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Our first ever Japan trip in April . . Very Excited :)
Hi everyone,
Im a newbie on this forum but have been reading posts for a few months though. Please note that this post may be a bit long, lol. Well me and my partner and another couple have booked our flights from Australia to Tokyo for 10 days from the 12th of April to the 21st. We are very excited and it is my partners first trip overseas. We have mostly organised things and booked all our accommodation there are just a few small things that I would like some advice and opinions on. Hopefully I havent jam packed out holiday too much and everything pans out ok. Fingers crossed as I have spent several weeks trying to work it all out, lol. So here is what I have so far :) Tues 12th of April - Arrive in Narita airport @ 8pm at night. We are then going to take the Limobus to our Hotel straight from the airport (I am under the impression that you catch them near the baggage claim and purchase your ticket there also, is this correct and how much is it??). We are staying in the Shinagawa Prince hotel which is on 4-10-30 Takanawa Minato-ku, Tokyo. Has anyone stayed here??? and their opinions?? we got it really cheap. We are staying their three nights and everything is paid for :) Wed 13th of April - We have booked an all day tokyo tour for this day which picks us up straight from the Hotel at 8am - The tour is paid for and includes Tokyo Tower, traditional tea ceremony, Imperial Palace, Sumida River Cruise, Asakusa Kannon Temple, Nakamise shopping street and Ginza shopping district. We booked this tour through Viator (has anyone used this company??). Thurs 14th of April - This day is a little up in the air - Planning on going to the fish markets early in the morning and maybe going to Harajuku for shopping and see the Sensoji and Menji shrine??? Anyone have any suggestions on how to spend this day in Tokyo??? Friday 15th of April - Was thinking of going to Nikko Park for this day or if anyone has any suggestions as to any must sees in tokyo we should go to?? We have brought our JR Rail passes and will be activating them today as we only got a 7 day one, we thought the first few days in tokyo we can buy our own tickets. We are going to reserve our bullet train tickets for kyoto late in the afternoon (can bookings be made at any station for the bullet train??). Satruday 16th of April - Our first day in kyoto although we spent the night here last night. We are staying in Urban Hotel Kyoto which is on 4-59 Nishiura-cho, Fukakusa, Fushimi-ku. We got this hotel really cheap and is all booked for three nights, anyone had any experience with it?? Now I have no set plans for the two full days we are in kyoto, I have yet to look at a map and see where all the temples are as im hopping to see them by area so we are not back tracking, anyone with any suggestions??? was maybe thinking of renting a bike to ride and see them all, is this a good idea????? Sunday 17th of April - Another full day in Kyoto, again have not made plans as to what to see and where to go. Monday 18th of April - Morning in kyoto and then catching train to Horishima. Going to peace memorial park and museum. Am really looking forward to this part of our trip as I have just read " shockwave" and cant wait to see the sight. We are spending the night in Horishima but cant remember the hotel name, that is all booked though. Tuesday 19th of April - Morning in Horishima and then catching train back to Tokyo in afternoon (does the bullet train go from Horishima and if so when shall we buy tickets, what is the best route back??). Wednesday 20th of April - We are spending our last two nights at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel and that along with our tickets are all booked. We are going to Disneyland today :) Thursday 21st of April - We off to Disneysea today and then fly our at around 10pm that night. So that is our plan :) anything wrong or suggestions would be greatly appreciated :) Now in terms of budget our air fairs, accommodation, tours and rail pass are all paid for and for two of us I have saved AUD$3500 to take with us for shopping, food and train tickets in Tokyo, is this enough???? I dont want to do a hell of a lot of shopping but we want to live nicely and the boys want to do some drinking and I would like to do a little shopping :) shall I be saving more money???? Ok I think I have made this post long enough, thank you guys for everything and I welcome any thoughts, negative or positive :) Cara |
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Once you pass through customs at Narita, you end up in the arrivals lobby. It's a long terminal, width-wise, but not very deep length-wise. Cross it to the other side and you'll see the Friendly Limousine bus service counter, if that's the one you are using. The buses park right outside the doors.... It's 3000yen per person.... Quote:
Since you will be traveling to Kyoto in the evening, it would be wise to reserve the tickets and seats days in advance, since commuters use these trains to get home from the capital. You can go to the JR reservation office and turn in your exchange form and tell them the day you want it activated and, at the same time, you can reserve the tickets and seats. But do it a day or two in advance to ensure you can board the Hikari train you desire. The hyperdia site is very easy to use. If you have questions, let us know.... For example: For April 15th after 4pm, there are a few Hikari trains leaving from Shinagawa. Hikari 470 leaves Shinagawa at 1610 and arrives Kyoto at 1848 Hikari 521 leaves at 1640 and arrives at 1915 Hikari 483 leaves at 1810 and arrives at 2058 Those times will be correct for that day 99.99%.... 3500AUD will net you about 280,000 yen right now, which is quite a bit! I took less and spent quite a bit shopping and eating and still came back with over 500 US.... You'll do well with that! |
Wow, you are all planned out! I just recently booked a trip a week ago for mid-May and have not even planned one single day out :P
I have been to Tokyo many times, but have not been in about 5 years. I promised myself I would plan something solid and stick to it instead of my usual just go and see what happens approach. I might have to steal some of your ideas! :) |
It sounds like 13th will be a busy day. The Kannon Temple is part of the Sensoji, so you won't have to go there on the 14th.
