Hi, everyone. I'm back with more questions. Hope your summer is going well. If you think I should start another thread with any of these questions, just let me know. Thanks so much for your patience.

1. I have seen the recommendation on these boards to rent a pocket wifi. I believe my husband has unlimited data on his work phone. I know I'm showing some ignorance here, but is there any advantage to using a pocket wifi versus just using his phone insofar as quality of reception goes? If we use his phone, do we need to have it unlocked and get a SIM card? With family medical issues going on at home, we want to be as completely and easily reachable as possible.

2. And while we're on the subject of iphones, my Cannon point and shoot digital camera stopped working on our last trip. I don't take many photos at home and have just been using my iphone 6. Would you recommend purchasing a new point and shoot for this trip, or is the quality pretty much the same as an iphone these days? I intend to print them and possibly enlarge some for framing.

3. A friend of mine spent a week in Tokyo and said her husband pretty much used Google Maps the entire trip for walking and showing taxi drivers their destination. He didn't print out any maps. I like to have a print back up. Any recommendations for good maps that have both English and Japanese on it? I plan on printing out maps from the hotel internet sites, but it would be nice to have city maps for Kyoto and Tokyo.

That's about it for now. Thank you so much for all your time and expertise.
Laurie

I can't comment on the wifi versus your husband's data roaming as no idea on his phone or deal. You'd have to research that with his specific provider and the model of phone I guess.

I ended up getting a new phone, the Samsung Galaxy S7, just a few days before our last trip in March/ April. I did take my Canon DSLR but actually I hardly used it, taking the majority of my photos on my phone. The exception was for some restaurant dinners where I used a f1.8 50mm lens. But I'd have been fine without it.

We never had any printed maps for Tokyo either but we never used google maps for taxi drivers, just for ourselves when walking. For taxi drivers we had the destination address written in Japanese and English PLUS the destination's telephone address, which is how most Japanese GPS are programmed.

Sorry for the belated thank you, Kavey. Looks like we can purchase a passport plan with att for the iPhone 6. Verizon has plans too. Apparently the iPhone 6 doesn't need to be unlocked.
Laurie

No worries, you are very welcome.

Can someone please advise me on what the best way would be to get from Koyasan to Kyoto. When I check on Hyperdia, they are giving me itineraries to Shinimamiya, JR Yamatoji Rapid Service to Osaka and then JR Special Rapid Service to Kyoto. Some of the itineraries have a transfer in Hashimoto before Shinimamiya too.

Other sites suggest taking the Nankai Koya line, Ltd Express, to Namba, Midosuji subway to Osaka, and then JR to Kyoto

Another site says to take the shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Kyoto, but I’m not sure how I would get to Shin-Osaka from Kyosan, unless this somehow involves a subway from Namba? I’m not sure.

In using Hyperdia, I’m not sure if I should search for Koyasan to Kyoto, or if it would be better to break it down into steps. I’m trying to figure out if I should get a one-week or two-week JR Pass so I’d like to be able to figure this out.

I’ve been sort of spinning my wheels all afternoon. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
Laurie

You will take Nankai trains to Shinimamiya. Then a JR rapid to Osaka and the JR rapid train to Kyoto.

The JR part is only 920 yen so not a big factor towards a JR pass.

>>Nankai Koya line, Ltd Express, to Namba, Midosuji subway to Osaka, and then JR to Kyoto.

That will work too. That ltd express is the train you want. You could take it to Shinimamiya and then JR from there.

Those JR rapid trains are frequent enough that you don't need to stress about the schedule unless you are traveling late at night.

You aren't doing anything wrong. That Hashimoto stop is so thta you can connect the two ordinary trains. That would be less expensive but a longer trip than taking the limited express.

If you want to see the ltd exp train schedule then un-check Ordinary Train and search GOKURAKUBASHI -> SHINIMAMIYA

There is a Koyasan pass that you should consider. Might not cover the ltd exp.

Thanks, Mrwunrfl, for simplifying it for me!

