Itinerary for Japan

Good point renga, will take this into consideration...

Thanks, Georg.

I'm glad you enjoyed Indonesia! Japan's different, but also absolutely fascinating.

I've done some searches, and it seems there are actually two ferries operating between Shanghai and Japan at the moment! Both services are weekly, so there seem to be 2 services a week. One in four goes to Kobe, the others go to Osaka.

You can ski in the Japanese Alps. You can go to ski resorts that are not well-known out of Japan - like in Hyogo, for example - and ski with the locals. You can ski all over the place in Japan, it's a mountainous country that gets lots and lots of snow. Nearly every single prefecture in Japan has ski resorts. I have no personal experience though, and don't know if the better known places in Hokkaido and the Alps are indeed that much better than other ski resorts in Japan.

Personally, I like Japanese history and architecture a lot, so my 2 favourite cities are Kyoto and Nara. Tokyo - certainly one of the world's great cities - would be number 3. If you just want one city to stay in for awhile and explore, choose Tokyo or Kyoto, depending on whether you're more interesting in traditional Japan or modern Japan. There are lots of other nice places in the country too... I like the quiet Sea of Japan side, including some places in and around Sakaiminato (Matsue, for example). There's even some beautiful scenery very close to Sakaiminato, but it's difficult to access without a car.

Hello Giora,
Thanks again and interesting and good to know that there are even 2 services a week from Shanghai to Japan...

And interesting your views reg the cities, I might choose two, Kyoto and Tokyo...

Do you maybe have any recommendations for cheap and good places to stay in these 2 cities?

Thanks again, Georg.

PS: Where are you now? Also traveling?

The two services are run by two different companies, so the details of buying tickets and everything else may well be different for both.

If you're only going to visit 2 cities in Japan, Tokyo and Kyoto would certainly be the most obvious choices. There are numerous, numerous interesting daytrips you can do out of Kyoto too.

Kyoto and Tokyo both have numerous hostels - have a look online for the best deals. Note that prices often rise on the weekends, particularly Saturday.

I live in Japan these days.

Right, just also investigated, they go on different working days which gives me also more options...

Where in Japan do live now and would you be interested in meeting up somewhere?

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