if you have time, and can have a daytrip from kyoto to otsu city of lake biwa.. go to the mount hiei.. the view was superb... the sakamoto town downhill the mount hiei reminded me of doraemon town.. and yes, it u can use kansai pass to go there..

hi.. anybody been to the sapporo snow festival before?? normally when they actually started to carved the ice ??

i will be going to tokyo next year 24/1 to 2/2/13, and wanted to go to sapporo as well.. unfortunately, their official website mentioned that the sapporo ice festival will only started on 5/2/13..

if i go sapporo on 30/1 to 2/2, is there any chance that at least i could see the participant carving the ice... anybody can advice?

if not, maybe i should changed my plan and travel towards south japan instead..

This post has been edited by deqna: Oct 21 2012, 12:10 PM

just came back from tokyo-sapporo trip few days ago... my seccond trip to japan... Japan is Awesome !!!

we travelled lake kawaguchi - nikko - tokyo (visited both disney park) - sapporo - otaru - tokyo

I missed the hokkaido earthquake and the snow storm.. The weather was very good during our travel, ranging 2degree to -4degree even sapporo feels warmer than tokyo.. just the last day, on 2/2/13 temperature in tokyo jump up until 16degree.. the sky was soo clear, mount fuji can even be seen from tokyo..

mount fuji from lake kawaguchi area




sapporo was very nice.. although we came too early to visit the sapporo ice festival, we manage to see the ice carving been carved...





visited otaru..




Japanese people was very nice.. customer service 5 star.. ohya.. even bring back big hokkaido crab home... nyumnyum..

you can find a lot of it at the airport.. dun worry the price at airport or shops outside will be the same for kitkats or other food..

This is my rough itinerary..

Day 1
- afternoon flight, arrived late night at Haneda Airport
- overnite at Haneda Airport

Day 2
- buy JR kanto pass at Tokyo station
- take early train to Lake Kawaguchi
- spend the whole day biking around Lake Kawaguchi.
- overnight at K's house Mt Fuji

Day 3
- morning train back to Tokyo. Check-in Ueno
- Evening to Akihabara.
- Night shopping at harajuku & omatesando area

Day 4
- early morning took first train to Nikko
- walk around nikko town, to world heritage area, and back
- noon back to tokyo
- walk from harajuku to shibuya until night.

Day 5
- fullday Tokyo Disneyland

Day 6
- early morning to Tsukiji Market for tuna auction, but failed... registration for the day finished.
- eat breakfast sushi at Tsukiji market
- back to hostel to refresh.
- whole day Tokyo Disneysea
- night to Tokyo Skytree. went to the viewing platform until closed

Day 7
- early morning transfer to Narita Airport. luggage storage at hostel
- flight to Sapporo. Arrived noon at Chitose Airport
- transfer to Sapporo by train. check-in New Sunroute Sapporo.
- evening walk around Susukino area
- night hang around Sapporo TV tower and Odari Park. play snow

Day 8
- morning walk around sapporo station
- daytrip to Otaru. visit buildings, sakamachi street, otaru canal.. eat cheap seafood, bbq king crab & hairy crab
- night walk at underground shopping street and teramachi shopping street

Day 9
- morning to nishiki market. buy cheap large king crab (2kg).
- walk along odari park to see snow carving & ice sculpture in the making
- last minutes shopping at susukino area
- evening take bus to Chitose airport.
- flight back to tokyo. arrive narita night.
- transfer to Ueno. Check-in

Day 10
- early morning try again for tuna auction. again failed. the guard said people already standby from 4am. disappointed.
- again sushi breakfast at sushi zenmai
- back to hostel. packing. check-out. store luggage at ueno station.
- morning visit Asakusa area.
- noon visit Ginza area
- evening last minutes shopping at harajuku area.
- night collect luggage and transfer to haneda airport.
- late night flight back to Kl.

Overall expenses : rm3500 all-in excluding shopping

Not sure how they can be there soo early... maybe they stay at nearby hotel... I've tried taking the earliest subway from our hotel in Ueno, and arrived at the registration counter around 5.15am... and still can't beat the early crowd.. huhuhu..

u can refer to my post on Universal Studio Osaka at http://deqna07.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/me...l-studio-japan/

u can refer to my post on Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea at http://deqna07.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/to...ysea-which-one/