This entry summarizes my 2023 trip to Japan. It was my first and hopefully not the last time visiting this country. Full report consists of multiple entries, each one describing a single day of the journey. It serves the purpose of my personal dairy, capturing precious and transient memories in words, photographies and other durable forms of communication. At the same time, I hope that my experiences will serve as a valuable source of knowledge for anyone in the process of coordinating their own travel plan.
The trip lasted for 18 days, excluding long flights that had consumed over a day of our holidays altogether. We had arrived at the Haneda Airport late evening of 2023-08-04 and departed on 2023-08-23 just after midnight.
Three people were participating in the journey:
- me, sometimes refered to as takekun
- yuu(czan), my wife
- Kyuko, our dear friend
¶ Planning
The whole idea for this trip is a direct result of Kyuko’s struggles against boredom during 2022 Christmas holidays. He is responsible for initial versions of the travel plan, that we’ve been collectively adjusting over the course of following months.
¶ Itinerary
The first step of each adventure is finding yourself in an unusual place. Having that in mind, we’ve booked a flight at Emirates. Below are the details of our itinerary.
| Depart | Arrive | Flight number |
|---|---|---|
| WAW 2023-08-03 21:25 (UTC+2) | DXB 2023-08-04 05:25 (UTC+4) | EK 2023 |
| DXB 2023-08-04 07:50 (UTC+4) | HND 2023-08-04 22:35 (UTC+9) | EK 312 |
| HND 2023-08-23 00:05 (UTC+9) | DXB 2023-08-23 05:50 (UTC+4) | EK 313 |
| DXB 2023-08-23 08:10 (UTC+4) | WAW 2023-08-23 12:15 (UTC+2) | EK 179 |
There are several routes available for travelers flying to Japan from Poland. While certainly an overnight connecting flight to Dubai does not make the WAW-DXB-HND route the most convenient one, there are multiple other factors to be taken into account.
Costs
We’ve made our booking back in January, almost 8 months in advance. The total charge for 3 two-way tickets was 14,554.53 PLN / 3,309.70 USD. Therefore, 4,851.51 PLN / 1103.24 USD for a single ticket.
According to Google Flights, anything below 5,300 PLN can be considered a good deal.
Baggage allowance
Flying an economy, an Emirates passenger is entitled to 30 kg checked and 7 kg carry-on luggage. We were planning huge hauls so this particular selling point was of high importance for us.
Comfort
All routes in the itinerary except for EK 2023 (WAW->DXB) are flown by Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Emirates are known for a high class flight attendants service and high quality equipment available on board. Before a flight, a passenger can choose from 11 different menu options (most of them are different vegan dishes).
Here are other options we had considered.
- LO 79 from WAW to NRT directly for around ~7,000 PLN / ~1,602 USD, can be deducted to ~4,500 PLN / ~1,030 USD if journey starts in KTW. Two 23kg pieces of baggage per passenger used to be allowed round-trip, now you can only take one with you. Luckily, Polish airlines are very considerate of buyfags and let them have double the allowance on their way back from Japan. Flown by 787 Dreamliner.
- TK 1766 from WAW to IST and TK 50 from IST to NRT. Same price, same flight times. A positive review of this flight can be found online. We were unsure about limited leg space in Boeing 777.
¶ Daily reports
Below is a list of all detailed day by day reports. Click the title to access the content of a report. Some reports are still being prepared and yet to be published. New entries will be added in a chronological order.
- (8/3-4) Flight to Tokyo
- (8/5) Getting Suica, The Day Of Hardcore 2023, Weekend Ravers
- (8/6) First time at Harajuku, Touhou Project exhibition
- (8/7) Day 1 in Kyoto: Kiyomizu-dera and vicinity, Sanzen-in, first night in a ryokan
- (8/8) Day 2 in Kyoto: Kinkaku-ji, shopping
- (8/9) Day 3 in Kyoto: Tenryu-ji and whereabouts, shopping round two, ROUND 1
- (8/10) Travel to Shirakawa-go: the real Hinamizawa
- (8/11) Do you know Oyashiro-sama?
- (8/12) Comiket Day 1, wasting money in Akihabara
- (8/13) Comiket Day 2, multiple well thought-out funding decisions made
- (8/14) Akihabara for women: Ikebukuro; First attempt at fashion shopping at SHIBUYA109
- (8/15) YAMI WO KIRISAKU OH DESIRE, Tower Records, Tokyo Leisureland
- (8/16) Asakusa, My dress-up darling in Harajuku, more second-hand stores
- (8/17) Record shopping in Nakano Broadway, Mecano, Los Apson, Suruga-ya, Akibaoo
- (8/18) National Museum of Nature and Science, Nerdcore Techno FOREVER
- (8/19) Cup Noodles Museum, BLUE NOAH
- (8/20) Shinagawa Aquarium, dumping vintage nerdcore tapes
- (8/21) Bari Bari Snack, Clannad pilgrimage, again at Harajuku
- (8/22) Tokyo National Museum, The Gardens of Imperial Palace, eARS
- (8/23) Goodbye, Japan