Have you cancelled the trip to Japan?

The do not travel warning in Australia is by no means preventing us from going. Like every (yes, every) other major country, governments are advising their people not to travel to Japan. That's just how it is.

The problem I face is that it's not my decision whether or not I go. That is wholly in the hands of my university in Australia as well as my host university in Japan.

maybe no,experience the disaster is aunforgetble

We may be on the same boat. No host schools in Japan have canceled their exchange program for Spring (unless of course your host school is in Sendai or Fukushima). In fact, schools in Tokyo are still pushing through as well as those in Akita.

Unlike you, the decision on whether to come or not is all up to me.

This really is frustrating.

I'm headed to Japan 16th April, and so far so good, mum and i will be on our plane!... only reason we won't is if our tour is cancelled, as we are on a fully guided tour.

I've been waiting years to go to japan, and i've scrimped and saved my $$$

I'm not concerned about the radiation, i've done a lot of reading on the matter, and it's comforting to see others are still continuing with their travel plans :)

@Deadly Nik

Here's a repost, guest named B went to Tokyo a couple days ago. His/her posts are buried a couple pages back, but this what they said :


I'm here 2011/3/16 20:57

I arrived in Tokyo early this afternoon.
Travel from the airport ended up not being a problem at all. It was a little less convenient than normal, but no major problems. My family arriving in Narita were able to easily get a airport bus and were in the city within 2 and a half hours of landing.

After arriving, I am glad I did not cancel my trip. The city is a little less lit up, a few shops are closed or closed early, and it seems a bit emptier, but its largely business as usual. I think a lot of businesses in Tokyo are really hurting from the lack of tourists so I'm happy to bring them a little business.

Once we get out a little more (we haven't gone out of Shinjuku yet) we will decide if we want to spend the full 4 days here. But I'm very glad we didn't cancel.


by B (guest) rate this post as useful


Oh also... 2011/3/16 21:03

As far as I can tell (so far) by less frequent train service it seems like they mean instead of a train coming every 6 minutes, there is a train every 9-10 minutes. I took four trains today and I have not had to wait longer than 10 minutes.
Oh and within 20 minutes of getting off the plane I felt an earthquake. But it wasn't very big.


by B (guest)

Hi

After reading many posts and checking through news etc, it seems postponing is likely. Phoned insurance and won't be covered if we were to go so unfortunately when I said I would update on Tokyo it is unlikely.

We would postpone for a months time. On a lighter note, I see my brother has post from japan. One was sent on 13th, the other on 14th. One has a very cute hello kitty envelope.

@ Michelle

I hope he is doing well :) Good to see you are getting mail from him!

@ all readers

Remember not to panick, there was sms and email scam trying to cause wide spread panic including in Philipines and North America about radiation :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12745128

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/26054/Tokyo+Evacuation.html


looks promising.
My brother and I are to leave the UK for 28th March. We're 80% sure we are going still. Even if we alter our plans to see Tokyo at the end of our 12 day trip.

My husband and i have tickets to fly to tokyo the 13th of April. Tokyo is the last place on our list of places to visit. we are going to be in Asia for almost a month visiting Hong kong, Phuket, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, China and Tokyo at the end. we have not changed our tickets, since it would be super expensive to do so. we still have 25 days until we are suppose to get to Tokyo. we'll just wait and see how things improve. right now, we hope for the best. i would be heartbroken if i could not visit Tokyo.

Thanks Momel!

I had seen that post, but it is reassuring to see others that are going over and seeing close to normal Tokyo!

I'm really looking forward to my trip, but i'm trying not to get my hopes up about going, as it's all out of my hands
(we are going on a fully guided tour, so depends if that all goes ahead) ....
One minute i'm excited, the next i feel depressed :(

I did go change some Aus $ to Yen to help make the trip feel real, but at the moment the warning issued to Australians is not to travel to Tokyo, and thats the first port of call on our tour :(

Nik

@Maranyc

I was flying JFK to Haneda via AA 3/29-4/11. My boyfriend finally did the final call to cancel...call took less than 10 minutes and they issued a full refund back to our credit card, no questions asked.

