Japan 🇯🇵

We checked out of Nine Hours Narita Airport and headed to the terminal for our flight to Mumbai. We were able to use the priority check-in counters thanks to my Star Alliance Gold Status on United MileagePlus. We had missed seeing Mt. Fuji during this trip and also hadn’t been able to see it from the Shinkansen the previous day. Looking at which runways were used for take-off for the last few days for this flight I took a calculated guess and asked for seats on the right side of the plane hoping to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji from the air. We got assign a middle and window seat on the right side. ...

Today was the last day of the trip and we would spend most of it travelling back to Tokyo. I had a couple of options in mind. One option was to take a break at Himeji and see Himeji castle. The second was to take a break at Shin-Fuji and go and see Mt. Fuji. Getting to see Mt. Fuji trumped visiting the Himeji Castle. But based on the reading of travel blogs and websites, it seemed that being able to get a good view of Mt. Fuji was subject to local weather conditions and/or the time of day. The last thing we wanted was to get there and not be able to see Mt. Fuji. The third option was to break the journey in Okayama and do a side trip to Takamatsu in Shikoku, effectively visiting all the four main islands of the Japanese archipelago. We choose this one and used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 for seat reservations for the trains till Tokyo. ...

We used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 to travel to Ibusuki. We boarded the 7:51 AM Nanohana Rapid Service at Kagoshima-Chūō Station and travelled on the Ibusuki Makurazaki Line along the eastern coast of Satsuma Peninsula till Ibusuki Station. It took us a little more than an hour to get there. Ibusuki appeared to be a quite, laid back town. We walked through the peaceful local neighbourhoods which had very rustic feel and were very different that anything we had seen in Japan thus far. Saraku Sand Bath Hall was about a 20 minute away by foot away from Ibusuki Station. ...

We got up early and got ready, it was too early so we skipped breakfast again. We walked from Piece Hostel Kyoto to Kyoto Station. We used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 for seats reservations for the long distance trains for today. The plan was to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima (also known as Itsukushima) and then head to Kagoshima. Our first journey would take us from Kyoto to Hiroshima on the Hikari 491 which operated on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen line till Shin-Osaka and then on the San’yō Shinkansen line till Hiroshima. This was the fastest Shinkansen ride during our trip covering a distance of 380.6 kms in 1 hour 44 minutes with average speed of 219.58 kmph. After reaching Hiroshima Station, we visited the Hiroshima Tourist Information to buy the Visit Hiroshima Tourist Pass for the day. Seeing that we were foreign visitors who had just arrived by train, the staff confirmed that we could use the Hiroshima Sightseeing Loop Bus to visit all the placed we had planned and that it was included with our Japan Rail Pass 🔗. We then went to the baggage lockers to leave our bags there before heading out and taking the Sightseeing Loop Bus. ...

We got up early and got ready, it was too early for breakfast. The plan was to go and see the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest as early as possible to avoid the crowds. We walked from Piece Hostel Kyoto to Kyoto Station. We used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 for the 6:04 AM train on the JR Sagano Line towards Sonobe. It took a little more than 15 minutes and we reached Saga-Arashiyama Station station. ...

We got up early, got ready and went down to have breakfast. Breakfast the next morning was basic but adequate. We walked to the Hakodate Morning Market which was only a couple of minutes away. The market area spanned a few city blocks and was open from early morning till about noon. There was a lot of local Hakodate produce on display, vegetables and fruits. But the main attraction was the large variety of fresh and preserved seafood, including crabs and salmon roe. A few stores had freshly-caught squids swimming in tanks, you could fish them and then have the chef prepare it for you to eat. There were many restaurants in the market area that offered Seafood Rice Bowl. Having eaten (a more western) breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee already we were not sure if we would fancy seafood so early in the morning we decide to give it a miss. Overall it was a nice experience to walk around. ...

We got up early and got ready. We checked-out of the Pearl Hotel Yaesu and walked to Tokyo Station. Our journey today would take us from Tokyo in Honshū to Hakodate in Hokkaidō. We used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 and had made seat reservations on Hayabusa 1 service from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto and after that we would take the Hakodate Liner to Hakodate. We were looking forward to our first journey on the Shinkansen. When we reached Tokyo Station we saw lines drawn on the platforms for First and Second Class passengers to organize the boarding process. The passengers in the Second Class line would wait till all passengers in the First Class line had boarded. While we waited for our train, we saw the E7/W7 Series with E2 Series Shinkansen trainsets. ...

After a comfortable flight 🔗, we landed on time at Tokyo Narita Airport; fresh and ready for our week in Japan. Immigration and baggage claim was fairly quick. We headed to the JR East Travel Service center and exchanged our vouchers for the actual Japan Rail Pass 🔗 after showing them our passport and visa. We used it right away and booked tickets on the Narita Express 10 at 9:45 AM reaching Tokyo at 10:44 AM. ...

When we decided that Japan was going to be our next holiday destination, it was certain that we would be using the Japan Rail Pass there. It was quite expensive, considering that it costs about half the price of the standard return airfare from Mumbai to Tokyo per person. I ordered the Japan Rail Pass vouchers from www.japan-rail-pass.com and they were shipped to us by FedEx. These vouchers were to be exchanged for the actual Japan Rail Pass from a JR Travel Service center. ...

Since I had decided the destination of our last trip to South Africa 🔗, this time it was my wife’s turn to decide, and Japan was the destination of choice. My job now was to figure out a way to get us there. There was a transfer promotion going on, so I transferred points from my Citibank Rewards credit card to the Jet Airways JetPrivilege program, and I did the same for my mother’s credit card. We eventually didn’t get the transfer bonus as per the promotion, but nonetheless, we had just enough miles for two round-trip tickets to Japan. ...