Well the dates are announced and the website is redone so Tokyo Auto Salon 2009 must be just around the corner. If SEMA wasn’t exciting enough to drag you to Vegas (why not?!) well it’s time to book your flights to Tokyo because you’ll definitely get your GT-R fix there.
I promised a few Japan/Tokyo Auto Salon hints and tips all those months back and here’s a couple of the first of hopefully a few posts on this. This one’s going to focus on the logistics of putting a TAS trip together. I’ve had the pleasure of travelling to Japan many times in the past few years and plan many more trips back. So what’s the best way to do it?
Follow up:
First up the flights. January is actually a tough time of the year to head to Japan for anything but skiing. If you’re a skiier or a snowboarder, you’ve probably already heard of Hokkaido’s amazing ski fields and high quality snow. Why is it a bad time you ask? Well it’s cold and it’s expensive. Cold is one thing yeah but expensive is annoying. A lot of flights book up early with people hitting Japan for the snow season or returning to Japan to spend time with their family for the holidays. What can cost $1,000 in July could be $2,000 or more in January.
If you’re based in Australia probably the cheapest way to get there right now is Jetstar. They’ve just recently begun selling fares direct into Tokyo Narita airport and while it’s not a direct flight it is cheaper and more available than the competition right now. Fares are going between $1100 and $1600 AUD depending on dates. US guys, submit your cheapest airfares to Tokyo and let us add to this. The main point to take away from this is, book early and shop around.
Next up is accommodation, you need to book this in advance as you’ll almost certainly find it difficult to organise in-country. Depending on your budget you have a few options here.
Firstly decide where you want to base yourself. Tokyo Auto Salon is at Makuhari Messe at Makuhari which is an hour and a half by train from popular Tokyo suburbs. A fair commute but it’s only 3 days of what could be a longer holiday for you in Japan. You may also find yourself only being interested in TAS for two of the three days it’s open. So really it’s a decision to make based on:
- Are you willing to make the trek to TAS each morning?
- Do you want to go out at night?
- Are you staying for a holiday before/after TAS?
- Do you want to experience real Tokyo culture?
If you answered yes to two or more of those questions you’ll want to be based in Tokyo itself over being in Chiba/Makuhari area. Given that as a starting point, if it’s your first time in Tokyo, your search for accommodation is going to be pretty overwhelming. I recommend the Tokyo entry at WikiTravel in the medium range of the “Sleep” section towards the end of the page. I’ve stayed in a few of those places and can say that they get the job done although here are my top recommendations when booking Japan accommodation:
- Book in advance
- Book the newest place you can find
- Book a place within minutes from a train station on a good JR line such as the Yamanote Line
- Read review sites and all the comments you can
- Read about the area the hotel is in in advance, some places can be less desirable than others if you like shopping or staying out all night for example
- Book non-smoking rooms even if you’re a smoker
- If you know someone who can read Japanese that can be a big advantage (see using Jalan.net below)
0 comments:
Post a Comment