Theme Park and Travel Guide

Hogwarts Castle We visited Universal Studios Japan (USJ) midweek, in April 2019 (not during the school holidays). These are our tips below. 1. Be strategic when you go Do not go weekends, golden week, school holidays. Also avoid Mondays and Fridays if possible.   This is particularly important for this park as USJ is a magnet for school holiday crowds. Check the crowd calendars online http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/usj/ You will notice that the Calendars are in Japanese – open them in a Chrome browser and it will translate a lot to English for you automatically (this tip works for all Japanese websites). From the Calendar you can tell what is a busy day from a not so busy day – there is a table at the bottom of the screen that tells you the level of crowd congestion. 2. Buy your tickets from Klook. I’ve used Klook several times all over Asia and have never had a problem– they give you a little discount off the entry price and the ticket is emailed directl...

The Samurai Museum We visited the Samurai Museum, near Shinjuku Train station in April 2019. Ever since I read the reviews of this place I desperately wanted to go. Not only do you get to see a lot of samurai swords, armour etc – but you get to watch a Samurai sword show and dress up at the end of the guided tour (in kimono or samurai armour!) – all included in the entry price. How to get there We actually found this place difficult to find. The official website is here https://www.samuraimuseum.jp/en/index.html and it does have a basic map on ‘how to get there’, however, we still managed to get lost and three times we needed to ask people on how to get there. Apparently it’s a common experience (I say with a laugh). However – keep asking people if you do get lost – you will get there and it’s definitely worth visiting. It’s only a 5 minute walk from the train station so don’t wander too far like we did. If you see King Kong – its near there. What are there...