Holiday in Japan

I even don’t have better ideat about Japan’s Holiday. But I would like to know and learn about it.

This is a great Idea is to spend your holiday in Japan. It is one of the best tourist places in the world and known for is culture.

A BIG THANK YOU for all your replies everyone, you responses have made me so excited. I cannot wait

As Tigerlily said, I recently returned from Japan. I went to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

The most fun I had was actually MariCar in Akihabara where you dress up in Mario character costumes and drive on the actual Japanese roads in little cars (or “karts”) for two hours around Tokyo. You drive in groups and there is a guide who drives ahead of you and makes sure you are safe and sticking with the group. They also take lots of photos of you in the kart at the red lights. There is risk in that you need to be a relatively good driver and if you choose to do this I would opt to pay the insurance (it costs very little). You need to obtain an international driver’s license beforehand from the RACV which just involves paying a fee and you also need to bring your Aussie driver’s license with you. Everyone who works at MariKar speaks English so you should have no trouble communicating with them. Here’s the site for more info: https://maricar.com/. I highly recommend this single experience (but I couldn’t tell my mother I did it or she’d have a heart attack).

I travelled around using a Passmo and JRail, both of which I recommend you look into because the combination of both gets you around the most places and at a cheaper fare. You can also purchase items from several stores using the money you add to your Passmo. By the way, Suica and Passmo are pretty much the same and are refunded from the same place.

I second the suggestion of a day trip to Nara – the experience of petting and feeding live deer beats all the limited time you have with the animal cafes which are profilerate in Japan although I went to a cat cafe, hedghog cafe and pug cafe. (I’m an animal lover.) We also went to Osaka Aquarium. If you go to the Aquarium, you should get the Osaka Kaiyu Ticket, which is a special one-day ticket that includes entrance to the Osaka Aquarium and unlimited travel on Osaka Metro lines and Osaka City Bus routes. Legoland is also right next door to the Aquarium and the Tempozan Ferris Wheel is also at the same location for sweeping panoramic views of Osaka.

We went to Disneyland but we were considering trying to squeeze in Disneysea. If you are the sort that enjoys rides, Disneysea is the way to go. I’m an adult and Disneyland in Japan was awesome. It truly is one of the happiest places on earth.

We also went to the Gion District. If you go there around 5pmish, you might see a real geisha coming home from work. I’m told they are rarely seen but I saw four.

As for skincare, there are heaps of drugstores around every corner in Tokyo and Kyoto. There is a big drugstore chain called Don Quijote and you can find it by spotting a silly looking penguin logo. You can’t miss it. They don’t just sell skincare though. Other places to buy skincare are Loft, Cosme, Matsumoto KiYoshi, Ainz & Tulpe. They can be found in Tokyo and Kyoto. Whatever you buy, do not buy any Western brands as they are considerably marked up.

I was in Tokyo, got the normal Suica card to get around and to use it convenience stores. Plus with Suica the fare is cheaper than buying each way. You can return card for refund in the airport before you leave, just allow more time to do it.

My pick was Akihabara and Asakusa =D if budget allows it, definitely the kimono too

If you’re interested in day trips from Osaka, I recommend Hiroshima and Itsukushima Shrine!

For skincare, I recommend visiting this thread https://www.beautyheaven.com.au/forums/help-ive-got-a-beauty-dilemma/japanese-makeup-and-skincare-please-share-your-experiences?page=5#comment-4338560

Resident Japanese beauty expert Ethelinde recently returned back with an envious beauty haul which I’ve yet to look into in much detail myself but is drool worthy

Omg!! You are going to love it
I spent a month there at the beginning of last year and I wish I stayed for longer!!

How long are you going to be there for? Some places you will have to travel too so if you’re short on time some may be less convenient than others.

I would recommend while in Tokyo to try and do a day trip to Nikko. You would have to leave relatively early because the Shinkansen only goes so far up that way and then you have to take a regular train which is about the same travel time. But it is well worth it, culturally beautiful with all the shrines, temples and mausoleum of Iemitsu Tokugawa the third Tokugawa shogunate and Shinkyo Bridge.

Also if you have time and haven’t already been, Mount Fuji is just beautiful and I couldn’t recommend it more

While I’m not the biggest fan of Osaka, you can see the whole city from the top of Kuchu Teien Observatory (Umeda Sky Garden) and even lock a padlock with your names onto the rails hehe so cute I did it :p
I did a day trip from Osaka to Kobe and Himeji on the same day which was really nice. Himeji Castle is phenomenal, and the park grounds are huge!! There is also a little garden next to it so you can purchase a ticket to see both for about 100yen more than the castle visiting price. The garden has 4-7 (I can’t remember exactly) ponds with koi fish and there are bonsai everywhere. It’s so pretty.
Kobe was nice for the beef!! But I went because of the harbour and to go to a sake brewery 🙂

I hope this isn’t too overwhelming!! Really excited for you!
If you liked any of the info and want more feel free to ask!

Oh p.s! If you haven’t already looked into it, I’d recommend getting a JR pass. It’s such good value because you can use it on all JR line trains and JR buses (there aren’t that many though) and on the Shinkansen so you don’t have to spend heaps to go from Tokyo to Osaka and vice versa 🙂

I went to Japan in 2014 and it was amazing!
I recommend doing a day trip to Nara (the deer town).
The combinis (convenience stores) sell rice balls that are super delicious (and cheap) which make it a great option when you’re on the move. Also, the sandwiches at the train stations are insanely good.

Any temple you choose to go to will be an amazing experience, Kinkaku-ji (Kyoto) was especially beautiful though.

As for the skincare, I purchased a bunch of sheet masks etc. from random stores. Everything was in Japanese though so I really had no idea what I was buying /from where.