G Photography Tips

To go travel in Japan, there are many things that you need to prepare. Each person would be different in preparation, "Some one" can really manage the Micro Planning of their trips, so they do everything by second. :P But my is pretty simple (I guess).

1. Air Ticket
There are many airlines offering the flights to Japan. Jetstar seems to be very cheap. I've got my Sydney-Osaka Return about $500 inc tax!! Jetstar also fly to Nagoya. If you want to stop over in Thailand, Thai Airways got the deal where buy ticket to go to Japan but can stop over in Thailand for free. Plan your trip and thinking about how many days you can afford to stay in Japan.

2. Guide Book
Firstly buy a guide book, "Lonely planet" or the one I bought "Eyewitness Travel". Read them roughly and mark the places where you want to visit and then Start Mapping them to the routes.

3. Pin down the cities you want to visit
Put down the date and city you want to be on that date so you can plan your accommodation.

4. Book your accommodation
As you already know what city you want to be on that day, so now you can book your accommodation accordingly. I booked my at http://b2b.hotelclub.net/. They 7have variety kind of hotels and ryokans rated from very cheap AUD $67 for a hotel in Tokyo til 5 stars hotel. However, some area like Buppu or Miyajima Island might be hard to find from this website, I'll tell you later from my blog.

Tip: Try to find the hotel that's close to the JR Train station. As you are not going to be familiar with the area yet, it'll be a safer choice. If you can, email the hotel for direction from the Train Station. ASK THEM WHAT EXIT from the station, coz some station like Osaka, got million exits. You can also check the map by area from here: http://diddlefinger.com/ It'll show up the map of the area in English and Japanese.

5. Get your JR Pass
Depends on how many places and how far you want to go, but from my trip, as I need to travel a lot across the country, JR Pass is the life saver.



You can only buy the Japan Rail Pass outside Japan! So, make sure you buy it before you leave your country. You buy the ticket as it showed from the picture above, then at any main stations in Japan you can exchange this ticket with the JR Pass. It comes with 7 Days, 14 Days and 21 Days. Also comes with the Green type which allow you to sit on a more luxury seats on the green car, but it heaps more expensive. More details here: http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en001.html
Tip: After you buy the ticket from the agent, please ask for the Railway Timetable, so you can plan your trip easier.

However, if you only stay in on are like, Tokyo and the area close by within Central Honshu you might be only need the JR East Pass which can be purchased in Japan. For West area, there's also JR West Rail pass.

6. Prepare your luggage
Please observer the seasonality of Japan before you go and have the appropriate clothes accordingly. Bath towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, Razor, Shampoo, soap or even comb are NOT necessary, as they come standard with every hotels and Ryokan (traditional hotel). So, save you space in your bag. :)

If you do travel around and change places a lot like me, I would recommend you to bring enough cloth for each day, as you might not have time to do the laundry. And Bring your COMFY SHOES. I've warned you.

7. CASH
Bring enough Cash!!! It's hard to find ATM that you can withdraw your money internationally. So, at least AUD $1000 for 10 days if you medium spender (not including the Accommodation cost).

I'll be back with Osaka part 1 soon.
Cheers,
Gun