Japan Experience

Easy travel in Japan!

Advantages: easy to use, use as many time as you want during valid day
Disadvantages: limited location to exchange voucher

Traveling in Japan is quite costly. So having a Japan Rail (JR) Pass is an excellent way for the foreigners to see Japan. However, you want to evaluate your situation before purchasing the JR pass as if you do not use it, there will be about 20% service fee for unused ticket refund or not getting full value for the money. Confusing? It could be... but it is fairly simple. JR pass: (quick overview) 1* pre-purchased Exchange Order (voucher) outside ...
...must complete "Application form for Japan Rail Pass Exchange" per person. If you do not speak or understand Japanese, you might want to consider printing and filling the form before arrival. I hate to say it, but customer Service towards non-speakers of Japanese is not always positive. Also, not all speak English well. To be on a good side, be prepared! Do check out the website and find out how it works. Remember, you will need "passport" for each ...

mckey 21.01.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Japan Rail Pass

Reconstruction City

Advantages: For a newly rebuilt city it is remarkably pretty
Disadvantages: There isn't a great deal of history left and the reconstruction was only recently finished

Kobe is primarily famous for the earthquake that devastated the city on 17 January 1995, killing 6,000 people. Fortunately the city has managed to rebuild itself over the past nine years, with some of the final rebuilding only being completed last year. As a result Kobe does look new and fresh. Although it is not a must see city, it is somewhere that is incredibly pleasant place to spend the day. GETTING THERE The nearest airport is Kansai International ...
...GETTING AROUND Most of Kobe can be reached on foot, although you may need to take a train out to the Port area. Be careful not to take the express train, as this will go straight through your stop. ATTRACTIONS - Phoenix Plaza/Earthquake Museum (500 Yen) This museum is interesting, but in many ways frustrating. On entry to the building you should wait for the next tour to begin. You'll be taken into a room where an audio-visual cacophony assaults ...

ickkate 10.10.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Kobe

Temple Town

Advantages: You can see pretty much everything you want to see in a day
Disadvantages: There is no real nightlife, but then again that's not what you go to Nara for.

Nara is the capital of Nara-ken (or prefecture) and came to fame as the first permanent capital of Japan. Established in 710 it was known as Nara-heijokyo for only eighty years when power moved to Kyoto. Today the city mainly exists as the Kansai region's second most popular tourist attraction as it contains a various World Heritage Sites, National Treasures and Important Cultural Assets. On our trip we chose to take a whole day in order to see as ...
...the Kintetsu line to Kintetsu Nara Station which took approximately 45 minutes and cost 610 Yen. (Sometimes this will involve a change, but on our trip this was not necessary - more direct trains take 35 minutes, but cost 1,100 Yen). It is also possible to get to Nara via JR train, but are not as regular. TOURIST INFORMATION This is located between the JR station and Kintetsu station, and might be useful in picking up more comprehensive maps than ...

ickkate 06.10.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Nara

Vivacious volcanoes

Advantages: Beautiful scenery, awesome nature and lots of culture
Disadvantages: Noxious fumes

...Kyushu and climbing its volcanoes. Kirishima National Park was by far the winner in terms of beauty and satisfaction gained from the climbing. However, it was not the safest adventure I have ever had. I would not recommend other young women to try this climb alone as I did. I spent a few days climbing up volcanoes and over volcanic chains in the area. I had a few adventures along the way. The first was when I found myself on a crater rim in the fog ...
...I was unable to see the path, and had to use my compass and map-reading skills to find the right way. Then later on a volcano in the chain I was climbing seemed to start to billow smoke. Unwilling to turn back and climb back over the snowy peak behind me, I carried on. This was a rather crazy decision. It is said that the biggest danger volcanoes present is not to the locals living on and around them, but to climbers who breathe in the noxious fumes. ...

cllanwarne 04.06.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Kirishima National Park (Japan)

The Kobe Eathquake

Advantages: It ensured protection for the future
Disadvantages: It was a worldwide disaster

** The Geography of Kobe ** The Kobe earthquake happened in Kobe is Japan (shown on the map to the right). Kobe has the the sea on one side of the city and big mountains on the other side creating a lovely post-card views. The most common nationality of Kobe is Korean, the second most common nationality is Chinese, third is Vietnamese and the forth is American The city has an average temperature of 17.1°C. Kobe currently now has a population of 1,533,852 ...
...to 14 years old. Kobe also has a very good economy with having one of the busiest shipping ports in that area. Kobe is also home to many headquarters of big companies such as Mitsubishi motors and industries. **Why did it happen? ** The Kobe earthquake (also refereed/known as The Great Hanshin Earthquake), happened at 5:46am on Tuesday, January 17th 1995. It had a magnitude of 7.2 which is nearly twice as powerful as the earthquake in Dover 2 years ...

mad.man.560 14.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Kobe