Planning for First Timers to Japan
First of all, it was my first time going to Japan
And didn't follow any travel agent
Being someone who has been known for having poor navigation skills
I challenged myself to do up the itinerary on my own
It's good really, to do things I always thought I couldn't do
A lot of work but fun 😉
God knows how tedious it was
I don't really have knowledge about Japan map
What is located where and etc
Yeah my Geography is not that good
I wonder how did I ace my Geography at school
Ni nama dia study for the sake of exam bak kata Tun
And you know how most women have difficulty reading maps?
Yes I used to be one of them (cewa used to)
Especially transportation in Tokyo, susahnya !
Tokyo has the MOST complex train lines IN THE WORLD
I'm the flexible type, suka redah and I hate planning
In my dreams if I wanna gamble and follow my style
Dah la Japan is not an English speaking country
Bawa orang tua pula
Mati la nak, kena marah kalau tak properly plan
I took around 3 months to study about Japan and plan our trip
Giving priority to mummy, since she's already supposed to be travelling at her age
We asked her what she wanted to see
She loves flowers a lot, so she chose to see Sakura 🌸
Probably overview of my Japan trip could be helpful for first timers
Who have the same interest as we do, which is on,,,, Sakura !
Ada orang suka buildings, ada yang suka culture, ada yang suka nature
Ada juga yang suka temple
It's up to you really
Japan has a lottt of things to see
As for me, I brought along my 60+ year old mummy
I tried to make it a relaxing trip
As simple as I could
And to keep the cost within our budget, we chose to take the public transport
I had to plan the flow reallyyy well
Where to go first and where to go next
So it won't be too tiring for mummy
Ada orang prefer cheap flight tickets
Bila airlines offer really cheap, terus beli
Ada yang tak kesah, they don't mind spending on tickets
Ada yang kesah on the costing, but as long as it's within the budget, they're ok
For us, we're the latter
Because we wanna really really secure the closest date to see full bloom
I took a high risk by delaying the bookings
Almost got scolded by mummy 😂
Sebab Sakura Forecast for 2017 came out quite late !
Somewhere around early February 2017
So while waiting, in January I studied on Japan first
At the same time, I checked out on the price as well
Takut juga kalau suddenly it hiked so much
Honestly I didn't know where to start
I took quite some time to de-clutter my mind and rearrange everything
By reading through how others planned their itineraries
Akhirnya
I managed to sort my mind
Below is what I can summarise so it could be useful for other first timers
And,,,, of course for my future reference as well
Summary
a. List out places of interest & make a flow
b. Check on dates for full bloom Sakura & book flight tickets
c. Survey & book accommodation
d. Transportation
e. Download apps
f. What to bring
1) List out places of interest & make a flow
After studying about Japan map and knowing a bit here there about Japan, we chose to visit :
a. Sapporo, Hokkaido
Sapporo : 4 days 3 nights
Tokyo : 5 days 4 nights
Kyoto : day trip
Osaka : 5 days 4 nights
All together this trip took us about 12 days and 11 nights
Sebelum plan which exact date to go, I tried to survey when's the blooming time for Sakura
Kalau check out on any blogs or anywhere else online, they would list out dates of :
- estimated average first bloom &
- estimated average full bloom
Focus on the dates for full bloom
First bloom ni tak cantik lagi
Ye la baru nak bloom kan
InshaAllah the dates are accurate
I chose this blog as my favourite guide :
Cherry Blossom Forecast
Based on the website, Tokyo bloom dulu
Then Osaka & Kyoto
Bila dah tahu range of dates, then only I decided on booking flight tickets
Unfortunately, takada flight langsung from KL to Tokyo for both AirAsia & MAS (fully booked !)
