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Some help with Tokyo planning please?

ajp
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Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby ajp » Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:44 am

Was sitting down on Sunday trying to put together a plan for a trip in Januray to HK/Tokyo. As I've said previously, we're using FF flights, so we are very limited on when we can travel (as well as costs of course).

I've found a flight that will get us to HK on either 29/12 or 5/1. Now given that BraviSEAmo closes on 14/1 we're looking to take the 29/12 flight to HK (spend NYE in HK, shame that).

Anway, we were looking at the Tokyo end and decided that we'd like to try and get into one of the resort official hotels, which would mean that our original plan of basing ourselves there for 10 or so nights and doing travelling from there will need to change, so we'll only spend around 6 nights there and plan to land in Osaka from HK and travel up.

Now this is the first question, if any one can help. If you've travelled in Japan and specifically from that part of the country, how hard is it and how easy is it to use the trains and buses, considering that we'll have bags with us. Our thoughts were to spend a few days around Osaka and Kyoto then head to Tokyo, so need to understand if that's a doable thing. (I know Wayne did something like that, and I'll drop him a PM as well).

Next question. Looking at the bedding in the rooms, they seem to be a little ambiguous. Is the bedding at least double beds in a double room or are they large singles? In other words could the 4 of us (the girls can still share, albeit with arguments and pushing and shoving) fit in a double room do you think, or is that a little ambitious?
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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby sandie » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:27 pm

Never been as you know - but Angela and Jack went with their sons when they aere about the same ages as your girls. They stayed in Tokyo city but said each bed was barely big enough for one person let alone 2!

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby ajp » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:43 pm

I'm finding that the more I look. And when you start getting into rooms that take 4 people, they charge like wounded bulls. We may need to go down the 2 room path. I just checked a hotel attached to Universal Studios in Osaka for example, and for a room for 4 it was 55000 yen (around $550 :shock: ) but when I looked at 2 rooms they were 16000 yen each so it's cheaper to get 2 rooms than 1 - go figure!

I'm starting to think it may be worth putting the money aside for a WDW trip instead and doing HK/Tokyo without kids later in life! :?
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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby sandie » Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:33 pm

Firstly I just got home and they were watching our photo cd that you made!!! We are going to get you to do one of last years photos.

I think it is cheap to do WDW - even cheaper than Dl if you can get cheap connecting flights to Orlando.

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby mushu mama » Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:33 pm

Yep Japan is expensive... but well worth it IMHO.
We found the same thing in regard to the bedding... its tiny... we had two king single sized beds ( that they called doubles - no way were they doubles :? ) and the four of us had to squeeze onto them.
The traveling on trains was a cinch - they have Engrish buttons so that you can translate the instructions so you can get the right tickets.

tough call, but its the most amazing place.

Lisa.
1999- Tokyo DL, 2008- DLR/Cal Adventure, 2012-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2013-Tokyo DLand/Sea, 2014-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2015- Paris DL, 2016 - WDW/Disneycruise , upcoming - May 2018 - HongKong DL

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby calisota » Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:47 pm

From the sounds of it Tokyo is where you go for Disney and Japanese culture and Orlando is where you go for Disney. It may come down to whether you want a Disney trip or one with a dash of a foreign culture thrown in as well.

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby mushu mama » Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:17 pm

Thats pretty much it...

Japan is fascinating... I love being lost in the translation. The food is weird, the culture takes some fathoming but is really so rich. Their art is some of my favourite I've ever collected - particularly their porcelain. They do everything BIG which is a surprising considering they are all so small... (they made me feel tall :wink: ) Its a part of the world that pulses.
I can't wait to go back there.
I want to go on the bullet train, stay in a rayokan ( not sure if thats the right spelling) complete with hot springs and see real geisha ( I LOVE the whole geisha thing). :)

Lisa.
1999- Tokyo DL, 2008- DLR/Cal Adventure, 2012-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2013-Tokyo DLand/Sea, 2014-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2015- Paris DL, 2016 - WDW/Disneycruise , upcoming - May 2018 - HongKong DL

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby calisota » Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:44 pm

So Tokyo for Disney amid really small people and the US for Disney amid really big people. It may depend less on the culture you want to see and more on whether you want to feel big or small by comparison. :D

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby mushu mama » Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:52 pm

Nope...

you can be made to feel small by comparison anywhere.
1999- Tokyo DL, 2008- DLR/Cal Adventure, 2012-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2013-Tokyo DLand/Sea, 2014-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2015- Paris DL, 2016 - WDW/Disneycruise , upcoming - May 2018 - HongKong DL

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby ajp » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:02 pm

We were looking to add a little cultural tourism in there somewhere, that's why I need to try and understand the traveling across country bit. There is some fascinating things to see which makes me start to think that a few days is really a waste because a few weeks just on the culture and history would be more like it. Anyway, I'll keep investigating and planning and pondering.
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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby ajp » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:04 pm

We are going to get you to do one of last years photos
No probs. At least they'll be digital, the last 2 I've done (40th birthday gifts) have all been prints to be scanned and each over 150 photos! Leads a man to start co-writing SBS quality scripts ....
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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby mushu mama » Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:30 am

There is some fascinating things to see which makes me start to think that a few days is really a waste because a few weeks just on the culture and history would be more like it.
I wouldn't worry about trying to see it all.
A few weeks would still barely scratch the surface of Japan. This country - more than anywhere I have traveled - has amazing depth. We only had a couple of days over our time in Disneyland to do the immersion in Japan thing, and what we had time to do was brilliant. I really think Japan is a place that warrants return visits anyway, as each province has unique attributes. Visiting Tokyo is vastly different to visiting Osaka or Kyoto for instance. There seemed to be so much crammed into each square foot of Tokyo, that each corner we turned had another thing to discover.
And on top of that, spending weeks in Japan is a recipe for bankruptcy. Small bites at such an expensive place is easier to swallow.

