Getting Ready for the Magical Voyage: Japan Trip Preps

Last year, my best bud Rizki Yogaswara  and I made a crazy plan to visit our best friend, Hari Wicaksono (Pengki) who were at that time resided in Osaka, Japan. The idea just occurred and we thought that it would be great to pay him a visit before his official duty ends and he returns to Jakarta. What we have in mind was, by having our pal in Osaka, we would be able to experience the city in a local resident way!

At the beginning I thought the plan was just going to be another ‘soon to be forgotten’, yet apparently Yogas and I took this seriously and put it in our priority.

Now since I work in Makassar and Yogas in Jakarta, we mostly communicated through email and chat application. Initially we focused on the schedule, because it is the most crucial one. The schedule will determine everything, namely trip duration, total budget and how many leaves we should take. Yogas and I have been wanting to see cherry blossom [sakura] blooming, hence we automatically set the trip in March or April. We then started to compare ticket prices during the period and consulted to Pengki to figure out the best alternative. Pengki mentioned about ‘the golden week’, a period of public holidays which falls at the end of April and early May that might be worth to consider. He said that the good thing of visiting during the golden week [GW] is that he would be able to accompany us throughout the Osaka trip –because it’s national holiday period.  However, we also must anticipate that during the GW most of tourist destinations will be packed.   

After a lengthy discussion and tens of phone calls, we finally decided to set the trip on 23 April–5 May 2014. That’s 13 days in total, incorporating the GW period.

Once the date is set, comes the most complex and difficult part of all: arranging pre-departure preparations.

What I got on my list:

1. airplane ticket
2. accommodation
3. itinerary and places to visit
4. local transportation
5. visa
6. others

Now let’s go through it…

1. Airplane ticket

Our trip will begin in Tokyo and end in Osaka. Thus we need to get aviation companies that serve the route. Airasia does cover it, however we don’t feel comfortable with the schedule. The plane from Jakarta will reach Tokyo at almost midnight, which according to some friends is rather risky, because there’s a great likelihood that you’ll miss the train to the city. Well apparently in Tokyo, the train service only operates up until midnight, hence if you experience a delay, either you have to take taxi to get you to the city [which is VERY expensive], or stay overnight at the airport. Moreover, you’ll feel tired, because you reach the airport at midnight, and at that hour your biological clock will automatically command your body to rest.

Thus for Yogas and I, Airasia didn’t appear as a charming option. Look, we are not young any longer. I am not saying that we’re THAT old, but as we've reached the third decade on earth, we’d prefer something that is more comfortable. For us, it’s okay to pay more as long it’s compensated with convenience. Having this reason, we quickly ditched budget airlines in our list and started to compare prices between Garuda and Malaysia Airlines.

Well Garuda did offer good prices, and I would prefer to fly with Garuda compare to Malaysia Airlines [talking about patriotism and quality], but at that time, the promo price only eligible for Jakarta-Tokyo return route, not for Jakarta-Tokyo & Osaka-Jakarta. It was for that that in the end we settled on Malaysia Airlines. We bought the round trip Jakarta-Tokyo & Osaka-Jakarta ticks for IDR 6.2 mio and according to the schedule, we will reach Tokyo at 7.30 in the morning. That’s a pretty good arrangement for us, and what’s more important is that we’re entitled to full-service treatment during the long haul flight. No more tiny leg room and meal that costs additional expense.  So yeah, we think it’s worth it.

What else can soothe your long haul flight but good food and in-flight entertainment?

2. Accommodation.

Talking about accommodation, once you googled, you’ll be completely lost in the midst of accommodation options. Now the key is to know which area you prefer, budget limitation and the type of facilities you need.

Since the beginning, Yogas and I have decided that we opt for backpacker hostel owing to our limited budget. We can compromise on the ‘private-ness’ yet we don’t want to negotiate on strategic location and cleanliness. We put those as our top criterias and off our searched began.

After a couple of comparisons, we shortlisted these two accommodations: K’house Tokyo and Khaosan Tokyo. Both are located in strategic spots and have good reviews. However our verdict went to Khaosan Tokyo Ninja, that is nearby Akihabara. Our reason was simply because we felt like it.

We booked a personal room with bunk bed and shared bathroom. The price per person is USD 30.83 (USD 61.66 per room), with no breakfast included. I did the booking through the Hostelworld and what I really like about it is that you don’t have to pay upfront. They will only charge you 10% of the total transaction and the rest will be billed on arrival. Another similar service that I like is Booking.com which allows you to pay everything on arrival. It’s very practical and helpful especially when you’re not really sure where you want to stay but need to have an official booking for visa application.

Moi, in front of the hostel

As a person who lives in Indonesia when I come to think about accommodation rate in Japan, I would say  it’s VERY EXPENSIVE. In Jakarta, Bali, and other big cities in Indonesia you can easily get USD 15-20 room equipped with personal bathroom. For the price of 60 bucks you’d get your self a room at three-star accommodation with beautifully-tiled loo and delicious breakfast served every morning.

But I guess everything that relates with service [specially human labor] is expensive in Japan and I just have to accept that.

So no more fuss about accommodation. It’s done and let’s just scratch it off my list.

Next.

3. Itinerary and places to visit.
Now this is a REAL challenge, because basically it’s putting together wishes and wants of two different individuals, and trust me, it’s frickin’ tricky. And complicated at the same time. And confusing, that it took us a couple of months to be able to finalize it. And trust me again, once you have finally agreed on it, your life will just be easier.

