Japanuary 2024 - the trip that nearly wasn't

[fly2earth]

Used my very best elementary Japanese to disavow to the concierge that we had any connection to the large, noisy group of JetStar bogan snow boarders

Thanks for confirming my doubts (which I'm afraid to confirm with others out loud) that people who take Jetstar are loud noisy bogans

 

[Seat0B]

Sorry for the long gap in posting this TR.

Unfortunately a very close friend of mine died very unexpectedly last week and I have been so sad for the last few days with random crying each time it hits me, and I haven't been able to concentrate on much. Feeling a bit better now, and so back on to my happy place - the trip reports forum - trying to cheer myself up a bit. Today I have sorted and transferred a lot of photos for the next part of the TR, and I will post again soon to finish it off.

 

[love_the_life]

Sorry for the long gap in posting this TR.

Unfortunately a very close friend of mine died very unexpectedly last week and I have been so sad for the last few days with random crying each time it hits me, and I haven't been able to concentrate on much. Feeling a bit better now, and so back on to my happy place - the trip reports forum - trying to cheer myself up a bit. Today I have sorted and transferred a lot of photos for the next part of the TR, and I will post again soon to finish it off.

So sorry to hear that your friend has passed away and unexpectedly as well - makes it doubly hard as can be no preparation and no idea that this was to happen. Don't worry about having to keep up with the TR - I am sure everyone will be saying to take as long as it takes - no rush and only when you feel up to it. Condolences and take care of yourself.

 

[Seat0B]

So sorry to hear that your friend has passed away and unexpectedly as well - makes it doubly hard as can be no preparation and no idea that this was to happen. Don't worry about having to keep up with the TR - I am sure everyone will be saying to take as long as it takes - no rush and only when you feel up to it. Condolences and take care of yourself.

Thanks for the kind words @love_the_life. Such a shock. She was only 51. A mental health episode that no one saw coming.

 

[parsonstrish]

Very sorry to hear, condolences, thinking of you

 

[Flyfrequently]

Sorry for the long gap in posting this TR.

Unfortunately a very close friend of mine died very unexpectedly last week and I have been so sad for the last few days with random crying each time it hits me, and I haven't been able to concentrate on much. Feeling a bit better now, and so back on to my happy place - the trip reports forum - trying to cheer myself up a bit. Today I have sorted and transferred a lot of photos for the next part of the TR, and I will post again soon to finish it off.

Sorry to hear of your loss, sad for you and friends/family.
Take some time out for yourself @Seat0B (TR can wait)

 

[Seat0B]

An Easy Transit Day (or so I thought) - Thursday 8 February 2024 Shiga Kogen to Nagoya

Up early today to finalise the packing of ski gear that wasn't quite dry enough to pack last night. Breakfast, check out and over to our pre-booked Nagaden bus to JR Station Nagano, where we will activate our JR Pass and head to Nagoya.

As we have done on the last 5 trips to Japan, we planned to hand over a ski bag full of equipment and a medium suitcase full of ski wear to the Yamato/Black Cat luggage forwarding service conveniently located at JR Nagano. We love this service. You wave goodbye to your heavy bags and collect them 2 weeks later at the relevant airport, just a short trolley stroll from the check in area. Perfect.

The Nagaden Bus arrived exactly on time at 0950 ( we were only the second stop so not that surprising) and after loading all our bags under the bus, we got great seats. Next stop, Price West. Wow! An absolutely massive line of people waiting to board. All the jockey seats were in use except for the very last 2, and it was only the third stop! At Ichinose, there was a decent queue, but they did not let anyone board as apparently there are 2 people with a booking joining at a later stop. The people were told to take the next bus. Not sure if that meant they were adding a bus or if it was the next scheduled service which was at 1150, but some people were not too happy, and I'm sure a few travel plans were thrown into disarray by this problem. So glad we reserved and boarded at an early stop. We actually arrived early to Nagano because the bus did not stop at any further intervening stops, including the huge line at the Snow Monkey Park.

So far, so good! But as foreshadowed, this was not to last.

 

[Seat0B]

Things Go Pear Shaped at Nagano JR - 8 Feb 2024

First order of business was to get rid of the skis etc. Then activate JR Pass and book seats, then a coffeee. Hanging out for a coffee after a week of poor Shiga Kogen options .

