I finally summed up the expenses on the trip to Japan in 2022! Since Estonia and Japan surely use different currencies, some are calculated in EUR, others are in JPY.
There are 11 items.
Quite a lot!
To use this article as a reference for my next trip to Japan, I categorised them.
I booked the flight tickets on Finnair for September and October, which had one transit and cost more than 700 EUR. Then I booked the flight tickets on JAL for the same travel period, which had two transits and cost around 680 EUR. Due to the timing of JAL’s cancellation, the flight tickets that I booked on Lufthansa were for November and December, which cost 851.40 EUR.
It was expensive, but acceptable.
All flights above were from Tallinn to Kansai airport.
2. Transports
Then I’m going to talk about the transport fees.
The coach from Tanabe to Namba Osaka cost 2,900 JPY. Since I bought a ticket for only one way, it should have been more expensive than one one-way ticket of the round-trip tickets.
Plus, I spend 9,925 JPY for other transports in Kansai.
On my trip, the trip starts from the day when I leave home until the day when I come home, so all the expenses during such a time are included in the trip expenses. Therefore, the taxi fees to and from the airport – 15.10 EUR – is also the transport fee here.
3. Food and drinks
This is about the food and drinks. I don’t included the expenses for lunches and dinners I had with my friends in Japan. They are socialisation expenses. In this item, the contents are snacks and sweets I bought for myself, and food and drink just for myself (wherever I had such as convenience stores, supermarkets, cafes, etc).
This cost 25,536 JPY. Before I left Tallinn, I was too hungry at the Tallinn airport, so the hotdog I had there was 3 EUR.
I think I could save more money if I stayed in a monthly flat in Japan.
4. Cosmetics
I spent a lot of money on them. Lol
I used 26,373 JPY for makeup cosmetics. lol
The total cost for the perfumes I bought was 11,731. Since I bought 8 bottles, it makes sense… (but I think this information isn’t so useful lol)
I spent 8,5151 JPY for basic cosmetics.
However, at some point I was too lazy to categorise everything, so I believe I spent more.
In addition, I purchased contacts for 90 days in Japan as they were slightly cheaper, which cost 5,596 JPY. (I bought them on Amazon.)
5. Socialisation
For the budget on socialisation, considering what to do in Japan, I made a plan to spend 4,000 JPY per meeting. I calculated separately when I needed tickets.
I used 30,639 JPY in total.
6. Amusement park tickets
As for the tickets at amusement parks, I spend 6,720 JPY which was cheaper than usual (by using the COVID travel campaign), Soraniwa onsesn cost 3,154 JPY (including the ice cream I had there), 3,500 JPY for buckwheat noodle making class, 1,600 JPY for illuminations, 1,440 JPY for atoa (aquarium) by using the discount.
7. Accommodation
On this trip to Japan in 2022, after staying at my parents’ place, I changed the hotel rooms. For this, I budgeted 70,000 JPY in total.
However, actually the total expense for the accommodations was 66,691. (Besides, I booked all of them on Booking.com, so sometimes I got 10% discounts and the total expense was below the budget!)
However, I still do prefer a monthly flat next time.
8. Souvenirs to myself
As for the souvenirs for myself, I used 68,091 JPY since I bought sloop-ons, a wallet, stationeries, Japanese foods, etc.
Strictly speaking, the cosmetics are for myself too, so I REALLY spent a lot for myself…
9. Souvenirs from Estonia
Regarding the souvenirs from Estonia to Japan, I bought sweets, bread and soaps. My selection was almost the same as what I bought for the trip in 2019. The difference I would say is that I chose the different band for the soaps or different tastes/flavours of chocolate.
The total expense was 56.16 EUR. (Is it too few?)
10. Souvenirs from Japan
There are no big differences between the souvenirs from Japan and those from Estonia. I spent 8,465 JPY.
11. Others
Let’s talk about miscellaneous stuff. As I have a chinchilla, I duplicated two sets of keys for my friends who took care of him while I was away. It cost 32 EUR.
Plus, I bought insurance for 33 EUR which helped me with the accident in the beginning of the trip.
What is more, what I needed while travelling in Japan was the internet. In my case, I had rented the mobile Wifi for one month, which cost 5,380 JPY.
Last but not least, I spent 9,215 JPY for the use of the internet cafe, watching and drying, renewal of the driving licence, etc.
★Total expenses
Items
JPY
EUR
Flight tickets
851.40
Transports
12,825
15.10
Food and drinks
25,536
3
Cosmetics
53,924
Socialisation
30,639
Amusement parks
16,414
Accommodation
66,691
Souvenirs for myself
68,091
Souvenirs from Estonia
56.16
Souvenirs from Japan
8,465
Others
20,380
68.56
Sum
302,965
994.22
To sum up all of these, I spent approximately 300,000 JPY in addition to 990 EUR. When calculating the total cost with the rate that 1 EUR equals to 140 JPY, it is around 440,000 JPY.
I’m not sure if this was a low or high cost anymore…
However, I am pretty sure that I spent lots of money on the makeup cosmetics, so next time I believe I can save more (or I don’t have to spend that much). But if I eat out more often, the total expense will perhaps be the same.
Maybe this is a normal value.
By the way, the daily cost is around 15,700 JPY. It sounds like one stay in a posh hotel.
When I visited Japan in 2022, I just wanted to be able to ride on a scooter. A Japanese scooter looks like a moped in Europe. If we have a car driving licence, we can ride on a scooter. I have had a driving licence since the end of 2016, but I had never driven a car or a scooter in Japan. My brother had both a motorcycle and a scooter, so I decided to practise riding scooter in the home garden.
My brother taught me how to use the accel, brake, indicators, and so on beforehand. My mum told me not to rotate the handle too much.
I followed what they told me.
I wore a helmet, and rotated the handle a little.
Then it just ran very fast and I collided into the bushes in the garden.
I tried again. Then I collided with a small tree in the garden.
I gave it up.
I thought if I could ride on a scooter, I would be able to go to a shop in the town from my home village, but I gave it up.
Driving a car with manual transmission is much safer.
Anyway, this is how the accident occurred.
2. Physical injuries
After colliding into the tree, I found that my trousers were damaged, and then found a huge hole in the trousers.Those trousers were my favourite and they were not so old.
However, there were two worse damages. Damages to my body.
One of them was a scratch. Though it was just a scratch, the size of the scratch was big, and it was on my knee. It wasn’t bleeding that much, and bleeding stopped very quickly since I have a lot of haemoglobin (according to a doctor who I met when I had my company’s health check in Estonia).
I disinfected the left knee. Also as there was no big plaster at home, I covered the scratch with a cotton soaked with disinfection liquid. Then I covered the cotton piece with a piece of gauze, and taped them.
The other injury occurred to my left front tooth. After colliding into the tree, I felt like the tooth had been rocking. There was no pain, but I felt something. It wasn’t bleeding either.
My mum was working at that time, but she took a short leave, and took me to dental and oral surgery in Tanabe, Wakayama, Japan.
I explained what happened as well as the fact that I live in Estonia.
They did an X-ray check first, and observed all of my teeth. After that, the dentist with a certificate of oral surgery checked the injured tooth.
He said that my jaw has no problem, the root of the injured tooth has no problem, and the tooth wasn’t dislocated either. There is just a contusion. In the future, the nerve around the injured tooth might necrosis, however, this is treatable according to him. Even outside of Japan, the machines that they need to use to treat the necrosis are the same as ones in Japan, so he told me I don’t need to be worried about that.
On the other hand, in order to avoid the necrosis, I need to avoid using the front teeth when chewing, and he prescribed me two medicines: painkillers and antibiotic tablets for three days. The dentist recommended that I not use the front teeth for at least one week.
I was very fortunate that I didn’t get serious injuries.
3. Insurance
Then, you may want to know the price for seeing a dentist and getting a prescription. Let’s talk about that.
I bought travel insurance on Globe Partner. According to their policy, in my case, there are two types of coverages in terms of dental treatment. Before seeing the dentist, I checked this point.
