Hi all, I am doing Kyoto + Osaka for 8 nights next week. japan-guide.com says to use the Icoca & Haruka ticket to get to Kyoto from Kansai Airport.. Will this be sufficient for daily use in Kyoto + Osaka? I am also planning to go to Nara (from Kyoto) and Kobe (from Kyoto/Osaka) plus Riku outlet mall for some shopping. Will I need to purchase JR Pass as well?

Thank you and appreciate your tips! Was lowkey waiting for your reply tbh lol.
Will play around with the itinerary on Day 3. Wanted to skip Odaiba, but since we have some time, was thinking we could catch the night view.
Yea def will go Ameyoko if we are at Ueno. Been there previously, and it's like snacking every 10mins haha.
Noted on the sushi joint, looks more than decent and worth trying.

I have narrowed down my hotel choices(Shinjuku) to Hotel Granbell and Hotel Gracery. Thoughts or anyone has any experience to share?

This post has been edited by jhchong: Jan 16 2018, 02:45 PM

hi, can anybody share their experience of process time of immigration and baggage claim in Haneda Airport ? My ETA is 10.30pm. I am not worried about catching the train of Keikyu Line but I am worried I might missed the Toei Line (Shinjuku to Nishi Shinjuku).

Is the process of exiting the Airport fast ? can be done under 40 minutes ?

Hi all, I'm going to hike up Mount Tateyama this coming early-mid May. I wish to ask if anyone did it in that time period and can provide advise/recommendation ?
Any suggestion on where to get snow mountaineering boots in Malaysia ?
Thanks.

This post has been edited by HengEkHan: Jan 16 2018, 05:49 PM

flattered.

Odaiba is good, it's more than the night view. You can stroll around Diver City (mall behind Gundam). There is a pretty big souvenir shop. And best of all, there's a food court on Ground Floor (i think). At the food court, there's a door that you can exit directly to see the Gundam statue.

Plenty of food choices @ food court. It's exciting to browse around and enjoy your meal there. Give it a shot

Can't help ya on the Hotel. I stayed in Ikebukuro Metropolitan Hotel and it was really good (under company since it was work haha). Although Ikebukuro is not centralised (a little far from Shinjuku or other places), it's a very nice area to stay at. There are huge drugstores that closes at 2-3am? And Mutekiya 無敵家 ramen operates 24 hours, same as Ichiran 一蘭. Never have to worry about food or shopping if you want to do something in the wee hours!

Must be AA. It'll depend on your luck. I took AA once and the flight was early. Touched down roughly 930pm but arrived at Immigration greeted with super long queue that took almost an hour to pass. By the time we collected our luggage and rushed for the train, we barely managed to hop onto the last train.Since it was the last train, extremely packed.

So it's hard to tell what time you can catch the train because highly dependent on immigration area. Get ready for alternatives (eg. miss train then make sure there's accommodation nearby you can stay for the night).

You can walk into manga cafes. There are those that operate 24 hours and you can rent a room and sleep on the couch while charging your phone and use the washroom, as well as take a shower.

This post has been edited by sweet_pez: Jan 16 2018, 07:50 PM

garygothic You can only really do either TDL or TDS on one day, not both.

jhchong odaiba got lots of things to do leh. Toyota megaweb is interesting, got games and lots of cars to see, can even test drive if you have IDP. then got oedo onsen monogatari, these 2 alone liao can eat up half day.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Jan 16 2018, 10:08 PM

From what I see in google, the last train should be leaving at 11.42pm, but not direct transit from Keikyu to Toei.

- Keikyu HND terminal - Keikyu Shinagawa
- JR Yamanote Shinagawa - JR Yamanote Shinjuku
- Oedo Shinjuku - Oedo Nishi Shinjuku

Fare: unknown, but shouldn't be more than 1k yen.

Tried once, no delay from AA.. Rush down from plane, immigration processing and baggage claim. Still manage to reach safely to Nishi Shinjuku. (Manage to buy JR pass from airport as well) Doable if no delay and walk fast.

