Finally Going to Japan!

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Final itinerary is sorted.

Eventually decided on the JR Kyushu Hotel Blossom Shinjuku for the four nights in Tokyo and the Green Tomato shared shuttle (4,500 JPY each) to get us there from NRT instead of messing around with the bus or train. Even though I liked the Century Southern Tower hotel, I didn't especially like the idea of the guest rooms starting on the 21st floor of the building, particularly when I saw that that both main emergency escape routes were on the same side of the building (there is a rope ladder of some description on the other side!).

Also, I got a pretty good deal on transport between Shinjuku and Yokohama from Tokyo Airporter - 11,000 JPY including all etceteras - and we're actually going to split that with another couple staying at the same hotel.
 
mwalsh said:
Also, I got a pretty good deal on transport between Shinjuku and Yokohama from Tokyo Airporter - 11,000 JPY including all etceteras - and we're actually going to split that with another couple staying at the same hotel.
Sorry I didn't get a chance to chime in. I actually just returned from a trip to Japan, South Korea and Singapore less than 24 hours ago. Was out of the country for about 2 weeks.

Are you just doing that to move hotels or visit Yokohama? If the latter, that's quite a bit of $. A quick search on Google Maps for travel between Shinjuku Station and Yokohama Station, reveals options by train that tend to be about 440 to 550 JPY. Trip lengths range from ~29 minutes to ~45 minutes. Some don't even involve a change of trains (e.g. Shonan-Shinjuku Line).

For this most recent trip to Japan, instead of renting a wi-fi hotspot like I did in 2015, I bought http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/. Was 3,480 JPY + tax (I think it ended up being about 3750 JPY total). Since I didn't want to wait until I got into Tokyo for service, I bought the SIM at the airport. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy to find BIC Camera at NRT (http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/purchase.html#bic). Instead of getting the SIM at the plethora of counters renting out phones, hotspots, selling or renting (?) SIMs, etc., I had to take a shuttle to the another terminal and go up to the 4th floor. BIC Camera at NRT is a very small and packed store.

I was able to buy the SIM and since the store had so little room, I sat outside on a bench to swap SIMs and go thru the activation process. It took a bit but finally worked. Was cheaper for me per day than renting a wi-fi hotspot and there was nothing to return.

It's a bit funny that at http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/faq.html, they ask you to return the SIM but yet it says "There is no penalty or extra charge for not returning the SIM card." No thanks. Wasn't going to bother with that. I suspect the vast majority don't bother either. The nano SIM was the typical attached to a larger card plastic card, so it doesn't seem like they're going to reuse the SIM.
 
cwerdna said:
Are you just doing that to move hotels or visit Yokohama? If the latter, that's quite a bit of $. A quick search on Google Maps for travel between Shinjuku Station and Yokohama Station, reveals options by train that tend to be about 440 to 550 JPY. Trip lengths range from ~29 minutes to ~45 minutes. Some don't even involve a change of trains (e.g. Shonan-Shinjuku Line).

Moving from the hotel to the ship.

Gave some thought to taking the Fukutoshin Line from Kita-Sando station to Nihon-Odori in Yokohama, but the logistics with all the bags got to be a bit daunting.
 
mwalsh said:
cwerdna said:
Are you just doing that to move hotels or visit Yokohama? If the latter, that's quite a bit of $. A quick search on Google Maps for travel between Shinjuku Station and Yokohama Station, reveals options by train that tend to be about 440 to 550 JPY. Trip lengths range from ~29 minutes to ~45 minutes. Some don't even involve a change of trains (e.g. Shonan-Shinjuku Line).

Moving from the hotel to the ship.

Gave some thought to taking the Fukutoshin Line from Kita-Sando station to Nihon-Odori in Yokohama, but the logistics with all the bags got to be a bit daunting.

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but I do NOT recommend taking luggage on Japanese commuter rail and subway lines...far too crowded. Even on the Shinkansen, there's limited storage space for luggage, and most Japanese send their bags in advance and only take a small bag with them on the train.

The only trains really designed for lots of large pieces of luggage are the Narita Express and Keisei Skyliner, as they were specifically designed to bring travelers to/from Narita Airport.
 
RonDawg said:
I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but I do NOT recommend taking luggage on Japanese commuter rail and subway lines...far too crowded. Even on the Shinkansen, there's limited storage space for luggage, and most Japanese send their bags in advance and only take a small bag with them on the train.

The only trains really designed for lots of large pieces of luggage are the Narita Express and Keisei Skyliner, as they were specifically designed to bring travelers to/from Narita Airport.
I dunno. I've not usually had any significant trouble on my 6 trips to Japan.

I don't recall which trains I took from NRT to my hotel on my most recent trip, but I did have to transfer to Tokyo Metro (subway) to get to the Monzen-nakacho station (Tozai line, on the right side of http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/subwaymap/pdf/routemap_en.pdf) as my hotel (http://www.tokyustay.co.jp/e/hotel/MON/) was within a short walk of there. On my last evening in Japan, I got on Tokyo Metro again and took the subway and train(s) to get to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ctorii_Station so that I could stay at https://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/search/detail/00068 which is near Haneda airport. I had an early morning flight from Haneda to Gimpo (in South Korea) to catch.

The crowding would most definitely be a problem on a busy line during rush hour. That would suck. I've been on a rush hour train w/o luggage at least once. You are literally packed against other people.

For Shinkansen, on my 2015 trip, I flew to Nagasaki and took trains all the way back from there to Nagoya then Tokyo while sightseeing along the way. Most of intercity travel was on Shinkansen and I had all my luggage: 1 suitcase, a carry-on and my laptop bag.
 
If you get a chance, do check out how much fruit costs in Japan. I never bothered looking before and I guess I can ask some folks I know who live there or who have lived there.

I was made more aware of this in the 1st video at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25098 and by the craziness in Nubo's response.
 
cwerdna said:
If you get a chance, do check out how much fruit costs in Japan. I never bothered looking before and I guess I can ask some folks I know who live there or who have lived there.

I was made more aware of this in the 1st video at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25098 and by the craziness in Nubo's response.

Funny, first thing that popped into my head was square watermellon, but I see you addressed that in the other thread. :D There is a Lawson's next door to the hotel, so I'll check there first.

Frankly more interested in seeing what the wine and beer prices are personally. ;)
 
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