On the 14th I recommend Harajuku/Shibuya/Omotesando/Meiji Jingu Shrine, as all of these are located within walking distance of one another. Go to Shinagawa Station (across the street from your hotel) and take the Yamanote line toward Shibuya. One stop before Shibuya Station is Harajuku. The station faces a busy street, if you turn right, you will come to the entrance of Yoyogi park and the Meiji Jingu Shrine. Just follow the other tourists and you will find the shrine. After visiting the shrine, retrace your footsteps back to Harajuku station, cross the busy street at the crosswalk, and turn left when you cross the street. Walk a short distance, and this will take you to Harajuku street on the right. There will be a large sign and a McDonald's, you can't miss it. There are many interesting shops on Harajuku street, so you should find plenty of things to see. When you get to the end of Harajuku Street, turn right and walk to the busy intersection. This is the main street in Omotesando, and there are shops to the left and right. There are many high-end stores located here, don't waste your money shopping in these stores, the prices are about double what they are in America. You can do a lot of people watching here. If you turn right, the street will take you back toward Harajuku station, if you turn left, there will be quite a few interesting shops and stores. When you are finished, you can return to Harajuku Station and then head to Shibuya. There are two ways to get to Shibuya, you can get back on the Yamanote line, or you can walk. The street in front of Harajuku Station follows the train lines and will take you to Shibuya in about 10 or 15 minutes. If you are standing in front of Harajuku Station looking across the busy street, Shibuya will be to your right. Follow the street that way, it will eventually lead to the famous Shibuya crossing in front of Shibuya Station. Here you'll find crowds of people, maybe a few street performers, and the statue of Hachi the dog (known as Hachiko). Pet the statue for luck, and get your pic taken in front of it. Across the street from Hachiko and Shibuya Station is a multi-floor shopping center. In this shopping center on the third floor is a good sushi restaurant called "Midorizushi". It's hard to miss, there will probably be a long line of people waiting to get in. But the line moves quickly, and the food is worth the wait. It's very good, and not that expensive. Have fun on your trip, |
Harajuku is one station after Shibuya if you're heading clockwise on the Yamanote.. Platform 2 at Shinagawa....
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Thank you all so much for all your information it was great :)
JohnBraden - Thank you for clarifying the limo bus information, that was great and I also didnt realise you could reserve bullet train seats online so that is also great news and advice. I am so glad I got on here and asked for help :) Im glad you enjoyed your hotel in Tokyo, you pretty much answered all my thoughts, just wanted to know if the location was good, the staff friendly and the rooms clean :) Im glad I can stop saving now, lol, Ill have my credit card as back up if for some crazy reason I burn through all my cash :) Sangestu - Thank you so VERY much for all your information, I am going to spend that day in tokyo following your guide, that has saved me so much researching you wouldnt believe, because we are only there for a short time I wanted to make sure our time is well spent, again thank you :) xkmkmlmx - Yay on your booked trip to Japan, you must be just as excited as me, lol. Oh and feel free to use all of my ideas, i guess thats what the forum is for, to obtain as much info, advice as we can. So is Nikko worth a day trip before we head to Kyoto or shall we spend another day exploring tokyo, what are your thoughts?? are we missing any "must do's" in tokyo. Would also love to check out an Onsen, with the locations we are going any suggestions which one is best??? Thanking you all in advance |
Won't there be additional charges to the Rail Pass if reserved seats are used, rather than unreserved seats?
