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Japan Travel |OT| One does simply not visit just once

When I was checking Airbnb, Tokyo had the worst options, followed closely by Osaka. I mean Osaka had better options at cheaper prices, but they weren't close to where I wanted to be at all. Maybe look for deals in hotels? I've been staying in some for less than $80 Aud per night. Small rooms but usually fantastic service.

Depends on the dates you're travelling too, I found a pretty good AirBnB place last time I were in Tokyo. Looking at some smaller non-tourist cities I'm visiting next time and there's no AirBnB at all there :p
 

Fritz

Member
In general the quality of Airbnb is probably detoriating as commercial offers are increasing. Makes me think of eBay.
 

Zyzyxxz

Member
Regarding AirBnB:

I checked for Tokyo as well and felt like there was a overwhelming amount of tacky and expensive commercial offers. There was hardly anything for someone looking for the original Airbnb experience. I decided I'd rather book a single room in a hostel for the same price.

Had great experiences in Kyoto in 2014 though so maybe this time it was just bad luck.

its tough because there's so many offers in Tokyo. Doesn't help that theres a shortage of hotel rooms in Tokyo making regular hotels more expensive and people with subpar rooms feel like they can charge slightly less for a lot worse accomodations.

Look up a ton of different options in several neighborhoods you would like to stay in and make a list then go thru and read all the user reviews to see their experiences and that will be the safest way to make a good pick other than actually going there yourself.
 

Xiao Hu

Member
Hello everyone. I'm living in China right now and will return home by end of July. But not before going to Japan or Korea first so I ended up here for some tips. Now the thread is rather long and the amount of information on japan-guide is overwhelming, can somebody recommend me an itinerary to take and sights to see?
 

Fritz

Member
Hello everyone. I'm living in China right now and will return home by end of July. But not before going to Japan or Korea first so I ended up here for some tips. Now the thread is rather long and the amount of information on japan-guide is overwhelming, can somebody recommend me an itinerary to take and sights to see?

How many days roughly?

Tokyo is a no brainer. Anything else is up to debate and depends on your preferences, time and pacing.

I am staying for a little over a week in Tokyo in October and with trips to Nikko and Mt Takao the week is already fully planned. There is so much to do and see and it's my second time too.
 
Hello everyone. I'm living in China right now and will return home by end of July. But not before going to Japan or Korea first so I ended up here for some tips. Now the thread is rather long and the amount of information on japan-guide is overwhelming, can somebody recommend me an itinerary to take and sights to see?

Well, what kind of interests do you have and what kind of stuff do you want to see or do?
 

hwalker84

Member
Hello everyone. I'm living in China right now and will return home by end of July. But not before going to Japan or Korea first so I ended up here for some tips. Now the thread is rather long and the amount of information on japan-guide is overwhelming, can somebody recommend me an itinerary to take and sights to see?
What dates exactly? We need more information.
 

Xiao Hu

Member
I have the whole of July free but I think I can only stomach 2 weeks of travel financially. I thought about landing in Tokyo, moving westwards and then going back to Shanghai via Fukuoka because Spring Airlines offer cheap flights from there. I guess Mt Fuji is a must seen, Nagoya is the hometown of a friend of mine, Osaka and Kyoto (because of Nintendo) should also be visited. I also wanted to pay respect to the victims in Hiroshima. Interest wise I'm open to everything.
 
Arriving at Roppongi station in a bit, hope they have coin lockers lol.

Going to hit the clubs, pray I don't die pls

Edit: well fuck, they're all locked because of the summit. Nice.

Guess I'll grab dinner then head back to akihabara and hit some arcades tonight, should have gone back to my hotel with my bag in the first place -_-

I'll hit Roppongi tomorrow night after a day at Odaiba!
 

Fritz

Member
I have the whole of July free but I think I can only stomach 2 weeks of travel financially. I thought about landing in Tokyo, moving westwards and then going back to Shanghai via Fukuoka because Spring Airlines offer cheap flights from there. I guess Mt Fuji is a must seen, Nagoya is the hometown of a friend of mine, Osaka and Kyoto (because of Nintendo) should also be visited. I also wanted to pay respect to the victims in Hiroshima. Interest wise I'm open to everything.

