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

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Eldainorn

Member
KillGore said:
So I'm thinking of purchasing the pocket wifi from here https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/common-questions/how-to-use-pocket-wifi

any thoughts? Also getting the JR pass from them
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I would say give it a go. I have bought jr pass twice now but from this site: https://www.jrpass.com. And I also always ordered pocket wifi (it was from Ninja Wifi) while I was at it. Worked flawlessly, always had a connection.

It can be a bit pricy (3 weeks was around 110€) but if you do not travel alone it can get pretty cheap.
 
L

Laevateinn

Member
I can't imagine how people go through so much data. I'll be using mine for maps, restaurant info, looking at my game collection on RF generation, and using gchat. I almost wish I could save a few thousand yen by getting even less data.
 
L

Laevateinn

Member
MikeHattsu said:
Where are you renting from then?
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We got ours from the Wi-Fi rental store. If there's something with less data I'll probably get it on our next trip. Price wasn't bad and it's always better to have too much data I guess. I just figure if I can save 2000 yen on two that could be another Saturn game I can fit into my budget not that I'm being super strict.
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
Laevateinn said:
We got ours from the Wi-Fi rental store. If there's something with less data I'll probably get it on our next trip. Price wasn't bad and it's always better to have too much data I guess. I just figure if I can save 2000 yen on two that could be another Saturn game I can fit into my budget not that I'm being super strict.
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Well, if you're staying for 12 days or more and you're sure you don't need that much data, you could check out tocoo:
https://wifi.tocoo.jp/en/product.php
 
L

Laevateinn

Member
MikeHattsu said:
Well, if you're staying for 12 days or more and you're sure you don't need that much data, you could check out tocoo:
https://wifi.tocoo.jp/en/product.php
Click to expand...

That's a much better deal. I'll put that in my Japan travel excel file for next time. This is probably as much as we need and it's a lot more economical.

Last time I didn't have to worry about it because T-Mobile is great for international travel. Too bad they suck in Chicago.
 
U

UnluckyKate

Member
Japan Gaf, I'm most likely tagging along my dad and coming to Japan from april 12 to 23rd.

Quick question : about how long will it take and how hard will it be to do Narita to Atsuki (kanagawa prefecture, west of Yokohama) couple of hours of trains ? Is there a good website to plan train and transportation in Tokyo ?

I'll be alone during the day. Hitting Tokyo most likely, so anyone want to tag along if not busy ?

Also, I want to take my dad to one of these ryokan with a view on the lake and Fuji for the week end. I have this one in my bookmark for years now :
http://www.kogetu.com.e.eg.hp.transer.com/

Is this high travel season ? Should I book early ?
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
UnluckyKate said:
Quick question : about how long will it take and how hard will it be to do Narita to Atsuki (kanagawa prefecture, west of Yokohama) couple of hours of trains ? Is there a good website to plan train and transportation in Tokyo ?

Also, I want to take my dad to one of these ryokan with a view on the lake and Fuji for the week end. I have this one in my bookmark for years now :
http://www.kogetu.com.e.eg.hp.transer.com/

Is this high travel season ? Should I book early ?
Click to expand...

You mean Atsugi? 2.5-3 hours. Check Google maps and Hyperdia

If you wanted to book early you'd have booked 3 months ago. Better book something ASAP :p
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
UnluckyKate said:
I'll have too and I'm okay with. I did mostly Tokyo alone in 2010. But as I don't speak japanese, having a guided tour with foreigner of a neiborhood, something informal, could be really nice for a change !
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You could try one of the 'free' tours here:
https://www.gotokyo.org/en/tourists/guideservice/guideservice/

Or contact one of the groups here:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/travel/guide/list_volunteerGuides.php?area=3&btnSearch=t#pref13


If you want something with a professional guide, then check on Japanican:
http://www.japanican.com/en/
 
U

UnluckyKate

Member
MikeHattsu said:
You could try one of the 'free' tours here:
https://www.gotokyo.org/en/tourists/guideservice/guideservice/

Or contact one of the groups here:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/travel/guide/list_volunteerGuides.php?area=3&btnSearch=t#pref13


If you want something with a professional guide, then check on Japanican:
http://www.japanican.com/en/
Click to expand...

Amazing thanks. Are they good tours ? Would you recommend ? The tours seem rather interesting !

Also I'm finding all kind of hotel and ryokans around the lake near Fuji san. From 150$ to 430$ the night. Everything depends of the view and the bath... I'll let my dad decide how much he values the view from the room and / or baths.

