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mngedo

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Hi what is the best way to go from Narita airport to Shirakawa?
I will be stopping 4 days in Tokyo and really thinking of visiting Shirakawa (although it is not yet the winter Illuminating)

Anyone who went there could share with me the thoughts?
 

wwh5210

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Hi, I am going to Hokkaido with family this coming Nov. What should I wear during early Nov in Hokkaido? Thanks.
 

Spintronics

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Guys, this might sound unconventional. Please advise which are the cities that are near and convenient to reach Tokyo. I only know Yokohama and Maihama are quite convenient. Any others?

Maihama at least have TDR which can easily take 2-3 nights. How about Kawasaki or other cities outside of Tokyo?
 

TonyDelPiero

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Guys, this might sound unconventional. Please advise which are the cities that are near and convenient to reach Tokyo. I only know Yokohama and Maihama are quite convenient. Any others?

Maihama at least have TDR which can easily take 2-3 nights. How about Kawasaki or other cities outside of Tokyo?

Chiba? Saitama? Omiya? So many places outside Tokyo metropolis area.
 
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saffronsatire

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Guys, this might sound unconventional. Please advise which are the cities that are near and convenient to reach Tokyo. I only know Yokohama and Maihama are quite convenient. Any others?

Maihama at least have TDR which can easily take 2-3 nights. How about Kawasaki or other cities outside of Tokyo?

maybe hachioji but dunno what's there to do there
 

Ruriel

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Hi what is the best way to go from Narita airport to Shirakawa?
I will be stopping 4 days in Tokyo and really thinking of visiting Shirakawa (although it is not yet the winter Illuminating)

Anyone who went there could share with me the thoughts?

To and fro from Tokyo?? As a day trip or? You'll be spending quite a few hours on the shinkansen.

I went from Tokyo to Shirakawa go, spent a night there, before continuing to Kyoto. I'm not sure what the rest of your itinerary entails, but if you want Shirakawa go to be part of your Tokyo itinerary (to and fro Tokyo), it will involve a lot of time spending in the train. If you have visited Tokyo before, then why don't just spend 4 days in Kanazawa or takayama instead, and include a Shirakawa go day trip there since it's a lot nearer to those two places.

If you have not visited Tokyo before, then I think it'll be better to leave Shirakawa go to the next trip.

Of course if you insist, you still can do it as a day trip. Just that the time spent at Shirakawa go is lesser than the time you spent on travelling to and fro that's all.
 

Wryer

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Perhaps I should not assume - are transport (trains, buses, airport express, JR) generally free for babies under 2yo? My boy will be 14 months old when we travel.
 

andy77

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Hi, I be staying a night farmstay in Shirakawago in oct. Is it worth as the stay is not cheap?
 

Ruriel

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Hi, I be staying a night farmstay in Shirakawago in oct. Is it worth as the stay is not cheap?

Worth or not is pretty subjective. To me it's worth a night's stay because we reached around 2pm, and it went dark in 2 hours time, and there's not much time to linger around if we hadn't stay a night. Basically it's just walking around the village a little then go to the observation deck, then go back down visit one or two shops then need to quickly board the last bus back.

We didn't have this time restriction coz we were staying there, so we took our own sweet time walking up to the observation deck (very lovely uphill walk in very cold weather). Was getting dark when we got up there but there were only a few tourists here and there since most of the daytrippers already boarded the last bus back. It's so quiet and so peaceful and we could just kept taking pics and videos without worrying about blocking anyone or worry about hoarding any spot.

Some shops were still opened by the time we get back down, so we were able to browse the shops for souvenirs without squeezing with crowd etc. And it's a lovely stroll back to the gasshohut where we stayed. (It was slightly dark and it's snowing lightly so it was very very nice.)

Next day we were leaving just as the busloads of tourists came. So we were kinda glad we chose to stay a night to enjoy Shirakawa Go in peace.
 

naveen99

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Hi, I be staying a night farmstay in Shirakawago in oct. Is it worth as the stay is not cheap?

Most of the houses there have been commercialised and catering to the tourists. Not much authenticity left in Shirakwago.
It is good for photography
 
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Ruriel

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Most of the houses there have been commercialised and catering to the tourists. Not much authenticity left in Shirakwago.

What kind of authenticity you looking for if you don't have personal friends staying in Japan where you can bunk in with them? Tourists want homestay but all homestay are required to abide rules and regulations and apply for license etc. All these result in "commercialism" lor?

It's always a double edged sword. I find it puzzling that people want homestay yet complains about "commercialism".
 

yukino

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For romancecar to hakone, do they have cart service on every train? I tried to read the schedule in Japanese. It seems they are not having cart service on every train, especially early morning ones. I am thinking to have breakfast on train.

Another qn, what does salon cars means? 4 seater cabin?

Sent from HUAWEI VKY-L29 using GAGT
 

purpleberry

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For romancecar to hakone, do they have cart service on every train? I tried to read the schedule in Japanese. It seems they are not having cart service on every train, especially early morning ones. I am thinking to have breakfast on train.

Another qn, what does salon cars means? 4 seater cabin?

Sent from HUAWEI VKY-L29 using GAGT

They do have cart service. I always buy those takeaway boxes (ekiben) at the nearby shops which tastes much better imo and costs about the same. They even have popularity rankings.
 

yukino

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They do have cart service. I always buy those takeaway boxes (ekiben) at the nearby shops which tastes much better imo and costs about the same. They even have popularity rankings.
Oh ok. So they allow external food. If that is the case I will get from nearby shops.

Sent from HUAWEI VKY-L29 using GAGT
 

coconut1

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airport transfer from osaka KIX to universal studios hotel

Anyone can advise best form of transport for 4pax if we land at 9.30pm at KIX and going to universal studios park front hotel?
I checked the bus limo schedule but their last service ends before 9pm.
I was thinking of taking the subway but it seems to take 1.5hr and the hotel check-in ends at 11pm.
Taxi quotes about $200-240.
 

Carlovers

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Hi guys,

I will be staying in Osaka and will be travelling to Kyoto and Nara, and around Osaka, for 5 days.

Is it worthwhile to purchase 5 days Kansai Wide Area JR Train pass?

Should time allow, might drop by Kobe if still got spare day.

Thanks in advance.
 
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