Toni’s Spring 2023 Japan Trip

[chadbag]

I've just had worse than normal luck and experience with United.  They are last on my list to fly to Japan or elsewhere in the world.  I've had minor schedule changes with others and AA on our last trip really screwed things up but my United experience has been particularly bad.  They've ad the worst flight experience, the worst CS, and the worst "give a sh*t about the customer" attitude of all the airlines I've had to deal with.

 

[Tony Galiani]

I can understand that.  Hadn't flown United in years but gave them a try as I heard they had improved and their route options and partners (ANA) appealed to me.  And experiencing a Delta meltdown in Athens while the United flights were getting out smoothly made an impression.  (Though to be fair, the check-in staff at Delta in Athens did make my Plan B work and we got home relatively close to my original schedule.)  Anyway, so far, so good.  Nowadays I tend to look for the best combination of price and schedule and fly whichever seems to make the most sense  for me.

 

Meanwhile, I finally booked my hotels - after misbooking all of them for the same days!  Earth to Tony!  So Sim cards in hand, Suica card in hand for me and on my wife's iPhone for her, flights all set.  Hobby shop visits plotted - funny how every route to a site we want to visit goes past a train store.

 

And who knows, maybe next I will go further into the 21st Century and try using eSim cards!  Will that be a step too far for analog Tony?  Stay tuned.

 

Ciao,

Tony

[cteno4]

6 minutes ago, Tony Galiani said:

Hobby shop visits plotted - funny how every route to a site we want to visit goes past a train store.

I think your wife knows you well enough to figure this one out on the first outing! Paths home will end up snaking past a couple of fabric stores I bet! 😜
 

Jeff

[Tony Galiani]

Bingo!  She just pointed out even as I was typing my last note!

Tony

[Beaver]

If you're going near there, try Nippori in Tokyo. It is sometimes billed as 'Fabric Town' with over a dozen shops in the district. Information and directions available at Nippori's JR/Keisei station.

[bill937ca]

And Tony can go the nearby Nippori JR station. There is a footbridge over the JR lines. Seven lines and 14 tracks. That should give you a train fix. 🙂

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by bill937ca

[Tony Galiani]

Actually, that is exactly what we did on our last trip.  She brought a bunch of fabric and I watched the trains which I found pretty impressive.  Four passenger trains pass my office each day.  Saw that many in just a few minutes at the Nippori station. Great train watching location.

Cheers,

Tony

[mojo]

Is there an up to date map of places of interest for railfans?

 

I have a Google Map with all the Hard Off locations, and one with some model shops, but nothing definitive.

[JR East]

2 hours ago, mojo said:

I have a Google Map with all the Hard Off locations, and one with some model shops, but nothing definitive.

 

Are you able to share a link ? 

 

here is a way to do it : https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7280933?hl=en-gb&ref_topic=7301134#zippy=%2Cshare-your-list

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by JR East

[chadbag]

I try and avoid the US carriers on over seas flights.  Ive booked AA flights the last few times but always on their codeshare partner JAL.  Same with United -- after several totally crappy trips to Japan on United I now only book when it is a codeshare.  Delta is the only one I've booked on a US carrier in the last 6-7 years.  I try a US ariline codeshare ffiliate or direct with the foreign airline or someone like Singapore.

[mojo]

21 hours ago, JR East said:

 

Are you able to share a link ? 

 

here is a way to do it : https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7280933?hl=en-gb&ref_topic=7301134#zippy=%2Cshare-your-list

 

 

Here is a .kml file for Hard Off. You will have to change the file extension because you can't attach KML files. They are just plain text anyway.

 

I had to revert all the icons in it by hand, because I've been making the ones I have visited green, and making some of them into stars if I thought they were particularly good. Should have saved a copy first... Anyway, you can import the KML into Google Maps or Google My Maps.

 

I could have sworn I had one for train shops too but I can't find it now.

Hard Off.kml.txt

[Tony Galiani]

Getting excited - we fly out at 0-Dark-Hundred this Saturday.  Weather in Tokyo looks pleasant - debating on whether or not to bring a pair of shorts as it looks like it will be mild while we are there.  On the other hand, need to save space for essential purchases so we shall see.  Hopefully smooth travels.  I have saved a lot of info from everyone's posts on this thread so that has been helpful as well.

Ciao,

Tony

[Wolf]

Safe travels!

[cteno4]

Have fun tony! Hi to all the shops from all of us!

 

jeff

 

ps you need a pair of those cargo pants you can unzip at the thigh to turn into shorts…

[JR East]

12 hours ago, Tony Galiani said:

Getting excited - we fly out at 0-Dark-Hundred this Saturday.  Weather in Tokyo looks pleasant - debating on whether or not to bring a pair of shorts as it looks like it will be mild while we are there.  On the other hand, need to save space for essential purchases so we shall see.  Hopefully smooth travels.  I have saved a lot of info from everyone's posts on this thread so that has been helpful as well.

