Trip accounts 2015

I know!, it has been 3 months since we returned from such an amazing trip and I haven't published the trip accounts yet. Today is the day!

So how much did this adventure in the lands of the rising sun cost us? How much did we spend in food, accommodation, activities, travelling, etc. All these important questions that one needs to know before embarking in such adventure are answered below.

Currency was converted at the average rates in April 2015: 

• ¥1=£0.0056
• ¥1=€0.0077
• ¥1=$0.0084

Prices are per person.

Transport:

• Flights: ¥195,117.26      £1092.66       €1502.40     $1638.98

• Japan Rail Pass for 21 days: ¥55,000     £308      €423.50    $462

• Ferries (3 ferries, one overnight): ¥6806.67   £38.12   €52.41    $57.18

• Car for a week (including rental, petrol, parking and tolls): ¥23,938.33  £134.05     €184.33    $201

     TOTAL= ¥280,862.26      £1572.83      €2162.64      $2359.24

Accomodation:

• TOTAL= ¥145,988.86      £817.54      €1124.11     $1226.31

• This price includes onsen tax which we had to pay at the 6 hot spring resorts we stayed overnight (around ¥150-200/person) and Tokyo city tax (¥220/person).

• We stayed in 2 capsule hotels, 4 ryokans, 1 expensive hotel (Hilton in Tokyo), a friend's house (free!) and the other 7 accommodations were medium quality hotels with the odd one or two that was a bit cheap but clean.

• The ryokans included 2 meals (dinner and breakfast) and we paid for the Hilton breakfast one of the days which was ¥2200 per person (£12.32, €16.94, $18.48). All other accommodations did not include meals.

• Cheapest accommodation was Chisun Inn in Kagoshima, the best value for money of all accommodations with an amazing triple room for just ¥6207.57 per night (£34.76, €47.80, $52.14).

• Most expensive accommodation was Kurokawaso, a dreamy ryokan in Kurokawa onsen village which was worth all the ¥51840 per night (£290.30, €399.17, $435.46) we paid for it.

Food:

• TOTAL= ¥62,580      £350.45      €481.87     $525.67

• As a rule we did not drink alcoholic beverages. Not because we were saving, it's just not our thing! There were some days we had sake, beer or liquor but it did not make a dent on the budget. Anyone willing to have daily/regular alcoholic beverages should add more money to their budget.

• This price includes all the food we ate for all meals, snacks during the day, plus drinks and coffee. We did not starve, we did not reduce the intake of food to save money for other expenses. We had breakfast and lunch typically from supermarket/street food but we sat at restaurants every single night for a complete meal.

• Cheapest meal was noodles in Fukuoka at ¥1350 for the 3 of us (£7.56, €10.40, $11.34).

• Most expensive meal was at a restaurant in the popular and touristic Pontocho-dori in Kyoto at ¥7020 for the 3 of us (£39.31, €54, $58.97).

Wifi:

• TOTAL= ¥2263.33      £12.67       €17.43      $19.01

• We ordered from Sakura Mobile a sim card with wifi only that we used on Manuel's phone and in turn he would share it with our phones. You can also rent a sim card and router.

• We started by ordering a 3GB card but we ended up topping it up with another 3GB, which we did not completely use. I would recommend for a month trip to buy a 5GB card.

• Obviously we used the hotel's wifi connections in the evenings when they were fast enough but there was plenty of use during the day so a wifi sim card is essential, unless you want to be bankrupt with roaming.

Activities:

• Gion walk and Maiko entertainment: ¥25,559.52  £143.13  €196.81  $214.70

• Tea ceremony: ¥2000  £11.20  €15.40  $16.80

• Maiko/Samurai dress-up: ¥12,953.33  £72.54  €99.74  $108.81

• Kabuki theatre: ¥1000  £5.60  €7.70  $8.40

• Rickshaw ride: ¥4500  £25.20  €34.65  $37.80

• Cinema (men's night, ½ price discount for the boys) : ¥1333.33  £7.47  €10.27   $11.20 

     TOTAL= ¥47,346.43      £265.14      €364.57     $397.71

Transport aside as it was the most expensive part of the trip, all other expenses which I have called 'other expenses' come up to ¥279,771.43     £1566.72      €2154.24     $2350.