The first type was “Emergency dental treatment”. This includes treatment for decayed teeth and wisdom teeth. Therefore it was not applicable in my case.
The other type was “Dental treatment following an accident”. This covers 100% and up to 600 EUR. I thought this should work.
Then, when I went to the dentist, I asked them to provide me with as many materials and proofs as possible because this sort of insurance asks for lots of documents.
In my case, since the dental and oral surgery clinic sold medicines too, I got a receipt of treatment as well as the prescription document with prices and other details.
To be honest, as I paid the treatment fee at the clinic, I kind of already wanted to give up asking for the reimbursement to the insurance company because it cost only around 7640 JPY (approximately 53 EUR at the rate then). I mean, it’s still a lot, but less than I expected, which was 20,000 JPY (approximately 138 EUR at the rate then).
4. Reimbursement
Since I had travel insurance on Globe Partner, I sent necessary documents to them by email after coming back to Estonia.
The annoying thing was they requested me to send the document twice. Once I thought pictures were not acceptable but I had to give them PDF files of my passport copy. However, as they requested the same thing repeatedly, I replied to them to check my documents thoroughly. Then they were shut up.
After that, it did not take much time to receive the compensation. (I got the compensation in EUR.) I was afraid that Globe Partner might be like My trip, but they were more reliable. It was my second time to use their travel insurance, and the first time to request compensation, and yet the result was all good.
★Summary
I was very lucky that the injuries are really small although I’m not sure if my left front tooth will necrosis in the future.
I strongly realised and told my mum that driving a car with manual transmission is much safer than riding a scooter because a car with manual transmission has a clutch pedal, whilst a scooter requires control only from the handles!
When travelling in Japan, what you need to take into consideration is absolutely transport. If you travel in a metropolis like Osaka, Tokyo or Kyoto, then you will use just trains and occasionally buses. However, sometimes this basic method doesn’t work.
On this trip to Japan, I had two 20-kg suitcases, a backpack and a haversack. Also, I used transport to go out with my friends. Therefore, I’m going to introduce the transport that I used during the trip in Japan. Also, I will explain why the basic method won’t work in some cases even if you are in metropolitan prefectures.
When arriving in Osaka from Tanabe, Wakayama, I’d already decided to take Uber to go to a hotel because it was a 10-minute walk distance with two suitcases. A 10-minute walk distance with the suitcases is much different from just walking for 10 minutes. It would make us feel longer than 10 minutes, and we would consume lots of physical energy, too.
In Japan, basically there are three taxi apps: DiDi, Go as well as Uber.
The former two apps were not downloadable on App Store Estonia, so Uber was the only option for me. It took some time to add my Japanese debit card because I was not familiar with Uber. In Estonia, I use only Bolt, which UI is much simpler and easier than Uber. After struggling for a while I called an Uber taxi. For the 10-minute walkable distance, I paid around 700 JPY (5 EUR). To me it was not that cheap in JPY, but if I calculate in EUR, it sounds okay…
Later on, I used Uber twice more.
2. Osaka city bus
I barely used buses when I worked in Osaka. However, this time the Osaka city bus was the easiest option for me from the accommodation to Osaka station to meet my previous colleague.
In Japan, when you take a bus, you get on the bus from the back door. Sometimes you have to take a ticket at the door, but for the Osaka city bus that I took, I didn’t have to.
The price was all the same in that bus as well. In front, there is a small screen above, and it shows two pricings; the more expensive one is for adults and the cheaper one is for kids. I don’t know how old kids should be to get that price.
When you get off the bus, you have to pay at the checkout machine next to the driver and get off the bus from the front door. You can use notes as you can get changes at the checkout machine. Then, pay the exact amount.
Plus, I always say thank you to the driver whenever I take a bus in Japan though people barely do that.
3. Train and underground
In metropolises in Japan, it’s quite common to use trains and undergrounds. The residents in Japan often use a transport card such as Suica or Icoca. Depending on the city where they live, the transport card that they can use in their city differs. I used to have an ICOCA card which is available in the Kansai area because I lived in Kyoto.
On this trip in Japan, I planned to buy a new ICOCA card because I lost it, and it’s convenient to have one. However, I didn’t buy it eventually. If I had it, I just needed to top up some amount of money, and just needed to head to the gate by swiping the card there.
Instead, I bought paper tickets every time I took a train or underground as it appeared to be irritating to have one more card, and I didn’t know how much I would spend for the transport.
Buying paper tickets is also easy. First, check the station where you will start your journey. Then go to the ticket machine. Above the ticketing machine, there is a route map, and find out the station name that you want to arrive at. Under the station name, there is a number which is a price to go to that destination. Then pay in cash.
If you don’t know how to pay, call the station staff, and they will show up from the ticketing window. (This is what non-Japanese friends love.)
★Summary
You may feel that trains and undergrounds in Japan are faster than other countries while buses are very slow (based on my experience).
Also, if you travel around Japan, collecting the transport cards might be fun. In fact, I have met some exchange students in Japan who indeed did.
I hope this article will be helpful when you visit Japan.
The accessibility to Nisshin Namba Inn is quite good. I arrived at JR Namba station, and if I walked it would have taken only 10 minutes. Since I had two 20 kg suitcases, I took Uber. There are a few more taxi apps in Japan, but their apps were not available in App Store Estonia. Therefore, Uber was the only option for me. From JR Namba station to Nisshin Namba Inn, it cost less than 700 JPY on Saturday afternoon.
Around Nisshin Namba Inn, there are some restaurants, a drug store, and what is best, two convenience stores (kiosks) called Family Mart. In some countries, Family Mart exists with the name of “Famima” which is an abbreviation that we Japanese use.
I booked a double room. Usually, toiletries in Japanese hotels are furnished in each room, but due to COVID, in Nisshin Namba Inn, it was self service. However, when checking in, they gave me a bag with a few cotton swabs, a hair tie, one-time liquid cleansing as well as a mask. In the bathroom, there was a new soap. Hence the only thing I took from the toiletry box was a body wash sponge. I had my own toothbrush too, so I didn’t have to take one.
In the bathroom of Nisshin Namba Inn, there were bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. This is a good point because I don’t have to consider how much I can use those liquids!
In the room, there is also a microwave, a small fridge, a cooker, a kettle in addition to a closet. In the closet there were three hangers. Since it’s a hotel, a pair of slippers and a hairdryer was also in the room. What is more, I had one bag of tea and one set of instant coffee.
Nisshin Namba Inn offers breakfast too. Don’t expect anything fancy. There are several different types of bread (both savoury and sweet ones) and yoghurt as food. As for drinks, there are coffee, instant coffee, tea, instant soup in addition to juice and milk.
I’ve had something wrong with my belly whenever I ate bread or pasta. Sometimes it was fine, for instance, when I ate my mum’s sourdough bread sandwiches. Immediately after eating some pastries in Nisshin Namba Inn for breakfast, my belly bloated. Since they didn’t offer anything else like rice, I decided not to eat those pieces of bread for breakfast in Nisshin Namba Inn.
Also, of course there is free Wifi in Nisshin Namba Inn, and the connection was very good. I did a school theory exam for driving online, and there was no problem.
b. FON-SU B&B
FON-SU B&B is located in Shinsaibashi area but quite away from any stations or the main streets in Shinsaibashi and Namba. The exact location is in the residential area.
The good points of staying in FON-SU B&B are that three convenience stores (7-eleven, Lawson and Family mart) are nearby.
However, there are multiple negative points.
First, it is not a B&B. Though they say “B&B”, they don’t include breakfast at all. There is their cafe in the same building, but it opens at 9. I was very disappointed, and felt like I wasted money. I chose FON-SU B&B because it says “B&B”. Then what is it? It’s a hostel with private rooms. Mine was a private room as I had two big suitcases.
