Introduction - Hello! Hibachi Benihana Teriyaki!
If you think to yourself, wtf are you talking about? Allow me to educate the uncultured mass of this great reference.
Now that I’ve cleared any confusion (I hope), let’s get into what really brought us all here today. We went to Japan, duh. There were quite a few highlights on this trip, so I’m personally excited to share this series. We’ll start with the itinerary first, then I’ll talk more about how each part came about.
Review - Japan Airlines First Class A350-1000 New York Kennedy to Tokyo Haneda
Review - The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto
Review - Nozomi Shinkansen Green Class Kyoto Station to Tokyo Station
Review - Palace Hotel Tokyo
Review - Japan Airlines Diamond Premier Lounge Tokyo Haneda (HND)
Review - Japan Airlines Economy Class A350-900 Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo New Chitose
Review - Hoshino Resorts KAI Poroto
Review - JR Hokkaido Hokuto Limited Express Green Class Shiraoi Station to Sapporo Station
Review - Japan Airlines Diamond Premier Lounge Sapporo New Chitose (CTS)
Review - Japan Airlines Class J B787-8 Sapporo New Chitose to Tokyo Haneda
Review - Delta Sky Club Tokyo Haneda (HND)
Review - Delta One Business Class A350-900 Tokyo Haneda to Detroit
Earlier this year I flew with Japan Airlines in its old B777-300ER first class and had an absolute blast. Later in the summer, I flew in its brand new business class on the A350-1000. Needless to say, I was particularly thrilled to check out the first class on the A350, as it will be JAL’s flagship product for years to come. I booked this flight with some JAL Mileage Bank miles that were expiring at the time. Availability is tough to come by these days, and your best shot would be to book right as schedule opens. While JAL Mileage Bank technically charges 70,000 miles for this first class award at the saver level, chances of that are slim. So I ended up paying 100,000 miles. Considering all the award inflation these days, it didn’t sound too bad.
We all know luxury hotels in Japan (and honestly around the world) have gotten really expensive, even with yen at historic lows. The cash rate for the Ritz-Carlton Kyoto was around $2,400/night. I booked ours with 165,000 Marriott points + $400 cash upgrade per night for a river view room. Was it the best use of Marriott points? Not necessarily. On average, most points bloggers value Marriott point at around $0.008, so 165,000 points equal $1,320. And that doesn’t even factor in the cash copay. But we wanted to visit Kyoto, and we have a healthy stack of Marriott points. If we weren’t so points-rich, I would have considered just paying cash and splurging on the non-points options, such as the Aman or the new Capella Kyoto.
On a side note, I was completely off-base on my approach to Kyoto hotels. For some reason, I thought Kyoto was a quaint little town where a nice hotel would make or break a trip. I could not have been more wrong. Kyoto is a major city with much more than just ancient streets and temples. Frankly, I walked by the Hyatt Regency Kyoto, and it looked perfectly nice. We really didn’t end up spending all that much time at the Ritz.
Hotel options in Tokyo were in abundance. We could’ve redeemed Marriott points for the two Edition properties, but they were of bad value. Luckily, my company had a corporate rate at the Palace Hotel, affiliated with Leading Hotels of the Word. I’d never been to Tokyo before, but I found it to be conveniently positioned. As the name suggests, the Palace Hotel is across the street from the Imperial Palace. It’s also near Tokyo Station and Ginza, so it’s great if you are taking the Shinkansen or planning on shopping a bunch. As you’d expect for a more corporate-oriented hotel, it’s located within the Marunouchi financial district. I have to say, for a corporate hotel, the Palace exceeded my expectations. The room and public areas were modern and tastefully appointed, service was refined, and housekeeping was stellar.
While a lot of people head to Hokkaido to ski, I couldn’t find any availability at either the Park Hyatt or the Ritz Reserve. I’ve always wanted to check out a Hoshino propert. Hoshino is a respected Japanese hospitality group more known for its high-end Hoshinoya brand. Hoshino has the Kai brand focusing on onsen resorts, and the Kai Poroto in Shiraoi was the only Kai resort in Japan that had availability for our dates. We even snatched the last room. This turned out to be the right call, as the slopes in Niseko were bare during our visit.
We checked out a couple of JAL’s domestic lounges when flying in Japan, and on our way back, we flew Delta in its Delta One business class on an A350. The Delta One hard product isn’t new anymore, but oddly I’d never flown it before. Delta recently improved its soft product with a new Missoni partnership, so I figured it was as good a time as any. We transferred an exorbitant amount of Amex points to Delta SkyPesos for these flights. But whatever, historically there really weren’t better options over the New Year.
I don’t know how long it’ll take me to finish this series, as I’m still behind on reviews from our last Christmas trip😂. Anyways, let’s get started here and worry about that later.