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Finding Reasonable Fares
Our 5th visit to Japan was our longest trip there to date. With our travel buddies, we were very keen to book tickets for a Christmas trip as soon as independent travellers were allowed to return.
Flight prices almost killed the trip. Qantas was charging more than $7000k per person return economy which was far more than we planned to spend. However, google flights came to the rescue and we ended up with two much more reasonable alternatives, Philippines Airlines with a transit in Manila, or another via Noumea. Through a travel agent, we booked return flights out of Brisbane on PAL, $3000+ each. We did all the hotel bookings ourselves and made sure all could be amended. Happy to provide those details if anyone wants them as we were not disappointed with any hotel and they were all under $200 a night.
The only thing that didn’t go to plan for the whole trip was that a week before flying, PAL advised us our flight to Haneda had changed and we would need to overnight in Manila rather than land at Haneda just after midnight. Fortunately, we were able to cancel the Haneda hotel and we booked the Belmont Hotel near the Manila airport, had a wander around nearby streets, a meal, sleep and a quick taxi return to the airport early next morning
The Itinerary
We decided on this route using a 20 day JR Rail Pass we bought through Sachi Tours in Sydney and had delivered before we left Brisbane, activated on arrival at the Haneda JR office. I find “Daniel” from the JR Rail Forum gives invaluable and prompt advice in terms of which pass will best suit. The pass cost about $680 each and we had train travel worth more than $1000, every time with a reserved seat, at no additional cost.
Brisbane to Manila 1 night
Manila to Haneda then train to Himeji 1 night
Himeji to Fukuoka 1 night
Fukuoka to Nagasaki 2 nights
Nagasaki to Hiroshima 2 nights
Hiroshima to Okayama 4 nights
Okayama to Osaka 3 nights
Osaka to Kyoto 4 nights
Kyoto to Tokyo 2 nights
Haneda to Brisbane with 4 hour transit in Manila
We paid to select seats for the 4 of us, which became a problem when they cancelled the flight, but several frustrating calls eventually resulted in a satisfactory outcome. That’s the short version! PAL wasn’t very easy to deal with once there was an issue but as far as the planes, food and service all went, we were quite happy.
Our intention had been to arrive at Haneda at midnight, sleep at the airport hotel, activate our train pass after breakfast and enjoy a nice daylight train trip straight to Fukuoka. That would give us time to research, relax, spend time with our travel buddies, (brother and SIL who live in another state), just kick back and relax. We hadn’t thought of flying to Fukuoka and starting our train journey there, although that was an option suggested later.
Starting the Journey South
With the flight change and overnight in Manila, we decided to go by train only as far as Himeji on Day 1. We have all spent time here previously so didn’t explore this time.
We shortened Fukuoka to one night and that worked out well. We had a pleasant day in Fukuoka in spite of some drizzle, visited two 8th Century temples, the canals, some underground shopping areas and ate that night at the Canal City Mall at the Ramen Stadium. It was our first experience of needing to put notes into a machine and order on the big screen at the entrance to the café. The waitress helped and we enjoyed ramen and beer, a very cheap night on the town! The Christmas lights were lovely and we felt Fukuoka was a gentle start to our three weeks in Japan.
Travelling from Fukuoka Hakata, we took the Relay Kamome train to Takeonsen, changing to the new Kamome Shinkansen at Takeonsen which was easy to achieve with 4 suitcases, each weighing about 15kgs, no additional hand luggage other than a cross body bag each. We got well practised at handling the luggage and it did help us limit our shopping. On arrival in Nagasaki, it was snowing lightly and quite damp. We had to address the issue of fogged up glasses quite quickly, stopping at an optometrists and taking his advice to use a spray and cloth. It helped for the rest of the trip, where we wore masks at all times except when eating and drinking, as did everyone.
