Just got back from Japan
 

And we had a ball. I won't post a day-by-day account of our travels, as others have already posted on a lot of the same places (and done it so well!) but I did get so much value from reading this forum, and am happy to be able to pass on anything I can.

I thought I would just say where we went, transport we used, which hotels we stayed in etc, and if anybody has any questions I would be happy to answer them.

We flew Qantas from Sydney to Narita via Cairns, arriving late in the evening, so spent the first night at Holiday Inn Tobu Narita (got a good rate over the internet, and they have a free airport bus running regularly, which only takes about 10 minutes each way). Used the takkyubin service to forward our large bags(with our ski gear) directly to our tour operator in Niseko, and caught the bus back to the airport next morning so that we could catch the train (there may have been an easier way to do this, but returning to the airport seemed the most straightforward)

Caught the Keisei Limited Express to Asakusa, and checked into the Ryokan Asakusa Shigetsu. We had arranged to rent phones from Rentafone Japan and they were waiting there for us when we arrived.

In Tokyo we went to Ryogoku for the Edo Tokyo Museum and Sumo Stadium and Museum, Akihabara (and if you have boys who don't like shopping, this will fix them - mine were begging to keep shopping longer!).Also saw the usual spots....Sensoji temple, of course, Harajuku, Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine, Omotesando, Shibuya (and Tokyu Hands, they were in the groove of shopping now),Ginza, Shinjuku,Imperial Palace.

We also did a day trip to Edo Nikko Wonderland, an Edo-era theme park near Kinugawa Onsen.

We took the shinkansen to Kyoto (we didn't have JR passes, so we travelled in the Nozomi) and got fabulous views of Mt Fuji on the way. Stayed at Hotel Station Kyoto West.

Saw Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu Dera, Sanjusangendo (fabulous),Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji, Gion, Nara.

Caught the bus to Itami Airport (stayed at Hotel AP opposite the airport) and caught an early flight to Sapporo (New Chitose airport).

Bussed to Niseko, stayed at the Niseko Park Hotel, skied on some of the best snow we have ever seen, and eventually returned to the airport for our flight to Haneda, caught the connecting Friendly Limousine Bus to Narita, and finally the direct flight back to Sydney.

Gosh, it sounds like a whirlwhind, and felt a bit like it sometimes too, but we had a great time. Thanks again to all here who shared their knowledge and helped me pull it all together.

ozgal, i have lots of questions for you! But most immediate, how did you find the Rentafone service and prices? I looked into them, and have come very close to signing up w/another service (PuPuRu) for our upcoming trip for a prepaid phone. PuPuRu will also deliver the phone to the hotel. I thought Rentafone was cool in that the phones all have email and photo capability, but I didn't like that they don't provide a call by call breakdown, and that the phone has credit on it and they don't calculate the usage til after the phone is returned. I feel like maybe I am giving them carte blanche in that way, but maybe I am misunderstanding. Was your experience w/them good?

Also, did you like the Holiday Inn Narita? Was it quiet, being so close to the airport?

We are planning some time at the Edo park in Nikko also.

Also, was the aiprot you stayed at at Itami the Itami Airport Hotel (the one inside the terminal)? If so, how did you get reservations there? Their website is in Japanese and I couldn't get a room through the only online booking service that handles their rooms.

Sounds like the trip was fun and busy and tailored to what you wanted to do. Your good planning paid off! So glad you all enjoyed yoursleves. Thanks so much for posting.

Hi Emd,I'll do my best to answer your questions. Firstly we found Rentafone to be great. I also checked out PuPuRu and the prices at Rentafone were better. They don't charge you for the credit that is already in the phone, they just charge you afterward for what you use. And there is a free number you can call at any time to see how much credit you have left, so it's easy to keep an eye on what you are spending. If you need itemised bills for business expenses or similar, I guess this wouldn't be the best plan to use. They actually charge you for the first week's rent when they send the phone, and then calculate the remainder of the rent and the calls after you send it back.We haven't received our final bill from them yet, so I will post back when we do, but (maybe I am too trusting?) I don't expect any problems, all their dealings with us were very professional and reliable.

The Holiday Inn at Narita was fine - very much like an American hotel in style, both our rooms had two double beds, and a real bathroom (instead of the prefabricated type that we had everywhere else we stayed).We had double-glazed windows, but honestly I didn't hear any noise at all - I suspect that by the time we arrived the airport was probably close to being closed for the night, but even next morning I didn't hear any planes, and there was no problem with traffic noise either. I guess it could depend on where you are in the hotel (it is huge) but we had no complaints. And the buffet breakfast was pretty good too.

