What to do in Japan for 2 weeks?

Raymond Lin said:
The weeks and months prior was raining non stop, I checked the weather, but it really did stop just in time for me. I bought an umbrella but only used it once. Then broke it accidentally which was a blessing coz I didn’t want to bring it back anyway.

I have been making all the food at home since I got back, from Ramen, Takoyaki, will make okonomyaki and Taiyaki next.
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yeah we flew out on the 23.10.17 went for 2 weeks. apart from the 2 typhoons the weather was outstanding and fairly warm compared to the UK.

i've been meaning to pop into the japan centre supermarket in london at some point as i've run out of most of it. however i dont think my cooking is up to par compared to what we had in Japan just yet.
also really miss the grape fanta / soda :(
 
dr_volki said:
yeah we flew out on the 23.10.17 went for 2 weeks. apart from the 2 typhoons the weather was outstanding and fairly warm compared to the UK.

i've been meaning to pop into the japan centre supermarket in london at some point as i've run out of most of it. however i dont think my cooking is up to par compared to what we had in Japan just yet.
also really miss the grape fanta / soda :(
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I knew the area is typhoon central late summer so I really aimed for the fall colours, I had a wedding to shoot at the time for middle/late of October so my schedule couldn’t have worked anyway for those days, which was a blessing in the end. The weather was fine, I was in 2 thin layers most days with the exception of Hakone where it was 2c. The rest of the time it wasn’t that bad, I would call it mild to breezy.


Food wise, I have been able to make really good ramen, SousChef.co.uk is a great site for getting ingredients, their tonkutsu broth is really nice, get some ramen and then make the meat at home. I use recipe from Jun’s Kitchen YouTube Channel for his ramen for the pork, I sear and then sous vide it for 12 hours. It’s lovely.


I didn’t buy any grape soda there, I know they taste different but the thing I want is Calpis ! Love the name, the white drink. I can only seem to find the concentrated version here, not the 500ml bottles.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I knew the area is typhoon central late summer so I really aimed for the fall colours, I had a wedding to shoot at the time for middle/late of October so my schedule couldn’t have worked anyway for those days, which was a blessing in the end. The weather was fine, I was in 2 thin layers most days with the exception of Hakone where it was 2c. The rest of the time it wasn’t that bad, I would call it mild to breezy.


Food wise, I have been able to make really good ramen, SousChef.co.uk is a great site for getting ingredients, their tonkutsu broth is really nice, get some ramen and then make the meat at home. I use recipe from Jun’s Kitchen YouTube Channel for his ramen for the pork, I sear and then sous vide it for 12 hours. It’s lovely.


I didn’t buy any grape soda there, I know they taste different but the thing I want is Calpis ! Love the name, the white drink. I can only seem to find the concentrated version here, not the 500ml bottles.
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cool thanks will check that website out :)
 
I been Japan so many times. I was there the first day Yodabashi Akihabra opened, there were massive queues and EVERY floor was rammed like an underground train, you couldnt move.
I also remember seeing the construction of the Sky tree.

Hopefully I'll be going back soon.
 
Just on my way back to the UK from Tokyo. Spent 2 weeks at home :).

For the benefit of anyone going, I would recommend adding VR experience at Japan.

There's a few sites, they are slightly expensive with short play time but some of them are worth it for the experience.

VR zone shinjuku - lots to do, in particular Mario kart VR was great fun. they also have walking FPS VR with arm and leg sensing but requires separate booking.
Adores VR park- a few sites across the city, most are similar, some good games. you pay around 2500yen for 90 mins slot playtime.
Zero latency at Joypolis - probably the best fun to cost ratio. VR walking FPS. requires booking, and seperate joypolis entry ticket, total about 2500yen.

Hope this helps someone !
 
Has anyone ever transfered from international to domestic at Haneda?

I understand the procedure is to go through immigration, collect luggage, get on bus to domestic, check in and drop off luggage.

I've booked a separate onward flight that gives three hours for the transfer but am now worrying a little. Have I given myself enough time?
 
garak112 said:
Has anyone ever transfered from international to domestic at Haneda?

I understand the procedure is to go through immigration, collect luggage, get on bus to domestic, check in and drop off luggage.

I've booked a separate onward flight that gives three hours for the transfer but am now worrying a little. Have I given myself enough time?
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I did the same in Narita, had the same amount of time and I made it with collecting a rail pass and SIM card in between.
 
How much time did it take you once you got through immigration?

After booking the tickets I remembered it took over an hour to get through immigration last time, it was managed surprisingly inefficiently.
 
garak112 said:
How much time did it take you once you got through immigration?

