amy_torres_sd

Last month, my daughter and I had a lovely 3.5 weeks in Ecuador and we are itching to make our next journey. Since I work at a public elementary school, I am pretty much constrained by school holidays.

We are considering a trip to Japan for the week of Thanksgiving. I am requesting an additional three days, which will bring us up to 12 days (including two of long flights.) I have looked at other people's plans coming up for a similar time and was hoping for the collective input on our ideas.

Daughter wants to be an animator or video game creator, so the Ghilbi Museum is a must-do. We very much enjoyed our food tours in South America so those are on the list, too. Kyoto is at the top of my list, and I'd like to include Hiroshima and Miyajima in these 10 days. Is it too much? We haven't purchased tickets yet.

Thanks in advance...

MinnBeef

Assuming you fly into Kansai, 10 on the ground days should allow you 5 days for Kyoto, 2 days for Nara, and 3 days for Hiroshima and Miyajima, with a stop in Himeji to see the castle along the way. I wouldn't try to add in any more than that but the above should be a full, yet fairly relaxed pace IMHO.

kja

I think you should be able to include Tokyo (and the Ghilbi Museum), Kyoto / Nara, <b>and</b> Hiroshima / Miyajima into your time frame. You could, for example fly into Tokyo, spend several days there, fly or train to Hiroshima with at least one night on Miyajima and – as necessary, given your transportation, perhaps another night in Miyajima <b>or</b> in Hiroshima, and then at least 5 days (or more!) for Kyoto and Nara, flying out of Kansai (or vice versa). You won't be able to see everything that any of these places offer, but you should be able to see a lot!

I trust you know the key on-line resources, which include
japan-guide.com
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/ and
hyperdia.com

Enjoy!

Mara

Haven't been myself but you definitely need advance tickets for the Ghibli Museum - it seems tickets for November will be on sale starting August 1st....

November 23rd is a National Holiday in Japan so you should factor that in as well....

Kavey

When you say 10 days, is that 10 nights on the ground or does that include travel time?

I'm going to guess you'll want at the very least 3 nights in Tokyo, perhaps 4 depending on the arrival time of your flight. With 3 nights, you'll have just two full days and with one of those for Studio Ghibli that's only one for all the other sights in Tokyo that may be of interest. It's tight, hence thinking you'd want 4 nights.

With a night for Hiroshima / Miyajima that only leaves 5 nights for Kyoto + Nara.

Although I loved our overnight in Nara, I'd be thinking hard whether or not you'd be best off visiting Nara as a day trip from Kyoto or as another one night overnight, though either is doable.

amy_torres_sd

Thank you for the input!

Kavey, I am hoping to confirm a total of 12 days for the trip. (I work for a school district and we have a new head of HR; don't yet know how he feels about vacations during the school year.)

Mara, the Ghibli tickets are on my radar and am very glad that I didn't wait a week to investigate it. While I won't have a confirmed trip, I will definitely order the tickets and let the chips fall where they may. Thank you for seeing that it's a priority and making sure that I am aware of those advance tickets. I had no idea about Nov 23 being a holiday; that explains some of the pricing that I saw (Nov 20 starts high season for one site).

Kja, thank you for the links and your input! I haven't yet checked out hyperdia, thanks for the reminder!

MinnBeef... thank you for your suggestions. There is so much to do and see in Japan.

I appreciate the practical advice you all have given me. I'm heading back into my trip planning!

amy_torres_sd

OK plans have changed. I just booked flights leaving this Thursday. Ack! But that gives us two weeks.

My first question: can I get the train card in three days? Help!

Reading54

Scroll down this page (passed Canada) to see JR voucher sellers in USA:
http://www.japanrailpass.net/area_04.html

Any of these offices close to you that you may make a dash to the office to buy the voucher? Or will over-night express to you?

You must buy the JR vouchers before you arrive in Japan. I do not know if any seller will Fed Ex them to your Tokyo hotel for you. Others may chime in with your options.

Reading54

Wait, sorry, you have not told us if you are arriving at NRT and departing from NRT, or if you are arriving at NRT and departing from KIX.

If the latter, it may be a smaller cost difference whether you have JR Voucher/Pass or not. So may be there is no point in working up a sweat, sorry to alarm you.

mrwunrfl

>> can I get the train card in three days?

yes, but what is your itinerary? maybe you don't need one.

