We are here!!! Japan-Land :D

[Gerrard]

Yes, it was certainly the highlight of my trip!

Day 13: Ueno Zoo

As mentioned before, today I was at the zoo. Plenty of pictures taken (400+), although a lot of them are blurred, focused on the cage or the creature had simply moved off as I took the picture! I do like nature, but animals can be bloody awkward to photo! Here are a brief selection: -





















That pretty much concludes my trip. Early start tomorrow to get the airport. Then it's 12 hours on the plane before setting down at Heathrow just in time for rush hour. Might have to wait around for a few hours if the train ticket is prohibitively expensive during peak time. I'll see when I get there.

[dbh]

Dude not sure what airport you're flying out from but trains didn't go to Narita airport after 10am when I was heading back and so I had to end up getting the "Airport Limo" service which is a bus it's cheaper than the train (not by much) and arrives in about the same time. Better check what times the trains are leaving otherwise you can get one of these coaches (they stop outside at designated bus stops in the city). Safe trip back mate!

[TooNice]

I only managed to get through 5 of the 7 burgers. I decided to split it in half, and the first 3 + toppings went down ok. But the next 2 on their own were a bit dry, and I just couldn't face the rest, especially a very greasy bottom half of bun!

Dude, you got owned by a girl http://inthefield.blogs.cnn.com/2009...gle-to-swallow

[MadduckUK]

i am immensely disappointed in you, yet amazed at where you are and what your doing

[Gerrard]

Well, it was a long trip home. I stayed up about 22 hours after failing to get any sleep on the plane! I think we just got ahead of rush hour in Tokyo as it wasn't too bad getting on the train with our luggage. Fifteen minutes later and it might have benn a different story. The plane got in earlier than I was expecting as well, landing at 1500 instead of 1545, which meant I could get home by 1800. It was kind of depressing on the train ride home, mainly because of the stark contrast with Japan's trains. For a start, you don't have teenagers throwing bottles around or trying to melt them with lighters in Japan!

It wasn't all bad though. I came home to new computer bits which I'm trying to build now. Also got a LAN to look forward to in 3 weeks time, and then Christmas. Mind you, trying to catch up with programs on Five is painful on my connection! Pity I couldn't watch them out there with the far superior connection. Takes me 90 minutes to watch 40 minutes!

[Salazaar]

Yeah but doesn't it feel good to be back under the sullen grey skys of Oxfordshire...?

[Ulti]

I feel it's better to ask some questions here than make a new thread so here I go!

I'm a Sixth Form student in my last year (Yr 13 basically, 18 this year) and a friend and I wanted to go to Japan for 2 weeks as soon as exams ended (well not literally, but a week or so after I guess) so basically at last few days of June or start of July. It will be rather hot I know but we'll deal with it The chances of typhoons and such shouldn't be too high though should it?

1) We heard you guys used JAL but are there any other direct flights that we can choose from, you guys know any websites for discounts and such on the tickets? (I'm guessing this might be impossible due to the dates) When would be the best time to book tickets?

2) The Ryokan Kangetsu looks pretty nice and I guess you can't get better value than it can you? How do we book/pay for it though? I don't see any links to book. (maybe my eyesight is just really bad haha)

I thought I had more questions but I guess those are the main two for now.

If people could go into details then thanks! I've only been on holiday with my friends to visit relatives so I've never really booked any sort of place to stay before as when I went HK and China we had relatives in both those places so yeah.

Thanks in advance once again!

[sleepyhead]

I feel it's better to ask some questions here than make a new thread so here I go!

I'm a Sixth Form student in my last year (Yr 13 basically, 18 this year) and a friend and I wanted to go to Japan for 2 weeks as soon as exams ended (well not literally, but a week or so after I guess) so basically at last few days of June or start of July. It will be rather hot I know but we'll deal with it The chances of typhoons and such shouldn't be too high though should it?

1) We heard you guys used JAL but are there any other direct flights that we can choose from, you guys know any websites for discounts and such on the tickets? (I'm guessing this might be impossible due to the dates) When would be the best time to book tickets?

