|
|
|
Rafi and I travelled to Japan from
August 27 to Sept 3, 2015. We went to four main areas - Tokyo, Kyoto, Koyasan
and Osaka.
August 27: arrival in Osaka, stay in KIX airport for the night
August 28-30: Tokyo (Shibuya, Akihabara, Odaiba, Imperial Palace, Harajuku,
Shinjuku, Disney Sea)
August 30-Sept 1: Kyoto (Kinkakuji, Philosopher's Path, Ginkakuji, Gion,
Shijo, Kiyomizuderamae, Fushimi Inarii, Arashiyama area - Sagano Scenic
Train, Bamboo Grove, Tenryujiimae)
Sept 1-2: Koyasan (Ekoin, Kongobujimae, Daimon Gate, Onsen experience, Shojin
ryoji meal, Temple Stay, Buddhist morning ritual, Goma Fire ritual,
Okunoinmae)
Sept 2-3: Osaka (Dotombori / Namba, Ichiran Ramen, Don Quijote, Umeda, USJ)
|
|
|
On
transportation
|
|
·
JR Pass is definitely
convenient to use if you want to travel across cities - just show your pass
to the train officer and you can get on the platform and ride on any JR line
train. However, it may not necessarily be cheaper. It helps to plan your
itinerary well. It gives value for your money if you are to use Shinkansen a
lot of times during your travel. A trip from Osaka to Tokyo will set you back
by around JPY 8000. If you plan to travel the same distance for about three
or more times, then getting a JR Pass will definitely save you a lot.
However, in our case, I felt we could have saved a bit more should we
estimated how much it would cost to travel from Osaka to Tokyo, Tokyo to
Kyoto, Kyoto to Koyasan, Koyasan to Osaka beforehand. I think it would still
not cost JPY 29000.
|
|
·
Make sure you ride the right
train line and be prepared to pay extra should you accidentally ride an
express line instead of an ordinary one. This happened to us during our trip
to Koyasan. We rode a Rapid Express train. While our JR Pass and Kansai Thru
Pass was acceptable on the Koya-line, we had to pay an extra JPY 700+ each,
since what we rode was a rapid express train.
|
|
·
In Kyoto, buying the
1-day/2-day/3-day passes will save you money (especially if you want to avoid
a lot of walking). A bus ride could cost around JPY 230 while a day pass is
only JPY 600. There is also a combination of bus and train ride in Kyoto
(about JPY 1200/ day) but we did not use it since we felt that bus pass is
sufficient enough for us (given the sites that we want to see around Kyoto).
|
|
·
Kansai thru Pass is also a
good option to use around Kansai Area (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Koyasan, etc.). It
is already acceptable in buses and subway. There are 1 day / 2 day and 3 day
options that you can choose from depending on how long you want to stay in
Kyoto and the sites you want to see. It also comes with coupons that you can
show to their partner merchants to get discounts. We were not able to use
them though because we cannot read Japanese. XD
|
|
|
On
accommodation
|
|
·
We were able to save one
night of accommodation cost since we decided to stay in the airport on our
first night in Osaka. It was a cost-efficient way for us since we arrived in
the airport at 8pm and was able to complete immigration requirements after
about two hours, so going out of the airport was not really a good option,
especially that our plan is to head to Tokyo first thing the following
morning.
|
|
·
Tokyo hotel is much more
expensive than hotels in Kyoto or Osaka. Consider staying in hostels or
guesthouses if you want to save.
|
|
·
We booked our hotels using
Booking.com. We preferred to use this versus Agoda since 1) they have free
cancellation options (important for us during that time since we booked prior
to applying for a Japan Visa), 2) you can pay cash on the day of your arrival
and 3) their rates are sometimes lower
|
|
·
Booking early is important.
Hotels and other accommodations in Japan gets booked quickly. We tried to
check on cheaper accommodations a week before our flight (cause i realized
JPY 21000 for two nights in Tokyo might be too much compared to JPY 10650 for
two nights in Kyoto) and most of the
hotels and guesthouses with affordable rates are already fully booked. What
are left are those hotels that cost JPY 40000 a night. Too costly for us!
|
|
·
We used Airbnb on our last
day in Osaka.
The Pros of staying in Airbnb
accommodation
o I like staying in Airbnb
accommodation because it feels more comfortable and homey compared to the
sterile, formal feel of staying in hotels.
o Most have kitchen utilities that you can use in case you want to
cook your own food or bring take out food from restaurants. Most hotels would
not have these kitchen equipments (e.g. microwave, utensils, etc.).
o Our accoommodation also allowed us to use their free portable
wifi for our travel around Osaka - definitely a plus since wifi is essential
if you want to avoid getting lost :D
o Some accommodations are cheaper than hotels.
The Cons of staying in Airbnb
accommodation
o It's difficult to find an accommodation with flexible
cancellation policy so we ended up booking hotels via booking.com
o It's rare to find an Airbnb accommodation within the heart of
the city. ours was about 15 minutes train ride away from Namba. But it was
not really a problem since we all know that train rides and bus rides in Japan
operates like clockwork
|
|
|
On
Navigating around
|
|
·
We booked a portable wifi
(through Veltra.com) prior to our arrival in Japan. We reckon it could save
us a lot more than using our cellular data. Roaming charges are just too
steep and also consumes battery a lot more. Our 7-day rental of the portable
wifi cost around PhP 1900++, whereas roaming charges cost around P500/day, if
I am not mistaken
|
|
·
While a lot of places in
Japan offers free wifi - airport, hotel, restaurants, there are places which
still do not. Unless you have planned your itinerary so well including how to
go from one site to another, what train lines to use, which platforms to go
to, then you do not have to use a portable wifi. But if you are like us who
want to keep their itinerary quite flexible, then wifi is essential.
|
|
·
Most of the blogs we read
suggested downloading Hyperdia to make navigating around Japan easier.
However, when we tried downloading it, we found that download was restricted
for residents of certain countries, Philippines excluded. So we ended up
using their web-version. But most of the time, we just relied on Google to
help us navigate and we felt it was just as accurate and reliable as
Hyperdia. Details on the time of train departure, number of minutes the
travel would take, cost of fare, and which platform you should go are already
included in the details.
|
