The famous Kinkakuji Temple or Golden Temple in Kyoto.Japan is one of my last resort in Asia firstly because I am fully aware that this country is too costly. However, I also know very well that this country is one of the best places to visit in this continent due to its effortless beauty. In addition, I have put countries needing visas at the bottom of my countries-to-visit-in-Asia list. But I guess it is not a good idea to keep delaying the trip to a beautiful country like Japan. “The time is now,” I thought.

Initially, we had 9 days to visit 8 prefectures (like a province) and we knew it could be an exhausting trip. Yeah, we were right about that but the exhaustion was superimposed by the picturesqueness of the archipelago. Really.

We have booked our flight tickets four months prior to the trip and from then on, we were carefully making plans of the tours that we will do with all the tiny, intricate up-to-the-cost details. We wanted to save costs as much as we can (because of the fact that there is indeed high cost of living in Japan) so we tried to look for the best routes and schedules.

Originally, there were 8 of us who planned to bask at the beauty of Japan. However, due to unforeseen and inevitable circumstances, 2 of us had to back out and so the first cycle of monetary damages started for the flights, booked tours, and accommodation.

Three weeks before the flight, I was able to acquire my visa in Vietnam while my Dad applied it in Manila, Philippines (he had to travel at least 5 hours from my hometown to reach Manila). Dad needed more papers to submit to the agency because his birth certificate was registered late. Apparently, his High School report card was required. Wow, my Dad is 66 years old now and a report card of 50 years ago had to be produced! Ohh lala.

My Dad went back home and complied, of course, and the document was released a week later since the school had to do it manually. Again, he traveled back to Manila to submit the report card. The next step was to wait for 7-10 days.

Then just a week before the flight, the agency notified my Dad that that were problems with the documents. His birth date on his birth certificate did not match the one specified in the report card. Dad immediately proceeded to the Department of Education to inquire on the solution to the problem and the time it will take to rectify the data. The office said 2 weeks. That is it, he won’t be able to make it to the flight. Therefore, the second cycle of monetary damages happened.

And do you want to know how the third monetary damages occurred? Here’s how (warning: do not follow at home)!

Too much of planning to save money eh? Life can really be funny. ? Thank you so much to my friends Mikee, Manish, Preity, and Arleen for being with me in this trip! ❤

Anyway, in spite all of these, join me in revisiting the cities or prefectures we set foot in Japan for 8 days starting with…

Tokyo

Nikko

Mount Fuji

Osaka

Nara

Kyoto

Himeji

Kobe

Hiroshima

 Tips and Notes

I have enumerated here some tips, reminders, and notes for future Japan undertakers who are like me, one who prefers to see as much as possible.

Before

• Before you book and travel, check for the overall weather.
• Apply for your visa at most 2 months before the scheduled flight due to the length of its validity, at least for Filipinos.
• If your flight has a connecting flight, make sure you have the local currency in that city for your meals or other basic needs like water.
• For your accommodation, we have booked through Airbnb. The first thing to check next to price is the distance of the location from the main attractions you planned for that day. We booked one near the Kinshicho station. Also, ask for pocket wifi. This is essential for your train routes and it definitely helped us save time. And I mean a lot!
• With regards to train passes, we had an earlier question whether it was worth it to buy the JR Pass (which can be purchased only outside of Japan or via the internet) or buy separate tickets per ride. And this is what the JR Pass customer service had to say: “Separate ticket is cheaper but if you take Shinkansen (bullet train) for even short distance transfer, like Osaka-Kyoto, Osaka-Himeji, total fare will be not much different from 7 days JR pass price. If you really care about cost, purchase single fare and take Shinkansen only for Tokyo to Osaka. You may save about 3000 to 4000 yen. If you want to have easy trip, use JR pass. It’s stress free.” So it now boils down to your choice.
• It is a must for a visitor to bring a camera! Japan is too beautiful not to be captured. =)
• Travel light. Seriously, travel light. We stayed in 2 cities and our accommodations were at least 600 meters away from the nearest train station. In addition, internal transfers from one train to another also required some walking. Therefore, to bring heavy and bulky luggage would be a bad idea and very inconvenient as some train station exits do not have lifts or not even escalators. Otherwise, all the best with the lifting and dragging.

During

• Just a reminder that the gate closes 20 minutes before departure. =D
• To roam around and reach places, it involves a lot and I mean a lot of walking, a minimum of 20,000 steps. Thus, water and hat are necessary.
• If you happen to travel during peak season from April to May and you plan to take the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka through Nozomi, try to purchase the bullet train tickets few days ahead at most of JR stations such as Shinjuku and Shibuya. As the JR customer service mentioned, “You may find reservation window that is called “Midori no Madoguchi” at most of JR stations. You can purchase and book there, and if you want, you can book and purchase in advance.” We were left with very less options and we ended up buying the smoking, green car one.

After

• If the whole trip was completed without the missed flight and any shopping, I shelled out around 1,700 USD.

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