The second point is the location from FON-SU B&B. When I walked somewhere from FON-SU B&B, there was no problem. However, when I had to move to the next accommodation in Kyoto, 10 minutes by walk with two 20-kg suitcases was too much. I eventually took Uber to the nearest station as from the station the transport didn’t seem to be that hard.
Thirdly, I didn’t like their way of speaking. I had to call them on Skype in the morning like at 7.30 because I had no idea how to get out while the main entrance was closed. They answered and they sounded as if they had wondered why I didn’t know how to get out of the building outside the active hours. When checking in, they taught me how to get in late at night or in the early morning because the door requires a code. However, they didn’t tell me how to get out of the building during such a time. When I met the person who answered my call, she was nice, but her way of speaking on Skype wasn’t guest-friendly.
When I come to Japan again, I wouldn’t stay in this hostel again. If you are on a budget trip or local trip in Japan, it could be an option.
c. Quintessa Comic & Books
Quintessa Comic & Books was an interesting hotel because there were lots of comics books! The number of comic books was not as big as internet cafes. However, it was satisfactory as they had “Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no yaiba)”.
At that time, it was said that the third season of “Demon Slayer” anime would start in the coming months, and I had not watched the second season. When I didn’t have any plans to go outside, I spent some time reading “Demon Slayer” in the hotel room.
It seemed that there were some guests who just wanted to read comic books in Quintessa Comic & Books.
The hotel toiletries including tea, coffee, and face wash were self-service. Of course, I took extra for the next trip I planned.
d. HOTEL MORNING BOX
I didn’t like HOTEL MORNING BOX because my hotel room was too small, it was chilly inside, and there was no drink in the room. On the other hand, the good point was that there was a large communal bath. Since it was not onsen, it was just a large version of a regular bathtub, and yet it was very comfortable to soak my full body there alone. (Yes, there was no one in the bathroom.)
HOTEL MORNING BOX also had a shared space where guests could eat and do some computer jobs. I could use this space even after checking out.
I really liked the communal bath, but I wouldn’t stay at HOTEL MORNING BOX again.
e. KIX House Waraku 2 goukan
Waraku is in Rinku, and around 15 minutes away by walk.
Speaking plainly, I am not sure if I will stay at Waraku again because of the taxi issue there. Since Rinku is in Osaka, I thought Uber was available. However, when arriving at Rinku town station, there was no Uber. Even regular taxis were not there. I went to the reception in the hotel beside the taxi area in the station, and asked them to call a taxi. Gladly, they did, and I was able to go to the accommodation by taxi.
Due to this, I had to do something for the transport the next morning. The taxi driver was luckily very kind, and when arriving at Waraku, he called his taxi company, and let me book a taxi ride the next morning.
Maybe it was still cheap to stay there and go to Rinku town station, and take a train to the airport, but I didn’t like the accommodation itself. My room was on the upstairs, and I had to bring two heavy suitcases there, which was not easy.
2. Kyoto
a. HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA
I stayed at HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA because I was supposed to hang out with my friend in Kyoto. However, owing to her company’s rule on COVID, she cancelled the plan. Therefore, the accommodation was still in Kyoto.
HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA is located just next to the Hankyu Omiya station.
The room looked fashionable, but I didn’t like it that much as there was no table in the room. There was some space in the TV rack, but it was far from the edge of the bed, so it didn’t work well as a table.
Around HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA, there are convenience stores and a supermarket. If you want, there is a McDonald’s too near HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA too.
In HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA, in the common area, there is a microwave though I didn’t use it.
★Summary
To be honest, I wanted to stay at a weekly flat in Osaka, however, it was more expensive than staying at hotels.
Next time, I want to stay in Osaka or somewhere for one month so that I can stay at a monthly flat, and go to some other far away cities such as Tokyo and Okinawa from Kansai on weekends.
People usually imagine one country has some common cultures in that country. However, Japan is not always like that. This is perhaps because Japan used to consist of different small “countries” which are bases of current prefectures. Therefore, every place probably has its own culture, language, and tradition.
Also, when visiting Japan, what is your purpose? Is it shopping? Is it experiencing some activities? Is it enjoying cultures or nature?
In this article, I list several shops for those who want to buy a number of goods in Japan and some places where you can enjoy yourself in Kansai.
Nose Shop is a fragrance shop in Umeda. There might be some more stores in other cities in Japan, but I’m not sure. I wanted to go to Nose Shop because they have capsule toy machines with tiny perfume bottles! When I searched, the price was 500 JPY (3.60 EUR), but then they increased the price, and when I indeed went there, it was almost doubled – 900 JPY (6.45 EUR)! I wanted to try twice, but owing to its price I did only once. What I got smelled like incense.
Actually, there is nothing special more than that, and yet if you are interested in such a small leisure, it may be worthwhile going there.
2. Nintendo Shop
This is new. Nintend shop was only in Tokyo so far. However, since November 2022, there has been a new Nintendo shop in Osaka too!
When I went there, although it was Tuesday afternoon, there was a long queue, and my previous colleague when we worked part-time and I waited 15 minutes.
Neither of us bought anything, but we constantly (or she constantly) said “Kawaii!”. Her vocabulary was so limited temporarily. 😂
I love Pikmin games, and I felt like buying some Pikmin goods, and yet I didn’t buy anything because everything was so expensive! One eco bag cost 3000 JPY (22 EUR)! We enjoyed just looking at merchandise.
Given that you are a Nintendo fan, you should definitely visit their shop.
3. 100 yen shop
Wondering about what to buy for souvenirs from Japan? Then go to 100-yen shops! Almost all of the products are 100 JPY. There are multiple 100-yen shops such as Daiso, Can do as well as Seria.
In Japan, if we go to a 100-yen shop, we can get basically anything. On the other hand, in Estonia, I have to ask someone, search on Amazon DE, go to multiple different shops… It’s so inconvenient and not consumer-friendly.
But this is not the point. The point is that you may find anything for souvenirs. Of course they have chopsticks, stationeries, sweets and cosmetics. Year by year, the quality of 100-yen shops has improved.
This time I bought makeup cosmetics for travelling (because I forgot to bring them), laundry bags for underwear, in addition to a small shopping cart.
When he becomes an adult chinchilla, and is used to my flat, I will give him this small shopping cart and let him hold it. It must be super cute.
4. Buckwheat noodle making class
Have you eaten buckwheat noodles? It’s called soba noodles. One of my university friends and I went to a soba noodle making class on this trip in Japan. (It was her request and suggestion though she is not a huge fan of soba noodles.)
We booked a soba noodle making class for two people at a soba noodle restaurant named Hayauchi. They have one slot in the morning and one slot in the evening in terms of the soba noodle making class. They are closed regularly so it’s better to check the opening hours on their website.
We could borrow aprons but we were told to bring a towel. However, the towel was for the case when we sweat like in summer. We didn’t use it at all in fact.
Making soba noodles wasn’t that easy. Next day I had some muscular pain in my hips and back.
Once you make soba noodles, you can get soba noodles for four to five portions. We had two portions after making soba.
Our soba noodles were harder than what we are used to. Here “hard” means “koshi” in Japanese. You can feel this hardness when you eat good udon, for instance. Not so good noodles don’t have “koshi” and the texture is too soft.
It cost 3500 JPY for one person. Since I was not able to bring handmade soba to my accommodation, my friend had to bring all of the rest home.
If you stay in a weekly or monthly flat in Japan, then maybe there is a pot so you may be able to cook. However, the B&B that I stayed at didn’t have such things but a microwave and a kettle, so I enjoyed making soba noodles and eating them at the restaurant.
Still, it was a good experience. Therefore, I would recommend you try it in Japan.
5. Illuminations
Let’s call a friend who I went to the soba noodle making class with “soba girl”. She and I did something like going out as a couple. 😂
We went to Harvest Hill in Osaka to see the illuminations. Harvest Hill is located in Sakai city in Osaka, and it’s more straightforward to go there by car. She registered herself for car sharing, and we drove there.
