Surviving Japan: Before the Trip
I've been to Japan for quite a number of times and every time I've been there, I've always experienced some fun and new things to do.
This year (2017), my trip covered a couple of prefectures near Tokyo. Toyama (Tateyama Alpine Route), Ibaraki ( Hitachi Seaside Park), Chiba (Tokyo Disneyland), Gifu (Shirakawago), Yamanashi (Kawaguchiko), and Tochigi ( Ashikaga Flower Park).
It wasn't rocket science when I decided to go to these places. I had to scratch head and pulled out a few hairs before settling on this itinerary. I decided to list down a few tips to help you guys plan your next travel to Japan:
1. Do your research
In the beginning, when there were no Facebook pages to like, we would heard about the wonderful places of Japan by word of mouth or the travel programs that we see on TV or during the travel fair. Times have changed. We have various tourism board pages from which you can subscribe to with a click of a button.
List down the places you want to go. List down the areas' point of interest. List down the areas' specialty. (Trust me, it will all come together).
In my case, I had epiphany around October 2012, when the interest to go to Ibaraki piqued at that time I saw the red kochia hill from one of the Japanese tourist pages on Facebook. Fast forward to 2017, I was looking at places to go near Tokyo and the image of Hitachi Seaside Park popped into my head. I estimated the time that I will be in Japan and lo and behold, there's some nemophilas blooming just around the corner!
As a cautionary warning, just because a person is a Japanophile, it does not mean he/she is a mighty expert on all things related to Japan especially transport. He/She won't know directions from your hotel to the place you want to go. He/she can only give you tips and pointers on what you can do in that place provided he/she had already went to that place. Use google.
2. Estimate your dates
Now, that we've settled on the places we want to go, the next thing to ask is how long am I going to stay there? What's my aim for this trip? Am I going to go to several prefecture? Am I going North/South/West Japan? If so, do I need to stretch my trip for a week/ a month?
Frankly speaking if you just plan to go for One(1) stop, a mere 4D3N trip will suffice. You can cover a lot of ground:
Normally to cover more ground, I would book a hotel near a shopping district, so I can still do last minute shopping on my last day. ( Normally, malls open at 11am, small stores e.g. GU open at 10am).
3. Allocate your budget
With every trip planned, one must estimate how much to spend for this trip.
If you're going to eat out all the time and not eat any convenience store food, roughly it's going to be an estimate of 1000yen per meal per day per person. The serving depends on the restaurant you're in but normally, it's roughly a one person serving.
Transport fees, roughly it's 200yen/single trip ( but this varies on the distance traveled, the longer the distance, the higher the fee), and this is just train ride. Shinkansen costs, overnight buses are entirely different thing. This will depend on the places you're going.
You can avail day passes to use for the trip. There are numerous pass that you can use and every prefecture offers their own pass (Cue research). The all powerful Japan Rail Pass can save you on transport especially when you ride the shinkansen and when you're going to far off places in Japan. You can even use it to go from Tokyo to Hokkaido! But be forewarn, you should calculate first the fares and weigh it out whether it would be economical to use a pass or just pay on your own. You can use hyperdia to calculate fees, take note of train timings as well as the platform where you will alight and board. It's quite useful website.
For my trip this year, I did not use the JR Pass as I didn't require travelling to far out places in Japan. I stayed and traveled to nearby prefecture around Tokyo. I used Tokyo Wide Area Pass (10,000 yen as of this writing) for this trip. You can avail of the pass while in Tokyo, just visit any JR Travel East offices.
And of course souvenirs, food souvenirs, unless you're getting them from Don Quijote or from Hyaku-en Shop (Daiso), it will cost you an arm and a leg. At most you have to spend roughly 1000yen for it. (A normal food omiyage from a certain prefecture is usually around 680 yen for a box of 4/6/8). The prices are the same in airport, so you can get some food souvenirs at the airport ( if you're willing to queue for it)
4. Create a checklist
I would do a checklist just to give me a rundown of the things that I need to complete, before and during the travel.
I would start a checklist of things to bring, things to do and things to buy.
Things to bring (Pre-travel)
1. Passport
2. Other identification ( IC, Driver's license,etc)
3. Travel essentials ( Toiletries, medicine, your clothes, your pajamas, undergarments, etc. )
4. Gadgets and electronics ( Phone, camera, battery charger, travel adapter, SD cards, etc)
5. Clothes for the season ( Rainy season: Umbrella, poncho/raincoat, Summer: swim wear, Winter/Autumn/Spring: Jacket)
6. Shoes (Rubber shoes/sneakers will do the trick)
7. Others
Normally, the hotels in Japan have hotel room slippers and water bottles ( so you don't need to bring any of it) .
Things to buy (Pre-travel)
1. airline tickets ( Your local travel agency, skyscanner, cheaptickets, zuji,etc)
2. hotel reservations (Website: Booking.com, Agoda, Zuji, or the hotel itself)
3. airport transfers (optional) "The airport limousine bus" - The travel agent here (JTB) only gave me a confirmation slip. I had to go to the Airport Limousine counter to book the timing of the bus when I arrived in Japan. Similarly, the day before my departure, I had to go and book the timing at the hotel lobby of the hotel that I was staying ( In case you are not booked in the hotel, you can drop by the nearest hotel and reserve your seat).
