Rugby World Cup 2019 Japan Travel etc...

matrim

Got mine when I ran in incognito mode and turned off my ad blockers

MikeCork2009

Arrived in Tokyo ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ So far so good. Toughest part so far was the 9hr 45 minute flight from Dubai. Couldn't sleep for the life of me. So now I'm sitting in a bar in Shinjuku (Tokyo) drinking beer at ¥1134 a pint but paying by card. I've used TransferWise card so far to pay hotel, withdraw cash and buy beer same as if I was at home. Kanpai!!

deezell

€10 a pint!

lawrencesummers

https://tokyocheapo.com/food-and-drink/drinking/the-cheapest-beer-in-tokyo/

carlop

If you want to do some low cost drinking I'd highly recommend getting a few beers and some sushi from 7/11 and doing some people-watching in Yoyogi Park

For those travelling to a few matches, are you getting a JR Rail Pass? If so, did you go through an agency in Ireland? It's aa bit confusing to get concrete info on it

Eod100

lawrencesummers wrote: »

https://tokyocheapo.com/food-and-drink/drinking/the-cheapest-beer-in-tokyo/

7 years old though so might not be most accurate.

Eod100

carlop wrote: »

If you want to do some low cost drinking I'd highly recommend getting a few beers and some sushi from 7/11 and doing some people-watching in Yoyogi Park

For those travelling to a few matches, are you getting a JR Rail Pass? If so, did you go through an agency in Ireland? It's aa bit confusing to get concrete info on it

Got it through this site. Think they are French based. Getting a 2 week one and 16 day sim card for €417. Seems like a lot but think a return train journey could easily be couple of 100e depending on route. Ordered it online last night and is due to be delivered by Fedex tomorrow. Think it needs a signature so probably best to get it delivered to work. https://m.japan-rail-pass.com/mobile/

a clanger

Thinking of trying to get to the Samoa game. Has anybody got an idea on availability of tickets. Checked the usual websites and its silly money for cr*p tickets. ?? Is Canal St the area to stay in ??

sjlc

Eod100 wrote: »

Got it through this site. Think they are French based. Getting a 2 week one and 16 day sim card for €417. Seems like a lot but think a return train journey could easily be couple of 100e depending on route. Ordered it online last night and is due to be delivered by Fedex tomorrow. Think it needs a signature so probably best to get it delivered to work. https://m.japan-rail-pass.com/mobile/

Used these too. Two 1 week ticket vouchers and a month sim. Ordered yesterday afternoon, received this morning from FedEx. Did have to sign for it. Much easier process than receiving the tickets from DHL. Still have to redeem the vouchers over there though thats standard. Seem to have gotten a couple of euro cheaper since too

kaizersoze

Heading out on the 19th. Can't wait.

Lucky enough to win an all in trip for 2 for 10 days and added our daughter.
Going to the Japan & Scotland pool games.

Travel pack received, match tickets to be collected, building a pot of Yen, Pocket Wifi ordered, 2 SIMs ordered being delivered tomorrow.
I was planning on using mostly Irish CC though.
I've gone through the last 10 or 15 pages of this thread. Am I forgetting something?

deezell

Revolut card with Yen account.

deezell

deezell wrote: »

Revolut card with Yen account.

What is the benefit of a Revulot card over your CC? It seems many businesses don’t accept cards of any type and the PO atms will accept foreign cards for cash with a good exchange rate and low charges. So why get Revulot, and how long does it take to get one?

I’m bringing yen and US dollars, the dollars because all hotels will change them and I would prefer to come home with unused dollars than yen. Though the currency sounds huge, it’s around 115 yen to the Euro, you don’t have a stack of bills, 200k yen easily fit in my wallet.

Phileas Frog

A better exchange rate (the inter bank one so the best you can get) and no charges on Forex transactions

Phileas Frog

Phileas Frog wrote: »

A better exchange rate (the inter bank one so the best you can get) and no charges on Forex transactions

I would just be concerned that I’m in a pub, throwing back the pints, then I find I’m out of cash, they don’t take the Revulut card I’m relying on, and I’ve got to go find a PO that’s open or a 7eleven that doesn’t have ques and isn’t out of cash from the tens of thousands of rugby tourists using them.

I just ordered a Revulut card, I’ll bring it just in case, but plenty of cash is the way to go.

Phileas Frog

You'd have the same problem with any card, no?

Phileas Frog

Phileas Frog wrote: »

You'd have the same problem with any card, no?

