I am a HUGE fan of Japanese Animes and mangas “mainichi manga o yomimasu, soshite mainichi anime o mimasu”* – I’m learning to speak Japanese too. Going to Japan has always been a matter of ‘when?’ And the when is only a few weeks from now Super, super excited about this!

Anywho! Planning for Japan was a bit of a headache for me. I’m still finalizing my plans, so it is definitely the most difficult to plan country for me so far. This will also be the first winter-esque trip for me, so I had to do a bit of winter shopping in November on Amazon.com using my American Express credit card (Amex). I will be there 1st week of March – 1st week of April, 31 days total with my travel insurance in hand.

31 Days In Japan, What Will I Get Up To?  😎 

There is so much to do and see within 31 days, that I have re-evaluated my travel plans at least 6 times in the past few months. I went on Couchsurfing.com to get some insights on a better travel schedule from locals and they found my plan a bit too intense. After looking at the travel time to each region and I had to agree with them; I would end up spending more time getting around than actually seeing the country. So I definitely had to make some changes.

Initial Travel Plan 

My Revamped Travel Plan + Some Pre-Planned Activities

My activities are mostly 50% concrete. Most of the time, I make travel buddies in different cities and if whatever they have planned sounds way better than mine, I end up tagging along with them and dumping some of my plans. So 50% of my plans are pretty flexible. #Yolo

My Luggage Packing List 

1. Rainproof Hiking boots (new) + Trekking Sandals + 1 pair of flip flops
2. 4 pairs of winter socks (new)
3. Rainproof Backpack – my luggage (new)
4. 2 Pair of sturdy jeans
5. 2 Skirts
6. 5 t-shirts
7. 2 ankara dresses
8. 1 Windbreaker jacket (new)
9. 2 Sweatshirts
10. 1 pair of swim wear + sun glasses
11. 7 Pairs of Thermal Wear (new)
12. Underwear – #duh 3 bras + 6 pairs of panties
13. A small ziplock bag of OMO for laundry
14. A small towel
15. Toiletries
    1. toothpaste + brush + sponge
    2. moisturizers – oil + body butter + spf
    3. lip balm + lip stick
    4. roll on + shaving stick + 50ml bottle of perfume

For such a long trip duration, this will hopefully be my lightest travel luggage ever. I usually travel around with at least 2 pieces of luggage, so traveling light will be an interesting experiment for me.

Getting Around Japan

This was the most difficult bit for me to figure out. I almost went with renting a car, but it has been years since I drove in icy conditions…so that option was too risky. (edit – it would have also been uber tedious to drive when the trains are much faster and convenient)

Instead, I purchased a 21 Day and 7 Day Japan Rail (JR) Pass with a Pasmo Railcard online. The frustrating bit about the JR pass is that it does not cover inner city travel, so many of my train connections require purchasing an additional rail ticket. The Pasmo card supposedly works for ‘all’ inner city trains and buses, but some locals have said otherwise, so I will hold on to some currency for back up too.

My Japanese language skills are pretty basic, so planning my travel route on an excel sheet was a must for me. Thanks to google map, I was able to record the boarding time and the trains routes I will be using for the whole month, along with my total travel time. Google map also indicates the rail company handling the trips, so that’s a biggie off my shoulders.

[nwm_map id=”1″]

Tip

The Japan Rail Pass is not cheap ($756 for both jr passes + fedex cost, $23 for a pre-filled Pasmo card) and it only makes sense to buy it if you plan to travel a lot around different regions. There are also buses that are cheaper to travel around with if you have the extra, extra time to spare. Some folks go for the overnight bus trip to save on accommodation cost. If you plan to city-hop, definitely invest in the rail pass and buy it way ahead of time too.

If you plan to stay in only a couple of cities for a long time, skip the JR Pass and buy tickets based on need. (edit – do not do this, buying the pass locally is very expensive and in some cases, the 7-day pass is equal to the same fee for one train trip) The Pasmo card comes with ¥2000 on it including the refundable ¥500 deposit (upon return to office). It will not expire for 10 years, so you can hold on to it if you plan to go back often.