Ganz ehrlich, sounds like an itinerary! A bit crowded probably. Tokyo - Fuji - Nagoya (if you have someone to show you around, otherwise I'd skip it) - Kyoto - Osaka - Hiroshima - Fukuoka. Will be tight though.

I'd say for two weeks Tokyo - Kyoto - Hiroshima is plenty with possible day trips (Kamakura, Nara, Osaka,..)
 

Fireblend

Banned
So here's the current schedule for our trip:

2MpN6oE.png

  • Is one night in Hiroshima enough? Some friends who went there said 2 nights was too much.
  • Same friends recommended Nikko. Worth checking out?
The day trips are pretty interchangeable and we can decide about them during our trip, I'm more concerned with where we'll be staying each day.
 
Ganz ehrlich, sounds like an itinerary! A bit crowded probably. Tokyo - Fuji - Nagoya (if you have someone to show you around, otherwise I'd skip it) - Kyoto - Osaka - Hiroshima - Fukuoka. Will be tight though.

I'd say for two weeks Tokyo - Kyoto - Hiroshima is plenty with possible day trips (Kamakura, Nara, Osaka,..)

Kamakura and Nara are beautiful!

I'd definitely recommend those, too.
Both are worth a day trip.

I thought that Kyoto had not thaaaat much to offer. I liked Osaka more.
 

Fritz

Member
Kamakura and Nara are beautiful!

I'd definitely recommend those, too.
Both are worth a day trip.

I thought that Kyoto had not thaaaat much to offer. I liked Osaka more.

I always thought the Big Buddha looked boring and thus completely dismissed Kamakura. Until that episode of terrace house. Now I think about skipping mt takao or one of my Tokyo plans.
 
I always thought the Big Buddha looked boring and thus completely dismissed Kamakura. Until that episode of terrace house. Now I think about skipping mt takao or one of my Tokyo plans.

We went to the Buddha, but mostly spent time near the coast, walking through a beautiful part of Kamakura.
 
Well I finally booked my ticket. I arrive monday august 1st in the afternoon and leave early morning sunday august 7.

I'm meeting up with friends, but probably not until wednesday. I just need to figure out what to do monday evening and tuesday.


So here's the current schedule for our trip:

[*]Is one night in Hiroshima enough? Some friends who went there said 2 nights was too much.
[*]Same friends recommended Nikko. Worth checking out?
[/LIST]
The day trips are pretty interchangeable and we can decide about them during our trip, I'm more concerned with where we'll be staying each day.

One night in Hiroshima does seem a little short because there is a lot of stuff to do in the city. I was there much longer and never really got bored. Although depends on what stuff you like to do.
 
Bumped into a group of black people who I think were from the US. They asked where the "Jamacian musical festival" was and I told them I heard a tonne of music from over the bridge in the park next to the giant gundam.

"Where are you from?"

"Australia"

"Oh hell I thought you were a regular white guy!"

"Oh okay haha, well enjoy the festival!"

"We will, of course you're going the other way though!"

Then they laughed and walked off in the direction I pointed them. I like Jamaican music :(

And I don't know what "regular" white guy means haha, maybe he meant American? Weird.

Odaiba was pretty cool. Checked out the PSVR and stuff.
 
Well I finally booked my ticket. I arrive monday august 1st in the afternoon and leave early morning sunday august 7.

I'm meeting up with friends, but probably not until wednesday. I just need to figure out what to do monday evening and tuesday.

Buy a towel and have lots of change for the soda-machines ready.
August is such an exhausting month in Japan when it comes to weather.
 

Xiao Hu

Member
Ganz ehrlich, sounds like an itinerary! A bit crowded probably. Tokyo - Fuji - Nagoya (if you have someone to show you around, otherwise I'd skip it) - Kyoto - Osaka - Hiroshima - Fukuoka. Will be tight though.

I'd say for two weeks Tokyo - Kyoto - Hiroshima is plenty with possible day trips (Kamakura, Nara, Osaka,..)

