Japan ~ The land of the rising sun

 

When we booked a 3 week holiday to Japan, we felt so overwhelmed by the thought of a 8:30 hrs direct flight being a long one, that we did not anticipate how action packed this trip is going to eventually be. I had planned to see the Cherry blossoms, however, ended up planning during the Christmas holidays and did not regret a bit.

 

High Level Itinerary:

·   Travel – Melbourne – Narita – Melbourne 2 days

·       Tokyo 4 days

·       Osaka 4 days

·       Hiroshima 4 days

·       Kyoto 2 days

·       Mount Fuji 1 day

·       Tokyo 3 days

Disclaimer – Japan is always beautiful and always packed.

3 months ago:

Book flight & Hotels in advance

•  Get JR Pass through Klook. Klook will post the voucher and it will reach within a month
•  Get Suica installed in iphone
• Japan wireless – pocket wifi through Klook. Klook will post the voucher and it will reach within a month
• If flying into Haneda or Narita, every facilities are available everywhere
• If inbound flight is through Osaka, get a ICOCA card, if SUICA is unavailable. ICOCA works everywhere as well.

I would advise doing these in advance due give enough time for postage to reach and get the best deals in hotels. Join a couple of social media forums but don’t get too carried away. Your experience is always your experience.

I will not detail around the touristy things we did there as the internet is flooded with information. One less will not hurt anyone.

Learnings from our Japan trip:

1. The best and the most expensive hotels are also very very small. Pack your luggage wisely.
2.  Every hotel will provide night toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, floss, combs, face lotion, face pack, shampoo, conditioners, body lotion, hair dryer, shaving kit, shaving gel, grooming gel, hair gel, night gowns and slippers. Literally everything along with teas, coffee, milk along with towels and other regular stuffs. Consider carrying less clothes & baggage. Guests roam around the hotels in those clothes.
3. Carry good pair of sneakers – We ended up walking 20kms a day in average. This is not because we saw so much of the beautiful country, it is just the way of finding your way through Japan.  Eg: We stayed 300mts from the Shinjuka station. In the morning, we walked 2kms underground to reach the correct platform. Lost our way in the underground shopping alley, exited out of another end of the station, came back all the way and reached the platform. Another time, we planned to take a train from A station in Osaka to Station B in Osaka, ended up coming out of an exit 650mts from the B station. Decided to walk through the pavement and shops rather go back. 3-4kms done. Maybe we were stupid, but we were enjoying being stupid somewhere in the world.
4. Japan is aesthetically beautiful; however, it has certain Asian country traits. There are no water dispensers and buying bottled water is the only option. Keep the changes handy. There is barely a place to sit, regroup, rest your tired legs. There are no seats, no pavement rails and no place to take a breathe. It’s a keep walking culture. Pack accordingly.
5. Don’t wait till the last minute to get into a restaurant/izakaya if you are hungry. Don’t plan last minute shopping if you have a train/flight to catch or scheduled for something. Queueing up is another level of crazy there. People queue up at 11:15am onwards for a lunch at 12:00PM. People queue up for shopping, for a coffee, at transport stations. Queuing up is great, but just that there are never ending queue for everything. It is not 5-10 people you are queuing up after, its 30-50 people in the queue. That’s frustrating.
6. Stay the closest to the stations. We stayed 300m to every station, however from the station to the platforms which can be 7 floors below or above and several kms of underground shopping streets till the platform, the maze takes time. Save time walking between your hotel and the station
7. Stay close to a JR station. Use the JR Pass to travel local and long distance.
8. Use the Shinkansen. It is an experience; it saves a lot of time and man just do it.
9. Money exchange is a breeze. Just go into 7-11 store that says 7-11 bank and withdraw money. We used our Wise card in some transfers. We used the Suica for almost everything
10. Carry extra duffle bags to bring back shopping. We went with cabin baggage and came back with 45kgs checking baggage and a 1^st class upgrade which was oh so worth it.
11. TeamLabs Borderless is a must do. It is an experience and a true depiction of Japanese Tech.
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Experiences to cherish:

1. TeamLAB Planet - Book through https://teamlabplanets.dmm.com/en in advance and change the date as required upto 24hrs in advance
2. Shinkansen - The JRPAss and the experience of speed is forever the best experience. 
3. Kyoto - A dreamy city with beautiful history. The beautiful Geisha's made us pensive.
4. Hiroshima - Another painful history that carries so much pride from what it has been rebuilt into
5. Mt.Fuji - If there is anything thats larger than life, this is it.