Getting a Japan Visa: For Filipinos Applying for the First Time

Is it your first time to apply for Japan Visa? Or maybe it's your first out of the country trip as well, just like me. So your passport has never been used and never been stamped? Don't fret! It's possible to have your tourist visa application approved even if your passport is as clean and empty as a new notebook in your first day of class.

My 2015 Japan trip was my first out of the country trip ever. So the thought of applying for a visa was really nerve-wracking for me. I already booked a flight and I was really excited to visit my favorite country (after the Philippines, hehe).

All Japan tourist visa applications are now handled by accredited travel agencies. Our trip was in April and I applied for our visa in mid-January. The tourist visa is valid for 3 months so plan accordingly. I visited Reli Tours in Megamall, which was the most accessible and the closest one from our place.

Here are the requirements in applying for a Tourist Visa Without a Guarantor:

Guesthouse Rakuza, Gion Kyoto

This was the first guesthouse that I booked for my first trip to Japan and I remember feeling excited to stay here. I searched it in google street view and was able to familiarize myself around the area months before my trip. Yeah, talk about excited! Haha! It is simply the perfect location to be immersed in the traditional Japanese culture!

The first and main reason I decided to book this is the location. It is in GION! The place to be if you're into anything traditional Japanese, like me. This is one of the two go-to place to spot real geishas, or geikos as they are known in Kyoto, and maikos (apprentice geikos) scurrying from one restaurant to another. (Sidenote: They are busy working women so please don't stop and harass them for photos.) The other one is in Pontocho, which is just across the bridge from Gion! You see what I mean when I say perfect location?

It is less than one minute walk to the Gion-Shijo station of Keihan Line that can bring you directly to Fushimi Inari Shrine. Uji and Kurama/Kibune can be accessed with only one transfer. Kiyomizu-dera and Ohara is one bus away from Gion-Shijo and Shijo-Kawaramachi bus stations, respectively. Nishiki market and Teramachi shopping center are all walking distance. Even the Kyoto International Manga Museum, if you like walking like me.

One more reason for choosing this guesthouse was because there were a lot of restaurants in the area! There is also a 7-11 kombini at the corner of the street and Family Mart 2 for a few steps more.

I booked the twin Japanese tatami room which was at the 1st floor near the toilets and bath. The room was spacious and has a heater aside from the air conditioner which was a big help since it was only the start of spring.

Higurashi-sou, Kyoto

The first guesthouse we stayed in Japan was Higurashi-sou near Nijo Castle. The location was good because the bus stops are just walking distance. You can easily hop on a bus going to Arashiyama and to Kyoto Station. However, the 2 closest train stations are about 10mins walk. We didn't mind it then since it was spring and walking kept us warm (except that time when I was underdressed for the cold.lol)

It's more like a residential area, but there were still a few restaurants around. One of which is the Menbakaichidai famous for the Fire Ramen. One advantage of being in the residential area is the noise - there's none. Hahaha! It's really quiet and peaceful. You'll see how a typical neighborhood in Japan looks like. Small but cute and functional houses. すごい (sugoi, meaning awesome).

I enjoyed our stay in this guesthouse as well. This was where we spent our first night in Japan. I can't forget the moment I opened the door of our tatami room and it smelled like green tea!!!! Oh.em.gee! I so loved that.

Our double room was spacious enough for 2 people. The cost was 7,000 JPY. It was near the entrance and right across the stairs. The stairs doesn't creak, but you will be able to hear footsteps when someone's going up/coming down the stairs. We didn't mind it 'coz both my mom and I don't easily wake up from small noises.

6 days in Kyoto, Japan: Itinerary, Estimated Budget and Tips

So. You've booked your flight to Japan and you specifically want to go to Kyoto and experience anything and everything traditional this awesome country can offer. In that case,let me share my Japan 2015 trip itinerary with you along with other stuff which I hope will help you in more ways than one.