So off we roll with our bags to the Black Cat Office we have used for the last 5 visits, only to find a closed roller door. No signs, just a door. Hmm, maybe they are at coffee??? Waited a bit, but no action, so asked around and the consensus seemed to be that the office had closed, permanently. Off to tourist information for advice. Hmm, you could go to the convenience store or maybe the Post Office. Toddled off to the Family Mart (only konbini in the station plaza) and conducted the transaction all in Japanese but "no sorry, we do not send skis to the airport. Please go to the Post Office near #7 bus stop and ask there." So onwards to the post office, wait my turn in a longish line and happy days "Yes, we can send skis to airport." It's not Black Cat, but is the post office equivalent. And it's ¥3,700 instead of ¥2,600 per bag, I am heaving a sigh of relief. Things were looking grim for a bit there.

Race outside to Mr Seat 0A and lug all the bags into the post office. But clearly this clerk had never done it before. She needed a lot of information from me like:

• What is the street address of Haneda Airport? (um I don't know).
• Is the departures on 3F or 2F? (um I I don't know).
• Which Airline? (ooh I know that one, Qantas! except she did not recognise Qantas as an Airline and kept asking if it was JAL or ANA).
• Please wait a moment while I call a colleague. Long phone call that I could not understand.
• So, you want to send your skis to Australia? (No no no, I want to send to Haneda airport, collect skis and take with me on Qantas flight as my checked baggage).
• Oh, another phone call to colleague. When she hungup, I asked her where I would collect the skis at Haneda Airport (I don't know, I will call my colleague again).

At this point I just got really nervous, apologised for taking up her time and said I would find a Yamato office and excused myself.

We need to arrange a plan B. We cannot tour Japan lugging this amount of baggage.

So Mr Seat 0A did the only senisble thing at that point - he arranged for a coffee and cinnamon scroll as thinking fuel. Boy was I glad to see that.

 

[Seat0B]

Forgot to say, I managed to do all of this in Japanese as there was not much English spoken! Quite proud of my ability to recycle words I know into a different context! But boy it was exhausting. And stressful.

 

[Seat0B]

We Work Through Our Options - Nagano 8 Feb 24

• Option A - find a Yamato agent in Nagano and go there by taxi to see if they will take our skis - infuriatingly, the Yamato web site says to use JR Nagano, or the Family Mart.
• Option B - take skis by shinkansen to Tokyo, try to send from there, then get another shinkansen to Nagoya. Won't cost us anything but time as we can use the JR Pass, and skis are allowed on the Nagano-Tokyo leg. But it will add at least 3 hours to an already long and now quite stressful day.
• Option C - take skis on our Limited Express to Nagoya, and send from our hotel there.

Option C seems the easiest, so I call the Ibis Styles Nagoya where we will stay and in a mixture of English and Japanese, manage to confirm that the skis could be sent by Yamato Black Cat from the hotel to Haneda Airport. And while I was talking, Mr Seat 0A has found an English version of the web site for Yamato that confirmed we could indeed send skis from Nagoya to Haneda.

So this is now Plan A. Bit of a pain, but we will manage.

I'd just like to warn you, the luggage forwarding gods were not done with us just yet.

 

[Seat0B]

Finally - Nagano to Nagoya

Off to the JR Office to exchange our JR Pass vouchers and get tickets on the Shinano Wide View Limited Express to Nagoya (a very scenic trip). The earlier crowds had thinned out, and I was quickly served by Maruyama-san (and thrilled I ould read the kanji on his name tag - the immersion must be working) who had most excellent English. I complimented him in Japanese, and we quickly bonded over the challenges of learning and speaking each other's language. It was just lovely. He was not in any hurry to move us on, and we chatted for a while in both English and Japanese before leaving with passes issued and tickets for Shinano 16 which departed at 1400 and arrived in Nagoya at 1700.

Mr Seat 0A minded all the luggage while I went off to score some bentos - a yummy tempura prawn box and a teriyaki chicken box for ¥1,400 in total - both yummy and affordable.



Boarded our train a few minutes early as it was waiting at the station, and put the ski bag and 2 of our 3 big cases into the luggage space, and left the final bag in Row 2. We will move it if need be.

Settled in for the trip. It's an older train, but very clean and spacious. Pretty mountains, rivers, snow and farms flashing by the windows and the trip passed very quickly. We arrived in Nagoya bang on time.