I think so, advice seems to be, bring cash, use card as a back up. It’s kinda hard to believe that the businesses, like pubs and restaurants wouldn’t be putting in card machines when there is going to be hundreds of thousands of extra tourists in country for World Cup.

aahern

carlop wrote: »

If you want to do some low cost drinking I'd highly recommend getting a few beers and some sushi from 7/11 and doing some people-watching in Yoyogi Park

For those travelling to a few matches, are you getting a JR Rail Pass? If so, did you go through an agency in Ireland? It's aa bit confusing to get concrete info on it

We booked ours through these guys earlier in the week and they were delivered via FedEx yesterday. https://www.japan-experience.com/japan-rail-pass/order-jrp

This is a good link to see if a 7/14/21 day pass is best based on your travel plans
https://www.japanstation.com/japan-rail-pass-value-calculator/

random_banter

aahern wrote: »

We booked ours through these guys earlier in the week and they were delivered via FedEx yesterday. https://www.japan-experience.com/japan-rail-pass/order-jrp

This is a good link to see if a 7/14/21 day pass is best based on your travel plans
https://www.japanstation.com/japan-rail-pass-value-calculator/

That calculator is so handy, thanks for sharing. Our 3 week itinerary would have come to around €775 based on that, so the 21 day (€498) JR pass is well worth it! One way from Kyoto to Tokyo is around €115 on its own.

The last week of the trip we will be based in Tokyo with a couple of day trips. The pass still saves us money even on that week.

macslash

Booked flights last night. Heading over the 17th and home the 29th. My brother got quarter final tickets so I'll be meeting him out there. Staying until the 29th as will hope to make the semi final should we get there (Or not).
Was looking there, and the semi final is in Yokohama, which is very close to Tokyo. Would I need to book those train tickets in advance? Or would there be other ways of getting there? Thanks

Chivito550

I'm not going to the rugby, but am going to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Right now, a year out, accommodation prices are scandalous. I'm taking €100 a night for those awful capsule hotels, and €300 a night for a normal hotel. The amount of hotels available is quite small too.

Can any of you who are going to Japan for the rugby tell me your accommodation experiences? Were the prices crazy a year out, but then drop as the event got closer? How much are you paying?

sjlc

macslash wrote: »

Booked flights last night. Heading over the 17th and home the 29th. My brother got quarter final tickets so I'll be meeting him out there. Staying until the 29th as will hope to make the semi final should we get there (Or not).
Was looking there, and the semi final is in Yokohama, which is very close to Tokyo. Would I need to book those train tickets in advance? Or would there be other ways of getting there? Thanks

Book on the day as far as I've been told

sjlc

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'm not going to the rugby, but am going to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Right now, a year out, accommodation prices are scandalous. I'm taking €100 a night for those awful capsule hotels, and €300 a night for a normal hotel. The amount of hotels available is quite small too.

Can any of you who are going to Japan for the rugby tell me your accommodation experiences? Were the prices crazy a year out, but then drop as the event got closer? How much are you paying?

Have you tried AirBnB? Very reasonable rates when traveling in a group. I havent booked any hotels for the World Cup, just AirBnBs and hostels too. I think even at the best of times a hotel isnt meant to be great value

Brozy

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'm not going to the rugby, but am going to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Right now, a year out, accommodation prices are scandalous. I'm taking €100 a night for those awful capsule hotels, and €300 a night for a normal hotel. The amount of hotels available is quite small too.

Can any of you who are going to Japan for the rugby tell me your accommodation experiences? Were the prices crazy a year out, but then drop as the event got closer? How much are you paying?

Got a 4 star hotel in Shinjuku for 6 nights with breakfast included with free cancellation for €940. Only booked it last week. So that is under €80pp/pn which is okay.

The Olympics is a different animal though as it'll be based solely in and around Toyko I'd imagine. Whereas for the rugby, the games are spread out around the country.

AdamD

sjlc wrote: »

Have you tried AirBnB? Very reasonable rates when traveling in a group. I havent booked any hotels for the World Cup, just AirBnBs and hostels too. I think even at the best of times a hotel isnt meant to be great value

Slight worry with airbnbs is the host cancelling close to the event. Airbnb will compensate you a bit but nowhere near enough to book say Olympics accommodation last minute.

For the original question, I'm looking at an average of 35 per night for 3 weeks, some capsule hotels, some hostels, some nice enough hotels.

Chivito550

Brozy wrote: »

Got a 4 star hotel in Shinjuku for 6 nights with breakfast included with free cancellation for €940. Only booked it last week. So that is under €80pp/pn which is okay.