After plodding around Nagasaki in fairly miserable weather, we gave in, bought a bottle of French chardonnay from the huge pharmac_/grocery shop beside the hotel and made use of the onsen on the top floor. It had a pool inside and another outside, as well as a sauna. We made good use of those, in between sampling the wine in our room. The little custard cakes were delicious as well, a speciality of the region
We awoke to snow on the ground, vehicles traveling with tyre chains but wanted to visit the Peace Park which we did, travelling there and back in a taxi. Taxi travel throughout Japan was very affordable for 4 of us and we tried to remember to have a screenshot of our destination on one of the phones. We spent a long time in the museum which was a good thing to do on a pretty cold day. Well worth a visit to Nagasaki, though too short and not the best weather.
That night we ventured out to a Chinese restaurant that served the most chillies we have ever had in one dish. It was interspersed with tiny pieces of chicken – not the best dish we ordered on the trip but it did provide some laughs when it arrived.
From Nagasaki Heading North
Nagasaki to Hiroshima required three trains – the Kamome, the Limited Express red carriage and then the Sakura. We spent Christmas in Hiroshima, splitting up on Christmas Eve in the beautiful shops to buy small gifts for each other that said “We are in Japan” – sake, beautifully presented chocolates and biscuits, IT gadgets, handmade earrings and small handprinted cloths. And champagne for breakfast, same price range as Moët is here. This we had in our room for breakfast with some fresh pastries from 7/11 next door, as we exchanged the little gifts .
In Hiroshima, we visited the Peace Memorial Park that was a lot less crowded than last time, with very few tourists around. We used the Hop On/Hop Off bus that came free with the JR Rail Pass, enjoyed the shopping streets and department stores and ate in some tiny bars. The offal and chicken gizzard yakatori was a fail but the tofu and egg bake, and beer, made up for that. Christmas Dinner with a difference, with a fantastic atmosphere where we were made very welcome. The festive lights were probably the best we saw, with 1.4 million LEDs lighting up the Peace Boulevard. We spent a long time that night wandering with the locals, loving the lights on both sides of the road. Spectacular and entertaining.
Okayama
Next stop was Okayama, a new and unknown destination for us all, where we were ready to stay in one spot for 4 nights. It proved to be an excellent decision and the perfect place to relax, explore, get to know the area with the bonus of two fabulous day trips.
From the station, we could walk to our hotel beside the small canal, beautifully lit up each night for Christmas, though nowhere near as extensive as Hiroshima. And this hotel won the prize for having the best laundry facilities – they’re all pretty good. But the washer/dryers with automatically dispensed detergent were supplemented by several washing baskets and clothes drying racks you could take to your room. How sensible and convenient.
We stumbled upon a coffee roastery where we selected our own little dish of beans, they roasted and ground them while we waited – such a small quantity but we felt like honoured customers. And the oyster okonomiyaki in Okayama were delicious, cooked on the hot plate in front of us, with very cheerful staff who entertained us as they cooked.
From Okayama, there are two day trips I would highly recommend and I’m happy to provide more information though it’s freely available
- Naoshima Island, reached by train and ferry – quite staggering, an island full of world standard art buildings and pieces. I wish we’d stayed a few nights and may do so next time.
- Kurashiki, Bikan Historical Quarter, reached by train
In addition, a few hours spent in Korakuen Garden was very relaxing, even though it was in its winter colours and would be prettier at other times of the year.
New Year in Osaka
Off again on the Shinkansen, to find that Osaka was pretty much closed for the New Year! We did manage to visit the castle grounds without huge crowds and it was easy to buy tickets to go up to the top of the Sky Garden where we stayed from late afternoon until dark, buying drinks from the bar, though a limited selection. It was stunning and I’d never get sick of seeing Osaka from here.
While the business district was closed, except for the very high end fashion shops, the undercover market and mall were heaving. Queues for food at Dotonbori were so long probably because even the restaurants were closed. It was a different way to see the city, pluses and minuses. We ate wherever we could get into and both little places ended up being pleasantly surprising. Much against my better judgement, we resorted to Starbucks for brunch as it actually was one of the few places open on New Years Day.
We joined the millions and called into the Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine, though we found it was better to sit out on the edge and just watch the Japanese observe New Year at a very significant shrine. It was very crowded indeed, though orderly and quiet.