Our route: Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto-Nara-Kyoto-Kobe-Osaka. 

Places to visit:

In Tokyo: Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Akihabara, Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo Tower, Yoyogi Park, Ghibli Museum, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Hakone, Fujiko F. Fujio Museum.

In Osaka and Kansai area: Osaka Aquarium, ferris wheel, Osaka Castle, Kyomizudera, Gion, Kinkakuji, Nijou Castle, Todaiji, Kawaramachi, Arashiyama, Kobe Nunobiki Herb Garden, a brewery/museum.

Trying to be well-planned slash pro travelers, we developed the itinerary in excel document. We even put a time table on it and calculated cost estimate as well. But in the end, the itinerary only served as a guidance, because plans can easily change depending on the actual condition, remaining time you have, weather and... mood.

Please notice that some museums such as Fujiko F. Fujio and Ghibli require visitors to buy ticket in advance. The tickets are sold in Lawson [local Japan Lawson, not Lawson in your neighbourhood] and usually it will only be available a month before the visit date. However I suggest you to check on each museum’s website for the details.

In our case, we’re lucky because we have our pal Pengki in Osaka. So he did all the ticket buying and sent the tickets to our hostel.

Anyway here's a link that I found VERY USEFUL for making itinerary.

4. Local transportation: JR Pass, yes or no?

We found ourselves so perplexed whether to buy JR Pass or not. 

We consulted with Pengki, rechecked our itinerary, asked people who’ve been to Japan, but still couldn’t come up with decision. We then chose not to think about it for awhile and see how it goes.

Eventually after looking at our itinerary for hundreds of time, we decided not to buy it. We’ll just rely on the average train service. Besides, we’d like to take bus [Willer Bus]  from Tokyo to Osaka instead of taking train, therefore JR Pass isn’t really beneficial for us. 

5. Visa

Basically it’s easy peasy as long as you full fill all requirements.

I’ve read some posts mentioning about the minimum amount of money in your bank account . Some say it’s IDR 30 mio, yet some get away with IDR 10 mio and still able to get the visa. My suggestion, it’s better to calculate it by multiplying the number of days you’ll be spending with the daily expenses in Japan.  You can set the daily expense by adding together accommodation, transport and meal cost. I know everybody can have a different set of daily expense, but do calculate it based on real cost. From my side, I set  USD 100 as my daily expense, therefore since I’ll be spending 13 days in Japan, at the minimum I need to have USD 1300 in my bank account.

For employee, I’d say it would be better to attach an employer statement saying that you’re an official employee of the company. Though it is not compulsory, having the letter will provide you additional assurance, pointing out to them [the embassy] that you don’t have any intention to misuse your visa and instead become an illegal worker.

Another important issue that I’d like to highlight is for those who work outside your home-base, you will need to process the visa in the embassy/consulate office that serves jurisdiction based on your ID. For example, I currently work in Makassar, but I am not enlisted as Makassar resident. My ID states that I’m a resident of Bekasi, West Java, therefore, I can only obtain my visa in the embassy of Japan in Jakarta instead of the consulate in Makassar. 

The consulate office in Makassar only serves for Sulawesi-Maluku-Papua residents and no other. Currently there are 5 consulate offices spread in Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya, Denpasar, Makassar and each of them serves different jurisdiction. More information about it here.

Also, thorough details about Japan visa can be obtain here.

6. Others 

Okay, what falls under this category is basically only local simcard. It’s important, particularly because you’ll need to be connected all the time to check on train route and schedule on your apps [seriously, you’ll be dead without it].  Unfortunately in Japan, getting a local sim card isn’t as easy as one-two-three. It requires a lengthy process with lots of paper works and can only be obtain if you’re staying there for quite a while. Their rule prohibits tourist from owning sim card that is able to make a phone call and send text message. To make it worse, there are not much places that offer free wi-fi, unlike in Indonesia. Therefore as a tourist, our options to stay connected are limited: buying data sim card, or renting pocket wi-fi.

Pocket wi-fi is efficient if you’re travelling in group because you can share the cost. It's expensive for two, but if you're a group of four and five, then it's worth considering. In my case since it’s only the two of us, the most plausible option is to opt data sim card from B-Mobile Visitor SIM CARD.

There are 2 alternatives available: 1G prepaid and 14 days prepaid. The main difference is the 1G prepaid gives you unlimited speed [but there is a quota], while the 14 days prepaid is unlimited but it only has max 300 kbps speed.

Both can be used up until 14 days and are set at the price of JPY 3791 [with tax is JPY 4094].

What I did choose was the 1G prepaid package. Why? Simply because I NEED the speed. You don’t want to browse for maps and route with an awful-lagging connection do you? Furthermore I believe the 1G quota would be suffice for 14 days period, unless you’re uploading hefty posts on Instagram and Path which as you know, eat up your bandwidth pretty quickly.

On B-Mobile delivery form, I requested the sim cards to be delivered to our hostel. Essentially, you can pick whether to deliver it to hotel/home [free of charge], or to the post office at the airport [additional JPY 200 charge].  The overall purchasing process was easy for me. I just filled in the form, inserted my credit card number and it's done. The web is  informative and as long as you read through it, there is nothing to worry about.

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So I guess I did cover everything from 1 to 6 on my prep list. I know it’s not detail enough as any other travel posts but I hope somebody will find this useful.

I’ll write more about the experience in Japan, which if you ask me to describe it in one word it would be: MAGICAL.

Until then. 

Cheerio!