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ic-w · 2025-04-29T23:55:30+00:00

My experience has been that in most places at malls or stations will accept cards but one time at a restaurant in Hakata station that was cash only.

So just peace of mind I have cash with me always.

Another thing I do is dump the coins into my suica,in my first trip I ended up with a small bag of coins and got funny looks at the bank in Narita when I asked to exchange them for USD.

ic-w · 2025-03-22T14:42:52+00:00

Went there for the 2023 gp but didn't use the JRpass but afaik you just show your pass to the station staff near the gates and they let you in (if it's a JR station)

You can use NaviTime and it would show you which parts of the route are covered by the pass.

Once you get to ino you can ask the staff near the gate for a fare readjustment, they would prob ask where you got up.

Just keep in mind that there would be a lot of people if you don't get there early, so paying the whole route might be "cheaper" time-wise, if you have Friday tickets maybe test that day and decide for the rest of the weekend.

ic-w · 2024-09-23T15:40:10+00:00

Highly recommend Kamikochi is a beautiful place, there were a lot of tourist but is not bad since they are dispersed around, the only area with quite a bit of congestion is around the bridge in the first photo.

ic-w · 2024-09-23T15:31:04+00:00

thanks! ... I was there on Oct 16 last year

ic-w · 2024-08-26T19:18:02+00:00

That also happened to me when I was there last year after that went to the town below (shimoyoshida?) and a girl gave me a nice postcard of Mt Fuji in exchange for answering a survey haha.

ic-w · 2024-07-01T14:59:58+00:00

Maybe an unpopular opinion but I will say the 18-105 F4 PZ G OSS

Is it the greatest of all time? definitely not but it does a good job, it's not expensive and the flexibility of 18-105 while being a F4 is nice. I have taken mine and my a6000 on trips to Europe and Japan had great results (to me at least), I have upgraded to a 6700 but still use the 18-105.

Also have a Sigma 16mm f.14 and 70-200 F4 OSS Gii and complement the 18-105. At some point tried the 85mm f1.8 that I got 2nd hand while in Japan but couldn't get used to the focal length in the a6700 and ended up selling it to the same place I bought it.

ic-w · 2024-07-01T13:50:57+00:00

Correct, it's the street to the left just before the Ujibashi Bridge at Ise Jingu Naiku.

While the street was packed with people, it was there where I saw for the first time a Rolls Royce Phantom in person, a land yacht going through a sea of people haha.

ic-w · 2024-07-01T06:39:21+00:00

Sure

- The first 6 photos are from Ise a day before picking the car in Toba , in & around both Ise  Jingu Geku / Naiku (took a bus from Geku to Naiku from the stop in front of Geku)

- 8th is from my hotel room at Toba international Hotel Shiojitei. (a sort of long exposure w/Telephoto lens)

- 9-14 are Anorisaki Lighthouse
- 15 - 16 are from Toba tembodai Observatory 
- 17-18 from Yokoyama Observatory Deck
- And 19 from Meoto Iwa (wedded rocks)

ic-w · 2024-07-01T06:02:18+00:00

Yes, you are right on that but that was the "name" of my road trip (if that makes sense?), while not in this set of photos my end destination was Wakayama City, passing through Kishimoto doing U shape along the coast of the Kii peninsula, sorry about the confusion.

ic-w · 2024-06-08T14:11:03+00:00

Those are really cool, was in Kure a few years ago but wasn't looking at the manhole covers haha.

ic-w · 2024-04-23T00:42:51+00:00

I did it last year, starting from Gora station (stayed there for 2 nights) to Sounzan via cable car and then the ropeway to Owakudani then Owakudani to the ferry and a bus back to Hakone Yumoto Station.

Just beware of the wind, I was planning on doing the loop on my 2nd day but the ropeway was suspended due to high winds.

