Depends. My primary mission is to just finish the whole of Japan in 10 days so I'll get a primer of where else to focus on next time. In that context it feels that I've gotten my money's worth.

I already did 14 days in the Tokyo area last time. Now I just wanted to see how far I can get in 10 days. It was actually *decent* travelling - all things considered. I got to see *a lot* more than I initially thought I would.

That said, I do feel I could have used some more time around Sapporo and Matsuyama. Which also holds true for everywhere else, but Sapporo and Matsuyama for me more than anywhere else. Also, I missed going to Hida-Takayama, but I was already on my last legs budget wise so what to do.

But for *real* travelling, yeah, 20 days would have been better for this. Though costs wise it might be more of a problem: it would need twice the budget, for one thing.

It's always a problem of covering more ground, or more depth. In this case I chose to cover more ground - at the sake of depth of course. While it's not optimal, as a time-limited *primer* trip to what Japan has got in store, it works quite well IMHO.

guys just wondering

how much did you pay for your return tickets?

a friend of mine managed to get RM1k for a return ticket for mas

:/ sounds to good to be true

I have just returned from Japan yesterday evening in one piece, although limping due to a pulled ligament in my knee from all the stair-climbing in the subway stations.

Japan is very seductive and addictive. Belum pergi belum tahu, sudah pergi lagi mahu.

Initially, after booking our flight tickets and hotel through Expedia, I was very apprehensive about the trip, especially because of the different train operators and lines which are very confusing. I had thought of seeking advice through this thread, but was wary of RegentCid’s admonishments - “Do your Homework! No spoon-feeding!”. So, I read through ALL the 5 versions of the Japan threads (starting from this one, V5, and working backwards). Then, I checked out all the places in our itinerary through Hyperdia, printed out the schedules/stations which are relevant as well as print out the Google maps for the routes where we need to walk. So, RegentCid, I did my homework and I’m really grateful to you for being such a strict sensei because it really helped to make our trip easier.

All in, it cost slightly over RM18,000 for our family of four. This includes:
- Return air tickets from Penang to Narita via Cathay Pacific transiting through Hongkong
- 6 nights in Chisun Hotel in Ueno (2 rooms, a bit small but comfy and clean, won’t hesitate to stay there again if we go to Tokyo)
- 4 Keisei Skyliner (return) + 3-day subway pass combo tickets (¥5,400 each). We maximised use of the subway pass for the first 3 days
- 2 tickets to Disneysea (bought from JTB before our departure) for my children
- 4 tickets to Ghibli museum
- 3 tickets to Sanrio Puroland
- 1 return Willer bus ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto (for my son)
- 1-day Kyoto bus pass
- Pasmo cards (used after the third day when the subway pass has expired)
- entrance fees to museums etc.
- 63 (yes, you read right) packets of Kitkat (different flavours). What to do, my children want 5 flavours each for some of their friends
- 6 packets of Tokyo Banana
- 6 packets of Shiroi Koibito
- umpteen Hello Kitty stuff (for daughter)
- loads and loads of other stuff (souvenirs, jeans, shoes etc.)

We had to buy a new 28-inch luggage bag there to carry all our shopping stuff back.

Now resting my leg and waiting for cheap tickets before going to Japan again.

Tokyo no people enjoy kaiseki. Mostly enjoy at Kyoto.
Tokyo you enjoy Michelin 3 Star restaurant.

Yes...If was very expensive. Need RM1200-2000 per head

Yeay! can go paris d 

 

Wagyu is a breed of cattle.

Kobe beef means cattle that are raised in Kobe that get a speicalized treatment, that's why the meat is so perfectly marbles and just melts in your mouth.

Kobe isn't the only type of special beef in Japan - there are other finishing treatments that produce even more marbled and tasty beef. Some of the other well known types (in Japan) are Mishima, Matsuzaka, and Omi. All use Wagyu cattle, but with different feeds an finishing techniques, all produce different results.
So what Terry meant is, should she particularly eat Kobe beef or other breed of cattles 

I have already bought my JR pass, no more deciding already. When i reached Tokyo, i'll start reserving my seats and should be no problem to get one.

Yeah, i'm totally excited now 

speaking about this i plan to rent this as well ,  after some research i found this quite cheap

http://www.pupuru.com/en/

or u guys have better suggestions ? does cell phone a must in japan ? because i think hardly make any calls
regentCid electron

i used pupuru on my recent visit to japan. coverage very good, even got signal around mountain area and the speed good enuff to youtube, no lagging.

Yeah, Gotemba is quite far from Tokyo, 2 1/2 hours train from Tokyo. We changed our itinerary at the last minute when we saw the clear skies on that day....we took shinkanshen train to Shin-Fuji station which was like 70minutes only and we saw these beautiful view right outside the station exit...

My hubby hands itchy and wanna take photo from another view so we took a taxi to the nearest park and my hubby shot this from inside the taxi.....