Things to take note of:
-We arrived at Kansai International Airport (KIX) at around 9:00pm and got past the immigration around 11:00pm of April 4 so I will tag this as Day 0.
-I was with my mom and I was the one who paid for our accommodation and the pocket wifi, but the rest of the budget are for one person

6 DAY ITINERARY

Day 0
Arrival at KIX
Check-in at Higurashi-sou guesthouse

Day 1
Arashiyama
Tenryu-ji
Bamboo Grove
Nonomiya-jinja

Day 2
Halfday trip to Nara!(coz we started late.hehe)
Nara Deer Park
Todai-ji
Nigatsu-do

Day 3
Nijo Castle
Check-out Higurashi-sou and transfer to Guesthouse Rakuza
Shopping at Kawaramachi area
Yasaka-jinja
Hanami at Maruyama Park

Day 4
Kiyomizu-dera
(afternoon was spent going to the airport for my mom's flight back to Manila at night)

Day 5
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Nishiki market
Pontocho

Day 6
Walk along Kamogawa
Kyoto International Manga Museum
Flight back to Manila

So that's basically what I visited for my first trip, but this is what my original itinerary looks like. Haha!

click to see larger photo

Spring in Japan: Kyoto International Manga Museum

April 11, 2015
6th day
Solo adventure day 2

I woke up around 8am and felt sad that this will be my last day in Japan. It wasn't raining and the sun was out so I prepared all my stuff, took a shower and got ready to check out before heading out and explore more of the city for the last time. I gave the chocolate coated dried mango to the guy at the reception and thanked me by giving me a Tropicana juice for my walk. Aww. So nice.

I left my luggage and headed out. The temperature was nice at around 12C degrees, I think, and thought it would be nice to walk by the river. And it was, indeed.

Spring in Japan: Pontocho

Still day 5.

After Starbucks, I decided to go back to the guesthouse and rest for a bit before going out to eat dinner. When I was about to reach the bridge, I noticed a couple of guys taking a picture at the entrance of a narrow alley. I continued walking and after a few steps, I thought, could this be the famous Pontocho? then I stopped and realized that it was so I went back and entered the alley. There were a lot of people, but not too crowded so people with umbrella walking past each other wasn't a problem. Based on what I read about restos along Pontocho, it seems expensive. So I tried walking around and check out the menus displayed outside. Not too bad. Maybe if you want a dinner with a maiko/geiko performance, then yes, it'll be expensive. But the prices I saw wasn't as expensive as I thought. It ranges from around 1,000 yen to 5,000 yen, if I remember right. That night being my last night in Japan, and seeing that I still have a couple thousand of yen, I thought, why the hell not?

Spring in Japan: Nishiki market

Still day 5.

I got off Gion-Shijo and walked to Nishiki market since it was just a few blocks away according to google maps. Also, I love walking around and discovering little gems of cute stuff along the way. The view of the Kamogawa from the bridge was awesome.

 

As I said, I was using google maps to go to Nishiki. However, I still find myself lost after turning left at the corner of Marui instead of just continue walking straight. I knew I was lost, but continued walking coz I was looking for someone to ask for directions. I saw a cute Japanese guy cleaning outside and in my best Nihongo asked, "Nishiki wa doko desu ka? (Where is Nishiki?)" At first, I thought he just didn't understand me very well. Apparently, he wasn't sure as well. I almost expected him to just say "Sumimasen, wakarimasen.(Sorry, I don't know)" at this point, but he took his phone out and tried to google it for me! What a nice guy. I so love Japan and the people there! He then told me to go back to Marui and turn left. Once I passed Teramachi, I can turn right to any alleys and it will lead me to Nishiki market.

saw this old abandoned house when I got lost

Nishiki market is a long alley of different kinds of shops - lotsa food items, souvenirs, trinkets, clothes and even stuff for your home - about 1km or so (will check on this). This is one place where you can go on a food trip while checking out each cute and unique stores along the way. I was still full from the takoyaki so I was only able to try the dango in 3 flavors - plain, sakura and green tea. Yummy! So sad I wasn't able to try the grilled mochi which looked so good!

You'll know you're in Nishiki when you see this pretty stained glass roof. It runs along the whole length of the market.

Spring in Japan: Fushimi Inari Taisha

April 10, 2015
5th day
Solo adventure day 1

Good morning, Japan!

It was kinda weird to wake up alone and I suddenly missed my mom. We were together for 24 hours for 4 whole days and then, she's back in Manila. Aww. But the giddy feeling of excitement of exploring more of Kyoto alone was so exhilarating! I took a shower and got ready for a rainy day. I decided to visit Fushimi Inari since it's just one train ride away from Gion-Shijo.

inside the train

JR train

I passed by food stalls along the way and since I only had coffee and skyflakes for breakfast, I bought the famous Taiyaki with custard filling. Yummy!

Spring in Japan: Kiyomizu-dera

April 9, 2015
4th day

We woke up as early as possible since it was my mom's last day in Japan. Her trip back to Manila was at night. We went to Kiyomizu-dera since it's just one bus ride away.

The walk going up the temple was a bit tiring and challenging, especially when I had to keep an eye on my mom to make sure I don't lose her in the very crowded gojozaka.

