really ah u have finish reading cos, my post up there did mentioned the JAL RM1350 promo.its only for JAL mileage cardholder
just call JAL office KL and ask.

oak hotel? there is a link to its site on the first FAQ page....
suggestion for accomodation? there's a lot, you can get the Grand Hyatt Roppongi if you want to. please be specific on your budget and there's a lot of online booking sites
hostelbookers, asiarooms, instantworldbooking etc etc...

Do you guys know where can i learn Japanese in KL/Selangor area ?

Well, first of all... there is no snow in Tokyo so you gotta go hunt for snow elsewhere (up north to Hokkaido or the west side of Japan eg Nagano, Niigata).
With regards to your tour question; it really depends. I believe some tour packages are pretty good value for money but the problem is that - you're bound by their schedule. If you're the adventurous type - then this might be a problem because perhaps there's some places that they won't go. One such places I think of is Akihabara.

Here's another piece of news that might be of interest to you -
http://www.japantoday.com/category/feature...ns-travel-scene

Seems like AirAsia is set on flying to Japan soon so you might be able to save on air tickets and fly AirAsia for your trip next year.

If airasia can fly to Japan, then i think JAL airline lagi pokai.

About the tour groups right - anyone here have any idea if any of the tours includes a trip to kyoto? also is a trip down to kyoto worth it?

hence why i want to do one week tour, one week self jalan jalan. at least you know the first week your food is well catered for. and you can go to those tourist places with guides to boot!

Also, i think you still need to give your bank statement even if you go with tour groups right?

Tourist Group no need bank statement to get Visa.

Kyoto City Tourist Information Centre their english is so Sxxx until you cannot understand....like human talking to Alien. If you lucky then you still can find soneone with better english.

Air Asia is hard to get route to japan...if can early early during route to Taiwan sudah get....japan Airport open for international airlines is only Kansai , Nagoya(Chubu / Centerair) , Haneda....Narita international route is for JAL , ANA.

IF Air Asia is going Japan they have to stop at this 3 airport only which is airport tax is so soso so so soso soso high plus the Turn around check before Flight is so so so so expensive until Air Asia is imposible to get in...same story as London Heathrow...that why Air Asia only can stop at Standly Airport which is 1 hour 30 minute away from london City.....same story as Shanghai ...they stop at Tainjin Airport  which is 2 hour away from Shanghai.

LOL...Even MAS so big company only can affort to stop at kansai Airport only...they can't even affort to pay haneda or CenterAir (Chibu Airport) the parking fees .
So Far in Japan they is no budget airlines fly into japan...all is major Big Airlines only...even world biggest budget airliens ..Virgin Airline also cannot get route into japan...Air Asia lagi? slow slow dream first la

Hopefully they can land a spot at the new Ibaraki airport.

If really 10k yen, i'll fly to Japan every weekend 

JetStar is not really 100% low cost Airlines...is was a sister company make by Qantas to fight Virgin Airlines Customers only.....like JAL got alot sister compay like JAL Express , JTA (Japan transocean Airlines) , HAC (Hokkaido Airline Commuter)....all the money is get from JAL HQ

ANA got sister company also is call ANK...they make this lowcost just for domestik route to fight back JAL low cost domestik route.

Those Sister Company profit and Lose....all expenses are handle by main Company

...same as this Jet Star..becasue of the boss is Qantas..sure they can get route to Japan.....JetStar Profit mean Qantas Profit....

So Far there is no way a budget Airliens can go Japan ..paying expensive airport tax and parking fees (airport gate) and Airport Turn Around fees (Technician , Push back Tow Truck , Baggage truck ...etc) with out Parent Company behind Support
So far is Virgin Alantik going Narita ...parent company is Virgin group...but this airliners is not low cost...it got First class (Premier Class)

Viva Macau is another Budget Airliens to narita....but is Charted Route....

FYI, Air Asia's big plan is to fly into Haneda airport, as the Malaysian govt did get slots for parking there now.

Jetstar asia though they can get it, but the singapore govt gave it to Singapore Airlines instead.

that's the thing. realistically, i'd like to have a trip that's going to cost me as little as possible ill even try 'cafe backpacking' a little just for fun. (but i think that's un-realistic due to having to prove each and every accommodation for the entire trip for visa unless some1 can tell me how to do that)

at the moment, i dont have set number as over the past 4 consecutively years having my japan plans ruined,now what i have is what i think enough for a months trip.
i have about ~25k RM equivalent(lazy to calculate) ready to go and enough buffer to top up whatever that might come up.

if you could give me a rough estimate on what you'd think is a safe number/reasonable number for a roughly 1 month trip and enough for a trip from the north to south trip ending in tokyo and as many significant cities as possible, ill re-evaluate the numbers from there on as atm i really have no clue on how much im having to spend, hence me asking silly questions here 

hmm.... thats an interesting prospect. if your calculations are right then ill have  more budget for my euro trip 

東海道新幹線、一時運転ストップ　運転再開するもダイヤは大幅乱れ、40本が運休見込み

29日午後、東海道新幹線が3時間以上にわたりストップしたが、午後5時すぎに運転を再開した。
JR新横浜駅では、3時間半にわたり、車内にたくさんの乗客を乗せたまま停止していた新幹線が、博多に向けて出発した。
しかし、依然として、ホームにはあふれるほどの乗客が、寒さをしのぎながら待っている。
乗客は、「ずーっと立ちんぼで、トイレが使えないんですよ。流れないです。電気が切れてるし」、「3時間くらい待ってますけど。実家に帰ろうと思って」などと話した。
東海道新幹線は午後1時49分ごろ、品川 - 小田原間で停電が発生し、新横浜 - 小田原間で運転がストップした。
上下線、あわせて5本が駅間に立ち往生し、乗客およそ3,100人が3時間以上にわたり、缶詰め状態となった。
原因は、下り線で架線が切れ、線路付近で火災が発生したことによるもので、復旧作業が難航したため、運休区間は東京 - 新大阪間の上下線に拡大、午後5時半現在、40本が運休見込みとなっている。
ダイヤは大幅に乱れており、終日遅れが生じるという。

Source:Fuji News Network

Today Everyone take Shinkashen will be Free due to late delay Train.

The train late 3 Hour.....3100 People trap in train...due to fire on cable.....power failure between Osaka > Shin Yokohama Station

If you inside that train Delay 3 hour........even give you free ticket u also dun want...you sure want Quickly out of this mess

i thought once you start using your JR rail pass/specify your start date >> it start counting down on the days left on the pass?
yes, you are right, the nitty gritty spending >>cant really estimate since its up to the person's spending habits.......but im not really worried about that as im more focused on the primary spending since im quite good in controlling impulse spendings...

Hahahha...my princess cant wait for tomorrow, her mom let her play!

Yup ... nice layer of white snow! 
Picture taken outside my house... I think tomorrow morning sure havoc on the streets.