The JR Pass can only be purchased outside Japan. https://www.japan-rail-pass.com and you will receive a mailed voucher which should then be exchanged at any Japan Rail office for the card. Make sure to go there with your international passport in hand. I paid for this using my Fidelity MasterCard. These banks are wayo oh! The rate I got was N295 = $1  😥 My sister had another bank charge her N305 for a transaction a couple of days ago. I can’t even shout. (this is too funny, the naira to dollar rate is even worse now)

Accommodations in Japan

Japan is a big tourist attraction and I will be going during a high peak season, Spring (Cherry Blossom). So it was imperative for me to lock down accommodations very early in the game, 6 months early. It’s February and there are still some ‘ok’ options open in major cities like Tokyo for last minute travel, it will most likely cost you more. In obscure places like Nanto, Koyasan, Niseko etc, booking accommodation early is a must. 5 months ago, I was already finding it difficult to get my top choices. Places were seriously selling out seconds before I clicked on the ‘Book’ button. For budget traveling in places like Niseko, you will have to contact the lodgings directly to get your bookings. Many of them are not on booking websites. A lifesaver on Couchsurfing.com posted this list for Niseko:

• Owashi Lodge
• Hirafu Backpackers
• www.asparalodge.com/en/
• niseko-kanon.com/HOME.ENGLISH/index.html
• The Red Ski House
• ramatniseko.com/niseko-info/getting-around/

Affording Accommodations in Japan while the Nigerian Currency is in the Crappers

To be honest, this is a terrible time to be traveling but I’m stubborn and I just had to find a way around it #LifeIsTooShort. So the first thing I should clarify is that I am doing this the semi-budget travel way and the average accommodation cost for this trip is about $50/night. For Japan, this is a steal.

The Breakdown

I will spend 10 nights in Airbnb homes where I will NOT be getting the entire apartment to myself, just the room. This is absolutely perfect for me, I love opportunities that allow me to interact with others and I made sure ratings and reviews for the homes and host were stellar.

I will be spending 12 nights in hostels with exceptional ratings on Booking.com, Hostelworld.com and Tripadvisor.com. I initially booked 6 nights in a hotel for Tokyo, but with traveling solo and not wanting to be isolated in a big city, I canceled my booking last week and jumped on the hostel bandwagon instead. Most of the people I meet during my travels stay in hostels and I figured that would increase my chances of making new travel buddies. The great thing about hostels is that there are so many people just like me traveling solo, so the chances of meeting at least one person that will have similar travel agenda as me is pretty high.

As much as I like to meet people, I also like to be isolated sometimes, so getting 5 nights in some basic hotels was a must.

The rest of my nights will be split with 1 night staying in a temple (most expensive) and 2 nights in a traditional Japanese inn from the Edo period, a Ryokan.

Total accommodation cost is currently at $1544.76. This may go up or come down depending on if the exchange rate changes when I check in. Booking.com only holds your card information but does not charge you until you check in. They only charge if you do not show up or cancel after the ‘cancellation deadline’. Airbnb.com charged me immediately on my American Express card.

I just paid off my Amex bill by getting a Form A through Stanbic bank and that took about 8 days to process. According to the man that helped me process it, Stanbic will no longer be accepting Form A for credit card payments :(. Check with other banks, some still accept it. I will be using my Amex during the trip instead of my Nigerian debit cards, then paying it off by using Guaranty Trust Bank for Form A.

A few banks still give out Personal Travel Allowance at the legit exchange rate of 199.5, so I opened an account with one of the banks last week and sharply applied for PTA. It now takes about 2 weeks to complete the process, so I should have some cash in hand for back up.

Budgeting For Japan

I decided I was going to go to Japan last year August and after my experience in Australia, I knew I had to do better with my budget. Knowing that the Nigerian currency was only going to get worse I created a basic excel spreadsheet with different tabs, 1 for activities, 1 for accommodation, 1 for transportation and a summary tab using N300 as the exchange rate (a worst case scenario factor, which is now the case). My budget was set at $7,000 and this covers EVERYTHING:

• flight
• food and drinks
• activities
• transportation + local flight
• travel insurance
• accommodation

According to my spreadsheet, I now have about $500 to play with so this should give me some room to do unplanned activities.

When I get to Japan, I’ll upload pictures dedicated to each region during my down time ^_^

*mainichi manga o yomimasu, soshite mainichi anime o mimasu – I read mangas everyday, and I also watch animes everyday (foundation japanese stizz)

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