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Happy Valentine's Day guys and gals! Hope you lovebirds had a splendid Valentine's day. But today, sadly, I wont be talking about Valentine's, but something you guys might also be interested in... 

Ah yes, Japan. Land of the rising sun, home to the samurais and one of the most unique cultures of the world. My “not so recent” 1 week trip to Japan was awesome but as awesome as it was, there were some little blunders here and there. Join me as I uncover the do and don’ts of travelling in Japan. 

Before you go to Japan, there are a few things you need to know before hand.

Due to the widespread overstaying of Malaysians in Japan back in the 90s, the Japanese government has imposed a visa requirement for Malaysians who want to go to Japan. The requirements were tighter back in 2006 than it usually is so, don’t be surprised. I don’t intend to mislead you guys, so, for more info on the updated visa requirements at http://www.my.emb-japan.go.jp/English/visit.htm. 

Now, to go to Japan, you can either take a travel package with a travel agent or take the route less travelled and go around by yourself/selves, (kind of) like I did. For those who prefer the former, this post is not quite for your type. But anyway, back to the story at hand, getting flight tickets.

The logo is copyright of MATTA

Allocating money for the trip is quite tough especially if you don’t know the cost of living in Japan. However, because I have applied for an internship in Japan before, I have done some research about Japan. Its possible to survive in Japan for a month for about 1000USD/ 120,000Yen (2006 conversion rate), So I estimated the cost for a week is 30,000 yen, but as I was travelling around, I added an extra 15000yen as a safety net. A credit card also will come in handy but don’t use it until really nessasary. 

Before going to Japan, it is probably wise to plan your journey in advance. It will help a lot if you know where in Japan you want to go and how to get there. Of course this is heavily influenced by the time of year you are going. I went in November which was during autumn, so, besides Tokyo, Kyoto is one must go destination due to the historic and natural environmental theme of the city. www.japan-guide.com is an excellent website where u can plan your journey in Japan. 

Its a really good sorce of infomation to those interested in traveling in Japan

As adventurers travelling without a formal travel guide, it would help to at least have a guide on the other side to help out, possibly somebody you know and knows the way around Japan, and if necessary, can lend a place to bunk in for the night in case you cant find a place to stay. Well, my timing was quite excellent because I had friends in Tokyo and Osaka where I could bunk in for the night while saving costs. On top of that my brother was working on a project in Tskuba, located about 60-80 KM from Tokyo. 

However for my trip in Kyoto, I needed to book a place to stay. For this www.hotelclub.com is a good place to book your place. It offers a wide range of hotels, hostels in almost any city in the world. 

While it’s cheaper to take a bus for inter-city travel, its also important for you to get orientated with the train systems in Japan, since the main transportation within a city is by train.

I think Japanese people possibly spend a quarter of their lifetime in the train or public transport. If possible, print out the train maps of the city you are going to IN COLOUR because all the different lines have different colours so, a black and white map wouldn’t be so useful would it? More info about the trains at  www.japanrail.com .

Just look at this map of the Tokyo  subway system. If you want to print it, do yourself a favor and print it in colour

Last and not least, PLEASE get yourself acquainted with basic Japanese language as you will surely find yourself in situations where nobody speaks English and there are no Romanized sign boards. Getting a Japanese language handbook is quite useful.

So, with my visa, accommodation and travel plans ready, I was all set to go on the 8 hour flight from KLIA to Narita Airport. This whole post was about planning the trip, but would the real trip go according to plan? That will be revealed in the next post.

Till then, Happy travelling!

Comments (3)

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written by Frendie , July 16, 2008

Hi...
What do you mean by "The MATTA fair is a good place to get flight tickets a bargain price, that’s what I did. However, for travels above 2 months, I don’t recommend you to even set foot at the fair as there are usually no deals for those travel periods".....

There is a Matta fair going to be in Sept, I wanted to find a cheap flight to Osaka in Oct... It is ok for me to wait for the Matta fair in Sept? or should i get it now? what is the different?

Thanks !

Frendie

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written by iMyn , July 18, 2008

[Frendie] If you noticed, airlines like MAS have 3 categories of flight rate, the normal price, the flex saver and the super saver. Usually the super saver tickets are only available about 2 months before the actual flight. So booking the ticket too early in advance is not such a great idea because you cannot get the super saver price. But keep in mind the economy class flights tickets to Japan usually are 95% if not 100% full. so you also have to consider that. Traveling on non-peak day such as week days also can help..

p/s : I'm also going to Osaka in January/february next year.

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written by iMyn , July 18, 2008

Oops, forgot to answer your question....
What i mean by the sentence you quoted is, if you are coming back to Malaysia after 2 months its not worth it to buy a ticket at MATTA, the prices wont be cheap. Even the promoters wil tend to ignore you when you say you're going for more than 2 months. Thats what happened when I was searching for a ticket to Frankfurt for my 5 month internship.... but who make sure u check the Matta fair website, who knows there are special offers for long term travelers...