I wonder if it's not better to take a much cheaper ryokan, and spend more on a great famous bath for the view...
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
Lol, I was struggling at a food stand in Shinagawa for like 10 minutes trying to figure out how to tell them I wanted rice with the shrimp tempura. I had no idea it was 'gohan'.
 
T

TheBryanJZX90

Member
UnluckyKate said:
Amazing thanks. Are they good tours ? Would you recommend ? The tours seem rather interesting !

Also I'm finding all kind of hotel and ryokans around the lake near Fuji san. From 150$ to 430$ the night. Everything depends of the view and the bath... I'll let my dad decide how much he values the view from the room and / or baths.

I wonder if it's not better to take a much cheaper ryokan, and spend more on a great famous bath for the view...
Click to expand...

I've stayed at Sunnide Resort in Kawaguchiko, which has guest rooms with a private outdoor baths attached that have a view of Mt. Fuji. But I can't really say if the views were any better or worse than anywhere else because that's the only one I saw! Food was great though. Also if you go to Kawaguchiko make sure to get some hotoh noodles, like a thicker udon with lots of pumpkin, it's the best and I still remember it six years later. Also watch out for monkeys.
 
A

alittlelove

Neo Member
Hi everyone, I'll be making a trip next month that will include 3-ish days in Sapporo. I haven't been up north before, so does anyone have good suggestions on things to do mid-April? (I'll be going with my mom, who isn't really a fan of venturing into the wild... which might be an issue.)
 
Z

Zyzyxxz

Member
Planning on coming back for Trip #3 later this year, probably doing Tokyo again.

I've stayed in Shibuya both previous times but I wanna look somewhere else.

Proximity to the Oedo Line would be most convenient but I'm probably looking into a hostel or AirBnb (depending if I am traveling with others) and having a convenient nightlife and cool cafe/coffee spots would be awesome.

I've never spent time in Roppongi Hills hows that these days?
 
P

PdotMichael

Banned
MikeHattsu said:
Could do day trips to the Shima peninsula, Inuyama to check out the castle, Kiso valley, maybe even Takayama and check out Moricoro Park in Nagakute as well. :p
Click to expand...

After checking various ideas I think I'm gonna use the opportunity and take the Hayabusa and have a good in Hokkaido. It's maybe geographically not the smartest option but why not?
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
alittlelove said:
Hi everyone, I'll be making a trip next month that will include 3-ish days in Sapporo. I haven't been up north before, so does anyone have good suggestions on things to do mid-April? (I'll be going with my mom, who isn't really a fan of venturing into the wild... which might be an issue.)
Click to expand...

Check out Otaru with the canal, glassworks and music boxes and Noboribetsu with the hall valley and hot springs.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
TCRS said:
that gohan post reminds me... any recommendation for a dictionary? I mean for everyday use.
Click to expand...

As far as offline dictionaries go, JED works well on Android phones and you can even search kanji by radical if you can tell them apart. Japanese classmates also mentioned another app called Takoboto, I think.
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
Cherry blossoms in Tokyo now then:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...early-start-tokyo-despite-chilly-wet-weather/

Tokyo was rainy and cold on the first day sakura cherry blossoms officially began blooming in the nation’s capital.

On Tuesday morning, agency officials found five flowers on a someiyoshino tree in Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. This met the agency’s conditions for declaring the start of the someiyoshino blooming season. The cherry variety is the most common and popular in Japan.

Tokyo is the first city in the country to meet the standard this year, five days earlier than average, an agency official told The Japan Times.

According to the latest predictions by Weather Map Co., Fukuoka is likely to see someiyoshino bloom on Friday, followed by Nagoya (March 29), Osaka (April 2), Sendai (April 11), Niigata (April 13), Aomori (April 25) and Sapporo (May 1). Full bloom is generally seen seven to 10 days from the kick-off.
Click to expand...
 
D

Deleted member 245925

Unconfirmed Member
I'm trying to work out a rough schedule at the moment for my visit in August. Is there a preferred order of visiting at least Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and anything interesting in between (ideas welcome!) if I'm arriving at and leaving from Osaka (KIX)? Flights are significantly cheaper to Osaka than to Tokyo for me. Also, I'll be in Kobe for the first of three weeks total anyway due to work. I haven't done much research on what places I want to visit in each city yet, but I guess 3-5 days in Tokyo and 1-3 days in each of the other cities is appropriate?
 