After booking the tickets I remembered it took over an hour to get through immigration last time, it was managed surprisingly inefficiently.
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I recall I spent most of the time waiting in line because everyone had to had their fingerprint recorded and then passport check and then luggage check where they asked me if I have X, Y, Z items in my luggage, he even brought out a ring binder with photos pointing it out and when I said I didn’t he then asked to see the content so that took the longest. It was efficient in terms of everyone knew what they were doing but it felt really procedural and it was longer than the same thing that I did in Chicago a year ago.

After that it was fine, and internal flight has a 30min before boarding limit, not 1 hr so that gave me more time.

One thing is they are STRICT with on board carry on weigh, they had scales at the door at the gate. I had to stuff my pockets with my spare l lenses and i just made the cut.
 
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Interesting, never had any weight issues, or even scrutiny when flying internally from Osaka or Sapporo (Shin Chitose) ... in fact the only issue I had (in Osaka) was going through the usual hand luggage x-ray jobby at security as you do for any flight I had a bit of a communication breakdown with the chap feeding in the bags but that just turned out to be he wanted to lie down my bag differently than it was ... Shin Chitose was chaos but that was for other reasons.

Arriving into Japan from the UK I've had my main suitcase searched once by Customs and was pulled aside once by Immigration (their finger print reader ... well wouldn't) ... both times from getting off the plane to being through and buying Limobus tickets was <45mins.
 
memyselfandi said:
Interesting, never had any weight issues, or even scrutiny when flying internally from Osaka or Sapporo (Shin Chitose) ... in fact the only issue I had (in Osaka) was going through the usual hand luggage x-ray jobby at security as you do for any flight I had a bit of a communication breakdown with the chap feeding in the bags but that just turned out to be he wanted to lie down my bag differently than it was ... Shin Chitose was chaos but that was for other reasons.

Arriving into Japan from the UK I've had my main suitcase searched once by Customs and was pulled aside once by Immigration (their finger print reader ... well wouldn't) ... both times from getting off the plane to being through and buying Limobus tickets was <45mins.
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In my carryon, through BA long haul I had my laptop, charger, a DSLR body, 3 lenses, headphones and my Nintendo Switch. It's not a problem on BA as they don't check and it is also a 23kg limit.

On Jetstar it was a 7kg limit, i thought I got away with it because they didn't weight it at baggage check but when I got to the gate there was scales at the door. So I word the headphones, put a lens in each pocket and camera over my shoulder. It was silly really when I could just stuff my pockets because at that point I would have stuffed my Nintendo Switch between my butt cheeks rather than check in a laptop in the haul with just a back pack for protection.

Lucky the bag was like 6.8kg with my pockets full of gear !
 
Raymond Lin said:
Lucky the bag was like 6.8kg with my pockets full of gear !
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We won't be taking internal flights but we will be taking the train.
What are the overhead luggage rails like for size?
On a shinkansen people have said there isn't a large amount of room for luggage at the end of the carriage so items may have to be stored overhead.
Will the overhead take a full sized case, medium case and very large case?
Or would we be best to courier the luggage on ahead?
 
Overhead racks will take something the size of a cabin bag on a plane. There is very limited space for anything larger bearing in mind you can't block the isles and if you are in reserved seating then you can't put it in front of the seat next to you as you'll be blocking someone else

Edit: personally we go to Tokyo and leave our main cases at the hotel there after a few days, go off for a week with small cases, then return and spend more time in Tokyo at the end negating the need to take the main cases around with us.
 
Destination said:
We won't be taking internal flights but we will be taking the train.
What are the overhead luggage rails like for size?
On a shinkansen people have said there isn't a large amount of room for luggage at the end of the carriage so items may have to be stored overhead.
Will the overhead take a full sized case, medium case and very large case?
Or would we be best to courier the luggage on ahead?
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At the end of some carts there are space for 2 suitcases but they are almost always already taken unless the train is empty.

The overhead can take a medium size case, so don't put too much in your suitcase because you will have to lift it above your head, how good are you at weight lifting? lol I almost hurt myself once doing it, so the next time I took out things like my laptop to remove the couple of KG to help.

Remember that the Japanese are VERY courteous, they don't even put their handbags on the seat next to them in an empty train so blocking an entire seat with your luggage is a big no no.
 
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Okay great guys likely we'll take backpack for the trip out of city and locker it up in between times.
Suggestions for lockers to use if out of the city for 8 days?
Staying in different hotels before and after, so can't leave them in a hotel i don't think.
 
Destination said:
Okay great guys likely we'll take backpack for the trip out of city and locker it up in between times.
Suggestions for lockers to use if out of the city for 8 days?
Staying in different hotels before and after, so can't leave them in a hotel i don't think.
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Lockers in stations are charged daily rate, 700yen for the largest size, 500yen for the smaller ones. Be warn that some of them have a closing time like 10pm so you can't retrieve it until the morning if you use one of those. I've used many lockers at stations when i arrive at a new city so i can explore the place before heading back to grab the luggage before moving on or check in.
 
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