Weekly Japan Travel Information and Discussion Thread – June 09, 2023

15 comments

1. What would folks recommend as the best way to go from Prince Sakura Tower in Shinagawa to Disneysea? We will be doing this on Wednesday morning and are aiming to arrive at 8:00am. We don’t mind paying for a taxi if it’s well worth it, but we also don’t mind leaving 15 minutes earlier to go by transit. Or even is there a better way?

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3. We are arriving in Tokyo via the Sunrise express at roughly 7 am, and the check-in at our Airbnb in Minowa is at 3 pm. We are a group of 5 and have some luggage, and we expect to be somewhat tired from the sleeper train. What can we do to kill the time between 7am and 3pm that’s not too tiring, and doesn’t involve carrying luggage around too much? Ideally we would want to find a coffee place to sit down and work until check-in, but so far the only options seem to be Starbucks and other chains (given that it has to arrive quite early, it has to be not too awkward to sit there for too long, it should be laptop-friendly). Are there better options?

4. Has anyone stayed in Hotel Villa Fontaine Premier at Haneda Airport Garden and was it worth it? I have a choice between staying there the last night before my flight after I return from Kyoto, or a skyline suite I got in Shinbashi at a discount. The logical part of me says stay at the Airport the night before and just deal with having to take the train after I’m done exploring Toyko my very last day, but I hate giving up the deal I found on the suite. If I stay at Haneda though it’s much less stress about what to do with my bags til check in, and I’m doing last shopping at the Airport Garden before I fly.

5. Can we use a debit card to purchase Ubigi esim? Website indicated we can use visa, master card, etc. but does say if we can use a debit card.

6. How many days would you recommend in kanazawa? Is one night or a day trip worth it ?

7. Does the shop and restaurants in Tokyo/Osaka still closed early? I will be going back next month and hoping it already back to normal because last time I went there on Feb they open at 11 and closed at 6/7 while few at 8.

8. How many days / night should be spent around Kiso Valley? 🙂

9. I’m planning on doing air bnbs and grocery shopping in Japan to save a bit on food costs. Has anyone ever done this before and what would I need to know in order to find a good grocery store in my areas? (Planning on being in Shibuya, Kyoto, and Osaka areas)

10. I’ll be traveling from hakone in the morning to NRT for an evening flight. I’ll have a toddler who’ll need to take a nap for 2.5 hours. Is there any sort of family friendly hotel that can be rented for less than a full night where we could setup his crib for a nap or is that not a thing?

11. We had threads recently on accomodations in different regions. What about one for love hotels?

12. Hi everyone, I have a tough decision to make regarding my 3 nights in Kyoto. Would anyone have any advice? I’m deciding between two options on how to spend day 3.

    Option 1: go to Nijo castle and Kyoto Imperial Palace. Try find an Onsen. Make our way to our Ryokan which we are only staying in for one night.

    Option 2: Go to Arashiyama Bamboo Forrest and from there go to Arashiyama Monkey Park. Then make our way to the Ryokan.

    For context: we arrive on day 1 from Tokyo and are hoping to go to Fushimi Inari that evening. Day 2 is a day trip to Nara. We wake up the morning after day 3 and leave early for Osaka.

    Is it possible for me to reshuffle these days in any way that would allow me to do more? Is there anything crucial I’m missing?

    Any advice would be really appreciated.

13. Do I need to/should I reserve Shinkansen train trips on smart-ex.JP before I arrive in Japan, or would it be sufficient to get them 2-3 days beforehand once we land? (Trips will be middle of the week, after rush hour)

    Second question, is it even possible to reserve ahead of time online for a group of people without them all already having their own IC cards? I have a child in my group and want to get the child fare card once we arrive…

    Thank you!

14. Anyone who has just been through Narita recently? How long does immigration take now?

    I’m going straight from Narita to Kyoto and am thinking of booking a [Hayatoku-21 ticket ](https://smart-ex.jp/en/product/hayatoku/ex_21/)from Tokyo to Kyoto, so I want to plan enough buffer time if possible!

15. hey there, I’ve been wondering, as I read conflicting information on that.

    I’ll be coming to Japan with a friend who holds a Thai passport. with that he’s allowed to stay visa-free for 15 days. We’d like to stay as long as possible, so does anyone know if the day of arrival already counts as day 1? or is it counted from the first full day.

    e.g. when arriving on the 1st September around 1pm, will that already count, so he’s allowed to stay until the 15th with this? Or would it be the 16th?