For All OzBargainers Travelling to Japan

pyro love bird on 11/10/2016 - 15:33
Last edited 24/10/2016 - 17:56

Hey all,

I suspect that a lot of us will be travelling to Japan following the Jetstar sale from earlier this year, with end of semester exams coming up and my holiday coming up too, I've been furiously researching and getting my stuff together for the trip!

I'll be going in mid nov to end of nov.

I thought it'd be good to have a commonplace for those of us travelling (or those of you with some travel experience/advice!) to get some info.

JR PASS

I've heard from a few people that Sacchi tours was offering the cheapest option for JR passes http://www.sachitours.com.au/Japan_Rail_Pass.html?gclid=CNaX… Starting at $363 for the economy 7 day pass and $578 for the economy 14 day pass.

EDIT2 ACT has dropped the price again

I have found a cheaper alternative, also based in Australia with no shipping fees! http://actjapantravel.com.au/jr-pass/ ACT Japan offer the 7 day economy pass for $359 and the 14 day pass for $569.

Thanks to Ryugen's advice, you can take the price of the JR pass into a Flight centre store and ask them to beat it for you :)

Thanks to Billievans

Looks the prices at https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/jr-pass are cheaper if you travel as a group

spend at least $650 to obtain free shipping

7 days - $355
14 days - $565
21 days - $723

GHIBLI MUSEUM

For those of you who want Ghibli tickets, Lawson now has an online site that sells them, tickets open up 10am on the 10th of the month Japan time for the following month ie. 10am 10/10/16 for tickets for November. https://l-tike.com/st1/ghibli-en/sitetop Tickets go for 1000 Yen which is about $12.80 AUD, much better than any online sites like Voyagin or Viator as they go for close to $80 here. You gotta be quick though, many of the tickets were selling out as I was trying to buy it, luckily I secured a ticket, albeit I have to move things around a little.

Here are the links for Voyagin and Viator respectively if you've missed out on the Lawson tickets:
https://www.govoyagin.com/activities/japan-tokyo-last-minute…
https://www.viator.com/tours/Tokyo/Tokyo-Studio-Ghibli-Museu…

Thanks to Baa, you can get Ghibli tickets from Bridge at reasonable prices as an alternative to Lawson online

https://bridge.jpn.com/tickets.php handling fee is only 1500 Yen and the paypal fee is 100 yen, totaling 1600 yen in fees and the 1000 yen ticket the final price comes to 2600 yen which is around $30, as opposed to the ~$80 options above.

Note that the tickets have specific times and dates that they have to be purchased for and there is only a 30 minute allowance window for admittance, you won't be admitted after this, also passport details have to be taken for this as they check at the door!

Airbnb

For those of you booking with Airbnb here's a collection of links to what you should be taking advantage of;

Referral credits with airbnb gets you $45 travel credit you can get them from the ozbargain random link or I'm happy to provide mine if anyone's feeling generous ;)

Optus Perks gets you $50 off if you've got a service with them, otherwise an option might be to get a $2 sim and sign up to their Optus Perks program

Optus is also offering a complimentary $30 sim for every booking you have with airbnb which you can redeem here https://offer.optus.com.au/airbnb/redeem?SID=con:camp:Airbnb…

Paypal also has a promo going on that gets you $40 off that can be found here https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/271330#comment-4098118

I'll be updating as I go, hopefully some of you are able to get some info from this, and some of you would be able to share some advice too!

Ozbargainers, unite!

Travel

Comments

  • fivespice on 11/10/2016 - 16:28
    +1

    Awesome post! Was just looking for a 14 or 21-day rail pass and this is the cheapest.

    Also for anyone traveling to Japan (or any other country for that matter), take advantage of OzBargain alerts and subscribe to some keywords (eg. "Japan", "Travel Insurance" etc.) That's how I happened to find this post.

    Thanks again.

    • pyro love bird on 11/10/2016 - 16:40

      I'm glad I could help out, can I ask what travel insurance you ended up going with? I'm sourcing for one atm, and have decided to go with a CBA travel card as the card fee would be waived for me, and I've read that citibank is too much hassle from the looks of their customer service ratings.

      • fivespice on 11/10/2016 - 17:15

        I have never made a claim through travel insurance fingers crossed so maybe I'm not the best person to say; but my limited research tells me that Southern Cross is pretty good so I have always used them.

        Some of my cc's have travel insurance, but I think I've previously checked reviews for those and they haven't been too great.