Ok, perhaps I should adjust it
 
How disgusting is Japan exactly in summer? Perhaps I should rather do some hiking on Hokkaido instead of melting on Honshu

It's coming into summer now and wearing a shirt with jeans hasn't been too uncomfortable. That said, wearing board shorts and a t shirt to hike around Nara still got pretty hot.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
folks visiting for three weeks from saturday next week - time to be all travel GAF!

This is their 7th time here, so it's going to be somewhat tricky to find new stuff for them to do, but a few old faithfuls will come through (Baseball, the famous beatles tribute band, a few certain restaurants, etc)
 
Man, I'm beat. Almost had a derp out moment where the flight to Tokyo left 2 hours earlier than I thought, had to do the airport run therr.

Got in a half hour early and everything was pretty seamless, from getting money to getting the train, to getting my AirBnB.

Went and saw the Tigers play the Giants, my god. Such chaos. So much energy from the fans, too.
 

Fireblend

Banned
How much of a loss would it be to stay somewhere in Kyoto that's not near Kyoto station if I want to use trains a lot? Is public transportation good/cheap enough that it wouldn't be too much of a tragedy? The options we have with our budget near the station don't seem ideal, so I'm wondering if it'd be worth it to extend our search radius a bit in exchange for some more comfort, specially since we'll be staying for 9 nights.
 
How much of a loss would it be to stay somewhere in Kyoto that's not near Kyoto station if I want to use trains a lot? Is public transportation good/cheap enough that it wouldn't be too much of a tragedy?

Well, you'd might need to take the bus each day and traffic/crowds can be quite bad. I guess you could try getting something near one of the Karasuma subway stations like Shijo if you're going to Kyoto Station a lot.

I've stayed near Shijo Kawaramachi sometimes because it got easy access to both the bus and the Keihan line. Of course, if you got a JR Pass, then it's less attractive to take the Keihan trains everywhere.
 

mcmmaster

Member
Is there anything huge going on in November in the Akihabara area, me and my friends were looking to book hotel Remm then but it seems they booked out all of a sudden, even the nearest hotels are all sold out for that month.
 

Fritz

Member
How much of a loss would it be to stay somewhere in Kyoto that's not near Kyoto station if I want to use trains a lot? Is public transportation good/cheap enough that it wouldn't be too much of a tragedy? The options we have with our budget near the station don't seem ideal, so I'm wondering if it'd be worth it to extend our search radius a bit in exchange for some more comfort, specially since we'll be staying for 9 nights.

Kyoto is all about buses with all their pros and cons. I stayed outside of the city center in a residential area and all things consider it was absolutely fine. Not as convenient as Tokyo but still fine. It was also around golden week. Just make sure that you have a good connection to the main station.

Also a buddy stayed in a fantastic hostel just south of the main station. Might want to look into that. Here, found it: Piece Hostel Kyoto
 
Why you taking cabs?

If my grammar and spelling wasn't an indicator, I was drunk and it was just after 2am. Cost about 3900 Yen to get back to my hotel.

Anyway, I'm walking around Ginza before I fly back tonight. Damn this place is nice, if I were more into fashion I would stay here without a doubt. Lots of great brands and quality products around.
 

daegan

Member
How much of a loss would it be to stay somewhere in Kyoto that's not near Kyoto station if I want to use trains a lot? Is public transportation good/cheap enough that it wouldn't be too much of a tragedy? The options we have with our budget near the station don't seem ideal, so I'm wondering if it'd be worth it to extend our search radius a bit in exchange for some more comfort, specially since we'll be staying for 9 nights.

We stayed in a Airbnb a 5 minute walk from Marutamachi station and it was fine. We actually didn't end up needing the bus our entire time there but obviously, YMMV. We did end up spending a decent amount on the subway but that's life~
 
Is there anything huge going on in November in the Akihabara area, me and my friends were looking to book hotel Remm then but it seems they booked out all of a sudden, even the nearest hotels are all sold out for that month.

Doesn't seem to be anything that I can find. Not a national holiday nor is there any big event that a non-local would really be interested in, like... a bush festival. Might be a holiday season in China or something or Korea and there is just an influx of tourists that time/area.

It's easy enough to get around though so maybe book elsewhere? or are you set on Akihabara?
 
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