18 Days Graduation Trip to Japan!
One word to describe my first Japan holiday: Awesome. Although it took us (me and my travelling buddy!) quite a while to plan our 18 days graduation trip to Japan, I guess all these efforts are worth it for all the 'firsts' we experienced throughout this trip.
Having enjoyed myself so much in Japan, I thought 'Hey, how about sharing with everyone how we planned our Japan holidays to actually following through our itinerary?' It is another way for me to record down all the fun we had too.
So here we go. This post would outlined our 18 days itinerary and I would be writing another 18 blog posts for each day which ideally would include all the attractions we visited, accommodations we stayed at, food we salivated over, transportation we took and all the other nitty, gritty stuff. Look forward to that, but I have to say, it would probably take me some time since I only have my weekends free now!
Before we bought our air tickets or booked any accommodations, we decided on the period to travel and which cities to visit. Since my friend could only make it from mid May onwards, we settled on 20 May - 6 June 2016. Funny thing is, 18 days was not what we had in mind in the first place. Somehow, our travelling period got extended as we found new places we wanted to visit.
All in all, we ended up including the following cities/ regions in our itinerary: Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Takayama, Toyama, Tokyo and Hokkaido (Hakodate and Sapporo). Of course, our itinerary is not perfect and we could have spend more time at certain places. Anyway, 'up' is the only way to go from here if I am to plan another trip to Japan again! :)
Basically, here is what we had planned out:
Day 1 (20 May 2016, Friday) Blog Post
-Midnight flight from Singapore, Changi to Japan, Osaka, Kansai International Airport
-Visit Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum, Osaka Castle and Dotonbori
-Stay at Osaka
Day 2 (21 May 2016, Saturday) Blog Post
-Day trip to Nara
-Stay at Osaka
Day 3 (22 May 2016, Sunday) Blog Post
-Travel from Osaka to Kyoto
-Visit Arashiyama, Kibuneguchi and Inari
-Stay at Kyoto
Day 4 (23 May 2016, Monday) Blog Post
-Visit Kinkakuji, Kiyomizudera Temple, Nishiki Market, Kichi Kichi and Gion
-Stay at Kyoto
Day 5 (24 May 2016, Tuesday) Blog Post
-Day trip to Uji (Aka Land of Matcha!)
-Stay at Kyoto
Day 6 (25 May 2016, Wednesday) Blog Post
*Start usage of 7 Days JR Pass
-Travel from Kyoto to Nagoya
-Visit Nagoya Castle, Osu Kannon Temple and Shopping Arcade, Meitetsu Department Store
-Stay at Nagoya
Day 7 (26 May 2016, Thursday) Blog Post
-Travel from Nagoya to Takayama
-Visit Sannomachi Street and Shirakawa-go
-Stay at Takayama
Day 8 (27 May 2016, Friday) Blog Post
-Visit Jinya-mae Market and Miyagawa Market
-Travel from Takayama to Toyama
-Visit Kurobe Gorge
-Stay at Toyama
Day 9 (28 May 2016, Saturday) Blog Post
-Visit Tateyama Kurobe Alpen Route
-Stay at Toyama
Day 10 (29 May 2016, Sunday) Blog Post
-Travel from Toyama to Tokyo
-Visit Ginza and Daimara Food Hall
-Stay at Tokyo
Day 11 (30 May 2016, Monday) Blog Post
-Travel from Tokyo to Hokkaido, Hakodate
-Visit Fort Goryokaku, Red Brick Warehouses and Mount Hakodate
-Stay at Hokkaido, Hakodate
Day 12 (31 May 2016, Tuesday) Blog Post
*Last day of 7 Days JR Pass
-Visit Hakodate Morning Market
-Travel from Hokkaido, Hakodate to Sapporo
-Visit Sapporo ESTA
-Stay at Hokkaido, Sapporo
Day 13 (1 June 2016, Wednesday) Blog Post
-Day trip to Otaru
-Visit Sapporo TV Tower and Daiso
-Stay at Hokkaido, Sapporo
Day 14 (2 June 2016, Thursday) Blog Post
-Day trip to Kutchan: Niseko-Kyogoku Fukidashi Park and Mishima Private Garden
-Visit Susukino
-Stay at Hokkaido, Sapporo
Day 15 (3 June 2016, Friday) Blog Post
-Visit Shiroi Koibito Park
-Domestic flight from Hokkaido, Sapporo, New Chitose to Tokyo, Haneda
-Stay at Tokyo
Day 16 (4 June 2016, Saturday) Blog Post
-Visit Tsukiji Market, Yanaka, Sensoji Temple, Nakamise Shopping Street, Tokyo Skytree and Tokyo Solamachi
-Stay at Tokyo
Day 17 (5 June 2016, Sunday) Blog Post
-Visit Tokyo Imperial Palace, Shibuya, Harajuku, Cafe hop and Don Quijote
-Stay at Tokyo
Day 18 (6 June 2016, Monday) Blog Post
-Evening flight from Tokyo, Haneda to Singapore, Changi
If you are wondering how MUCH we travelled in terms of distance, here is a map to show you the route taken:
In the midst of planning the mode of transport to take, we found out that Shinkansen is definitely the way to go (in terms of costs and convenience)! That being said, we did spend many mornings on these bullet trains. But hey, I love my Shinkansen rides!
For our 18 days trip, we got ourselves 7 Days JR Pass (bought ours here, more on this in later posts) instead of the 14 Days JR Pass. We used this pass for all our Shinkansen rides covering Kyoto all the way up to Hokkaido, Sapporo. Huge cost savings, mind you if we had taken individual Shinkansen rides without the JR pass.
In addition, on our way back to Tokyo from Hokkaido, Sapporo, we took a domestic JAL flight at a special discounted tourist fare of 10,800yen (here!) since our 7 Days JR Passes were not valid anymore.
Another thing which would really save your life figuring out which trains to board or stations to transit at... is Hyperdia! It tells you the timings of all the trains as well as the fares too. We basically survived on Hyperdia and Google Maps since we are pretty clueless about Japan's transportation systems and not to mention, the many colourful lines they have.
Before I drag on and on about what else we have prepared before the trip (such as shortlisting of places to visit, insurance, portable pocket wifi, booking of accommodations and air tickets), I shall spare you all that now and include them all in another post soon!:)