2) The Ryokan Kangetsu looks pretty nice and I guess you can't get better value than it can you? How do we book/pay for it though? I don't see any links to book. (maybe my eyesight is just really bad haha)

I thought I had more questions but I guess those are the main two for now.

If people could go into details then thanks! I've only been on holiday with my friends to visit relatives so I've never really booked any sort of place to stay before as when I went HK and China we had relatives in both those places so yeah.

Thanks in advance once again!

For flights, I used Expedia. But since JAL are going quite downhill they are not appearing on the expedia site for whatever reason. you can still try and book tickets through www.uk.jal.com though.

If you go over summer...be prepared to sweat...alot. Also check that your 2 week vacation does not clash with national holidays...generally everything shuts so you won't see much (as public transport is also very limited)....well this statement is true of Golden Week (last week of April, 1st week of may).

For booking the Ryokan Kangetsu, go to their website http://www.kangetsu.com/sub7.htm and scroll to the bottom. Click "Reservation" and away ya go. We basically paid when we got there in cold hard cash.

Useful information on geting to the Inn:
1. Regardless of which Terminal you arrive at Narita, take the Narita Express (also known as NEX) towards Shinagawa. That'll cost you approximately 3110 yen. (remember this as you'll need to pay the same fee on the way back)
2. At Shinagawa, LEAVE the train station and look for a credit card style machine that has the word "PASMO" on it. Set the machine to English and get yourself a PASMO card. Charge it with 2000 yen. It'll cost you a total of 2500 yen (500 yen for the card 2000 for fares).
3. Go back into Shinagawa train station and take the Keiin-Touhei Line (marked blue) towards Kamata. Use your PASMO card to get through the gates (jut hover it over the reader).
4. At Kamata find the Ikegami Line and hop on that train. Chidori-Cho is your third stop.
5. Hop off at Chidori-Cho, turn left and walk across the train tracks towards a shop called "AM-PM". Turn left down the alley with the cigarrete machine.
6. Carry on straight and you've reached the Inn (up a bunch of steps).

Also, for minimum amount you need, £1600 will get you your room at the Inn, your flight, NEX travel, PASMO with 1000yen daily travel allowance and your food everyday for about 2500yen for a 13 night stay. Food is cheap as long as you know where to go buy...ie eat like a local. Ramen shop was about 680-780 yen for a bowl which fills a hole. We found a place in Ikebukuro (I think) that did us Curry, Rice, Soba and Miso soup for 580yen!

Anything else you want to know?

Ahh and travel light....there is alot of steps/stairs involved and moving around with a full luggage can get tiresome quickly. Oh and it'll cost about 500yen to wash and dry your clothes.

NOTE: If you do stay at the Ryokan Kangetsu and you don't mind sharing, have a room for 2 people - it works out cheaper. Also there is a blue card in the room; leave that on your bed (please make your bed in the morning too) and the staff won't change your bed sheets but will give you a nice gift.

[Gerrard]

Ryokan Kangestu

The reservation page is at the bottom. It's a bit basic, but seems to work. I made a couple of quick videos of the area (Chidori-cho) and the walk upto the ryokan here: -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36ydTsXv0QI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXLge8qsrek

I apologise if you get motion sickness from watching them!

As for flights, we went through Expedia. I think Air France does a direct flight. Virgin did an offer for a week as well. All Nipon

Airways seem to do direct flights. JAL may not be running next year (at least, that's the news we heard whilst over there), so might want to research into whether the Japanese government is still going to back them or not.

EDIT: I see I was beaten by sleepy! The nice gift he mentioned was a cotton bag in case you were wondering. You can share, but it will be a bit cosy in an Annex room for two. For only Y300 (£2) a day, it would probably just be easier to get a room each.

[sleepyhead]

JAL won't go under...if the government doesn't bail it out, either Delta or America Airlines will buy them out/bail them out. It'll most likely be the Japanese Government or America Airlines (or the corporation that owns them) that bails them out as AA are part of the "One World Alliance" that BA and JAL are part of.

