Japanese Alps: Introduction

Had it been that long? Yes, it had been that long. Ever since changing my place of work, there is more travel and less trying new food outside. However, we still maintain our annual oversea trip getaway. After all, after days of long work, there is nothing wrong of pampering ourselves a bit.

This year, we went back to Japan. I can hear the "again?!" comments echoing back. But this round, we visited the area which we had not been to, which is the central Chubu area, with Japanese Alps as the main draw.

I had listed the approximate itinerary in the following few posts, but the actual itinerary is much more in details. I had listed in this first post some general ideas on traveling to Japan, and some general ideas to plan and save money.

1st Leg: From Tokyo to Nagano
2nd Leg: Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route, from Nagano to Toyama
3rd Leg: using Toyama and Kanazawa as base to visit Takayama and Shirakawa, ending in Osaka

Planning:
The trouble with Japan is there are so many choices from travelling from point A to point B. Some may be faster, some slower. Some much more expensive, some more gentle to the pocket. Take time to explore each option. Small savings will accumulate to a lot.
tips:do more homework and you will see the result in savings on time and money.

Cheapest flight differ from company to company, even budget airlines like Airasia would priced their ticket differently from day to day. There is no shortcut here but to click and click to find the cheapest. The general idea is to book as early as possible. Consider some other obscure airline which may be cheaper if the dates are less flexible. My friend who went to Japan a week before me use Vietnam Airline.
tips: compare. make full use of website such as tripadvisor or skyscanner

Decide where you want to go, explore options in and out of the area, because the price would be different. It is not my intention to travel from Tokyo to Osaka this round, but that is the cheapest option considering the flight ticket to Tokyo and back to Malaysia using Airasia (after adding in all the train ticket and different pass). If you check back my Hokkaido itinerary, you may find that in order to lower expenses, we used different airlines to travel reach Hakodate instead of beginning our journey in Sapporo which is more conventional.
tips: compare each combination of air/ train/ bus

Local travelling also has as many option. Train. Super express bullet train (shinkansen). Bus. overnight Bus. The fastest is definitely train (super express/ shinkansen or limited express at least), so if time is the utmost priority, shinkansen is a clear choice. To save on ticket, buy the open ticket without seat reservation, but have to be careful, not all shinkansen has open coach and on certain time, all people will be crowding towards this coaches. To save a bit, try bus. This journey me and Lyn took a few buses, and the comfort surprised us. Some budget bus company like Willer offer online booking, which is very convenient. Japan has loads of passes which may localize in each area, or generalized to nationwide (eg. JR pass). Each has its pro and cons. Not all pass suits the travel itinerary. For all my travel to Japan, I had never use JR pass before, simply because JR pass would cost the same as a cheap Airasia air ticket. I might as well come on a different trip and it would not be as rushed. This round, we opted for Takayama Hokuriku pass simply because it provided us with tonnes of savings, considering it will cover the main expenses on my last leg, namely Hokuriku Shinkansen and Thunderbird limited express train. The added bonus would be covering Takayama (using Hida express) and also Shirkawago (covers the bus)
tips: consider bus, but prepare to spend more time. Do lots of homework in comparing Pass. If used correctly, it will save a huge amount.

Going around may also be a headache. But adequate homework would lead to lots of savings. There are many options especially in big town such as Tokyo and Osaka where combination of JR train and local sub would be the most convenient. However, if we were to sacrifice a bit of time, we used the metro ticket in Tokyo (thus, not using JR train) and local HR train in Osaka (no subs, because JR covered by our Takayama Hokuriku pass). ALthough many people start to use Google map to help planning local transport, I still prefered Hyperdia website which proves to be more superior, except travel involving bus.
tips: consider local pass, espeically those tailored for foreigners.

Choosing accomodation may proved to be spoilt for choices. No matter budget, luxury, all accomodation in Japan is very clean. They are very smart in utilizing space even in a small room. Consider those nearer to public transport as you would not want to carry your luggage far. Especially for us in the first night, since we arrived at 10.30pm, we chose somewhere near Haneda and easy to find. We used to frequent Toyoko Inn since they had free shuttle from the airport but this time, we tried 328 Hostel which is really easy to find after 2 train stops from Haneda. NO worry if arrive early to any hotel, as all the hotel we went to offers to keep our luggage until the room is available typically at 3pm. Considering luggage forwarding service if do not want to carry it or store it in the hotel. TAikubin is popular there, and send as early using the normal taikubin (usually via hotel) rather than same day delivery would also save some  money.
tips: go for budget.

Food? Forget sushi and sashimi, because these are not common food in Japan. The usual would be noodle and rice bento. To reduce the expenses, just pop by their convenient store (conbini) and a usual dinner would cost around 500 yen, a simple bread breakfast would be around 200 yen. Their food is really really nice, and sometimes, we would dine at conbini by choice.
tips: convenient store is like a big restaurant when it comes to choices.

We learn a few things when we go around. Beside the usual raincoat and water that we carry around, do remember to carry plastic bags to store thrash and rubbish. There are not many rubbish around, even you do find, most bin are specially for recycling paper or plastic bottles. I would not do like some tourist who would just ignore the signs and throw everything into the same bin.

Hopefully these tips would help those who wan to travel on own to Japan. Now, for the sample itienreray this round, do visit the post with links above.