Hello all,
We will be traveling to China and Japan this comin spring and it will be our first time so I have a few questions if you dont mind. First off we will be with a school group in Beijing only and then departing on our own to Japan. I am looking at the routes from Beijing where we will be at to Japan by land and by air. Is the best route just simply by plane? I was hoping that maybe there was some sort of a train and a ferry but I dont see any of the sort anywhere.

Also, since we will be on our own in Japan we are looking for the best place to stay. We will only have about one week before we have to leave. I am thinking that Kyoto was the best place to travel to. We would like to see a combination of old heritage and modern living combined in a city.

Thank you

If you are really interested you can take the train from Beijing to Shanghai and take the Shanghai Ferry across to Japan.

http://www.shanghai-ferry.co.jp/english/index.html

I have seen this ferry from our suite at the Hyatt in Osaka before and always wondered.....If you do take the ferry let us know how it is.

See here for information about Kyoto then come back with more specific questions

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2158.html

Aloha!

My cousin took that ferry! He was a poor college student , but he really thought it was a great adventure. It's a long ride, though. You probably would have to take snacks or something. But, it is an economical option.

We faced this situation in reverse two years ago - trying to get from Kyoto to Beijing. Airfare was incredibly expensive one way, as in $950. So we ended up taking the ferry from Hakata, Japan to Busan, South Korea and then flying two days later to Beijing.

You don't have much time so I can see this not sounding like a lot of fun.

I should have mentioned that it is a high speed ferry, so you don't spend a day on the water:

http://www.jrbeetle.co.jp/english/

Might be a good time to use frequent flyer miles.

If you are returning to Beijing (or to Hong Kong or Seoul or Taipei) then you can get a roundtrip for 25,000 miles using United (or other Star Alliance) miles.

Or, with United miles, you could get a one-way ticket, Beijing to Tokyo, for 12,500 miles. Fly on to other destinations from there or Osaka (after taking the shinkansen to Kyoto).

Meant to say: fly on to other destinations from there (Tokyo) or <u>from</u> Osaka.