SIC maricar night video.




Verdict: It's a LOT of fun (not entirely 100% safe though, but nevermind, #YOLO). If any of you are going soon I highly recommend trying this, especially since lots of regulatory pressure means that the company might be forced to shut down in the future (or at least make lots of safety changes).

3k per pax er ... kinda impossible for any decent Kobe beef lo. Even steakland in Kobe also 6k per pax for lunch, and that one is sort of crap.

It's not like you will soak in the bath 8hours a day what. Onsen / ryokan isn't just about the bath, it is about the relaxation, the slowing down of the pace, the meal or dinner in your bath robes served in your room.

Example in a one night stay in a ryokan, at most you separate from each other to bath twice (~1 hr each time), the rest of the time you are together enjoying the ambience, drinking tea, walking around the garden, etc etc.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 6 2018, 01:25 PM

I give you an example of my recent day-use onsen/ryokan at kaminoyama onsen. I didn't even stay overnight cos not enough time, just day use (higaeri) only.

10.30am reach ryokan-hotel and check in. The hotel staff bring me and my wife to our day use room.



We relax around a bit, change out of our clothes into the bath robes, admire the room, relax, chit chat, eat snacks, drink tea.

And then we go to visit the baths (separated). For the morning session I visit the 1st floor bath, wife goes to 8th floor.




After finish bath, come back to room to relax and have lunch. In the meantime, chat about how nice the baths are, etc.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 6 2018, 04:09 PM

Sesame/miso sukiyaki lunch after onsen

After lunch, relax some more, chit chat some more, drink more tea, then go explore the hotel



After food settled down enough then 2nd round switch baths (my turn to go up to 8th floor)



After finish bath, go back to room to relax some more, chit chat some more, drink water and more tea, then finally change back into clothes and check out at 3.30.

Super relaxing, super bliss. My personal opinion is that private bathing is overrated 🤣

* Onsen photos are stolen from hotel website cos obviously I can't bring camera inside.

It's common not only in Japan but the whole world also. Fine dining & atas restaurants that are eye-bleedingly expensive for dinner tend to have cheaper lunch menus. So if you don't have a magnum jackpot backing up your bank account but still wanna try these places, lunch is a great way to go.


#1 DisneySea if teenagers/adults, Disneyland if with kids.
#2 if you don't have elderly people or mobility impaired people with you then it's not so much about the cost. Train system is so dense in Tokyo that it's more convenient to just train than to drive and find parking in unfamiliar area.

Tokyo area full bloom March24,
Kansai area full bloom March31,

Flowers usually last a week after full bloom.

If you miss full bloom by a few days, still OK also cos you can catch the petals falling time which is nice in its own way also



Even if you miss by a week or more, there are places with late blooming varieties.

Yah I was surprised too cos winter had a cold snap or two. But it seems that last few weeks have been warmer than usual.

https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/japan-cherry-blossom-forecast

http://www.shijou.metro.tokyo.jp/calendar/2018/
Tsukiji market closed on wednesday in case you wanted to go into the inner market.
Outer market I guess still open though.
But outer market nowadays is like a tourist market / attraction sia.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 14 2018, 04:34 PM

I recall signboards at Tokyo station lockers reminding gaijins that maximum storage is 3 days only. Don't know if it's 3 calendar days or 72hrs though.

APA hotel rooms are SUPER tiny. Just be ready for that in case you really want to squeeze.




The bed is small, table small, hardly any place to put luggage (basically you need to open luggage on top of bed). It's tolerable for 2 adults, but I dunno if you be comfortable with a small toddler in tow.

Also the double bed is 140cm width (msia queen sized bed is 152cm). Can you, wife, and toddler all fit?

Another APA hotel from another trip





This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 16 2018, 12:11 PM

It depends on how the rains and winds are after full bloom. The petals last a bit longer if weather is good.
Up to a week after full bloom still pretty nice one, it'll be hanafubuki season i.e. the season when when winds blow, the petals fall like rain.
1-2wks after then a bit sketchy liao cos the trees will be more green than pink.
But you can still go and check out the late blooming varieties of sakura.

Consider going for those omakase / sushi course sushi places ba. It's not technically "all you can eat," but a lot of these places really feed you a LOT of food.
Plus the quality is a huge step up from kaitenzushi stuff.

Example: Mantenzushi Marunouchi (blogwh0re alert) where 6500y buys you 25 sushi/sashimi/other food items. My personal view is that it's amazing value and affordable for the quality and quantity of stuff that you get.





This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 21 2018, 09:35 AM

The photos? 1 person portion. My wife was totally food coma after the end.

lazarus7247 Niseko has the best powder in Japan, but also tends to be crowded and westernized. Honshu ski areas tend to have a more traditional / village vibe so they feel more 'authentic.' Depends on what you want I guess, and whether skiing is your main focus or just side trip plan.

In Honshu I've skiied Nozawa Onsen (paired with snow monkeys) and Zao Onsen (paired with juhyo and Koyo Ryokan at Kaminoyama Onsen). Both of these are great for intermediates, and I adore that they are onsen villages and not purpose-built ski resorts, so there are no towering concrete ski hotels anywhere in sight.

(On the flip side, ski-in/ski-out acccoms are not common, and a bit of walking / shuttle busing required).

Nozawa onsen video



The main issue is transport cost maybe (if you wanna do both areas) cos as you know, Nagano and Yamagata are on different shinkansen lines and different JR east passes. Also, the JR East Tohoku pass does cover Yamagata plus Miyagi prefectures but they split really far south - Fukushima.

Other than that the villages are small and cozy and don't have much nightlife. Nozawa onsen still better, at least there's a small shotengai and lots of eateries around town, Zao onsen really super dead at night.

Also note that although there are many public baths around both villages, getting around outdoors in wintertime can be ... logistically challenging, so you could consider checking in to a slightly more upmarket ryokan with it's own onsen (so that you can just bathe in the hotel if you're lazy to walk out).

This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 27 2018, 05:09 PM

terces 7th-15th October (9days) enough to cover quite a bit of ground

http://look-see-eat.blogspot.sg/2015/11/ho...rket-ramen.html



So you should go earlier rather than later in October if seeing autumn colours is your main goal.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Apr 1 2018, 01:12 PM

Go do your own basic research first lar, you want to free and easy and don't want to pay tour guide then expect us to craft itinerary for you for free?

We don't know you at all, how do we know what you like or dislike? Example I think Otaru canal is most overrated crap in Hokkaido ever, but a lot of people would disagree. So is it worth visiting or not worth visiting?

Nah some links to get started.

Hokkaido guide https://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1101.html
Japan travel costs https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2410.html

For budget, I did a 3d Tokyo 9d Hokkaido trip a while ago and it was all-in around rm30k for 2pax. http://look-see-eat.blogspot.sg/2015/11/ho...rket-ramen.html

This post has been edited by deodorant: Apr 2 2018, 12:44 PM

MeToo kid how old? Day2 do so much gardens, kid might get bored (depending on age). Day6 if a full day in odaiba ... some might say it's overkill, but I think it's ok - can go megaweb, the amusement parks, ride ferris wheel, relax in oedo onsen, Fuji tv, fill up the rest of the time with a little window shopping.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Apr 2 2018, 12:48 PM