Tokyo (Asakusa) (Day 6)

We left Osaka with Hikari Shinkansen at around 6:30 am. Upon stopping in Shin-Yokohama, everybody got excited because it was snowing. We alighted in Shinagawa. Well, my first itinerary was to alight in Tokyo Station then take another train to go to Kuramae Oedo Line since our hostel (K's House) is in Kuramae and it is nearer to the Oedo Line exit than the Asakusa Line exit. But upon further checking, the transfer from Shinagawa is much simpler and easier than in Tokyo Station. From Shinagawa, there's a train that pass by Kuramae Asakusa Line.

Upon exit of the station (which was the correct exit, we later learned), it was raining crushed ice! Then because I am following the instruction from the hostel's email, we crossed the road, turned right and search for the hostel, but to no avail. Then finally, we asked someone and taught us how to go (which was were we came from) with an advice that if we still cannot find it, to ask anybody.

So, we crossed the road again, and this time, not wanting to get lost, asked a random passer by and asked for direction. She did not tell us how to go to the hostel, she came with us and brought us there! So amazing, these people are! 

Just like the weather, we were in a not so good mood when we checked in. But after getting warmed up and a cup of tea, we were all smiles again. On the right is our picture in K's House just before we leave for Kimono appointment.

So then, after confirming with Kiyomi-san (since we were already late due to getting lost) that we can still go despite the rain, we had a quick lunch and head over to Sakura Photo Studio. Kiyomi-san is a very nice person who speaks English. She said she lived in Cebu for 7 years. Her studio is very near Asakusa Shrine, so I highly recommend her studio if you wish to wear Kimono too. What we had is Basic Plan for 3,000 yen per person.

We opted to stay in the hostel to rest after walking around Asakusa.

Update (2015-03-15): You may check this site for the list of kimono rental shops in Asakusa.

Amanohashidate - Kinosaki (Day 5)

This was a very challenging train ride with so many transfers but the destination is worth it.

The ride from Shin-Osaka to Fukuchiyama is covered by the JR Pass, but from there to Amanohashidate, it is not. It is better to buy the Amanohashidate Day Pass as it will also cover the train ride to Toyooka on the way to Kinosaki. The day pass can be bought in the Station Office in Fukuchiyama. Station officers are very kind and helpful, they will help you out. Just show your JR Pass (for exit) and say that you want to buy the Amanohashidate Pass.

From the Station, it is a short walk to the ferry terminal. Due to our limited time, we had to take the ferry to go to the other side. The ferry is covered in the pass as well as the tram going up the view deck. We wanted to take the chair lift down but it is not on operation during winter. The bike rental is also free and we would have biked around if we had enough time. In our opinion, the view from Amanohashidate View Land is better, but because the other side is the free from the pass, we opted for that instead.

Then we took the 1 hour travel to Kinosaki (transfer at Toyooka). It's all covered by the Amanohashidate Pass and JR Pass. There are seven hot springs in Kinosaki. Our three guys tried it, but each one is different onsen. I think it was only for 500 to 800 yen for an hour use, but if you are staying in a ryokan there, the entrance to all the hot springs is free.

Kinosaki have the old town feeling to it. The shops close down early. We also bought a lot of omiyage (pasalubong) there. They also have a Hello Kitty Store but I think it's more expensive than the one in Tokyo. Our train back to Shin-Osaka was at 6:30 pm, and not wanting to be left behind by the train, we were at the station 15 minutes early.

Amanohashidate and Kinosaki is already on my list to visit again. Next time though, I will stay in a ryokan in Kinosaki and stay a whole day in Amanohashidate.

Nagoya - Group 1 (Day 4)

On this day that my friends started using their JR Pass. Time for some bullet train ride.

Dref, Malou, Jing and I went to Nagoya, while Aris, Joy and Roms went to Hiroshima (Roms will be making a separate post on this).

We have secured our seat reservations in the airport for Nagoya, but not for Aris and Joy to Hiroshima, so we dropped by the JR Office get use reserve the seats. Then we headed straight to the Shinkansen tracks. When using JR Pass, always go to the barrier office and show your JR Pass. On your first time use, the station officer will put a stamp on it.