M

MikeHattsu

Member
Evon said:
I'm trying to work out a rough schedule at the moment for my visit in August. Is there a preferred order of visiting at least Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and anything interesting in between (ideas welcome!) if I'm arriving at and leaving from Osaka (KIX)? Flights are significantly cheaper to Osaka than to Tokyo for me. Also, I'll be in Kobe for the first of three weeks total anyway due to work. I haven't done much research on what places I want to visit in each city yet, but I guess 3-5 days in Tokyo and 1-3 days in each of the other cities is appropriate?
Click to expand...

Could just do several day trips from Kobe to Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima. In Tokyo you could spend a week+ and not see everything ;p
 
D

Deleted member 245925

Unconfirmed Member
MikeHattsu said:
Could just do several day trips from Kobe to Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima. In Tokyo you could spend a week+ and not see everything ;p
Click to expand...

I hadn't even thought about just staying in the area and doing day trips. That would be more convenient with respect to hotel/airbnb too. JR Pass Shinkansen from Kobe to Hiroshima is just around 80 minutes it seems, that's really quick. I guess I overestimated the distances or underestimated the speed of the trains in my mind.

Thanks for the tip! I'm sure I'll be back with many questions over the coming months. :)
 
M

Merchandise

Member
Zyzyxxz said:
Planning on coming back for Trip #3 later this year, probably doing Tokyo again.

I've stayed in Shibuya both previous times but I wanna look somewhere else.

Proximity to the Oedo Line would be most convenient but I'm probably looking into a hostel or AirBnb (depending if I am traveling with others) and having a convenient nightlife and cool cafe/coffee spots would be awesome.

I've never spent time in Roppongi Hills hows that these days?
Click to expand...

Alright so I lived in Akasaka, which is basically Roppongi, for a semester and never got the vibe that Roppongi was as seedy as its reputation sounds. Until the day I left. 4 AM in a taxi going through Roppongi and it was MORE CROWDED than it was at any other time of day.

It's pretty nice tho. Really good fish and chip shop in front of Tokyo Midtown, not that you need to know...
 
V

Valkerionseven

Member
Merchandise said:
Alright so I lived in Akasaka, which is basically Roppongi, for a semester and never got the vibe that Roppongi was as seedy as its reputation sounds. Until the day I left. 4 AM in a taxi going through Roppongi and it was MORE CROWDED than it was at any other time of day.

It's pretty nice tho. Really good fish and chip shop in front of Tokyo Midtown, not that you need to know...
Click to expand...

Definitely depends what days you go out no matter where you are in this country. It tends to be everyone goes out on certain days/weekends. Things like end of the semester/exams for college aged people, coming of age ceremony (tends to be the worst imo since a lot of them are heavy drinking for the first time @.@) work parties/end of contract workers parties and what not.

They all fall around the same times throughout the year so your nights out may vary depending on the crowd it brings out lol.

Anyway got next week off and looking to travel/burn money on nothing. Can't decide where to go since it looks like my adventure to Korea might be off since my friend wants to go... but later this year -eyeroll- Probably going to hit Osaka for sure since its the cheapest flight from my area but not sure where to adventure to after.
 
D

DIrtyWeasel

Member
MikeHattsu said:
In 2 weeks, sure, but probably not in 3 weeks. There's late blooming kinds other than someiyoshino that'll be around though.
Click to expand...
That is a good tip to look for the late-bloomers if you miss the earlier cherry blossoms. In 2015 I was in Tokyo in mid-April and I had to go to the big Shinjuku Garden (Southeast of the Shinjuku station) to see any cherry blossoms at all. Thankfully they had a lot of the late-blooming trees. The trees elsewhere were already naked and had petals all over the nearby ground.
 
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Polioliolio

Member
Well I'm here eating breakfast at the hotel in akihabara. I'm supposed to check out in an hour, but I want to shop a bit before hauling my luggage. You can extend the stay for an hour for 1000 yen, or apparently you can leave your luggage in the lobby after checking out and they'll hold it. It's kind of out in the open under a net.. Do you think it's safe or should I extend the stay for an hour?
 
Gromph

Gromph

This tag is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance...
Staff Member
Polioliolio said:
Well I'm here eating breakfast at the hotel in akihabara. I'm supposed to check out in an hour, but I want to shop a bit before hauling my luggage. You can extend the stay for an hour for 1000 yen, or apparently you can leave your luggage in the lobby after checking out and they'll hold it. It's kind of out in the open under a net.. Do you think it's safe or should I extend the stay for an hour?
Click to expand...

Yes is pretty safe.
 
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