Japan 2008

All images (c)2008 copyright the author.

Introduction

This was my third trip to Japan, the first being in 1993 when I spent two months there backpacking, and the second in 2006 with my wife Kate for a couple of weeks. Once again we went to a few places I'd been before and a number that I hadn't. Unlike last time though, this time we stayed mostly in business hotels close to transport hubs, which was somewhat more expensive, but we had the advantage of a better exchange rate.

The other comments I made in my write-up of the 2006 trip still applied to this trip, so I won't repeat them here. See that write-up for more information.

For this trip, we spent about a week down in the Yaeyama (Southwest) Islands and Okinawa, and then another week on the mainland, staying in Fukuoka, Okayama, and Osaka. In Okayama, we stayed in exactly the same ryokan as our 2006 trip, but went to different places for day trips. That was the only accommodation that wasn't a business hotel.

Despite the weather forecast showing lots of rain leading up to our arrival, we ultimately had beautiful weather for the whole trip. Other than the first couple of days being overcast, every other day was sunny and fine. It rained (in fact thunderstormed) one night in Okayama, but was beautiful again the next day. The only negative was the cold wind, at times very cold and biting.

Travel

We flew into Osaka on Jetstar airlines, a direct flight from Sydney (although the return flight was via Brisbane), arriving around 9pm or so. The next morning we flew direct from Osaka to Ishigaki Island. To avoid the trip into Osaka city for just the one night, we stayed at the airport Nikko hotel, the most expensive accommodation of the whole trip (but apparently the only hotel right at the airport). The flight home left Kansai airport around 10pm, arriving in Brisbane after 8am the next morning and finally back to Sydney around noon.

Travel to and from the islands was by air, using pre-purchased "Welcome To Japan" air passes from JAL. These had date restrictions, and in our case couldn't be used from March 7th onwards, so the trip was planned to fly back to the mainland on March 6th. Three sectors were purchased for a fixed price per sector: Osaka to Ishigaki Island, Ishigaki Island to Naha in Okinawa, and Naha to Fukuoka. Each sector cost ¥13,650, except for the first one which only cost ¥13,000 as it was considered an international connecting flight and thus wasn't subject to tax. The alternative Yokoso JAL passes for ¥13,000 weren't available to us as we didn't fly with them or one of their alliance partners to Japan (Qantas is an alliance partner but not Jetstar, even though Jetstar is owned by Qantas). Initially we wanted to visit another island as well before returning to the mainland, but practically all island-to-island flights have a stop-over in Naha which makes them two sectors each and thus double the price. As a cost comparison, a standard fare from Ishigaki Island to Naha is over ¥20,000, and the other two sectors are significantly further.

From Ishigaki Island to other islands in the Yaeyama group we took high speed ferries. These ran frequently (to the major islands at least) every day from the ferry terminal at Ishigaki Port.

Back on the mainland, we used one-week Japan Rail passes for day trips from Fukuoka, Okayama, and Osaka. The rail passes were also useable on the JR loop line in Osaka and from the city to Kansai airport when we left. We had to pay extra to use the Fukuoka and Osaka subway systems though, which we did a bit when it was more convenient. To help plan longer train trips in advance, the Hyperdia website is excellent. Just put in where you want to go from and to, the date, the approximate departure or arrival time, and if you're using a rail pass, check the "except Nozomi" box after the Shinkansen (bullet train) option. It will then present you with up to five options detailing each train, railway platform, connection, and price to make the journey (although price won't matter for the JR sectors with a rail pass).

Accommodation

As mentioned above, all accommodation other than in Okayama was in business hotels. The details for each place, in chronological order, are given below. Prices are the nightly rate for a double room (a couple were twin rooms) for the two of us:

Kansai Airport: Nikko Hotel, ¥17,000.
Ishigaki Island: Hyper Hotel, ¥7,240 with free breakfast.
Naha: Toyoko Inn Asahibashi-Ekimae, ¥8,190 with free breakfast.
Fukuoka: Miyako Hotel, ¥11,000.
Okayama: Matsunoki Ryokan, ¥8,000.
Osaka: Hotel Granvia, ¥13,650 one night, ¥15,750 other two nights.

