[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Thanks for the detailed description about places and planning. I would be disturbing you in near future for additional details if required.

Anytime..I have a detailed itinerary. Let me know whenever required.

[deovrat]

Congratulations for planning and pulling off a Japan trip like this! Brought back fond memories of one fine morning when I burned all the frequent flyer miles I had for a trip to Japan, by myself no less !

Reading your report made me fall in love with the country all over again, with the reminder of Japanese politeness & efficiency. I was bowing myself on my 4th day in the country !

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

Tokyo has two international airports, Haneda and Narita. Haneda is the hub for LCCs and has a domestic terminal as well while Narita is the newer one, international only and 70km out of the city.

I have to say that's not entirely correct. Both Haneda & Narita have LCCs in large numbers, and the numbers are increasing in Narita, not Haneda. In fact, Haneda's slots are very prestigious & coveted since most Tokyo business travellers prefer it for the proximity to the city.
So, while Narita was built to be the international only airport, it has a huge number of LCC domestic flights now.
To an average Tokyo resident, Haneda is 'Tokyo International Airport', while Narita is 'Narita International Airport'. Subtle difference, but visiting Japan makes you realize the subtleties more!

[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by deovrat

Congratulations for planning and pulling off a Japan trip like this! Brought back fond memories of one fine morning when I burned all the frequent flyer miles I had for a trip to Japan, by myself no less !

Reading your report made me fall in love with the country all over again, with the reminder of Japanese politeness & efficiency. I was bowing myself on my 4th day in the country !

The country and the people do have that effect on visitors. clap

Domestic flights at Narita? Definitely yes but far too limited at least as of now. In fact, we searched mighty hard for one to avoid the inter airport transfer but didn't manage to get a single one. All flights from Kobe/Osaka ended up at Haneda. LCCs on international routes abound though. But yes, I see the way the original statement read and would thank you for the clarification. Narita was built to be international only, but I guess the Japanese are human too.

Regarding Tokyo international airport, I must say, we never encountered the terminology, probably because paranoia meant that I had read up so much about either airport and the connectivity to and from the City that I used the proper name for each and of course, people responded in that manner

[bikxsans660]

That was a very detailed itinerary and some attention to detail planning. Thank you for all the tips in a nutshell.

I'm on my way to planning a trip to Japan now, following this. Will be bookmarking the things-to-consider from your post here.

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

Anytime..I have a detailed itinerary. Let me know whenever required.

Awesome travelogue, thanks a lot for sharing.
Always wanted to visit Japan during the Cherry Blossom time but somehow keeps getting pushed back.
You have really covered a very very wide swathe of Japan in just 3 weeks. Can very well imagine how much effort (and sleep less nights with multiple back and forth) you have put to compile this itinerary. I too prefer to plan my travels myself, be it within India or abroad and when that gets executed (notwithstanding some hiccups), it gives a nice sense of satisfaction
Will be bothering you for the itinerary whenever Japan trip comes on the cards.

Congrats for the versys btw

[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by Anduril

Awesome travelogue, thanks a lot for sharing.
You have really covered a very very wide swathe of Japan in just 3 weeks. Can very well imagine how much effort (and sleep less nights with multiple back and forth) you have put to compile this itinerary. I too prefer to plan my travels myself, be it within India or abroad and when that gets executed (notwithstanding some hiccups), it gives a nice sense of satisfaction

Congrats for the versys btw

Planning for Japan was especially meticulous because I was not sure of the ability to communicate there. Agreed, Google translate and other similar apps do profess to give a modicum of support, but then, I prefer to communicate face to face. As it turned out, we didn't need to ask anyone anything at all, the background research was more than adequate including turn by turn directions. Notwithstanding that, English has permeated to all levels there and one can easily get by with local navigation. You WILL end up feeling guilty for inconveniencing them (that's the kind of help the locals render). A school girl walked 4km with us unbidden because she overheard my daughter ask me, "do u know the way to..." (When I was relying on GoogleMaps). Such things are mind boggling to even contemplate.

[BrakingBad]

Very Nice travelogue and nicely written... it brought back my decade+ old memories of my visit to Tokyo and Osaka... However, I have one doubt (certainly not nit-picking).

you have mentioned that the largest wooden statue in the world is in Nara Temple.

Is it larger/taller than the Maitreya Buddha in Yonghe Temple, China?

This Maitreya Buddha statue was entered into Guinness book of Records in 90s - 18 Meters above ground and 8 meters below ground made of white sandal wood tree
References - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonghe_Temple and

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/...dalwood_Statue


[quote=handsofsteel;4758749]Himeji and Nara

Guardians of the Temple - the world's largest wooden statue. Intricately carved and beautiful.
Attachment 1973983

[handsofsteel]

[quote=BrakingBad;4760465]Very Nice travelogue and nicely written... it brought back my decade+ old memories of my visit to Tokyo and Osaka... However, I have one doubt (certainly not nit-picking).

you have mentioned that the largest wooden statue in the world is in Nara Temple.

Is it larger/taller than the Maitreya Buddha in Yonghe Temple, China?

This Maitreya Buddha statue was entered into Guinness book of Records in 90s - 18 Meters above ground and 8 meters below ground made of white sandal wood tree
References - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonghe_Temple and

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/...dalwood_Statue

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

Himeji and Nara

Guardians of the Temple - the world's largest wooden statue. Intricately carved and beautiful.
Attachment 1973983

If those are the dimensions of the Chinese Buddha, the statues of the guardians here are definitely comparable. (Though I did not see any commemorative plaque certifying a Guinness record as such in the vicinity.) I went purely by the spiel given in the audio guide.