Ciao,

Tony

 

Enjoy Tony 

 

Plenty of nice things to do in Japan. Take care of wearing easy-to-remove / easy-to-fit shoes as you'll have to remove them frequently (inner shrines & temples, ryokan, etc ...). I recommend scratch snickers intead of laced shoes. 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by JR East

[Tony Galiani]

For those of you who are high tech, I thought I would mention my Suica card follies.  Ordered our SIM cards and one Suica card for me - my old one is somewhere in the house but can't find it and my wife use the eSuica version on her phone.  Package arrives several weeks ago but I never bother to open it until this past weekend - at which point I discover my Suica card is on back order.  No problem really - just got a refund processed and I can pick one up at Haneda when we arrive.

 

Meanwhile, we are on a drive on Saturday and I suggest to my wife that she check her eSuica to make sure she is good.  Gets on her phone - not good but just needs to be reactivated since she had not used it in several years - reactivates the card then tops it up via the app so she is good to go.  (Though i am curious to see if Amex considers this a cash advance and charges accordingly).  Took about 10 minutes.

 

Still happily analog but something to make technophiles happy!

 

Ciao,

Tony

[Guest]

Anyone else notice Tokyo hotel rates have skyrocketed?  Booking now for November travel, and every one of the hotels I stayed at last November (booked April ‘23) have either doubled or even tripled.  I have to wonder if they’re pricing themselves out of business. $1500-$2500/night (excluding taxes and fees), and that’s just the starting prices.  I guess the 70% increase is JR Pass was the precursor of things to come.

[chadbag]

1 hour ago, Tony Galiani said:

For those of you who are high tech, I thought I would mention my Suica card follies.  Ordered our SIM cards and one Suica card for me - my old one is somewhere in the house but can't find it and my wife use the eSuica version on her phone.  Package arrives several weeks ago but I never bother to open it until this past weekend - at which point I discover my Suica card is on back order.  No problem really - just got a refund processed and I can pick one up at Haneda when we arrive.

 

Meanwhile, we are on a drive on Saturday and I suggest to my wife that she check her eSuica to make sure she is good.  Gets on her phone - not good but just needs to be reactivated since she had not used it in several years - reactivates the card then tops it up via the app so she is good to go.  (Though i am curious to see if Amex considers this a cash advance and charges accordingly).  Took about 10 minutes.

 

Still happily analog but something to make technophiles happy!

 

What eSuica on phone are you using?  What sort of phone?

[Tony Galiani]

Chadbag wrote:  "What eSuica on phone are you using?  What sort of phone?"

 

We both use iPhones.  Both are unlocked which makes it handy for the Sim cards.  i envision my wife moving to eSim in the future while I stay analog!

 

Ciao,

Tony

[chadbag]

7 minutes ago, Tony Galiani said:

Chadbag wrote:  "What eSuica on phone are you using?  What sort of phone?"

 

We both use iPhones.  Both are unlocked which makes it handy for the Sim cards.  i envision my wife moving to eSim in the future while I stay analog!

 

 

Wait, so I assume the "eSuica" is the Wallet one that Apple Pay sets up.   You could use AMEX to top it off?  My experience is that you can only use MasterCard in Apple Pay to top it off.  (And it was a purchase, not cash advance in my experience)

Edited May 24, 2023 by chadbag

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, chadbag said:

 

Wait, so I assume the "eSuica" is the Wallet one that Apple Pay sets up.   You could use AMEX to top it off?  My experience is that you can only use MasterCard in Apple Pay to top it off.  (And it was a purchase, not cash advance in my experience)

You can use ANY other Pay card in your wallet to top it up (until JR stopped accepting foreign Visa cards that is).

[Tony Galiani]

Yes.  I just confirmed with my wife that it is topped up and that the transaction worked.  Amex worked but - she just tried to add more via her Visa card when I related the conversation above and it would not work.

Tony

[chadbag]

3 minutes ago, Bob Martin said:

You can use ANY other Pay card in your wallet to top it up (until JR stopped accepting foreign Visa cards that is).

 

When I tried in December I was only able to have success with any MasterCard in my Apple Wallet.  Both my Visa and AMEX cards would return failures from the Suica top off purchase.

 

[chadbag]

I just tried to top off the Suica in my Apple Wallet using two different Amex cards.  Once for ¥100 and once for ¥1000.  Both failed.  But I just tried my Apple Card (MasterCard) and it failed too so something else is up.  Also just tried both on my watch (different Suica).  Also failed with AMEX and Apple Card (MC).  Apple Card worked in December/January when we were there.  Need to investigate.

 

I did try Amex in December and had issues with it then when Apple Card was working but now nothing is working (for me)

 

 

[Tony Galiani]

Mira's initial try did not work as the card had not been used for a certain time period.  4 or 5 months does not seem like a long time but maybe it just needs to be reactivated?

 

I often find tech issues frustrating as the error messages don't indicate what the issue is.  It could be something simple but you just don't know.  Saying that after I had to spend 20 minutes this morning messing with my VPN link to the university to get it working properly.

 

Tony