Assalamualaikum, Konnichiwa and Hi!
Before I tell you stories and tips about our trip to Japan, of course I want to share with you what I did before going there. I'll try to make it as compact as I can, so that I'll not bore you out hehe. This is only to give you some rough ideas on how to start things.
1st and foremost, of course book a Flight Ticket. I bought mine when AirAsia made a promotional ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Nagoya. That was when they first open the route. And up till today, the cheapest route among three for Japan is Nagoya compared to Tokyo and Osaka. I got it at RM 919.70. Actually we could get it at a cheaper price, but after adding food, choosing seats, yada yada, so that's the final price, and one more mistake that I did was I bought the tickets separately, KUL-NAGOYA, NAGOYA-KUL, due to errr, unforeseen situation hehe. But, if you're lucky enough, you can get return ticket KUL-NAGOYA from all in fare RM500++ or maybe cheaper than that. So, keep peaking!
2nd, after we had our brief plan, which places that we wanted to go, I started to research about transportation. I mean inter-city transportation because this will determine whether your trip is a budget one or not hehe. Ok, our plan was to go from Nagoya to Osaka then Mt Fuji then Tokyo and Disneyland and finally back to Nagoya. There are many options for you to travel around Japan from city to city; if your travelling days are between 5-7 days, I suggest you to take the trains and you can save time and money by using JRpass (info: http://www.japan-rail-pass.com/). For Malaysian, you can buy the JRpass through some official travel agents and by going to MATTA Fair will help you getting more info regarding this pass. As for my trip, as we travelled for 10 days, I chose the cheapest yet a little bit of time-consuming option: highway and overnight buses for transportation between big cities. For Nagoya-Osaka, Osaka-Mt Fuji, Tokyo-Nagoya, I used Willer Express as our official transportation (official la sangattt hahaha). And from Mt Fuji to Tokyo, we took the Highway Bus (I forgot the web, but here is the FB link https://www.facebook.com/highwaybuscom) I will share you all the price details later in next entries accordingly.
the third one HOTEL! You have to check your travelling date either they're in peak season or not. If you plan to travel in spring, trying to catch the Sakura bloom, or any season with holidays etc, you must book your hotel fast, especially if you're not a single backpackers. We missed some good hotels and hostels because we're just a little bit late, and most of our admired hotel/hostels were fully booked (for rooms that we wanted). But what we got also not bad, and we loved it so much. And of course I'll share our hotels and hostels also in the later entries accordingly. But I'll just share here some hotels around Tokyo and Mt Fuji (they have branches in other places too) that we admired (because they are cheap and comfortable and highly recommended by friends, or not too cheap but Muslim-friendly, and etc) but didn't have the chance, either because of fully-booking or for cost-saving purpose haha.
Forgot to tell, I booked most of our rooms through Booking.com, some may prefer Agoda.com and others, so it's up to you. But my experience with booking.com so far everything is excellent, plus, credit card is only for confirmation, no payment needed before you reach the place unless you cancel the reservation after the due date of cancellation. So, you have time to save your money, and pay them once you check in. Even when we encountered some problems regarding the pre-authorization, booking.com tried to help us as much as they can. I hope you'll have the same service too. Still, if you prefer to book your room through official websites of the hotel/hotels, you may do so. Everything depends on your preferences.
Fourth, don't forget your VISA! But for Malaysian, we don't need the Visa anymore *phewwww*. As long as you are using the new biometric pasport (the one with chip)-info: http://www.my.emb-japan.go.jp/English/visit/visa25062013.html. This is aslo one of the reason why we manage to go to Japan sooner that what we have planned. *smile broadly*
Fifth, once you have decided that you want to go to Japan, you must alert with the currency exchange. Change your money as much as you can whenever the lowest price hit the market. We changed our money in Mid Valley (just at the lowest floor, at the side of the elevator, in front of KFC) because most say that it's among the cheapest one.
Sixth, this is not really important, but at least, please read a little about Japan and learn at least few basic greetings/phrases in Japanese. This is not compulsory, but as Japan is one of the countries with high-ethics society, and have most well-mannered people in the world, there's no harm in trying to fit in a little bit. You'll enjoy it! Better, you may also practice it more frequently in your own country. Some ideas: how they dispose the trash, bowing culture. Some phrases like 'Gomennasai', 'Sumimasen', 'Arigatou gozaimasu'. Ahh, I miss using all those words. Ahh...I miss everything *eye in tears*. Ok stop.
Seventh. Also not very important, but I just want to share you this, especially Muslims. Everything that we do is upon and counted based on our intentions (niat). So, put your intentions right. "I want to travel because I want to see Allah's creations on the other side of the world, I want to see all those akhlak islamiyyah in Japan that people have been talking about so that I'll be a better person too, and I want to remind myself how wonderful ALLAH is, and to be grateful of everything ALLAH has gave to me" were among what I had in heart and mind. Make all those positive intentions, so that insyaAllah ALLAH will ease your trip, grant your wishes, according to your intentions. Never ever use or make your travel experience as a reason for you to be proud because you need to remember that everything happens only because ALLAH allows it to happen. So, be grateful and be humble.
So that's all. Honestly, if you're a frequent traveller, all these are just on your fingertip. So, you'll say "mehhhh" but I truly am trying to help people who need tips, especially the first timer, to have some ideas, because that's what I was going through before everything went into my grip. hehe. I'm not an expert, am still a learner, but to wait until I became an expert then I'll share with you, I never think I'll be an expert. There's sooooooooo much to learn about life, and sharing is always a reminder that you care.
