Mumbai to Osaka – Flight Review, Visa Process, SIM card, Room Tour, Currency and More

Mumbai to Osaka – Flight Review, Visa Process, SIM card, Room Tour, Currency and More

Hey guys, welcome back to our channel.
We’re heading to our ninth country. And we’re super excited. Just from
the title, you probably already know we’re going to Japan. We’ve
been planning this for a long time. We’re already on our way right now.
Currently, we’re at Singapore Airport. This is our favorite airport, and
we were just talking on the flight that this is our fifth time here.
Being at this airport feels really good. I’m sure you all must be excited
to see how this series turns out, and we’re really excited too.
So, let’s go. There’s always some new attraction
opening up here every time. There’s one here as well. You
can stand here, and the photos come out really great
from this spot. If you’re at Singapore Airport with
kids you’ll see a bunch of small attractions where kids can
easily spend their time. Actually, there are some big
attractions too-Butterfly Garden and a movie theater, plus
a lot more. If you want to check them out, we’ll put the info
on the “i” button here. When we went to Bali, we covered
a lot of spots, and there’s also a video of us exploring the entire
Changi Airport in Singapore. We’ll link that on the “i”
button or in the description box. What cake is this? Banana cake.
It’s awesome! Usually, when people plan for Japan,
their starting point is Tokyo, but our starting point is going
to be Osaka. We’ll explain the reason behind that in the upcoming
video. Also, there were no direct flights from Mumbai to Osaka.
We either had a layover in Delhi or in Singapore. But when we
compared prices with Air India, Singapore Airlines was affordable,
much cheaper than others. Plus, we’ve already traveled with
Singapore Airlines, so we really like their comfort and service.
For the first leg of our journey, from Mumbai to Singapore, we
left home at 6:30 AM because our flight was at 11:30 AM.
It took us 5 hours to get there, and according to Singapore time,
we arrived at 8:00 in the evening. There’s a 2.5-hour time difference
between Singapore and Mumbai, with Singapore being 2.5 hours
ahead of India. And overall, 5-hour flight was amazing because
we got tickets on the new aircraft, and the legroom and all were
really spacious. Food was great, and again, the service was excellent.
We’ve a 5-hour layover in Singapore. Our next flight to Osaka is at
1:00 AM, so there won’t be any dinner served on that flight,
just breakfast. So, right now we’re heading out for dinner.
Also, I want to share something. We get a lot of questions about
on whether ‘we should go to Bali or Korea?’, ‘We have a layover in
Singapore, do we need transit visa?’ So, the answer depends on whether
your PNR number is the same or not. You need to check if you have to
collect your luggage here or not. If you do have to collect your
luggage and your PNR is different, then you’ll have to go through
immigration, and for that, you’ll need a transit visa.
But if your PNR is the same and your luggage is being transferred
directly from India to your final destination—like in our case today,
where our luggage goes straight from Mumbai to Osaka—then you
don’t need a transit visa. The best part is that here you
get a 96-hour visa-free transit, as long as you meet the two
conditions I mentioned earlier. So, tonight we’re having McDonald’s
burgers for dinner. Mc Spicy meal, But this thing is cool, in
Singapore, they provide bottled water. and Kinjal chose the regular burger
with fries, and we just had water because we didn’t want anything
cold or coffee at night. Yes, and they even have milk
here. You even get Milo. Just in front of the food court,
on the side, there’s 7Eleven. If you want to eat here or get a
bottle of water or some essentials, you’ll find them there. Like, I
bought socks from there because I’m wearing these waterproof shoes
which are still hurting me. After a 24-hour journey, we finally
reached Osaka. After landing, we were super tired, so we didn’t
do much vlogging. The airport in Osaka, I mean Kansai Airport, that’s where
we took a bus to get to Osaka. We’ll share all the details about
that in the upcoming video. As soon as we arrived in the
morning, we checked in first. Luckily, we got early check-in
and then rested well for about three to four hours. Now, we’ve
stepped out. First, we’re going to get a Suica card and grab
something to eat. So guys, there’s a FamilyMart just within
walking distance from our hotel, and we actually had our lunch
from there when we arrived. They have everything—sandwiches,
water, and all that—so we just picked up our stuff from there. This intersection is so busy,
but no one’s honking at all. The Osaka station is about 450
meters from our hotel, which takes roughly 6 to 7 minutes to
walk. We actually walked here when we came and we’re walking
back now too. We were supposed to get the Suica card when we
arrived, but we were so tired and sleepy that we decided to
freshen up first and get it later. As many people know, Japan is a
pretty walkable city, so there’s no issue with luggage or anything.
We came comfortably with luggage. Weather is really nice too. It’s
cloudy but also a bit chilly. They’ve planted trees all around