We bought tickets online beforehand, and it cost 1,500 JPY (11 EUR) for one adult.
However, this ticket is not a typical ticket to get in Harvest Hill but a special ticket to enjoy the night-time illuminations in Harvest Hill.
Perhaps because it was Thursday, there were few people. We saw only a couple of small families and one young couple who looked like high school students.
The illuminations were beautiful and enjoyable since Estonia doesn’t have such things although they weren’t so big. We walked, our vocabulary was limited, we had fun, but we finished in 20 minutes or so. That was kind of disappointing whilst I didn’t regret it as it was something I could enjoy outside of Estonia!
Illuminations were a winter thing in Japan. There are more illumination events all over Japan between the end of November until some time in December.
6. Internet cafe
I wish we had this amazing and convenient place in Estonia, or even in Europe! An internet cafe is a place you can stay and read manga and comic books, magazines, and sometimes even regular books, watch anime or movies, and surf online!
When I had only one week left until I left Japan, I had seven hours of free time until I met another previous colleague. The soba girl suggested me to go to an internet cafe instead of regular cafes because it’s cheaper, there are lots of manga to read, and I can use the internet.
It was so easy to spend six hours in the internet cafe. I was reading “Demon Slayer”. If I had more time, I wanted to read “Blue Exorcist” and “My Hero Academia” too.
7. Atoa
Atoa is a fusion of art and aquarium in Kobe. It’s beside the harbour, and it takes around 15 minutes by walk from Kobe Sannomiya station. I went to Atoa with my friend who helped me when I went to Ireland (reference).
Atoa’s world was the quality of visionary and at some point it was literally like a regular museum with paintings, which was interesting. It’s an aquarium, however, there were giant tortoises on the floor, some reptiles, penguins, capybaras as well as otters.
A regular ticket costs over 2,000 JPY (14 EUR) but we got it for 1,440 JPY (10 EUR) as I could get a discount with my disability card. My friend also got the same discount as an attendant of the disabled person (me).
One hour or two at maximum is enough to go through all the floors. It was a beautiful aquarium unlike the aquarium in Galway (sorry), and yet the lighting systems on the ceiling should have been hidden better. It felt like a theatre as we could see the backstage systems.
Overall it was worthwhile going there and enjoyable. But I would want to go to Kaiyukan in Osaka again, where I went as a 10-year old kid. Maybe next time I want to go to Kaiyukan.
8. Soraniwa onsen (hot spring)
Japan has a culture of baths. Each flat or house has a bathtub, and we usually take a bath in the evening before going to bed. Taking a bath is a relaxing time. Hence we have a culture of public baths.
Here and there in towns are small and casual hot springs called sento, and if it’s a bit more gorgeous and/or famous for the original hot spring water, there are places called onsen (hot springs).
Friend S from the same university in Japan and I went to an onsen called Sowaniwa onsen in Bentencho, Osaka.
The ticket cost around over 2,000 JPY. It seemed easier to go to Soraniwa onsen by JR rather than metro as the JR station is directly connected to Soraniwa onsen whilst the guidance to Soraniwa onsen from the metro station is suddenly disconnected.
When arriving at Sorwani onsen, take off your shoes, and check in. They will tell you to wear a kimono (yukata) first. You can choose patterns of yukata on your own.
There were not so many types of bathtubs, but I felt good because in Estonia it’s impossible to take a bath in which I can soak my body fully in hot enough water. I have a bathtub at home in Estonia, but it’s too small to do it, so I soak half of my body whenever I do.
They have lotions and toners, but I would recommend bringing your own skincare products especially if you have sensitive skin. I have dry and sensitive skin, and when I tried lotions at Soraniwa onsen, it was painful like burning. I think they use cheap and strong products.
We ate ice cream after taking baths, which was refreshing. Beer could be a good option at that time, and yet I chose ice cream since we would go to a Korean restaurant and drink after that.
I really enjoyed myself, however, I don’t think I will come to Soraniwa onsen again. It’s an entertainment, but as an onsen, it was not satisfactory. If I want to take a public bath, then I would choose sento as it’s much cheaper. It was an interesting place and since you can wear a kimono (yukata), it could be a good leisure activity for foreign tourists.
9. Universal Studios Japan
If you come to Osaka or Kansai, you should definitely go to Universal Studios Japan (USJ)! This is because there is the Nintendo world, Harry Potter’s world and a comic books themed area such as “Jujutsukaisen” (when I went there).
I went to USJ with my friend from the same choir in high school. We have been there multiple times, but since we both are fans of Harry Potter, we can enjoy USJ forever.
You can go there by car or train. The train stop is named “Universal-city”.
The ticket prices vary depending on when you go to USJ. It’s usually 8,000 something JPY (57 EUR). However, this time, due to the encouragement of travelling against COVID, there was a campaign to gain more tourists, so we could purchase tickets cheaper than usual. It cost 6,000 something JPY (43 EUR).
The first thing we did in USJ was to get an entry ticket to access the Nintendo world which was the newest area in USJ! There are a few rides in the Nintendo world though we tried only one of them: Mario Kart.
The queue was very long, but we wanted to try it at least once. On the ride, we had to wear a “hat” (headband) and goggles. The goggles were fine, but the headband was so heavy. The ride itself was fun but in my opinion the headband ruined.
Then we went to the Harry Potter area. There are also a couple of rides. We rode only “Forbidden Journey” because we were not interested in Hippogrif’s roller coaster which is for kids.
The last one we experienced was “Hollywood Dream the Ride”. This roller coaster is innovative. There are five songs, and you can choose one of them before the ride. In addition, there is a roller coaster called “Back drop”. Usually roller coasters go forward, but this one runs from the back. In other words, the end of the roller coaster is the front one. It’s fun but it’s not that scary in my opinion. I prefer the normal one.
There are some other interesting rides like “Flying Dinosaur” which is also innovative because you sit on the seat, and the seat goes up 90 degrees, so there is no floor on the seat! “Flying Dinosaur” is one of the most popular attractions. Other than those, I personally like Spider-Man’s ride and the rotating roller coaster.
When it comes to food and drinks, I would recommend bringing a bottle of water or tea as they are expensive in USJ. This time we had lunch at “Three Broomsticks” in the Harry Potter area. Since we went to USJ in December, they had a Christmas menu. I had a Christmas plate which consisted of a chicken leg, two sausages, peas, carrots, potatoes and brussels sprouts in addition to a soup/stew. What we always get in the Harry Potter area is butterbeer. Due to the fact that all the butterbeer shops had long queues, we ordered at “Three Broomsticks”.
As for snacks, we had pancakes and churros. Pancakes are Mario and Luigi’s hat shapes and in their colours. Mario’s hat is a strawberry cake, and Luigi’s hat is a no-bake cheesecake with grapes. Both were fun to eat and tasted good! The final thing that I wanted to eat was a Christmas churros. It wasn’t a must-try for me, but when we were walking before leaving, we found a stand that was selling hotdogs and Christmas churros. Therefore we had them. The Christmas churros looked cute and I felt like it had been a while to taste a chocolate product. I also felt as if it had been the last sweet until I would start being on a diet again.
This day USJ closed at 7 pm, which was quite early. This is perhaps because of COVID. Anyway, we had so much fun. As I come to Japan again, I would definitely go to USJ again. Going to USJ is like my tradition when visiting Japan.
★Summary
To be honest, there are more shops and theme parks in Kansai. I picked up only a few places this time as I had only two weeks to stay in Osaka.
I know foreign tourists tend to go to Tokyo, but Japan really has lots of different cultures in the small land. If you go outside of Tokyo, you can enjoy a lot more stuff including shrines, temples, pandas in a zoo, theme parks, hiking and nature.
If your purpose is shopping, then go to the metropolis. You can basically get anything you want. However, if you want to do something more active, do some more research.
As mentioned, Japan is full of a variety of cultures!
Wakayama is full of nature, and the number of options to eat out is much smaller than Osaka or Tokyo. However, there are some advantages to eating out in Wakayama.
