Interesting to see. Planning to go Tokyo in March/Apr Sakura season

truly unlimited with good speed and coverage. Me and my partner used like >20GB data over 10 days in Japan.

They don't know how to appreciate culture

Nowadays the promo is like not promo at all because it's too frequent.

Sorry if i post in the wrong thread.

When usually ANA will have sales? And how much cheaper it could be?

I'm planning to book flights to Tokyo early April next year. It roughly cost about RM1800/pax now.

Ohh, I'm not expecting it to be that cheap. Just wondering should i just go ahead and book the RM1.8k

Sometimes I saw ANA have this promo of 50% Off 2nd ticket, but usually it's like only 1 month before the actual travel period?

Last promo I saw is August promo with travel period up to 30 Sept

Hi guys, need your opinion on routes and itinerary.

I will start off in Tokyo and planning to visit Takayama and Alpine Route. Shinkansen alone already cost about 14k Tokyo-Kanazawa and 8k Nagano-Tokyo. I am thinking whether is it worth it to get 24k Hokuriku Arch Pass for this. Or are there other must visit cities along the route?

Appreciate your comments.

I'm planning to go next April. I cover Osaka/Kyoto extensively last time, that's why I'm not going there again.

Still need to do more research and planning, but tentatively I'm looking to travel from Tokyo to Kanazawa starting 12-13 Apr. Do Gokayama-Shirakawa-Takayama. Stay in Takayama for the festival (14-15 April). Then proceed to Toyama/Alpine Route when it opens. I should have free time of 1-2 days before flying out from Tokyo on 18 Apr night.

You can use Hyperdia to check your transportation options and cost.

No difference between PASMO and SUICA

Osaka - subway
Kyoto - mainly using bus to visit attractions
Tokyo - subway

No experience with driving but I don't really recommend it since it will be time consuming and tiring. I suggest flying in via KIX and fly out at Tokyo Narita/Haneda. Hence, you only need to buy 1-way shinkansen instead of return trip.

Shinkansen fare from Osaka/Kyoto to Tokyo 1-way is about 13-14k yen/adult. Children is half of that.

Ticket price can varies a lot depend on which season or period u r going.

about rm500

You are not going on the 1st week of May right? It's Golden Week, so sure will pack like hell.

I was able to do most of the popular rides on a weekday, without purchasing Express passes. 2 key tips are -

1. Arrive early like 1hr before opening time so that you are in the front part of the queue. Right after you enter the park, just run or walk fast to the Harry Potter area first and queue up for the ride. Shouldn't take you more than 30-45min queue even if you are not running fast like everyone else.

2. There is a parade around noon (can't remember the exact timing). Watch it near the start of the parade (i watch it somewhere around the 4D Theater). When it finish at your side, the parade will still go around USJ for about another 45min. Use this period of time and go for the popular rides. For e.g., it only took me less than 5min to ride the Amazing Spiderman 4D attraction.

Maybe to really maximise your chances, you can buy the Express Passes to shorten queue times for some of the rides. If so, i think you can really try almost all the rides, though not all are that interesting

EDIT
Assuming your wife is not so extreme and don't ride roller-coasters, there are also single-rider lanes which only take you 10-15min to queue.

This post has been edited by tohff7: Oct 5 2017, 12:01 PM

Wah, u going on Golden Week. Then i think you really need to buy some Express Passes

Crowd estimator - http://usjinfo.com/wait/pre_callendar.php?...&park=#land_cal
For comparison, I went on a day in mid-April with 30-40% crowd vs. Golden Week crowd of 60-75%.....

yeah, unless you buy the Express Pass which have Harry Potter, you should straight go to Harry Potter and queue for the ride at the castle. Skip the shops first and do it after.

Ride wise, my recommendation is

Harry Potter 4K3D
Amazing Spiderman 4K3D
Flying Dinosaur
Backdrop
Jurassic Park
JAWs
XR ride - next year change to Final Fantasy http://www.siliconera.com/2017/09/20/final...apan-next-year/

There is also the 4D Theater which alternate between 2 shows. Nice if you are an anime/game fan. When i was there, it was Evangelion and Attack of Titan.

The 'Expecto Patronum' show is after sunset.

Didn't catch it since it was only introduced this year. So, I'm not sure how the crowds could be now. Usually towards late evening/after sunset, some people goes back there to take the Harry Potter ride for 2nd time because the crowd is a lot lesser (maybe just 15min queue)

Timed ticket is just to determine the time for you to enter the Hogwarts attraction area (to avoid massive crowd). You still need to queue up for the rides.

PS4 has a power supply inside that accept 110-240v. Hence, it can be used anywhere in the world.

ANA price is all-inclusive Not like AirAsia...

I guess this is their usual practice to offer cheaper tickets in order to fill the seat on non-peak season.

I doubt my early April return flights gonna be any cheaper soon...hovering around RM1.6-1.8k...

Counter clockwise since you will have higher chance to see Mt. Fuji from the lake cruise around afternoon, rather than much later which might have more clouds.

I went during spring time and was staying a night in a ryokan in Gora. So naturally, counter clockwise makes sense for me instead of clockwise.

Ropeway was partially closed when i was there due to volcanic activity at Owakudani station. That's why I don't remember I see Mt. Fuji from the cable car