Tony Galiani Posted January 28 Author Share Posted January 28 @Kingmeow - I will certainly keep you posted. However, I am - currently - thinking later in the year to allow more time for planning. Of course, that is subject to change - roughly every five minutes or so .... Tony BTW - routing direct from the USA is a bit challenging and lengthy - so want to explore going to Japan and then out and back to Taiwan - less jet lag and possibly less costly. 1 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted January 28 Author Share Posted January 28 Not sure if this is a crazy idea or not but I came across info about a Snow Festival in Niigata on March 8th. Though in researching this, I see it is actually in Tsunan so a train hop from Niigata. Pondering two weeks in early March - see the plum blossoms in Kyushu then on to Niigata for the snow festival. My wife likes these snow festivals (as do I) so that might be neat and we would get to an area we have not been to before. Planning time is short so this may not be realistic but something to consider. Ciao, Tony 1 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Still waffling but hope to decide about travel soon and I have a question about Narita. I have flown into Narita before and it is easy to take the Narita Express into Tokyo. However, I am looking at the possibility of flying into Narita then out to Kyushu the next morning. So rather than head into Tokyo I am wondering about options around Narita with the idea of arriving at Narita mid-afternoon and doing something in the area and staying at a local hotel before flying out the next day. I can find things to do but it I am still trying to figure out how easy that is. Has anyone stayed there and done some touristy things before flying out? Ciao, Tony Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 (edited) Tony, I can give you our "pseudo" experience. On our last trip. we were initially going to land in Narita in the afternoon, stay there and head on out to Kawaguchiko the next morning. Different destination but similar situation to what you are thinking about. We did our full research, even hotel reservation, but decided to not stay over at Narita for the sake of saving time. We were going to stay one night at the Narita Hilton since I'm a Diamond member and could use my points for a free night. There would be free shuttles from the terminal to the hotel since it is on the premises of the airport. But what to do to occupy ourselves and how to get there? At least for the Hilton, they offer free shuttle service to the nearest "big" town (don't remember the name) where there are shops and a big a mall. It's a short ride. From the details (my wife did all the research) there were enough to keep us busy from the time we land until night time. If you really want to find the details, go to Hilton's website, search for Narita Hilton and look at "things to do" and it gives a list of nearby stuff to do. We didn't search for hotels outside the airport since we didn't want to deal with transportation getting there and the next day we had to go back to the airport to catch transportation to Tokyo Station for the ride to Kawaguchiko. The Hilton made it easy and convenient. I'm sure there are other hotels on the premises of Narita. Edited January 31 by Kingmeow 1 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Okay - probably need to have my head examined but I have gone ahead and purchased tickets for another trip to Japan in March. In the end I opted to fly into Haneda since it turns out that there were no ANA flights from Narita to Fukuoka. I looked at the Jetstar and Peach options but didn't like the LLC booking game - prices started as low as $57 one way but then everything is extra and seat pitch is 29" as well. Turns out ANA out of Haneda, while more expensive upfront, would not cost all that much more as bags are free and so on. Plus I am rethinking the flight to Fukuoka in any event. I did not realize how quick the Shinkansen to Hiroshima is but it seems to be only 4 hours. Thinking we could head there from Tokyo as the nephew of her friend (who is married to a Japanese woman) lives there and runs a biking company. My wife could do a bike tour and the Cat Trail while I focus on train things so that could work out well. (Hopefully that would be safer than my wife's previous biking travel experiences - she broke her arm on the Road of Death in Bolivia (though managed to safely navigate it's sister road on a later trip) and also broke her arm in Athens the night before she was to do the Athens Bike Tour.) Then on to Fukuoka from there, possibly flying back to Tokyo for our last few days of the trip. Now I need to start some serious planning. First step will be to get the Princess of Procrastination to decide about the Hiroshima biking and then put together the rest of the trip. Definitely want to get to Kyushu and wondering if returning to Tokyo via ferry to Shikoku then train onwards would be viable. That would work for me but not so sure about my wife. To be continued .... Ciao, Tony 2 Link to comment