First, it’s cheap. Simply because Wakayama is a countryside prefecture, it costs less than a metropolis. Second, the ingredients are fresh. Particularly seafood is fresh and tasty. We also have local chicken species. Since they are fresh, it doesn’t smell badly like fish you can get in Europe.
In this article, I summarise six eating places that I went to in my hometown, Wakayama.
French restaurant chilo is located in Tanabe, and it’s near the Tanabe police station. It doesn’t look like a restaurant because it’s in the regular house building. However, there are signs in front of the restaurant, so it won’t be too difficult to find it. A car park is just a few seconds away from there.
The restaurant looks more like an old style Japanese cafe called “Kissaten”, and it’s quite small. There were only five or six tables, and the maximum capacity is probably around 15.
They offered us two types of lunch menu: type A and type B. Type A had only one main dish whilst type B had two main dishes (meat and fish). My friend and I chose type B, so we selected two different fish dishes and two different meat dishes.
Our choices for meat dishes were chicken thigh (I forgot what the sauce was), and aigamo (which is a mixed bird of duck and mallard) with pear sauce. On the other hand, one of the fish dishes was fish poêlé (I also forgot which fish), and the other one was sea bream.
Although it was a lunch menu, since it was a full course, there was soup, one appetiser, and two main dishes, and we got full. However, we tried a daily cake in the end as well, which was a Basque cheesecake. Since we were both full, we ordered only one portion, and shared it.
I know this is not relevant to any Japanese cuisine, however, it is worth going there. In case you get sick of Japanese cuisine, you can get French cuisine in Tanabe. My friend and I went there at lunch time, and yet they offer a dinner menu too.
2. Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant
Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant is not a fancy restaurant at all. It seems to be a local chain restaurant in Tanabe, and my home village has one. Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant Misu is near the secondary school in Misu, and if you wish to visit there somehow, you definitely need a car as there is no bus around there.
I went to Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant to have some lunch. The menu was sufficient and traditional Japanese style, and you can select a meal (teishoku), bowl or noodles. You can have some pints there too.
They also have a daily menu. I kind of wanted to try, but the daily menu when I went there was “oden” which is a pot meal, having different stuff such as white radish, surimi products, boiled eggs, beef, and so on. I didn’t choose this one because I had oden at the previous day’s dinner.
So I ordered “Oroshi Tonkatsu Teishoku”. Teishoku is a plate which consists of a bowl of rice, miso soup, a main dish, and one small side dish or more. Everything but “hamburg” which is like a meat patte in a burger is Japanese. “Tonkatsu” is deep fried pork with panko (like schnitzel). If you see “oroshi” in a menu, it means “with grated white radish”.
In addition to “oroshi tonkatsu”, rice, and miso soup, there were a few side dishes: salad, macaroni salad, okla Japanese salad and pickled radish. The side dishes often change in any teishoku restaurant. In Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant, it was said to change too.
The taste overall was quite light. Given that you prefer thicker tastes, then it may not be satisfactory. However, I prefer lighter tastes, it was all good. The portion was pretty a lot, and I got full after eating. At Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant, you can have a bigger bowl of rice for free. I had a regular size.
The point that I might have been wrongly served is that I didn’t feel that there was enough grated white radish. I thought it was in the sauce, but if so, it was very little. Usually, if the menu says “oroshi”, there is a handful of a mountain of grated white radish. That was kind of disappointing though.
Before going to Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant, I read a review on Google map that the tastes were good, but the service wasn’t. On the contrary, I didn’t feel so. The waiters and cooks were energetic as well as polite.
When paying, you shouldn’t not wait for a waiter in Japan. After ordering, they usually leave a check note, so you need to bring it to the check out. Then you pay. I was in a European mode, so I was waiting though I’m Japanese. 😂
The payment? Of course I used cash, and it cost only 700 JPY (approximately less than 5 EUR with a rate then)!
3. Izakaya Snufkin
My local friend K and I went to Izakaya Snufkin near Tanabe station. In 2019 when I visited Japan, I went there with her. The owner of Snufkin has followed my Facebook page and sometimes gives me “Likes”, so I wanted to visit there again.
You may not know what “Izakaya” is. Izakaya is a common type of restaurant in Japan. It might be similar to a gastro pub as you can drink and eat. In some izakaya restaurants, they offer you “otoshi” which is like a set of appetisers. The contents of otoshi are different depending on the izakaya or a season, etc. This is included in the check.
In the izakaya, Japanese customers often have a medium size glass of beer called “namachu”. Try to say it and order it so you can impress them 😂 They also surely have some sake. Here is a note; “sake” means alcohol in general in Japanese. We call it “nihonshu” in real life.
Friend K ordered namachu, and I had nihonshu “Kuroushi” (black bull). Kuroushi is from Wakayama, and it is super easy to drink so be careful not to get drunk too fast.
Izakaya often has a variety of food menus too.
Starting with otsukuri (a set of raw fish), we had octopus tempura, broccoli salad, fried potatoes (very thin!), deep fried tofu in soup and so on. The master gave us a bowl of “negitro”. Toro is tuna, and negi is spring onion. It’s a handful of crushed tuna with spring onion, and we ate it with soy sauce. In a sushi restaurant, you can have this with sushi rice, and that’s my favourite. The rice can be sushi rice, but at home it can go with warm rice too. Both are tasty.
I’ve never paid by card there but only in cash, hence I’m not sure if you can use a card. Remember, when travelling in Japan, it’s never bad to bring cash. In our case, the total cost was around 9,000 JPY for the two of us.
When I visit Japan again next time, hopefully in 2024, I want to come to Sunfukin with friend K again. Therefore, I do hope Snufkin beats the difficulty of running own izakaya due to COVID.
4. Ktype chocolate company
Friend T who I went to the French restaurant with and I went to Ktype chocolate company in Shirahama. This is a quite new chocolate shop in Shirahama, and the factory is in the same place.
They basically have three different types of chocolate based on which country cacao came from. I’m not sure if they can speak English, but they explain how different those chocolates are, by letting you try pieces of those chocolates. When we went to Ktype chocolate company, they were selling chocolate with Wakayama mikan (like mandarins) peels. I didn’t buy it, and unfortunately they didn’t have any for tasting at that time.
In Ktype chocolate company, you can get some sweets and drinks too. They have chocolate cheesecake, chocolate cookies, chocolate brownie, and some chocolate or cacao drinks. Friend T got hot chocolate with chocolate from Ghana, and I had cacao soda. Cacao soda wasn’t strongly sparkling, and it tasted a bit sour. I personally liked it, and I imagined that it would be very nice to have it in summer, walking in Shirahama under the sun along the beach or the coast.
5. Nigiwai ichiba (market)
I went to Katsuura in Wakayama with my old friends from primary and secondary school.
In Katsuura there is a seafood market called “Nigiwai ichiba”. “Ichiba” means market, and at Nigiwai ichiba there are lots of local products. You can buy especially fresh tuna chunks.
However, we went to Nigiwai Ichiba just for lunch. There are multiple small restaurants. You can take a seat in the eating place, having different dishes from different restaurants.
To order a meal, you need to pay at the check out machine. There you can browse the entire menu. We browsed, and decided to have tuna bowls.
We were waiting for a while, but they didn’t call our numbers. Then we realised that we didn’t pass our numbers like tickets to the restaurant! Such eegits. 😂 When you go there, don’t forget to do it. If you don’t know what exactly to do, ask them.
We waited another few more minutes, and they served us a tuna bowl. Don’t imagine something like a poke bowl. This bowl consists of only rice and parts of tuna. What you need to add to taste is only add the soy sauce that is served together.
In Katsuura, there are Nachi waterfalls. It’s a quite famous tourist place. While going up the mountain, you can see the waterfalls. I’m not sure if there is a bus, but probably there are buses as I saw some car parks for buses.
