Saturday 29 June 2013

Free and Easy in Japan


We decided to go Japan for our Honeymoon, as it has been my wife’s dream country. We do not want to sign up with any tour agency, as we do not like the ideas of rushing from one place to another, hence we decided to go Free and Easy.


We went during the Spring season hoping to catch the Sakura. You can visit Here to check out the forecast blooming period for the Sakura.

Season in Japan
Jan – Mar is Winter
Apr – Jun is Spring
Jul – Sep is Summer
Oct – Dec is Autumn

Things that we prepare before flying over:
11)   Purchase Japan Rail (JR) Pass from our local agency – JR Pass allow us to take unlimited train ride within the period of our choice which range from 7, 14 and 21 days which also include Shingansen from Tokyo to Hokkaido. Purchasing of the JR Pass has to be done within your country (please check with your local travel agency) as it is not for sale in Japan.  We purchase our JR Pass with Nippon Travel Agency, ticket price is in yens and the payment by own currency (they will update the currency exchange rate every week). Different agency may have different price for the JR Pass but NTA offer free delivery of the voucher (which you need to exchange for the pass in Japan) to your doorstep.

22)   Renting a pocket Wi-Fi Router with Global Advanced Communications. They will send the device to your hotel with a return envelop for you to return the device via mail. Save us the hassle to look for the company and return. We use this device to find our way when lost =x and search for the shop address.
PS: there is a post box in Narita Airport which we used to return the device on our departure day.

33)   Purchase of our DisneySea (we did not go DisneyLand) tickets from Nippon Travel Agency as the queue at Disney itself is a killer. Almost all the kids (Japanese) there have a season ticket!

44)   Lastly is to pack our luggage =p

Our itinerary:

Day 1 - Shinjuku Gyeon (Tokyo)
Day 2 - Tsukiji Market (Tokyo)
Day 3 - Sapporo (Hokkaido)
Day 4 - Otaru (Hokkaido)
Day 5 - Hakodate (Hokkaido)
Day 6 - Harajuku (Tokyo)
Day 7 - Daiba (Tokyo)
Day 8 - Yokohama (Tokyo)
Day 9 - Tokyo DisneySea (Tokyo)
Day 10 - Mt Fuji (Tokyo)
Day 11 - Tokyo Sky Tree (Tokyo)

 Narita Airport

We proceed to B1 to exchange for our JR Pass. The one highlight in red is close when we were there and we went to the highlight in green and do the exchange.

We were also given Suica card [top left in the picture] which we used it to for transportation(train) when we used up the unlimited ride period. We did not use their bus transport hence cannot advise much. They will also give you a guide book which will guide you how should you identify your seat and your train car number. After that we proceed to the platform and wait for our train to Tokyo.




Inside the train, you can place your luggage either at the front of the rear of the car. It came with lock for you to secure your luggage give you more comfort seating space.

The seat is very spacious and comfortable and they came with writing/dinning table. They also have menu for you to choose when the snack lady came with her snack trolley.


We bought rice ball to try it out~ taste sooooo good~

Soon we arrived at our destination, Ikebukuro and check into our hotel - Metroplitan Hotel.



We collected our Wifi router from the front desk and start navigating our first location - Shinjuku Gyeon at Shinjuku.




*Some picture is taken from website and credit should be given to them.









No comments:

Post a Comment