chadbag Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Also be aware that ANA and JAL have special tourist fares for inter-Japan flights. Very affordable. We're looking at Tokyo to Sapporo and Sapporo to either Kobe or Tokyo. I also would encourage a trip to Taiwan if you can. That is all 1 Link to comment
chadbag Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Bgtw we flew Peach from Osaka to Incheon and back around 2017. It was not a bad deal. For a short flight the plane is fine. We only brought the necessities and left the rest of our stuff in Japan. It was just my son and I and I was visiting a different guy I had met at WWDC. I'd do Peach again if I needed to but inside Japan the JAL/ANA tourist options are probably better. Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 @chadbag Taiwan is on our list. Thinking maybe in the Fall depending on how things work out. On our last trip we flew ANA from Takamatsu to Tokyo and that was a pretty good experience. Not necessarily opposed to Peach or Jetstar - though since we will need to travel with bags - the free bags on ANA are a good deal for us. Of course, right now we need to figure out where we are going once we get there so that I can sort out our travel options. Tony 1 Link to comment
chadbag Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Yeah, Peach or Jetstar or other LCC for a tourist intra-Japan is not really a good deal unless you have a home base to leave your stuff so you're just taking essentials. The tourist prices on the majors are a better deal with bags etc. I suspect the LCC are a good deal for locals flying as they don't get the reduced tourist fares. 1 Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Tony, now long will you be in Japan for? (Jealous!) Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 @Kingmeow - This is another two week trip. It is shorter than I would like but I need to seize the opportunity. I seem to keep getting older and am worrying a bit about aging out of travel so taking every opportunity I can now. Plus, my wife has a very high moment of inertia so I negotiated this by agreeing that we would not travel in April and May as she likes to veg at home when she can. (Note the "we". I did leave the door open for me to do some solo travel!) I am also planning two more trips to Japan. Something late October and early Fall (as we did last year), possibly including Taiwan and/or Singapore and something in late January and early February as my Canadian wife thinks it is fun to go to the coldest part of Japan during the coldest part of the year. Not sure if I can pull all that off but hope springs eternal. Tony 2 Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Sounds like you have a lot of planning to do! 🙃 I do agree about the concern of aging out of traveling part. I'm thinking when I get to about 80 (or even younger!) I may be hanging up the passport. Yes, I have many years to get there but time waits for no one, and you never know what tomorrow brings. We're starting to look at airfare but nothing really stands out yet. We have to investigate whether we should do a round trip to Japan and then do a local round trip to Taiwan from Japan. Or make it a 3-legged trip. Wondering if (A) or (B) would be better in terms of cost vs. convenience/practicality. 1 Link to comment
RS18U Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 7 hours ago, Tony Galiani said: my Canadian wife thinks it is fun to go to the coldest part of Japan during the coldest part of the year Drift ice cruising for her while you stay warm in the Abashiri station 😁https://www.ms-aurora.com/abashiri/en/ Actually she can get her cold fix in the summer (or other seasons) at the Okhotsk Ryu-hyo Museum https://www.ryuhyokan.com/guide/en/home.html. Gets to -15 C, quite the experience even for a Canuck like me 😁 1 Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Wow, that looks VERY interesting! You can now pretend you are in Antarctica (on my bucket list) without ever being there. No need to deal with the Drake Passage! 🤣 Link to comment
RS18U Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 (edited) 4 hours ago, Kingmeow said: Wow, that looks VERY interesting! You can now pretend you are in Antarctica (on my bucket list) without ever being there. No need to deal with the Drake Passage! 🤣 The cold room is cold. They give you wet cloths that you swing around and they freeze, and they give you nice warm coats. Edited February 2 by RS18U 2 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 Cool stuff - literally and figuratively! I have seen Kuga's video on the drift ice - that would actually work for me - a five hour train ride up to Abashiri, an hour on the boat and then five hours back on a train. An excellent day for me though not sure Mira would enjoy that much train time. Tony 2 Link to comment
RS18U Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 There is actually a lot to see in Abashiri; the prison museum is incredible and the Museum of Northern People is also worth a visit. Abashiri is one of those off the beaten track places in Japan that has a lot to offer. 2 Link to comment
