*This post was written for a trip in 2012. Things might have changed; do drop us a comment if anything here is outdated, thanks!*
Insurance
I personally have no preference for insurance companies, but I highly recommend you always travel with one, because you never know what might happen on the trip. Remember to check that your travel insurance covers lost baggage and delayed flights, at the very minimum.
Air tickets
There are many sites where you can purchase cheap air tickets, but the one we went with for this trip is MISA Travels. The return air tickets to Japan n 2012 were going at a mere $699.00 including all taxes.
We chose Singapore Airlines, not because it was the cheapest, but because it was the only direct flight available.We were flying in to Kansai Airport in Osaka, and it appears that only SIA was flying direct. We chose to pay the price difference, which wasn't much to begin with. =) Time was rather important to us, and we didn't like the idea of wasting at least 2 hours on transit. Plus, we like SQ’s timings of travelling through the night, and arriving at 8-9am local time.
However, if you’re flying to Narita Airport in Tokyo, I believe you can go with a cheaper airline since almost all airlines fly directly to Narita. But who can resist enjoying a good start to your holidays with SQ?
Hotel accommodations
We were not particular about the star ratings of the hotel. Our requirements were that the hotels must be near a subway station, and close by to the attractions we wish to visit. It must be clean and not in a sleazy part of town, and most of all, it had to be cheap.
I will give further details in another post on the hotels we chose, but we booked our hotels through Agoda. It was really hassle free, since all costs were reflected before checkout, and you can pay through Paypal. All you had to do upon arriving was to print the e-vouchers, and present to the front desk during check-in. The printouts became really useful when you’re lost, since the locals could read the address and point you in the correct direction.
The way we chose our hotel accommodations was really simple. We plotted out all the basic attractions we like to visit. Thereafter, we used Agoda’s website to find budget hotels, and plotted them as well. We finally settled on those close to the main attractions, as well as being of a reasonable cost. And it must be near a subway station.
The plotting was done using Google Earth. Google Earth is such a laggy and buggy software, but it did an amazing job of telling us exactly where the places were, how close by the hotels are, and how much travelling we were doing. It is just a very good method of seeing an overview of your itinerary.
Travel itinerary
This is by far the most important thing you should prepare. Well, it’s a personal preference really, but I like to research a little on what must-sees there are in the vicinity. That way, I don’t miss out on things I would really like to see or places I would like to visit. However, with all the walking you need to do, remember to leave space to visit any random places. We did quite a bit of that, especially when we were done with the main attractions.
We would plan the final itinerary for the next day each night, using the various guides and Lonely Planet travel guides. Research can be done in various ways really. We relied quite a bit on Lonely Planet, but mostly when we were already in Japan. Just Google the area you will be in, and check out the various Internet guides on attractions. Then, plot it into Google Earth, so you can easily tell at a glance whether it is out of the way.
We also relied on guides such as the Kansai Thru Pass guide. That one was really useful too, since it gives a short writeup on the history of the places, as well as if the Kansai Thru Pass entitles you to a discount on the entrance fees. I highly recommend bringing a netbook along as well. It appears that all Japanese hotels provide free wired Internet connection in the room. Wi-fi is a little trickier, so the best option is to bring a lightweight netbook or laptop along, so you can plan your itinerary the day before.
Transportation
The reason why transportation is featured here is simply because it is expensive, and eats into a significant portion of the costs. By transportation, I specifically refer to the local transportation needed to travel from one place to another.
The thing I dislike about free-and-easy trips is that you have to find your way around, and at the cheapest cost possible. Another reason why it’s featured here is because Japan offers a wide range of transportation passes to foreign visitors. And, most of these can only be purchased outside of Japan, which means you will have to have a rough estimate of your costs, to evaluate if the passes are worthwhile purchasing.
Kansai Thru Pass – This was the pass we purchased. It costs 5000 yen for a 3 day pass, so we purchased 2 passes for our 6 days in the Kansai region (Osaka and Kyoto). It is a fantastic pass because it gives you free rides on all local subways, as well as most local buses. Subways are by far the most convenient method of travelling in Japan, while buses are essential in Kyoto if you’re intending to visit the shrines and temples dotted around the city. Moreover, it comes with additional discount coupons to major attractions, which helps to offset the cost. Considering that we paid 3300 yen for a 1-way ticket from Tokyo city to Narita Airport, and that this Kansai Thru Pass covers that ride from Kansai Airport to Osaka city, we figured this is a really good deal indeed.
