Travel: Japan - General

[Kevinlu]

Thanks for this awesome link, will read it up first..

Zeit:

zac's mum:

http://www.mumstravels.com/?page_id=1943

PS: I hope the blogger Dnls doesn't mind me sharing her blog link.

[Kevinlu]

Thanks for sharing...

may i ask if there is anything interesting in Osaka for your 6yo DS?
Another option i might take is that if there is nothing too interesting for kids, i will just stay in toyko and explore the neighboring towns.

zac's mum:

To
Kevinlu: Just a little bit about my experience in Tokyo/Osaka in March 2016 with a 6 yo DS. He is an early riser and can walk long distances, won’t sit in pram kind. Suitable to take trains in Japan because there is plenty of walking (the stations are huuuuge and u need to find the correct platform. Communication in English with the staff is possible but it is chicken & duck talk sometimes. I can read a bit of Japanese so that helps when following the signs. I’m general, if u need to ask for directions on the street, the younger Japanese are more conversant in English. Or use your phone translator to help, they love tech haha.

The major places I planned for the kid were Disneyland & Disneysea. There is Thomas Land near Mount Fuji but small & hard to find if you don’t know Japanese. Tsujiki fish market for the adults. DH’s agenda was to eat high quality Japanese food. Absolutely the best experience because they do not export their best produce. No clothes shopping for us.

Kiddo was happy to walk around with us. We did Ueno Park and Daiba area (Toyota showroom). Tsujiki is crowded like a Taiwanese night market on weekends but he is trained to not wander away. I still put a “emergency contact info” card (in both languages) in his backpack just in case. Safety is not an issue though, just communication. In Tokyo the train signs have English, but not in Osaka, which is more like suburbia. Universal Studios Osaka was quite disappointing so I should have just cut out those 2D1N from my itinerary.

[zac's mum]

Kevinlu:

Thanks for sharing...

may i ask if there is anything interesting in Osaka for your 6yo DS?
Another option i might take is that if there is nothing too interesting for kids, i will just stay in toyko and explore the neighboring towns.

Nothing interesting in Osaka as far as I know. So save the costly bullet train fare & stay in Tokyo. There’s plenty to occupy u for even 7-10 days in Tokyo, don’t need to rush. With kids, it’s sufficient to do 1-2 activities/places per day max. Otherwise cue the tantrums lol. Best u ask your DW for her input btw! To prevent arguments/unhappiness

Mt Fuji area u can find some day tours by bus which include lunch & hot spring. I didn’t research too much into those because DH is a gourmet snob and always wants to choose the best restaurants for meals

[Kevinlu]

zac's mum:

Nothing interesting in Osaka as far as I know. So save the costly bullet train fare & stay in Tokyo. There’s plenty to occupy u for even 7-10 days in Tokyo, don’t need to rush. With kids, it’s sufficient to do 1-2 activities/places per day max. Otherwise cue the tantrums lol. Best u ask your DW for her input btw! To prevent arguments/unhappiness

Mt Fuji area u can find some day tours by bus which include lunch & hot spring. I didn’t research too much into those because DH is a gourmet snob and always wants to choose the best restaurants for meals

So i guess my plan for now maybe is to stick to toyko, for now....

1 question i have.. if im not travelling to osaka, kyoto....
And just go to mt fuji, neighboring town, ski resort.... do i still need to get the JR pass? or no need to at all?

[zac's mum]

Kevinlu:

1 question i have.. if im not travelling to osaka, kyoto....
And just go to mt fuji, neighboring town, ski resort.... do i still need to get the JR pass? or no need to at all?

I did not get JR pass in the end. U gotta do your calculations how many train trips u plan to do and see which costs less, the pass or pay-per-trip. We did the latter. Troublesome to buy one-way ticket every ride but the machines have English and not long Q so no worries. Also because some stations we went to were not under JR line. There are different train companies and non-JR don’t accept JR pass.