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Ummmm ..... Im not sure, I was under the impression it covered them, you just had to make sure you reserved them, I also thought it was important to reserve them anyway because they are very busy and you might miss out at the time you wish to go. Arnt there only additional charges if you go first class or something?? I may be completely wrong, it would be great if someone could clarify it for me :)
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There is no additional payment for reserved seats according to its official website.
Read the second ■ mark on: JAPAN RAIL PASS / ジャパンレールパス |
Thank you so much for clarifying that for me, I though it didnt cost extra but was good to have it confirmed.
Thank you :) |
Louise45, I hope you're not under the impression you can reserve the tickets online based on what I told you and the website I provided. The website is just an online timetable and a bit more. You can use it to plan your trip almost to the minute because you can type in the origin station and the destination station and the time you either want to leave or arrive there and it will give you the options available. You cannot reserve the tickets as far as I know, because it's not operated by JR. When you go to the ticket office with as much information on your itinerary possible, they actually print the ticket for you then and there and then it's your responsibility to present the ticket to the conductor on the train at the time he asks for it. All you have to do to access the Shinkansen platform is to show your JR Pass at the manned turnstile and they'll let you by. Do not try to put your ticket in the automatic turnstiles because it will alert the staff something is wrong.
There is no charge for the reserved seat. The reason they do price it by ticket and then by reserve seat is that if you happen to not have a reserved seat, you can still purchase an non-reserved seat for the train. Each train is divided into three portions. One is the green cars, which you won't be using. The others are reserve and non-reserve seats. If you have a JR Pass, you won't need a ticket if you're using the non-reserve seats. Just have your JR Pass in hand and that's it. The JR Pass is your free ticket in and out of the Shinkansen platforms and you can use it as many times as you want. You want to go to the station to take a photo of a train as it approaches? Then just go to the platform and snap away. When you're done, go back to the exit and show them the pass as you leave and you're good! I planned for a round trip to Kyoto from Shinagawa and had my tickets in hand. When I got to Kyoto, I did my sightseeing and when it was time for me to leave, I realized it was rush hour and missed the train by one minute! I went to the ticket counter and was a lightly reprimanded for missing my train. The attendant told me the correct thing to do was to take the very next train in the non-reserved status and go on with my trip. She was nice enough to reserve me a seat on the next train, though. It left 24 minutes later if I recall correctly. The non-reserve seats are basically on a first come, first serve basis. Each station platform has markers denoting where the doors on each railcar will open. They are accurate to about 6-12 inches, so that's pretty good. You'll see in your travels there that people will line up on those markers and that will be your queue to go in. Once you're in that car, it's a mad dash to the seats. That's why it's better to reserve it in advance and you won't have the mad scramble on the reserved seat cars. I took a trip to Nikko and the weather wasn't very favorable, so I decided to cut it short by about 2 hours. I had the ticket for a Tsubasa service train set to leave Utsunomiya at a certain time. I arrived there from Nikko hours earlier, so what I did was to wait for the first Shinkansen to arrive on the non-reserved section of the platform and boarded a Yamabiko service train into Tokyo Station. I arrived there at rush hour and it was so busy, I bypassed the Yamanote line to Shinagawa and took a Shinkansen, using it as a commuter train to Shinagawa! As far as the hotel, you'll notice the beds aren't the most comfortable there are. The mattress is rather stiff. Some of the towers offer free wired internet in the room while others (like the main tower when I was there) have paid internet.... 1050yen a day (pricey).... The staff is nice and somewhat fluent in English. I had no problems there. If you do go to Nikko, which has many UNESCO World Heritage sites and is a beautiful place to go, make sure you go on a nice day. There is alot of climbing up and down stairs, so be prepared for it. But it's something you should see. You can use the JR pass from Tokyo station on a Yamabiko or Tsubasa train to Utsunomiya and then transfer to the JR Nikko Line for another 45 minute trip.... Won't cost you a thing since all is included with the pass. It's worth an early morning train, say 6am or so, so you can get there by 8am to avoid many tours. If you get tired, go back mid afternoon and get off at Ueno and take the train to Asakusa, which is nearby and you kill that portion of your sightseeing.... Let me know if you have anything else.... I can't talk much about Kyoto because this time around, I only spent a day there. Next year I'll base half my trip out of Osaka, so I will see it with more detail. All I saw in a day was Ryoan-ji, Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji and did the Philosopher's walk.... I'm sure other threads cover more of Kyoto.... |
Thank you guys for all your help, I think i have everything organised. Have opted out for a day trip on our last day in tokyo, instead we are going to check out Akihabara and maybe go to a maid cafe?? I think the boys might be amused by it, any suggestions or are they all much the same??