Dividing these expenses for the 27 days we were in Japan, the daily expenses come up to: ¥10,361.90      £58      €79.79     $87.

Overall, transport and other expenses together, the total cost of the trip per person was:     ¥560,633.93      £3139.55      €4316.88     $4709.33.

I am proud to say that with a bit of planning and without sacrificing comfort and the experiences we wanted to have in Japan, we managed to spend less than the €5000 per person we had initially planned. 

The last leg

Days 28 & 29

It seems we are returning to Europe. I must admit I am not very happy about that. Why would you want to leave such an amazing country? It feels like we are returning from a 1st world country (Japan) to a 3rd world country (UK). I know it's hard to believe, but such is the difference between both.

The journey home was absolutely horrible and I would prefer to forget about it.

When I bought the tickets the prices were a bit higher then we had planned and you can't start splashing out at the beginning because the money might not last until the end of the trip. So we agreed to come the long way. After the trip done you don't really need much energy and we had a bit more than a day to recover before going back to work. Doable I though. How wrong I was...

Between leaving the hotel in Sapporo and arriving at home in London we had a very long and painful 37.5h journey. Yes, that's it!, 37.5 hours!!!

Transportation used:

Walk, train, plane 1, plane 2, plane 3, tube (metro), walk.

Airports visited:

• Sapporo (aka market): it looks like a market, with more shops than the markets in London. All shops with japanese and Hokkaido products.

• Tokyo - Narita: I can't believe we found Hello Kittys at half price here! The best place for souvenir shopping in Japan. 
• Abu Dhabi: alleged to be the airport that never sleeps, it is quite boring and it doesn't really have much for you to do at 4am. Luckily we found a CNN cafe with electrical sockets, USB sockets, wifi and tv (logged to CNN channel, of course!). The tv volume button was at the table and the speakers as well so you could hear the tv without disturbing (too much) the other customers.

• London - Heathrow: let's get the hell out of here! I can't cope with more airports!!!

Airlines:

• ANA (All Nippon Airways): as all japanese, extremely polite and helpful. I forgot my grandfather's swiss knife in my handbag and instead of being disposed as it would be in Europe, I was sent back to check-in and the small knife was put into a cardboard box (although small, it is quite big for a small knife) and I was told it would be waiting for me in London. Are you joking?!? Are you really having this much trouble for a small knife? Let's be honest and say that I said goodbye to the knife there and then. I never believed it would actually jump between 3 planes and get to London. More than a d day later and in London, the box did not arrive with our bags. What did I say? Apparently, even small boxes travel as oversize luggage. You can't imagine how surprised I was when it was waiting on the oversize luggage belt! There is nothing like japanese efficiency!!

• Etihad: service ok, food bad, seats horrible. There was no soap in the toilets and they were quite messy! I couldn't sleep at all during the trip. I do not recommend Etihad for long distance flights! The only thing that kept me sane were the films I saw during the flights. In Tokyo airport, the flight was allegedly 10min early but we were told to go to the gate 10min later. That makes no sense at all! The boarding gate also had two boarding rows, the economy (normal) and the 1st class (with a type of red carpet that was actually grey with a yellow line). They do like class distinctions in the United Arab Emirates, hein?

Jet lag: 

Yes, it's bad! 

Although the three of us wore compression socks, we all had swollen feet, me more than the boys (bloody genes!). 

We were all exhausted and made a terrible effort not to go to bed as soon as we arrived home at 3.30pm. Luckily there was unpacking and washing to do. Our beloved cat also needed some attention after not seeing us for a month. There eventually was a Papa John's delivery and an early bed.

The following days:

Tiredness, sleepiness and headaches. Not good! It took us about 3 days to recover from the trip. The flight into Japan had been a more direct one and we did not experience any of this.

