JAPAN 2013/2014
man I wanna go!
Ohh, and from Kyoto you can get a connecting flight to Tokyo from Kansai (close prox to Osaka) Itami Airport, which is a ~ 1 hour bus trip that leaves near the train station!!!!!
On the trip from Tokyo to Kyoto, I recommend doin a Shinkansen (bullet train), and maybe do a ryokan around the Nagano region????? Nozawa Onsen has a multitude of Ryokan and at that time of the year you’ll have the place all to yaself!!!!! Plus you could go up and see the Snow Monkeys at Jigokudani while ya there!!!!!
Or even Hakuba Valley????? There’s a Ryokan there that I’ve got earmarked myself for one day, that has Rotenburo Baths on private balconies in select rooms!!!!! * I’ll post a link when I get the chance!!!!!
Here’s the place I was talkin about above!!!!!
i like everything about the fuki room
Well I’ll be fukied, as that’d be my choice too!!!!!
Kyoto is cool, Billy!!!!!
Especially if ya like pottery and little knick nacks!!!!!
Mrs Miz had a field day around Higashiyama and Arashiyama!!!!!
Right on! It’s on the list 
alright so now I have about 11/12 days for japan so we thinking of an itinerary like this
1. Arrive in Tokyo
2. Tokyo
3. Tokyo
4. Tokyo
5. Tokyo
6 Tokyo
7.Tokyo to Hakone - 1 night in Ryokan
8 Hakone to Kyoto
9 Kyoto
10. Kyoto
11. Kyoto to Osaka - 1 night
12. Fly home from Osaka
My only concern is getting around in Hakone and Kyoto. Say we get the Shinkansen to Hakone early in the day, then spend the rest of the day checking out cable cars, pirate ships etc and then checking into a Ryokan for the night and heading to Kyoto the next morning. Is it easy to get around? or is it a case of taxis or buses etc? We have no problem catching public transport but im just worried about the time/cost getting to and from each different attraction?
Awesome tips Dave and Miz! I’ll be taking some of them on board too, I have to stop going to Japan just for the pow!!
I’d love to go to Kyoto…
You would love it Billy definitely worth exploring more of Japan. It may be blasphemy around these parts but I’d go as far as saying I enjoy the sightseeing as much if not more than the snow part of the trip (and we all know how amazing that is!)
alright so now I have about 11/12 days for japan so we thinking of an itinerary like this
1. Arrive in Tokyo
2. Tokyo
3. Tokyo
4. Tokyo
5. Tokyo
6 Tokyo
7.Tokyo to Hakone - 1 night in Ryokan
8 Hakone to Kyoto
9 Kyoto
10. Kyoto
11. Kyoto to Osaka - 1 night
12. Fly home from OsakaMy only concern is getting around in Hakone and Kyoto. Say we get the Shinkansen to Hakone early in the day, then spend the rest of the day checking out cable cars, pirate ships etc and then checking into a Ryokan for the night and heading to Kyoto the next morning. Is it easy to get around? or is it a case of taxis or buses etc? We have no problem catching public transport but im just worried about the time/cost getting to and from each different attraction?
I like that itinerary.
I’ll try to ease some of your worries about the Hakone/Kyoto aspect because in a nutshell it’s incredibly easy.
First thing is there is no Shinkansen to Hakone. Presuming you are leaving from Shinjuku you have a couple of trains to pick from (Odakyu or JR) or a coach. We went with the coach as we went to Mt Fuji first but in your case for absolute ease and value I would recommend the Odakyu “Romance Car” You can prebook this (get your Hakone Free Pass at the same time) from the Odakyu centre in Shinjuku station. This train will take you straight to hakone-yumoto station and from their you jump on a shuttle bus (just across from the station) which will take you to your Ryokan. As for the rest of getting around Hakone it’s all covered by your free pass and the getting around bit is the actual tourist loop i.e pirate ships, cable cars, ropeways etc. So all you do is in the morning after a ryokan feed and hot onsen is hop back on the shuttle bus which will take you to the starting point of the hakone loop (in our case we went clockwise so started at the lake, caught the pirate ship and basically each stop from there is a tourist site with a cablecar/ropeway terminal which you hop on/off throughout the journey. The end point of the loop is a old style red railway which takes you back to Hakone-yumoto station. From there catch the local train to Odawara station (check out the castle there if you want) and from there catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto, too easy!
Hot tip is to Takuhaibin your main luggage straight from Tokyo to your Kyoto hotel and only take a day bag to Hakone with you, that way you don’t have to swing by the Ryokan on the way home to pick up your luggage as you just have the backpack on you for the day.
Once again Kyoto is easy (transport in Japan in general puts us to shame) just grab a Kyoto day pass and enjoy unlimited use (except for a couple of stations) of the train/bus network which conveniently has stops in front of most of the main sites.
and whats the deal with the JR rail pass? Worth getting.
I read you have to buy it before you get to Japan?
and whats the deal with the JR rail pass? Worth getting.
I read you have to buy it before you get to Japan?
That all depends on which pass you are looking at getting. Some you need to order before hand in Australia others you can purchase at the JR office in Japan.
Shinkansen trips are where the costs add up your main one is probably the Odawara > Kyoto leg.
Go crunch some numbers using http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ which will tell you how much each trip is likely to cost and weigh that up against the cost of the pass.
In the past I have used a combination of 7 day JR passes, 4 day Flexible JR East passes, SUICA + NEX combos and plain old cash.
Have a read of this
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361.html
You can get the JR passes that are only for international visitors at the office at Narita airport.