Korean Job Discussion Forums

[joe_doufu]

OK, I've booked a ferry so I'll be spending five days in Japan the first week of january. sunday 1/1 to saturday 1/6. The travel agency (Marco Polo) reserved the ferry tickets for me and I got out my credit card and they said "no, sorry, this fare is cash only". Of course I didn't have that much in cash on hand, it was strange to have a travel agent actually not want to get his hands on my credit card. I'll go back tomorrow.

One decision I have to make: They suggested I buy the one-week Japanese rail pass for 300,000won. I said I'd hold off on that until I'd researched it. Is that a good deal? I certainly plan to at least go from Fukuoka to Tokyo and perhaps another city.

Finally, what kind of sleeping accomodations should I make? Are there youth hostels in Japan? How much money should I expect to spend?

Oh, and where do you think I should visit in the wintertime in Japan? Never been there.

[canuckistan]

I've recently discovered this site but it seems like it has good info/prices on hostels/transpo in just about every country. The message board has some interesting info as well.

www.travelpunk.com

[mindmetoo]

The JR pass is great. Basically one round trip shinkansen trip between Tokyo and Osaka comes pretty close to the price of a pass. In bigger cities, like Tokyo and Osaka, the JR system acts as a secondary subway system. With your pass you can get on for free. Subway travel isn't cheap in Japan like Korea. I stayed in Osaka for a week and Sapporo for a week. With my pass, I could get on a shinkansen in the morning, zip to Tokyo, hang around for the afternoon and go back to Osaka. I took a sleeper train from Tokyo to Sapporo. The pass does not cover your room but it covers the boarding charge. The room costs as much as one night in a hotel. Since you're going to be staying in a hotel that day if you stay put in Tokyo, it's not really an odious extra fee to pay.

If you want to travel in style, go for the first class pass. You get to ride in the "Midori" (green) cars which have nicer seats. It's kind of fun to be a foreign backpacker type riding first class with the suited power riders.

[joe_doufu]

Cool, thanks. Do you think it's worth 300k won to buy the rail pass from the Korean travel agency? Or can I buy it when I get to Fukuoka cheaper? Are you saying the rail pass gets me on the subways for free? That would be good.

[mindmetoo]

[joe_doufu]

[joe_doufu]

I got my ferry tickets and the LP guide today (chiaa, that was me) -- i didn't realize there is just so much stuff in Japan. I'm really not sure where to begin planning this thing. I thought maybe just head for Tokyo the first day and slowly work my way back west by the end of the week.

[just because]

JR Pass is definetely worth it..the biggest bargain for Japan

From fuokuka to tokyo and back is 560 000 won so buy it here as in japan it is unavailable...you can only buy it outside of japan...

Also you can't catch every bullet train, the noizumi(super express) is off-limits but you can take the Hikari(limited express) which is about every 30 minutes and from Fukuoka to Tokyo will take about 6 hours and 30 minutes so bring a good book....

Also in Tokyo you can use the JR Pass for the Yamonate(?? - forget the spelling) train loop line that stops at all the famous places in tokyo which is very useful

5 days is not long enough for a Fukuoka - Tokyo- Fukouka train run but it still sould be fun...

[Ekuboko]

[just because]

Come on, i haven't lived there for 5 years..
i think that was a pretty good attempt of remembering

[Tiger Beer]

Isn't it a bit cold for travelling around in January?

[joe_doufu]

[mindmetoo]

[just because]

japan is Ok in winter...not to bad, nothing like Seoul

[joe_doufu]