Kiyomizu-dera, being a popular tourist spot, was busy. We had to stop and rest for a while before heading to the temple's main deck. I took this opportunity to take some snaps.

Spring in Japan: Hanami at Maruyama Park

Still Day 3.

We checked in at Guesthouse Rakuza and was led to our twin japanese style room.  After settling in, we headed out to buy some souvenirs because my mom was going home the next day. We ended up at H&M. Lol! We looked for a place to eat after. Another chicken and rice combo for my mom and I tried the Japanese steak and ordered beer with it. Our meal came with a free popcorn and I guess it was one of those sports bar because the TV was showing a baseball game.

Spring in Japan: Nijo Castle

April 8, 2015
3rd day

Nijo Castle wasn't part of the itinerary. However, our guesthouse was just a few blocks away from it and passing by it the day before made me curious and want to explore what's inside. I didn't regret it! The temperature was still low at around 5C, I think, but I was ready and was feeling a lot warmer. Hehe. We checked out the Higurashi-sou guesthouse and left our bags before going out.

wouldn't mind a traffic jam if I'm surrounded with these pretty sakura trees. <3

I rented the english guide audio which was great. It came with a map that has numbers on it. If you're in a certain part of the castle, just press the number corresponding to the map and the audio will play and give you information on that specific part of the castle. That was really cool!

Like what I said in my previous post, I fell in love with Japan and I like reading anything about it's history and it's culture.  I started watching Ryomaden (Japanese Drama) and this castle was a big part of the story (along with the Tenryuji temple we visited in Arashiyama among others). I love how I was able to visit this castle which played a big part in transforming Japan to what it is today. I was such a geek that day observing everything and taking in every little details that the audio was saying. Just awesome!

Just look at this beautifully decorated karamon gate. This is the entrance to Ninomaru Palace. There was also a lone plum blossom tree by the gate where I first fell in love with it. Sooooo pretyy! We took pictures before stepping inside the palace. Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to take pictures inside the palace. On the bright side, it allowed us to appreciate every details inside. The palace's windows were closed to protect the paintings inside the castle. One of the things I was looking forward to was to try stepping on the 'nightingale floors' of this castle which was known to prevent sneaky assassins from attacking. It squeaks like a bird when somebody walked on it. I remember it not really loud but for a quiet night, and for the trained ears of the samurais, I guess it was enough to alert them that an assassin is in the vicinity. My mom wasn't all that interested with it's history so she didn't bother borrowing my audio guide and just concentrated on admiring the decorations and paintings inside the palace.

Spring in Japan: Nara

April 7, 2015

2nd day

We woke up late partly because we were tired the previous day and partly because the bed was sooo comfortable.

It was really cold that day, about 3 degrees Celsius if I remember right. So cold that even the guesthouse staff was shivering and saying さむい (samui), meaning 'cold'. We left the guesthouse at around 10am and walked about 10mins to the nearest JR train station. We passed by a park and the Nijo Castle.

I started to shiver and had to put on my gloves while walking. Thankfully, my mom was feeling warm enough. We were going to Kyoto station and transfer trains going to Nara, but I had to buy another layer of clothing or better yet, another jacket coz what I had wasn't enough to keep me warm. We went out of Kyoto station to go to Uniqlo as recommended by the train station staff. I bought a jacket and decided to have lunch at Mcdonald's before heading to Nara.

Kyoto station

Kyoto station's awesome structure

Lunch at Mcdonald's

Afterwards, we went on a day trip to Nara. Nara is the old capital of Japan, even before Kyoto. This is one lovely, quiet town with lots of traditional shops/buildings. When one say Nara, one might automatically think of free wandering deers. Yes, free wandering deers. They're harmless, or atleast they were when we were there. I saw other tourists feeding the deer so I decided to buy deer crackers from one of the stalls along the road. As soon as I stepped away from the stall, I was mobbed by the deers. There was some feeding, some nibbling and a bit screaming. Lol.

Spring in Japan: Arashiyama

April 6, 2015
1st day

おはようございます、日本！

"Your breakfast is ready!"

This was the first words I heard when I woke up.  Such lovely words to start the day.  Aaahhh..first day in Japan. It felt so surreal to be waking up in another country. My mom woke up as well and we made our bed. I ordered breakfast for 1day just to try their おにぎり(onigiri). It was okay, but I didn't really like the filling. I also asked if I can have another cup of tea because mine got cold already. My mom just had her usual coffee and skyflakes. Afterwards, we took our baths and got ready to explore Kyoto!

