Phew! I've managed to book my bus from Takayama to Kanazawa using J-Bus. I hope this guide would help you navigate through the site.
Step 1: Create a member's account Note that the user ID would be in Japanese. The best way would be to type in your user ID in a English to Japanese translation site and get it translated. Then copy and paste it in the application page. Password would be alphanumeric.
Wait for the confirmation email and confirm your membership account. Type in the confirmation key and your email address and viola!
Step 2: Choose the departure and arrival location For Takayama to Kanazawa, select 岐阜 (Gifu - Takayama) then 石川 (Ishikawa - Kanazawa) click on the button 決定 (Decide) click on the link 高山・白川郷−金沢 to continue Step 3: Select your departure date and time Select your departure date and click on 空席照会
You would see a table with the fields (using google translation): 便名, 出発地, 発時刻, 到着地, 着時刻, 空席, トイレ, 選択, 備考 Flight ,Departure, Departure time, Place of arrival, Arrive Time, Vacancy, Toilet, Selected, Notes
If you have signed in, you will see radio buttons under Selected for you to select the transport timing you would like. Then click on 片道予約 (One Way) or 往復予約 (Round Trip). The third button 戻る (Back) would bring you to the previous page.
Step 4: Confirming your trip By doing the above step it should bring you to the page shown below. Key in the number of adults (male, female) and children. The telephone number, name and Email 1 should have already been captured as you would have used it to sign up. Click on the button to confirm and it would bring you to another page with all your details. Check your details and click the confirm button (located just below the details table). Viola!
Step 5: Print and Bring J-Bus would send you an email with your booking number and you would have to bring the email down to the Bus counter to get your tickets.
This is my first time booking my entire trip online. It was rather nerve-racking at first but it turned out rather well despite a boo-boo on my part.
My hotels for the trip are: Kyoto - Ryokan Shimizu (Booked using JapanHotel.net) Takayama - Ryori Ryokan Hanaoka (Booked through the Hida Takayama Tourist Information Office. Email: hidatio@hidanet.ne.jp) Kanazawa - Dormy Inn Hotel Kanazawa (Booked through Rakuten Note: Prepayment required) Uji - Ryori Ryokan Aiso (Booked directly with Aiso at ajirogi3-4@lilac.plala.or.jp) Here is the email I sent, just in case you are wondering how to go about it. They replied in 3 days.
Hello,
I want to book 1 room in RYORI-RYOKAN AISO. 2009-Dec-xx 1 night with dinner + breakfast 1 room 3 persons (1 male + 2 female)
check-in: 2009-Dec-xx check-out: 2009-Dec-xx
Arigato gozaimasu, J
They replied with a simple message "We are waiting for you. Uji ayusou inn"
When I tried asking for the room rates in English, I think they simply ignored my message. Armed with BabelFish, I attempted asking them in Japanese. Their reply came within a few days. "7350yen----8400----10500---12000yen with two meals"
Osaka - Hotel Granvia Osaka (Booked through Rakuten Note: Prepayment required)
I would try not to overlap the reviews of the hotels with Paul as I think he did an awesome job at it.
For this 11 day trip, my family would be travelling to a number of places in Central Japan. The focus would be the food (as usual) and some sightseeing. I hope I can keep this trip to 2800SGD and below although I think it would be rather difficult. I've booked my air tickets from Singapore Airlines and all of my hotels for my December trip. You can call me Kiasu.
This is my tentative Itinerary.
Day 1: Singapore - Kyoto Day 2: Kyoto Day 3: Kyoto - Takayama Day 4: Takayama - Shirakawago - Takayama Day 5: Takayama - Kanazawa Day 6: Kanazawa - Nara - Uji Day 7: Uji - Kobe - Osaka Day 8: Osaka - Himeji - Osaka Day 9: Osaka Day 10: Osaka Day 11: Osaka - Singapore
This is the index page of my 2nd trip to Japan. My inspiration of this blog comes from Paul who created an awesome blog of ready made guides and helpful tips.
