Wonder if there are still tickets for next spring

Yeah, logically I'd take the overnight trip. I arrived at 740am i think? Apparently boarded the same plane with 1 of our forum-er here.
Reached Narita, get 72h metro+shuttle to tokyo station. Calmed myself, assess the workings of trains/bus and culture, confirm how to start jalan-jalan. By that time already time to check in

If tokyo, yes, you can see they start blooming on first week april. Not the peak tho, but you can at least see the sakura

I prefer night flight tho. No need to worry about sun blaring at my eyes when i rest or play with my phone.

I shopped at Aeon in Kyoto. Seems about the same. Self bag and the automated money counting cashier machine.
Did not notice extra for plastic bag tho..

Might wanna check out each location on the map to reduce transport time and maximize jalan-jalan time.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but these mobile wifi generally use the same telco over there right?
So the differences are with the device(battery/max connections) and price? As well as collection and return policy.

From this itinerary, I'm assuming you're the travel photographer type. Going to spend certain amount of time to get good shots at objects and landscapes
In that case, yes, spending more time in Kyoto is definitely the right move IMO. you will definitely spend time at bamboo forest since it's pretty darn hard to get a really good shot.. and people is not the cause why. Then again, I consider myself an amateur in photography.

Day 4 seems a bit packed. But if you're not really into food, you'll prolly wont spend much time at Nishiki..maybe.. There is a shopping district behind the market after all.
I'm assuming you'll travel to Nara in the morning, and Osaka around 3-4pm? People(like me) would say Nara is overated since there are no views there. Experience it yourself since you may find a gem there.
Regarding Arashiyama, there are 2 parks, Kameyama and Nakanoshima. Nakanoshima IMO has the better view.
That's the only comment I can give about Kyoto. The places you planned to visit got breathtaking views, so you're good there.

Osaka tho.. to me is a city of food and shopping. For pictures.. maybe Tsurumi Ryokuchi park? However just know that that park is HUGE. They even mapped out a 'Walking & jogging course" that is 2.25km. And that's only half of the park! I'll put the snap I took there.

A little too tight there. In super saving mode, you could probably squeeze down to 3000 yen per day for food/snacks.
Transportation costs around 1 000 yen daily excluding getting lost etc.
Shinkansen costs about 13 900 yen. Some entrance fee for parks ~200 yen per park.
I'd put aside 20 000 yen for emergencies.
That comes up to 90 000. But unless you want to limit yourself to yoshinoya/combini food, I'd suggest allocating more. It's a real shame to visit japan without experiencing their awesome food.

Don't get me wrong. It is very much possible, but not comfortable. Aside from breakfast/lunch/dinner, you'll prolly buy some drinks or snacks from combini, street stalls or shops in the parks. After all you'll walk a LOT there. Not to mention trying out the various drinks in vending machines

I put the average meal price at 2000 yen to be safe, and 7 000 yen to be safer(I'm that paranoid. never knew the food price when I enter the restaurant).
Transportation at 1 500 yen per day.
Misc expenses(entrance fee/snacks) at 3 000 yen per day
Skinkansen 13 900 yen
Emergency cash 20 000 yen.
Total would be 195 000 yen(14 000 yen/day)......in theory anyway. I barely spent 200 000 yen(10 000 yen/day) during my 3 weeks over there, and i spent without reservation on food
So try to get 150 000 yen if possible. It is always better to bring more... than to bring less. You could spend more on souvenirs, eat better food, enjoy hotsprings or save for next trip

tl;dr bring 150 000 yen.

Just a suggestion. Is it possible to add a compilation list for each region on the first post? Could include blog, articles or even youtube. Youtube got whole lot of it on its own.
But would be better if it's filtered to avoid misinformation. It's kinda like a semi-spoon feed, but it's useful to record our recommendations for our next trips!
For example..

General


Hokkaido


Tohoku


Kanto


Kinki


Just throwing out ideas.

Travel recommends is now offering RM10 perday. Its the cheapest i see ever.
It's really cheap for unlimited data.
Could research what's nice there on the go if got extra time at destination.

Eh.. I used wiyo in tokyo, kyoto and osaka.. been stellar at that time..

Mark Wein's reactions leaves something to be desired. But still the food that he reviewed are really good.
I tried some of the food he made reviews on and they matched well.

For Japan related stuff, i subscribed to a few youtubers like mark weins, Only in Japan, Abroad in Japan and StrictlyDumpling.
There are others, but these are sufficient for me.

I just check JAL coz easy to see. Starts from RM1.2k. Then depends on how many airport taxes/which economy class. In the end will range from RM1.3-1.5k.

Considering 1.5k is the average price, 1.2k is already cheap no?

It's really up to you though. As i mentioned, I spent about 15k yen in Kansai with ICOCA.. including getting lost. And i got lost a lot I was a bit of an airhead when i go jalan-jalan there.
Kansai wide pass costs.. 9k yen for 5 days? and 4.5k for kids.
If i'm not mistaken you can't use the pass for buses? That a let down IMO since trains dont cover as wide as Tokyo.. So you will need to use bus way more here.

I can assure you, yes it works perfectly. In Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto at least.

It depends on how you decide to eat/sleep/travel over there.
Mind elaborate further on the expenses? Btw RM200 is about 5k+ yen.

I do think that it depends on which local telco they use. For us there are maxis, digi, celcom etc. For Japan, I notice most use SoftBank.. which is really good over there.
...then again it might just be signal strength and they just switch which telco has the best signal at the time..

8 days.. Better focus on exploring Tokyo. Going to Kansai(Kyoto/Osaka etc) for 2 days is not worth the trip. Too many things to see and places to explore.
I'll re-edit and put my previous post for expenses below.

this seems to cover all your questions.

This post has been edited by Grimtooth: Oct 7 2017, 02:32 AM