Gunzel Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 I agree, Abashiri is pretty good. You can make a nice loop out of it as well and catch the Senmo line around to Kushiro, you have some nice views out to the drift ice on the way across to Shiretoko-Shari, and the route through the Kushiro Shitsugen National Park is pretty good (this is where the tancho, the Japanese red headed dancing crane, live, if you’re lucky you can see them from the train). They run an SL here in winter but I don’t think it stretches into March. Kushiro fish market is up there with Hakodate. You could even fly into Abashiri and out of Kushiro. 1 Link to comment
RS18U Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 2018 we took the Shinkansen from Hiroshima to Hakodate, then used JR Hokkaido trains to essentially circumnavigate the island, including a trip to Wakkanai. We spent 5 days in Abashiri since we have friends there, then went down to Kushiro, finishing off at Chitose to fly home. Did see the cranes, (was actually attacked by one on an earlier trip). Missed getting to Nemuro as the line was closed due to the 2018 earthquake damage. 2 weeks to do this, however in those 5 days at Abashiri we got taken to Lake Akan, Shiretoko, and a couple of other places needing a car. We are trying to get back in 2026. But not in the winter, I am not that crazy a Canuck! 3 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 A slight digression from travel planning - - I am on a short trip to Vienna as I wanted to do some sort of winter trip and my wife wanted to see the Hundertwasser Museum and I did not have enough open time for a trip to Japan. I always try to find topical movies on my flights but to my (pleasant) surprise, Austrian Airlines had quite a few Japanese movies in their selection. So I opted to watch Buzzy Noise, a movie about a young introverted musician, Kiyosumi. I enjoyed it and am curious about the actors - are they real musicians? The protagonist, Kiyosumi, was in a J-Pop band so he can actually play. Two of the other key players, Riku on bass and Misaki on drums have acting resumes but I cannot find any music info for them. Certainly Riku looks like he is playing the bass parts so he either can really play or they put a lot of effort into the shots to make it look like it. Anyway, another enjoyable Japanese movie if anyone is looking for one. BTW - I watched it in Japanese with English subtitles. Ciao, Tony 3 Link to comment
Tony Galiani Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 I am back home and now really need to ramp up my planning for Japan as we are heading out in about three weeks. Flying into Tokyo and will likely stay there one day before heading onward. Then back to Tokyo for a few days before returning home. My current thinking/hoping for our days in Tokyo involves visits to Nakano Broadway and, possibly, the Kato Hobby Center on one day (depending on whether or not I can divert the Princess to Nippori or some such place) and then maybe Yokohama as we have never been there. I noted @ED75-775 and @Kingmeow and others have gone there so checking out trip reports. Though if anyone has info/suggestions on that, please let me know. For the rest of the trip, still looking at Kyushu, maybe via Shikoku, but not sure. Finding places to go but working on sorting out a reasonable routing to make the best use of our limited time on this trip. Ciao, Tony 3 Link to comment
UnfinishedKit Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 If you are going to Yokohama then the Hara museum should be on your agenda 2 Link to comment
chadbag Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 3 hours ago, UnfinishedKit said: If you are going to Yokohama then the Hara museum should be on your agenda While we were in Yokohama before I did not know about this. We may go to Yokohama again this year as my wife’s sister lives there. Need to remember this. Link to comment
Kingmeow Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) @Tony Galiani We did a day trip to Yokohama from Tokyo. Really nice picturesque place. One thing NOT to do like we did is the Cup of Noodle museum. Not much to see as the highlight was making your own flavor/ingredient of a Cup of Noodle to take home (or eat). The make your own section was PACKED! And even if it wasn't we were not going to pack a Cup of Noodle in our luggage taking up that much space (odd shape) and fragility of the cup. And having grown up in NYC Chinatown, the Chinatown there was also quite gimmicky. If you haven't been to any Chinatown in the US then go. Otherwise, save the time for elsewhere. The water front is a good place to walk around and easily walkable from the train station. Lots of shops and food places. Not much in the way of trains. (I didn't know about the Hara Museum that UnfinishedKit mention above. Rats! Next time! 🙂 ) Edited February 11 by Kingmeow Link to comment
RS18U Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 13 hours ago, Tony Galiani said: maybe Yokohama The NYK Hikawa Maru is on our bucket list as its the very same ship my MIL immigrated to Canada on. https://hikawamaru.nyk.com/en/ 1 Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now