We just got back from our trip to Japan. We stayed at the Shibuya Excel Hotel which is directly across the street from the train station. Extremely convenient, you don't even have to go outside to get to the station (there's a mall and walkway over the street) and the limousine bus drops directly at Excel also. We upgraded from our 8th floor room to a 22nd floor corner room after we returned to Tokyo, totally worth the extra $50 for more space and a birds-eye view of the Shibuya scramble day and night.

The line for JR passes at the Narita Airport was LONG and we were glad to skip it. The JR office opens at 10 a.m. in Shibuya station.

Verizon didn't have a package deal for internet so we rented a pocket wifi and were happy to have it. Google maps and Hyperdia were indispensable.

I took my heavy Nikon because I wasn't happy with the quality of pictures that I got from a new Lumix point and shoot earlier in the summer. However, the Nikon rarely left the hotel room. My iPhone 6+ did a fine job and was always with me.

Have fun!

Hi, Amy
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! How wonderful to have such a fantastic view of all the craziness below! I'm all for hassle-free on the day of our arrival since I know we'll be exhausted.
My husband's phone is through AT&T. Mine is Verizon. They offered me the Preferential Pricing Plan
$40 – 100 minutes voice, 100 messages, 100 mg data. I'm assuming 100 mg won't be enough. AT&T offered my husband 300mg data for $60, .50/mg if we go over. I think I may have to do the Verizon plan so I can have the minutes in case of emergency. (We have learned this lesson the hard way.) For data, I'm still trying to decide between pocket wifi, where we can use both our devices, or the AT&T plan. So many decisions...
I've been following your thread and am in awe over how quickly you were able to pull your trip together!! I've been planning mine for a year.
Thanks,
Laurie

Amy, forgot to ask, were you able to make seat reservations at the JR office in Shibuya station?

If Amy answers "yes" then that means that she visited one of these offices at Shibuya station.

1) Travel Service Center (View Plaza)
Weekdays
11:00-20:00
Weekends and Holidays
11:00-18:00

2) JR Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi)
5:30-23:00

You can do the JR Pass exchange and get reserved seat tickets at the Travel Service Center.

The green logo on this image is what to look for if you want seat reservations:
https://thomasgittel.files.wordpress...-madoguchi.jpg

At a JR Ticket Office, look for a separate counter/window with that logo (and the words "Reserved Tickets" :) . It is there just to issue seat reservations (if you have a pass or a fare ticket). You don't have to get into the line(s) to the fare ticket window.

Again, thank you! I really appreciate it!

I'm working on the Kyoto section of my itinerary and will be running it by all you experts as soon as I have it simplified (and abbreviated so we can actually enjoy without killing ourselves.)

Thank you for clarifying, mrwunrful. Yes, I visited the Travel Service Center. It's outside and around a couple of corners from the Hachiko statue. We had to ask a few times to get to the right place, merely because the area is much larger that I expected.

Laurie... We had a fantastic time! Traveling with a teenager can be challenging (she really loves being in bed!) but I adapt to my daughter's speed rather than hound her into doing more in a day than would make her happy. We saved several "treats" to enjoy when I go with my hubby someday, like Kabuki and baseball.

So glad to hear you had such a good time, Amy! I've been following your trip report and taking note.

Question for everyone regarding getting Yen before your trip. How does the exchange rate compare changing dollars to Yen here in the U.S. versus doing it in Japan? I always like to have cash on hand before I leave, but am trying to figure out how much we should bring. It's nice to not have to immediately worry about getting cash, but I suspect the exchange rate I would get from my bank might not be very good. What was your experience?
Arigato (practicing!),
Laurie

The one time I got yen from my bank in NYC - it was a number of years ago - the exchange rate was really horrible....nothing like the interbank rate that you see on financial websites or xe.com....lol.

You really shouldn't have a problem using ATMs in the airport - I always call my card issuer to tell them my travel plans.....

