hi guys,

am planning a trip to tokyo and hokkaido between end of may to june. apparently hokkaido is going to launch its shinkansen on March 26, 2016. A quick browse of JR pass doesn't include hokkaido shinkansen at the moment and "subject to change after the launch of hokkaido line".

should i wait or buy jr pass now?

take note that JR pass voucher need to exchange in 3 months time (start from the date u buy the voucher)
if u buy now, it will expired in March, and cannot be refund

thanks for the head up!

I would like to experience winter for the first time of my life. Plan to go Hokkaido early of Dec this year (First and second week of Dec).

Need to ask all the sifu here. Will there be heavy snow on that time? Plan to try ski and snowboarding. Hehehe....

Hi guys... I am going to Kumamoto from 20th Jan till 13th Feb for some short-term education program. This will be my first time travelling to a country with 4 seasons, so this will be first experience with winter. So just want to ask a few things here.

1. I see the weather reports saying the winter now is not so 'winter-ish' with higher temperatures and less snow. So what kind of winter wear should I bring along? Thermals? Windbreaker? Winter jackets? How about shoes? Normal shoes will do? Or do I need special winter shoes / boots?

2. I will have 3 weekends (basically just 2D 1N for each planned location) there which I plan to visit around. As I will be in Kumamoto, most likely my plans will be only around Kyushu. Any recommended places? My planned places to visit are:

Weekend 1
Kumamoto - Kumamoto Castle, Suizenji Garden, Mt Aso

Weekend 2
Fukuoka - Dazaifu Temangu shrine
Otherwise, no plans yet - maybe just tour around Fukuoka city

Weekend 3
Undecided - Nagasaki, Kitakyushu, Takachiho, Beppu/Yufuin
Any recommendations?

Note : Actually the place I wanted to visit most is Kyoto, but looking at the distance, cost and time frame, it doesn't look feasible. Well, if I manage to get more days off, maybe I can consider, but is it a good idea? My aim is to visit the World Heritage Sites in Kyoto.

3. I do not want to exchange to much cash here, so I just wanted to know if I can withdraw cash from ATMs in Japan. I read that the machines in 7-11 are able to do that. Just want to confirm though.

Thanks to those who read my long post. Really excited and also nervous for this as I will be living for 3 weeks in Japan.

This post has been edited by nicodemus88: Jan 5 2016, 11:53 PM

You no need Winter jacket for Kyushu. It won't snow. Temperature always around 10 - 15 Celsius on Winter.
Just Imagine you at Genting Highland only.

Yeah I'm thinking it's a typo too. It's annoying to reconfirm cos it's via some retarded "request late check in" function on booking.com (the intermediary) rather than email or other direct communication with the inn, but I'll put in another request just in case. Sankyuu!


June still ok but July-August are HOT. Hot hot hot, even worse than Malaysia.

http://www.jwa.or.jp/news/2016/01/post-000597.html

My jap sucks cos I dunno kanji, but it seems they're forecasting early early Feb already possibly first bloom liao. That is like a full month earlier than previous years; this year's sakura hunters going to be burned badly it seems.

Thanks RegentCid!

Wow, that's good to hear! Haha...

I saw you are a frequent visitor of Japan and have been around the country a lot. Any recommendations for Kyushu? How does my plans look like?

Very hard to predict nowadays if there will be adequate snow in early Dec. Jan would be a better bet.

wah if a full month earlier

more accurate one have to wait until Feb

Kobe Port ,just sightseeing only...for Kobe Tower ..Kawasaki Museum ..for shopping here recommended for 100% leather handbag..for muslim also have halal kebab Inside Mosaic Shopping Mall. Its take 15 minutes walking to Kobe Mosque..








This post has been edited by Samurai: Jan 6 2016, 04:15 PM

hi all, Im interested in travelling to japan..I dont know how to read japanese words and I will start travelling to Osaka first... any those pasar malam kind? Like Takoyaki...Pancakes....those? (totally new to japan)

This post has been edited by Cherryx: Jan 6 2016, 04:31 PM

Namba / Shinsaibashi / Kuromon Market.
The rest please do homework.
Refer to Page 1

This post has been edited by RegentCid: Jan 6 2016, 04:40 PM

How about for ski and snowboarding activity? I guess the snow should be adequate especially those on the ski resort high mountain. (e.g. Niseko)

Most of Ski Resort have thier own Website. The web will show current situation. Live on Video
From there you can get snow detail.

http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/politics/article/20160106000065/1



Kyoto plum tree blossom riao?

This post has been edited by deodorant: Jan 6 2016, 09:40 PM

I'm surprised u able to read Japanese

My Japanese is sucks, learn ~1 year during uni time only. Hiragana katakana 問題はありません but kanji all KO cos I am banana leoeoeleoleoelool