The Olympics is a different animal though as it'll be based solely in and around Toyko I'd imagine. Whereas for the rugby, the games are spread out around the country.

Are you sharing with somebody? Otherwise there's no way 940 into 6 nights is 80 per night.

Chivito550

AdamD wrote: »

Slight worry with airbnbs is the host cancelling close to the event. Airbnb will compensate you a bit but nowhere near enough to book say Olympics accommodation last minute.

For the original question, I'm looking at an average of 35 per night for 3 weeks, some capsule hotels, some hostels, some nice enough hotels.

There are some new laws coming in re Air Bnb in Japan so I just don't trust it.

Bring the best ear plugs in the business for capsule hotels. Did it 11 years ago. 10 lads snoring all at once. Weird experience.

Squidgy Black

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'm not going to the rugby, but am going to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Right now, a year out, accommodation prices are scandalous. I'm taking €100 a night for those awful capsule hotels, and €300 a night for a normal hotel. The amount of hotels available is quite small too.

Can any of you who are going to Japan for the rugby tell me your accommodation experiences? Were the prices crazy a year out, but then drop as the event got closer? How much are you paying?

Olympics would be a much bigger affair than the rugby, for example London 2012 had 470,000 people travel just for the Olympics and most staying in London, 2015 RWC had 400,000 people and that was spread across England.

I doubt prices will drop closer to the event, if anything they'll probably creep higher and higher due to demand.

Brozy

Chivito550 wrote: »

Are you sharing with somebody? Otherwise there's no way 940 into 6 nights is 80 per night.

Yeah, there's 2 of us.

We're staying in hotels at each stop and it's working out at about €45 each a night on average. Could have been cheaper but we opted for breakfast included and free cancellation. Keeping an eye out for better deals as we get closer to the dates. Might get lucky.

lawrencesummers

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'm not going to the rugby, but am going to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Right now, a year out, accommodation prices are scandalous. I'm taking €100 a night for those awful capsule hotels, and €300 a night for a normal hotel. The amount of hotels available is quite small too.

Can any of you who are going to Japan for the rugby tell me your accommodation experiences? Were the prices crazy a year out, but then drop as the event got closer? How much are you paying?

Booked all out accommodation on Airbnb, a combination of hotels being tiny and the price, ie. got 2 or three bedroom apartments for half the price of a hotel room. If someone cancels our Airbnb we can just stump up for a hotel or book another.

I like the host contact and info, contact you get from the Airbnb hosts as well.

Officer999

Selling two Cat B tickets for the Ireland v Russia game in Kobe. PM if anyone is interested

Phileas Frog

Chivito550 wrote: »

There are some new laws coming in re Air Bnb in Japan so I just don't trust it.

The new laws are in, they were around host registration which is now mandatory so perfectly trustworthy now.

Popeleo

Dav010 wrote: »

I would just be concerned that I’m in a pub, throwing back the pints, then I find I’m out of cash, they don’t take the Revulut card I’m relying on, and I’ve got to go find a PO that’s open or a 7eleven that doesn’t have ques and isn’t out of cash from the tens of thousands of rugby tourists using them.

I just ordered a Revulut card, I’ll bring it just in case, but plenty of cash is the way to go.

There are over 20,000 7-11 stores in Japan and 2,700 of them are in Tokyo. You'll be grand.

Finding one of the handful of Citibank ATMs that worked in 2002 was a real 2am drunken treasure hunt (no 7-11 machines back then).

MikeCork2009

Popeleo wrote: »

There are over 20,000 7-11 stores in Japan and 2,700 of them are in Tokyo. You'll be grand.

Finding one of the handful of Citibank ATMs that worked in 2002 was a real 2am drunken treasure hunt (no 7-11 machines back then).

Yeah, there are ATMs all over the place in Tokyo. All convenience stores seem to have them so no issue finding one. Also, I've seen lots of places with signs "We love Visa, Official Tokyo 2020 partner" or something to that effect, so lots of places now taking card too ahead of the Olympics.

bmcc10

Be fine even outside of Toyko I'm in Kurashiki Okayama it's countryside really and still no hassle getting an atm.

finbarrk

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'm not going to the rugby, but am going to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Right now, a year out, accommodation prices are scandalous. I'm taking €100 a night for those awful capsule hotels, and €300 a night for a normal hotel. The amount of hotels available is quite small too.

Can any of you who are going to Japan for the rugby tell me your accommodation experiences? Were the prices crazy a year out, but then drop as the event got closer? How much are you paying?