The only issue I know of is that Post Office ATMs don't like Master/Maestro ATM cards with chips, but you can use those at 7 Eleven.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2208.html

Don't get any yen in the US. The best (least expensive, best exchange rate) is to get it from an ATM in Japan. The bank ATMs at the airport will accept your card, as will ATMs inside convenience stores Like 7-11 and inside post offices.

Do notify your bank that you will be traveling, and check to see what your bank will charge you to use a foreign ATM. Many big banks in the US charge $5 per use plus a 3% premium on foreign exchange. While that isn't a great deal, you'll be paying less for your yen that way than buying yen from your bank in the US. It may be late to recommend this, but if your bank charges that much, you might benefit from opening a bank account at a credit union or using your brokerage account. My brokerage charges just 1% on foreign exchange and no charge per use of a foreign ATM. Many people have a travel bank account different from their regular account. It's worth looking into.

We got several hundred dollars worth of yen from the ATM, and had to change most of it back before we left Japan. More places accepted credit cards than I had anticipated.

Have a wonderful trip!

Wow, thanks! I really could not do this trip without all of your fantastic and generous advice. I actually have a debit card from Schwab that supposedly doesn't charge foreign fees. I'll wait and get cash at the airport.
Thanks again.

Mara has already given you the very informative japan-guide link, and she and Kathie have given you some great info! Just to add a bit, there is a difference between exchange fees (which you bank might charge) and fees for use of an ATM, and the later, can come from either YOUR bank or the bank to which the ATM is attached.

Two things to do with extra yen:

1) Pay down your hotel bill at the last place you stay. Or there and the next-to-last hotel.

2) Keep it for your next trip. You can exchange yen for any currency. Of course, the value of the yen could vary, but so could the USD that you would exchange them for.

I usually carry a couple of USD $100 bills in case I need them to exchange for cash for some reason. Next trip they will be CAD bills.

Unwise, I bought some JPY months before my first trip to Japan. The dollar then dropped in value after 9/11 and I sold the yen at a tiny profit above the cost of both exchanges. By the time I took the trip in November the USD was up to 125 JPY - and I just got the cash at an ATM at NRT.

Thanks. Good points. Appreciate it.
Now I’m back with another question.
I’m trying to make a decision as far as a hotel in Nara and was hoping for your opinion. We will be traveling from Miyajima and only spending one night in Nara before continuing on to Koyasan. So basically that means we’ll just have the one afternoon to hit the sites. I was hoping to stay somewhere near Nara Park, but don’t want to spend a lot of money as we are splurging a bit in Kyoto. Unfortunately the ryokan I was hoping to stay at was booked. I ended up booking a room at New Wukasa, near the park, 30,400 Yen, including breakfast and dinner – more than I want to spend, but I thought it would be fun to experience dinner in our room as their website advertises. After digging around on Tripadvisor, I now realize that actually they don’t serve dinner in your room. They serve dinner in the dining room. Kind of disappointing.
I also decided that I would like to book a free guide for the afternoon while we’re in Nara. I’ve gotten a response from a guide saying he will meet us at the train station, which has got me thinking that maybe it would be more convenient to stay near the train station, drop off our bags, and then head out to the sites. We could have dinner after our tour and just take a taxi back to the hotel later in the evening. Then in the morning we’ll be closer for the next leg of our trip. I’m trying to decide between Super Hotel Lohas JR Nara-eki, which is actually right by the train station and is roughly 9900 Yen or Hotel Nikko Nara, close to the train station, for $202 a night. What I would be sacrificing by staying by the station is an early-morning walk in the park, but I don’t want to spend 30,400 Yen.
What do you think? Sorry for the long post. I tend to overthink the details.
Laurie

Let me suggest another option -- the Little Hotel Nara Club, now available on booking.com as Chiisana Hotel Nara Club. It's not right by the train station -- in fact, its a 10-minute bus ride away -- but it's only a few minutes walk to Nara Park. When I was there, back in 2006, I thought it absolutely charming and the breakfasts were outstanding. It still gets great reviews, so it might be worth considering if you aren't fully committed to being right by the station.

