Best is just pretend you are japanese for Chinese , guarantee best treatment .

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Added on August 23, 2012, 11:41 amI'm wondering Cherry Blossom in 2013 is what date .

This post has been edited by Breaktru: Aug 23 2012, 11:41 AM

How to pretend? The moment u open mouth, they know u are gaijin di

Trying to do up my Japan itinerary for January 2013. I'll be spending 1 week in Tokyo area then renting a car to drive down to Nagoya and maybe Osaka and Kyoto before going back to Tokyo to fly back to KL.

I read here that Hakone has some pretty awesome Mt Fuji viewing sites and also a few tourist points. But I'll be passing by Shizuoka as well. Is it better to stop at Hakone for Mt Fuji or go straight to Shizuoka? Most likely stopping at either one of this places before heading to Nagoya.

Hi guys,

I need some advice here.
I applied my visa yesterday and supposed to collect tomorrow. Today I had to resubmit another letter of employment due to different than what was required. It's my first time applying for tourist visa for Japan and I was wondering the following issues:-
1. If visa refused, how long only can apply again?
2. If they do not call you, does it mean that it is ok?
3. What's the lowest amount of money in your acc to have been approved for visa?
4. What are actually the chances of a Malaysian being denied visa?
5. Re-submission of letter will extend collection date although is "chopped" there the collection date?
6. How would you know if visa denied? Will they call?

Thanks.

1. I believe that you can reapply again after that. Just need to find out WHY you are being rejected.
2. They usually won't call, you just need to go there on the 3rd/4th day to collect.
3. You need at least RM5k per person. More will be better.
4. Well if you do not submit all the documents you want and if you do not meet their requirement for a tourist visa, confirm will be rejected, even with other countries' visa.
5. You need to ask the officer when you can collect. The previous stamped date is for previous application date.
6. You still need to go get your passport back right? Then you'd know if kena reject or not.

Alot of the times visas get rejected (regardless of countries) is because you resemble an illegal immigrant. Not saying you look like one but you SEEM to have an intention of overstaying. It's hard to say how they judge it, it's just your luck most of the time.

Sharing my rough itinerary for mid-March till early April 2013. Suggestions are welcomed! I'm trying to figure out if it's doable within my budget... RM8-10k, and if the time allocated is reasonable.

> Land in Tokyo-Haneda
Shinjuku crossroad, Shibuya, Harajuku, Akihabara, Takeshita Doori, Yoyogi, Tsukiji Fish Mart, Ghibli Studio, meet Couchsurfing folks for tea

Day trips from Tokyo:
1) Kamakura (Hiking: Daibutsu & Ten-en)
2) Ome (Retro town)
3) Meguro Shizen Kyoikuen (Hiking & Soba)

(Total days in Tokyo: 7-9 days)

------------------------
> Takayama (via bus)
Hida Folk Village, Sanmachi, Takayama Jinya.

Day trip from Takayama:
1) Shirakawa-go

(Total days in Takayama: 2-3 days)

-------------------------
> Osaka(via bus)
I want to try something different here. My plan is to join WWOOF - voluntary work in a farm for 4-6 hours; accommodation and food provided.

But will spend a day or two at the end of the trip as a tourist in Osaka; buy souvenirs etc.

(Total days in Osaka: at least 12 days)

> Kuala Lumpur (via swim, hitchhike... jk, plane.)

=================================================

I'm trying to do as much budget as I can here. My goal will be to take photos and observe/absorb the people and culture. Accommodation will be at hostels and a few overnights at the internet cafes. No ryokans or labu hotels for me . Food-wise, majority of the time I will eat stuff from their version of 7-11, to keep my cost down. Also, how much would you budget yourself for a trip like this?

Also, at the moment I'm solo traveling. Supposed to go with a friend, but clash of schedules.

This post has been edited by DEVILtonight: Aug 24 2012, 08:01 PM

if you can pull these off, i'm waiting for ur journal logging.
i wish i can do these but its not possible w/ my current job.
In osaka, you dont need to limit urself to 7e/familimart/lawson bento as theres lotsa cheap foods there.
im not sure bout the details, but i think rm6k minus flight is doable considering you gonna use night bus rather than shinkansen/JRpass.
*SUICA only works in Kanto while ICOCA only in Kansai/Osaka n I have no idea what works in Nagoya-Hida

For the Hida-Takayama part, aside from taking the bus you can opt to cycle to Shirakawa-go. Nothing much at the Hida-Folk village. But i think their daily activities(including morning market) should be nice.

Thanks for replying, e-jump! Yea, I'm a little worried that I would be unable to pull it off as well, and I don't know if I will manage to find a WWOOF host or not... (and I'm supposed to buy my return ticket by beginning of Oct).

Yea, working puts a damper in our freedom of time. Like you, I'm working too, but maybe my field is more possible. I'm actually pushing beyond my leave days, and would probably go on unpaid leave.

@ Osaka: Cheap food! I like cheap food Like what sort is cheap?

@ Transport: I'm probably using Nohi bus, and no overnights . But on the bright side, I get to see the views along the way. And yea, I need to properly map out my plans in detail.

@ Hida-Takayama: Isn't Shirakawa-go about an hour away? I wouldn't mind going for that... but thinking of the bike rental fees lol! Sounds like an adventure tho... have you tried?

Hi guys, need some advice on where to visit in kansai area.

I have 3 days in kansai area. 1st day will be visiting kyoto, 3rd will be visiting osaka. I need advice on where to visit on the 2nd day.