During that time, it was around a month plus to go
Dah lambat juga actually
After comparing on the prices and availability, we decided to take Air Asia from KL to Sapporo
Cost about RM930, together with breakfast, seat and tax
Kalau nak naik MAS, kena layover for 12 HOURS at Tokyo to go to Sapporo
So AirAsia was the best choice
Sakura blooms in Hokkaido around May
I didn't include Hokkaido in our planning at first
I don't have that many annual leaves to spend
Lagipun Hokkaido is famous for its lavender farm
Which only blooms during Summer
And famous for its ski areas
Which means Winter
Since we went during Spring, luckily Sapporo is also famous for its King Crabs, Snow Crabs and Horsehair Crabs
So ada juga activity dekat Sapporo while waiting for Sakura to bloom fully in Tokyo
For local flights, in Japan they do have other budget airlines like Peach and Vanilla Air
Slightly cheaper
Tapi fully booked juga
So we booked Jetstar for these 2 local flights
RM400+RM300 = RM700
1. Sapporo-Tokyo
2. Tokyo-Osaka
And we decided to go back KL from Osaka
3) Survey & book accommodation
Since it's quite pricey in Japan, we didn't want to spend too much on dining out
At the same time, we can't afford to carry too many Brahims and can food in our suitcases
So we chose to cook
Dekat hotel maybe tak boleh masak
So I chose Airbnb
It's a secured and user friendly website
Not so worried when payment had to be made in advance
Can choose entire home as the room type for those who don't like sharing
Can set our price range based on our budget
After experiencing myself, below are the filters which I think useful in deciding which place to choose :
✅ Kitchen
✅ Wireless internet
- This would be more useful if the host can provide a portable wifi
- Inquire the host first before booking!
- You could also opt to rent a portable wifi
- Telco in Japan does offer package for Japan Rail Pass + pocket wifi
- But after comparing on the costs, in my case, it was cheaper not to take Japan Rail Pass. I focused on finding house with pocket wifi
- Anyhow Celcom has this offer for roaming RM138 7 days pass - unlimited local & international calls with 3GB internet - you might wanna consider it as well
And no I'm not a spokeperson for Celcom
Just a loyal Celcom user
✅ Elevator in building (make sure to tick this option if you plan to carry large and heavy suitcases)
✅ Host language : English (easy to inquire on anything & easy to communicate of course)
I would suggest Airbnb to add this option
❗ Accessible to public transports
Unfortunately, for now tak ada option ni lagi
Have to really read carefully in the description that every host provided
How far is it from the station
Dapat je list of homes, make sure to look out for those with many reviews
Seriously, this is really useful
We get to read what others think of the place
Because after every stay, every guest is required to leave some feedback
Ada private and also publicly viewed feedback
So you can know how others think of the place
Whether it's clean, what's around it, how long does it take to WALK to the station, is the house really as described
I'll elaborate more on each place that I went in next posts
And also provide some recommendations inshaAllah
Accommodation cost about RM980 for the whole 11 nights
I'm talking about cost per person here
For all 3 places; Sapporo, Tokyo and Osaka
We could get cheaper actually if we booked earlier
Especially dekat Tokyo
Sooo pricey
We had to opt for outskirt sikit
About 30 mins distance by train to the city
Dekat Tokyo cheapest option is capsule hotel
Tapi takkan lah nak kasi mak kita tidur sempit2 dalam capsule macam keranda tu
Kalau travel bujang2, capsule hotel option is highly recommended
If possible find the closest place to the city
And closest to the train station
4) Transportation
Since in step 1(ii), I already included the direction and which train line to take
I researched further on how to lower down the costs
It's easier to use their prepaid IC cards or in Malaysia, we have Touch N Go
But bare in mind, none of the IC cards can be used in all parts of Japan
In other words, lain state, lain card kena purchase
I would suggest get the IC cards by JR Company
Paling senang nak cari office dia when we wanna return the card & get a refund
In Tokyo especially, they've got tonnes of passes
Not all passes are cost efficient
Dekat Tokyo, banyak sangat train line
Different Company offers different passes
And to get to one place, bukannya naik satu line je
Among the places that I went, Kawaguchiko Lake offers sightseeing bus services
The rest we used more train lines
So kena research sikit la on the timetable, pricing
It's available on their website
Transportation around Mt Fuji
I'll include some other recommendations in different posts
This is too long already *muntah hijau*
5) Download apps
Finally, it's recommended to have these apps handy in the phone
- Google Maps
- Japan Rail Map
- Halal Navi (it can show where to find halal food)
- most important app is Google Translate 😂 (most Japanese that I met were very helpful, the only barrier was language)
6) What to bring
i. Suitable clothings
It's not so cold in Spring, but do check out on the weather forecast
I did for all places that I went
Already expected Sapporo to be snowing
It was below 5'C most of the time
Tapi sangkaan meleset
Thought a thick jacket could save the day
But still it wasn't sufficient for me 😰
Do expect on bringing thicker jackets, thermal inner wears, proper thick socks
If you're planning to go to Sapporo
Whereas in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, the weather was beautiful
Average temperature of 15'C
Normal jacket would do
Do expect a bit of rain
Bring a raincoat
Because it's Spring
And of course, do plan on bringing clothes of beautiful colours
Especially colourful tudungs for women
Jangan lah bawak white tudung
Nanti nak ambil gambar with Sakura as the background, tenggelam pula
Because I did 😂
ii. Food
We chose to cook
So we brought a small traveling rice cooker along
Bought it at HomePro
Traveling iron pun ada dekat HomePro
But I wouldn't recommend to bring a rice cooker
Please be noted that it took us 4 hours to cook rice !
