jlaughs

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to work out an itinerary for a possible trip to Japan. I've tentatively got us scheduled to arrive in Japan (Tokyo) on a Sunday around 4p. I thought that would be a good day to arrive so that we could take advantage of our jet lag and go to the Tsukiji Fish Market early on Monday morning. But, it would be the only Sunday that we would be in Tokyo and we'd also like to see the teens dressed up around Harajuku.

Would we still be able to see anything around Harajuku once we've gotten to Tokyo and checked into our hotel? Would it be better to arrive on a Saturday (still around 4p) so that we can go to Harajuku during the day on Sunday? If we do this, how difficult would it be for us to get up early for the fish market on Monday?

Thanks!

KimJapan

I thinkk better to arrive on Sat if you can. Upon arrival, after doing the trip many, many times between the east coast US and Japan, and I can tell you that even if we fly business class, we are wiped out on arrival and in no way would I fancy people watching in Harajuku after a long flight. Landaing at 4, immigration, baggage, customs, figure out transportation then take it...By the time you are settled in your hotel it'll probably be at least 7:00 pm, and you'll want to eat and then sleep. So if you want to see the Harajuku on a Sunday, try to have it not be the day of arrival. They are out at night too...but you might well be not up to it.

To get up early...no problem. We are always and consistently awake at 3 or 4 AM, even if we've only spent a short time in the US (a week). On the second day (if you arrived Sat), we still wake early...in fact we do for at least a week. Great to get housecleaning done.

jlaughs

Thanks KimJapan. That's what I was hoping to hear! Since I'm still in the planning stage (which might all be for nothing)*, I can easily change our departure and return dates (same flight times, same price).

*Just fyi - BF has FF miles and I have reward miles. We're still trying to decide where to go. Only restrictions is that I have to go in August and he only gets 9 days off from work. Japan seems like a fairly good choice because we probably couldn't afford to stay longer even if we had the time. But, still trying to figure out an itinerary to get an idea of budget.

KimJapan

You may not be able to get Japan with miles in August. It's peak travel month,, and award tickets are few and far between. I check almost daily for both awards and upgrades for the entire month...it's a tough one to score. One thing to try is different airports on both ends. Sometimes we can get awards from Nagoya but not KIX or NRT...sometimes we can get Boston, but not Providence, or vice versa. You will need to be creative. And you may have to fly on different flgihts. If I were you, if you find an award, book it right away, even if you have to pay a change fee later if you change your mind. When awards come up in August, they don't stay around long.

jlaughs

Thanks KimJapan. I was worried about that having read all the warnings about booking FF flights months and months ahead. But, so far, we're still good. We keep checking and there is still FF seat availability to Tokyo for the dates we want. Once my BF finally gets his FF ticket, I can just purchase my ticket with my reward points.

But, this is also a reason that Japan is still a maybe. If it's not available when we finally get down to booking, we may have to switch gears and go somewhere else. I'd already put together a 14-day itinerary for Germany before we found out that he could only get 9 days off from work. Rather than try to start chopping up my itinerary to fit our new timetable, we decided to save it for another time and go somewhere else. This is *not* the way I usually like to plan a trip (I'm usually one of those compulsive preplanners who feels like I've already been where I'm going before I ever even leave home - including trying to learn some of the language), but bottom line, I'm sure we'll enjoy whereever we end up.

mrwunrfl

Kim, can you tell what the significance is of the orange and blue days on this calendar:
http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/etc/calendar/2006.html
?

KimJapan

Sure thing...
red dots are kyuuichibi...closed days.
blue triangles are rinjikaiichihi...extraordinary days....probably limited hours and vendors, as they seem to happen around the holidays/closed days.

mrwunrfl

Ok, thanks. So Sundays at Tsukiji are kyuuichibi as are about half the Wednesdays and a few other days.