Korean Job Discussion Forums

[antoniothegreat]

my cousin and i are talking about trips. we will either go to beijing, hong kong, or somewhere in japan. we have only the weekend. how "doible/doable" is Japan for a weekend? is that kind of a waste? we want to see cultural things, so kyoto would be cool, maybe mt Fuji, whatever.

is a weekend trip to japan ok or not? what is there to do? i know there is a museum in nagasaki i think for the bomb. how much does internal transport cost? i dont need too detailed information, i just want to figure out basic costs and things we can do, if i go we will get a guidebook.

[Ekuboko]

I think for any part of Japan, a long weekend of at least 3 days is better.

[Poemer]

Well, internal transport in Japan is really expensive. If you are planning on travelling between cities on the high speed rail line it is going to be a minimum of $60 US one way between cities. A JR pass that you have to reserve BEFORE you go can be had for 250 bucks. It will give you access to pretty much all the trains you will need as many times as you need them. Plane and train combined I remember spending about 600- 700 dollars; that's an expensive weekend trip, not to mention lodging etc.

[J.B. Clamence]

What kind of budget are we talking here? Japan is very expensive, especially domestic transport, so if you only have one weekend, you would be best off staying in whatever city you fly into. If you fly into Tokyo, there will be plenty for you to see and do there for 2 days. I wouldn't think it would be worthwhile travelling to another city. If you fly into Osaka, Kyoto is reasonable--plenty to see there. It would probably be cheapest to fly to Fukuoka. Not much to see there, though. You could catch the train to some other spots in Kyushu instead, but that will cost you. Buying a JR Pass for just 2 days is kind of a waste of money.

My recommendation is fly into Osaka (Kansai) and spend the weekend in Kyoto.

And by the way, flying is the only way you are going to to get any kind of value out of Japan in just one weekend. If you're thinking about taking the ferry, forget it. The train/ferry rides and sacrificing due to the inconvenient ferry schedules alone is going to eat up most of your weekend! A weekend trip to Japan by ferry is fine if A) you live near one of the ferry ports like Busan, and B) you have already seen what Japan has to offer and just want to spend a bit of time in Japan between weeks. If this is your first trip to Japan, you live in the Seoul area, and you only have one weekend, then I'm afraid you are going to have to fly.

[SeoulShakin]

Ok so this rail pass everyone is talking about that is super expensive... that's for the bullet train to go from city to city right?

My friend and I are flying into Tokyo. If we just want to use the subway in Tokyo to get from place to place within the city, for 3 days, how much is that going to run us?

[Poemer]

Subways in Tokyo are pretty expensive, and confusing. (at least I thought so) Not only is a six dollar subway ride expensive, but doubly so when you go the wrong way and then have to pay to switch over to some other train run by the other carrier (there are two interconnected privately run subway lines) to get back to where you were trying to go.

[J.B. Clamence]

[TOMODACHI-KID]

If you do come here for the weekend, just make sure you bring wads of money because as you already know, it is hella expensive, but definitely not a waste to vacation for the weekend. Welcome! Kyoto is very beautiful. However, wait until you see Mount Fuji-san! It is worth it...and Tokyo, wow!

[chris_J2]

Save Japan for June or August vacation. It's really worth much more than 2-3 days. I managed it in 9 days. Busan > Fukuoka > Nagasaki > Hiroshima > Kyoto > Fuji Yoshida > Kamakura > Tokyo > Miyajima > Fukuoka > Busan.

Taiwan or Jejo Island perhaps?