I have to be thankful I booked my airfare with them as I didn't want to deal with sitting on a voucher for a year incase I want to travel with other airlines. So anyone who is on the fence & flying with American Airlines, no worries!

Too bad nobody is posting any reports...

Yah we only had a few people do some posts. I will definitely make sure to do some reports when I get there. I will be there on March 30th. I do have a blog too.
wanderlustv2(dot)blogspot(dot)com

I don't want bots to pick it up so I replaced dots with the word dot :)

Anyways, I'll try to pop a post as well since some people tend to only look in the forum or something.

Also I encourage people to look at this blog of a gentleman who lives in Tokyo right now:

He is very funny and informative.
http://fugutabetai.com/

No cancellation yet..will wait for situation to improve, will probably decide around May/June.

We are presently in Kyoto and were here when the Earthquake happened.
We had our kids SMS the news to us from Australia as the Locals here were not aware of the problems.
We felt nothing while walking around Kyoto and on returning to our hotel saw what our kids were SMS messaging about.
The Hotel had a TV and Printouts of the News and Pictures that were amazing the Locals.
There is at least 870 KM between Kyoto and Disaster area.
Lots of interesting things to see in Japan eg Nagoya Toyota Museum,Himeji,Hiroshima etc. All South of Tokyo so don't have a kneejerk reaction not to Holiday because of the problems North of Tokyo.
Lots of information available on the Internet.http://www.japan-guide.com/news/0018.html is one link to show the Island.
We went to Mother Lake 30 Min by Local Train and went on a Paddleboat Cruise.....Lake is Massive and area fantastic to visit.
One day we walked 15 Km around Sightseeing things here in Kyoto.
Don't be putoff by someonelses negative views and miss a fantastic holiday.
Let your fingers on the Keyboard give you the Truth.

I've been in a long standing argument to re-route our trip to south japan but my bf just refuses to give in and insists we give up visiting japan completely for now. No thanks to the sensationalized news reports focusing and amplifying the dire end of things. Till date I've never seen a single news report that touches on the normality of life in the south. I can't possibly materialize my traveling plans if some are so headstrong and narrow minded. I can only continue praying for japan now and am sure she'll rise from the ashes. I'll also be doing some voluntary work at red cross to help raise funds for japan's mercy relief. It's a little something I can do for not being able to support japan by being there physically. :(

FWIW I ended up cancelling. If you'd told me that a week ago I would've told you to get stuffed, but my mate who lives in Saitama has told me that with everything going on I just won't as good a experience that Japan is capable of.

My main concern though was putting undue pressure on my mate, and it sounds like he's getting enough of that from his folks who are rightfully worried about him. It's a real shame I won't he going but hopefully it will happen some time this year if not than 2012 may be it.

All the best to those who have opted to travel there, I hope you are able to enjoy yourselves and I'll be reading the blogs with interest.

we're having improvements here. Apparently, the level of temperature in the nuclear reactor no 5 is dropping. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_32.html

Is it too early to celebrate?

We can only hope!!!... atleast japan isn't the main news on our screens and in our papers anymore!.... the attachment of power the the plants hardly rated a mention in todays sunday paper!..

31 days until i leave.... keeping everything crossed that australia reduces the warnings, so that our tour goes ahead!

I'm so sad to listen several stories about you guys cancelling your trips. We are flying on 3/29 to Narita Airport. Everyone is free to make a decision! Media has been creating a Hysterical Pandemonium and it's damaging Japan in so many ways. We are going! Thats for sure! Because you have to show support by visiting, buying, providing jobs, keeping their businesses open and working. I'm sure is not the Japan that you already know or expect but either way it's Japan. And Japan needs us, so if you wanna help VISIT JAPAN!!