My coming trip, same time. This time with elderly and kid, a-bit worrying.. still considering should i stay up near by Haneda or not

This post has been edited by Speedy~: Jan 17 2018, 11:18 AM

you can always take the airport bus limo to shinjuku. it runs pass midnight
https://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/bus_services/haneda/index

This post has been edited by idoblu: Jan 17 2018, 11:27 AM

thanks for the reply guys.. hopefully there will be no delay in the flight. My flight is tomorrow.

Noted & thx @deodorant. Will pick either one for the trip

Happy holiday! Share your experience when you're back

Just saw the itinerary. Few cents' worth of opinion:

1. Day 1 seems a little ambitious, no? I think it's more realistic to have 3-4 places to visit. And in Kyoto you can also visit Nishiki Market.

2. Day 6 - by the time you do Omotesando, I think it's easily 4-5pm, unless the first 3 places you're doing touch-n-go style. Suggestion is to pack lunch (i.e. bento from Family Mart/ 7-11) and enjoy a nice picnic at Yoyogi Park.

3. Day 7 is interesting. You're doing it the other way round vs mine

What i did before was Asakusa-Hamarikyu-Tsukiji-Imperial Palace-Tokyo Station. We board the Water Taxi from Asakusa in the morning and got down at Hamarikyu Garden. The rest of it we walked from one place to another, because they're within walking distance.

It's a pretty touristy thing to do, but I really enjoyed it. I don't mind riding it again when I'm back in Tokyo haha. I think your "boat trip" is in reference to this.
http://www.gotokyo.org/en/tourists/info/access/access5.html

4. Day 10 - I suggest you push Shinjuku Gyoen to the morning/ afternoon. In winter, it gets dark early, ie. 4-5pm sometimes feels like 7-8pm. So if you go in the evening, I should think it's less enjoyable compared to the earlier time. Secondly, is there anything to see in Winter? Back in Autumn, I went there to see the autumn foliage it was really beautiful. Not so sure about winter, you may want to check online first.

5. Suggestion: do Ginza on Saturday/ Sunday. Pedestrian's Heaven is over the weekend from 12 noon onwards at Chuo Dori, Ginza.

Not sure bout Osaka, but in Tokyo you can get the Metro Subway Pass, more value for the 3 days pass. However you'll need to have good planning to fully utilize the pass. It can potentially save up to few times of your transport cost over 3 days.

http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/travel/

For example if you're going Akihabara, usually you'll search to Akiharaba station. However that station is under JR Line, so you can't use the Metro pass.

But, you can always stop at Suehirocho station via Metro line. It brings you directly to Akihabara as well - but this is not a well known fact among tourists especially first few timers. Need to do more research if you want to utilize the pass.

This post has been edited by sweet_pez: Jan 17 2018, 06:16 PM

Overnight in airport la Else stay one night in nearest city would be better, then move on to the better hotel/accommodations on the next day. Do note that Japan have very late check in, usually starts from 3pm on wards so better store your luggage at the nearest station to your next accommodations to have a more free movement during the day.

Those luggage storage usually filled up very fast so go early to avoid disappointment.

This post has been edited by Belphegor: Jan 18 2018, 11:43 AM

@sweet_pez, Appreciate the additional tips!

@deodorant, Yea i'm aware of the onsen in Odaiba. Was looking for one that is less mainstream/popular to avoid crowd. Cheers

Don't really mind overnight in airport.. however with kids and elderly seem like very inconvenient for me to do so.. Advise taken on staying in nearest city.. Considering that as well.

Enjoy your trip and have fun in Japan!

I've been to Spa LaQua before also, and it was a lot less crowded. However it's also a lot less fun. Other onsens (technically sento I guess) that are less tourist oriented are ... boring cos they're functional rather than touristy, it feels almost exactly like if you visit any spa here in KL lol.

Something for V11 thread

Some tutorial in case someone needed

I look at Google Map, Nishi Shinjuku is walking distance from Shinjuku station. Nothing to worry about.