4. sim cards (optional) - I used my phone as my GPS in case I'm lost so I would definitely buy a sim card. Normally they cost somewhere between 38-45sgd.
5. travel insurance - A friend of mine didn't buy an insurance and was hospitalized and raked some 5000sgd in her hospital bills.
6. tickets to theme park/ amusement center - To save you the hassle of joining a queue, these straight to gate tickets are just what you need (although you won't get those nicely designed tickets because you will be holding a printout with a QR code)
7. bus reservations (optional) - in case you want to go to Kawaguchiko, you can book a seat and ticket online, and pay the fees once you arrive in Japan.
8. reservation to tours (optional) - In case, you want to go to more places that save you the hassle of lugging your luggage around prefecture.
Things to buy ( During trip)
1. Prefecture's specialty product (Just list down the thing you want)
2. Food ( that are locally available or available only for a limited time)
Things to do ( During trip)
1. Set timing for the airport limousine bus. If you bought the ticket elsewhere (3d party/travel agent). You can have it exchange and book a seat at the Airport Limousine Bus corner at Arrival hall,. Then 1 day before departure at your chosen pickup point, you have to reserve the timing that you want. They will give you a slip of paper or show your ticket with timing, and wait at the pickup point. Normally, you're only allowed to put 1 big luggage on the luggage rack and the rest are for you to carry on deck. It should just be 1 carry-on , plus 1 small bag and your dandy backpack.
2. Swap exchange order for JR Pass at the nearest JR Travel Office : date of arrival (During peak season,it is advised to set an hour or more to exchange the pass. Normally, if you are using it on the day itself, you don't have a choice but to transfer at the airport, otherwise, you can go to some big JR stations e.g. Shinjuku, Tokyo and exchange)
3. Get the sim card: Date of arrival, 4th flr NRT Terminal 1 , South Wing. - This is in case you order a sim card and have it delivered to the airport for pickup.
4. Pay for the reservation tickets ( esp for buses): n days before intended date of travel - This is in case you hold some reservation and haven't paid for it yet.
So here are just some of the tips. Brush up on their lingo and you're ready to go!
This year (2017), my trip covered a couple of prefectures near Tokyo. Toyama (Tateyama Alpine Route), Ibaraki ( Hitachi Seaside Park), Chiba (Tokyo Disneyland), Gifu (Shirakawago), Yamanashi (Kawaguchiko), and Tochigi ( Ashikaga Flower Park).
It wasn't rocket science when I decided to go to these places. I had to scratch head and pulled out a few hairs before settling on this itinerary. I decided to list down a few tips to help you guys plan your next travel to Japan:
1. Do your research
In the beginning, when there were no Facebook pages to like, we would heard about the wonderful places of Japan by word of mouth or the travel programs that we see on TV or during the travel fair. Times have changed. We have various tourism board pages from which you can subscribe to with a click of a button.
List down the places you want to go. List down the areas' point of interest. List down the areas' specialty. (Trust me, it will all come together).
In my case, I had epiphany around October 2012, when the interest to go to Ibaraki piqued at that time I saw the red kochia hill from one of the Japanese tourist pages on Facebook. Fast forward to 2017, I was looking at places to go near Tokyo and the image of Hitachi Seaside Park popped into my head. I estimated the time that I will be in Japan and lo and behold, there's some nemophilas blooming just around the corner!
As a cautionary warning, just because a person is a Japanophile, it does not mean he/she is a mighty expert on all things related to Japan especially transport. He/She won't know directions from your hotel to the place you want to go. He/she can only give you tips and pointers on what you can do in that place provided he/she had already went to that place. Use google.
2. Estimate your dates
Now, that we've settled on the places we want to go, the next thing to ask is how long am I going to stay there? What's my aim for this trip? Am I going to go to several prefecture? Am I going North/South/West Japan? If so, do I need to stretch my trip for a week/ a month?
Frankly speaking if you just plan to go for One(1) stop, a mere 4D3N trip will suffice. You can cover a lot of ground:
| Sample Itinerary | |
| Day 1 - | Reach Japan ( NRT takes 2h, HND takes 30 mins to the city) |
| You don't plan anything around the first day to give leeway in the event of a plane delay. | |
| Day 2 - | Day trip out of Tokyo (Kamakura/ Enoshima/ Tochigi/ Ibaraki /Chiba) |
| Day 3 - | "Shopping day" (Shibuya/Harajuku/Ikebukuro/Shinjuku/Ginza/Odaiba/Asakusa) |
| Day 4 - | Leave Japan |
Normally to cover more ground, I would book a hotel near a shopping district, so I can still do last minute shopping on my last day. ( Normally, malls open at 11am, small stores e.g. GU open at 10am).
3. Allocate your budget
With every trip planned, one must estimate how much to spend for this trip.