We have learned a valuable lesson for the future: do not be stingy, pay the extra money and get a more direct flight!

Otaru

Day 27

Preparing to leave the hotel I realised I had lost my Japan Rail Pass. I remember seeing it on my jacket's pocket after last night's movie but that was it. It must have fallen off. I went to the JR Information desk and tried to get a train ticket for today and tomorrow as they are the last days. I was politely told it can't be reissued nor a replacement be provided. Imagine if I had lost it on the 1st week! These passes are not cheap...

To the Lost & Found I went hoping for a miracle. The employee at Lost & Found did not speak english but I showed him Jorge's card, pointed at me and made a 'Ups!' face. He got the point. All is computerised. He searched on the computer, found a lost Hokkaido Rail Pass but no Japan Rail Pass. Oh well, tickets will have to be... There aren't many more train journeys which is a relief but a return trip to Otaru costs 1070. Expensive!

There were many tourists on the train to Otaru.'Clearly it is as good as we were told', that's what we though until we got there. Otaru is small and doesn't really have many interesting sights. The buildings are quite uninteresting and the canal that is supposed to be beautiful is just ok. There aren't as many shops or restaurants around the canal as I had though. Actually, the restaurants on the canal have their back exits to it and the front entrance to a main busy road. How weird is that?

The coolest building is not old at all, it's a karaoke place:

We were getting bored of Otaru but we had planned to do a rickshaw ride as it seemed to be a small and quiet town and therefore perfect for it. Rickshaws are a 1869 japanese invention, so where better to try them then in Japan?

Manuel wasn't keen but I had wanted to do it and this was our last chance. Jorge accepted and we were comfortably installed in the rickshaw, with a seat belt and a blanket. Our driver was a young (and cute) very tanned japanese man with small lycra shorts and who smiled and laughed at almost everything. His english wasn't brilliant but it was enough, we taught him some portuguese and he taught us some japanese.

Comfortable, yet cosy for two people, it has springs so you don't really feel the holes in the pavement. It's slow speed makes for an enjoyable ride and let's you see a lot more than if you were in a car.

The rickshaw proved to be a good idea. The driver knew where the best photo spots and the few interesting buildings in town were. He was driver and photographer. He called a colleague for help who spent the entire ride running behind the rickshaw. I assume he was there in case he might be needed in more hilly streets but he was not. In the end we got a bunch of postcards of Otaru and a discount coupon for another rickshaw ride, valid for 3 years in several cities in Japan. Not bad!

We asked our driver for a sushi restaurant recommendation. Otaru is known for having Japan's best sushi. We had sushi twice yesterday and again today, Jorge wasn't completely happy about it...

Trying to find the recommended restaurant we asked a woman in the street for help. We showed her the restaurant's name that our driver had written on the city's map and she gesticulated as if we had already passed it. She did not speak english but she understood we wanted sushi. She gesticulated that if it was sushi what we wanted, then another restaurant was better. She said the restaurant's name, we understood, but she did not seem convinced. She pulled out her lipstick from her bag, opened it and took a toothpick out of it. Clearly someone that likes to make the most of her beauty products before throwing the package away! She dipped the toothpick in the lipstick and proceed to write the restaurant's name on her hand. What a helpful lady!

The restaurant was close and easy to find after such good (and colouful) instructions. There was a local couple having lunch and that was it. The chef/owner/waiter/receptionist/attendant quickly sat us down at the counter and brought hot tea. We chose a sushi set which he made one piece at a time in front of us. All was made effortless. It went down rather quickly and we ordered some more individual ones. 

In sushi restaurants the technique is simple: point at what you want to eat (toppings are displayed at the counter), how many you want of each, watch them being done, eat. It couldn't be easier! There were asparagus and we had never seen asparagus sushi so I ordered to try. The asparagus tip is cut in half, placed in top of the rice and held together by a strip of nori (seaweed), just like the omelette sushi. It does however take a small amount of a sauce on top. I must say I like the idea of vegetarian sushi.

