salam...

and we meet again for another trip at another country !

entries untuk trip kalini I'll combine both trips back in 2014 and also 2015 one. I went to two different prefectures in Japan, which is Kansai back in 2014 and Kanto, this year. In Kansai, I covered Kyoto and Osaka..well, Osaka not so much /gonna go there again somewhere in the future hopefully/ also Nagoya here and there. as per in Kanto, I covered only Tokyo and a lil bit of Saitama here and there.

so, lemme start with my 2014 trip first, kay?

I went there on March 2nd, fly from Kul to KIX via AirAsia X. arrived at KIX around evening and we stayed overnight at the airport sebabnya we planned to go to Kyoto straightaway and if we went to Kyoto that evening from the airport, we need to rent a room in Kyoto thus it will be exceed our budget. oh, sebelum nak bergerak ke mana2, macam saya..saya tak beli Osaka Day Pass sebab macam confuse gila kot banyak jenis pass yang ada. saya just opt to normal transport pass which is, ICOCA. ICOCA ni macam TnG je. first beli, 2,500 Yen, 500 Yen tu as deposit kalau kita pulangkan card ni masa nak balik, dapat la balik 500 Yen tu. saya tak return pun. mana tau nak pegi lagi kan? hahaha valid card ni 10 tahun kot.



so we stayed overnight at KIX, then around 6-7am next day we started our journey to Kyoto using trains. like..a lot of trains. kitorang decide nak naik train lompat2 je dari KIX to Kyoto. basically kena tukar like 3 trains before sampai Kyoto Station. our train route as below;

KIX - Shininamiya stn using Nankai Airport Exp train (920 Yen)
Shininamiya stn - Osaka stn using Osaka Loop Line (Outer Loop)
Osaka stn - Kyoto stn using JR Special Rapid Service (920 Yen)
Total: 1,840Yen

Kyoto Station

arrived Kyoto, first thing that we did, bought a tour day bus pass at information counter outside Kyoto Station. the one day pass cost around 500 Yen. then, we took train to Arashiyama to see bamboo groove! from Kyoto Station to Saga-Arashiyama Station, the journey took around 15 mins. arrived there, we took a chance to ride a....beca(?) something like beca but pulled by a human. im not sure how much the rate since the rates differ thru various course. we took the course yang melalui bamboo groove, then passing thru the tensoji temple and end the course at tongetsu bridge. that guy told us a lot bout Arashiyama but in Japanese tho. so only my friend u/stand it and she become my translator lmao. thanks zureq!  ily ㅋㅋㅋ and from Arashiyama nak balik ke Kyoto stn, kitorang naik tram yang melalui kawasan perumahan dekat area tu. totally nice. recommended !

Kyoto stn - Saga-Arashiyama stn using JR Sagano Line (240 Yen)

On our way nak masuk area bamboo groove

Bamboo Groove

then we went for a day tour around Kyoto using bus with the pass that we bought earlier. okay, the pass sangat berbaloi since one ride w/o pass will cost u around 2++ Yen, but with 500 Yen day pass u can ride the bus unlimited. boleh dikira macam hop on-hop off la jugak sebab u can turun je kat memana stop u guys nak, then naik balik next bas to anywhere keliling kyoto.

One Day Bus Pass in Kyoto.  just flsh the card yang ada tarikh ni dekat driver bas, then we can ride it all day.

that evening, kami terus ke Nagoya via trains. lot of trains again and it took us around 2 hrs Kyoto-Nagoya.

Kyoto stn - Maibara stn using JR Special Rapid Service
Maibara stn - Ogaki stn using JR Tokaido Line
Ogaki stn - Nagoya stn using JR Tokaido Line Special Rapid Service
Total: 2,590 Yen

arrived Nagoya, stayed for 3 days. didn't go out much since the weather were so not in my favor at all with all the strong wind and raining whatnot. just went around Nagoya station, Nagoya Congress Centre and 끝 !

our everyday bfast. sandwich 190 Yen dgn air milo.

cuaca dekat Nagoya sepanjang 3 hari. -.-'

Nagoya view

after that kami bergerak balik ke Osaka, and stayed at Hotel Il Cuore, Namba. 5 mins walking distance from Namba Station. Hotel ni rate dia agak berbaloi la dengan keluasan bilik yang super luas for normal Japan hotel. rates around MYR450/night/double
room. From Nagoya, we took shinkansen to Osaka, and it took only 1hr or less. I was sooooo excited riding the shinkansen. so teruja u know. who don't right? dia punya laju tu sampai berdengung telinga macam time plane nak take off.

Shinkansen's tix

shinkansen

Nagoya stn - Shin-Osaka stn using Shinkansen Hikari (unreserved seat - 3,120 Yen+fare - 3,260 Yen)
Shin-Osaka stn to Namba stn using Osaka City Subway Midosuji Line (280 Yen)
Total: 6,660 Yen

our room view. besar kot. untuk hotel jepun.

In Osaka, we went to Osaka Castle, and that time the plum flower already bloom and sooooo pretty ! ate takoyaki twice.

Namba stn - Tsuruhashi stn using City Subway Sennichimae Line
Tsuruhashi stn - Osakajokoen using Osaka Loop Line
Total: 320 Yen

Osaka Castle

ate Onigiri sambil duduk tengok Osaka Castle dan anjing2 comel.

get to walk around Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori. found the Glico man ! ate okonomiyaki. late night walked from Shinsaibashi to Namba. and 끝~!

Glico man!

dotonbori at night

Dotonbori at night

on our last day in Osaka, we decided to ditch our plan to walk around Osaka and we went to USJ ! and thank u Allah, I've got to experience snow. even light snow drizzle. played around USJ for a whole day, ate sushi and its time for me to go back to KIX for my flight to KUL while zureq need to catch up bus to Tokyo. :(

Osaka-Namba stn - Nishikujo stn using Hanshin Namba Line Rapid Exp. (200 Yen)
Nishikujo stn - Universalcity stn using JR Yumesaki Line (160 Yen)
Total: 360 Yen





I did took wrong train at Namba to KIX and I'm so nervous bcs I'm kinda late for baggage drop whatnot. and thank u officer for guiding me. :3

Namba stn - KIX using Nankai Ltd. Exp. Rapit (reserved seat - 920 Yen)

** nak breakdown bajet, tapi macam dah lupa pulak apa yang belanja segala. /CRIES/

all in all, my budget masa pergi Japan first time ni including flight tix was around MYR 3,000 kot if tak silap la. tak tertrack back pulak perbelanjaan. masa ni rate 1000JPY = MYR 33. memang tinggi la. nak compare dengan sekarang. and Alhamdulillah. i survived.

so.. basically that is my here and there itinerary for my first time trip in Japan. not so detail, but i did provide the train route and fares for reference. so..hopefully this will help ur itinerary planning for ur Japan trip ! ^^V