Escape Plan to Tokyo January 2019

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Tokyo:

Total duration 5D4N
Singapore is 1hr behind of Tokyo, Japan.
Flight time is 6hrs 20mins on Japan Airlines from Singapore to Tokyo Haneda Airport and return flight is 7hrs 50mins on Japan Airlines from Tokyo Narita Airport to Singapore.

Monday morning flight on 7th Jan at 220am and arrival in Tokyo in the morning of the 7th Jan at 950am. Return flight from Tokyo on the 11th Jan at 6pm and arrival in Singapore at 1250am on the 12th Jan.

Day 1 Flight and Arrival at Tokyo, Shibuya and Shinjuku and Themed restaurant
Day 2 Tokyo, Akihabara, Ginza, Roppongi and more Themed restaurants
Day 3 Tsukiji Market, Ueno Park, Nezu Shrine, Maricar, Asakusa Shrine, Skytree
Day 4 Atami Onsen and Ayumi Hamasaki concert in Shizuoka
Day 5 Tokyo Autosalon and Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was an impromptu one when I thought I needed to clear leave and the idea of a solo trip come to mind. I had never done it once in my life and since wifey wasn’t keen on trip to Japan anytime soon, I thought I would just go there on my own!

Budget nature: Budget buster

The airplane tickets weren’t cheap at all even though the travel dates were on weekdays as it was kind of last minute. However, I managed to get a seat on JAL at $900++ vs the Scoot $1k+, it was still not too bad (another one by Delta was $600+ but considering the later flight time, I opted for JAL). The exchange rate between SGD and Yen was average, but the cost of living in Tokyo was quite high. Furthermore, “cultural experiences” cost money too!

Complexity: Medium

Travel was done almost exclusively by foot and train (subway, JR and Shinkansen, yes they are all different). It took some time to get used to the what tickets were used for each but once that’s done, it was easy. Language could still be a barrier especially outside Tokyo but nothing an online translator, sign language or absolute sincerity couldn’t fix!