Please upload your Itenary soon. From there, I will help you do the tune.
If you new here, then you dunno who am I. But all oldfags here know Who Am I.

10:20am should be plenty of time to go to airport. yamanote line starts before 5am. lots of hotel in akihabara. as i suggest, go to agoda/airbnb etc , open the map & look around. also, open google maps & see where the hotel is. I donno what kind of hotel suitable or you. for me, i am looking for family style apartment for 5 pax with kitchen & laundry. so i use airbnb.

as for transport to narita, keisei skyliner is the best & fastest (cheaper than narita express)

This post has been edited by ajay67: Sep 9 2025, 01:50 PM

You should also consider staying around Narita airport since your MAS flight is at 10:20am. Most of the hotels at Narita offers Shuttle bus service to Narita airpor terminalst for free. If you stay in Tokyo you would need to get the earliest bus out of Tokyo at 5am.

This post has been edited by TOMEI-R: Sep 9 2025, 01:51 PM

Previously when my departure was at Narita, I booked the last night nearby the airport. Then can go to Naritasan Temple and Omotesando too. Along the keisei line if not mistaken.

My previous trip last year also arrive and depart via narita but i stayed at asakusa though. Walking distance to sensoji and easy access to tokyo skytree.

Will be going again end of this year and this time arrive and depart via haneda by ANA. Main focus will be osaka, kyoto and nara for this trip.

Sounds like a long trip. How do you intend to split your time between Tokyo, Osaka, Koyoto and Nara?

I know you la. you are the jpn expert. Thanks for the offer. let me start doing some homework and will definitely seek your advice later. Arigato Gozaimasu.

Not that long. 2 weeks. Prolly will spend 5 days at osaka followed by kyoto 3 days, nara 1-2 days and the rest back at tokyo.

Ambitious trip. Happy planning.

which airline do u guys recommend to book from KUL to HND / NRT?

ANA or Japan Airlines if cost is not a concern.

any other airline slightly cheaper than that? like in-between Batik / AA & ANA

MAS

If you are okay with transit, Viet Air, Cathay, Philippine Air, Thai Air

MAS, JAL and ANA is also comparable even to AA and Batik if u plan early and did your survey. AA and Batik is only cheap for solo traveler as seat and baggage and even meal is to be purchased separately. Bought mine few months ago return flight for 2 pax for 5.4k ANA.

I booked mine with Vietnam Air with transit stop in Vietnam for about 2 hours. Save a fair bit for the entire family.

Just need to make sure the transit time is not too long or too short and that the savings is worth your while during your travel period.

We're planning to drive in Japan (just my bf, I'm photographer/🥔 ). I understand international license will be required but the technicalities aside, I'd like to ask more general "on the ground" questions:

- parking availability/cost: how is it like in small towns (see list below)?
- laws and unspoken rules: anything that might not be obvious to Malaysian?
- safety: I suppose no winter tyres required for late autumn, right?

Places we might drive in:
- Beppu town
- Hiroshima (maybe less likely)
- still studying around Kyushu, recommendations for/against welcome.

I'm weighing our options against getting a JR regional pass (+ maybe more other daily passes), especially gonna use that for longer distance like Hiroshima-Fukuoka, so I hope that we can use public transport wherever convenient enough.

Thai Airways and Vietnam Airlines, but (1) they're not direct flights - so you have longer journey, and (2) they're not very much cheaper than Ana and Japan Airlines or Malaysia Airlines. Vietnam Airlines is much cheaper, you can get rm1300-1500/pax but you have to transit in SGN or HAN for an hour or two, but the return flights are usually very early from KIX or NRT.

Tried both batik (Once) and AA (three times), batik land at nrt while AA land at hnd. Batik seat and legroom more comfortable than AA, AA seat and legroom for 7 hours flight is horrible and backpain when arrive. Service wise on the air both not much different since low cost airline. But i do notice that Klia 1 batik staff during check in is more friendly than AA at Klia 2. Both airlines also experienced slight delay when departure but nothing major.

Like what above mentioned as well, if got money better go for ANA, staff is incredible and polite. If book early, ANA round trip can be cheaper than AA and batik. AA/Batik need self add on luggage etc. You can compare all of them using google flights.

This post has been edited by HumanExtinction: Sep 10 2025, 06:49 PM

Just finished my 9D10N trip to Japan from Tokyo to Hakone to Kyoto and Osaka with a day trip to Nara. Very tired but fulfilling. MAS day flights took up two days time.

At least 打卡 in all the prime tourist spots in each location.
4th time visiting hot springs near Mt. Fuji and 4th time failing to see Mr. shy guy. Lol.

What were the maximum and minimum temperatures and relative humidity levels in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka during your recent trip?