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Zettace posted:August is a heatstroke issue lol August is awful (except maybe northern Tohoku and Hokkaido, which are warm but with less humidity). The last two years in the Tokyo area, September and October have been staying warmer (like 25-28 C / 77-82 in  units) pretty surprisingly late - feel like it was still warm through almost Halloween this year. Climate change!
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Jan 8, 2023 11:42
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surf rock posted:I don't know if I'm doing it wrong or if just everything is totally booked, but I can't find a single Chicago or D.C. to Tokyo ANA flight from late August through September that has business or first-class tickets available for award bookings. gently caress, I'm looking eight months away, goddammit When I’m doing international travel, I look 330 days out (max length) to ensure I get business or first class awards. We got business class award flights for Feb 2023 by booking in Mar 2022. BB2K posted:Just get them at the station whenever you are about to get on one. You can use the pass to ride the allocated seats cars, and those always have space unless it's golden week or something.
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Jan 8, 2023 16:02
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Use the app if you want to book all your train tickets ahead and you know your times.
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Jan 8, 2023 16:05
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Wonton posted:Use the app if you want to book all your train tickets ahead and you know your times. Perfect, thank you!
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Jan 8, 2023 16:12
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Wonton posted:Use the app if you want to book all your train tickets ahead and you know your times. Only possible if you buy directly from the JR Pass website though according to a question I asked a week or two ago in this thread.
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Jan 8, 2023 16:45
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Yeah we had to plan and book our tickets at a counter after we got the pass in Japan upon arrival, but that was a few years ago
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Jan 8, 2023 19:37
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FYI I've never had issues with booking reserve Shinkansen tickets even less than 10 minutes before departure. This was in the Green Class and on the non Tokaido / Sanyo shinkansen though. Unless you're traveling on a very busy time like Golden Week, you should be fine with booking on day of or even a few days before.
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Jan 8, 2023 21:51
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You can book them all ahead at any counter at a Shinkansen station
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Jan 8, 2023 21:52
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Wonton posted:Sounds like a fun trip! Thanks for the ideas and especially the saga beef tip. Not sure if I'll make it to saga itself but I'd like to do a nice tenpanyaki meal somewhere so I'll seek out somewhere with saga beef in Fukuoka - seems like better value than Kobe!
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Jan 8, 2023 21:52
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Yeah, and who wants to rush at the shink station? Just meander up to the counter, book a train for an hour ahead, then wander around and get some yummy train foods and relax.
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Jan 8, 2023 21:58
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You can buy shinkansen tickets from any connecting JR station. I live in Shikoku and they can print shink tix just fine even though there's no electronic ticket gates here. In summary, any station on the yamanote line or other JR lines can print your shinkansen tickets for you.
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Jan 8, 2023 23:48
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Cacafuego posted:When I’m doing international travel, I look 330 days out (max length) to ensure I get business or first class awards. We got business class award flights for Feb 2023 by booking in Mar 2022. How does this work?
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Jan 9, 2023 00:21
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KidDynamite posted:How does this work? For most airlines, or at least the US ones, they open availability 330 days out and that’s the time to look for business or first class award seats. They typically only offer a certain, small amount of business or first award seats, so you gotta jump on them when they’re available. Each airline is a little different, may offer more/less award seats or make them available sooner or later, but in general, 330 days out has been the best timeline for me to look. We got 2 round trip flights in business class for 260k AA miles and like $60 in fees.