The tracks in the Shin-Osaka Station are easy enough to follow. There are English signs as to where the train in the track is going to.

We bought ekiben
prior to going to the tracks. The price ranges from 800 yen to 1,200 yen. They have katsu and beef and sushi rolls and onigiri. They also have sandwiches. But if the time is too tight and there's no time to buy, fret not, they also sell on board the train but with limited choices and the price is actually cheaper than outside.

For Nagoya, our itinerary is to visit the Toyota Museum and Nabana no Sato. In Nagoya Station, take the exit via the Takashimaya, the bus stop 8 for Meguru Sightseeing Bus is just outside on the left (when going out). This bus' first stop is the Toyota Museum. For more info and what else you can visit, go here. The One Day Pass is 500 yen, one bus ride is 240 yen. We didn't take the day pass as we will only take it twice, but if you plan to go to other places that the sightseeing bus is serving, then it is wise to get the day pass.

After Toyota, we headed back to the Nagoya Station. Note that the bus will not stop on the same bus stop 8, it will stop across the street. So just walk over, go inside Takashimaya and take the Hirokoji Exit, then after crossing the street, turn right. You will see the signs to go to Meitetsu Bus Center. Go up level 3 for the tickets, advisable to buy a round trip ticket. The travel takes about 25 to 30 minutes.




The admission fee was 2,200 yen, but the admission ticket includes a 1,000 yen voucher which can be used in the restaurants inside. It was really cold that day because of the wind, but the experience is worth it. Amazing illumination. It is so worth the visit and the cold. ^_^

When going back, make sure that you take the same bus. Check if the bus is going to Nagoya Station and the bus must be a Meitetsu Bus. It could become very crowded and you might not be able to get on the bus, good thing there's a warm waiting area.

Universal Studios Japan (Day 3)

Singapore might also have Universal Studios but they don't have Harry Potter in there. So yeah, we are guilty of visiting USJ because of Harry Potter. Hey, it was not on my list before July 2014.

Anyway, if you go to their web site, you will learn that there's no English site for booking tickets. The thing is, we need to buy advance tickets with express pass.

You see, Harry Potter is still a hot area in USJ, having ben opened for less than a year. So, it was explained on their site that one requires a timed entry ticket which can be obtained on the day itself, but it would mean that we have to queue and it is not a guarantee that they will still have slots. So another way is to get an express pass (they are raking in the galleons with this).

So yeah, I searched for English booking site for hours, until I gave up and told my office mate (who's in Japan right now!) that I can't buy the tickets because there are no English site. Then he gave me this site, where there's a screenshot of the steps on how to buy the tickets. Thank goodness for that site, I was able to book our tickets.

It is really advisable to buy tickets before hand as the queue is crazy long.

We queued for the Forbidden Journey first using our express passes. And upon the end of the ride, there was a technical problem that made us look into a white screen as our seats moved. I was so disappointed when we were lead out, only to break into a big smile when we were actually given another round on the ride. ^_^

We stayed in Hogsmeade till 4:30 pm then headed out to see the rest of the USJ which looked deserted and led me to believe that all the people who went into USJ were all in Hogsmeade. We still had chance to take on Spiderman and Back to the Future.

USJ closed at 7 pm during winter, but we left at around 6:30 pm then headed to Osaka Castle.

Just a tip when going to Osaka Castle in a group. Make sure that you specified which place to meet up before breaking into smaller groups. In our case, we had to spend an hour looking for each other. No complains though, as it was cold and the walking was good for the heart and I achieved 30,000 steps on my pedometer by the end of the day.

Kyoto (Day 2)

This was our itinerary for the 2nd day.

There are two ways to get to Kyoto Station. One, is to take the subway (Midosuji Line), Nishinakajima-minamigata to Shin-Osaka then take either Limited Express Thunderbird, Shinkansen, JR Special Rapid Express, Limited Express Haruka or JR Kyoto Line Rapid Express. Second, is to take the local train (Hankyu Kyoto Line), Minamikata Station to Osaka Station and take JR Kyoto Line Rapid Express or JR Special Rapid Express.