Bukan salah rice cooker
I'm not really sure why on the technical part
But it seems like voltage in Japan is really low
In fact, many people that I know of, they said the same thing
Some had to wait whole day for the rice to cook !
I would suggest just buy instant rice at any convenient store
Murah pun ye
About 100yen untuk makan seorang
That's about RM4
Masuk je microwave 2 mins
Done
In terms of taste, ada rasa macam sushi rice sikit
Lekit2
But it was not bad
Bila dah lapar, tak demand sangat dah
Bawa la juga Brahims
Can get a cheaper price if you go to their factory in Bangi
Siap ada bagi stainless steel spoon lagi
We also brought snacks like cream crackers, milo 3in1
Don't forget energy bars
We also brought sambal ikan bilis, sambal ikan masin & serunding
Semua lepas masa dekat Customs
Meaty products are not allowed to be brought into Japan
iii. Visa
Above is from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan's website
To make things easy, get the new passport with the ICAO standards
iv. Blacklist Status
Before traveling, always always remember to check your traveling status
Kalau rasa ada hutang PTPTN for example, you know what the outcome could be
Check your status on this website : Semakan Status Perjalanan Imigresen
v. Documentation
Print all necessary documents
Itinerary, Airbnb booking confirmation and passport
Keep them handy
Need them to fill up the Disembarkation Card and provide at Customs
_______________________________________________
All clear and done
Boleh pergi sightseeing dengan hati yang tenang inshaAllah
Ok I guess that's all for this post
Will come up with detailed post on Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto
Go and travel
See new place
Breathe new air
Meet strangers
There are times we could let our life revolves around someone else
But let some times revolve around you
Because you deserve to live your life
Til next post~
Q
And didn't follow any travel agent
Being someone who has been known for having poor navigation skills
I challenged myself to do up the itinerary on my own
It's good really, to do things I always thought I couldn't do
A lot of work but fun 😉
God knows how tedious it was
I don't really have knowledge about Japan map
What is located where and etc
Yeah my Geography is not that good
I wonder how did I ace my Geography at school
Ni nama dia study for the sake of exam bak kata Tun
And you know how most women have difficulty reading maps?
Yes I used to be one of them (cewa used to)
Especially transportation in Tokyo, susahnya !
Tokyo has the MOST complex train lines IN THE WORLD
I'm the flexible type, suka redah and I hate planning
In my dreams if I wanna gamble and follow my style
Dah la Japan is not an English speaking country
Bawa orang tua pula
Mati la nak, kena marah kalau tak properly plan
I took around 3 months to study about Japan and plan our trip
Giving priority to mummy, since she's already supposed to be travelling at her age
We asked her what she wanted to see
She loves flowers a lot, so she chose to see Sakura 🌸
Probably overview of my Japan trip could be helpful for first timers
Who have the same interest as we do, which is on,,,, Sakura !
Ada orang suka buildings, ada yang suka culture, ada yang suka nature
Ada juga yang suka temple
It's up to you really
Japan has a lottt of things to see
As for me, I brought along my 60+ year old mummy
I tried to make it a relaxing trip
As simple as I could
And to keep the cost within our budget, we chose to take the public transport
I had to plan the flow reallyyy well
Where to go first and where to go next
So it won't be too tiring for mummy
Ada orang prefer cheap flight tickets
Bila airlines offer really cheap, terus beli
Ada yang tak kesah, they don't mind spending on tickets
Ada yang kesah on the costing, but as long as it's within the budget, they're ok
For us, we're the latter
Because we wanna really really secure the closest date to see full bloom
I took a high risk by delaying the bookings
Almost got scolded by mummy 😂
Sebab Sakura Forecast for 2017 came out quite late !