the city, which gives a cool contrast. Plus, there’s greenery all along
the sidewalks here. This looks more like a mall than a station, doesn’t
it? This is Osaka station. We’ve got our travel cards, and
in Osaka, you don’t get Suica card; here, you get an ICOCA card. So,
when we arrived, we understood that this is the kind of card you
get here. If you’re coming from Tokyo, obviously you’ll buy a Suica card,
which works fine here too. But since we started our trip from
Osaka, we had to buy this card, and it costs 500 yen. However,
the minimum charge is 1000 yen, and you get a 500 yen balance on
it. We also checked how the subway works with it. The cost
ranges from 130 yen to 370 yen, so I guess it’s just one ticket.
For that, we paid a 500 yen deposit again. So right now,
the total balance is 1500 yen, out of which we can use 1000 yen.
And when we return the card here, we can get back 500 yen.
Just keep that in mind. If you’re coming from Osaka,
you need to get an ICOCA card. If you’re coming from Tokyo, you
need the Suica card, which works everywhere, and this card works
everywhere too. Right now, we don’t know if they did it like
that. Why is there a difference? Plus, you can also buy the Suica
card based on your Klook. But the card you need to pick up,
you have to get it from Tokyo airport. And another option is, you can
load the Suica card directly into Apple Wallet and just tap your
phone to use public transport. Which we didn’t do. We just got
a physical card straight away. If you take the bus from Kansai
Airport like we did to get to the city center, there are two
stops at Osaka Station. This one. First off, this building is called
Hotel Hankyu RESPIR. It’s the first stop, and the second one is
Herbis. This whole area is a prime spot around Osaka Station.
Actually, Osaka Station is huge with multiple entrances and exits,
so it can get a bit confusing figuring out exactly where to go.
Our hotel is right next to Herbis, like barely 400 meters away.
And it’s about 1 km from here. So, if you’re planning to book
our hotel then get off at the Herbis stop at Osaka Station.
It’s really lively & vibrant here. There are a bunch of shops around,
and there’s a cute pet shop too. It totally changed the mood—like,
all the tiredness just vanished. So we’re heading to that Starbucks.
There’s a performance going on. There was a performance right here.
It’s pretty crowded. We just came from Starbucks. We
are obviously not just going to visit different cafes on this trip.
Whatever we come across and our plan is not to check everything online
beforehand. If we see something good on the way, we’ll just try it out.
Now, let’s talk about some important stuff that will really help you
when planning a trip to Japan. First up is the Japan visa.
The visa process is quite lengthy, and there are two types of visas.
One is the e-visa, and the other is the sticker visa. And even
within these, you can apply in two ways. One, you can apply
yourself by going to VFS Global or the Japan Consulate, depending
on where you live and which city you’re in. Other way, of course,
is through an agent. We got our visa done through an agent. The
official fee for a Japan visa is only ₹450, but the agent we used
charged an extra ₹4000. So, in total, we paid ₹4500 per
person for the visa, and ours was a speaker visa. Now, for a
Japan visa, in the documents first, you need a passport that’s
valid for at least six months. Second, two photos sized
2 by 2 inches. We’ve shown the exact photo specifications on the
screen so you know how to get them right. Third, a filled-out
application form. Fourth, cover letter. If you have your own business,
this cover letter should be printed on your official company letterhead,
and it must have your company’s stamp and signature. Fifth, the
original bank statement for the last six months & each page needs
your bank’s stamp and signature. Next, you have to upload the
acknowledgment page of your ITR from the last three years. After
that, there’s hotel booking. You can select the free cancellation
option and book your hotels. Confirmed flight tickets. Your
day-to-day itinerary in Japan. Lastly, if you own a business, you
need to provide your GST certificate. If you’re salaried, you have to
submit your salary slips. So, the immigration process
for Japan is pretty simple. You just have to fill out 2 forms:
one for disembarkation and one for customs declaration. You’ll get
these after you reach the airport. At immigration, they’ll ask you
a few questions. Like, I was asked how many days I’m staying,
what’s the purpose, who I’m with, where I’m going after Osaka,
and where I’m staying in Osaka. So, after our immigration process,
we bought a SIM card from there. As soon as you come out, you’ll
see the Tourist Information Center. You can get an eSIM there.
We bought a 21-day plan with unlimited data from the tourist
center, which cost us ₹2500. We had 3 options to get from
the airport to the hotel. First was the subway, which is
the train. Then there was the bus and the taxi. Taxi was the
most expensive, so we didn’t prefer that. We didn’t even
check its cost. When we asked at the tourist center, we found
out that if we took the subway, we’d have to change trains twice,
and we had a lot of luggage. We were staying near Osaka station,