Wakaya is a Japanese cafe in the Nachi waterfalls area. There is a souvenir shop together with Wakaya cafe. They don’t have a huge menu, and yet they have their original Japanese sweets such as “Otaki mochi”.
Mochi is sticky rice cake, and made from rice that is not for regular meals.
We ordered a set of a drink and Otaki mochi. As for drinks, you can choose coffee, sencha tea (if I remember correctly) as well as matcha. Since I was a tourist (!), I had a cup of matcha.
They grill Otaki mochi in the cafe, so you can have warm mochi. Inside of Otaki mochi, there is bean jam. Matcha at Wakaya tasted quite bitter at first, but then it tasted milder because Otaki mochi is sweet, and bitter matcha matched.
This set cost 600 JPY (4 EUR) with any aforementioned drinks. I would personally recommend matcha as even in Japan, it’s not so ordinary and easy to get matcha in a cafe.
★Summary
I would say that the countryside areas don’t have many places to eat out although you can get fresh ingredients.
I stayed in Tanabae for only two weeks with only one set of weekends, but still it was enough.
Next time I visit Japan, I would go to Snufkin again with the same friend. On this trip, my favourite one was Wakaya on the other hand since I was glad to have matcha and otaki mochi, which combination is very Japanese.
Matcha latte is good, and yet I would recommend trying real bitter matcha with Japanese sweets.
It was actually the second time to use Lufthansa, and it had been the first time since 2019. Then the COVID spreaded, and the Ukraine war began, and coincidentally Lufthansa was the only option. (In more detail, I was supposed to use Finnair, but they cancelled, and though I changed to JAL, they cancelled the flights, too.)
As it had been three years since the last time when I used Lufthansa, there were some differences.
I think the flight took 1.5 ~ 2 hours from Tallinn to Frankfurt.
When I used Lufthansa in 2019, the transit was also Frankfurt, and they gave me sandwiches as snacks at that time. I remember that since there are two flights on one way, I got sandwiches four times. (I got so full. 😂)
However, at some point, they changed their services, and this time they gave me only a 300ml bottle of water and a piece of chocolate.
I searched this information beforehand, so the expectation was low, and yet it wasn’t personally acceptable because I was too hungry at that time. 😂
As for the flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo Haneda, even though it was the same Europe-Japan connection, the flight between Kansai airport and Amsterdam, which I used in 2016 was better.
They gave me better snacks. 😂
Twice.
However, they might also have changed their service, too.
On the other hand, on the way to Tokyo, Lufthansa gave me only drinks and meals. There were no snacks. Although the meals had no problems, I was kind of disappointed because Lufthansa is one of the popular airlines.
For dinner, they gave me options: pasta or beef. If I eat flour products, my belly bloats, which I really didn’t want in the plane, so I chose beef. However, there was still bread. 😂 The beef was served with rice though. 😂
Until I fell asleep, I tried to manage this hunger with juice which I barely drink in my daily life. Meaning that, I was that hungry.
As for the breakfast on Lufthansa, I had yoghurt, a sandwich as well as chocolate biscuits. I’m not sure if it was because I was kind of paralysed or wasn’t moving that much, such a light meal made me feel full. Therefore, for a drink with breakfast, I had black coffee. Regarding yoghurt, there were some flavours, and the crews distributed it to us randomly. I got a cherry flavour. 🍒
Perhaps since lots of people prefer the window seats, when booking flight tickets without any additions, most likely I will get aisle seats. The positive point is that I don’t have to care about others to go to the bathroom. On the outward journey, the bathroom itself was close to my seat as well.
However, it was hard to recline my seat, and I had to press the button extremely hard. This is a negative point.
On the Lufthansa plane, the movie selection wasn’t that good, and the screen didn’t work well either.
Considering the outward journey, I thought it might be a good idea to use ANA spending a little more money, or use JAL which would be cheaper than Lufthansa if available. So far, KLM is much better than Lufthansa overall. 😂 (Though I don’t think there is a connection by KLM between Kansai and Tallinn.)
b. Star Flyer
The airline that I used last on the outward journey was ANA’s cooperative airline: Star Flyer. It was a domestic flight. On the plane there was a charging port, a footrest, a drink service and a screen that worked better than the ones on Lufthansa.
Plus, luckily, I had a window seat, and was able to see Mt. Fuji without snow.
Lots of travelling exhausted me, so I slept a lot until I saw Mt. Fuji. When the crew asked me for any drink, I thanked them, but refused it because I was half asleep.
Star Flyer didn’t have many movie options, but I was too sleepy anyways, so it was not problematic. Besides, the flight between Tokyo and Osaka is usually one hour.
Since Star Flyer is ANA’s cooperative airline, my impression was better than Lufthansa.
2. Homeward journey
a. ANA
It was ANA for the homeward domestic flight. The plane was bigger than Star Flyer’s.
Due to the turbulence, they offered the customers only cold drinks. (They explained so in the plane.)
There is Tanjiro from “Demon Slayer”.
There was no screen on the ANA plane.
However, time flew by, and I landed in Tokyo so fast though it took more time than the outward journey.
b. Lufthansa
For some reason, I felt the meals on the Lufthansa from Japan was better than the one on the outward journey.
For the first meal on the homeward journey, they asked me for chicken or pasta, so I chose chicken. It was something like fried chicken with tartar sauce, and better than the beef with rice that I had on the outward journey.
On the plate, there was sushi too. My expectation was low as soon as I saw it, so I didn’t get shocked even when I ate it. 😂
For the second meal, there was a big sandwich with veggies and cheese as well as kit kat. If it had been a hot sandwich, the cheese would have melted, and it should have been more tasty, but it was cold. I couldn’t complain about this because it was a sandwich on the plane.
As for the screen or the movie selections were as bad as I explained earlier.
On the Lufthansa plane on the homeward journey, the flight from Tokyo Haneda was delayed, so I was worried about the next flight, but I could somehow arrive at the boarding gate in time to go to Tallinn. However, that flight was also delayed.
Lufthansa this time disappointed me because it was not as good as KLM, and I liked the previous services on the short-haul flight on Lufthansa.
In the future, if there are no other options, I would use Lufthansa, but if the price is still acceptable for me, I would prefer ANA or JAL next time. Also Finnair can be an option too. (I want to try it.)
★Summary
The flight between Germany and Japan takes around 12 hours, but including everything such as transit and waiting time, it takes more. Yes, it exhausts me in general, but still I like long-haul flights. Plus, it’s not always tasty, but the plane meals are special, and I can have a chance to watch a movie that I usually don’t watch. It’s fun overall.
Let’s see which airlines I will use for the next trip to Japan. ♪
At Tallinn airport, the flight checkin was 4.40 in the following morning, so I planned to go to Tallinn airport by the last bus and tram, bringing one 23kg suitcase and one empty suitcase. However, for multiple reasons, I changed this plan. After cleaning Collin’s cage and feeding him, I did the last check on the luggages, and headed to Tallinn airport by Bolt (Estonian Uber). It was 21.30 at that time.
Arriving at Tallinn airport, I found a space to charge my phone. To avoid a too sleepy situation the next day, I tried to close my eyes for 15 minutes, but there were escalators in front of me. It was too noisy to take a nap.
When my phone charged more than 90%, I changed the place. At Tallinn airport, there are two massage chairs. Though the level of comfort was not as good as it looked, it was still better than benches. (I didn’t turn on the massage function. I was just sitting there.)
“From this point it’s hell!”
I thought.
It was around 23.00, and the checkin was 4.40.
Too much time left.
However, I could sleep for around three hours in total. It was away from the escalators, and there were few people because of the middle night of a weekday (Thursday).
After I repeated sleeping for a few minutes and waking up a few times, it was 3.30 already. One more hour was left.
Since it was quite tiring, I was in a daze for a while, and then it turned to be the time to check in.
It seemed that many people would transit in Frankfurt. Though it slightly took time, it wasn’t as bad as the situation of post COVID in spring, 2022.
