I flew to Japan in July 2014, a long overdue trip after a 10-day winter trip to Tokyo four years earlier. I still love the people, the food and the culture but the entire experience in summer is vastly different. It was one of the hottest summers too and we experienced a 40C temperature on one of the days in Tokyo; a day when we just couldn’t walk anymore and had to head back for a quick rest at the hotel.
My first trip to Japan was restricted to Tokyo and the plan was to try some of the oldest restaurants in the city. Here’s a late post about it. On this trip, however , I wanted to experience the cultural and food nuances in different regions. As I heard once, food is to Osaka what culture is to Kyoto and shopping to Tokyo. I wanted to find out for myself.
Japan Tour
This 17-day trip was a roller-coaster ride with a few days spent each in Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and Fuji; and with short stays or day trips in Miyajima, Hiroshima, Takayama, Shirakawago, and Kanazawa. Talking about roller-coasters, I had the unexpected and immense pleasure of trying four world-class roller-coasters at Fuji-Q Highland.
Travel resources
Skyscanner, as usual, didn’t fail to direct me to the cheapest fares. I just realised though that Skyscanner accepts deals from third parties like eDreams. In the past, I’d always been directed to airlines directly. I don’t know whether that’s new, but it’s definitely not to the consumer’s advantage as I discovered recently. I booked a ticket through a company called eDreams where I was directed from Skyscanner. Now, eDreams advertises cheap fares but the catch is that they will take your payment first, and then contact the airline. If the airline fare changes during that period, then too bad for you and you will have to top the fare up. Nasty business really. I hope Skyscanner revisits who it’s working with.
Anyway, we flew Malaysia Airlines which, to no surprise, offered the cheapest seats. I know Malaysia Airlines suffered a spat of bad publicity with the sad events that occurred in the first months of 2014. However, I tried the airline before and the service was pretty decent, as was the entertainment system. Nothing to complain about really.
Agoda provided the best hotel rates for the bigger cities while Japanican was more helpful for Ryokans in smaller places like Miyajima and Takayama. By far, the most helpful site for Japan is Japan Guide. It’s a fantastic resource to plan your itinerary and also learn about Japan. In fact, I had lots of fun reading theirs articles. Japan National Tourism Organisation is a great site as well, especially with their interactive maps.
The JR Pass
I researched long and hard about the best way for inter-city travel. Train travel was by far the most practical, both in terms of affordability and time. Plus, you can enjoy great sceneries of Japan along the way. However, you will need to decide before you fly to Japan whether you want to get the JR pass. That’s because the JR Pass can only be purchased outside of Japan prior to arrival. The JR Pass allows you to travel on all JR lines (except for Nozomi and Mizuho trains) for a flat fee. You can do that without the need for any prior train booking, although that’s recommended during peak seasons.
I believe that the JR Pass is a must for anyone travelling across long distances through at least 3 cities per week during their stay in Japan. A number of tour agencies offer the pass in Singapore, as I’m sure there would have in major cities around the world. However, I decided to book it online since mailing is free if you book more than 1 pass. You also get the Japan train map and schedule, plus a travel guide, when you book your pass online. It took only two days for them to deliver all that. Surprisingly enough, all of these were mailed from Paris and not Japan.
Be mindful that the JR Pass is not cheap, at first glance. It cost me USD440 per person for 14 days. However, it does offer unlimited train travel on JR lines, without any prior booking. I saved about USD40 per person. It was worthwhile for us because we travelled around quite a fair bit so you might want to go to Hyperdia to have a gauge of your travel costs first before committing to the pass. It must be said though that the convenience that the pass offers is exceptional. You can easily board any JR train across Japan without any hassle and without a prior booking. Just flash the card at the gate and you’re in. It’s worth mentioning that travelling within Tokyo along the JR Yamanote line, which covers most of the major stations in Tokyo, is free as well.
Japan travel cost
City commute
Travelling within cities in Japan is always pretty convenient but they have major differences from city to city. Tokyo is by far the most accessible. The JR Yamanote line offers access to most major places of interest minus Asakusa, Tsukiji, Roppongi and Odaiba. Otherwise the subway system is very accessible from anywhere.
In Osaka, while the JR line is not practical for travelling around the city, the subway certainly is, with fares ranging from JPY180 to JPY320 per trip.
