Journey to Japan: Visa Application and Itinerary

After the ticket arrived safely in my hands, next process is to prepare my visa application. The requirement according to Japan Embassy Website (http://www.id.emb-japan.go.jp/visa_7.html)

1. Passport (original)

2. Application Form with recent photo. photo is 4.5 cm x 4.5 cm, taken within 6 months, without background, no edit). Application form can be downloaded from the link above 

3. ID copy. since my ID is under renewal process, I just copy the ID and the letter from the municipal office. 

4. Copy of ticket reservation (in and out)

5. Itinerary Form. The Form can be downloaded from the website.     Make sure you have filled in the complete address of the     hotel/other place to stay with contact details 

6. If you are travelling with your family, bring supporting document to show the relationship. those documents include: family card   (Kartu Keluarga), birth certificate (akta lahir). Since I dont       travel with family, I just attached my family card just in case (not mandatory). 

7. All document related to the travelling fund. in my case I     enclosed 

• Bank Reference with account details (last 3 months). My account is in BCA and CIMB Niaga. I came to the nearest 2 banks and request for the above. However since the Bank I visited are not the Banks where my account originally came, they need extra 1 day to process. Total process time: approx. 3 days. Bring your ID and Bank card when applying. Bank reference cost: IDR 50,000/reference. Account details : Rp. 2,500/page (as at Jan 2016)
• Reference letter from my workplace, stating my name, ID number/passport number informing that I'm the employee of the company and has been granted x amount of leave to visit Japan. This requirement is not stated in the website, but this is quite important I believe. If you are not an employee, no need to enclosed this letter. 

All the above is prepared in order (1-7). 

For me the hardest part is number 5 (itinerary form)and number 7 (financial details). For number 7 (financial details) before I can have my reference letter, I need to apply leaves to my boss and wait until I have his approval, then go to HR and wait for additional requirement from HR. Phiuh...what a long process. for itinerary, I need to determine which cities I want to visit and the hotels on every cities. Man... I need a long time to do this... There are so many places I want to go: Kobe, Kawasaki, Takayama, Kanazawa, Kawazu, Karuizawa. Sadly I can only choose a few and mostly main cities such as : Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Yuzawa (day trip for ski). For hotels, I checked the list of hotels based on tripadvisor, narrowed it based on location and budget. 

Tips to choose the hotel:

1. Check tripadvisor.com on the rank of the hotel 

2. Check the location via googlemaps. I usually pick hotel with proximity to MRT stations/subway with maximum distance of 600 m from the MRT. Usually 600 m takes less than 10 mins and that's my tolerance for walking to hotel. With tripadvisor I also check which website have the cheapest offer. It can be booking.com, agoda.com, expedia.com etc 
3. Budget chain hotels in Japan are: Daiwa Roynet, Sunroute, Hearton, Tokyu Stay, Mystays, Wings Hotel, and many more. On the month of March (Sakura season), approximate hotel price per nite for 2 for those hotels are around 1.6 million-2.5 million. This is stay only, no breakfast and extra bed for kids etc. 

3. Before booking I check the cancellation policy. I chose the free cancellation because I dont whether my visa will be granted that time. 

4. Check Japanican.com for hotel that is not listed on other website. They sometime have offer as well. 

Alternative place to stays 
1. Check airbnb.com. check the one with free portable wifi during your stay. 
2. Check hostel. In Tokyo, hostel are located relatively "far" from the city. Since I chose hotels within the Yamanote line, hostels are no option for me. But do check hostel in Kyoto and Osaka they have the best hostel located in the city. 
3. Ryokan are expensive. But for some people it worth the price. Check Japanican.com
4. Capsules Hotel are quite pricey compare to hostel. Staying there is quite an experience. They separate capsules for men and women and they also separate the luggage storage. So its quite far to access your stuffs from your capsules and I cant even imagine when I shopped and need to pack my stuff in the luggage every day. quite inconvenient for me. Light traveler, non claustrophobic are definitely welcome.
4. Love Hotels are amazing. They are cheap, located "in the city" and flooded with amenities. But, they cant be booked months before. You just need to show up at the building and check the availability. I'd recommend for you to book a cheap hostel/hotel and then show up at Love Hotels few days before the "day" to check if they can be booked days before and immediately cancels your prior reservation. 

Next story continues...(Itinerary)

Cheap Ticket to Japan

People always say to me "You have to go to Japan, its fabulous"...all the time. I don't get it, to me Japan is expensive..it is overrated. Though I'm a traveler, I've never liked expensive places. I'm a savvy traveler. Japan is always seemed expensive and boring and I just cant see why I have to go there. Until one day I read about Garuda travel fair on website, which offers cheap(er) tickets to most wanted destination. At first I wanted to go to Bangkok (for the hundreth of time) or Hongkong (with my folks), but I took a look at Japan fare (Tokyo)...geez IDR 6.6 million (equals to USD 470), it seemed like a steal. I was lured to look at that fare once again and compare to Hongkong fare IDR 5.5 (USD 392).I finally  decided to buy Japan ticket once i saw that they have availability in middle March, and what do your know, end of March is Sakura season! by the end of my trip there is hope that I might catch the sight of the iconic flower. Though the ticket is purchased in Garuda Travel Fair, I can book it over the phone through Smailing Tour. Its a couple thousand more expensive than book on the travel fair in Senayan, but considering the time and energy, I chose to book through Smailing tour. After the ticket is done, I started to browsed around on the cities I wanted to visit. My picks was Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. I wish I can pick more cities but with only 8 days of trip, more cities means more time consumed to travel. Since this is also my first time to Japan, i wanted to enjoy those 3 lovely cities that I kept hearing from everybody. Here we go!

Tips on sourcing cheap ticket to Japan:

• Mark your calendar on every major travel fair : Garuda Travel Fair usually held on May and September. Singapore Airlines Travel Fair on September. 
• Keep an eye on Japan ticket promotion by these airlines: Air Asia, Japan Airlines and ANA Airlines (via HIS travel and Jalan Tour) 
• Compare ticket price via www.skyscanner.com, its a free website that allows you to compare the fare of several airlines
• Prepare the date. Every year round is a great time to visit Japan (thats what read), however do avoid golden week holiday that falls on end April or early May and summer time on June -July(too hot!). Popular times are: end March-April (sakura season), November (fall season) and December (winter season). So pick wisely. Popular dates causes the increment of travel cost component such as hotel and transportation cost.