Travel: Japan - General

[Herbie]

Cheerfuldad:

Hi All,


A family of five would like to go to Tokyo in Mid Dec 2012, any good short term apartment, eg 2/3 bedrooms aprtment to recommend to pack 5 persons?

TIA.

Cheers!

May b u can check out weekly mansion.

[Herbie]

Cheerfuldad:

Hi All,


A family of five would like to go to Tokyo in Mid Dec 2012, any good short term apartment, eg 2/3 bedrooms aprtment to recommend to pack 5 persons?

TIA.

Cheers!

May b u can check out weekly mansion.

[chixchix]

Hi all my trip is coming soon but i feel so gundu … can anyone advise is the weather going to be worse than Singapore during 6-11 august…


and when we take the bullet train, is there any food inside ? Is it easy to get local food around… i dont like Japanese food.

Is the disneyland better than Hongkong ?

[bla bla daddy]

cheer up chix chix, ur going on a holiday

weather should be rather similar, less humid though,
but standby disposable raincoat will be a good idea
u can eat in the bullet train, try the bento set available at the station, some even at the platforms, it is so attractive
otherwise, sandwhiches can be found in convenient stores
IMO, disneyland is miles ahead in tokyo, the sheer size of it humbles HK, not to mention the shows and the courteous staff… enjoy

[kwcllf]

chixchix:

Hi all i will be travelling to Japan on National day eve for 4 nights, can anyone suggest where should i take the plane to ,Narita ,Osaka or haneda ?


What should I do and not miss ? My boys age 8 are coming along. I would want to take the bullet train too.

For 4 nights, you can't cover too many places, IMHO.

Whether you lands at Narita or Haneda, it depends on which airline you will be taking. Some lands at Narita and others at Haneda. I have not taken the bullet train. But I guess if you travels from one city to another, then bullet train is a viable option as it saves time. But you need to plan to see what is the best way to go about. But for 4 nights, you will be hard pressed for time to travel to more than one city.

My suggestion is that you concentrate on one city and if it is Tokyo, then you must visit Disneyland and Disneysea. Your 8 year-old will be thrilled.

We went to Disneyland and Disneysea two years back with our 6 and 10 years-old and they had a great time. We took the Airport bus straight from Narita to our destination. The bus will stop at these two places and many other hotels located around the vicinity. So super convenient.

If you visit Disneyland, do visit Disneysea as well. They are close by to each other. These two places are huge, much bigger than Hong Kong Disneyland. There is also a Cirque de Soleil nearby and another Sea park or aquarium (can't remember the name) a couple of train stations away. So, there are many things to do there already.

There is a subway station beside Disneyland and if you are staying nearby at one of the hotels, you can take the free shuttle provided by the hotels to the train station and take a train to downtown Tokyo. Very convenient.

If you don't want too much travelling, espeically with a young kid, I suggest you spend 2 days at Disneyland and Disneysea and stay at one of the nearby hotels (or even the Disneyland hotels if money is not an issue) there. If you want to go shopping at downtown Tokyo, you can transfer your stay to another hotel in the city after Disneyland.

Just my 2 cents worth of advice.

[aloyboy]

Aug weather in Japan especially in Tokyo could be worst than Singapore. Could go up at high at 35c and humity worst than Singapore. (I am just putting the worst case, it could be better)


As for Bullet train, you can take Narita Express from Narita airport and \"bluff\" them is bullet train (abt 90mins ride) ... my 3 yrs old buys that.. not sure about 8 yrs old unless they are train nerd can tell the differences.

Else, there is a Bullet train from Tokyo station to Yokohama station, but only 15 mins ride and the cheapest fare for bullet train.

You can bring food into the bullet train to eat, they do have those push cart selling snacks and drinks. Local food ? as in Singapore food ? Singapore / Msia restaurant are very rare and pay $18 for a plate of chicken rice !! :scratchhead:

I think ramen and japanese curry rice should be close enough to local food, there are a lot of chinese resturant around where you can get fried rice, sweet sour pork rice, fried noodles etc ...

For Disneyland hotel, you can try Hilton Tokyo Bay, Hilton is currently having 40% off if booked by end Jul, it could be as cheap as Y16,000 if rooms are available.

[fightingmom]

chixchix:

Hi all my trip is coming soon but i feel so gundu .. can anyone advise is the weather going to be worse than Singapore during 6-11 august..


and when we take the bullet train, is there any food inside ? Is it easy to get local food around.. i dont like Japanese food.

Is the disneyland better than Hongkong ?

Hi chixchix,

Tokyo Disneyland is DEFINITELY better than HK one! Bigger space and more rides. Japanese are very orderly and polite and you will never have to worry or get frustrated that someone try to cut queue from behind.

Go for fast pass and if you can, print out the park map. My DD had a lot of fun pre-planning which rides to take first. For those thrill rides that my dd didn't dare to take (she was 8 years old then), my DH and I did a child switch or single pass - this queue is usually very short. (we travelled during the Christmas season then)

I would even suggest that you go for Disney Sea cos it is one and only in Japan.

One thing though, most of the staff there don't speak much English. There will be a lot of signs / instructions written in English. For us, we are quite ok cos my DH speaks a bit of Jap and I also understand a bit. But not to worry, the Japanese are very helpful.

I cant remember whether they sell anything onboard the bullet train. If you are taking bullet train, you can buy those 便当 at the train station first. Price reasonable. Oh.. Also try to ask for non-smoking sector cos the jap can really smoke, you know, so don't end up in the smoking cabins !

Wish you have an enjoyable trip!

[Laura02]

Hi Chixchix!


I would definitely recommend going to Disneyland and Disneysea. In fact, I loved them so much I went for 2 days each. I stayed at a hotel that is a 5 min walk to Disneysea, MyStays Maihama hotel. It allowed us to get there really early in the morning, go back for a nap after lunch, then return and stay till late at night.

I think the Japanese schools are having their summer holidays now. So weekends may be really crowded.

If you have spare time, visit the Museums.

[kwcllf]

Laura02:

Hi Chixchix!


I would definitely recommend going to Disneyland and Disneysea. In fact, I loved them so much I went for 2 days each. I stayed at a hotel that is a 5 min walk to Disneysea, MyStays Maihama hotel. It allowed us to get there really early in the morning, go back for a nap after lunch, then return and stay till late at night.

I think the Japanese schools are having their summer holidays now. So weekends may be really crowded.

If you have spare time, visit the Museums.

I stayed at MyStays Maihama as well. Nice cosy and clean. They have a shuttle in the morning to bring you the the train station, which is just beside Disneyland. But at night, the shuttel stop operating relatively early (can't remember the time).

But, you can always take one of the nearby hotel shuttle from Disneyland and Disneysea and dropped off at the hotel near MyStays. then you walk less than 10min back to the hotel.

[auntieM]

Would appreciate any feedback on TokyoDisneyland/Sea Hotels, wanted to visit next year on their 30th anni but DH keen on going this December.. Many thanks!