The hotel where we stayed at Itami airport wasn't the one inside the terminal - I tried to book that one as well and they showed no availability. I don't know whether they just don't let any of their rooms out to the booking service until closer to the date, but it wasn't a chance I was prepared to take, so managed to get a booking at the AP, which is just across the carpark from the airport (but probably close to 1 kilometer if you walk it.) The one inside the terminal would obviously be a lot more convenient, so if you can find someone who speaks Japanese to help you book on their website, assuming that they do have vacancies, that would probably suit you better.

Thanks ozgal. We decided not to fly out of Itami for several reasons on this trip and will be heading back to Narita the night before out flight out. But I am going to keep your info on the AP hotel for next time.

Let me know how the Rentaphone bill goes and if there are any surprises there. I am getting very convinced that Rentaphone is the way to go, as long as there are no billing surprises. I don't really need the call by call breakdown.

I went back in the posts and saw that you had originally had this trip planned for 2005. You responded to my 3/05 trip report indicating that. So you really planned for a long time for your trip. I hope your sons appreciated all that planning!

What were their favorite things about the trip? And did they enjoy Edo Nikko? We are also thinking of going to that place in Nikko that has all the scale replicas of famous bldgs all over the world (the name escapes me right now). Tobu World Square I think.

Just to share several friends' experiences with Rentafone...everyone was very pleased. We have decided to use them for Japan. Others have used them for other countries.

Emd, yes we were originally travelling last year, and I did start planning well in advance, because I needed to get all our flights with frequent flyer points, and with Qantas they are in great demand so you really need to plan a long way ahead.

Unfortunately 3 weeks before we were due to depart we learned that my husband had a tumour inside his heart, so everything was cancelled while we concentrated on his surgery and recovery.

Once he was well enough he was determined that he still wanted to do the trip, so I had to quickly re-organise everything, reduce the trip because it had to fit between two rounds of chemotherapy, and find new hotels for the ones that weren't available for our new dates. That is where this board came in so handy... I knew exactly where to start looking for accommodation at short notice, and certainly couldn't have done it without the resources here.

great report!!! and best wishes to your husband. how old are the kids? im taking my 15 and 13 yr olds.

was the shopping at Akhibara cheaper? did the kids enjoy kyoto?

Hi Spunge, my kids are 17 and 15, so a little older than yours. We were quite surprised that a lot of the things at Akihabara were actually more expensive than at home, and especially with the electrical and television systems being different, weren't suitable for us to buy anyway. But there were great watches for under 2000 yen, and terrific souvenir keyrings, gimmicks and gadgets on every floor, so they were very happy shoppers. One store even had all these massage chairs that they would never have tried at home (probably afraid that somebody they knew would see them!) but were very happy to sit in and ooh and aah over.

If your kids are into electronic games (gameboy etc) you can buy english versions of them as well, and they are a little cheaper, and have newer games that aren't available here yet.

They did enjoy Kyoto, but I think if they see one temple, one shrine and one castle, they don't see the need to see any more, so had to be a bit careful with the pace there.

And thanks for your good wishes for my husband... he had more chemotherapy the day after we arrived home, and I think it is all catching up with him a little bit.

Sorry EMD, just realised I hadn't answered your question. Yes they did enjoy Edo Nikko - unfortunately it rained a bit the day we were there, and being winter they had a reduced program, but they had a lot of fun, and the performers don't take themselves too seriously, they make every effort to ensure that everyone has a good time.

We saw Tobu World Square from the bus, it is on the same route as Edo Wonderland, so if you had enough time you could do both - you would need to get an early start from Tokyo though.

If you aren't using your JR pass, you can get a special Themepark pass which saves a fair bit of money, and is only available to foreign tourists. http://www.tobuland.com/foreign/english/top_f.html

Happy to hear you had a ball. That is a great basic itinerary: Tokyo to Kyoto then fly somewhere (Sapporo in your case) with the return flight to Tokyo. The ~13000 yen you saved by not getting the JR Pass goes toward your airfare and then you are free to use non-JR buses and trains without feeling like you are wasting money. How did you get to Nikko?

Did you bus directly from CTS to Niseko or did you go into Sapporo? There are flights from CTS to NRT but I suppose they didn't work for you schedule.

