Hi all!

I will be going to Japan this April and would need some advice.
Here is my plan:

19-Apr Day 1:Tokyo : Ueno / Asakusa / Imperial Palace
20-Apr Day 2:Tokyo:Ginza/Roppongi/Akasaka
21-Apr Day 3: Day Trip to Kamakura & Yokohama
22-Apr Day 4:Tokyo: Harajuku / Shinjuku / Shibuya
23-Apr Day 5: Hakone / Mt Fuji
24-Apr Day 6: Hakone / Mt. Fuji
25-Apr Day 7: Hakone / Mt. Fuji
26-Apr Day 8: Kyoto
27-Apr Day 9: Kyoto /Gion
28-Apr Day 10: Day Trip to Nara
29-Apr Day 11: Osaka
30-Apr Day 12 :Osaka & Tokyo

My departure is on 30 April, 8:50pm at Tokyo Haneda Airport

Q1: what transport cards should I get?
I'm thinking of: Tokyo -Suica
Yokohama -Minatomirai Line One-day-tickets
Osaka - Osaka unlimited pass 2 days

Q2: For Kyoto & Nara, I'll be temple hopping so I'm not too sure which card should I buy. I was thinking of Surutto Kansai Miyako Card �2,000 enough? Can I use this card for Kintetsu Kyoto Line Exp from Kyoto to Nara?

Q3: Suica.
I'm so confused with this card. I'm not sure which line can I use, what I understand is I can use it for all the lines in Tokyo except for bullet train, is that right? So can I use it to go to Kamakura on JR Line?

Q4: I read about the Minato Mirai Ticket, would it be better than Minatomirai Line One-day-ticket?

Q5: Accommodation
Any suggestion on hotels?
In Tokyo - Shinjuku area. (3 Adults)
In Mt Fuji - a Ryokan (4 adults)
In Kyoto - Kyoto Stn. (4 adults)
In Osaka - Namba (4 adults)

Feel free to comment and advice me, Thank You

As April 21st is a Saturday, if possible I'd recommend you change your Kamakura trip to a weekday, as the main attractions are often insanely crowded on the weekends. Maybe swap it with the previous day's activity, as there probably won't be too dramatic a difference between Friday and Saturday in Ginza/Roppongi/Akasaka (or even do Roppongi on Friday night, as Kamakura is pretty much dead after dark...)

Hello,

Suica is convenient and covers most of the line in Kanto area, including Tokyo, Kanagawa prefecture etc. However, Suica is just as a prepaid ticket and there is no discount on the fees. Also you need to pay a small deposit when you get it. I suggest you to buy tickets on the spots. Some lines have a discount for family, day travel etc. Those tickets are not applicable to Suica. Either way, you should come over first a information counter on the arrival lounge in Haneda or Narita first. Information counter in Shinjuku station is also available.

For hotels, big names such as Hyatt or Hilton are recommended since there might be language barrior in small hotels. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find English speakers in Japan.

Im sorry but Im not sure about Kansai area such as Osaka, Kyoto and Nara as I live in Tokyo.

Hope you enjoy the stay here.

Okay, will do that

28 April is the beginning of the Golden Week. Expect trains and planes to be very busy on 28-30 April.

Okay, will be booking flight from Osaka to Tokyo.

Very nice first post, KTfromJP! ^
Welcome to you and chankaryn

A couple of comments on your itinerary.

Yokohama, which I've visited several times for work purposes or to meet friends, is not all that different from Tokyo. I'd just go straight to Kamakura.

There's no need to change hotels in the Kyoto-Osaka area. Kyoto has quite a different ambiance from Tokyo, but you can easily see what there is of interest in Osaka in a day trip from Kyoto. (In my mind, not having to change hotels is a good thing.)

The Suica will take you on all public transit in the Tokyo-Yokohama area except for a couple of lines that you are unlikely to take (e.g. the Joso Line out of Moriya). According to the map that I just downloaded, the covered lines include the Minato Mirai line, so if you do decided to go to Yokohama, you don't need a separate ticket. The map is here:

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/suica.html

The Miyako card is good on all private rail lines in the Kansai area. You could use it to take the Kintetsu line to Nara or one of the private options to Osaka. Once you arrive in Nara, everything is within walking distance. In Kyoto, get a map of the city and arrange your sightseeing so that you see things that are close together on the same day.

The large international-style hotels may have more English speakers, but they're also really, really expensive unless you can go on points. One of the great things about Japan is that you can find clean and safe accommodations in the budget category quite easily in the so-called "business hotels." The staff may not speak much English, but if they are under the age of 70, they will have had at least three years of written English in school, so you can communicate by block printing your questions. Alternatively, there is likely to be someone on the staff who speaks better English than the other employees and is the go-to person when it comes to communicating with foreigners.

Japanese customer service tends to be excellent, and if you have a question or problem, hotel staff will do their best to work something out.

Rooms at business hotels are small but contain everything you need, including a tiny private bath that looks as if it was carved out of a single piece of plastic. Some of them include a breakfast buffet or at least coffee and rolls. Prices are US$100 per person or less.

These days, it's easy to find hotel booking sites and reviews online. (I had excellent luck finding good, reasonably priced accommodations in pricey Scandinavia this way.)

In the interest of providing an opposing viewpoint, here are three areas of Yokohama that I think are worth leaving Tokyo to check out:

Minato Mirai: Like Odaiba, but nicer.

Motomachi/Chukagai: Fun place if you like old buildings, chic shopping, and Chinatowns.

Osanbashi/Naka-ku: OK, the pier itself isn't so interesting, but there are a lot of parks and neat old brick buildings in the area that you really can't find in Tokyo. The Red Brick Warehouse, an actual warehouse from the 19th century that was reconverted into a shopping center, is also a unique experience.

And if you want to check out a baseball game, you'll probably find much better seats available in Yokohama Stadium than in the Tokyo Dome.

Thank You for comments!
Yes, Japanese customer service are one of the best in the World. I'm going Yokohama for a stop-over, I don't think there is much to see at Kamakura at night. As Suica doesn't give any discount, I will have to work out my sums to see which card is more worth.

Yes, I will be going to all this 3 places! I especially like Motomachi/Chukagai! I like old buildings!

Hi All,

Do keep your comments coming, love reading all your suggestions and experience!

Hello LapLap!

Thank you for yr welcome! This is my first time here.

Have you considered the JR Rail Pass? You do not mention how you are getting from NRT/HND to Hakone, to Kyoto, etc, but the Shinkansen tickets add up fast and facilitate day-tripping to Kyoto from Osaka or Kobe. Thus you would also have a run of most rail in Tokyo and Osaka as well as the NeX and maybe bypass the need for a flight from Osaka back to Tokyo (which is not all that convenient relative to the train). The only thing you would not get is the private line to Nara.

The JR Pass is not as useful as the Suica for transportation in the Tokyo-Yokohama area (it doesn't cover the subway, for example), but it is very useful for intercity travel.

There is a "back way" to Kyoto on the Chuo Line via Shiojiri to Nagoya and then around the top of Lake Biwa to Kyoto, so if the Shinkansens are all booked up, that may be an alternative. (See a railroad map if you can't visualize what I'm talking about.)

Book your trains the day you arrive, and then you'll know whether you can get reserved seats or not.

One of the other great things about Japan is that there are usually several ways to travel between any two points.