass next to hotel

Thanks! Can I know if you have any recommendation for room type at keio plaza? I am booking room with breakfast cos I don't know if I like the idea of braving the cold winter morning to look for breakfast? *shiver*

[dimitri_can]

fluffyboy:

Hi dimitri_can


Thank you for your valuable advice.

May I ask if SGD 2k is good estimate for 2A1C for a 14 day trip to cover:
- transport
- entrance to places of interest (excluding disney)
- 3 meals/day (low - medium range eateries).

Intending to charge credit card for hotels and shoppings.


Is it advisable to visit in 1-day with a 4 yo:
- fuji 5 lakes (4 hours sight-seeing)
- Sagakimo night illumination (2 hours)

If fuji 5 lakes or yokohama a better choice?

At this point, it's hard for me to comment as i am not sure if you are going to go Kyoto/Osaka from Tokyo. If yes, you need to up ur budget to around 3k SGD.

I need to see a rough itinerary to do a better analysis.

Estimated is 15000-20000 yen for 2 persons.
So you can try to estimate from there.

Fuji 5 lakes is a better choice, but only can see nature.
Yokohama is also not bad la.

[dimitri_can]

i3mum:

Ok, maybe I should change it to Thursday to be safe. Tskuji Market should be open on that Wednesday (16 Dec 2015)?

Yes. Pls do.

i3mum:

2) Any recommendation for Ryokan at Kyoto on 18 Dec night?

i3mum:

For 5 pax budget about $300-$400 for 1 night

You can see this website and let me know which one seems ok. I can do a booking for you.
The prices are cheaper as it's a Japanese booking website.

https://goo.gl/BQuKyk

[MyPillow]

sparks:

MyPillow:

sparks, i stayed in keio plaza last yr, very near to Shinjuku highway bus terminal .fr the hotel ,u can reach the bus station before JR station -walk on top dun use the underpass next to hotel

Thanks! Can I know if you have any recommendation for room type at keio plaza? I am booking room with breakfast cos I don't know if I like the idea of braving the cold winter morning to look for breakfast? *shiver*

Took the renovated superior twin , can sleep 3 adults .very nice room decor , think was abt 30 or 33 sq m.

[dimitri_can]

Dear KSParents,


When asking for advice for accommodation, like where is good etc, i would appreciate if you can provide the following info so that i can provide a better check.

1) Do you have a specific hotel that you need?
2) Do you have someone who can speak Japanese in ur group?
Some hotel cancelled my booking cos they thought i can’t speak Japanese. -__-"
3) Do you need something near to station or…?
4) Private bathroom required?
5) Budget?
6) Number of males/females/children:
=======================================
Btw, some parents asked me if i am a travel agent. So like to share a bit about myself.

Am a full-time Japanese teacher that likes travelling to Japan. Been there 30 times and my 31st trip in Jan is coming soon. I fly there 4-5 times a year, beside bringing students to Japan to get them exposed to the culture, i also take the chance to go for my haircut over there.

Qns: Why advise the parents here?
Ans: I believe a lot of Singaporeans like travelling to Japan. I believe that there isn’t much "publicizing" of Japan maybe due to the earthquake/radiation and there is lack of information. Parents nowadays are now working and might not have time to go down to JNTO in Hong Leong Building to ask more information. I hope to be able to share my love for Japan to the parents here.

Qns: How long have you been doing this volunteer service?
Ans: I started out a novice back in 2006 and have been doing this volunteer service over at Hardwarezone forum since 2007. I learned along the way from those Japan experts in Hardwarezone, but realized that there is lack of activity here.

Qns: How much do you roughly spend over there?
Ans: I used to spend about 1.7k, then it went up to 4k as my salary got higher, then recent years, i learn to reduce my budget to max 2k-2.5k per trip.

Qns: How do you know about air ticket fare prices?
Ans: Just subscribe to the airlines newsletter. The Japan experts back in HWZ are also very good. They like to post promotions there. So if i find the price is good, i will just post them here.
=======================================

[Dnls_mum]

fluffyboy:

Is it advisable to visit in 1-day with a 4 yo:
- fuji 5 lakes (4 hours sight-seeing)
- Sagakimo night illumination (2 hours)

If fuji 5 lakes or yokohama a better choice?

I was at Kawaguchiko and Sagamiko last week. We stayed one night in Kawaguchiko and on the second day, left Kawaguchiko after lunch and stopover at Sagamiko for the illumination before heading back to shinjuku. The illumination at Sagamiko pleasure forest opens started at 5pm everyday in November to February. In March and April they start a little later. It was just DH and me and it took us less than 1 hour to walk through the place as we did not take any theme park rides. If you have a young kid, you may want to spend more time there as you can take the tram rides etc. it takes about an hour if I remember correctly, to get from Kawaguchiko to Sagamiko. Then you take a 10 min bus ride to the park. Because of the traveling time, it may be very rush to do Kawaguchiko and Sagamiko as a day trip from Tokyo. But it is still possible, only you shd try to get to Kawaguchiko as early as possible. Otherwise you will have very little time To spend there. We took the train from Tokyo at 9am and arrived Kawaguchiko at around 11plus. You should try to leave Kawaguchiko around 5pm. Then you will get at Sagamiko before 7pm. Spend 1.5 hrs maybe and get back to Tokyo by 10pm.

We bought the 2 days mt Fuji pass and it covers the transportation for the whole journey, end to end at ¥5600 per adult. Worth it. At Kawaguchiko for ¥1200 you get unlimited rides on the retro and omnibus bus (for 2 days)which is the tourist hop on hop off bus. But not sure if you will take enough bus with with a few hrs there if you don't spend overnight there.

Here is a photo of Sagamiko illumination :
http://i64.tinypic.com/2w4y543.jpg\">

Fuji 5 lakes and Yokohama are very different. One is a city and the other, outdoor scenery. You need to decide what appeal to you and your family. We spent half a day at Yokohama only. Went in the morning to make cup noodles with our kids and then went ramen museum for lunch before heading back to Tokyo. We had the JR pass then so cost was no concern and took the fastest route possible, coming back to Tokyo via the Shinkansen.