As a guide to location, the Nikko hotel is accessible directly from the airport terminal, the Hyper Hotel is on the eastern edge of Ishigaki port (the ferry terminal is on the western side but the port is pretty small), the Toyoko Inn is a few minutes walk from the Asahibashi monorail station which connects directly to Naha airport and from the main bus terminal, the Miyako Hotel is a couple of minutes walk from Hakata station (pretty much just out the door), the Matsunoki Ryokan is a few minutes walk down a side street from Okayama station, and the Granvia is directly accessible from within Osaka station (note that that's the main JR station, not Shin-Osaka where the bullet trains stop).

The main problem we encounted with accommodation was being given a room on a smoking floor in a couple of the hotels. One we managed to change to a non-smoking floor, but for the other (the Miyako) we were stuck with that room. After we complained about the smell though, they did do a bit of extra cleaning and/or air freshening which I think helped a little.

All accommodation was found either in the Lonely Planet guide or on the Internet. It was also all booked on the Internet, except for the Toyoko Inn which required sending a fax. Everything was confirmed before we left. Note that some hotels, like the Granvia, give significant discounts for rooms booked online, but bookings can only be made a couple of months in advance. The English pages of some websites were also a little confusing, so having someone who can read Japanese to interpret the Japanese versions for you can be helpful.

I also found Google maps really good for seeing what a place looked like, and seeing how conveniently located the hotels really were. From a combination of information found on the websites and in the Lonely Planet guide, I managed to pin-point all hotels on Google maps and printed out street maps of the immediate areas to help with finding them once we arrived. Probably the two most-used websites during the trip planning would have been Google maps and the Hyperdia rail timetable site.

Kansai Airport

Due to our late arrival, we only had time at Kansai airport for a quick look around in the morning before our flight to Ishigaki, and for a bit of breakfast.

The plaza linking the Nikko Hotel to the airport terminal, just outside the Nikko Hotel:

Something to do to pass a few minutes. These coin-operated massage chairs are common:

Some flowers in the hotel reception area. The Japanese are great with their flower arrangements, both real and artificial:

Breakfast at a nearby food bar:

With some rather sticky soya beans (natto):

In a gift shop at the airport:

A closer view of typical gifts available in all such gift shops:

Yaeyama Islands

The Yaeyama Islands are a group of small islands located near Taiwan. The group includes both the western-most and southern-most inhabited islands of Japan. The main island in the group is Ishigaki, with numerous high-speed ferries running from there to some of the other islands. The second larger island is Iriomote, a hilly island consisting mainly of wilderness, with the other islands typically being both small and fairly flat. Being tropical, the islands are typically surrounded by coral reefs.

The islands we visited from Ishigaki were:

Taketomi: this is a very small island between Ishigaki and Iriomote, I think a coral cay. It's dead flat and only a couple of kilometres in diameter. We spent a morning walking around the main points of interest, those being the small town and some beaches.

Kohama: another small island between Ishigaki and Iriomote, but a little further north than Taketomi and closer to Iriomote. The island is bigger than Taketomi but the scenery is similar. The main attraction seems to be its golf course. We spent an afternoon walking around the small town there.

Kuroshima: yet another small island between Ishigaki and Iriomote, but this time a little further south than Taketomi and also closer to Iriomote. This island is basically all cattle farm, but we spent a few hours cycling some of its roads and visiting a few coastal spots. There's nothing much there to see, but the cycling was relaxing (despite the cruddy bikes) and the beaches were nice.

Another day was spent on Ishigaki itself, where we took a bus up to Sukuji Beach for a brief visit (Ishigaki port is on the southern edge where the main town is located). We had intended to rent a scooter for the day, but forgot about the requirement of an international driver's licence. Doh! They wouldn't rent us one with just our Australian licences.

A park in the Ishigaki town area:

A children's plaything in the park. There's another similar one facing this one, and there's supposed to be some rails or cables between them (coming out of the hands) but they've deteriorated and are no longer there:

Outside a restaurant at night:

Ishigaki Port. The hotel that can be seen at the far end of the port, directly in line with the front edge of the dock, is the Hyper Hotel where we stayed: