[SteeringStar]

Japan - a place that brings lots of nostalgia to my 43 year stint on this planet!

My first ever flight journey was to the land of rising sun in October 2005, for a 2 week training assignment from office. Since then, i've travelled numerous times to Japan as well as lived in Tokyo with family for multiple years. My official stint there came to an end in 2016, when i decided to move back to Kochi, India, permanently. Since then, an itch to go for a short visit was always there for me, my wife as well as my 2 kids (elder one was born in a Tokyo hospital).

That dream for short visit materialized during April 2024. Around 6 months back, we started the planning process. We checked air-fare and could get the advantage of early booking (Rs.38k for a round trip from Delhi through ANA airlines). Since we had already lived in Tokyo, we were completely at ease during the planning phase. We decided to indulge in a 12 day trip. High level plan was to visit those places that we missed earlier, plus re-visit some older places so that our grown up kids could now experience it.

The trip summary is as follows:

By the way, we travelled from Kochi to Delhi and visited Agra on a day trip, before boarding the flight to Tokyo, just to tick-off Taj Mahal from our bucket list.

2-Apr Tuesday
1. Landed at Tokyo Haneda airport around 5.30 am. It was a direct flight from Delhi the previous night. Btw, Tokyo has 2 airports - Narita and Haneda. Narita is a 90-minute bus ride and Haneda is around 30 minutes, from city center. The choice of airport depends on airline.
2. Took "airport limousine" bus to Shinjuku station.
3. Visited Chofu town (the hospital where my elder kid was born), Tsutsujigaoka (erstwhile place of residence and the suburb that my wife loves to the core), and other old familiar places enroute.
4. Booked Hakone train pass and JR train passes
5. Checked in to the airbnb stay. It was a pleasant 1 bedroom apartment.

3-Apr Wednesday
1. Morning - Visited Shin-o-kubo station where we found lots of shops selling K-pop merchandise (my daughters being k-pop fans, loved this visit).
2. Afternoon - Visited Tokyo sea life park, Odaiba. Also took the giant wheel ride.
3. Met my school friend and his family for dinner, who was also on a short trip to Japan.

4-Apr Thursday
"Hakone - In Romance car train" - a beautiful hill station for a perfect 1 day trip from Tokyo. The journey starts from Shinjuku station (Odakyu train line). There is a travel package, which includes a train ride, lake cruise, cable car, bus ride and rope way, all of it in a round trip mode. Do not miss this wonderful package while visiting Tokyo.

5-Apr Friday
Out initial plan was to visit Disneyland, however, we dropped it as my kids were somehow not keen to visit it. Instead, they wanted to visit more K-pop stores and so we went to Akihabara as well as Ikebukuro stations. All of these places are very easy to locate and reach using local trains. There was one shop that was selling ladies' hand bags for discounted price and my wife ended up buying multiple such bags that made us buy a new check-in size baggage to accommodate it :-)

We decided to keep our check-in baggage at my friend/ex-colleague's apartment as the trip for the next few days will be fully outside Tokyo and we didn't want to carry those big bags and spoil the comfort.

6-Apr Saturday
Traveled to Aomori in the fastest and longest shinkansen (Japanese name for bullet train), called Hayabusa. Amazing experience. And we also travelled from Aomori to Sapporo and then to Hakodate in a local train as our stay was planned at Hakodate. Hakodate is part of Hokkaido, which is the northern most main-land of the Japanese archipelago. It was end of Winter and hence not much of snow.

7-Apr Sunday
1. Returned from Hakodate to Tokyo by the same train route.
2. Boarded the next bullet train to Kyoto. This was one place that we missed to visit during our stay in Tokyo many years ago. Hence, it was included in the itinerary.

8-Apr Monday
1. local sight seeing @ Kyoto. We were welcomed by the beautiful sight of cherry blossom. Went for a walk and explored few places on foot. Took lots of photographs and video of full bloom cherry trees. We also opted for a city bus ride (had an open top). It was drizzling but we still enjoyed that ride. The ticket was booked using Klook App.
2. Visited the golden pavilion, Kyoto, the UNESCO world heritage site. Amazing place!
3. Finally, boarded a train to Osaka. Checked-in and took rest.

9-Apr Tuesday
Visited Universal Studios - this was the primary demand from my elder daughter. So, we spent the whole day there. There were many rides and things to explore, but my daughter was hooked to the Harry Potter area of the park, and so we did.

10-Apr Wednesday
1. We boarded a local train to Hiroshima
2. Local sight seeing @ Hiroshima; visited the peace memorial park. Heartbreaking visuals and artifacts. A must visit for every human being, so that no more wars are fought.
3. We then took the Shinkansen to Fukuoka. Spent some time there and then returned to Hiroshima for overnight stay.

11-Apr Thursday
1. Boarded the train from Hiroshima to Fukuyama (hello Kitty bullet train - a train fully customized with the iconic character "hello kitty").
2. Boarded the train from Fukuyama to Tokyo
3. Reached Tokyo and checked-in to a hotel near Kinshicho station. Visited near by shopping places and took long shot pictures of Tokyo Sky tree.