Just my thoughts.

Lisa.
1999- Tokyo DL, 2008- DLR/Cal Adventure, 2012-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2013-Tokyo DLand/Sea, 2014-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2015- Paris DL, 2016 - WDW/Disneycruise , upcoming - May 2018 - HongKong DL

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby KeithS » Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:05 am

A few weeks would still barely scratch the surface of Japan.
Never a truer word has been said - Japan is terrific Anthony. And is home to my favourite Disney Resort > they just do everything so right.

Get around the railway network isn't too hard either. There are always people to offer you help, and there are lots of guides available in English for the railway systems etc when you get over there. The scariest bit is the unknown - getting off the plane in Tokyo and thinking "now what do we do?!?"
Small bites at such an expensive place is easier to swallow.
Although it is probably a lot less expensive now - with the Aussie $1 = 103yen, things are much more reasonable. We didn't find it expensive at all (although we didn't have kids).

As for beds - yep, our hotel room only had 3 singles - seems to be the norm there. And yes, it would appear to be cheaper to rent two rooms in many cases!
Keith

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby mushu mama » Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:59 am

- with the Aussie $1 = 103yen, things are much more reasonable.
wow... thats better than when we were there, it was AU$1:69 yen. I got very fast at my 7 times tables real quick ( so I could shop :wink: ) I won't have kids in tow this time though, so I'm anticipating it being a little less expensive than last time - spending money wise.

Even though I am in full swing planning mode for the (proposed) Hawaiian trip in Sept next year - thanks to having to book it so far out to get the type of cabin that I want :? ) I'm also starting to think about Tokyo because I want to get there as well before then sometime. And it might be another of those, 'decide, book, go' trips as the possibility arises. I'm planning to do what I did last time though - contact the Japanese Travel whatnot (can't think of their proper title) because last time, I did that and they sent me reams of pertinent info including bus/train maps and 'how to's' for train travel, airport negotiation and stuff like that. We would have been lost without that info.
I'm also hoping to do a side trip to kyoto... to learn more about the geisha... so will have to travel there somehow - I'm thinking land based rather than flying.
If I find out anything interesting, I'll let you know.

Lisa.
1999- Tokyo DL, 2008- DLR/Cal Adventure, 2012-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2013-Tokyo DLand/Sea, 2014-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2015- Paris DL, 2016 - WDW/Disneycruise , upcoming - May 2018 - HongKong DL

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Re: Some help with Tokyo planning please?

Postby Mel » Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:09 pm

Travelling around Japan is really easy. Despite two years of studying Japanese for my HSC, all I could say was Hello, Goodbye, How are you, I am well, Good Morning and My red car is not old! Surprisingly, that last phrase never got used while we were in Japan.

We spent five (or was it six?) nights based in Kyoto and it was fabulous. We stayed at the Rhino hotel where we had a room that was HUGE by Japanese standards and had a king-sized bed. I'd recommend it to anybody. We bought a Japan Rail Pass before we left home which meant we could travel anywhere in Japan on the JR network (main rail network - not valid on most Kyoto subways). We basically only used it to get from Tokyo to Kyoto and back again and for our day trips to Nara and Himeji.

There is TONNES to see in the Osaka/Kyoto area. We never made it to Osaka - my morning sickness took over one whole day where we just stayed in bed. In Nara we hired bikes and rode around to the temples, shrines and parks. Probably my fave day in Japan outside of Disney. We also ventured out to Himeji to see the castle there. Bloody hell are there a lot of stairs in that place! :lol: We did an english-speaking walking tour through Kyoto, spotting a couple of Geishas not long after our tour ended.

When I was planning our trip I was advised to base that part of our trip in Kyoto rather than Osaka because there was more to see in Kyoto. I can't say whether or not that's true since we never made it to Osaka, but I would definitely go back to Kyoto without hesitation, and as I said, I'd be happy to stay in the Rhino again.

As for travelling on the trains etc. The bullet trains get you between Kyoto/Osaka and Tokyo in ridiculously quick time. Something like three hours I think it was. If you are going to use them, I'd suggest going to the JR website and checking out your ticket options before you go. Some tickets, like the railpass we bought, need to be purchased before you arrive in Japan.

The subway systems are really easy to use. Colour-coded and easy to navigate. The only problem we had using their subway systems was when we arrived in Kyoto and had to lug all our stuff from the main JR station to the subway station. It was quite a hike, but we survived it :)

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to help. I'm no expert on Japan, but we did really enjoy our time there - hence our planned trip in 2010!
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