JR Passes (various) (MUST be purchased in Singapore) – There are also numerous passes for JR trains. If you’re travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto and back again, the JR pass is definitely worthwhile, since the Shinkansen (operated by JR) is so expensive (13,720 yen per ticket, or around S$211!). However, the JR passes are valid only on JR trains, and the very limited number of JR buses. As such, it is worthwhile only IF you’re travelling in that direction as mentioned. There are also a variety of passes offered by JR, and as I've only travelled to 3 cities, I highly recommend you plot your route and check out which JR passes, if any, are worth the cost.
Suica/Pasmo – These 2 cards mentioned are the Japanese IC cards, or the Japanese version of our EZ-link cards. They work in the same manner too, where you tap your way into the subways. I would say go with Pasmo, because they can be used on buses and other things such as vending machines. However, we stumbled across the Suica cards first, and went ahead to purchase it. There is a refundable deposit of 500 yen, and the minimum top-up amount is 1000yen. This minimum is super important, because you should always check your balance while tapping out. You can enter the subways even with insufficient value, but you will have to do a ‘fare adjustment’ before you leave the station. With a minimum top up of 1000yen, you might be caught with too much money in your card for that one last metro ride in Japan. You can obtain a refund of that money, but it is subjected to a 210 yen administrative fee. So, count your pennies wisely! There is no price difference in buying a single-trip ticket and using a Suica card, so you might prefer to buy a ticket each time you travel.
Finally, there are special packages that can be purchased from Narita Airport. Simply google for “Suica & NEX” packages. They can only be purchased from Narita Airport, but it is definitely value-for-money. For instance, a round trip package costs 5500 yen. The cost of a one-way ticket on the Narita Express alone is 3300 yen (high season). And, the round-trip package comes with 2 tickets on the Narita Express AND a preloaded Suica card with 1500yen worth of train fares. The unfortunate thing for us is that we didn’t start our journey in Tokyo. However, if you are doing so, do check out this link for more details!
One link we found really useful is the Hyperdia website. It allows you to check how to travel from one place to another, while also computing the total costs. This way, you can obtain a rough estimate of your travels costs in Japan. This is especially important when you’re intending to purchase special travel passes, or if you simply need to know how much the bullet train ride is going to cost you. A lot apparently, ouch.
We also obtained a lot of information from online guides. One of my favourites is Japan-guide, a concise guide on various topics, including transportation, food and Sakura-viewing.
If you’re interested in purchasing the JR passes, a huge number of travel agencies offer the tickets. Tickets are sold based on their in-house exchange rate, so you might want to shop around and see which company offers the best rates.
As for the Kansai Thru Pass, you can purchase it at JTB. They have a large number of branches, so drop by the one most convenient for you! Alternatively, you can also purchase in when you've arrived in Kansai.
Maps
And finally, I arrive at the last bit of this lengthy post. Maps are nice, and probably important to people like me who are paranoid of getting overly lost. Well, you still get lost, but it feels a lot safer to travel with a good map.
The first I would recommend obtaining is subway maps. Tokyo for instance has TONS of subway lines, so a subway map written in romanji is helpful. Trust me, you can get maps in Japan, but they’re mostly in kanji, and that’s NOT fun to look at when you’re lost. And especially not when you plan your itinerary only knowing the romanji names of places and attractions. We downloaded maps off the internet, and printed them in A4 colour.
The second thing I would strongly recommend is to pay a visit to JNTO, the official Japanese tourism board in Singapore. It’s a god-sent heaven, because we literally grabbed everything they have there. We obtained FREE maps from them of Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo. We also obtained guides written by the organization for visitors. We grabbed guides that showcase various aspects of Japanese culture. For instance, one of the guides listed all the manga museums and centres one can visit in Japan. You HAVE to drop by JNTO, and save yourself that $13 per map that you would have to pay at Kinokuniya.
To recap, here are my recommendations for websites, links, companies etc:
- MISA Travels – cheap air tickets
- Agoda.com – cheap hotel deals
- Google Earth – good for plotting sites, and obtaining overview of itinerary
- Lonely Planet – because they’re famous for their guide books.
- Hyperdia – excellent for tracking travel costs
- Japan-guide – my favourite online guide on all things Japanese
- JTB – the only place we found selling the Kansai Thru Pass
- JNTO – the place you HAVE to visit before setting off for Japan. Free maps!!
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