Make sure you call in advance to reserve a tour slot! It is very popular and you might not get a slot if you just walk it. I did that mistake and end up no FOC 2 shots

For those going to Yamazaki Distillery, you can refer to to the menu below for the whiskys you can try in their bar (after the tour).

Plan your drinks carefully

Edit: Ah seems like the orientation is off. Feel free to download and rotate it in your PC

This post has been edited by daijoubu: Apr 1 2015, 05:57 PM


Attached thumbnail(s)

www.japan-guide.com is the best place to start. Read up on the area you want to visit, they will teach you on a lot of things such as how to get around, various passes, etc. It took me a while to make a respectable itinerary, but after that if you reached some roadblocks or need more detailed advice you can ask here.

If you:
- lazy
- can't plan for nuts
- don't want to headache

Then sign up for a tour and you don't have to do much.


But if you are willing to do your homework, you will gain:
- valuable understanding on how Japan works
- understand the area and surroundings of the places you want to visit, opening opportunities to gems/places that are rarely frequented by tours
- ability to be flexible during your trip (instead of being herded around in tours, and having to stick to certain timings. this means when you want to spend more time at a certain place cause that place appeals to you, you don't have that option
- much more fulfilling than a tour

kaiyukan as in the area or the aquarium?
If the aquarium, need at least 2.5 hours. USJ will take whole day cause of the massive lines, to better to put USJ in 1 day.

Suggest you spend half day to do the aquarium kaiyukan to really enjoy, as they have some feeding times allocated for different animals. TBH it is just a large aquarium, but they have a nice tiger shark and a really huge tank there. If you are not a penguin/seals/dolphin/shark lover, you can give this a skip and focus fully on USJ.

Good move! Lines in Japan themepark are crazy. Last week I was at Fuji Q. 2.5 hours to line up just to sit one ride. I spent 5 hours 1st day and another 5 hours 2nd day just to sit a total of 4 rides.

That said though, the rides are AWESOME. Just won't be something I'll do again, unless can buy the express pass or go on a super low peak time..

Haha yes that is true, but at least it saves you time, and TBH in Japan, time is expensive because time = experience.

Whoa this is a good tip. This time didn't have time to go Kamakura, but if I did I would be sad to know that I missed this tip >.<.

In appreciate to the sempais here and also to return to the community, I share my actual itinerary (slightly different from planned version, but not too different) as well as the total amount spent during my 10 day 9 night trip to Japan a week ago. Hopefully others can use it to get a rough idea on the budgeting required for their trip to Japan.

Itinerary


Budget (calculated based on 1000yen = RM30

The plan within Tokyo could've been more efficient, but some of it was decided on the spot when we decided we have extra time.

Under transportation, besides misc local trains, it also includes expensive ones such as:
All nikko pass + express ticket = 6430 yen
Bus to and return from Fuji Q = 3750 yen
Willer overnight bus to Kyoto = 7600 yen
So if you just plan to stay in Tokyo without going for day trips, it should be much lower

I think with even proper planning we could've saved some money on local trains by going with day passes, but we paid extra for the flexibility I guess since it is difficult to just rely on either the JR train pass or Metro train pass.

3 nights airbnb @ sumiyoshi 2500yen/night/person (total 4 pax)
1 night hotel ariake washington @ odaiba 4750yen/night/person (total 2 pax)
1 night hotel sawa @ kawaguchiko area 3850yen/night/person (total 2 pax)
1 night ryokan hiraiwa @ kyoto area 4100yen/night/person (ttoal 2 pax)
2 night hotel dew oyamazaki @ osaka/yamazaki area 4900yen/night/person (total 2 pax)

Pocket wifi got =D. 6627yen for 10 days, shared by 4 people. Under Misc category

Gotten from here: http://www.rentalwifi.com/ I took with insurance.
Once reached Narita, pick up package from Post Office. Before departure, dropped it into a post box in Kansai Airport

Edit: On food, we didn't overly splurge on food as we tried many budget food too like Sukiya/Yoshinoya/Mos Burger/100 yen sushi/convenience store food. But RM90/day is inclusive of many kinds of snacks and instant noodles too. I believe if you want to experience more expensive food, you can budget for higher.

This post has been edited by daijoubu: Apr 6 2015, 10:53 AM

Highly recommended to get pocket wifi so you can plan as you go, as well as check for discounts or passes that you can utilize on the spot. But these days, seems that it is easier to get free internet wifi in Japan . 2 years back it was so difficult

Yup, per person per night

Last trip I went, my combo would be:

1) Samsung Note 4
2) NEX 5R with 18-55mm
3) GoPro


My findings:

1) Samsung Note 4: Most useful, cause it is light and can take photos very fast. Note 4 famous for picture quality and among the best (comparable with Iphone 6 plus). If you really need to travel light and you have a Note 4 or IP6+, this alone should suffice.
2) GoPro: If you plan to Ice ski/ride roller coasters which needs hands free operation, this is a must. Stills from the Full HD videos are very sharp. Besides that, it is useful for taking selfies with very large objects as background as you do not need to move so far from the object. If want to take landscape sceneries, not as useful as the wide angle make it hard to see details of things far away.
3) NEX 5R with 18-55mm: Most bulky, I feel if want to travel light, can opt not to take this, but very useful for night shots / low light photography. When enter night, usually my note 4 and go pro become harder to use, this is where the Nex 5R comes in.


You can check out the quality of some of the photos taken below ^^

Samsung Note 4
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/w2y8ktoqximp5v6/SGN4.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ca33flo...axd5/SGN4_2.jpg

NEX 5R
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ts32zta...4gzdf/NEX5R.JPG

GoPro Still
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/n2t43w7...GOPRO_still.JPG

GoPro Screen Cap from FullHD Video
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/yh4ee5n...O_screencap.png