Sakura season hotels damn ex, Osaka/Nagoya Hilton rm1k/night, Tokyo Conrad rm1700/night, just accoms already a bit over 15k le. This trip a bit hesitant to do APA hotel kind like my previous trips cos got small kid haha.

Dunno if this link works to insta stories … too lazy to properly blog and write stuff anymore lol.

https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE...WIzMWE5ZmU3Zg==

This post has been edited by deodorant: Apr 19 2023, 07:38 AM

Be careful on this. Some classes of medications are common elsewhere but are restricted/illegal in Japan.

https://jp.usembassy.gov/services/importing-medication/

This post has been edited by deodorant: Jul 1 2023, 10:14 AM

I just came back from JP with my 3 year old. Except for airport limousine bus where you have all your luggage, train should still be your first option over bus lah.

Sadly nope. Only the Yamagata / Nagano / Niigata areas (relatively) closer to Tokyo.

At these ages, most of Disneyland will be available for your kids (even the rollercoasters), but most of USJ will not. Source: My 3.5 year old went to both in Mar/Apr this year.

Also consider stopping over Nagoya in between Osaka/Tokyo. Legoland there is actually pretty amazing for young kids, and the night illumination at the nearby nabana no sato (if your timing is right) is great.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Jul 11 2023, 09:40 PM

If you're iPhone user just add new electronic one to your wallet directly.

Just go search highest scores on tabelog lor.

Planning my Feb2024 trip to go skiing. Initial plan was to go to Hokkaido (I've gone to many Honshu resorts but never Niseko) and OH MY GOODNESS hotels (the ski-in/ski-out ones) and stuff are so expensive in Niseko ... for e.g. grand hyatt, non ski time maybe rm1k+ per night, ski season time rm4k+ per night (for normal small room hor, not even suite).

This post has been edited by deodorant: Sep 10 2023, 03:49 PM

Boss ... Club Med is one lvl higher even. rm30k/rm37k (Sahoro/Tomamu respectively) for 5 nights for my dates is a little (actually a LOT) out of my capability lol. What I'm looking at now is around rm24k for ski-in-ski-out accoms, full day ski school for all, eq rental and ski pass.

But then again that 24k doesn't include food yet vs Club Med being all inclusive with all the food and activities, and the nanny would be much better than the normal ski schools hor. Hmmm.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Sep 11 2023, 08:52 AM

PRCs are back in force huh. My Sakura trip in Mar/Apr was quite pleasant cos I think that time they still not able to travel overseas (or something like that). But I guess it's only a matter of time.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Sep 11 2023, 07:00 PM

Did my virgin ski trip to Niseko, 6d5n (for 4 full days of ski'ing), verdict: Niseko is great, but the premium for convenience is extremely extremely high. Also lesson learned, 4-years old don't expect them to know how to ski in just a few days.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSFYfBnvx/

Obv if you don’t need ski in ski out hotel and can queue for dinners, costs will be quite a bit lower.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 12 2024, 03:06 PM

Actually the queues aren’t that much worse than any Honshu resorts, the worst was around 20mins at Annupuri gondola. Hirafu gondola was only 10mins tops after 9plus am (I didn’t try earlier cos needed to drop kid off ar ski school at 9am).

I heard that the super long queues are exceptions when there’s heavy winds and then the chair lifts on the top are closed, then only everyone LLST at the bottom.

I think that Niseko is grossly overrated for intermediates and below. You need to be confident in trees and powder (which vast majority of even advanced intermediate skiers aren’t) to justify the double (or more) cost over Honshu resorts, IMO.

Having said that — having 4 resorts linked together (at the top) gives a crazy amount of runs relative to any Honshu resort, but on the other hand the sheer crowd chops everything up to hell by early afternoon …

This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 24 2024, 05:20 PM

Eh no way man. Look at the piste map, Zao is almost all green and red runs, hardly any blacks. Niseko is mostly red and black and even most of the greens are a bit too steep for real beginners.

The traditional village feel is nice though. As are the reasonable prices. And plus point to stop by Kaminoyama onsen on the train back to day-use one of the onsen hotels there, shiok. Niseko is full of angmoh and abc, doesn’t feel like Japan at all. And it’s so expensive.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 29 2024, 12:07 AM

Depends if you’re sticking to cities or going more rural areas (and also depends where you eat most of your food). My last trip 10d 2a1c we spent ¥2xxk cash only, others all credit cards + e-suica reloaded with credit card.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Feb 29 2024, 05:12 PM

jdachum from Nagoya check out the night illuminations at nabana no sato, they’re great.

https://en.japantravel.com/mie/nabana-no-sa...llumination/121

Forgot the exact station name, Kintetsu Nagashima? Train to that station then the bus to nabana no sato. Coming back also got bus but I was lazy to wait and took a cab (to the nagashima station).

Anyone been to Rusutsu in January before? Just wondering what’s the resort (not Westin) room rate like at the resort.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Mar 9 2024, 03:48 PM

Sigh that’s another worry. Next year January my wife family side doing Hokkaido trip. But will have elderly (her parents) and kid as young as 2 years old, I guess taking train is out of the question and must drive for maximum comfort for them, but I dun want to drive in winter …

Can also consider GO app, I kept getting ¥500 off coupons when I used in Fukuoka last month.

No head no tail, why do you think that 3-11 Sep is no good?