As I put most stuff in the suitcase, it was smoother to take out my stuff from the backpack at the security check unlike travelling to other European cities. It might be a little thing, and yet personally it made me satisfied. 😂
Nevertheless I was very hungry, since it was still too early to have breakfast, I just bought a cup of coffee. Then I got ready for myself, and was waiting for the flight.
Surprisingly time flew.
b. Frankfurt airport
I arrived at Frankfurt airport at 8 in the morning. I desperately wanted to go to the bathroom, and I was starving. 😂
It was a long path from the arrival gate to the next departure gate, but I didn’t get lost because the structure wasn’t complicated at Frankfurt airport.
There was a big bakery at Frankfurt airport, and I bought a breakfast there. Since I couldn’t find the price tags, I just bought a ham sandwich, which cost 7.50 EUR…😂
Later, 15 minutes before onboarding, one concern that I had became stronger…
I didn’t get a passport stamp…
I asked some airport staff members, but they said they didn’t know, and I felt like crying. However, another staff member told me that I didn’t need it for sure, so I went back to the boarding gate.
In fact, I didn’t have any problem when onboarding and entering Japan without a passport stamp.
This is completely irrelevant, but there were lots of Japanese Brazilians at Frankfurt airport.
c. Tokyo Haneda airport
From Frankfurt, I arrived at the third terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport.
Since it was the arrival of the international flight, there were some people who checked the passengers’ COVID information before going to the arrival gate after landing. I had to upload some documents beforehand on an app called MySOS. It said that if I had a blue screen, it’s all good. However, in real life, they asked me to show a QR code. At Tokyo Haneda airport, the Wifi connection sucked, so it unnecessarily took time.
After that, everything went smoothly as I’m Japanese.
Since I had to renew my driving licence in Japan, I got an entry stamp on my passport after passing the autogate.
Then, I had to move to the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport because the next flight to Kansai airport was run by Star Flyer.
At the third terminal, when going forward to the domestic flight connection, there was another sign, so I followed it. I took a free bus. I’m still not sure how often the bus comes, but after missing one bus, the next one came soon.
When arriving at the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, I still had a couple of hours, and yet I checked in, and went to the security check.
In case you think you will get hungry or you are already hungry, I recommend buying something before the security check at the first teminial of Tokyo Haneda airport. Around the boarding gates, there were only souvenir stores and vending machines (including light meals, drinks and ice cream). Onirigis (rice balls) In the vending machine with light meals were only tuna and mayonnaise or salmon. I highly regretted not buying anything at 7-eleven before the security check… (However, it was still not a big problem because I wasn’t starving.)
Around the boarding gates in the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, there are some seats for using laptops or with plugs, so you don’t need to worry about waiting time even if you have a long waiting time.
Again, this is completely irrelevant, but there were lots of family passengers who seemed to have been to Disney resort, and it was Saturday (so it made sense).
2. Homeward journey
Let’s talk about a story on a homeward journey. I used Kansai airport.
I stayed at an accommodation in Rinku town, and headed to Kansai airport by train, departing at 6.00 in the morning. It was a little tiring, but I wanted to save money because it would cost 4,000 JPY by taxi to Kansai airport from Rinku town.
My first flight for the homeward journey was by ANA, and I had to go to Tokyo Haneda airport. Although it looked like a domestic flight, the staff members at Kansai airport let me go to the international flight check-in counter. I had two luggages to check in: one 20 kg suitcase and one 17 kg suitcase. I didn’t buy more than I expected. I could have bought more facial toner. 😂
On the outward journey, I had to take my luggages at Tokyo Haneda airport, so I expected to recheck in there, but they told me I didn’t need to do anything until I arrived in Tallinn.
Due to my experience at the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, I bought some onigiri before the security check at Kansai airport.
However, Kansai airport’s domestic flights terminal was much more developed, and there was a convenience store and a cafe near the boarding gate.
I felt like I was an idiot. 😂
After that, I boarded the flight, realising the earliest next visit would be in two years.
★Summary
I know that the story about the homeward is shorter than the other because I was busier with travelling on the homeward than on the outward journey. Though I had plenty of time at Tokyo Haneda airport, since Lufthansa is often delayed, the flight from Tokyo Haneda airport was also delayed, and I walked fast to arrive at the boring gate at the boring time in Frankfurt airport. (Eventually, the flight from Frankfurt to Tallinn was delayed, too, though.)
Compared to Tokyo Narita or Haneda airports, there are smaller numbers of flights, but I still like Kansai airport. This is because I don’t have to move a lot on the ground, and it’s closest to my parents’ place and the base of my stay.
I think I will choose flights to and from Kansai airport next time too.
Since I was going to visit Japan, I was shopping online from time to time. Usually, I order something and it arrives at my parent’s place in Japan, and I ask my mum to send it to me with some other stuff approximately once every six months. However, since I was going to Japan this time, I anyway bought lots of things online, and my mum got deliveries and kept them at home.
What I bought was mainly cosmetics. Amazon Japan really has everything! I bought 100 face packs… (Eventually I brought only 70 packs to Estonia. I gave the rest to my mum.)
Beside makeup cosmetics, I purchased an eye mask, Fantastic Beasts’ DVD, and shoes online.
Ah and perfumes too…
I didn’t buy skin care products or stationeries because I wanted to buy them in Japan.
I spent 30,000 JPY (207 EUR) at this point.
By the way, I will write another article on how much I spent on this trip in Japan.
2. Suitcases and bags
The reason why I bought so many things online was because I had enough capacity in my suitcases.
Last time I used LOT Polish, and I could bring only one 23kg suitcase. Based on my experience, I selected an airline on which I was allowed to bring two 23kg suitcases for free. Also I was very lucky.
When I came to Estonia, I brought only one suitcase and one 8kg backpack, so I needed one more suitcase. Then, my friend told me that he unnecessarily had multiple suitcases, so I got one big one. It was shaped almost like a square, and looked different, but the size was fine as per the rule on the airline.
Additionally, I bought a haversack on Lindex and a backpack on Nordace. With these I was ready for hanging out and going out and carrying on the airplane.
As for the backpack, I had wanted to buy it for a long time. On the other hand, I found a nice one coincidentally on Lindex.
3. Collin
Plus, I have Collin who is my roomate chinchilla.
As a chinchilla can live without care for two nights, I looked for a pet sitter who can come to my place and take care of him once every three days.
a. Pet sitters
At first, I used a website called PetBacker, but when I asked my friends, they just said yes.
As I was going to stay in Japan for four weeks, I divided the period into two: the first two weeks and the latter two weeks, during each of which, I asked them to come five times.
It’s easy to take care of a chinchilla. One just needs to let him take a dust bath, feed him, and give him a treat since in Collin’s case, he is being patient during the cleaning time. I hadn’t started letting him take a walk in the room. This is because it had been only two months for him to move to my place, and he nibbled everything as he was only four months old (four years old in human). Therefore, I planned to let him take a walk once he is mature enough, and didn’t include this activity in the to-do list. In total, it took only half an hour.
b. Keys for my flat
In order for my friends to take care of Collin, they needed to come to my place, I decided to make spare keys. My flat owner told me there was one more set of spare keys when I moved in the current place, but I needed two sets, so I decided to make two more sets.
Keys can be duplicated at a key-and-shoe shop in a shopping centre. (I don’t know what it is called.)
Since the clerk told me there are duplicable keys and non-duplicable keys, I showed mine to him. He said mine were duplicable.
It took only about five minutes. He immediately duplicated two sets. One set cost 16 EUR so in total I paid 32 EUR.
I’m not sure if they were cheap. 😂
4. Souvenirs for my friends and family in Japan
Let’s talk about souvenirs to my friends and family in Japan. This time I bought soaps, a calendar, chocolates, a pouch as well as black bread.
I bought Kalev’s chocolate. They sell two different big bags with different flavours, so I bought one kg (two bags) of one type, and another kilo (two bags) of the other type, plus two different flavours of chocolate additionally.
As I did the similar thing in 2019, I feel like doing something different next time.
