We planned this trip in late September as we expect the weather to be cool but because of severe climatic changes, it was wee bit warmer on average.
Duration: 9 days & 8 nights [26 Sep. to 5 Oct. 2016]
Focus:
a. Food - King crab & ice-cream in Hokkaido, Kobe beef in Kobe
b. Shopping - Matcha powder from Kyoto, "Easy butter knife" from Kappabashi, shoes for the boys, special buys from ¥100 shops.
c. See and snap the "Million Dollars night scenes on Mt Hakodate and Mt Rokko
Mode of transport:
a. Singapore Airlines (SQ)
b. JR Shinkansen, subways and local trains
Pre-trip tasks:
1. Air tickets - booked 4 months in advance when 22Go booking on SQ web-site @S$662 for STS (Singapore-Tokyo-Singapore)
2. Accomodation - Checked out Booking.com, Hotel.com,Trivago, Airbnb and JTB web-site
a. 2 nights in Sapporo (Booking.com)
b. 1 night in Hakodate (Booking.com)
c. 1 night in Sannomiya-Kobe (Booking.com)
d. 1 night in Ibaraki-Osaka (Yasuki.jp.org)
e. 3 nights in Roppongi-Tokyo (Airbnb)
3. Travel insurance - purchased online thru' MSIG, often with promotional discounts.
4. JR Pass - May be purchased from JTB, HIS or Changi Recommends and done up to 3 months from the actual date of planned use in Japan when exchange rate is favourable.
5. Pocket Wifi or SIM Card for internet access in Japan - Chose the pocket wifi by iVideo at less than US$2.00 per day.
27 Sep. 2016 (Day1)
Upon arrival at Narita Airport, we proceeded to exchange the order for our JR Passes after clearing the customs and immigration checks. Details for this 1st day onwards would be updated shortly.
