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| Himeji Castle during Sakura season |
My flight itinerary flew from Singapore to Osaka on the 1st of April and out from Narita to Singapore on the 16th. This was the original plan:
Dates
|
Journey
|
Place to Visit
|
1st Friday
|
KIX Arrival
|
Osaka
|
2nd Saturday
|
Osaka
|
|
3rd Sunday
|
Travel to Hiroshima
|
Hiroshima
|
4th Monday
|
Travel to Miyajima
|
Miyajima Island
|
5th Tuesday
|
Travel to Osaka
|
Kyoto
|
6th Wednesday
|
Kyoto
|
|
7th Thursday
|
Kyoto
|
|
8th Friday
|
Kyoto
|
|
9th Saturday
|
Kyoto
|
|
10th Sunday
|
Travel to Kawaguchiko
|
Lake Kawaguchiko
|
11th Monday
|
Lake Kawaguchiko
|
|
12th Tuesday
|
Lake Kawaguchiko
|
|
13th Wednesday
|
Travel to Shibuya
|
Tokyo
|
14th Thursday
|
Tokyo
|
|
15th Friday
|
Tokyo
|
|
16th Saturday
|
NRT Departure
|
Tokyo
|
What actually happened:
Dates
|
Journey
|
Place to Visit
|
1st Friday
|
KIX Arrival
|
Osaka
|
2nd Saturday
|
Osaka
|
|
3rd Sunday
|
Travel to Hiroshima
|
Hiroshima
|
4th Monday
|
Travel to Miyajima
|
Miyajima Island
|
5th Tuesday
|
Travel to Osaka
|
Kyoto
|
6th Wednesday
|
Travel to Himeji
|
Himeji/Kobe
|
7th Thursday
|
Travel to Kyoto
|
Kyoto (Didn’t do much because it rain)
|
8th Friday
|
Kyoto
|
|
9th Saturday
|
Kyoto (Spend ½ day in Yamazaki)
|
|
10th Sunday
|
Travel to Kawaguchiko
|
Lake Kawaguchiko
|
11th Monday
|
Lake Kawaguchiko
|
|
12th Tuesday
|
Lake Kawaguchiko
|
|
13th Wednesday
|
Travel to Shibuya
|
Tokyo (Arrive Shibuya at 7pm – write off)
|
14th Thursday
|
Tokyo (Disney Sea)
|
|
15th Friday
|
Tokyo (1 day shopping)
|
|
16th Saturday
|
NRT Departure
|
Tokyo (1/2 day Ueno)
|
How can I re-write history?
Dates
|
Journey
|
Place to Visit
|
1st Friday
|
Fukuoka Arrival
|
Fukuoka
|
2nd Saturday
|
Travel to Hiroshima
|
Hiroshima
|
3rd Sunday
|
Travel to Miyajima
|
Miyajima Island
|
4th Monday
|
Travel to Kobe
|
Hemiji
|
5th Tuesday
|
Kobe
|
|
6th Wednesday
|
Travel to Osaka
|
Osaka
|
7th Thursday
|
Osaka and Yamazaki (Because it rain)
|
|
8th Friday
|
Osaka/Kyoto
|
|
9th Saturday
|
Kyoto
|
|
10th Sunday
|
Kyoto
|
|
11th Monday
|
Travel to Kawaguchiko
|
Lake Kawaguchiko
|
12th Tuesday
|
Lake Kawaguchiko
|
|
13th Wednesday
|
Travel to Shibuya
|
Tokyo (Arrival Shibuya noon) (½ day Shibuya)
|
14th Thursday
|
Tokyo (Disney Sea)
|
|
15th Friday
|
Tokyo (Harajuku/Roppongi/Akhibara++)
|
|
16th Saturday
|
NRT Departure
|
Tokyo (1/2 day Ueno)
|
What could I have achieve?
- Visited 1 more city (Note: Always have the mindset that you will always return. Trust me! You will want to come back to Japan again. Your first trip is always a recon mission to save you time and money on the next one)
- Not buying JR Pass (Having paid for a JR pass means JR will always be your first choice of transport. When you travel from 1 city to another JR's Shinkansen will do, Nozomi is fastest but is not covered under JR Pass. However intra-city movements can be achieve by JR or subway, please note given the choice subway will save you a lot of time).
- Less time in Lake Kawaguchiko (Spending more time here can be justifi-able because the accommodation I paid here is very expensive. However I would have like to depart at 11am since after checking out we couldn't use the onsen anymore.)
- More time in Tokyo.
Mistakes/Should have booked earlier
- Book all long distance JR reserve seat tickets on the day of arrival when collecting JR pass.
- Book table for Kobe Beef and eat more Kobe Beef!
- Forget about Osaka Castle and just go to Himeji Castle (Cherry Blossom is better and castle is bigger).
- Forget about going to Den Den Town (unless you are a Gundam/Bandai/Tamiya fan. I like Lego).
- Forget about Lego Discovery Centre (Osaka or Tokyo).
- Click Brick in Osaka is not bad, forget about Click Brick in Roppongi.
- Book to and return bus tickets Shinjuku to Lake Kawaguchiko.
- Return to Tokyo earlier from Lake Kawaguchiko.
- Look at weather forecast and visit Yamazaki Distillery when it rained (we didn't go for the tour, I would say don't worry about it unless you are a season whiskey drinker. Just go taste all the variety on offer.)
- Eat lunches at expensive restaurants or outlets (always lunch time deals available).
- Buy day pass tickets for Kyoto ¥500.
- Take JR to Arashiyama at Kyoto and hire bike to go around.
- Forget about Kinkakuji Golden Castle. (Why? Paying ¥400 to go look at a castle that you can enter or touch is a bit waste of time, unless you are a DSLR user there is no point because you can get better photos of this place on google than on our smartphone.)
- Look for bike hire shops in Lake Kawaguchiko that allows you to keep the bike overnight (make sure you check with hotel where you can store your bike).
Unplanned achivements
- Bought a Hibiki12 and Hibiki21 from Yamazaki Distillery and Hibiki17 from some old liqour shop in Kyoto.
- Bought McDonalds limited edition nano block meal set.
- Bought Crayon Shin Chan goodies when I stumble upon TV Asahi studios after being disappointed with Click Brick Roppongi.
- Bought Starbucks Tumblers.
- Visit Disney Sea and Disney Land on the same day. Finish all FP Disney Sea rides before 4pm and was able to go on Toy Story ride twice!
- Ate Kobe Beef
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