If you're going to eat out all the time and not eat any convenience store food, roughly it's going to be an estimate of 1000yen per meal per day per person. The serving depends on the restaurant you're in but normally, it's roughly a one person serving.
Transport fees, roughly it's 200yen/single trip ( but this varies on the distance traveled, the longer the distance, the higher the fee), and this is just train ride. Shinkansen costs, overnight buses are entirely different thing. This will depend on the places you're going.
You can avail day passes to use for the trip. There are numerous pass that you can use and every prefecture offers their own pass (Cue research). The all powerful Japan Rail Pass can save you on transport especially when you ride the shinkansen and when you're going to far off places in Japan. You can even use it to go from Tokyo to Hokkaido! But be forewarn, you should calculate first the fares and weigh it out whether it would be economical to use a pass or just pay on your own. You can use hyperdia to calculate fees, take note of train timings as well as the platform where you will alight and board. It's quite useful website.
For my trip this year, I did not use the JR Pass as I didn't require travelling to far out places in Japan. I stayed and traveled to nearby prefecture around Tokyo. I used Tokyo Wide Area Pass (10,000 yen as of this writing) for this trip. You can avail of the pass while in Tokyo, just visit any JR Travel East offices.
And of course souvenirs, food souvenirs, unless you're getting them from Don Quijote or from Hyaku-en Shop (Daiso), it will cost you an arm and a leg. At most you have to spend roughly 1000yen for it. (A normal food omiyage from a certain prefecture is usually around 680 yen for a box of 4/6/8). The prices are the same in airport, so you can get some food souvenirs at the airport ( if you're willing to queue for it)
4. Create a checklist
I would do a checklist just to give me a rundown of the things that I need to complete, before and during the travel.
I would start a checklist of things to bring, things to do and things to buy.
Things to bring (Pre-travel)
1. Passport
2. Other identification ( IC, Driver's license,etc)
3. Travel essentials ( Toiletries, medicine, your clothes, your pajamas, undergarments, etc. )
4. Gadgets and electronics ( Phone, camera, battery charger, travel adapter, SD cards, etc)
5. Clothes for the season ( Rainy season: Umbrella, poncho/raincoat, Summer: swim wear, Winter/Autumn/Spring: Jacket)
6. Shoes (Rubber shoes/sneakers will do the trick)
7. Others
Normally, the hotels in Japan have hotel room slippers and water bottles ( so you don't need to bring any of it) .
Things to buy (Pre-travel)
1. airline tickets ( Your local travel agency, skyscanner, cheaptickets, zuji,etc)
2. hotel reservations (Website: Booking.com, Agoda, Zuji, or the hotel itself)
3. airport transfers (optional) "The airport limousine bus" - The travel agent here (JTB) only gave me a confirmation slip. I had to go to the Airport Limousine counter to book the timing of the bus when I arrived in Japan. Similarly, the day before my departure, I had to go and book the timing at the hotel lobby of the hotel that I was staying ( In case you are not booked in the hotel, you can drop by the nearest hotel and reserve your seat).
4. sim cards (optional) - I used my phone as my GPS in case I'm lost so I would definitely buy a sim card. Normally they cost somewhere between 38-45sgd.
5. travel insurance - A friend of mine didn't buy an insurance and was hospitalized and raked some 5000sgd in her hospital bills.
6. tickets to theme park/ amusement center - To save you the hassle of joining a queue, these straight to gate tickets are just what you need (although you won't get those nicely designed tickets because you will be holding a printout with a QR code)
7. bus reservations (optional) - in case you want to go to Kawaguchiko, you can book a seat and ticket online, and pay the fees once you arrive in Japan.
8. reservation to tours (optional) - In case, you want to go to more places that save you the hassle of lugging your luggage around prefecture.
Things to buy ( During trip)
1. Prefecture's specialty product (Just list down the thing you want)
2. Food ( that are locally available or available only for a limited time)
Things to do ( During trip)
1. Set timing for the airport limousine bus. If you bought the ticket elsewhere (3d party/travel agent). You can have it exchange and book a seat at the Airport Limousine Bus corner at Arrival hall,. Then 1 day before departure at your chosen pickup point, you have to reserve the timing that you want. They will give you a slip of paper or show your ticket with timing, and wait at the pickup point. Normally, you're only allowed to put 1 big luggage on the luggage rack and the rest are for you to carry on deck. It should just be 1 carry-on , plus 1 small bag and your dandy backpack.
2. Swap exchange order for JR Pass at the nearest JR Travel Office : date of arrival (During peak season,it is advised to set an hour or more to exchange the pass. Normally, if you are using it on the day itself, you don't have a choice but to transfer at the airport, otherwise, you can go to some big JR stations e.g. Shinjuku, Tokyo and exchange)
3. Get the sim card: Date of arrival, 4th flr NRT Terminal 1 , South Wing. - This is in case you order a sim card and have it delivered to the airport for pickup.
4. Pay for the reservation tickets ( esp for buses): n days before intended date of travel - This is in case you hold some reservation and haven't paid for it yet.
So here are just some of the tips. Brush up on their lingo and you're ready to go!
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