Passport Living – Travel for Life

Japan Travel Tips

Thought I’d add a few tips for planning a trip to Japan.  I’ll be adding to this as time goes on.

Booking hotels: japanican.com This website is run by the reputable JTB travel agency.  They have the most options for off the beaten path places (ie not Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, etc.) for an English website and have both hotels and ryokan (traditional Japanese inn).  Some hotels you will need to prepay, although there is no charge for cancellation.  The prices also seem better than on some other sites.

Train Travel:  The Japan Rail Pass is a must if you will be traveling around by train.  A one-week pass pays for itself with one Tokyo-Kyoto roundtrip, so any extra traveling is a bonus.  You must purchase the pass before you arrive in Japan; you will receive a voucher that you will exchange for the pass at a rail office in Japan.  There are many ways to purchase one, but on-line I have found the best is Kintetsu Travel.  They do not charge any extra fees on top of the pass cost (you could buy a pass from AAA, but you’ll pay way too much).  See kinetsu.com for details.

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Japan Here We Come!

Well, it is official:  we are going to Japan.  Weszt finally got vacation approval so we bought our airline tickets.  Kelley has been monitoring ticket prices for some time now, and so far we have been a bit disappointed.  We figured it would be cheaper to fly from the west coast (Portland) than the east coast (Orlando).  Unfortunately, that has not been the case.  We did discover priceline.com had the flights we wanted for $811 per person, while on delta, expedia, et al they fluctuated from $929 to $1280 any given day.  The flights are on Delta, and they are nonstop!  We are very excited about that.  This flight should be much easier than the previous two to Japan.

Anyways, back to the trip.  It will be just over two weeks and is basically a modified version of the trip we planned to take in 2008 but had to cancel. That trip was three weeks, so we cut the island of Shikoku and are sticking to Kyushu.  Tokyo is a given and Weszt wanted one night in Kyoto since we were there on our honeymoon.   Here is the tentative plan:

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Mercure Ginza

Rating:

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Date Of Stay: October 31-November 2, 2006
Price We Paid: $144
Website: http://www.mercure.com

A great deal for Tokyo, this hotel is in an excellent location in Ginza just off the main thoroughfare with all the depatos.  Short walk to the Ginza line, and about 10-15 minute walk to Tokyo station.

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Mansions at Roppongi

Rating:

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Date Of Stay: April 9-12, 2005
Price We Paid: $200 (USD)
Website: http://www.oakwood.com

The Mansions is not really a hotel; it is really meant for longer-stay business travellers and offers apartment stays, although you can stay for as short a time as you wish (we stayed three nights). It does not offer the same services as a hotel (maid service every day, restaurants, etc.), but the people at the front desk were very nice, spoke English, and were able to make dinner reservations for us.

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Park Hyatt Tokyo

Rating:

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Date Of Stay: April 12-14, 2005
Price We Paid: $550 (USD)
Website: http://www.tokyo.park.hyatt.com

This was a big splurge for us. But, since Lost in Translation is what inspired us to travel to Japan (and it was our honeymoon), we simply had to stay here. We had a Park Deluxe room, and it was a large room by any standard, not just Tokyo. The room is understated, but luxurious.  Everything, from the service to the luxe bathroom and toiletries to the heated toilet, was fabulous. And, the view we had over downtown Shinjuku cannot be beat, with the window taking up one side of the whole room.  We had an interesting lunch at the Japanese restaurant and drinks at the New York Bar.

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