We left Otaru a bit disappointed as the expectations were higher and the reality did not deliver. I would advise to come in the afternoon/evening as it could be that Otaru is better when the bars and restaurants are full. The night life might be what it's most interesting. The sushi however was as advertised: delicious!
Back in Sapporo we finally saw Spring in Hokkaido. Cherry blooms are blossoming. We have been so fortunate to be able to see Spring and cherry blossoms in every island we've been.

Afternoon was spent shopping. When you are a backpacker you need to be careful with your shopping. If you start too early it will weigh you down for the rest of the trip. If you do them too late you might miss out on something. Manuel walked miles looking for a Hello Kitty in kimono for his nieces. I walked miles in the shopping mall looking for hair accessories and socks. Japanese do this funky socks!

Some weird stuff we found:

 

  

It was almost 9pm when we sat for dinner. Exhausted! We had a doria meets omelette type of dinner called 'omu' and desert.

Tomorrow is the 'trip back home' day. I really do not want to go back. Japan is amazing, clean, has all you possibly might want and need, people are extremely polite and we need to do a bit more of natural sightseeing. 'Can we stay?' I asked Jorge, he laughed and said 'Good night'.

Sushi day

Day 26

I had been wanting to have sashimi breakfast at a fish market ever since I arrived in Japan. I lost the opportunity in Tokyo but I embraced it in Sapporo.

Nijo fish market is small, tiny compared to Tokyo's. Half of the shops were closed and there didn't seem to be a lot of clients. Reviews said it is usually crowded with tourists but we were the only ones. Actually, now that I think about it, we haven't seen many tourists in Sapporo. Apart from some chinese and americans, no one else. The most rated tourist attraction in Sapporo is the Snow Festival which is obviously in Winter. Therefore it seems safe to assume that crowds of tourists are only in Winter. 

After going around the market twice we realised that there was only one sashimi shop, not very cheap. The lack of option can be dangerous and the boys were not easy to convince but in the end they indulged me. 

The shop had lots of pictures and autographs and bank notes from different countries. There was one from Macau, when it still was a portuguese colony. Cool! 

Although it was the tiniest shop I've ever seen and we had to squeeze ourselves in the chairs, we did good because the fish was deliciously fresh.

The shopping arcade was nearby so we checked out the shops. We haven't done souvenir shopping yet and this is our last stop. I found a shoe shop that handmades typical japanese sandals. I'll be back!

We also found bears, Hokkaido trademark.

Sapporo must have a very harsh Winter. There is an enormous shopping arcade underground that traverses almost half the city centre and it's lined with cafes, restaurants and shops. You can tell that construction has been done in different stages as layout and decor differ from section to section. Overground you don't see many people walking around but as soon as you descend the stairs to the underground passageway a new city emerges. Filled with people, walking in different directions. It seems like it doesn't matter what the weather is outside, people are used to walk underground and continue even when the weather is good. It is dry, warm and you avoid traffic lights. It took us about 30min to walk from the overground shopping arcade to the train station, all underground.

Al fresco dining underground style:

Underground market:

The rest of the day was spent at the Nopporo Forest Park, a train ride away from Sapporo city centre.

The first thing we saw when we got there was a huge tower erected in 1970 to commemorated the 100 years of Hokkaido colonisation. Manuel was mesmerised by it. He kept saying it looks like Sauron's tower and decided that it was the prettiest tower we had seen in Japan. You can tell he's partial to the Lord of the Rings. He does have some point...

There are plenty of pedestrian paths in the park and a walk is probably worth it in Spring and Autumn.

A bit further down we found the Historical Museum of Hokkaido. I regret not seeing more museums in Japan, specially in Tokyo and Kyoto. Our initial experiences with the museums in Kyushu island were bad as there was barely any translation to english. However, this museum set it all right. Half is translated to english and there are even laminated reading charts in every room translated to several languages. 

We saw the skeleton of a mammoth. Amazing!

The museum explains very thoroughly that Hokkaido island was inhabited by a race called Ainu and tells you a bit about their costumes. They are natives like the american indians were the natives in North America. So the dominant japanese race are for the Ainu what english and french settlers are for the native american indians. It is a very interesting museum and worth a visit!