Navigated the station exit smoothly and efficiently and made our way to the hotel, Ibis Styles Nagoya, dragging all our luggage with us - about 10 mins walk.

Checked in my Mio-San, a delightful young woman, with great efficiency and excellent English. So decided to get straight onto sending the skis to the airport. And isn't that the gift that keeps on giving...

 

[Seat0B]

Can we send skis, or can't we?? - Thursday 8 Feb 24 Nagoya Part 1

Well, bless her, Mio-San tried really hard to help us. She filled out the paperwork for us, which was kind. She pulled out her special measuring tape and cardboard size measurer thing and good news - the suitcase full of ski clothes could be accepted without problems.

But the ski bag....."oh I'm so sorry she said, it is 185cm and the maximum size is 180 cm". Now we knew this just wasn't true because we have sent skis in this very ski bag at least 4 other times, we have seen plenty of other people send skis in similar bags, and the web site we reviewed earlier in the day in Nagano gave the limit for skis at 200cm. But Mio-San could not find any of that information on the web site she was checking. "Not to worry, my colleague will call them while I keep looking." So her kind colleague Gan-San called up and spoke directly to a Black Cat agent. I was not able to follow the whole conversation, but I did catch the critical word "okuranai" repeatedly - which means cannot send

 

[Seat0B]

Can we send skis, or can't we?? - Thursday 8 Feb 24 Nagoya Part 2

Well, back comes Gan-San, and says "I'm sorry but Black Cat says you cannot send skis to the airport." I nearly hyperventilated at the thought of lugging those skis around. And we knew that this could not be true - to add insult to injury, as we were hauling our skis from the station, we passed a Black Cat van outside an upmarket hotel and the driver was loading.... a ski bag just like ours. of course, it might have been going to a ski resort not the airport, but it certainly seemed odd to me.

I was steeling myself to discuss a new Plan B with Mr Seat 0A which involved going up to Tokyo tomorrow on the shinkansen (thank you JR Pass) and sending to Handed from there, but luckily by now, Mr Seat 0A had managed to re-locate the web site he had found previously. This clearly said that you could send skis from Nagoya to either Haneda or Narita!!

So lucky for us that Mio-San had such good English because by reading the English web site for Black Cat, she could also see that it should be possible. So in a piece of excellent customer service, she suggested that we leave it with her and she would resolve it and we could check back at 9pm before her shift finished at 9.30pm. And yes she let us leave the skis there too so we did not have to try to shoehorn them into our room.

It was now almost 7pm - nearly 2 hrs after we arrived.

Up to our room, which was lovely! I remembered to take photos before we messed it up with all our things. For an Ibis Styles, and in Japan, the room was a very decent size, and well appointed with natty little space saving ideas everywhere eg there was a little stool under the table near the art work, so you could use it as a very effective work desk. There was a terrific hanging rack that took a good wodge of clothes, some flat surfaces under you could use for folded clothes, a little fridge and kettle and space for us to put our ever growing bag of delicious train snacks, and a very functional bathroom. Plus, the bed wasn't up against the walls making it easy for any night time trips to the loo. I got this at an incredibly cheap rate as an Accor ALL member - ¥23,000 for the two nights (about $120 per night), and then used as many of my loyalty points as I could and ended up paying less than $40 out of pocket. Amazing! I would really recommend this hotel.



Well, after the day we had had, we were quite worn out, so decided to have a quiet night in and dine "konbini style". This involved an egg sandwich (tamago sando - you have to try this in Japan, it's delicious), a tonkatsu sando - a thick piece of chicken katsu with lettuce and brown sauce on classic Japanese white bread, some garden salad, some meiji chocolate, a box of daifuku (vanilla icecream wrapped inside soft mochi dough) and a mio sparkling sake (like champagne) and a beer for Mr Seat 0A.

The we watched the clock tick down towards 9 pm...


Edit: sorry accidentally posted before the post was complete.

 

[Seat0B]

Can we send skis, or can't we?? - Thursday 8 Feb 24 Nagoya Part 3

By 9pm I was tiddly on bubbles and in my hotel PJs, so I dispatched Mr Seat 0A down to reception to see what had happened with the skis.