5. Decluttering
I did decluttering too. However, it does not literally mean that I threw away something. I brought already-read books, saved CDs and something I don’t use in Estonia but want to keep in JapanJapan. Most were books. Since then, I have wanted to read books on Kindle, but I like paper books better because I can know how far I am to the end.
6. Travel insurance
Whenever I travel, I have travel insurance. Like last time, I used an insurance company called Globe Partner. I don’t know any other insurance which I, as a Japanese individual living abroad, can have travel insurance to go to Japan. It cost 35 EUR. I have searched for some other insurances, and yet they cost around 100 EUR.
7. Mobile Wifi for the trip in Japan
While travelling in Japan, the must-have item is Wifi. Like last time as well, I rented a mobile Wifi on Rakuten’s Wifi rental shop for one month.
I received a mobile Wifi in Kansai airport, and I returned it by post. Last time I returned at Narita airport’s Wifi service desk, but this time I had to check in at 6.30 am at Kansai airport, so I wasn’t sure if the Wifi service desk was open. Therefore, just in case the desk wasn’t open, I returned the Wifi by post.
★Summary
I really bought lots of cosmetics… But it’s all good because the more I have, the longer I can use them. I am so glad that I got eyeshadows in different colours.
I am Japanese and my family lives in Japan, so I can do these things, but if I were a non-Japanese tourist, the preparation would be much harder. I wonder how they do with Wifi? I would be worried because I was when I travelled here and there in Europe in 2015, having a SIM-locked phone. Particularly when walking. Actually, sometimes I was worried because the Wifi connection was bad once in a while. ON the other hand, when the connection was smooth, it was very comfortable.
In March 2022, in order to go to Japan for the first time in two years, I booked flights. Since I wanted to bring two suitcases, I booked flights on Finnair, but they cancelled my flights owing to the Ukraine war and COVID. Due to the fact that they didn’t have any alternative flights, I decided to go to Japan by JAL.
However, after booking the flights, the flights by JAL were also cancelled. What was worse, there were troubles after that.
This time I am going to tell you a story about the troubles that I experienced.
After Finnair cancelled my flights, and they refunded me, I booked JAL’s flights.
I always looked for reasonable flights on Skyscanner, and this time I found flights offered by Mytrip. I used Mytrip because I have used Mytrip when I went to Sweden in March 2022 too.
Without knowing that My trip is infamous.
2. JAL’s flight cancellation and booking alternative flights on Mytrip
Although I booked JAL’s flights for my September trip on Mytrip, they cancelled the flights in June.
Since I booked them via Mytrip, I proceeded for alternative flights via My trip as well. I bought the flight tickets specifically on Mytrip Sweden, and they offered only phone support for English speakers. I rang them, and explained. Then the male support agent proceeded rebooking the alternative flights . He told me to wait a few days as I would not get a confirmation email immediately.
3. Mytrip’s “process”
However, I still got nothing after waiting a couple of days. My spam box didn’t have anything either. I called Mytrip again, and this time a female support agent answered me. She told me it was still in its process, and to wait a few more days.
I waited another few days, and yet there was nothing. I called My trip again, and a different male support agent answered me, saying
“There is no flight ma’am.”
Excuse me?
I asked him
“What do you mean there is no flight?”
He said
“There is no available flight now, ma’am.”
His wording was making me furious.
“I’m not talking about now. I asked to rebook the alternative flights last Sunday, and I’m asking why it’s still not processed!”
“There are no available flights now, ma’am.”
Can I speak to a different support.”
“Unfortunately, there is no available flight now, ma’am.”
I wanted to say “Can you not understand English,”
I thought this would be endless, so I hung up the phone, and called them again. Then another male support agent answered me. I explained everything, and he said
“Just a moment, ma’am.”
On his telling me that, the phone was hung up.
Sometimes I’m too stupid to understand the situation, so I thought “Is there calling line unstable?” 😂 Then I rang them again, and this time a female support agent answered me. I explained the same, and she said
“Let me check, ma’am.”
And she hung up the phone.
This is obviously deliberate.
I tried once more, but another female support agent did the same.
Whereas I tried making it clear, nothing was successful, so I called them again, and then a different support agent answered me. This time I requested a refund.
After experiencing being hung up, I googled Mytrip, and found that it was an infamous travel agency. Because of that, I asked him how long it would take to get refunded when I requested the refund.
He said around five days.
Of course I got nothing even after five days.
4.Help request to consumer information centres
While I was googling reviews about Mytrip, I found one review in which a guy planned to take a lawful sanction, so I googled such a thing further in Japanese. Then one article was in the first page of the Google search result that in such a case we could ask a consumer information centre in Japan.
I checked the proper wording for a consumer information centre in English.
Since I booked flights on Mytrip Sweden, I looked for a consumer information centre in Sweden, and found it. What is better, I found a fact that they handle consumers’ complaints in the EU. (The consumer information centres in the EU corporate one another.)
a. Consumer information centre in Sweden
I contacted the consumer information centre Sweden on this webpage.
I explained the same things as written above, and attached screenshots of Mytrip Sweden’s phone number (and small translation as it was shown in Japanese) as well as copies of emails of purchase confirmation of tickets on Mytrip and of flight cancellation notice from Mytrip in PDF as proofs.
I did this one weekend, and unexpectedly they replied to me so fast.
However, since I lived in Estonia, they told me to contact the consumer information centre in Estonia. They gave me Estonia’s contact information, so I messaged the consumer information centre in Estonia in the form.
b. Consumer information centre in Estonia
The consumer information centre in Estonia responded to me fast too.
As an additional proof, the person-in-charge of my case asked me to send them a bank statement of the purchase of the flight tickets.
She gave me a few of Mytrip’s email addresses, and asked me to contact Mytrip and JAL as well.
I had already contacted JAL when I requested a refund to Mytrip immediately, but perhaps because of the summer time (when people travel a lot), JAL responded me quite late. However, they replied to me when I was about to contact them again.
As for My trip, one of the email addresses that the Estonian person-in-charge gave me didn’t work. The other one worked finely.
In the EU, the refund process has to be done within two weeks in principle, therefore she told me to contact her again if there was no answer in two weeks after emailing Mytrip.
As you can imagine, I didn’t get anything from Mytrip after two weeks.
On the 15th of August, 2022, the person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia notified me that my case was registered on their end, it would take time because the consumer information centre in Sweden is relevant, and she promised to contact me if there is anything from My trip.
Three days after that notice, Mytrip replied to me by using one of the email addresses that the person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia gave me. My trip also said it would take time.
5. To get the refund
Here is a timeline of messaging with the consumer information centre in Estonia.
a. 28 Sep
The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia told me that Mytrip would send me an email about the refund. On the 29th of September, I received an email from Mytrip that their refund would be done with no fees as my rebooking request was not processed in fact.
The email also mentioned that it would take time, but no exact amount of time was not described.
b. 19 Oct
The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia asked me about the situation, but there was nothing. Then she contacted the consumer information centre in Sweden, and told me to wait one more month.
The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia also told me to let her know after one month or receiving the refund.
c. 26 Oct
Mytrip notified me that I would get the refund within five business days.
d. 27 Oct
This morning, I confirmed the refund from My trip, so I contacted The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia to notify her.
Finally everything was completed.
Although it took four months, it was better than waiting more months or even years, and what was better, it was solved thanks to the consumer information centre in Estonia.
★Summary
When I looked back on my travel history, I also bought the flight tickets to Japan in 2019 on My trip.
On one hand, I think I could use My trip again as I could get the refund by asking in the consumer information centre, and tickets are cheap. On the other hand, the refund process took a long, so I won’t probably use Mytrip or even a travel agency in general again.
If you buy flight tickets on an airline’s website, I think it’s better overall, so I think I will buy flight tickets directly from the airline’s website in the future. Maybe I will uninstall the Skyscanner app too…. What is more, in fact, I use Google flights.
zooks.ee 