Did you buy your domestic Japan ticket using a Visit Japan fare or Welcome to Japan fare from JAL or ANA or did you use FF miles or otherwise purchase a ticket? Was is JAL or ANA or did you use Air Do?

Best wishes for your DH.

which part of the trip did the kids enjoy the most? did u take your luggage with you on the limo bus? or did you have it sent ahead of time to the airport? did u have any trouble using the ATM's over there to get cash? was japan more expensive than you expected it to be? thanks

Oh ozgal, what a special trip this was after your husband's and family's ordeal and recovery. I am so glad you were all able to go.

Thanks for that link too.

You were able to find that ticket booth for the discount ticket at the station??

Mrwunrfl, we had some United points left from several years ago, and were able to use them for the ANA flights, so that was a real bonus. Unfortunately the direct flights from CTS to NRT were in high demand and not available on points, which is why we had to go via HND. And yes, we went directly from the airport to Niseko, so didn't get to see Sapporo at all.

Spung411, I think it would be hard for the kids to choose what they enjoyed the most - certainly as keen skiers they absolutely loved the beautiful powder skiing at Niseko. But I think they also really enjoyed (yes, a surprise to me too) the glimpses into another culture. They took very easily to futons on tatami floors, ohayo-gozaimasu-ed and arigoto-ed everyone they had dealings with, went crazy on ninja and samurai souvenirs, and of course ate as much Japanese food as they could get their mouths around. They also enjoyed the high-tech toilets, and, despite not being able to understand a word, have become really keen fans of Japanese game shows... the ones where the contestants are dressed in silver body suits and look particularly dorky, and have to do weird and gross things to win.

For the limousine bus, yes we took our luggage with us on that (and we were also very lucky that we didn't have to pay excess baggage fees with ANA - I think the allowance is either 15kg or 20kg for domestic flights, and we certainly went over that)

Getting cash was a lot more difficult than we are accustomed to, and we really had to plan ahead for this. We ended up using the internet to find the machines that took Visa, and then searching them out (for example, we knew that the Rox building in Asakusa had one, but we circled that place 3 times before we managed to find it). And even the tourist information centre for Tobu railways only accepted cash for our rail/themepark passes, so you do need to make sure you have enough extra cash for those surprises.

But as for expense, we were really quite pleasantly surprised - I certainly wouldn't say Japan is cheap, but it wasn't as expensive as we had feared - as long as you aren't eating at 5 star restaurants the prices are very reasonable - and it helps that most of them display their menu, and plastic food or photographs, so you know the price range before you even go inside.

EMD, yes the ticket booth is actually outside the station - from the Sensoji side, you can walk into the usual ticket sales area, then straight out the other side, turn left and it is a bit further up that street.... after you buy your tickets, a bit further along is another entrance to the station. If you are planning to buy these tickets, it's a good idea to get them at least a day early, if you can. From memory, the first train leaves at about 8-00am, but the ticket office doesn't open until after that.

And thank you, all of you, for your concern and thoughts for my husband. He has a difficult path ahead and it is so nice that people we haven't even "met" are also concerned for him.

ozgal, did you try using the ATM machines at the post offices? They take any "Plus" and "Cirrus" ATM cards, as well as Visa, MAstercard, AmEx, and instructions are in English. We found that the best and easiest way to get cash (and the fees were less than using a credit card).

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

emd, yes we did use the Post Office ATM's when they were open, but it was a bit difficult when we were travelling around, then when we got back for the day they were closed, so we couldn't rely on just using them. Fortunately we had been forewarned here, so we knew to keep our cash topped up, and didn't end up having any problems.

emd, just posted a reply to you about the Santa Monica HS basketball game.

Sorry to everyone for sticking this unrelated message in this thread, but I wasn't sure if emd was still checking that other thread anymore.

Thanks.

Got it - thanks jlaughs! You knew how to get my attn.

emd, I got the bill from Rentafone - they sent me an email detailing the starting and finishing credits, and the remaining days rent, and have charged my account the correct amount. Everything above board, no complaints at all. If you choose to use them and are planning on using the email function and sending photographs, you might want to ask for the instructions in advance... we had digital cameras and a laptop with us, so didn't use that ourselves (when you receive the email with your phone numbers, they will also tell you the email address of the phone, so the function is definitely available.) As I recall the instructions that came with the phone were mainly for phone button navigation, and setting up your voicemail, I don't remember there being anything specific about how to use the email function.

Thanks, ozgal. I am going w/Rentaphone. And I will ask about the email and photo instructions- not sure we will really use them but my daughter might want to try them out.