One big tip for you: my DS was very petite for his age so never had to pay for any train ticket. They just allowed him to slip in at the fare gantry before the parent. Anyway <5 or <6 years don’t need ticket I think. Save u some money heehee.

[cool_hi]

Just to share a bit of details:

For our 14days trip,
We bought 7days JR pass..& only activated it on the day we travel from tokyo to Osaka..
Stayed in hotel just 4-5min walk to Shin-osaka station,& had day trips to different places as we did not want to waste time on changing hotels..
Because it is SO convenient to travel from Shin-osaka station,with JR pass,eg. 13-14min to reach Kyoto via Shinkansen Hikari with reserved seats(no need to worry about crowd/need to stand through journey..)& this is faster than traveling from Hillview station to Steven station!!
(Confirm with NO breakdowns/delay!! :rotflmao: )
& 30min to Himeji via Shinkansen whereas my cousin who did not buy JR pass & took local trains from Namba took 1.5hr!! & after Himeji,we went KOBE Sanda Premium outlet(going 2 places in a day to maximize JR pass:)...

& yes..because we decided to buy JR pass,so we also travelled to less-ventured areas like Hiroshima+Miyajima(which JR pass can be used for the ferry..)

& just to share: my kids 12 yr+8yr old,enjoyed USJ much more than the 2 disneyland+Sea, coz of the new Harry Porter ride & Minions Ride!
The 4-D effects are really fantastic!!
(uSJ was included last minute,1week before we flew there,as my gal started reading Harry Porter & requested to go USJ,so i last minute had to scramble to think of how to re-schedule itinerary & end up sacrifice 1day of kyoto which might have bored the kids anyway..& NO regrets!!)

Hope the sharing helps:)

[Cloud Cloud]

cool_hi:

Just to share a bit of details:

For our 14days trip,
We bought 7days JR pass..& only activated it on the day we travel from tokyo to Osaka..
Stayed in hotel just 4-5min walk to Shin-osaka station,& had day trips to different places as we did not want to waste time on changing hotels..
Because it is SO convenient to travel from Shin-osaka station,with JR pass,eg. 13-14min to reach Kyoto via Shinkansen Hikari with reserved seats(no need to worry about crowd/need to stand through journey..)
& 30min to Himeji via Shinkansen whereas my cousin who did not buy JR pass & took local trains from Namba took 1.5hr!! & after Himeji,we went KOBE Sanda Premium outlet(going 2 places in a day to maximize JR pass:)...

& yes..because we decided to buy JR pass,so we also travelled to less-ventured areas like Hiroshima+Miyajima(which JR pass can be used for the ferry..)

& just to share: my kids 12 yr+8yr old,enjoyed USJ much more than the 2 disneyland+Sea, coz of the new Harry Porter ride & Minions Ride!
The 4-D effects are really fantastic!!
(uSJ was included last minute,1week before we flew there,as my gal started reading Harry Porter & requested to go USJ,so i last minute had to scramble to think of how to re-schedule itinerary & end up sacrifice 1day of kyoto which might have bored the kids anyway..& NO regrets!!)

Hope the sharing helps:)

Hi, could you share your detailed itinerary. I have been to Tokyo and Osaka twice and would like to visit other areas. What you have done sounds good. What are the places worth visiting if based in Osaka. I too disliked hotel changing. Thanks.

[Estéema]

MyPillow:

Estemma , how may days u spend in total then ?
Am doing/reading up whenever I have time, thinking yr end on osaka/Nagoya & Hokkaido - usually we include in hokkaido cos of yr end ski trip . i just came back fr tokyo/kawaguchiko/hokkaido -always domestic flight & local train. -this yr was my 2nd tokyo/hokkaido visit (based in tokyo longer this time, my last 2 trips i already spent longer in hokkaido)

So sorry had been extremely busy & also curious why no KSP email alert. Only read your enquiry now.

