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Old 31 May 19, 03:36 PM  
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#21
Pumpkin Pie
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Originally Posted by Alidoll View Post
Your trip sounds amazing. Im hoping to go to Japan in 2021 (flying from Edinburgh as well). My daughter will be 11 by then so a trip to Disneysea and Disneyland is definitely on the cards along with Kyoto, Osaka, Hakone and Hiroshima. Did you fly into Narita or Haneda and where about in Tokyo did you stay? Did you use a luggage forwarding company between the cities or just carry your suitcases on the train? Can I ask what size suitcases you used as Ive been recommended to take medium ones but have a feeling Id never get everything I plan to buy into one if I did!

Thanks
Hakone was a great day trip. I really recommend the outdoor museum which is on one of the stops. It is beautifully landscaped with sculptures dotted about. You can sit and steep your feet in a sort of channel which hot water runs through - there are small Hakone towels you can buy for 100 yen to dry your feet!

We flew into Narita and caught the NEX train into Tokyo which free with the JR rail pass.

When booking we were not sure we had made the right choice at all with our hotel which was in Shinagawa which was a bit further down in the Yamanote loop but it turned out to be perfect for us. The station is easy to navigate and has only two exits. The NEX train stops there as do all the Shinkansen trains. The hotel was The Strings Intercontinental and we thought it was great. It takes around 10 mins to get to Tokyo Station for example. It also made it easy to choose to go up the east or west side of Tokyo for the day.

We would not have liked to have stayed at Shibuya or Shinjuku as it was just too busy for us but we dont go clubbing at night or anything! The area outside Tokyo Station looked really nice to stay.

Before leaving Tokyo to travel to Kyoto we asked the hotel if they would keep our second suitcase as we were returning to the hotel for our last two days. They said we could leave as much as we wanted and when we returned to check-in our luggage was brought out to us immediately without having to ask. We had 2 large suitcases and in fact we took a large canvas bag inside one as I knew I was going to buy lots of fabric!

There is limited space on the bullet trains (and NEX) for large suitcases but there is space to squeeze the cases in front of your seat if needed (we had to do this on the NEX on arrival). You will manage - dont worry about that. Returning to the airport we had the two large suitcases, large hold-all and two cabin bags!

Edit: if you were planning to travel and stay in a few different places in different hotels then carting luggage around could be a bigger problem.

Edited at 03:51 PM.
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Old 31 May 19, 03:54 PM  
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Oh my, I am going to post this thread to myself for future reference. Japan is top of our bucket list. I know a little Japanese language already but would be interested to know if you learned from a course or dvd? Also did you buy your JR tickets on line before you went Please?
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Old 31 May 19, 04:01 PM  
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We ended up buying our JR pass from STA travel rather than online. You have to buy them before you travel as the pass is not available in Japan. It is a voucher you receive and you get it validated at the airport (or major rail stations) where you then receive the rail pass.

I learnt Japanese (well a few words and sentences!) from YouTube. I was complimented quite a few times and was told I spoke it clearly whereas my husband gave up very quickly. Even when he used the correct word nobody could understand him lol.

Edited at 04:19 PM.
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Old 1 Jun 19, 06:19 PM  
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Originally Posted by Pumpkin Pie View Post
Yes you can use cash or if you get the Suica card you can pay with that. There are ticket machines and at the station our hotel was next to (Shinagawa) there was always someone at the machines to help tourists. There was also a route finder machine where you clicked the station you were leaving from and wanted to arrive at and it would give you a print out of times, platform etc. if you are not sure how to get somewhere.

I must admit though the rail pass made it really simple. We only used the metro once in Tokyo.
Thank you - thats really helpful. Where did you pick up your JR passes from? Did you make seat reservations? Love the idea of the stamps. Is it obvious where you get them?

Many thanks
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Old 1 Jun 19, 06:51 PM  
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Originally Posted by martha View Post
Thank you - thats really helpful. Where did you pick up your JR passes from? Did you make seat reservations? Love the idea of the stamps. Is it obvious where you get them?

Many thanks
You have to get the JR pass before going as its not available in Japan. You can order online but we got ours from Sta travel. Once you receive the voucher you take this to Japan. We exchanged our voucher at the airport - we asked at the information desk where to go. You then receive the actual pass. We used it straight away to take the NEX train into Tokyo (they reserve a seat for you on the next train for you). I believe if you dont want to do this at the airport you can exchange at the bigger rail stations.

There are JR reservation offices in the stations to reserve seats on the Shinkansen but you dont need to do anything when using the Yamanote line within Tokyo as the trains come every 4 minutes! You just flash the pass at the manned gates.

The stamps were not obvious to us at the start and we had to ask someone (usually at the manned gate at a station). Even in the temples etc. They could be at odd places but they always knew what we were talking about when we asked. They use the word stamp also. Here is an example of one of my stamps taken at Nara station. A couple of times we were taken into an office behind a blank door - we would never have found it in a million years. We did see quite a few others collecting stamps also - lots of Japanese collect them.


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Old 1 Jun 19, 07:35 PM  
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Those stamps are gorgeous
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Old 1 Jun 19, 07:59 PM  
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Wow - they are nice!
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Old 1 Jun 19, 08:52 PM  
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Heres another one. Himeji castle.

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Old 2 Jun 19, 01:34 PM  
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Originally Posted by Pumpkin Pie View Post
You have to get the JR pass before going as its not available in Japan. You can order online but we got ours from Sta travel. Once you receive the voucher you take this to Japan. We exchanged our voucher at the airport - we asked at the information desk where to go. You then receive the actual pass. We used it straight away to take the NEX train into Tokyo (they reserve a seat for you on the next train for you). I believe if you dont want to do this at the airport you can exchange at the bigger rail stations.

There are JR reservation offices in the stations to reserve seats on the Shinkansen but you dont need to do anything when using the Yamanote line within Tokyo as the trains come every 4 minutes! You just flash the pass at the manned gates.

The stamps were not obvious to us at the start and we had to ask someone (usually at the manned gate at a station). Even in the temples etc. They could be at odd places but they always knew what we were talking about when we asked. They use the word stamp also. Here is an example of one of my stamps taken at Nara station. A couple of times we were taken into an office behind a blank door - we would never have found it in a million years. We did see quite a few others collecting stamps also - lots of Japanese collect them.

Thank you. The stamps look really cute.

We have the vouchers that need to be exchanged for JR Passes - hoping to change at airport but not use for a few days - guessing it was quite an easy process from what you said. Which is good as we may be a bit tired as due to flight times I think we'll be missing a night's sleep!
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