After the morning in Akihabara I will then book our bullet train tickets for around lunch time, check into our hotel early afternoon in kyoto and maybe fit in a temple visit before dinner (thinking Fushimi Inari). Does that sound doable?? My only concern on this leg is our luggage and where the best station would be to leave from?? I should probably print out a JR subway map so I can visually see the locations of each station, i mean we could leave the luggage at the hotel in Shingawa and go from there but I dont want to back track if I can manage it :) Sorry I hope that all made sense. lol. While we are in Kyoto we are going to buy the 2 day sightseeing pass which covers all the buses ect, printed out there bus and train line map and think on the first day we will do the JNTO "along the old canal" walk which goes from the silver pavillion along the path of philosphy and in the afternoon do the Higashiyama walk. The second day thought we might go check out the castle in the morning and spend lunch and afternoon in Arashiyama area (bamboo grove and monkey park ect). On the third day, early in morning go to Golden pavillion and have brunch and then catch train to Horishima around 12pm , upon arrival leave bags at hotel and walk to peace memorial park and museum (only short walk from hotel) find dinner. We then plan a day trip to Miyajima the following day and then bullet train back to tokyo (disneyland) late afternoon. Phew!! lol, i know it was a mouth full and feel free to brush over it, lol, I am just so excited, I am now in the process of looking up all the trains, time and numbers for my planned travels and putting them into a spread sheet so when we first arrive at the airport I can go to the JR Rail desk and have them book the bullet train legs (hopefully it works out simply like i invision it, lol) Does that sound like a good plan??? I hope we are not too late for the Cherry Blossom viewing, do you all think we will get to see some at the time we are going??? Again thank you all for the help. Also for first timers to Japan I highly recommend the japan guide website, it was a total godsend, there information and forums were very helpfull. :D |
Tokyo station is the terminus for all trains. Those headed north start at Tokyo and head for Ueno.... Those headed south will start at Tokyo and head for Shinagawa.... Those are the three stations in Tokyo where you can catch bullet trains-two stations in each direction. So backtracking to Shinagawa is not a bad thing.... It's about the only thing!
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Shinagawa it is :) thanks again, im glad our hotel is close to the station. We will then leave our luggage there, go exploring in the morning and head back there, pick the bags up and catch the bullet train.
You have been such a great help :) |
Thank you and enjoy your trip!
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Wow! I'm jealous. It will be a little while before we can go. It's cool that you've researched your stay so well (and posting on here can only help smooth out those little nuances).
Enjoy your trip! :vsign: |
Me again, lol. . . Counting down the days to our trip, 4 more weeks and we will finally be there WOO HOO!!!!
Just another quick question, am thinking of forwarding our luggage from Tokyo to our Hotel in Kyoto (Urban Hotel Kyoto) to eliminate the need to leave them at the hotel in Tokyo and also dragging them onto the train to Kyoto. Has anyone used the service, how much is it and how do you organise it?? is it something that you do through your hotel when you arrive??? We are going to do some exploring in the morning (tokyo) , then catching train to kyoto arriving at about 3pm, head to our hotel and then visit Fushimi Inari in the afternoon / sunset, will this work??? Apparently our hotel is only 5min walk from Fushimi Inari, is this correct, am I trying to squeeze too much in one day??. Thank you all once again. |
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And no, you are not squeezing too much in a day at all. Your Shinkansen ride will be so smooth that you will arrrive in Kyoto in top shape. |
I feel very glad to read this is post. This is very interested and informative. The beauty of this post is when i reading this i feel i am in travel with you.
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