You should be able to get your vouchers sent to you by overnight mail to your home.

If you buy a voucher and it turns out that you don't need a pass, then it is possible to get a refund minus 10% fee.

MinnBeef

Too difficult to provide any more meaningful help at this point, considering the absence of a detailed, daily itinerary and the last minute rush. But what mrwunrfl says is very true-you may not benefit from a JR pass. Particularly if you are spending much of your time based in one or two cities (e.g. Kyoto and Tokyo), it may be more financially prudent to just buy individual tickets.

amy_torres_sd

We have flights in and out of Narita. Our flight arrives at 3:10 p.m. on Friday. We spent the morning with a friend of mine, whose sister is in town, visiting from Tokyo. She allayed my fears of not having enough time to plan this out properly.

Thanks to Reading54, I was able to call JTB and confirm that my train passes will be delivered tomorrow. Thanks, too, mrwunrfl, about the advice about returning them if I end up not needing them.

I'm generally not this spontaneous, but life is short and I want to seize the day when I have the chance!

One suggestion by the sister of my friend: go to Kyoto first, to take advantage of jet lag. Tour groups leave later in the morning, so we can use our early awakenings to our advantage to beat the crowds.

Thanks again! I'm looking at Citadines in Kyoto for our lodging. If you have other suggestions, I'm all ears!

someotherguy

There are several train passes you can buy once you are in Japan. If you need to do a round trip between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, then the Arch Pass is cheaper than a JR pass, but you have to take a more interesting route: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_arch.html

Other passes: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

I'd suggest using the little planning time you have to get a rough itinerary together, check opening times (museums etc. are often closed on Mondays), and get the first few hotels booked. Sort the rest out when you're there and have found your feet.

someotherguy

Looks like you already have a plan, so ignore what I said--I was typing at the same time as you.

Mara

If it's the Citadines Karasuma-Gojo it should be fine - one of my friends who is very fussy always stays there. ;-)

And you can buy the Ghibli tix at Lawson's in Japan, it's a convenience store, many branches - the website shows you how to do it...
http://www.lawson.co.jp/ghibli/museu...l/english.html

Enjoy!

amy_torres_sd

Thanks, someotherguy. At the moment, I'm thinking about Kyoto first. It's a lot to bite off and chew in just a couple of days, but that will make it an adventure. My daughter will turn 19 during the trip, so it will be a rite of passage for her, too. Now that we have 14 days on the ground (instead of 10), it feels luxurious to consider travels further afield. We will certainly be traveling a lot lighter than the last trip, during which we took full bags to many destinations prior to arriving in the Galapagos Islands (where we delivered books to a school library.)

Cheers!

Reading54

I am sure you'll have a great time in Japan, especially to celebrate your daughter's birthday while on the trip.

Read the "totally unprepared" thread about where to exchange JR voucher to JR Pass on arrival at Narita airport, and how to make seat reservations.

When searching train schedule on Hyperdia.com, click on "More options" link to un-check the Nozomi trains, sleeper trains, Airplane, and Private Railway. The last bit, since you will have a JR Pass and will utilize JR trains as much as possible.

Reading54

More on the "Private Railway" --
For some destination you may have to take JR trains then change to a non-JR train. In that case, leave the "Private Railway" on as part of your search options.

kja

I'd go to Kyoto first, too -- you'll be tired anyways, so you might as well push on through if you can.

amy_torres_sd

OK! Now that I've had a little time to actually read the travel guide I bought this morning, I am capable of some semi-intelligent questions. It took me about 12 hours to get out of the "Are we really doing this?" phase.

How long does it take to clear customs at Narita? (Kicking myself for not checking into flying into Kansai, but a quick check shows that it's not available for even double what I've paid for the airline tickets. Whew, crisis averted there.) It looks as though there are are trains/connections every 30 minutes and we should arrive in Kyoto hopefully before 10 p.m.

We have our reservations for Citadines Karasuma-Gojo for 4 nights, so that's one portion taken care of.

Great information from everyone on "Totally Unprepared" thread. The links are especially helpful.

Any suggestions about data / mifis ? I contacted our mobile carrier and it looks like we will pay through the nose for on the go translations and the like.

Thanks again for the positive assistance!