Japan. The land of the Rising Sun. The ultimate oriental icon. Think of Japan and udon, Kobe beef, sushi, samurai, geisha, anime. manga, Mt. Fuji and cherry blossom. Too many places we are spoilt for choice. Only problem is money. To make too simplistic, if one is young, Tokyo. If not, Kyoto and Sapporo. With children, Osaka (because of Universal Studios). Since we are old, we chose to spend 10 days exploring Osaka-Kyoto. My wife and I spent hours figuring out the best way to get around these cities. Asked a bunch of people. Got a bunch of advice. From a person who as been there, my advice is this. Simple. ICOCA. It’s like our Touch n Go card. Once you land in Kansai International Airport, ask for directions to the JR ticket office. Buy the ICOCA ticket there. We pay 2000 yen. The card will have 1500 yen credit and the other 500 yen is a deposit which we will get back once we say Sayonara to Osaka. Go back to the same ticket counter to get back your 500 yen. Then, go to any vending machine you find at all train stations and top up as and when you run out of credit. Simple. Why is it not a good idea to depend on the Osaka Amazing Pass for transportation. The pass includes free passes and discounts that most of the time we don’t have enough time to make use of many of them. Once activated, you must use it until it expires. For example, if we buy a 3-day pass, we have to use it 3 days consecutively. So, if on the second day you are too tired to go out, you would have wasted your money. There is much to say about visiting Japan. Will write more in later posts. For now, let me say this. If you plan to go to Japan for a holiday, you MUST be physically fit. Japan is designed to force people to walk and climb up and down stairs. So be prepared. #ICOCA #Osaka #OsakaAmazingPass #Japan (at Osaka) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXfPBAChdzd/?utm_medium=tumblr
