Japan

(via SBA73 - Flickr)

Japan. The mystical land of tradition to some. The land that houses the most modern civilisation to others. For me, I enjoy being in Japan and do all kind of weird things.I can be an otaku and head out for the manga/game shops. I can be a glutton and go on a gourmet tour and sample the fine Japanese cuisine. I can also play to my nature-side and swoon at how beautiful the rural areas of Japan are. The list goes on.

The most obvious method to get there is to fly into one of the 2 major international airport (Kansai @ Osaka / Narita @ Tokyo). Airfares depend on where you are flying from/on. But, if you happen to be on a world tour of sorts, try this – get into Japan via a ferry/cruise ship from Korea. It’s cheap, and fun! Two ways to go about it :

1) Take a hydrofoil(!) from Busan and land in Fukuoka. Go with JR Kyushu on this one. Haven’t tried it but since this one is operated by the national rail company of Japan, it shouldn’t be too shabby. (The homepage shows one of its ship about to topple over though)

Cost: JPY13,000
Duration: 3hrs

2) Take an overnight cruise ship from Busan to Osaka. Go with Panstar. (The site’s all in Korean but click around to see if this, well, floats your ship) Then call/email the office and get someone who speaks English to help. I had done this before and it works. If you are lucky, you get to travel with a huge crowd of teenager girls too.  A mate and I got a 4-person cabin all to ourselves. And with all Asian establishments, there is a TV inside.

Cost: ~USD100 one way
Duration: 16 hours (overnight)

A lot of teenage girls on board. I wasn't joking.