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Jan 9, 2023 00:39
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zipair is some sicko poo poo if you live in the bay area or in LA and are looking to go to japan
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Jan 10, 2023 20:02
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I'm going to Japan with some childhood friends of mine for a couple weeks at the end of July/beginning of August, and one of our top "to do" things is to climb Fuji, probably via the Subashiri trail. We're going to give ourselves 5 days in Tokyo, which we'll keep flexible so that we can take whichever day has favorable weather to climb Fuji. We'd do the hike in one day, and are not at all interested in hiking in the dark for a sunrise. We'd probably spend the night before in Gotemba, and I see for last year that there are buses from Gotemba Station to Subashiri 5th station at 7:35 and 8:35 am ( https://www.japan-guide.com/bus/fuji_season.html ). What I'm not quite sure about is about last-minute booking for the bus. Do they tend to run as many buses as needed and/or pack them like sardines, or do we need to book more than 1-2 days in advance? We would also try to go on a weekday. I see the last bus down from Subashiri 5th Station is at 17:45 on weekdays, which seems both quite early given sunset is at 18:45 and also super tight for a 1700m ascent/descent, given that the first bus up there arrives at around 8:30am and it'd be a ~8 hour hike without any breaks. Possibly I am not reading this right, as in the pre-COVID era people mention buses as late at 19:45, but in case I am, we'd probably want to either head towards Fuji Subaru for the 18:40 bus OR try to call a taxi and go up to Subashiri 5th station earlier than 7:35am so that we can enjoy our day while still making the 17:45 bus. Also for the bus route, how does reserving a ticket back work, since presumably we'd prefer to (a) book that day-of and (b) aren't even 100% sure in advance whether we'd head back via Fuji Subaru or Subashiri 5th Station. I've read a bunch of blogs and stuff about it, but in case anyone has any other super special suggestions that are Fuji-experience-specific that'd be cool too -- I don't really need any general hiking tips. My only strong feelings about Fuji from reading blogs and watching videos are that (a) Yoshida trail looks like the type of hiking that awaits me in my personal version of hell, (b) no interest in a nighttime hike, and even if I did, doing a hike for sunrise on the summit requires way more advanced planning and requires locking-in the hike date way in advance, regardless of weather. Saladman fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Jan 10, 2023 |
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Jan 10, 2023 22:37
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That link says you can't reserve seats. My guess is that you can show up at the station and just get packed on.
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Jan 10, 2023 23:09
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Charles 2 of Spain posted:That link says you can't reserve seats. My guess is that you can show up at the station and just get packed on. I saw that but I wasn’t sure if it just means you can’t reserve a *specific* seat? The Japan-Buses site sells tickets in advance; https://highway-buses.jp/course/attention-fuji-5th.php but on closer reading I guess that means to reserve only the Shinjuku-Fuji area ticket and the bus from the Fuji area to whichever starting station is not, except for the direct bus from Shinjuku to Yoshida 5th station. Anyway for Subashiri we would always need to switch. I guess that means bus capacity is never a problem; in Switzerland you also never need to reserve a mountain bus or train in advance in Switzerland, unless you’re a large group of people.
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Jan 10, 2023 23:45
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Me and my partner are going to Japan from Jan 31st-Feb 12th and are looking for suggestions! She has a friend currently living in Tokyo (non-Japanese speaking) who we can stay with, I think in Shibuya, who will help us navigate. Broadly, we are thinking of spending the first bit in Tokyo, traveling to Hokkaido for the snow festival, day trips to Hakone and Kamakura, and at least a few days in Kyoto. Her friend's cousin also lives in a fishing village on the coast somewhere I guess so we might visit them? I don't have a ton of travel experience in general, would normally avoid the more touristy places but I understand that may be difficult without speaking Japanese. We aren't on a super tight budget or anything like that. Things we would like in no particular order: - bicycling around town - hiking around parks and gardens and forests - film camera stores - sake, beer - food (sushi, sashimi, ramen, udon, yakitori, Okonomiyaki) - shopping for weird japanese things to bring home - a kendo class? - trains - staying in a ryokan - hot springs - talking to friendly locals (i did this via couchsurfing in Italy before and it was a lot of fun) - the whole tiny alley bar/restaurant experience, ideally one not just flooded with tourists (Nomiya Yokocho?) - nautical things - cats Thank you in advance for any and all suggestions while I read through this thread more! Man_of_Teflon fucked around with this message at 10:51 on Jan 11, 2023 |
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Jan 11, 2023 03:53
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I have found another bit of airfare stupidity. Or airline greed. Make of it what you will: We've been looking at airfare for the past couple weeks. But keep seeing different prices and argue about it. I see 1400 and she says no, the price is 1600. Or whatever. I tried to replicate her search which was exactly the same as mine except for one thing: number of people. If you change the number of people, flight costs go up on United. I dunno if other airlines do this but it is hosed up and duplicitous. I've seen the same flight go up $400 just by adding a second fare. There's nothing to stop you from booking two 1 person fares at the normal rate, of course. But c'mon. How many people are getting screwed on flights because of this BS. Anyway, posting it here just so you know. You might be paying much more for your seats than you need to.
