All posts tagged: travel japan

Top Three Tips For Touring Japan

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I covered a lot of topics in my Planning A Trip Overseas post. Obviously, your itinerary and activities will determine what you chose to bring with you to Japan. I prefer to be over-prepared and in some ways I was (there were a few phone applications I downloaded that I never used) but for the most part I was perfectly prepared. These are a few things that will make navigating Japan much easier. Here are my top three essentials for traveling Japan. TRANSPORTATION PASSES PASMO IC OR SUCIA CARD The majority of the time you will be walking or using public transportation. We decided against the JR Pass which seems like a really convenient way to travel around Japan. However, it is really expensive ($263/person for an ordinary 7-day pass) and based on our calculations, we were not planning and actually did not average $36/each a day in transportation expenses. Public transportation is really convenient and inexpensive. We used our Pasmo IC Card throughout Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. When we arrived at Haneda Airport we …

Touring Japan Days 7-8 Osaka

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OSAKA, JAPAN ACCOMMODATIONS Hotel Garden Palace & Kansai Airport Spa, Izumisano This hotel was super nice and a great place to end our trip to Japan as well as relax before heading to China. I chose a hotel not far from the Kansai Airport. The hotel had a restaurant, breakfast buffet, onsen, spa area, sauna, and free airport shuttle. We arrived to the hotel and went to the onsen. After soaking, I went to the foot soak, and massage chairs. I never found the sauna. Apparently the sauna was through a door that I was afraid to go through. I really need to learn to read Japanese. I went to the onsen right after we arrived and again after dinner. There was no complimentary private hour option at this hotel but thankfully no one else chose to visit the onsen at the same time as me.  The rooms were small and most of the hotel was not super fancy, but I did not mind with an onsen and other amenities like these. RESTAURANTS & FOOD …

Touring Japan Days 4-7 Kyoto

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KYOTO, JAPAN ACCOMMODATIONS Izutsu Hotel 52 Daikoku-cho, Kawaramachi-Sanjo-Sagaru-Nakagyo, Kyoto 〒604-8031 Japan Like Tokyo, Kyoto is a big city so this room was on the smaller side but worked just fine. We actually met two people in the lobby who went to the same university that we did. It is a small world. The location of this hotel was great because it was in the middle of everything. RESTAURANTS & FOOD This was our favorite restaurant, Tengu. It was not far down the street from our hotel and we ate there multiple times. They had a “build-your-own-meal” menu so we got to try lots of different things. Plus, it was very inexpensive, the service was good, and the food was great. We tried plum wine, which is delicious and I finally got to have some yakisoba. It is a franchise that has multiple locations in Japan. It would also be a fun place to go for drinks and appetizers. We also ate at the KFC across the street from our hotel a couple of times. It …