12-Apr Friday
1. Went for sightseeing and shopping at Asakusa
2. Shopping at Daiso (the 100 yen shop) in Kinshicho itself
3. One more round of shopping at Tokyo Akihabara station area.

13-Apr Saturday
Boarded return flight to Delhi from Haneda airport. On the same day, we boarded a connecting flight to Kochi.

That concludes a sweet and memorable trip to Japan!

Tips:
1. Take the JR Rail pass before landing in Japan. You cannot buy it after landing in Japan. This pass is extremely useful if you are planning for bullet train rides. Otherwise, for local train service, do not buy as it is not economical.
2. Visit japan-guide.com web site for details of all touristy places across Japan.
3. Credit cards are accepted in Japan, however, it will be good if you carry some cash, May 10k JPY at least.
4. Japan tourist visa process is pretty straight-forward. VFS Global is the authorized agency. Please go through them. Visa cost is only Rs. 1650 per person (Visa fee Rs. 500 + VFS fee Rs.650 + courier fee Rs. 550). We got the visa approved in 1 week from submission date.
5. Never use Taxi service except for distances less than 5 to 8 Kms. It is too costly. Almost all places in Japan are connected by extensive rail network. And it is easy to use this network even without knowing Japanese language. Please visit the site mentioned in point#2 above for more details.
6. Use Klook app for discounted tickets to shows / parks etc. You may also need this app to book cab for airport pick-up and drop in case you have heavy or multiple check-in bags.

Total expenses including airfare for 4 of us>> Around Rs.600,000. Please note that my kids are 12 and 15 years old. So, most of the places my elder kid was considered as adult and hence charged accordingly. There was no travel agent involvement. The trip was fully planned and executed by us. We utilized makemytrip as well as airbnb for accommodation booking. I would vouch for airbnb stays as those are highly economical compared to hotels. If anyone of need help with a Japan trip planning, am happy to share more details. Please ping me personally.

Now, let the selected photographs and videos speak >>

1. A pic that captures the essence of Japan - cherry blossom, rail line and cars!


2. An array of vending machines - You will find such machines in every nook and corner of Japan. Cola, drinks, ice-cream, tea/coffee, cake etc. the list goes on for items that are available 24 hrs on these machines.


3. The largest Ferris wheel in Japan, near Tokyo Sea Life park


4. Near a live volcano in Hakone, a beautiful hill station near Tokyo. A must visit place for anyone visiting Tokyo.


5. In front of "Hayabusa" shinkansen a.k.a the fastest bullet train in Japan. The max speed i could see displayed on the train was 420 km/hr.


6. A night pic of "Tokyo Skytree", as seen from our hotel window.


7. Bullet Trains resting in Tokyo station.


8. Inside the beautifully customized bullet name named, Hello Kitty Shinkansen.


9. Harry Potter themed area inside 'Universal Studios', Osaka.


10. 3 pics that capture the beauty of cherry blossom trees.




11. In front of the Golden temple of Kyoto, a UNESCO world heritage site, visited by millions every year.


12. Hiroshima in pics - you will get emotional after visiting the peace memorial park as well as the museum that store artifacts of that ill-fortunate day.




Finally, this video is to show how a typical Japanese public toilet looks like. This pic was taken at the airport. It is tidy, dry and hygienic, and of course hi-fi. We all have a lot to learn from Japanese people on how to use and maintain such public toilets in pristine condition after every use.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ycercuZkVLA?feature=share

Thank you so much for patiently reading this travelogue

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[07CR]

Originally Posted by SteeringStar

Japan - a place that brings lots of nostalgia to my 43 year stint on this planet!

Wonderful travelogue!

I too am planning such a vacation sometime next year around September.
If you don't mind sharing can you share the per person cost you encountered for this entire trip?

[SteeringStar]

Originally Posted by 07CR

Wonderful travelogue!

I too am planning such a vacation sometime next year around September.
If you don't mind sharing can you share the per person cost you encountered for this entire trip?

Thank you for the comments. September is a good time to visit places especially watch out for fall-colours in the mountainous regions of Japan. www.japan-guide.com is an excellent guide. They also publish latest news about such weather changes, events, across Japan.

Here is an approximate split of cost per person:
1. Airfare (Delhi to Tokyo; round trip) - Rs.38k (you may have to book well in advance to get cheaper fare)

2. Visa - Rs.1650 (always go via VFSGlobal as all other visa agencies add a service fee on top of VFS rate)

3. Accommodation per night - Rs. 3000 (one person only; for a family of 4, a decent 3 star accommodation will be around Rs10k; My suggestion is to use airbnb. However, pls watchout for distance of that accommodation from the nearest train station. Do not book anything more than 600 meters)

4. Mobile data dongle >> Rs.6000 for a 14 day plan. You cannot get mobile sim in Japan while in a tourist visa. It is in-convenient but as of now there is no other option. Get the rental data dongle. And please always buy the package before leaving airport as it is very difficult to get such dongle in stores outside airport. You will find couple of such shops in airport exit lounge area.