I will use 2 days kansai thru pass to on the 1st and 2nd day, and i will be using JR pass on the 3rd day in osaka coz on the 4th day i will be going to tokyo using shinkasen.

Any good ideas wil be appreciated. Thanks.

i think Kyoto alone hav enough attractions that can keep u well occupied for 2 days... or u can consider daytrip to nearby places like Nara or Kurama / Kibune.

hi guys,do u know where can i eat not so expensive sushi in tokyo? prefer conveyor sushi.. i would like to try toro..how much for one piece?? and also,where is the best place to try these food?
-takoyaki
-mochi
-melon bread
-taiyaki
-dango
-natto

thnks

Every corners also can find.. Sushi price start from 100yen onwards (~RM4/pc)

Nice picture.. Plan to go next year.. Which is the best month to go?? I want bloomsom whether n autumn ..

Which place is the best hotel to see the best view ??

In Osaka, they have stores that sell assorted precooked tempura that is placed inside a heater.
So like how you go bakery here n pick breads on ur tray n go pay at counter, u pick tempura.. price like depends on what you pick, but its as cheap as konbini bento after few picks.
Some supermarket have this too. I dont find this kind of option in Tokyo though (maybe i look at the wrong places).
You can also observe where those contractor workers get their lunch bento.
Also, you can eat at Tenya, Sukiya, Yoshinoya etc etc for under 1k yen food set.


I went to Hida-Takayama last feb, so its snow everywhere n biking not recommended.
I believe the staff at the hostel mentioned it, or i was reading off website.
Reason is, the Hida<->Shirakawago buses is not frequent as theres hours gap, so if you cycle u can go free n easy.
Besides, its on the Alps so the temp should be single digit


Glowing village of Hida by e-jump, on Flickr

Need your opinions on my itinerary

My Simple itinerary Sept 2012:

12 Sept, Wed –Arrive in Osaka (8am)
Places to Cover:
Sumiyoshi Taisha
Osaka Castle
Osaka Museum of History
DenDen Town
Dotonbori
Staying in: First Cabin Midosuji-Namba

13 Sept, Thurs-Osaka
Places to cover:
Universal Studio
Kaiyukan
Umeda Sky Building
Maybe Dotonbori (Near to Hotel)

14 Sept,Fri - Kyoto
Places to cover:
Kinkakuji Temple
Nijo Castle
Kyoto Imperial Palace
Kiyomizu Dera Temple
Heian Shrine
Gion
Pontocho Alley
Staying in: Guest House Jalan-Do

15 Sept, Sat – Nara (Day Trip)
Places to cover:
Nara Park
Todaiji Temple

16 Sept, Sun –Tokyo
Places to cover:
Harajuku
Shibuya
Shinjuku
Staying in: Khaosan Tokyo Ninja

17 Sept, Mon – Tokyo
Places to cover:
Tsukuji
Odaiba
Ginza

18 Sept, Tues – Tokyo
Places to cover:
Ueno
Akihabara
Roppongi

19 Sept, Wed – Tokyo
Places to cover:
Hakone

20 Sept, Thurs– Tokyo
Places to cover:
Disney Sea

21 Sept , Fri–Tokyo
Asakusa
Going back to KL from Haneda Airport (1130pm)


There's some things I need to confirm?

1) Is my itinerary doable? Especially in Kyoto whereas I want to cover loads of places? As for Tokyo, I'll just go with the flow, have some places that need to go, and some others can skip.

2) As per my itinerary, do I need a JR PASS? I plan to take Shikansen from Kyoto to Tokyo anyway. I read SUICA is more advisable in Tokyo than the JR PASS.

3) Any more comments or suggestion is warmly welcomed.

that was early march, and it was still snowing... so, it would definitely still be snowing late february next year, i guess?

RM5k, wah! but the website doesn't state the minimum amount?

You want to get Japan Visa....now minimum put RM6k bank statement.

i am thinking of doing something similiar in nov 2012. wonder if a day trip to hiroshima is possible while in osaka?

Here's a good info for future tourists to Japan.

b-mobile seems to have updated their prepaid SIM offerings (actually since end of July) and it's much easier to get a Prepaid data SIM card for use while you're in Japan.

The cost is only 3980 yen for 1GB of data for 14 days (Downlink:14Mbps / Uplink:5.7Mbps (Best effort)) which IMHO is very affordable compared to other options. Also, it piggyback on NTT DoCoMo's network so coverage is really good.

You can find out more info on this link -
http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/1gb.html

NOTE: There's another SIM card which offers unlimited data for 14 days but that's capped to a slow 300kB/s only. Best to go for the 1GB plan which should be enough for normal day-to-day use for 2 weeks.

@stimix: Maybe you can add this to the first post?

Here's some of my personal opinions on your Kyoto itinerary -

1. I think your itinerary is too packed as the places you listed are far apart from one another. For eg. Kinkakuji is north of Kyoto and Kiyomizudera is down southwest and Nijo-jo & Kyoto Imperial Palace is located central of Kyoto. You'll really need to be pin point accurate about the schedule of the trains / bus to cover all these places in a day and even that, I don't think it's possible. Plus, they all close around 4pm so you better start your day really early.

2. If you're thinking of renting bicycles and cycling to these places to save cost and time... don't. Summer is wayyyyyyy too hot & humid in Kyoto and you'll find that you need to park the bicycle at designated areas which most of them are not free. Taking the subway or using the 1-day 500yen bus pass is much better.

3. You'll need to do advance booking to visit the interior of Kyoto Imperial Palace. (http://sankan.kunaicho.go.jp/english/guide/kyoto.html)