Upon arriving in Kyoto Station, tap out of the barrier and head to the Tourist Information Center at Level 2. You can buy the day passes. For 1 day bus pass, we paid 500 yen. After the purchase, we went back in the station and took the JR Sagano Line and alighted at Saga-Arashiyama Station.

From the station, turn right on the first small street. It won't be difficult to find as there are signs on directions. You will pass a bike rental shop along the way. You will cross one intersection then on the end of the road, turn left and then turn right on the first street. You will be able to see the bamboos by the time you reach the corner before turning right.

Walk the same route on the way back to the station. Take the train heading for Kyoto and alight in Emmachi. Take the left exit upon tap out of the station. There's a bus stop in front, but that's not where the bus to Kinkakuji-michi is stopping. Follow the map on the left to get to the correct bus stop. Take bus 204 or 205. There is bus timetable in the bus stop, you can see which one comes first. Get in via the back of the bus. There's a TV monitor inside that also have English announcement for the upcoming stops. Alight at Kinkakuji-michi, and with your back on the bus, walk on your left and turn right on the intersection and go straight, that is the way to Kinkakuji.

The admission fee is 400 yen. 

In Kinkaku-ji, if you can, try the simple green tea with sweets in the teahouse near the exit. For 500 yen, the experience is so worth it. You can sit either outside or inside. And sicne we were there during winter, we chose to sit inside looking out at the small garden. Since it was almost noon and we were a bit hungry, the experience is appreciated by our tummy as well.

We went back to the same bus stop where we alighted and took the same bus to Kitaoji Bus Terminal where the Kitaoji train station is also located. We took the train to go to Inari for the Fushimi Inari Taisha. Unfortunately though, it was raining when we get there, so we decided to eat on the nearby restaurant (opposite train station). The portion was too much for us, but the chicken karaage is really, really nice. The rice is also the best we had on the entire trip (dunno if we were just hungry). When we come out, it was still raining. They sell umbrellas and we still did go inside and took some pictures. Just go beyond the temple at the back and you will see torii after torii beautifully aligned in a path. I will definitely come back here, when it's not raining.

We spent some time discussing whether to go to Gion, as planned, or to head back to Osaka and go to Osaka Castle instead (hoping that it was not raining in Osaka). In the end, we still went to Gion, to try and look for a maiko. But it was raining so we just walked upto the Shirakawa area and we cannot find anybody walking down the street, we just headed back to the hotel in Osaka.

The tip on making the train transfers or just being in the station is to know the correct platform. Japanese people are also very helpful and polite, if they can help, they will.

Arrival in Japan (Day 1)

This is our itinerary for the day.

 

But things are not final until they happened. This is what actually transpired:

The Cebu Pacific flight was delayed by an hour (such a normal occurrence), which of course delayed our arrival in Osaka. Upon arrival at around 9:05 pm, we had to wait in queue for immigration clearance for almost an hour, so by the time we came out of customs, it was already a few minutes past 10 pm. We had to go directly to the JR Ticket Office to exchange our JR Passes and do the seat reservations. JR Ticket Office is in the Kansai Airport Station. You will have to get out of the terminal building and walk across to the Airport Station.

Here is the 360 panoramic view of the Kansai Airport Station.

We spent 40 minutes in the JR Ticket Office as there are 7 of us, and the officer had to do the seat reservations for all.

Everybody except for myself have 7-day JR Pass (I have 14-day JR Pass), but they will only start using it on Day 4 (January 28). The start date and end date is indicated in the JR Pass, and this is the one that the JR Stations Officers check.

Seat reservation is for all the bullet trains and limited express trains that we will take. I prepared the list and handed it over to the officer, and I think it made things a lot easier for him and for me. He just pointed out that the Limited Express Harutaka from Kanazawa to Echigo-Yuzawa will be using a non-JR track, so we will have to pay some surcharges. If you are going to Kanazawa after 13th of March, then you can take the new bullet train for only 2 and a half hours.

You might be wondering why we have two destinations on the same date (Jan 28), we split into two group on that day which I will post later on.