He came back with great news. Mio-San had confirmed that we could in fact definitely send the skis, and had it in writing from a Manager at Black Cat!!!!! What a champion.

The only thing that was a bit odd was that they required us to buy a plastic ski cover for the (purpose specific) ski bag we have used at least 4 times before without a cover, but it was only ¥400 ($4), so we just paid it. Mio-San advised that they did not have a ski cover at the hotel, but the Black Cat agent would bring one tomorrow or Saturday, so all was good. So relieved that this is now finalised. What a saga. All's well that ends well.

What have I learnt from this? Well, we could have sent our skis directly from the hotel in Shiga Kogen if I had thought of it in time. We were short of time because some gear needed to dry overnight before we could finalise the packing. Therefore, the next morning we were a bit short of time because of the need to pack gear, my general tiredness and needing to sleep in (luxury until 8am - not really a sleep in, but ), a longer than expected check out process (hotel was very busy), and a fear of missing our bus, we did not allow enough time for sending luggage at check out - it is quite a process of form filling, bag locking, bag moving, payment etc and realistically usually takes 20-30 minutes to finalise, which we just didn't have. Plus we had done it so many times before at JR Nagano, including just last year, that we never really considered the need to do it at the hotel. In the future, I will divest my ski bags at the first legitimate opportunity. One for the travel mistakes thread I think.

 

[Seat0B]

A lovely day in Nagoya - Friday 9 Feb 2024

Slept until 8.30 this morning and decided to take advantage of the Accor ALL Dining discount (50%) and have the hotel buffet breakfast. We paid a total of ¥2,200 ($23) for the two of us for an excellent buffet. Buffet was fresh and delightful - fresh fruit (kiwi, delicioulsy ripe pineapple, oranges, apples, and grapes), a small selection of cereal (not really a thing in Japan), yoghurt, pastries, a strong hot selection of bacon, sausgae, scrambled egg and kochin (a local dish - chicken meatballs) plus a full Japanese section with grilled salmon, rice, miso, pickles etc - and a ull salad selection. Yes, it is very common in Japan to settle down to a bowl of salad for breakfast. Even though this is a bit weird to Aussie eyes, the salads are always fresh and tasty and a good way to get a bit of fibre into the diet. So I quickly adopted the salad for breakfast vibe. Too busy eating to take photos of the buffet, sorry!

We also got quite decent coffee (from a push button machine, but tasted OK) and were able to use my welcome drink vouchers (1 for each of us) to get these free of charge. Although the cups were quite small - so I just had to drink 2!

Another notable thing about the buffet breakfast here was that the chef (and if age is any indicator of seniority, which is usually is in Japan), likely the Head Chef, kept coming out of the kitchen and checking that things were being displayed to his liking, refilled as needed and removed if looking a bit tired. Excellent customer focus, and he was thrilled with my quiet compliment of the food.

We took an admin morning over our coffees - it was hard to do, but life has not stopped while we have been away so we had to do a few things with our accountant in relation to tax returns, our lawyer in relation to estate planning for 93 y.o F-I-L (basically most of the people named for bequests in his will have pre-deceased him), reply to some business emails and put in 2 quotes, pay for home insurance that we forgot would expire during the trip..... Busy, busy.

Finally headed out around 12 noon to the station to sort out our shinkansen bookings for the rest of the trip. I must say I was really glad of teh lower key day today - I am still feeling more tired than I usually do. This is not a surprise to anyone except me! Doc said to expect lower energy levels for up to 12 months after the chemo, and it has only been 5 months. What can I say, I am impatient!

 

[Seat0B]

We book a zillion train trips - Friday 9 Feb 24 Nagoya

Channelling my best @rbjhan's love of a train trip, we booked the following trips:

• Nagoya-Nagasaki (about 6 hrs) with changes at Shin Kobe, Hakata and Takeo Onsen, riding Hikari 505, Sakura 555, Kamome Relay 87 and Kamome 87.
• Nagasaki - Kagoshima (just under 3 hrs) with changes at Takeo Onsen and Shin Tosu riding Kamome 20, Kamome Relay 20 and Sakura 549
• Kagoshima - Beppu ( 2½ hrs) with a change at Kokura riding Sakura 552 and Sonic 23
• Beppu- Tokyo (7½ hrs) with changes at Kokura and Shin Osaka riding Sonic 23, Sakura 550 and Hikari 654

Plus we already travelled Nagano - Nagoya yesterday on Shinano 16. Getting value from the very expensive JR Pass!