Anyhow I deviate from the question.

[Ulti]

For flights, I used Expedia. But since JAL are going quite downhill they are not appearing on the expedia site for whatever reason. you can still try and book tickets through www.uk.jal.com though.

If you go over summer...be prepared to sweat...alot. Also check that your 2 week vacation does not clash with national holidays...generally everything shuts so you won't see much (as public transport is also very limited)....well this statement is true of Golden Week (last week of April, 1st week of may).

For booking the Ryokan Kangetsu, go to their website http://www.kangetsu.com/sub7.htm and scroll to the bottom. Click "Reservation" and away ya go. We basically paid when we got there in cold hard cash.

Useful information on geting to the Inn:
1. Regardless of which Terminal you arrive at Narita, take the Narita Express (also known as NEX) towards Shinagawa. That'll cost you approximately 3110 yen. (remember this as you'll need to pay the same fee on the way back)
2. At Shinagawa, LEAVE the train station and look for a credit card style machine that has the word "PASMO" on it. Set the machine to English and get yourself a PASMO card. Charge it with 2000 yen. It'll cost you a total of 2500 yen (500 yen for the card 2000 for fares).
3. Go back into Shinagawa train station and take the Keiin-Touhei Line (marked blue) towards Kamata. Use your PASMO card to get through the gates (jut hover it over the reader).
4. At Kamata find the Ikegami Line and hop on that train. Chidori-Cho is your third stop.
5. Hop off at Chidori-Cho, turn left and walk across the train tracks towards a shop called "AM-PM". Turn left down the alley with the cigarrete machine.
6. Carry on straight and you've reached the Inn (up a bunch of steps).

Also, for minimum amount you need, £1600 will get you your room at the Inn, your flight, NEX travel, PASMO with 1000yen daily travel allowance and your food everyday for about 2500yen for a 13 night stay. Food is cheap as long as you know where to go buy...ie eat like a local. Ramen shop was about 680-780 yen for a bowl which fills a hole. We found a place in Ikebukuro (I think) that did us Curry, Rice, Soba and Miso soup for 580yen!

Anything else you want to know?

Ahh and travel light....there is alot of steps/stairs involved and moving around with a full luggage can get tiresome quickly. Oh and it'll cost about 500yen to wash and dry your clothes.

NOTE: If you do stay at the Ryokan Kangetsu and you don't mind sharing, have a room for 2 people - it works out cheaper. Also there is a blue card in the room; leave that on your bed (please make your bed in the morning too) and the staff won't change your bed sheets but will give you a nice gift.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I did go HK and China this summer and my friend went to Spain so we can handle the heat

When would be the best time to book tickets though? Are there any websites that talk about Japan's national holidays?

Ah guess my eyesight is bad haha... Are there advantages to booking with Visa online to paying cash there?

A more general question: Where do I change my Pounds for Yen? Never been on holiday on my own where I didn't already start with the currency I needed.

When you say it's 500yen to wash/dry clothes, I'm guessing that's each time right? I totally forgot about that... Gonna need to wash them a lot too as it'll be summer.

Ouch.. the minimum amount is a lot though, was hoping I could get through with £1200 (saving £100 a month). Guess I'll have to ask my parents to help me finance it a bit then. My friend's lucky in that he probably has a much higher budget than me though. Luckily I don't buy much on holiday though, I prefer just to look at things haha. Window shopper I am.

Pretty sure we'll share the Japanese-style Annex room unless he really wants his own room... I've been told I snore quite loud :/

Thanks for the vid Gerrard! I remember in HK I constantly got lost trying to get back to the place we were staying at haha.

EDIT: Gerrard, isn't it 10,800 yen (5,400 yen per person) to 6,800 yen, meaning that it'll cost 1,400 yen more for a single room per night?

[sleepyhead]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I did go HK and China this summer and my friend went to Spain so we can handle the heat

When would be the best time to book tickets though? Are there any websites that talk about Japan's national holidays?

Ah guess my eyesight is bad haha... Are there advantages to booking with Visa online to paying cash there?