I stayed at the Comfort Hotel which is quite inexpensive and near the JR station when I stayed over in Nara a couple of years back.

Now I just go on a day trip when I stay in Kyoto and if I take the JR train, I really don't have a problem walking to the park and there are buses also - right in front of the station....

The Little Hotel Nara Club sounds very nice. I tried to book on booking.com, but it said there wasn't anything available. I went on their website reservation site and hopefully I will hear back. It went from English to Japanese pretty quick and I hit some
Japanese buttons not knowing what it said but I got an email in Japanese with some English saying they will get back to me in a few days. Fingers crossed. Thanks!

I thought the Little Hotel Nara Club a very sweet and welcoming little place, but it is very small and so might easily be fully booked well in advance. When I was there, the man of the couple who ran it spoke English; his wife did not. I have no idea what the situation is now. In the meantime, Mara's suggestion sounds worth considering.... Let us know!

I'll let you know if I hear back. And thanks, Mara, for my Plan B

Yay! I'm booked into Little Hotel Nara Club. Thank you so much for the recommendation. I get a really good feeling from their website.

Next question: (I wish I could take you all out to dinner for all the help and time you've given me...)

Getting to Nara from Hiroshima (actually Miyajima) I'm finding some conflicting information between google searches and Hyperdia. I've read the best way is Hiroshima - ShinOsaka - Kyoto - Nara. I'm finding hourly trains from Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka using my JR Pass. The most reasonable time getting me to Shin-Osaka at 11:24. Then it looks like there are plenty of trains from there to Kyoto. How much time do you think I would need to transfer trains? How much extra time if we want to stop and pick up bento boxes for the next leg of our trip?
Once I get to Kyoto, I can take either Kintetsu or JR to Nara. I know I can't use my pass on Kintetsu, but read that some people prefer it due to its location and number of trains. I'm only seeing hourly trains on Hyperdia at the time I would want to take it (probably the 13:30). The JR looks to be every half hour on Hyperdia so I could take the 13:04 or the 13:34. How much time should I allow to transfer trains in Kyoto? Is one train line easier to transfer to than the other? Also, I did see some trains from Hiroshima to Kyoto that transfer in Okayama? Is that an option?
Thanks,
Laurie

Congratulations! I hope you like the Little Hotel Nara Club as much as I did. :-)

IME, the times given by Hyperdia and jorudan from point of origin to destination included sufficient time to make each transfer along the route. Picking up a bento box doesn't take much time at all; if in any doubt, plan routes that include a stop (so plan from point of origin to stopping point and then from that point to your destination).

Looking at hyperdia I see you can go from Hiroshima to Nara with two transfers, one at Shin-Osaka and the other at Tennoji. It seems shorter than going to Kyoto....

Wow. That seems way better. I have scoured countless websites and blogs and none of them mentioned this route. I don't understand why. I don't mean to gush, but....I can't tell you the obscene amount of time I have spent researching online and guidebooks, and by far the best advice I've gotten is on this forum. How are you so knowledgeable? How often have you all traveled to Japan?

Just use MIYAJIMA as your departure and NARA as arrival stations and un-check Nozomi.

I found that 11:24 shinkansen arrival at Shin-Osaka and worked from that to get a full itinerary at HyperDia. It is the first result at the link below. Interesting that the second result goes via Kyoto and takes only 1 minute longer.

The transfer times shown in the results are reasonable.

http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi/en/searc...d&sum_target=7

Thanks. I was breaking down the search by each destination rather than plugging in the whole trip so I guess I wasn't even looking at the other options. I had it stuck in my mind that I had to go through Shin-Osaka and Kyoto, based on things I had read.

As the time draws near for our trip to Japan, I’m trying to iron out an itinerary for our four days/five nights in Kyoto and would love feedback from you. We will be staying four nights at Hotel Mume. They were full for our fifth night so we will be staying at Hotel Granvia by Kyoto Station our last night.