We could have taken the Nozomi shinkansen on some of these legs, but you have to pay a supplement, which for Nagoya to Nagasaki was ¥6,800 each and we just did not think it was worth it.
The ticketing process was epic - the poor clerk had to insert each of our JR Passes for evey single leg of the trip to get the seat booking. We did the whole thing in Japanese and she was so kind and patient with me, checking and double checking that the seat allocations were what I was after.



It was a good challenge, but I did it! For those who don't speak Japanese, don't be afraid - there is almost always a clerk who does speak English to help foreign tourists, I just want to keep learning my Japanese by practising in real life. Look how happy I was to complete the task!




And look at all our tickets - I LOVE tickets!!



Next on our agenda - lunch!

 

[love_the_life]

We book a zillion train trips - Friday 9 Feb 24 Nagoya

Channelling my best @rbjhan's love of a train trip, we booked the following trips:

• Nagoya-Nagasaki (about 6 hrs) with changes at Shin Kobe, Hakata and Takeo Onsen, riding Hikari 505, Sakura 555, Kamome Relay 87 and Kamome 87.
• Nagasaki - Kagoshima (just under 3 hrs) with changes at Takeo Onsen and Shin Tosu riding Kamome 20, Kamome Relay 20 and Sakura 549
• Kagoshima - Beppu ( 2½ hrs) with a change at Kokura riding Sakura 552 and Sonic 23
• Beppu- Tokyo (7½ hrs) with changes at Kokura and Shin Osaka riding Sonic 23, Sakura 550 and Hikari 654

Plus we already travelled Nagano - Nagoya yesterday on Shinano 16. Getting value from the very expensive JR Pass!

We could have taken the Nozomi shinkansen on some of these legs, but you have to pay a supplement, which for Nagoya to Nagasaki was ¥6,800 each and we just did not think it was worth it.
The ticketing process was epic - the poor clerk had to insert each of our JR Passes for evey single leg of the trip to get the seat booking. We did the whole thing in Japanese and she was so kind and patient with me, checking and double checking that the seat allocations were what I was after.

View attachment 374110

It was a good challenge, but I did it! For those who don't speak Japanese, don't be afraid - there is almost always a clerk who does speak English to help foreign tourists, I just want to keep learning my Japanese by practising in real life. Look how happy I was to complete the task!


View attachment 374111

And look at all our tickets - I LOVE tickets!!

View attachment 374112

Next on our agenda - lunch!

When Hyperdia was around I used to print off a document with every day, every train number with time for all our planned JR pass trips. We would go into the office to exchange the pass and hand over the document and they would book and print out the tickets for all the trips. It was so easy - just needed me to be organised beforehand and sort out what times we wanted to travel, I really miss Hyperdia as it was so easy to use.

 

[rbjhan]

Ha, as much as i love trains these kind of long journeys I am not a fan...Nagoya to Nagasaki?!!
I'd train to Osaka and take a ferry to Kagoshima instead.
But you did get the value of the pass!

 

[jastel]

Good report. I dont ski much but have been to Niseko a few times and just hire equipment there to avoid all this drama. I have friends there who get me a locals discount.
I get what you mean about all the Aussies over there but.

About 18 years ago (pre Bookface and InstaTok) I went to the Snow Monkeys, I was the only white guy there back then. Waited for the bus at the side of the road opposite the servo and there was only 1 seat left on it and I sat next to an Aussie girl from Townsville who worked at a Vet I had previously used...what are the odds?

Actually I had fallen over on the Ice on the Monkey trail and was limping too...lol

Seems like they still need more buses...

Got caught out at a few places by making a seat reservation with my JR Pass but not actually booking a ticket?? I dont know how that worked...how do you reserve a seat on a train but not a ticket? The guard just let me through when he saw my JR Pass mumbling to himself...$#%% Gaijin!

 

[Seat0B]

How many is too many options for lunch? - Friday 9 Feb 24 - Nagoya

Popped in to the JR Takashimaya department store to check out our lunch options and all I can say is wow! The place was totally nuts busy, but there were so many amazing choices. And so affordable. I'll let this sample of photos do the talking.