Thanks for reading! See ya!!
Before I tell you stories and tips about our trip to Japan, of course I want to share with you what I did before going there. I'll try to make it as compact as I can, so that I'll not bore you out hehe. This is only to give you some rough ideas on how to start things.
1st and foremost, of course book a Flight Ticket. I bought mine when AirAsia made a promotional ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Nagoya. That was when they first open the route. And up till today, the cheapest route among three for Japan is Nagoya compared to Tokyo and Osaka. I got it at RM 919.70. Actually we could get it at a cheaper price, but after adding food, choosing seats, yada yada, so that's the final price, and one more mistake that I did was I bought the tickets separately, KUL-NAGOYA, NAGOYA-KUL, due to errr, unforeseen situation hehe. But, if you're lucky enough, you can get return ticket KUL-NAGOYA from all in fare RM500++ or maybe cheaper than that. So, keep peaking!
2nd, after we had our brief plan, which places that we wanted to go, I started to research about transportation. I mean inter-city transportation because this will determine whether your trip is a budget one or not hehe. Ok, our plan was to go from Nagoya to Osaka then Mt Fuji then Tokyo and Disneyland and finally back to Nagoya. There are many options for you to travel around Japan from city to city; if your travelling days are between 5-7 days, I suggest you to take the trains and you can save time and money by using JRpass (info: http://www.japan-rail-pass.com/). For Malaysian, you can buy the JRpass through some official travel agents and by going to MATTA Fair will help you getting more info regarding this pass. As for my trip, as we travelled for 10 days, I chose the cheapest yet a little bit of time-consuming option: highway and overnight buses for transportation between big cities. For Nagoya-Osaka, Osaka-Mt Fuji, Tokyo-Nagoya, I used Willer Express as our official transportation (official la sangattt hahaha). And from Mt Fuji to Tokyo, we took the Highway Bus (I forgot the web, but here is the FB link https://www.facebook.com/highwaybuscom) I will share you all the price details later in next entries accordingly.
the shortest (Nagoya-Osaka) yet the most entertained one (got games, movie etc)
our cute bus! haha
- Khaosan Tokyo (http://www.khaosan-tokyo.com/en/index.html) - they have few and the most admired one is Khaosan Laboratory, you have to open the web to know why. *smile*
- Sakura Hotel (http://www.sakura-hotel.co.jp/). Sakura Hotel Hatagaya even offers halal food 24hours.
- K's house (http://kshouse.jp/index_e.html)
Forgot to tell, I booked most of our rooms through Booking.com, some may prefer Agoda.com and others, so it's up to you. But my experience with booking.com so far everything is excellent, plus, credit card is only for confirmation, no payment needed before you reach the place unless you cancel the reservation after the due date of cancellation. So, you have time to save your money, and pay them once you check in. Even when we encountered some problems regarding the pre-authorization, booking.com tried to help us as much as they can. I hope you'll have the same service too. Still, if you prefer to book your room through official websites of the hotel/hotels, you may do so. Everything depends on your preferences.
Fourth, don't forget your VISA! But for Malaysian, we don't need the Visa anymore *phewwww*. As long as you are using the new biometric pasport (the one with chip)-info: http://www.my.emb-japan.go.jp/English/visit/visa25062013.html. This is aslo one of the reason why we manage to go to Japan sooner that what we have planned. *smile broadly*
Fifth, once you have decided that you want to go to Japan, you must alert with the currency exchange. Change your money as much as you can whenever the lowest price hit the market. We changed our money in Mid Valley (just at the lowest floor, at the side of the elevator, in front of KFC) because most say that it's among the cheapest one.
Sixth, this is not really important, but at least, please read a little about Japan and learn at least few basic greetings/phrases in Japanese. This is not compulsory, but as Japan is one of the countries with high-ethics society, and have most well-mannered people in the world, there's no harm in trying to fit in a little bit. You'll enjoy it! Better, you may also practice it more frequently in your own country. Some ideas: how they dispose the trash, bowing culture. Some phrases like 'Gomennasai', 'Sumimasen', 'Arigatou gozaimasu'. Ahh, I miss using all those words. Ahh...I miss everything *eye in tears*. Ok stop.
Seventh. Also not very important, but I just want to share you this, especially Muslims. Everything that we do is upon and counted based on our intentions (niat). So, put your intentions right. "I want to travel because I want to see Allah's creations on the other side of the world, I want to see all those akhlak islamiyyah in Japan that people have been talking about so that I'll be a better person too, and I want to remind myself how wonderful ALLAH is, and to be grateful of everything ALLAH has gave to me" were among what I had in heart and mind. Make all those positive intentions, so that insyaAllah ALLAH will ease your trip, grant your wishes, according to your intentions. Never ever use or make your travel experience as a reason for you to be proud because you need to remember that everything happens only because ALLAH allows it to happen. So, be grateful and be humble.
So that's all. Honestly, if you're a frequent traveller, all these are just on your fingertip. So, you'll say "mehhhh" but I truly am trying to help people who need tips, especially the first timer, to have some ideas, because that's what I was going through before everything went into my grip. hehe. I'm not an expert, am still a learner, but to wait until I became an expert then I'll share with you, I never think I'll be an expert. There's sooooooooo much to learn about life, and sharing is always a reminder that you care.
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
~Miriam Beard~
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