5. Food per day - Rs.2000. However, you get small lunch boxes from super markets and those are cheap. Also, you may carry some rice from India. You will get curd and potato wedges/chicken fry from convenient stores. Make your own mini meals wherever possible.

6. Japan Rail Pass - Rs.25000. I recommend this pass only if intent to cover the length and breadth of Japan in bullet trains. Otherwise, buy ticket on need basis or you may get charging cards which can be used in all trains.

7. Pass to attractions/disneyland/universal studios - Depends on the location and it varies. Pls check the English website of those places for latest ticket price info. Use Klook mobile App for discounted rates in some places.

[katariusmaximus]

Lovely travelogue! Like the way you split it down We were in Japan in in December-January and did Tokyo, Sapporo, Otaru, Osaka, Nara (we had already done Tokyo extensively and Kyoto, Hakone in an earlier visit). Experiencing the deep snow in Sapporo and Otaru was something else! Sharing a few learnings for travelers to Japan:
1. Can get e-SIM before travelling from India (used Matrix) at reasonable price and it worked seamlessly.
2. Took Welcome Suica passes from the airport, loaded them with JPY and kept using them in trains and buses- very convenient.
3. Used klook for Universal Studio passes.
4. Used the app "Go" for cabs, otherwise just hailed them.
5. Did not take the JR pass this time (used it on our last trip after calculating the trips we planned to take), as we were flying mostly.
6. Reasonable hotel chains like Toyoko Inn, Mystays or Remm serve the purpose, and most are located close to stations.
7. Register all travelers on Visit Japan Web for faster immigration and customs clearance

[SteeringStar]

Originally Posted by katariusmaximus

Lovely travelogue! Like the way you split it down We were in Japan in in December-January and did Tokyo, Sapporo, Otaru, Osaka, Nara (we had already done Tokyo extensively and Kyoto, Hakone in an earlier visit). Experiencing the deep snow in Sapporo and Otaru was something else! Sharing a few learnings for travelers to Japan:
1. .....

Excellent tips, thank you for sharing

[shardul_pathak]

This thread shall act as a guiding light for my Jpan trip, planned for later this year!

Thank you so much for sharing!

[Vikash Kumawat]

Thanks for the cost breakdown sir, seems like Japan is quite affordable to visit unlike other developed contries, a solo person might visit Japan around in 70k-80k if the tour is planned perfectly

[rijo_tj]

Lovely Travelogue and photos. Will try to visit the country sooner than later.

Based on your initial paragraphs, did you work for IBS ?

[SteeringStar]

Originally Posted by rijo_tj

Lovely Travelogue and photos. Will try to visit the country sooner than later.

Based on your initial paragraphs, did you work for IBS ?

I work for Cognizant

[katariusmaximus]

Additional suggestion:
8. Suggest taking a global card from India (I have used Niyo for some time), which is usually linked to an Indian bank account, and use it to either withdraw cash from ATMs or make payments. You get mastercard exchange rates, which are good, and there are no additional fees or mark ups. Most large shops, establishments accept cards, especially in cities. Try to withdraw cash from 7-11 ATMs as they have the best rate and lowest usage charges.

[chucknorris]

Thanks for the travelog. I went for the first solo trip of my life in May 2024 to Japan. It was my first time in the country and it was wonderful. I was thinking of doing something like this myself as well but just haven't been able to find the time.

Just curious, on your return to Tokyo when you stayed in Kinshicho. Did you happen to stay in Tobu Hotel Levant? It was my choice of stay for my first 3 days during my trip and your picture of Sky Tree was very reminiscent of the view from my room.

[SteeringStar]

Originally Posted by chucknorris

.........

Just curious, on your return to Tokyo when you stayed in Kinshicho. Did you happen to stay in Tobu Hotel Levant? It was my choice of stay for my first 3 days during my trip and your picture of Sky Tree was very reminiscent of the view from my room.

Thank you for your comments.
We stayed in a hotel named "Super Hotel", in the street opposite to Tobu Levant

[Kkumar]

Vow, wonderful travelogue with beautiful photos. The way you detailed day wise travel along with rough expenditure details will surely help all prospective travellers to Japan. Thank you for sharing and keep on munching miles.

[heydj]

Originally Posted by chucknorris

Thanks for the travelog. I went for the first solo trip of my life in May 2024 to Japan. It was my first time in the country and it was wonderful. I was thinking of doing something like this myself as well but just haven't been able to find the time.

Just curious, on your return to Tokyo when you stayed in Kinshicho. Did you happen to stay in Tobu Hotel Levant? It was my choice of stay for my first 3 days during my trip and your picture of Sky Tree was very reminiscent of the view from my room.

Were you able to see cherry blossoms anywhere in May? How was the experience in terms of crowd, weather etc? I am planning for April mid / end / May and not sure which time to choose.