Yes, excellent for long train rides. Last December we used fares about 3x the value of the 7-day JR Pass (Y28,300), touching these red dots.







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Hahaha, this Dec am going back -- to Kansai, shinkansen down to Himeji/Miyajima/Hiroshima. Then u-turn all the way to Tokyo.

Good idea. Maybe should explore this region too.

Russia/Baltics/Finland next month.

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Better check, stimix. There're 2 places inside the Toshogu shrine which require additional tix -- the Tomb of Shogun Ieyasu and a temple with some carving.

ppl wake up 4am to climb see sunrise at summit. here ppl wake to go to fish market.

Tonight on NatGeo channel, got special 3.11 program from 8pm MYT.

I'm going to just watch the documentary on 'what really happened at Fukushima', at 10pm.

Snow Monkey @ Jigokudani, near Nagano. Still heavy snow today.



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stimix, check the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) for up-to-date weather: http://www.jma.go.jp/en/yoho/

Hope you and the girls are enjoying the trip!

This is why we say a Shinkansen is a Shinkansen. Cannot compare Chinese trains to them.

"Section of high-speed railway line in China collapses"

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JR Pass good on Green (Yamanote) Line and Monorail (to Haneda) in Tokyo. Metro is non-JR so not usable there. In any case, I found I could go to many interesting places via the Green Line and JR trains. See map below for JR Pass validity.



Source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2017.html

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AWESOME, bro!

RT: @BreakingNews: More: Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit Tokyo region - Japan Meteorological Agency

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Earthquake Information (Information on seismic intensity at each site)
Issued at 21:16 JST 14 Mar 2012

Occurred at (JST) Latitude(degree) Longitude(degree) Depth Magnitude Region Name
21:05 JST 14 Mar 2012 35.8N 141.1E 10 km 6.1 Chiba-ken Toho-oki

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/

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Shallow one, at only 10km.

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RT: @typhoonfury: Recap: M6.8 hits offshore NE Honshu / Hokkaido, small tsunami. 3 strong aftershocks and then M6.1 strikes on Chiba coast at 10km #japan

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This post has been edited by mat sputnik: Mar 14 2012, 08:27 PM

Everybody must experience quake for the first time. Mine was in Darwin in Oct 2009, when a M6.9 quake hit the Banda Sea in Indonesia. It was after midnight and I felt my rattling bed moving across the room.

When I travel to tough places, I always switch to easymode ... and never check the kitchen. I remember being in Hanoi in the early 90s, and my host took me to a restaurant. I opened the menu, I thot they kept a menagerie in the kitchen, but did my best to keep 'halal'.

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True, pasar malam stalls where got 'halal' logo? And nobody bothers.

Looks risky. Custom is fast, immigration is the bottleneck esp. if several widebody planes land at the same time. Not to mention if your D7 plane is delayed.

In 2004, I spent August doing Tokyo-Kyoto-Himeji-Hiroshima-Miyajima-Kanazawa -- yes, it was hot and humid, but I kept chugging those isotonic drinks from the vending machines. So it's fine as long as you keep hydrating yourself ... and wear a good hat too.

What about the monorail from HND to Hamamatsucho, to connect to Asakusa line?
http://www.tokyo-monorail.co.jp/english/index.html

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I love your style, RC, I also say same thing now.

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Hahaha, I'd call it 'upgrade'! Ditched my 450D + 18-55 f/2.8 IS lens 2 yrs ago (total weight 1184g), opted for NEX-5 + 18-200 lens (still weigh 810g). Now wanna grab the Carl Zeiss 24mm f/1.8, then total weight would be 510g. Probably upgrade the beat-up NEX-5 to NEX-7 too. The NEX-5 has been exposed to everything -- salt water, volcanic ash/dust, himalaya altitude 5300m, extreme cold -20C, etc -- performed very well.

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