We also changed our money at the nearby money changer which was still open after 11 pm.

So anyway, by 11 pm, Haruka Express to Shin-Osaka and Tennoji is no longer in operation. We had to take a local line to Tennoji which took about 35 to 40 minutes. And even if I already know that there are no more trains running when we arrived in Tennoji, I still asked a station officer on how to get to Nishinakajima-minamigata station, and as told that we have no choice but to take cab.

From our itinerary (printed and digital), we showed the address to the cab driver. The first cab took 3 passengers. The second one, though it was okay for him to take 4 passengers, our big luggage cannot fit into his trunk. So in the end, we had to take cab. 20 minutes and 5,000 yen later, we arrived in our hotel.

Our hotel is Hotel Consort in Nishinakajima. On it's left (when facing the hotel) is the Nishinakajima-minagata Station of the Midosuji Line while on the back is the Minamikata Station of the Hankyu Kyoto Line.

Japan Itinerary

Before this was a long and ever-changing itinerary. Here was our itinerary on our recent Japan Trip. I shall post a daily breakdown of train rides and directions as well as tips.

Please enjoy. Download the itinerary here.

Planning for Japan

We were in Korea when we discussed about experiencing winter and snow in Japan. First and foremost, we decided on which month to go and the duration, so that when the airline promo goes on, we just have to decide specific date to book. So yeah, Easter of 2014, thru Dref's watchful eye, we were able to book a piso fare ticket. 

By July, we started picking and shortlisting hotels so that by September, we booked what won in the voting. It was good to book so early on as we were able to use the book now pay later plan. So we secured the hotel, but we haven't paid yet, we can cancel at least 10 days prior to our arrival.

How do we know where to go to? Aside from me, Roms had been in Japan before for work, and we got the whole of internet to check what are the recommended places to visit. We found out about Shirakawa-go on one of the posts in Facebook, and it has become a must-visit for us. For other places, I asked the group of which places they prefer to go to. 

Transportation. In the same manner that we found out about Shirakawa-go, is how I found out about JR Pass. It gives a foreigner the freedom to take unlimited rides on all JR trains, from local, rapid, limited express to shinkansen (bullet trains). I bought JR Passes for myself and Malou here. You will get the Exchange Order (upper left image) and you shall exchange it in Japan on any JR Office. You shall get the JR Pass in return (left image) This is not available for sale inside Japan. It is available in green or ordinary. We got the ordinary. Both types cannot take the Mizuho, Nozomi or Hayabusa Shinkansen.

So now, what's left for the transportation are those for private companies. And for that, I recommend using ICOCA if you are visiting both Kansai and Kanto regions. It makes the transfers a lot easier.

As for which street to turn or which landmark to check, use Google earth or Google maps with street view. Print out the map with the directions, it will greatly healp.

I prepared an excel file when I was doing the itinerary. I put three columns for costs, one in Japanese Yen, Singapore Dollar and Philippine Peso. I took the rate a bit higher than what is in the market. Let's say the rate in the market for JPY to PHP is 1 JPY = .40 PHP, I made it 1 JPY = .45 PHP. Just put some buffer between exchanging. It is better to put a lot of buffer on budgets than being sorry because we didn't bring enough.

Next post would be our Day 1 in Japan.

Tickets, Visa and Accommodation

Tickets

Similar with all our trips, we booked our tickets on a promo, with Cebu Pacific no less. We were all carefully watching as to when the promo will be available. You can opt of the luggage allowance at first since you can add it in prior to the trip, or buy as you book. Think of the season you are going into. When we went to Cambodia, since it's hot, one can just bring a small luggage, but for our winter trip to Japan, we had to bring big luggage and extra bags. I, myself, added 10 more kilos to the originally 20 kg baggage allowance.

Visa

If you are going to any of the country in this list, then you are good to go. But if not, then you need to obtain a visa prior to trip. Get your visa at least a month before your departure. Rappler have a nice post on getting visas.

Accommodation

Except for the bed and breakfast in Siem Reap and the hostel in Tokyo, we booked the other hotels via Agoda. Check the security of any site that you will use before keying in your credit/debit card info.