Spring in Japan: Dreams do come true

Travelling has always been my dream. I always secretly envy my friends who were able to travel to different countries and I like their photos in facebook and instagram wishing one day to be the one posting photos instead. Life happened and I found myself head over heels over Japan. It all started with the movie Rurouni Kenshin. If you want to know how one thing led to another, you may read this.

It's been more than a year since my Japan trip (April 5-11, 2015) so this is obviously long overdue. But, as the saying goes, 'better late than never', right? Lame, I know.

Our flight from Manila was at 3:05 PM (Manila time) and we arrived at Kansai International Airport around 7:45 PM (Japan time) - approximately 4 hours in total.

We were in line at the immigration for more than 2 gruelling hours! The last train going to Kyoto already departed and we weren't able to get our reserved Haruka+ICOCA cards because the JR office was already closed. Good thing we were still able to catch the last trip of the bus going to Kyoto. Got to experience purchasing a ticket for the first time without any problems. Hooray!

Northern Samar: Visiting New Places

Just wanna share my vacation in our province 2 years ago.

My mom and I flew together for the first time to Samar via Tacloban. We booked a promo fare through Cebu Pacific Air. I guess I did miss Samar that much. I returned 3 months later, after not visiting for about 8 years, for the town fiesta. My uncle's car wasn't in good condition so he wasn't able to pick us up at the airport so we made several trips from Tacloban to Victoria via Grand Tours (UV Express Vans) that took about 5 hours. It was exhausting for me who came straight from work and been up for almost 24 hours. Anyway, the vacation was fun because my cousin Katz was also there along with her mom.

The day after the fiesta, we went to San Antonio Island, just us three - Katz, Ate Maritess and I.  We strolled along the beach, took pictures, had brunch and stayed by the floating cottage and just chatted for a good hour or so.  It was funny coz Katz literally pulled the cottage away from the shore using the rope that holds the cottage in place.  The water was clear and so blue and so inviting that we hated being 'girls' in such a lovely summer day. We went for a quick swim before heading back to Victoria for Uncle Marcos' birthday lunch.

The boat ride, I think, is around Php 50 per person. It was morning and there were no other passengers so we tried to haggle and got a total of Php 200 deal that will bring us to and from San Antonio island.

We stayed there for just a couple of hours so I can't say much about the resorts. At first, we went to Haven of Fun but they charge for using the beach cottages (forgot how much) so we just walked around  and took some pictures then transferred to Seashore Spring Resort where there is no charge for using the cottage as long as we order from the restaurant, which we did.

the shore was lined with nipa huts

Looking Back. Beach Camping in Calaguas, 2011

Calaguas, Camarines Norte. 2011

At first, we were having second thoughts if we’re gonna push through with the calaguas trip because of ‘bebeng’.based on my research, the pacific waves is just crazy even in an ordinary sunny day.and for someone who has a fear of drowning, 2hours in the pacific is not really something to look forward to.so geared with life vest and love for adventure, we braced ourselves and left everything to God’s hand.and man, it was worth it.

yep, i have photos to prove it.♥

This was in mid-May of 2011. We left Makati at around 2AM Friday, in an old Toyota Revo FX with a 60+ yo driver, who was my friend's officemate's grandfather. There were 8 of us including the driver. We arrived at Paracale around 9AM. My friend's contact who has a boat met us and accompanied us to the town's market for all our needs for the 3day camping in Calaguas island. We left Paracale around 1PM and arrived 2hours later in the pristine island. The part of the island where we docked was packed with people. We walked about 10mins away from the crowd and found a nice spot under the trees with a toilet and a waterpump nearby. There was someone who collected 100 per person as a maintenance/environmental fee or something, I forgot. Let me just inform you that back when we visited, there were no resorts whatsoever in the island yet - or atleast along the shores - and no electricity at all. So we had our little paradise away from technology and it seemed like we were disconnected from the rest of the world and it was perfect! Every second that we were there was pure bliss! It was made more fun with the people I was with who were just awesome and so much fun- my friends, of course, and their friends who I just met on that trip but we all clicked and got along really well. We started drinking as soon as we were able to set up our tents and finished eating dinner. At night, we just laid a blanket on the shore, put drinks and food at the center and talked about anything under the sun moon. There was no electricity, but the moonlight was bright enough for us to swim and we can still see our feet underwater. No kidding! It was that bright and the water was that clear! It was just us girls in the beach while the guys were drinking and somebody suggested skinny dipping. Lol! That was really funny. I can still remember it. It was one of the most unforgettable and best night of my life.