A more general question: Where do I change my Pounds for Yen? Never been on holiday on my own where I didn't already start with the currency I needed.

When you say it's 500yen to wash/dry clothes, I'm guessing that's each time right? I totally forgot about that... Gonna need to wash them a lot too as it'll be summer.

Ouch.. the minimum amount is a lot though, was hoping I could get through with £1200 (saving £100 a month). Guess I'll have to ask my parents to help me finance it a bit then. My friend's lucky in that he probably has a much higher budget than me though. Luckily I don't buy much on holiday though, I prefer just to look at things haha. Window shopper I am.

Pretty sure we'll share the Japanese-style Annex room unless he really wants his own room... I've been told I snore quite loud :/

Thanks for the vid Gerrard! I remember in HK I constantly got lost trying to get back to the place we were staying at haha.

EDIT: Gerrard, isn't it 10,800 yen (5,400 yen per person) to 6,800 yen, meaning that it'll cost 1,400 yen more for a single room per night?

I preferred to pay in cold hard cash when there as I got all my Yen, knew 1/3 was for the Inn which meant I could budget on the fly if needs be.

At the Inn you'll want the Wi-Fi internetz....with download of 1.4MB/s and upload of....who knows what downloading and uploading images/video from the day is easy. Plus for 300 yen/night for internetz, well worth it especially when you sit outside with your laptop with a beer at night.

For Japanese Holidays look here http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2062.html You may want to attend some, tanabata sounds pretty sweet. but that is a festival and not a holiday. lol.

The best place to change money, which I was told about via Hexus is Thomas Global Exchange http://www.thomasexchangeglobal.co.uk/ You can change upto £2500 without having to send them supporting documents, and they deliver fast via Special Delivery.

Each time you wash your clothes, it's about 50yen for the detergent, about 300 yen for the wash cycle and about 100 yen for the dryer. This is from memory so it maybe abit hazy. Simply put, wear dirty clothes on the way back...you're stuck in a plane for 12 hours so you ARE gonna be smelly. You can lump ALOT of stuff together in the wash cycle and you can dry by hanging your clothes in the private bathroom (there is a little string for you to zip across and use).

Flights in July are ranging in at £670 per ticket (via ANA). Your hotel bill will be 93,400Yen (approximately £633) for a single room, with private bathroom and internetz every night. That is already over your £1200 budget. Remember you need approx £40 for the NEX (return) and 1000 yen (£7) a day for travel and 2500 yen (£17) a day for food.

Oh if you share a room it'll be 143,000 yen (£970 approx) between the two of you so that's about £485 each - saving of £148 (each person) which can go towards extra tips/bits and bobs etc.

Oh and in Gerrard's second video at 2 min 8 seconds, he looks across the road. One shop is Marios (about 1000 yen a dish) that is SUPER italian food and next door is the Ramen shop (680-780yen a bowl). If you do go into Marios, look for a Ferrari model car, Alfa number plate/sign, a little yellow lambo and...i forget what else we bought for the owner.

Picture


Ahh and when to book tickets? I suppose as soon as you realistically can....unless you want to gamble and get get some leeway with the Reservation at the Kangetsu (they usually want your flight details)

[Ulti]

I preferred to pay in cold hard cash when there as I got all my Yen, knew 1/3 was for the Inn which meant I could budget on the fly if needs be.

At the Inn you'll want the Wi-Fi internetz....with download of 1.4MB/s and upload of....who knows what downloading and uploading images/video from the day is easy. Plus for 300 yen/night for internetz, well worth it especially when you sit outside with your laptop with a beer at night.

For Japanese Holidays look here http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2062.html You may want to attend some, tanabata sounds pretty sweet. but that is a festival and not a holiday. lol.

The best place to change money, which I was told about via Hexus is Thomas Global Exchange http://www.thomasexchangeglobal.co.uk/ You can change upto £2500 without having to send them supporting documents, and they deliver fast via Special Delivery.