Look at an old iron griddle where the jingisu-kan we had last night is made:

I am a little slow in museums. I love museums and I am annoying enough to read all that's written. By the time I finished both Jorge and Manuel were seating, holding their phones and browsing the internet for some distraction. We also did not have much time remaining for the Historical Village of Hokkaido.

We were hungry by the time we got to the village so we had lunch at the cafe. We were the only ones when we arrived. The cafe is huge so you can tell this site is popular during tourist peak time.

We had miso ramen and soy ramen, local specialties. They look the same in the photographs and the difference is just in the sauce, the soy is the second picture and my opinion is that it's not as tasty.

The village has actual real houses that were donate by people, taken from their original location and reconstructed here. You can see shops, inns, a dojo (house to practice martial arts). There is a reconstitution of a fishing village, a farm village and a mountain village. Be prepared however to take your shoes off all the time if you want to step inside the houses. Have I mentioned how annoying it is to be removing shoes all the time? Please bring lace-less and easy to use shoes if you come to Japan.

Noodles shop:

Noodles's shop urinals. Note the sandals to use in the toilet area only (very japanese!) and the lack of flush:

Asian toilet (always by a window):

Sweet shop:

Sledge workshop:

Dojo:

Living room:

  Wood storage:

Lumberjack's accommodation in the mountain:

We saw about half of it and tried to stay away from the security guard's view whilst he started closing the houses one by one. We did alright for a while but then one of the employees politely followed us indicating the exit. Oh well, we tried...

Manuel was in the mood for cinema so we went to the JR Station shopping mall and checked out what was on. I never thought japanese cinema was this big. There were about 10 movies screening and only 2 were foreigners. We clearly had limited choice! We agreed on watching 'Jupiter ascending', after ascertaining it had subtitles. We seem to have picked the right day. Wednesday's are men's day so men get a discounted ticket. Women's is on Thursdays. ¥1800 for my ticket and ¥1100 for the boys. Not cheap!

I was desperate for an ice-cream so we walked several floors to find one. There was no need to go far as the cinema had ice-cream. How stupid was that? Vanilla flavour however tasted more like cream than vanilla. Either something was lost in translation or the vanilla is really of poor quality. Anyway, it soothed my craving.

I enjoyed the movie more than I thought but I still prefer Channing Tatum in 'Magic Mike', for obvious reasons! 

As in the west there is advertising before the movie starts but, unlike in London, it is not 20-30min. There was some general advertising before the due time for the movie to start and at the due time there was only a very healthy 10min of cinema advertising. Time is money and nobody is wasting mine! I like it!

Jorge had spotted a sushi restaurant when we were looking for the ice-cream. It had a big queue. One movie and 2 hours later, it still had a queue. 'Probably a good sign' we though. We took a number at the door and waited on the stools outside the restaurant. It's so popular it has permanent stools outside!

It was a conveying belt sushi restaurant. In Japan!! We were excited!

I was so excited that I started making a fool out if myself from the beginning... I set up my soy sauce dipping little bowl and started mixing this green powder which was located at the table. 'Must be wasabi' I thought, and I loooove wasabi. I had seen wasabi powder before (in a supermarket) but this one was rather difficult to mix. That was when the chef said 'No wasabi. Green tea!'. Ups! Powdered tea to mix in water and make a hot green tea. Gotcha! Embarrassed, I turned the bowl aside and started preparing a new one, this time with soy sauce only. The chef was kind on me and gave me a little bowl with wasabi. 'These crazy foreigners!' she must have thought.

On the pictures, note that there are 2 conveyor belts. One on the top for the food and one on the bottom for cups and dipping sauce bowls. How clever!

Lots and lots of sushi, of every kind and shape. Unfortunately, the sashimi we had at breakfast time in the tiny market stall was exceedingly better. When you taste good quality, you really start to realize the majority is average. It makes your dinning experiences rather dull but makes you a food expert. When you find a good place to eat, you find heaven.