Heading to Japan in 3 Wks Have a few questions!
 

Hey all,

This forum seems to be a great find while I was looking for some travel advice for japan. I am from Canada and am heading to japan 3 wks from now and like the procrastinator that me and my friends are we are starting to semi plan this now. Was hoping if anyone could answer a few questions.

We are landing in Osaka Kansai Airport and leaving at Tokyo Narita Airport. Firstly we were thinking about booking some rooms with toyoko-inn.com but before we do this we were just wondering about the transportation and specifically the amount of time it takes to get to a destination.

We are planning on probably staying in Osaka for 3 nights maybe roam or spend like half a day in Kyoto and then spend the rest of the time in Tokyo.

So I guess my first question is with the Japan Rail pass, how long does it take to get from Osaka to Tokyo? I believe this is using the Shinkansen trains(bullet trains?).

Second question I have is where are some great places to visit in these 3 cities that you would recommend no tourist miss.

Third question, what are some great night life areas to go to while in Osaka or Tokyo? Im hoping that atleast some of these nightclubs will have some locals and not just a club or bar thats full of foreigners.

I think for now these are my main questions, thanks for all the help!

How long are you staying for?

Approximately for 10 days.

Osaka to Tokyo is about 3 hours.

I am not sure what you are interested in, so it is hard to recommend. Nara kooen (Nara Park) is about 45 minutes by train from Osaka, and it is definately worth seeing the Great Buddha there. In Kyoto I'd see Kiyomizu Temple. I like Monkey Mountain in west Kyoto.

Thanks for the reply MMM, well as for what im interested in, to be honest since this is such a different culture from Canada I could imagine i'd be interested in everything. From old age culture to new school high tech gadgetry.

I searched some older threads in this site and found a few nice nightlife spots. Anyone else have some nice recommendations?

get a day bus pass (for 500en) from the bus place infront of kyoto station. then you can travel all over kyoto all day long as much as you want (the bus fare are pretty expensive in kyoto, over 200 en i believe). As far as what to stop at, theres a looooooooot to see in kyoto. Some of my favorites were : kyomizudera, gion, nijoujou, kinkakuji. But really, theres soo much to see, you can even do it on a whim the day you arrive because they give you a map with your day pass with all the sites. I suggest spending more time in Kyoto because it has a lot more to see than Osaka and I didn't get to see as much as I liked to in 2 and 1/2 days, I'm afraid 1/2 day is really not much. I probably spent ~2hrs per temple/castle.

For osaka area, Namba is really cool for food/shopping/people watching...amazingly huuuuuuuge shopping place. And the crab & glico man are there (famous in japan) :mtongue:

1. Osaka to Tokyo is a 3 hour trip on the Shinosaka line

2. HALF a day in Kyoto? You might want to reconsider this. Especially since your going to stay 3 weeks in Japan. Even if you dont like culture and history you have to. Spending a week in kyoto should like you 2 weeks for Tokyo which is a good start. Kyoto is the cultural capital of Japan. There is so much to see that you could spend A LOT of time there.

Then theres the surrounding like Nara. I mean just google Kyoto or pick a book about Japan and look for Kyoto and youll understand.

For exemple look over here: Kyoto Travel Guide

3. Like you said. This question as already been answered a lot of times over here. Just take a look in there and have some fun ! Japan guide books are also usuful.

Sorry if my answers arent so helpful but the most important thing i can tell you is the really reconsider the time you want to spend in Kyoto. It doesnt matter if your a techno-electro-skyscrapper-megacity junkie that dont like culture, history and that kind of stuff. You HAVE TO see the temples, shrines, gardents and etc. in Kyoto. Hehe

have fun

agree 100% with this post

Except his is only spending 10 days in Japan. I agree, there is more to see, as a tourist, in Kyoto than Osaka. 1/2 a day is not enough (but you can spend the night in Osaka)

Thanks for the great advice all and yes I am staying for 10 days in Japan. But it seems like everyone is highly recommending Kyoto so maybe I will do some reconsideration in terms of the time I want to spend there. Only reason why I considered staying longer in Osaka was the fact that since I am landing Osaka I might as well spend a little more time here.

In terms of travel Osaka looks relatively close to Kyoto, so perhaps I could have my hotel in Osaka while traveling to kyoto to check it out and perhaps spend 2 or 3 days there which seems to be what MMM is also recommending. Does that sound like a better idea?

Thanks also for the great destinations in kyoto and advice Kenmei and Raisthlin.

You can do dinners/bars/clubs in Osaka (hotel there) and spend a day or two in Kyoto for sight-seeing.

ahh thx. i made a mistake about how long hes going to be there.

But the fact reminds that if your planning to do those 3 cities only, half of your trip should be dedicated to kyoto. 3-4 days would be ok.

what i would do would be 1 day osaka, 4 days kyoto, 1 day nara or kamakura, 4 days tokyo

oh and heres another piece of advice. pay close attention to whatever MMM says. he helped me a great deal when i was planning my trip this summer and is advice did proved more then useful.

I agree that Kyoto is a beautiful place to see - there's culture falling over itself round every corner - fantastic. I think you can stay in Osaka and travel to Kyoto during the day - that's what I did when I went down there and it was only 30 minutes or so to Kyoto as I remember - not long anyway.

Tokyo has some must see sights for me. If you love funky places try Odaiba - so much to do there is something for everyone - future science museum, hot spring baths edo style, shops and shops and shops, joypolis a big game and ride area right next to the shops and a big showroom dedicated to Toyota where you can even drive one of their cars.

Nights out - you should try Shibuya or Shinjuku if you don't want to be where all the foreigners are - generally they end up in Roppongi. Good venues can be found here Secobar Shibuya Tokyo (Nightclub) check the links down the left : )

thanks for the tons of help you guys have given me so far we identified some points of interest we are interested in seeing not necessarily all of them. We plan on putting more places on our brainstorm list and hopefully after that we can decide which are the ones we will actaully set out to do.

Osaka Science and Technology Museum
Osaka Castle
Namba District
Nara Buddha Statue
Kinkakuji
Mount Kyoto
Kyoto International Manga Museum

sounds good, if you can get that all in in 3 days. :cool: It's better that you decide most of the stuff for yourself, cos its your vacation! I don't like when people come here and say "going to tokyo for 2 weeks where should I go lolz" how should we know? We don't know any of your interests. Regardless, have tons of fun and takes as many pics as you can :vsign:

ride the rush hour train in the morning.
it doesn't get more japanese than that.

Well, to give a counter opinion, rush hour trains with white gloved station men pushing people into cars is the stereotype of life in Japan, and many people in America think ALL trains are like that ALL the time. That is only in Tokyo at certain stations at certain times in the morning.

true....so ride chuo line, denentoshi line or tozai line between 7.45 and 8.45.
i am certain someone else can tell u "their" crowded line.

I am not saying it doesn't happen, but it isn't universal. On the other hand, it is a pretty unique experience, as long as you aren't claustrophobic.