Family spent 16 days covering Osaka, Kyoto, Kinosakionsen, Tokyo, Nagoya, Hakone & back to Osaka in Oct.

My g'frd family was in Hokkaido last week & the snow was very heavy. Hope it's not overly heavy during your trip. We love Hokkaido. Will do that leh on JR next time like the family we met fr Tokyo.

Hope u hv a good trip.

[Estéema]

Kevinlu:

Thanks for sharing...

may i ask if there is anything interesting in Osaka for your 6yo DS?
Another option i might take is that if there is nothing too interesting for kids, i will just stay in toyko and explore the neighboring towns.

Think 6 yo may go along with your trips for Japanese food if they've their fill of kiddo fun.

We covered following whilst in Osaka:-

Kuromon Ichiba Market :love:
Nakanoshima Park :love:
Osaka Science Museum
Tstenkaku Tower :love:
Osaka Castle
HEP Five Ferris Wheel :love:
Umeda Shopping/Umeda Sky Bldg
Hankyu Dept Store
Osaka Aquarium :love:
Santa Maria Day Cruise :love:
Ferris Wheel :love:
Lego land Discovery Center :love:
Osaka Tennoji Zoo :love:
Universal Studio Japan :love:

Tokyo covered :-

Ginza District Shopping
Taukiji Fish Market
Akihabara Digital Street
Tokyo Tower
Roppongi Hills & Tokyo City View
Observation Deck
DisneySea, Chiba :love:
Imperial Palace Plaza
Shinjuku - Mitsukoshi Shopping & entertainment
Nagano Snow Monkeys :love:


Nagoya may be interesting :-

1. SCMaglev & Railway Park :love:
2. Shinkansen Museum :love:
3. Nagoya City Tram & Subway Museum
4. Nagoya City Science Museum
5. Port of Nagoya Aquarium :love:
6. Toyota Innovation museum / Toyota Techno Museum :love:
7. Nagoya Castle
8. Koma (Spinning Tops) Museum :love:


Those in icon your 6/8 yo may appreciate. As you can see, there more variety for 6/8 yo kids in Osaka. But the older kids wld enjoy Nagoya much more, whilst in Tokyo the older kids will explore the gadgets shopping!

I don't recommend onsen with 6/8 yo as they may be uncomfortable with hot spa. For Kyoto, it'll be fun in Summer, Spring or Autumn but it shld be tough to do any rafting or boating (suitable & fun for young kids). We thoroughly enjoyed our rafting & Bamboo Groove with older kids.

Osaka accommodation is generally cheaper than Tokyo city, tho u may still find gems. We bought SQ as tickets during our Oct trip was cheaper than flying into Tokyo then. I cannot comment on other travel period. A frd who tried to travel out mid-Dec cld not get air-tic so hv to fly to LA & find open-jaw tic to Tokyo then back SG. It was fully booked for accommodation so they had to try airbnb.

Hope not too late to give u some ideas. I didn't get KSP alerts at all.

[Estéema]

Kevinlu:

zac's mum:

Nothing interesting in Osaka as far as I know. So save the costly bullet train fare & stay in Tokyo. There’s plenty to occupy u for even 7-10 days in Tokyo, don’t need to rush. With kids, it’s sufficient to do 1-2 activities/places per day max. Otherwise cue the tantrums lol. Best u ask your DW for her input btw! To prevent arguments/unhappiness

Mt Fuji area u can find some day tours by bus which include lunch & hot spring. I didn’t research too much into those because DH is a gourmet snob and always wants to choose the best restaurants for meals

So i guess my plan for now maybe is to stick to toyko, for now....

1 question i have.. if im not travelling to osaka, kyoto....
And just go to mt fuji, neighboring town, ski resort.... do i still need to get the JR pass? or no need to at all?

If u're staying within Tokyo, then don't need to get the JR Pass if not traveling out to other major cities such as Osaka, Kyoto. Might be easier to visit Nagoya.