Travel & Holidays Trip to Japan?

Hey @WestOz , yup we are in Tokyo at the moment and did Japan (osaka and surrounds) 2 years ago with our then 14yo (and his 2 siblings)

Ok.
Firstly you can't fly direct from Perth to Japan until ANA and JAL hopefully open direct flights this year. You can fly via Denpasar/Jakarta (Garuda), Singapore (Qantas, Jetstar, Singapore Airlines), Kuala Lumpur (Maylasian Airlines, Air Asia) Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific). Or you can fly via Melbourne/Sydney/Bris/Cairns with Qantas and Jetstar

Internally as others have said the JR Pass is great but doesn't include the Shinkansen trains but does included unlimited JR trains so you need to work out how many JR you will take to see if it's worth it.

Some highlights below - there are many others.

Tokyo
- Studio Ghibli
- Harajuko
- EDO museum
- Imperial Palace
- 4am trip to the fish markets Tsu

Osaka
- Aquarium - truly amazing and beautiful
- Dotonbori
- Osaka Castle Park

Kyoto
- Samurai class in Kyoto
- lots of temples

Nara
- deer park

As to accomodation - the levels range and as travelling as 2 you have the world is your oyster. Do try and stay in a Ryokan at least once where you sleep on tatami mats on the floor. Pick hotels which are close to a main JR line - in Osaka we stayed at the Swissotel which was in Namba on top of a subway station. I

If you are moving around a lot then have a good sturdy small suitcase on wheels each or a backpack. Either will make train travel much easier.

 

Don't rent a car. You probably won't have time to drive the length. And you won't find parking. As others have said, buy a JR rail pass. Although not cheap, it'll be much cheaper than buying single shinkansen tickets. The west side of Shinjuku station at night time is interesting. Also Kabukicho main road. Spend a few days in Tokyo. Then travel to Kyoto and Nara which are more traditional and have temples. Perhaps then Hiroshima and then circle back up to Tokyo. There's no real off the beaten path in Japan because it's so crowded.

For anime go to Nakano Broadway, which is a small mall for anime at Nakano station. It is not well known to tourists, but it is where all the anime is. The tourists all go to Akihabura.

Shibuya scramble crossing with Hachiko the dog (look for Hachiko exit) is another place. Hachiko would wait for his owner every day at the station. His owner died one day and didn't come back. Hachiko never left the station again and waited there until he died. Shibuya crossing is in lots of movies.

Asakusa in Tokyo has a big traditional temple and lots of Japanese food.

I like Harajuku, but probs not that interesting for a 14 year old boy.

Food in Japan is plentiful, cheap and good. In fact, it's delicious. You won't get food poisoning from food cooked by a Japanese person. Also, honesty and integrity are very high. If you lose your wallet you can come back in five days and find it in the same place.

 

There are some direct flights from Gold Coast starting in next month or two but that wont help you. Low cost stuff. But I suspect its Air Asia ? I think I read mention could even be scoot launching new destination. Sorry. cant remember... You may need to fly to Malaysia to to get the connections. Jetstar can have cheap deals at times too. Subscribe.

Japan can be cheap. Tokyo not quite so but don't miss it for that reason. Just find low cost options. eg : Tube hotel for a night. Use rail ferry etc. Driving will NOT be easy or cheap. Pick a few location sand commute hop them. Avoid a car. Hey I travelled to China return for $270pp for the 2008 games. Viva Macau was a uber dodgy cheapo carrier. But I got home. Cheap can be interesting. Ferry between islands ? Overnight even.

Get the kid involved in planning it - He knows what he wants to see. We always gave our kids a city / town etc to plan and they love it. You get to control time + cost.

 

toll ways are plentyfull and very expensive in Japan while the trains are great. Best not to attempt to drive I think.

 

BTW that $10k budget is plenty. You will have change. For that I could get you there business class and 5 star hotels!

We can get sit down Japanese meals here in Tokyo for around 900 yen (approx $10-11). We operate on walk until we find something that appeals - basically left or right out of hotel and discover. However tonight we are going for a teppanyaki dinner and that will be around $70 a head.

 

Westy, every time I've been to Japan I've bought a Rail Pass and used it on Shinkansens (as well as all JR normal trains). Maybe you got a different sort of pass than I did??