Somewhere around early February 2017
So while waiting, in January I studied on Japan first
At the same time, I checked out on the price as well
Takut juga kalau suddenly it hiked so much
Honestly I didn't know where to start
I took quite some time to de-clutter my mind and rearrange everything
By reading through how others planned their itineraries
Akhirnya
I managed to sort my mind
Below is what I can summarise so it could be useful for other first timers
And,,,, of course for my future reference as well
Summary
a. List out places of interest & make a flow
b. Check on dates for full bloom Sakura & book flight tickets
c. Survey & book accommodation
d. Transportation
e. Download apps
f. What to bring
1) List out places of interest & make a flow
After studying about Japan map and knowing a bit here there about Japan, we chose to visit :
a. Sapporo, Hokkaido
b. Tokyo
c. Osaka, and
d. Kyoto
Photo Credit : gojapango.com
Then I listed out all places of interest for each prefecture
Below are my favorite references :
Japan Guide
All about Sapporo
All about Osaka
Then I listed out all places of interest for each prefecture
Below are my favorite references :
Japan Guide
All about Sapporo
All about Osaka
And below is sample of my template
I used Microsoft Word to do the itinerary
(i) First, I listed out as many places as I can, in the Activities column
Date
|
Activities
|
Cost (Y)
|
Emergency Call Center / Operating Hours
|
Shinjuku Gyoen
National Garden
·
11 Naitocho, Shinjuku
·
Proposed enter Sendagaya, exit Shinjuku - From Harajuku Station, take JR Yamanote Line for
Shinjuku/Ikebukuro (Clockwise) 2mins .......
| Y600 Y420 |
9:00AM-4:00PM
|
I searched for :
- Best places to see Cherry Blossom
- What to see / do during Spring
- Top attractions in each place
(ii) Checked out on their location so I could make a flow
On where to go first, where to go next
For example in Tokyo
Shibuya Crossing > Harajuku > Yoyogi Park > Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
These places are all near to each other & using the same train line which is Yamanote Line
To make it easier, I downloaded & printed a railway map (since train is the best transportation in Japan)
So I could have a rough idea where is it located, whether it's close to the train station
Look at how complex it is
Well, it is to me haha
Ni baru JR line
Then, use Google Maps to check on the direction
Google Maps is really useful
It can give suggestions on which line to take & how much is it gonna cost
Train schedule pun ada
But not to worry on the timing so much kalau nak pergi around Tokyo
Except for places like Kawaguchiko Lake
The train is not as frequent as in Tokyo
On where to go first, where to go next
For example in Tokyo
Shibuya Crossing > Harajuku > Yoyogi Park > Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
These places are all near to each other & using the same train line which is Yamanote Line
To make it easier, I downloaded & printed a railway map (since train is the best transportation in Japan)
So I could have a rough idea where is it located, whether it's close to the train station
Look at how complex it is
Well, it is to me haha
Ni baru JR line
Then, use Google Maps to check on the direction
Google Maps is really useful
It can give suggestions on which line to take & how much is it gonna cost
Train schedule pun ada
But not to worry on the timing so much kalau nak pergi around Tokyo
Except for places like Kawaguchiko Lake
The train is not as frequent as in Tokyo
So with Google Maps, I could fill up the direction in Activities & Costing column
I used Microsoft Excel to do up the costing
(iii) Next, with all the info + sorting + filtering number of places of interest, I can estimate the number of nights to stay in each place
I used Microsoft Excel to do up the costing
(iii) Next, with all the info + sorting + filtering number of places of interest, I can estimate the number of nights to stay in each place
Sapporo : 4 days 3 nights
Tokyo : 5 days 4 nights
Kyoto : day trip
Osaka : 5 days 4 nights
All together this trip took us about 12 days and 11 nights
2) Check on dates for full bloom Sakura & book flight tickets
Sebelum plan which exact date to go, I tried to survey when's the blooming time for Sakura
Kalau check out on any blogs or anywhere else online, they would list out dates of :
- estimated average first bloom &
- estimated average full bloom
Focus on the dates for full bloom
First bloom ni tak cantik lagi
Ye la baru nak bloom kan
InshaAllah the dates are accurate
I chose this blog as my favourite guide :
Cherry Blossom Forecast
| Place | Estimated Average First Bloom | Estimated Average Full Bloom |
|---|
| Kyoto | Late March (31-03-2017) | Early April (07 to 16 April) |
| Osaka | Late March (30-03-2017) | Early April (07 to 15 April) |
| Tokyo | Late March (21-03-2017) | March 30 to April 07, 2017 |
| Sapporo | Early May (01-05-2017) | Early May (03 to 10 May) |
Based on the website, Tokyo bloom dulu
Then Osaka & Kyoto
Bila dah tahu range of dates, then only I decided on booking flight tickets
Unfortunately, takada flight langsung from KL to Tokyo for both AirAsia & MAS (fully booked !)
