my blog » Flightless Japan-Korea Excursion, on a shoestring.

Oct 29 2008

Flightless Japan-Korea Excursion, on a shoestring.

Published by lou at 8:25 am under Uncategorized

As we all start tightening our belt to prepare for this financial slow-down, it is not just me pondering whether the financial situation is going to have a bearing on our climate change priorities. Not so says Ed Milliband, UK energy and climate change secretary. He sounds very confident, and I speculate that its not entirely unrelated to the fact that a contraction in the economy will, without any effort by government, lead to emissions cutting in some areas because people just can’t afford to buy the things that emit C02.

Unfortunately I, a student in Tokyo, am one of them! But at least on one front, with airlines not being taxed for the fuel they use, and the previously mentioned expense of my beloved shinkansen, how can people afford to choose alternative and less polluting forms of transport when they are stretched more than Mr. Fantastic for funds?

Well, I have found a few savings, because I will have to go to Korea briefly soon. So what do we have left after shinkansen? What are the alternatives?

The All Inclusive

My favourite is a plan run by the JR group and Korean KoRail. Its all inclusive transport costs from any major city in Japan (South of Tokyo) direct to Seoul. However you must go direct, this ticket only goes the whole journey in one stint. But, having said that it covers all the transport costs from your nearest shinkansen station, to Fukuoka or Shimenoseki city, transport to the port, the ship / hydrofoil, transport from Pusan port and the high speed train to Seoul. I’ve translated the original info page here for your information, but my suggestion for non-Japanese speakers is that you take this information and go directly to the Tokyo branch of the JR travel agency “JR Tours”, in Ginza, or give it a go at the other branches or less reliable travel agencies outlined in my translation of the ticket info site (or to an equivalent in Seoul), or last resort try to find someone who can help you at a JR station.
Price: Starting at approx. $200 return if you already live by the port in Japan, to $570 if you come from Tokyo.
Japanese Ability:
☆☆☆☆☆　None if you take the Japanese, and my translated version of the package itinerary and go into one of the agencies that will know about the plan. Otherwise:
★★☆☆☆ 2 fluency stars out of 5 to wing it at a regular travel agency / do a phone call.

Japan-Korea Ticket details translated into English
original Japanese info is here
JR Tours Tokyo Branch map and hours translated into English.

The Half Inclusive Plan (plus Japan-side Transportation)

This will be most useful for those who live close (ish) to Fukuoka or Shimenoseki, or who specifically do not want to go direct to Seoul. There are various travel companies in Japan that will do package deals on the boat from Fukuoka / Shimenoseki and a hotel in Pusan included. If you can plan more than a week in advance and particularly if you don’t mind going on a weekday, this can be quite cheap. For example, an average saver-package on a weekday might include round trip on the ferry plus 2 nights (more can be added for a fee) in Pusan, at an average hotel, for $200. This starts to rise if you need to go on a weekend, public holiday etc.
Price: Starting from as cheap as $80 for a one night package with obligatory stop at selected souvenir shop –for those who really just need to get off the island for *ahem* visa renewals…….? Spans the whole range up to $400
Japanese Ability: 　★★★☆☆　3 fluency stars at least, the packages are slightly unusual in most travel agents eyes, and when I went into a travel agency recently I was told flatly they had no such thing. (Their website saying otherwise)
Its pot luck whether the sales staff will know about these flight-less packages – expect quizzical looks – and this could leave you with no recourse but a phone number to Japanese sales staff.

The Rest

The problem with the above ‘half’ plan is you have to be able, of course, to get to the port in the first place, and this really is the most expensive part of the journey.
Bus
• If you live west of Hiroshima, you could probably live through a 6-8 hour bus journey starting from $80 return, but any further away and the bus journey will take 10-20 hours, a lot of buses don’t go direct – so to go from Tokyo might involve a change at Hiroshima – and the cost starts to go up as far as $200 for a return on a long and unpleasant bus ride. The cheapest buses are unfortunately found on Japanese only sites. Going around a few travel agents may also get the same results. Don’t be afraid to take the cheaper no-toilet buses. They make regular stops at very clean service stations with much nicer loos than the bus with the toilet.
Car
• Driving is out of the question in every respect, and particularly economically with the charges per km on the highways. So this leaves about 3 options.
Domestic Ferry
• One is the ferry from Tokyo to Kitakyushu, (1 per day) but the savings from the $440 shinkansen return fare is only about $120 and instead of being 6 hours its 34 long ones, but its a nice way to travel if you have the time, and quite easy to take your bicycle aboard too! Try to buy the tickets at a local travel agency with experienced looking staff, they are usually available in most places. “fwe-ri-” is Ferry, “katamichi” is one-way, “oufuku” is return. That, and your “destination-’ma-de’” should get you through
Overnight Train
• Next is the overnight train to Tokyo-Hakata, or part way Tokyo-Okayama, which is actually no saving on the shinkansen fare but may save you a night in a hotel in Fukuoka if your schedule was arranged that way. I hear rumour that the long distance Tokyo-Kumamoto Hayabusa night train is being discontinued March 2009, so catch it while you can! Tickets were all booked up when I tried recently. The Okayama bound train is called Sunrise Izumo and will continue to run as far as I know. Check the Hyperdia link below for organising your schedule. Tickets for night trains should be easy to buy at major JR trains stations. Take your itinerary with you if your Japanese is shaky, but many places will have English speaking, or at least skillful hand gesturing, staff.
Local Train
• Lastly is the trusty Seishun 18 Kippu. This ticket is a steal at about $120 for a 5 day pass on all non-shinkansen, non-limited express trains, the ticket is only valid in special periods usually matching Japanese school holidays, within that period you can use the ticket on any consecutive OR non-consecutive 5 days you like meaning it covers your return as well, but being as the trip to Fukuoka can take at least 25 hours without express trains, and the number of times you would have to change trains is around 13, either go slow and take a little time out in cities along the way or expect it to be mightly unpleasant. Again, Hyperdia is the best English language schedule checker, and you can deselect shinkansen and limited express so it only returns results for local trains. See links below.

Conclusion

Any which way you cut it, without the Japan-Korea ticket, flightless trips between Japan and Korea are not financially competitive at the moment. Where the boats are concerned its a worsening cycle because the ships are only viable with high volumes of passengers: They cut the number of sailings and raise the price, so the customers decrease further and so it goes on.
So, until the airlines are taxed the same way as other modes of transport, or somehow it is disincentivised, the options for flightless travelers are to pay the extra cost (if there is any) or go slower and enjoy the journey, and either way would likely see a reduction in travel to meet peoples’ lifestyles.

At that I leave you, see you in Korea…. 안녕히 가세요~~
——————————————————————————————–