@WestOz I should also note that the rail pass can only be bought before you travel to Japan - you can't just buy one on arrival.

 

Shoot I must have read something wrong.

 

It doesn't include certain Shinkansen ride, I think it doesn't include the green car as well.

 

Firstly, I’d go early April over June/July any time. It might be busier, but the blossoms and cooler & drier weather make it worth it. If you pre-book all your accommodation, you shouldn’t have any problems, but be prepared for larger crowds in places like Kyoto. I went there once at that time and it was great. Even got free entry into one or two places during the first week of blossom time.

Definitely get JR passes (before you go). I’d get two-week passes, which you can also use on the Yamanote circle line in Tokyo, but not on the subways. If you go for longer than two weeks, do the time in Tokyo first or last without the rail pass. There are restrictions on which shinkansen you can use, but the Hikari ones are what you’ll normally want (assuming nothing’s changed in the last few years).

For planning all train travel, use the Hyperdia website. It’s brilliant.

I have no idea about anime, but some suggestions for places that could be done in a couple of week trip starting in Tokyo:

• Tokyo itself
• Nikko
• Mt Fuji area (though I personally wouldn’t bother)
• Kyoto (but don’t spend all your time there)
• Osaka mainly for food
• Nara
• Himeji Castle
• Hiroshima & Miyajima
• Seto Ohashi bridge (to Shikoku)
• Korakuen garden in Okayama
• Takayama & the Hida folk village

You probably don’t want to go further than that in just two weeks, though you can go pretty much anywhere the shinkansen goes in just a few hours.

With a rail pass, I find the most convenient thing is to base yourself in just two or three places and then do day excursions on the train. That way you’re not constantly moving your luggage around. My suggestions for bases would be Tokyo, Okayama, either Osaka or Kyoto, and Takayama if you plan to go there.

From Tokyo, you can visit Nikko and probably Mt Fuji. Okayama is a great base for the garden, the bridge, and Hiroshima & Miyajima. I personally prefer staying in Osaka rather than Kyoto, around the main Osaka train station, and it’s a fairly short train trip between them. It's about an hour to Nara as well. The Hankyu line from Umeda takes you into the downtown area of Kyoto (but you can't use the JR pass), while all the temple buses go from the Kyoto JR station (and you want to see that station building at least once).

A bit of detail on each place.

Tokyo: I think this has pretty much been covered. I haven’t been there for quite some time now. A popular ryokan for foreigners is the Kimi Ryokan in Ikebukuro. A tad tricky to find, but probably easier now if you use GPS.

Nikko: The Tokugawa shrine. It could be a bit chilly in April. A day trip.

Kyoto: Lots of temples of course. During the blossom time, the eastern side along the Philosopher’s Walk is probably most popular, and if you walk down there you’ll end up near the centre of town. However, I also liked the Tenryu-ji on the western side, with the nearby bamboo forest, and with a short local-train trip from Kyoto, the Fushimi-Inari shrine is good too (and free). Then there’s the imperial palace (you need to reserve in the morning for a tour through the main buildings) and Nijo Castle. The botanic garden is quite good too.

Osaka: For me, mainly food. We’ve usually stayed in the Granvia hotel right on top of Osaka station - very convenient but not real cheap. That’s close to a lot of food, Umeda Hankyu station, and the HEP 5 building if you want to ride the ferris wheel up on the roof. The southern part (minami-ku) around Dotonbori is a popular spot too. There’s a cheap all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant near there in the Shinsaibashi arcade that opens late morning. Heaps of underground shopping all over the place too.

Nara: Primarily the pagodas, the Todaiji temple, and the nearby halls. Friendly deer wander around the place as well.

Himeji Castle: Just that. It’s the #1 original state castle in Japan. You only need a few hours (half a day). You can visit from either Okayama or Osaka, or en-route between them if you can find something to do with your luggage. The other good original castle is in Matsuyama in Shikoku, but from memory it’s something like four hours by train from Okayama (you can also get there by ferry from Hiroshima, but that’s probably even harder).

Hiroshima: The A-bomb museum and Peace Park.

Miyajima: Mainly the famous shrine and floating torii gate. There are deer there too.

