road trip to japan!

[Chirone]

oh wait, i can't drive to japan...

so, if i'm planning a trip to japan does anyone have any suggestions on where i should go?
it'd probably be in late jannuary to early february in time for a day in the ice festival.

[honestdom]

Osaka is nice, its easy and cheap to get to other places like nara, kobe kyoto, himeji castle, okayama (maybe). you can travel by local trains with a ju-hachi kippu fairly cheaply.

if you are outside japan you can buy a shinkansen pass which cannot be bought in japan. it would be a good thing to get if you want to travel the country for the time you are there.

i lived in Takamatsu on Shikoku, great place to live. not much to see, unless you just like rural japanese landscapes. Pretty much the opposite of Tokyo. which is great to visit not so much for living there.

Naoshima is my favorite place in japan.

Osaka - namba, dotonbori and shinsaibashi are pretty interesting.

Tokyo - yasakuni shrine, and all the obvious places are good.

[Chirone]

hmmm

ok, the dates i want to go on let me be able to travel to sapporo for the ice festival on the 7th.

the travel agent told me that i can fly from tokyo to sapporo, but do you know if you can travel via bullet train to a city at the top of the middle island (sorry, i cant remember all the names at the moment) and then fly to sapporo? (i assume it would be cheaper that way if i get the rail pass.

also, do you know the difference between the economy and green class on the bullet train?

[marlonjohn]

Hey Chirone, i know its abit off-topic haha but just had a question about NZ. planning on a snow trip somewhere close by and thought New Zealand would be good. Although my question is, does it constantly snow up at the resorts or does it differ on the conditions such as aus?

[Chirone]

as far as i know it's pretty weather dependant
but then i've only known Rotorua, Queenstown i hear is a different story. I'd say more but i'm not good at reciting what other people have said unless i've heard it lots