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Jan 11, 2023 05:17
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Is that because they figure you'll want seats together? That's not worth 400 to me personally.
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Jan 11, 2023 05:42
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So I wanted to point out that some of the below might be trickier to pull off without locals and/or translation:Man_of_Teflon posted:Things we would like in no particular order:
Not that all of these are impossible, just helping set expectations.
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Jan 11, 2023 07:09
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Kyoto is reasonably good for cycling if you're not inside the downtown area, do it along the Kamogawa or something. There's several places to rent bicycles.
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Jan 11, 2023 07:57
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Waltzing Along posted:I have found another bit of airfare stupidity. Or airline greed. Make of it what you will: It's more likely they only have 1 seat at the price point. Once that seat is bought the next solo ticket will be a bit more expensive.
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Jan 11, 2023 08:21
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Zettace posted:It's more likely they only have 1 seat at the price point. Once that seat is bought the next solo ticket will be a bit more expensive. Nope. Lots of seats available.
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Jan 11, 2023 08:25
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cycling in tokyo is easy imo but how are the rules strict? i always cycled to work and thought people treated cycling like mechanical walking, and just went wherever with no regard for road rules
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Jan 11, 2023 08:53
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Waltzing Along posted:Nope. Lots of seats available. It's not about number of seats available, but number of tickets they sell at that price. It's very common for a flight to have perhaps 200 total tickets, of which 10 are ultra-discount, 20 are heavy discount, 50 are cheap-ish, 100 are regular price, and 20 are business class. (Numbers pulled out my rear end.)
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Jan 11, 2023 08:54
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Shibawanko posted:cycling in tokyo is easy imo but how are the rules strict? i always cycled to work and thought people treated cycling like mechanical walking, and just went wherever with no regard for road rules The police are starting to crack down on things like “riding against traffic” and “riding fast on the sidewalk, whether it’s more than PR bluster or not we’ll see. And I know a few places (certainly Kanagawa prefecture) are requiring cyclists to have cycling insurance in case said riding on the sidewalk leads to injury or worse. Again, rules/application and all is still a caveat, but at least on paper that’s how things are shifting.
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Jan 11, 2023 09:49
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Man_of_Teflon posted:Things we would like in no particular order: This will be limited to the Tokyo area, but.. - bicycling around town For cycling around Tokyo, you can maybe look into the cycle hire schemes. I believe the most widespread one is https://docomo-cycle.jp/?lang=en and it's the one I use. Bikes can be picked up and dropped off at many locations around central Tokyo and are charged in half-hourly increments. What harperdc is saying is true to my knowledge, but actually following the rules isn't that hard and you don't need to worry about separate cycle insurance when renting. - trains Riding? Museums? There's a train museum in Omiya, which is quite close to Tokyo and directly accessible from Shibuya. https://www.railway-museum.jp/e/ If you're looking to ride more 'interesting' lines, basic Tokyo-area recommendations would be the Yurikamome Line/Nippori Toneri Liner, the Tokyo Monorail, and the suspended Shonan Monorail/Chiba Urban Monorail. If you're going to Kamakura then you can consider taking a 'scenic' route and catch the Shonan Monorail (from Ofuna) down to Enoshima before taking the Enoden to Kamakura. Enoshima itself is also worth a visit. For Hakone, there's the unique 'Romancecar' available too. - talking to friendly locals Couchsurfing is (or was) active in Japan too, so that should probably be your first stop. It may also be worth trying Meetup.com, though I don't know how the crowd is these days. There are party events as well as hiking or other activites. The Japanese people who go to such events tended to be decent English speakers in my experience, though many events ended up being mainly foreigners. Of course you might encounter friendly locals in bars or wherever, but communicating with them might be challenging (some people seem to manage though). - nautical things Riding? Museums? There are some boat services in Tokyo, mostly focused on the east (Sumida River) and south (Tokyo Bay) areas. One popular service is https://www.hotaluna.com/. For museums, not much comes to mind. There is the Martime Science Museum,https://funenokagakukan.or.jp/download/pdf/FunenoKagakukan_A4TriFold_Flyer_EN5.pdf, though it may not be fully open yet after COVID + renovations.