        • pyro love bird on 14/10/2016 - 15:26

          I've seen the same thing online about Southern Cross, but I wasn't sure if the same could be said about the travel insurance to Japan. I'll have another look around though, thanks.

  • gcdollar on 12/10/2016 - 09:57

    Thanks for sharing!! I'll try contribute too!

  • Baa on 12/10/2016 - 12:14

    If you miss out on Ghibli Tickets and cannot find them at other places I have used https://bridge.jpn.com/tickets.php before - they can buy Ghibli / or other tickets in Japan and send them to you by post.

    I used them last year as it was easier than buying through JTB, this was before Lawsons had the facility to buy tickets online. It worked out to be about $55 for the two of us.

    I just bought my tickets for this time on the 10/10… I forgot until late arvo and by that point there were many already sold out!

    • pyro love bird on 14/10/2016 - 15:25

      Thanks, I've just updated the post :)

  • John on 13/10/2016 - 23:27

    Have anyone bought from ACT Japan Travel? I tried to check their ATAS/AFTA number shown on their website but cannot find the business registered in the actual ATAS/AFTA website. The IATA number leads to "New World Travel"

  • nightfever on 14/10/2016 - 11:01

    Looks like ACT Travel has crank up the price now..

    7 days - $367

    14 days - $584

    • pyro love bird on 14/10/2016 - 15:19
      +1

      Thanks, I've updated accordingly.

  • Ryugen on 20/10/2016 - 20:10

    FYI, take that JR Pass price from Sachi into a Flight Centre and any agent with half a brain should be able to price beat it. If they give you a blank stare, tell them to order from JTB.

    Edit: Please don't abuse the staff if they don't know how or what you are talking about. It's not something like an outlined process and it's not something they would know about unless they have booked it before.

    • pyro love bird on 24/10/2016 - 17:57

      Do you know how much they could beat it by, by any chance?

    • Leuke on 02/11/2016 - 10:56

      I talked to several people at various Flight Center's, no one could even price match let along price beat. Like an amateur I left if to late to order online though, so getting it through them anyway.

      • Ryugen on 02/11/2016 - 12:31

        Hmm interesting. Unfortunately I can't give exact figures but it can be done. If they want your business they would figure out that it was possible but in this case you bought it anyway.

        For other punters, again I can't guarantee anything, but a simple "I'm looking to purchase a 7 day JR pass and was wondering if you guys can do better than $xxx from x company. I heard you guys deal with JTB Travel?"

        • Leuke on 02/11/2016 - 12:34

          I haven't bought it yet as they're ordering for me, but I sat with the lady for a while and she called JTB and HIS who said wouldn't price match anything. Perhaps some agents are more persuasive, but she couldn't get me anything less.

        • Ryugen on 02/11/2016 - 12:47

          @Leuke: Oh she called them….

          When do you leave, if you don't mind me asking? Also what state are you in?

        • pyro love bird on 02/11/2016 - 22:04

          I have tried this. Was told that they don't price match. Quoted me for 390

  • billevans on 22/10/2016 - 22:13

    Looks the prices at https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/jr-pass are cheaper if you travel as a group

    spend at least $650 to obtain free shipping

    7 days - $355
    14 days - $565
    21 days - $723

    • thespot on 02/11/2016 - 14:18
      +1

      Yep I got Flight centre to beat this by $1 each ticket and since that site has no credit card surcharges it didnt apply when I paid with my CC at FC which they normally do. I also used my CBA reward points that helped as well.

      • Ryugen on 02/11/2016 - 23:18

        Nice, may I ask if they told you where they are ordering from?

        • thespot on 03/11/2016 - 17:40

          Nah they didnt say

  • kingSlayer on 02/11/2016 - 14:11

    Is this rail pass the same as the following one ?
    https://www.jrailpass.com/
    This only cost 275 for 7 days

    • exonerate on 02/11/2016 - 14:35
      +1

      The prices in that link are quoted in USD. So converting $275USD into AUD works out to be ~$360AUD.

  • Ryugen on 02/11/2016 - 23:24

    For those of you curious, and I'm OK with showing this as it's available to the public to view, why I say Flight Centre can price match:

    https://ssl.jtboi.com.au/forms/jr-pass-agent-1.php

    All the prices JTB sells the passes at are there. Same price they sell it to to the public. Currently sitting at $367 for the 7 day pass. Won't go into specifics but let's say FC are a preferred agent with JTB and they are great company to deal with as the passes you get a super legit (shiny sticker and everything, unlike the pass I got ages ago from the cheapest site I could find online. Still worked but makes you wonder).

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