so they suggested we take the bus. The bus fare came to 1800 yen.
If we had taken the train, the fare would have been roughly
2200 to 2400 yen. It was expensive. So we thought, if the bus was a
little cheaper, we’d take that. We took the bus from the airport
to Osaka station, which took us about an hour. Along the way,
we saw some really nice views. But we were so tired that we
probably only looked outside for 10-15 minutes. After that,
we both fell asleep, woke up an hour later, and got off
right where we needed to. Our hotel was about 300 to 400
meters from there, 5-6 min walk, and then we reached the hotel.
The hotel we’re staying at is called MYSTAYS PREMIER Dojima.
It’s located in the Dojima area. The cost per night was 12,000 yen,
which doesn’t include breakfast. The room was really small.
Japan is pretty famous for having small-sized rooms, and
it’s also quite expensive here. Even when we were booking, we
saw a lot of very pricey options. We wanted it in the main area
too because when you book in the main area, transportation
gets a lot easier from there. So, we booked in this region.
Plus, like I mentioned at the start of the video, there’s a
Family Mart, some cafes, and restaurant options nearby. Also,
there are Indian restaurants nearby. When we go to other countries,
payments are mostly cashless. Japan’s official currency is the
yen, and if I talk about the rate, one Indian rupee equals 1.68 Japanese yen. That means the Indian rupee is actually stronger here. Japan isn’t like other countries. Cards are used a lot more there.
But in Japan, cash is used a lot. So, we converted some currency
back in India before coming. The conversion rate we got was
0.63. I have some notes here, let me show you. This is a
10,000 yen note, this one is 5,000, and this is 1,000. Also,
when we were doing research, I heard from a lot of people
that coins are used a lot here, and people usually separate them.
They carry pouches to keep coins. I’ve got some coins here too—
500, 100, 50, 10, 1, and fives. Guys, this isn’t a shop to sell
bicycles. It’s bicycle parking area. From this, you can tell how many
people must be cycling around here, and how bike-friendly this city is.
Look, just now, someone took a bike from here. And these are
e-bikes. We can rent these too. We’ll check out how the rental works.
If it’s possible, we’ll rent one. So, Japan’s 7Eleven or other
supermarket has fresh food and coffee. A lot of people prefer
having breakfast there. We’re thinking of just checking
it out today, or maybe grabbing something good to take with us.
Also, there’s a Family Mart below our hotel and a 7-Eleven a bit
further ahead, so we’ll probably have breakfast there tomorrow.
Today, we’ll just have a quick look to see what’s available.
And the best part is, if you ever need to buy water from 7Eleven,
you’ll get the real price. And if you get a bigger bottle,
a 2-liter one, it’s cheaper option. This is pretty popular here. It
has grilled salmon inside. Scrambled eggs, bacon, lettuce,
and mayo—it’s a sandwich. And this one too, look. It’s
strawberry, custard, whipped cream. Want to try it? Take it and see.
There are some vegetarian options. The cheesecake looks really good
as well. It’s very soft. Wow! It’s really soft. It’s light, right?
Yeah, it’s super fresh. The great thing about 7Eleven is
that even if you’re on a budget, you still get good food here,
and the coffee is really good. We might try it again tomorrow
morning. Plus, it stays open late. When you eat something here, you
have to stand on the side while eating. If you eat while
walking around, it’s considered rude. So, for that, you should buy stuff
and eat right away at the side. Also, any garbage you have, keep
it with you because you won’t see many trash bins while traveling.
Whenever you find a dustbin, throw it there, or dump it in
the dustbin at your hotel. We’re heading back to the hotel
now since today has been a really long day—almost 24 hours.
We only got 4 to 5 hours of sleep. But our first impression of Japan
is absolutely amazing. We loved it. And if you’re planning a trip to
Japan, we’ve put a travel guide in the description box. You can
also download it by scanning QR code. In this video, we’ve tried to
cover all the important things. But if we missed anything, feel
free to ask us in the comments. And if you liked this video
give it a like, drop a comment, and don’t forget to subscribe
to the channel. Bye guys!

If you are planning for your Japan trip then you must watch this video, we have compiled every minor to major details in this video.
Ultimate Japan Travel Guide: https://bit.ly/4faOBbR

Hey guys, here is the first episode of our Japan trip, in this video we have covered:
Mumbai To Osaka Flight Review with Layover in Singapore
Visa Process
Documents requirement for Visa
Immigration Process
How To Reach from Kansai airport to your stay in Osaka
Stay Details & Room Tour
Currency Exchange Process
SIM card
First Impression of the country
What we did on our first day

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Some important Booking Links, which might help:
Unlimited Data 4G SIM Card: http://bit.ly/4kNo19O
JR Haruka Kansai Airport Express Ticket: https://bit.ly/4kRYtIK
Limousine Bus Kansai Airport to Osaka: http://bit.ly/3GBUOkp

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