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Jan 11, 2023 10:24
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DiscoJ posted:- bicycling around town I used these bikes a lot in Tokyo but registration requires a Japanese mobile number ;______; https://docomo-cycle.jp/registration *You will need to obtain an "authentication code" that will be sent to your cell phone number. *Overseas SMS authentication will not be available from September 13, 2021.
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Jan 11, 2023 12:21
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Any recommendations for minshuku in Kansai? I can speak and read Japanese but my family can't.
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Jan 11, 2023 16:00
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Thank you everyone for the advice!peanut posted:I used these bikes a lot in Tokyo but registration requires a Japanese mobile number ;______; One thing I noted, it looks like they have a day pass purchased from a couple staffed vending locations that does not require membership registration… does anyone know if this will get around the local phone # requirement?
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Jan 11, 2023 17:02
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harperdc posted:The police are starting to crack down on things like “riding against traffic” and “riding fast on the sidewalk, whether it’s more than PR bluster or not we’ll see. And I know a few places (certainly Kanagawa prefecture) are requiring cyclists to have cycling insurance in case said riding on the sidewalk leads to injury or worse.
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Jan 11, 2023 17:21
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Me and my cousin made it to Tokyo! We’re having a blast so far, but I’m trying to figure out one little logistical thing that will make our lives easier. We leave our AirBNB on Sunday so we have to be out by 11, and the plan was to take the train straight to Kyoto to our new AirBNB but I saw that there’s a forest near Atami where cherry blossoms are already blooming that is very convenient to our train route, so we want to take some time there before we hit Kyoto. Problem is we have luggage to deal with. We were fine lugging it on the train if we were just gonna go right from one place to the other but if we’re stopping I feel like it would be nice to get it sent ahead to our AirBNB, even if it doesn’t arrive until the next day. Since we aren’t staying in hotels we can’t do the concierge thing, so my two questions are: Is there a place at Tokyo Station where we can get this done? I know there are at the airport so I assume there are at the train station as well but when I went looking it looked like the stand there maybe only did storage and same-day shipping to the airport. If there isn’t, I know you can get the Yamato shipping slips at convenience stores, are they just sitting out or are they behind counter? The website has really good English resources so I feel like I can figure it out I just don’t know where to look to get the slips.
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Jan 11, 2023 23:44
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There should be a Yamato inside Tokyo Station.
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Jan 12, 2023 00:25
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Go to any 7-11 or Family Mart and grunt the word "Yamato". Normal post office will also send suitcases, maybe you can even ask to pick it up from receiving post office. Also you can set delivery day and time so it will arrive after you check in. peanut fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Jan 12, 2023 |
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Jan 12, 2023 00:57
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Shot in the dark, but if there's anyone in Osaka who wants to rearrange their schedule at the last minute and go see chvrches at 18 tonight let me know! I'll PM you my reservation code. I've been waylaid by work and can't attend 
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Jan 12, 2023 06:17
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Chvrches is great and that's a real shame
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Jan 12, 2023 09:37
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Yeah, that svcks.
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Jan 12, 2023 09:39
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Yeah I know airbnb are cheap and can be convenient and 99% you are fine. But I highly recommend staying at a hotel, or heck even a pod or hostel. The check in and out process is a lot easier and less “freestyle”, and price wise nowadays they charge bullshit cleaning fees and expect you to live like a house guest. Plus the homes and hosts nowadays aren’t really that “charming or unique” or whatever. It’s just someone’s soulless deadstock home which should be rented out instead of idling.
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Jan 12, 2023 12:09
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His travel is already booked.
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Jan 12, 2023 12:41
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