Day 1 - We will be arriving in Kyoto from Koyasan so will probably spend our first night wandering close to the hotel, exploring Gion. (Any restaurant recommendations for dinner?)

Day 2 (Sunday)
Shichi Go San will be celebrated this weekend so we definitely want to see this. I’ve read that Heian Jingu shrine is a good place so we will either start or end our tour of Northern Higashiyama there.
Taxi to Ginkakuji, walk down Philosopher's Path, ending at Nanzen-ji (including detour to Honen-in)
Evening – Explore Pontocho Alley (any restaurant recommendations for dinner?)

Day 2
Fushimi Inari in the morning
Can we fit in tofuku-ji?
2:00 – 6:00 Haru Cooking Class

Day 3
Chion-ji Hyakumanben Craft Markets
What is best to combine with this day?
Evening:
Kiyomizudera Temple will be illuminated at night.

Day 4
Arashiyama
From Kawaramachi Station in central Kyoto, take the Hankyu Main Line to Katsura Station and transfer to the Hankyu Arashiyama Line for Arashiyama.
Taxi to Otagi Nenbutsuji and work way down to bamboo groves
Ōkōchi Sansō (if there’s time)
Tenryuji Temple
3:30 lunch at Shoraian (need to allow lots of time to get there. I’ve read it’s a long walk and hard to find.)
JR Sagano Line from Saga-Arashiyama Station to Kyoto Station

Other things that I've looked at, but don't quite know where to fit in:
Miho Museum
Imperial Gardens and temples
Nishijin textile centre
Takashimaya department store.

I know I haven't taken weather into consideration. Still fine-tuning. Am I doing too much? Not enough? Thanks so much for any advice you can give me.
Laurie

Miho Museum isn't really in Kyoto, it's a long way out. You can get there by public transport but it's a little slow. Self drive would be better. Of course I can't comment on the actual museum because I'm an idiot and didn't notice until a few days before we left home that the date I'd planned that into the itinerary, and booked a car for, was a Monday and the museum was closed. Still, our visit to nearby Shigaraki made up for it!

Oh, no, Kavey. Just one of the "joys" of travel. You can prepare and prepare and prepare, yet still miss some important detail. Sometimes things turn out for the best anyway. I had my heart set on visiting the Moss Temple near Arashiyama, but was not able to get a reservation even though the hotel applied exactly at the right time. But somehow I know something else wonderful will take its place.
I think we will skip Miho Museum and stay closer to home base. We are probably going to be pretty wiped out by the end of our trip.

I haven't been to the Moss Temple, but there is a temple that I enjoyed greatly in Ohara -- Sanzenin -- that is supposed to be similar (though, of course, I can't say):
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3932.html

Blackmoms, yes, in Japan there is so much to see and enjoy that you'll love whatever you do. I did a similar booboo on our first trip, though not quite as much my fault. I had booked our first two nights in a hotel that's right IN the outer market area at Tsukiji, so we could slip out of bed and be right there early. But for some reason, a national holiday that was listed as being on the first monday in the month was shifted to the second monday of the month, one of the two mornings we had there. The other morning was a Sunday, so the fish market would not have been open for either morning of our stay. I switched our hotel at the last minute and we spent those nights in Shinjuku instead! Which worked out very nicely!

ttt.

Hi, Kavey. Good catch on the market! Too funny.
Thanks, kja on the garden recommendation. I'll look into that. It looks like the garden at Tenryu-ji Temple was designed by the same designer, Muso Soseki, so I'm hoping to get a bit of a feel for the moss garden, but if not -- oh, well.
I got my JR Pass today. I decided on the 7-day versus the 14-day so I hope we don't struggle too much buying our tickets from Koyasan to Kyoto. Tomorrow the new schedule comes out on Hyperdia so I will be spending some time over the weekend working that out.
Have a great weekend!
Laurie

I don't remember a lot of moss at Tenryu-ji, but of course, I could be wrong. Worth seeing, though, at least IMO!