Columbo
Japan really is quality - we went in 2007. Every airport has viewing decks and really quite easy to get around. As a summary of our trip in 2007:
Main flight with Swiss (MAN-ZRH-NRT, and back HKG-ZRH-MAN) was £620'ish. This could have been a lot cheaper if we had booker earlier.
Internally, was going to use the Star Alliance Air Pass, allowing for 5 internal flights which would have worked out at £260 in total. However, we couldn't use this as we left Japan (to Hong Kong) via a non-Star Alliance carrier (China Airlines). Instead, we just booked on-line at ANA via
www.ana.co.jp/eng/ looking for either the Chowari or Tabiwari fares (you need to book a certain length in advance) and this worked out at essentially the same for the 5 sectors we took (in fact some of the sectors worked out cheaper!).
We did the following:
Narita-Haneda - this can be done on the Limousine Bus service, details of which can be found at
www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/ This was about a 70 minute journey at 3000Yen at the time.
Haneda-Sapporo on an ANA 777-300
Sapporo-Nagoya Chubu on an ANA A.320
We stayed in central Nagoya. To get to central Nagoya from Centrair there are buses or trains. The airport website (http://www.centrair.jp/en/) provides all the information needed, but by train it cost 850Yen to the Meitetsu Nagoya Train Station, plus a 350Y additional ticket if you use the first class and limited stop carriages (a must after seeing some of the other packed out trains). The Meitetsu website (http://www.meitetsu.co.jp/english/) also provides further information.
To get from central Nagoya to Komaki, there is a bus service from the Meitetsu Nagoya Bus Station, but there was a small 15-20 seat bus that runs from the opposite side of the road to the Meitetsu Train Station outside the Louis Vuiton store. It was a silver bus with red CRJ logo, takes about half an hour and costs 500Yen
From Komaki back to Centrair you can either get the small bus back to central Nagoya and then the train to Centrair, or get a coach from Komaki to Centrair at a cost of 1500Yen (it actually goes via central Nagoya so it doesn't matter either way). From Komaki to Centrair takes just over an hour.
Nagoya Chubu-Fukuoka on an ANA 737-700
Fukuoka-Osaki Itami on an ANA 777-200
To get between Itami and Kansai we used the Limousine Bus at a cost of 1,700Yen and a journey of around 1 hour (http://www.okkbus.co.jp/eng/) with buses around every 40 minutes or so.
Osaka Kansai-Okinawa Naha on an ANA/ANK 737-500
For hotels at the various locations, we used:
Narita - the APO Rest House which is inside the airport boundaries so no need for passport check each time you wanted to enter the airport from outside. Details at
www.apo-resthouse.com/english/index.htmlHaneda - Toyoko Inn Haneda Otorii Honkan, booked via their website
www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/(we used the Toyoko Inn chain a few times, very clean we found, and relatively cheap)
Sapporo - the Mitsui Urban Hotel New Chitose Airport, the hotel inside the terminal complex at the JAL end. This was booked through Japan Hotels Online (http://japanhotelsonline.
net/jho/sys/) - this was the only website which allowed us to book as all other were saying no rooms available.
Nagoya - Toyoko Inn (http://www.toyoko- inn.com/eng/), this time being the Nagoya-eki Sakuradori-guchi Shinkan, a 5 minute walk from the Meitetsu Train Station. This allowed us to be in central Nagoya so we could get to both airports relatively easily. I think there is a Toyoko Inn on the Chubu Centrair island now?
Fukuoka - another Toyoko Inn
(http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/) - this time the Hakata Gion. This is 3 stops down on the Fukuoka Subway Kuko Line (see
urbanrail.net/as/fuku/fukuoka.htm) at a cost of 250Y. Getting off the train at Gion station and up the escalator to the exit barrier, if you look in your 10o'clock area there is a small corridor with an advert for the Toyoko Inn next to it. This leads to an elevator which, when taken, will bring you out on the surface about 50 yards away from the hotel... easy!
Osaka - Hotel AP, just the other side of the airport car parks, but due to a fence running around the whole compound, it takes about 15-20 minutes to walk around there (not the best time for wheels on the suitcase to pack up!). The hotel was booked through
www.japanhotel.net/Okinawa - the Hotel Sun Queen, again booked through JapanHotel.net. The hotel is 8 stops down on the monorail (260Yen) from the airport - details can be found at
www.urbanrail.net/as/naha/naha.htmOn exit from the monorail, face the direction you've travelled from and turn right up the main street and the hotel is about 3-5min walk on your right.
Not the cheapest of trips that I've been on, but oh my was it worth it!
Cheers
Darren