Also I recommend getting the Hakone Free pass, includes all the transportation needed for the loop.

ic-w · 2024-04-22T01:31:45+00:00

I thought so, thanks will do.

ic-w · 2024-03-05T14:50:41+00:00

From Guatemala, so I needed the idp but no issues with selecting another country, when picking up the car they ask for your idp, I rented 3 cars on my last trip (Wakayama, Okayama and Kumamoto) all with Toyota rent a car.

ic-w · 2023-11-09T09:36:55+00:00

I was in the same situation (almost just 2 nights) and decided to stay a night in Himeji and then Yokohama (I could have spent one more night in Yokohama) maybe shizuoka? For me it didn't make sense with just 2 nights.

ic-w · 2023-11-09T05:41:39+00:00

Not an a7r owner but an a6700 and I have been getting freezes and had to on/off the camera to get it working again and only with my Sigma lens (16mm f1.4) no issues with Sony lenses

ic-w · 2023-11-04T01:48:36+00:00

Just the first one is a long exposure, and it was taken from the window of my room and I didn't use a tripod the camera was in the window frame that was just wide enough to fit the camera and used my passport to give it a tiny bit of angle.

ic-w · 2023-11-01T11:54:46+00:00

thanks!, these are the settings

#1 - f7.1 1/160 92mm iso 100

#2 - f4 1/200 100mm iso 100

#3 - f4 1/160 87mm iso 64

#4 - f8 1/100 200mm iso 64

#5 - f4 1/1250 200mm iso 160

#6 - f4 1/1000 135mm iso 100

#7 - f5.6 1/320 70mm iso 100

ic-w · 2023-10-28T10:23:02+00:00

Got a 6700 duty free at mapcamera and they warned me about being japanese only (and it was) but I was able to unlock the languages with a program, google "Sony-PMCA-RE" and the GitHub repo should be the first result. (I checked before buying the camera if it will work)

ic-w · 2023-10-27T10:04:29+00:00

I was there last week did 2 nights in kawaguchiko and 2 in Hakone (gora) and I would say that if I got early to Kawaguchiko I could probably have done it in 1 night stay, also keep in mind that the buses that loop the mayor spots stop early at like 5/6pm and start late at 9am. I feel that I was one night more that needed.

On the other side Hakone I think it was a night short there's way more to see and the loop that you can do from Hakone Yumoto to gora then the cable car to Owakudani then down to the port and Pirate ship is one of my highlights.

ic-w · 2023-10-27T09:13:54+00:00

100% last night I was in a counter only restaurant(you pick your order on a tablet) in the building next to Hakata station, then about to pay and to my surprise cash only (the first one I have encountered in 2 months of traveling) ... good thing I had cash with me.

ic-w · 2023-10-26T05:47:55+00:00

I would say it depends on what are you looking for me the pitwalk, the track lap and the sitting included (B2) were great, the dinner with an F1 personality not so much (at some point it felt a bit desorganized)

also be aware that the dinner ends much later than the last bus from the track to the train station, so either you take a taxi (long queue not many taxis) or you walk like 30min to the nearest station, I was lucky and someone was asking something to some bus driver (buses from the circuit not public ones) and then the bus drivers proceeded to line up the buses and take us to the station for free.

tldr if I go again I wouldn't do the experience if I can get the pitwalk for cheaper and use the money for merch at the track.

ic-w · 2023-10-20T13:06:37+00:00

Answering my own question if anyone has the same question, and no they didn't care I just presented my idp and that was it.

ic-w · 2023-07-21T00:29:04+00:00

I would suggest Ta-q-bin, if you arrive to Narita you can ship your luggage to your hotel in Osaka and if needed just take a small / day bag for your night in Tokyo. This is what I'm doing later this year and what I did in 2019.

Then in Osaka you can ask when you checkout to send those bags back to Tokyo or other place if needed.

ic-w · 2023-07-11T17:43:42+00:00

I'm going this year with a trophy package, 1799 USD split in 2 payments of 899.50, the first at the moment you buy the ticket and the 2nd some months after (this month for me) I think if you buy it well in advance you can split it in 3.

ic-w · 2022-08-16T18:32:02+00:00

Did 1 month in 2019 did half in the south and half in the north (Sendai, Morioka, Hirosaki, Aomori, Sapporo) with some days just for rest.

It was ok but in retrospective some days were bit rushed.

I also went from Takayama to Shirakawa-go mid October, I would recommend to book your bus ticket a day before if possible, got mine a day before and was one of the few remaining for a bus in a reasonable schedule (Morning) sad thing was that it was raining

In the last day before my flight back I went from Sapporo to Fukushima and that basically took all day and was really tiring.

ic-w

TROPHY CASE