Each time you wash your clothes, it's about 50yen for the detergent, about 300 yen for the wash cycle and about 100 yen for the dryer. This is from memory so it maybe abit hazy. Simply put, wear dirty clothes on the way back...you're stuck in a plane for 12 hours so you ARE gonna be smelly. You can lump ALOT of stuff together in the wash cycle and you can dry by hanging your clothes in the private bathroom (there is a little string for you to zip across and use).

Flights in July are ranging in at £670 per ticket (via ANA). Your hotel bill will be 93,400Yen (approximately £633) for a single room, with private bathroom and internetz every night. That is already over your £1200 budget. Remember you need approx £40 for the NEX (return) and 1000 yen (£7) a day for travel and 2500 yen (£17) a day for food.

Oh if you share a room it'll be 143,000 yen (£970 approx) between the two of you so that's about £485 each - saving of £148 (each person) which can go towards extra tips/bits and bobs etc.

Oh and in Gerrard's second video at 2 min 8 seconds, he looks across the road. One shop is Marios (about 1000 yen a dish) that is SUPER italian food and next door is the Ramen shop (680-780yen a bowl). If you do go into Marios, look for a Ferrari model car, Alfa number plate/sign, a little yellow lambo and...i forget what else we bought for the owner.

Ahh and when to book tickets? I suppose as soon as you realistically can....unless you want to gamble and get get some leeway with the Reservation at the Kangetsu (they usually want your flight details)

Well neither of us have a laptop so I guess we won't need the internet (I might seriously consider a netbook though but I hate laptops and stuff due to their price vs performance)

Looks like there won't be any clashes with the major holidays except maybe with Ocean Day.

*Bookmarked TBE*

Roughly over £2 per wash, shouldn't need to spend more than £10 on that then. (Think I can get away with 2 washes of clothes a week) I'll be hanging clothes dry then maybe haha.

A saving of £148 means I will definitely share a room. £670 is a beastly price though... Hope I can manage to find some offers.

And by when to book tickets I meant when are they usually cheapest? Last year when we booked for HK for some reason the prices were REALLY cheap when we booked in May for MID July (Mid July is more expensive than early July), around £350-£400 at quite a few places.

[sleepyhead]

...<snip>...

A saving of £148 means I will definitely share a room. £670 is a beastly price though... Hope I can manage to find some offers.

And by when to book tickets I meant when are they usually cheapest? Last year when we booked for HK for some reason the prices were REALLY cheap when we booked in May for MID July (Mid July is more expensive than early July), around £350-£400 at quite a few places.

Hmm, well that is the gamble...the later you leave it the cheaper some seats get as the airline just wants to put bums on seats. The cheapest seats will be on the day buying...but you will be winging it severly as you could also be paying a princely premium!

JAL are showing up at £608 per ticket for the same 2 week period in July (ish...30th June till 14th July) BUT it is 1 stop on the way there and non-stop on the way back. Weirdly though their timetable shows non stop flights WITH seats spare for 1st July to 14th July NON-STOP...however it isn't available when you try and book it. Odd. Could always try phoning them and seeing if the flights DO exist. They (JAL) are planning on axing some 54 routes and 9,000 odd jobs or something similar to that effect.

Oh and don't forget travel insurance. Your credit card/bank account may have one for you or if not, it's only like £15 or so...

EDIT: Forgot the most important bit...a can of beer is about 220yen...no idea how much the stuff Gerrard bought (I think he bought something similar to an alcopop?).

[TooNice]

By the way, have any of you bought the JR pass before (the one that's exclusive for visitors)? It doesn't seem very cheap, but having never gone out of Tokyo before, I am wondering if it may quickly become more economic than buying separate train tickets to visit other places.

[Gerrard]

EDIT: Gerrard, isn't it 10,800 yen (5,400 yen per person) to 6,800 yen, meaning that it'll cost 1,400 yen more for a single room per night?

Yes, you are quite corrrect! I was looking at the Y13,000 for some reason. The exchange rate will be the main factor in working out the cost. Looking back at the exchange rate, we went during the time it was at it's lowest by the looks of it! It's currently hovering back around 150 (was 140 when we went).