As a traveller, one thing that makes me nervous is to pass immigration during the night flight. When I came to Japan for the first time before, it was haywire, and we grab a taxi, which my brother paid RM600 for us to be at Airbnb in Shimokitazawa. When I travel with a friend this time, of course, I want to avoid taxi 100% and grab public transportation and safely arrived at the hostel. So here are our experiences and maybe some tips along the way!
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| Timeline for third Japan trip: Osaka - Kyoto - Miyajima - Hiroshima - Tokyo - Yokohama - Hakone! |
1. Not the machine!
This is my first time to enter Kansai International Airport (KIX) first, beforehand I always went to Haneda. Honestly, it's a bit confusing, and I'm not prepared for anything. So, Nuriy and I just followed other people steps, it turns out to be time-consuming, and... we missed our bus to OCAT. But, thank god we prepared another plan which is the train!
I can see that the line at the machine is much longer because two machines were operated by one person only. After the long queue, it took around 2-3 minutes to get our fingerprints and facial snapshot. Then after done with the machine, we need to queue to get the immigration stamps.
I'm not sure whether we are unlucky, due to machine or there are a lot of travellers, but it took us around 45 minute to get out from immigration.
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| Images for illustration purpose only. Source: Japan Times |
2. Take the express train to Namba
At 10:23PM, we grab an express train to Namba from KIX for 920 yen (Adult). Again, we do not plan this thoroughly, and when we are looking for the train line information turns out they put everything on the whiteboard. If you got 1,000 yen in your IC Card, just walk through the train gate, but since we were tired and cannot think anymore, I just bought the train ticket through the machine.
The train will take around 44 minutes to arrive at Namba (Nankai), and there are 11 stops along the way. You can either sleep or play your phone, but since we meet a traveller from Singapore, we chatted until we arrived Namba at 11:07PM. If you plan to take a bus, take note of the price and timing here.
3. Get out at immigration gate at 10:00PM? You still have time to exchange your JR Pass!  |
| Watch out for this whiteboard for clearer information. |
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| Use the small ticket to get into the gate. |
KIX JR offices opening hour is from 5:30AM until 11:00PM. If you get out from the gate before that, just follow this path and you are good to go! After exchange your JR Pass, you can straight away use it. All you need to do is to show the pass to the staffed gate and voila!
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| Bought for RM900+ and use this pass for RM1,000 |
Since your body is tired after the plane ride, you should make things easier for yourself and book accommodation near the designated train station. But, make sure they provide a late night or self-check-in. We are so lucky to find Khaosan World Namba at a reasonable price, and it's just 3 minutes walk from JR-Namba and 10 minutes walk from Namba (Nankai)!
As a first timer experiences hostel, it was a good one! I totally recommended for you to book at Khaosan because they have complete facilities like washing machine, dryer and refrigerator. I will write a review on it soon, so make sure to check it out!
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| Review about this Khaosan World Namba Osaka is going up soon! Make sure to watch this space. |
5. Adventurous travellers? Stay safe!
Nothing wrong with being adventurous, but you have to know what you are doing and what type of facilities the airport provided for late night and early morning flight passengers. If you didn't book any hotels, take note that you can sleep at Aeroplaza on the second floor of KIX, and they provide you with a blanket from 11:00PM until 6:00AM.
But, Please prepare for the worse too (especially during peak season) as the seat is limited to 300 people!
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| Source: Kansai International Tourism Promotion Center |
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Overall, you would definitely have an ample of time to get out of the immigration gate and grab a train because they operated until midnight. All you need to do are to have a backup plan, know your route and don't be nervous! I can assure that once you have the internet and HyperDia on your phone, you are good to go and ready to conquer Osaka!
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| Going to write a lot's of things about this third Japan trip! |
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