During that time, it was around a month plus to go
Dah lambat juga actually
After comparing on the prices and availability, we decided to take Air Asia from KL to Sapporo
Cost about RM930, together with breakfast, seat and tax
Kalau nak naik MAS, kena layover for 12 HOURS at Tokyo to go to Sapporo
So AirAsia was the best choice
Sakura blooms in Hokkaido around May
I didn't include Hokkaido in our planning at first
I don't have that many annual leaves to spend
Lagipun Hokkaido is famous for its lavender farm
Which only blooms during Summer
And famous for its ski areas
Which means Winter
Since we went during Spring, luckily Sapporo is also famous for its King Crabs, Snow Crabs and Horsehair Crabs
So ada juga activity dekat Sapporo while waiting for Sakura to bloom fully in Tokyo
For local flights, in Japan they do have other budget airlines like Peach and Vanilla Air
Slightly cheaper
Tapi fully booked juga
So we booked Jetstar for these 2 local flights
RM400+RM300 = RM700
1. Sapporo-Tokyo
2. Tokyo-Osaka
And we decided to go back KL from Osaka
3) Survey & book accommodation
Since it's quite pricey in Japan, we didn't want to spend too much on dining out
At the same time, we can't afford to carry too many Brahims and can food in our suitcases
So we chose to cook
Dekat hotel maybe tak boleh masak
So I chose Airbnb
It's a secured and user friendly website
Not so worried when payment had to be made in advance
Can choose entire home as the room type for those who don't like sharing
Can set our price range based on our budget
After experiencing myself, below are the filters which I think useful in deciding which place to choose :
✅ Kitchen
✅ Wireless internet
- This would be more useful if the host can provide a portable wifi
- Inquire the host first before booking!
- You could also opt to rent a portable wifi
- Telco in Japan does offer package for Japan Rail Pass + pocket wifi
- But after comparing on the costs, in my case, it was cheaper not to take Japan Rail Pass. I focused on finding house with pocket wifi
- Anyhow Celcom has this offer for roaming RM138 7 days pass - unlimited local & international calls with 3GB internet - you might wanna consider it as well
And no I'm not a spokeperson for Celcom
Just a loyal Celcom user
✅ Elevator in building (make sure to tick this option if you plan to carry large and heavy suitcases)
✅ Host language : English (easy to inquire on anything & easy to communicate of course)
I would suggest Airbnb to add this option
❗ Accessible to public transports
Unfortunately, for now tak ada option ni lagi
Have to really read carefully in the description that every host provided
How far is it from the station
Dapat je list of homes, make sure to look out for those with many reviews
Seriously, this is really useful
We get to read what others think of the place
Because after every stay, every guest is required to leave some feedback
Ada private and also publicly viewed feedback
So you can know how others think of the place
Whether it's clean, what's around it, how long does it take to WALK to the station, is the house really as described
I'll elaborate more on each place that I went in next posts
And also provide some recommendations inshaAllah
Accommodation cost about RM980 for the whole 11 nights
I'm talking about cost per person here
For all 3 places; Sapporo, Tokyo and Osaka
We could get cheaper actually if we booked earlier
Especially dekat Tokyo
Sooo pricey
We had to opt for outskirt sikit
About 30 mins distance by train to the city
Dekat Tokyo cheapest option is capsule hotel
Tapi takkan lah nak kasi mak kita tidur sempit2 dalam capsule macam keranda tu
Kalau travel bujang2, capsule hotel option is highly recommended
If possible find the closest place to the city
And closest to the train station
4) Transportation
Since in step 1(ii), I already included the direction and which train line to take
I researched further on how to lower down the costs
It's easier to use their prepaid IC cards or in Malaysia, we have Touch N Go