I'm going to both. The Rugby is much cheaper than the Olympics. Got an AirBnb apartment for 4 nights during the Olympics for €1050. Hope the host doesn't cancel though.

Riskymove

finbarrk wrote: »

I'm going to both. The Rugby is much cheaper than the Olympics. Got an AirBnb apartment for 4 nights during the Olympics for €1050. Hope the host doesn't cancel though.

The rugby is much cheaper as it is taking place around many cities in Japan while the Olympics is all around Tokyo

one rugby game taking place for one night in a city the size of Tokyo has limited impact. Even the smaller cities are not too badly impacted by a few thousand people for a couple of days

Eod100

Looks like Cathay Pacific suspending Dublin to Hong Kong flights from 7th November. Timed it after RWC final so hopefully doesn't inconvenience any/many going via that way. https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2019/0912/1075435-dublin-belfast-routes-axed/

Podge_irl

MikeCork2009 wrote: »

Yeah, there are ATMs all over the place in Tokyo. All convenience stores seem to have them so no issue finding one. Also, I've seen lots of places with signs "We love Visa, Official Tokyo 2020 partner" or something to that effect, so lots of places now taking card too ahead of the Olympics.

Have you tried them? Most ATMs won’t work with foreign cards. Mind you it’s been a while since I was there - the 7-11 ones didn’t work either back then and I had to scramble to find post offices every time I needed cash.

finbarrk

I wouldn't trust the card working everywhere. Cash is king.

Riskymove

finbarrk wrote: »

I wouldn't trust the card working everywhere. Cash is king.

cash is King but I still think its crazy to bring weeks worth of cash around with you

Just take out cash when opp arises - there are 7-11s everywhere and plenty of POs too

Birdie Num Num

Anyone out there yet? And what’s the heat like?

random_banter

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'm not going to the rugby, but am going to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Right now, a year out, accommodation prices are scandalous. I'm taking €100 a night for those awful capsule hotels, and €300 a night for a normal hotel. The amount of hotels available is quite small too.

Can any of you who are going to Japan for the rugby tell me your accommodation experiences? Were the prices crazy a year out, but then drop as the event got closer? How much are you paying?

One tip from personal experience - we started looking at accommodation a year ago for the RWC and it seems that Japanese hotels and B&Bs etc don't all load up their inventory till much closer to the arrival date, compared with EU and US.

I did a good bit of reading on this, as there seemed to be nothing in Kobe a year out, for example. There were posts and threads popping up in Google with advice from other travellers, saying that some hotels wait till 6 months before to load up their inventory. Then the prices seemed to get a lot more reasonable. I know I couldn't get the full availability of hotels till around March of this year.

So maybe availability and prices will become more favourable for you in a few months? My 2c.

MikeCork2009

Podge_irl wrote: »

Have you tried them? Most ATMs won’t work with foreign cards. Mind you it’s been a while since I was there - the 7-11 ones didn’t work either back then and I had to scramble to find post offices every time I needed cash.

Yup. My TransferWise card has worked in the ATM I used in the airport and in all the 7-11 shops I tried in Tokyo no bother. Also I've used my card to pay in a number of pubs, cafes and in a Don Quixote shop.

MikeCork2009

Birdie Num Num wrote: »

Anyone out there yet? And what’s the heat like?

Tuesday and Wednesday it was awful. 32/33 degrees but the humidity was 85%. Was really sticky. Today was nice though. 28 degrees, with a breeze and humidity was only 30%

joseywhales

Japan is the most technologically advanced society in the world, I wouldn't worry about access to funds

Phileas Frog

You'd be surprised

comment

Has anyone purchased Yen before travelling and where did they get it and how was the exchange rate. I went to order some in AIB and was told it’s not a currency they do. Definitely looking to have some cash with me for when I arrive given what I’ve read.

MikeCork2009

comment wrote: »

Has anyone purchased Yen before travelling and where did they get it and how was the exchange rate. I went to order some in AIB and was told it’s not a currency they do. Definitely looking to have some cash with me for when I arrive given what I’ve read.

I didn't get any Yen before I arrived. I used my card to withdraw some cash in the 7-11 shop located in the train station level of Narita airport. Honestly, you'll be grand.

MikeCork2009

Also, I couldn't help myself going to the RWC megastore here in Tokyo and getting carried away in all the excitement and buying this 😠Paid for it with my MasterCard (which is plastered all over the place)

gavkm27

Flying out on 8th of October to Kagoshima down south with a pal and starting a 2200km unsupported bike race across Japan and with a bit of luck we'll be riding into Tokyo a few days before the Semi's