I’m finally back from my hiatus after an almost 2-month break. In that time, I was back in Japan for 5 days and visited Korea for about 6 days and Indonesia (Bali) for about a week. So yup, it was a productive hiatus with more pretty pictures from my travel to come, I’m sure.
Meanwhile, here’s a continuation of my blog posts on the Japan trip back in December. We finished Tokyo and surrounding. Here’s a recap:
- Shibuya-ku: Harajuku & Shibuya
- Kichijoji: Ghibli Museum & Inokashira Park
- Nakano: Nakano Broadway
- Kawagoe: Kitain Temple & Old “Little Edo” Town
- Saitama: Chichibu Float Festival
- Ikebukuro: Namja Town & J-World
- Roppongi: Tokyo Midtown & Mori Art Museum & Roppongi Hills
- Marunouchi: Tokyo Station
- Shin-Urayasu: Oedo-Onsen Monogatari Mangekyo
- Asakusa: Sensoji Temple & Nakamise-dori & Calaugh Cat Cafe & Sightseeing
- Odaiba: Miraikan & Rainbow Bridge & AquaCity & Decks
- Akihabara: Anime hunting
- Ginza: Around Ginza and Shinbashi
From here on, we went to Yokohama, Kamakura, Nagoya, Takayama, Shirakawa-go, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, and Osaka.
We used the 7-Day JR Pass for our trip from Yokohama to Nagoya to Takayama to Kyoto to Osaka to Kobe to Osaka to Nara to Osaka. Yep. That was the route, in case you guys are wondering.
It was worth it. As in, price-wise, because we didn’t go as far down as Hiroshima neither did we do a return trip to Tokyo, we only saved probably less than $20 each for the whole trip. But having a JR Pass means ease of travelling for tourists. We didn’t have to purchase our tickets separately, which saved us some time.
So I will definitely recommend this option to all my fellow travellers who are going one way down. Just make sure that the 7-Day is used wisely so that you do all your faraway travelling during that time.
Plus, you get to experience the shinkansen!
Hi Julie,
Thank you for the information that you have put up on ur blog. Helped a lot.
We (a couple) are planning to travel to Japan late Nov to Early Dec. To be more specific, we are going to land at osaka kansai airport, stay at osaka for 2 days, then move to kyoto for 2 days, then move to Tokyo for 4 more days before flying out from Tokyo Haneda Airport. We are planning to do all our travel within Japan via trains. Will u recommend us to get the JR pass? Does JR pass cover the fees for Tokyo metro subway, Osaka metro etc as well? Or are we better off financially getting the tickets separately? Is there any place/website that i can check for more information? Thank you for your time!
Regards,
Wei
Hi Wei, I’m glad my blog has helped you with planning for your Japan trip! I’m sure you are excited for your upcoming Japan trip!! :)
If you are going from Osaka > Kyoto > Tokyo, the JR pass will not be worth your money. A 7 day JR Pass is ¥29110, and will be worth it if you are returning to Osaka or doing further trips (say down south or up to Hokkaido). My suggestion will be to get a SUICA card and then just adding money to it as you go. I find the Hyperdia website (and app) to be VERY useful: http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ to check for timetable and prices.
Japan trains are operated by different companies, so JR / Metro / Toei / so on… And therefore, the JR Pass will only cover some of your local travels in Tokyo / Osaka. Hope that makes sense! Let me know if you have more questions. Happy planning!