Kyoto on the other hand is more accessible by city bus than by train. We stayed very close to the Kyoto station which is next to the main bus terminal and it couldn’t be any easier to travel around by bus.
Kanazawa, the other big city that we visited is also better visited by bus. They have the loop bus which covers most of the city both clockwise and anti-. That should be enough to see most of the main attractions.
Takayama and Shirakawago can easily be covered by foot.
Highlights
PEOPLE: The politeness of Japanese people is remarkable. Sometimes one wonders how much is heart-felt and how much is customary. Regardless, it’s great not having to worry about rude and aggressive people and behaviour. In smaller towns like Takayama, people tend to be more polite and welcoming although you shouldn’t expect a conversation in English. In bigger cities like Tokyo, as one would expect, the pace of life is faster and people mostly keep to themselves. That changes dramatically when you drink in an izakaya though. English is spoken by enough people to get by sans problems.
CULTURE: Where do I even begin! The Gion Matsuri in Kyoto was probably one of the biggest highlights of the entire trip. It is apparently one of the three biggest festivals in Japan and I can now appreciate why. We spent one entire day following the parades and traditional festivities. While that meant seeing fewer temples, it was well worth it. Kyoto predictably is the most culturally vibrant of the big cities with its sheer number of temples. Four days spent there and we couldn’t even see half of them. Personally, I prefer smaller towns like Takayama which really gives a fresh perspective on how old Japan was.
FOOD: The food yet again was a big highlight of the trip. Different regions have their own local flavours. Miyajima had some great fresh oysters, whether raw, grilled, boiled or fried. But even that couldn’t compare with the fresh seafood at the Omicho market in Kanazawa. I tried some of the plumpest oysters, sweetest uni and juiciest prawns ever. In Takayama, I tried the best beef I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. Their Hida A5-grade sirloin is just to die for. As one would expect, we stuffed ourselves with sushi and sashimi in every city although there were lows and highs in terms of quality and taste.
FUJI-Q HIGHLAND: An unexpected highlight of the trip was a day spent at Fuji-Q Highland where they have four world-renowned roller coasters which held or still hold world records. We’d never tried world-class roller coasters before and what a great way to start with some of the scariest ever. Some facts about the roller-coasters at Fuji-Q:
- Dodonpa: 0-172km/h in 1.8 seconds (world’s fastest)
- Takabisha Drop at 121 degrees (world’s steepest)
- Eejanaika: 4 dimensional roller coaster with 14 inversions (world’s highest number of inversions)
- Fujiyama: Drop from 79m
RYOKAN: I was looking forward to a proper ryokan experience and was not disappointed with Kikunoya in Miyajima. From the room to the Kaiseki dinner, the experience was flawless. If I could do it all over again, I would have stayed a few more days at Oyado Yoshinoya in Takayama though. It was a true Japanese house stay with the place run by an elderly couple. There are at most 5 rooms available in the three-storey house. At Fuji Five Lakes, Mizuno Hotel was very pleasant as was the kaiseki dinner. It was no match for Kikunoya though.
GEISHA SIGHTING: I didn’t realise how hard it would be to see a real geisha or Maiko, a geisha in training. Gion Matsuri in Kyoto enabled us to see a great many people, including tourists, parading in traditional yukatas across the city. However, Geishas are absolutely not a common sight and some people waited as long as 12 days to see one. We managed to see six in one night and that was pretty thrilling!
IZAKAYAS: Japan offers drinking spots for all budgets. However, if you want a slice of real Japanese culture, you should try their Izakayas. These are typically after-work drinking dens where you can order food. And the food surprisingly is usually excellent! Izakayas I tried ranged from places with 5 bar seats at best to larger establishments with tatami mats across the bar. Golden Gai in Tokyo is a must as is the Ebisu area. Shinsekai in Osaka has some very local izakayas further away from the tower.
If I had to do it all over again, I would probably reshuffle the length of my stay in different regions. And I would probably not have gone in summer. Autumn is a favourite, but I wouldn’t mind either winter or spring either. Regardless though, I had a fantastic time in Japan and you can be sure that I’ll be there again!
waqasahmad816
exciting pics, i will like to read more stuff from your blog. I will also reblog it on my blog page if you like. Thanks
johahnb
Thanks so much. 🙂 Yes, of course you can reblog.
Cheers,
J
waqasahmad816
Reblogged this on Asia travel places.