But bare in mind, none of the IC cards can be used in all parts of Japan
In other words, lain state, lain card kena purchase
I would suggest get the IC cards by JR Company
Paling senang nak cari office dia when we wanna return the card & get a refund
In Tokyo especially, they've got tonnes of passes
Not all passes are cost efficient
Dekat Tokyo, banyak sangat train line
Different Company offers different passes
And to get to one place, bukannya naik satu line je
Among the places that I went, Kawaguchiko Lake offers sightseeing bus services
The rest we used more train lines
So kena research sikit la on the timetable, pricing
It's available on their website
Transportation around Mt Fuji
I'll include some other recommendations in different posts
This is too long already *muntah hijau*
5) Download apps
Finally, it's recommended to have these apps handy in the phone
- Google Maps
- Japan Rail Map
- Halal Navi (it can show where to find halal food)
- most important app is Google Translate 😂 (most Japanese that I met were very helpful, the only barrier was language)
6) What to bring
i. Suitable clothings
It's not so cold in Spring, but do check out on the weather forecast
I did for all places that I went
Already expected Sapporo to be snowing
It was below 5'C most of the time
Tapi sangkaan meleset
Thought a thick jacket could save the day
But still it wasn't sufficient for me 😰
Do expect on bringing thicker jackets, thermal inner wears, proper thick socks
If you're planning to go to Sapporo
Whereas in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, the weather was beautiful
Average temperature of 15'C
Normal jacket would do
Do expect a bit of rain
Bring a raincoat
Because it's Spring
And of course, do plan on bringing clothes of beautiful colours
Especially colourful tudungs for women
Jangan lah bawak white tudung
Nanti nak ambil gambar with Sakura as the background, tenggelam pula
Because I did 😂
ii. Food
We chose to cook
So we brought a small traveling rice cooker along
Bought it at HomePro
Traveling iron pun ada dekat HomePro
But I wouldn't recommend to bring a rice cooker
Please be noted that it took us 4 hours to cook rice !
Bukan salah rice cooker
I'm not really sure why on the technical part
But it seems like voltage in Japan is really low
In fact, many people that I know of, they said the same thing
Some had to wait whole day for the rice to cook !
I would suggest just buy instant rice at any convenient store
Murah pun ye
About 100yen untuk makan seorang
That's about RM4
Masuk je microwave 2 mins
Done
In terms of taste, ada rasa macam sushi rice sikit
Lekit2
But it was not bad
Bila dah lapar, tak demand sangat dah
Bawa la juga Brahims
Can get a cheaper price if you go to their factory in Bangi
Siap ada bagi stainless steel spoon lagi
We also brought snacks like cream crackers, milo 3in1
Don't forget energy bars
We also brought sambal ikan bilis, sambal ikan masin & serunding
Semua lepas masa dekat Customs
Meaty products are not allowed to be brought into Japan
iii. Visa
To make things easy, get the new passport with the ICAO standards
iv. Blacklist Status
Before traveling, always always remember to check your traveling status
Kalau rasa ada hutang PTPTN for example, you know what the outcome could be
Check your status on this website : Semakan Status Perjalanan Imigresen
v. Documentation
Print all necessary documents
Itinerary, Airbnb booking confirmation and passport
Keep them handy
Need them to fill up the Disembarkation Card and provide at Customs
_______________________________________________
All clear and done
Boleh pergi sightseeing dengan hati yang tenang inshaAllah
Ok I guess that's all for this post
Will come up with detailed post on Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto
Go and travel
See new place
Breathe new air
Meet strangers
There are times we could let our life revolves around someone else
But let some times revolve around you
Because you deserve to live your life
Til next post~
Q
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