The festive lights along the length of Shinsaibaishisuji were another of the Osaka highlights for us all. Simply stunning and we loved walking the length of the main road each night. The sculptures by such artists as Henry Moore were another fabulous surprise popping up along that footpath.
Short Shinkansen Trip to Kyoto and Toto Shopping
We stayed 4 nights in Kyoto. We like hotels we could walk to from the train station, as we could here. Another good habit we adopted early on was to reserve our seats for the next trip as we arrived at the station, to save us making a special trip back later. All that required was agreement between all of us on the time we wanted to depart but the Japan Travel app was perfect and we could use some of the travel time on the train to do our research. In addition to having wifi on the Shinkansen, we all installed an eSIM from Ubigi for about $25 each for the whole trip, the best phone tip I can offer, having used it in NZ as well. Thanks AFF contributors for that tip.
It was the right length of time to stay in Kyoto, having been here a few times before but of course there’s always more to see, as well as visiting favourite places again.
Some time was taken up when the travel buddies decided to buy two Toto toilet seats from the enormous BIC Camera shop. A purchase like that is not for the feint hearted when you have no Japanese, but Pocket Talk was highly effective, buddy has extensive building knowledge so could ask the right questions and the deal was sealed, with a $6.60 delivery charge for both boxes to be delivered to the Tokyo hotel the day we arrived. It was good fun and there was no chance of being bored, with each of us going off to explore the 6 floors selling every item you could think. I’ll definitely visit there again just to see the huge range of electricals including fridges, dishwashers and much smaller gadgets. Not to mention a vast selection of wine, snacks, cosmetics …you name it. Astounding choice!
We took the Shinkansen to Nagoya for a day as two in the group chose to visit the Toyota Museum while the other two checked out some shops. It was deemed a successful use of time, and JR Rail Pass, all round even though we still haven’t actually seen Nagoya. But it was lovely having our eye make up done with masks on and of course we made some purchases.
It’s easy to find the best things to do in Kyoto and we did most of them but it wasn’t as easy to find the Happy Pancakes and they were superb. Strongly advise you locate them and try the souffle pancakes that were heavenly. They were upstairs in a beautiful part of Gion.
A final Kyoto highlight was a higashiyama dinner in a very small restaurant in Pontocho Dori where in the alleys we saw several Geishas going about their work and it all looked just as it should. A lovely end to our 4 days in Kyoto.
Two Nights in Tokyo
The final trip on the Shinkansen was from Kyoto to Tokyo. This time, we stayed in Asakusa directly opposite the Sensoji Temple which turned out to be an ideal location and very lively around the first days of the new year. During the train trip, the announcement was made that to the left was a perfectly clear view of Mt Fuji. How lucky were we – stunning views, a bonus as our travels drew to an end and you have that feeling you’ve only scratched the surface.
In Asakusa, we had booked a private Walking Tour on the afternoon we arrived. It was like walking through Tokyo with a friend, while having many of our accumulated questions answered. Excellent value and our multilingual guide Yo was very accommodating, checking with us what we were most interested in. It was relaxing to follow her onto the train and subway, without the usual double checking we usually had to do!
On the full day in Tokyo, we opted to visit two different museums before meeting up later for a very casual meal in a tiny family run café behind the temple. Two of us headed off to the 53rd floor and the Mori Art Museum, which was well worth it, for the exhibitions, the building and the views. Meanwhile our travel buddies explored the latest teamLab exhibition that included wading through knee deep water in one section – that sounded rather unusual!
The toilet seats arrived, who ever thought they wouldn’t, we had a long walk along the river after dinner where we admired the Tokyo skyline including the golden Asahi building and the Tokyo Tower. Before bed, we did a dummy run to make sure we knew how to find the elevators and catch the right train to get to Haneda in the morning, with some additional luggage.
Suffice to say, the transit through Manila was a debacle but that didn’t dampen our spirits and it doesn’t need to be detailed here as it certainly didn’t spoil our three weeks in Japan. Direct flights are preferable to transits in a third country, at least for the foreseeable future of travel.