Seto Ohashi Bridge: A very long bridge between Honshu and Shikoku (in seven sections). You can travel over it by train, or get down beneath it and take a boat tour for a better look.

Korakuen Garden: One of Japan’s top three gardens. This one features expanses of lawn, which are rare in Japan, and rather nicely has Okayama Castle as a back-drop. If you visit Himeji Castle, don’t bother with this castle (or Osaka castle). If you’re going to base in Okayama, stay close to the railway station. There's also an interesting bike ride you can do along the Kibi Plain, which is something different (pretty crappy bikes though when I did it decades ago). Allow a few hours.

Takayama: This is up on the edge of the Alps, and you take a limited express train to get there (JR, so you can use the pass). It’s an interesting little place with a morning market and saki and miso breweries in the old part of town. It will be cold in April, but if you’re there on 14th & 15th you can see the spring festival. That will be really busy though, so you’d definitely need to book accommodation well in advance. The place is packed during the parades as well. Or if you go in July, you could use it as a base to visit the Alps, but probably wouldn’t have time. The Hida folk village is just out of Takayama and has an interesting collection of traditional gassho-zukuri (thatched) houses. Worth spending a few hours.

GP

 

It includes all Shinkansen routes, but only the Hikari trains (which is the majority of the trains anyway), not the Nozomi or the Mizuho.

And yes - the Green cars are extra - and I wouldn't bother.

JAPAN RAIL PASS

 

Excellent post, @GreatPig!

 

It includes all the shinkansen except Nozomi and Mizuho (last I remember). There are also Kodama services down that way. Kodama services are slower, stopping at more stations, but also more frequent. I seem to recall Hikari services being about once an hour.

Also, we always travel non-reserved, and just get there a bit early. The wife then dashes in for a seat while I stow the luggage. Generally works.

GP

 

Hi All, just got home from work so haven't fully absorbed everything above yet.
Just wanted to write this before you guys over East go to bed, to thank you all for your advice/help etc, your wonderful people and I love this forum for all its positiveness compared to trolling crap found elsewhere etc.

@Westminster, thanks for taking the time to write while on your own holiday over there, especially the flight details from Perth which was doing my head in. (which way did you go?)
Perhaps if I'd brought this subject up earlier instead of procrastinating for the past 6+ months we could have been getting flushed faced and giggly with a few jugs of sake tonight.

Thanks again all, will do some research & no doubt come back with some Q's...

 

@WestOz flights are super easy - don't worry. We did Garuda airlines because they had business class for $3k return which was a bargain. However if you are going economy then I'd go with a good airline and short journey - Singapore Airlines and Qantas are both around $1100 return and 13-15hr journeys. You'll only save $100 or so by going Air Asia and it won't be worth it. see http://www.skyscanner.com.au/transp...nabled=false&inboundaltsenabled=false#results

 

We should organise a property chat Japan trip.

 

Thanks @Westminster, cost of the flights are a joke, could spend a lush week in Bali for that.

Sounds good, you organise it & let me know how much & who we gotta pay

 

Malaysia Airlines is having a sale now. You'll have to stay overnight in Kuala Lumpur on the journey back though. They're good if you want "cheap" business class. They have a bidding system and AU$250 per leg usually secures your upgrade.

 

Can't find it, gotta link?
So for my noobness, auction from $500pp au?
Incase it's not mentioned, just the one night in KL or can we stopover for a couple?

 

Normal website on Home | Malaysia Airlines. Put in some dates, and you'll see it's around the $1k mark.

After you have bought economy tickets, you can bid for the biz upgrade later as per MHupgrade| Malaysia Airlines Upgrade to Business Class | Malaysia Airlines

It's per leg. eg perth->kl or kl->tokyo etc. If you want to upgrade all legs, then allow an extra $1k return. Spending $2k all up is cheap for biz class.

You can stay more nights if you do separate bookings for perth->kul and kul->tokyo, but not sure if it costs more.

 

Rail pass is great. I would travel from Fukuoka all the way to Tokyo making stops at Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka (Osaka castle is nice),,, Tokyo. It's a great way to see Japan by rail. We went to USS Arizona memorial yesterday and a trip to Hiroshima in the future would be great and yes I said the same thing to my kids... I'll take you there one day. Haaaa