Two Days on the Sea of Japan

This is the second of three posts on traveling in Japan on a budget. Yesterday, I wrote about the overall costs of a Japan trip. Come back tomorrow for part three, on the cost-effectiveness of the Japan Rail Pass.

To be honest, when I began thinking about where I would go this winter, Japan was pretty low on my list. It was supposed to be so expensive, and it had always been more my brother’s interest than mine. But then I found out about the boat.

That’s right, it’s possible to get from China to Japan — or vice versa — by sea. I’m a sucker for quirky forms of transportation (like pick-up trucks turned public buses in Laos) and unusual ways of getting from point A to point B, so the Shanghai-Osaka Ferry seemed like just the ticket. If I was going to go to Japan, there would be no airplanes for me. Not only does the ferry make a better story, but a round-trip second-class ticket on the ferry cost just 2,225 RMB, or $325 (USD). This was about $200 less than the cheapest flight we could find during the peak Chinese New Year travel season.

Our first, blurry, view of Japan came on the second night of the trip.

The potential downside of sea travel is, of course, time. Instead of a short couple of hours in the air, we were committed to 48 hours on the ferry. As we embarked, we had no real idea what the accommodation would be like or what we would do during all of that time on board. But the ferry turned out to be an almost entirely pleasant traveling experience. Technically, we were in class “2A,” which is organized into four-berth cabins. The berths themselves are quite a bit bigger than those in Chinese sleeper trains, and the cabin also includes a small common area equipped with a television. Thus, on our return trip, we found ourselves in the middle of the Sea of Japan, watching a very fuzzy live broadcast of the Olympic women’s figure skating finals, which were happening on the other side of the planet in Vancouver.

The berths were just big enough for the two of us could squeeze in side-by-side to watch bootleg DVDs on my laptop.

We found the cabin so comfortable that we hardly found any reason to leave. But if we had wanted to, we could have sung karaoke, played Wii and/or watched movies with our fellow passengers, who were a mix of Chinese, Japanese and a few western backpackers. The only unpleasant aspect of the journey was the food, which ranged from slightly tasty to barely edible. By Chinese standards, it was ludicrously expensive (35 kuai for small portions of a couple of dishes), but after spending two weeks in Japan it seemed like a bargain (only 500 yen for a hot meal)!

The nitty-gritty: The Suzhou Hao departs from Shanghai every Monday, arriving in Osaka on Wednesday morning. It then departs from Osaka on Fridays and arrives in Shanghai on Sunday. The best value is a round-trip ticket, which shaves off half the price of your return journey. You can make reservations through the Shanghai Ferry Company’s website and then pay cash for your ticket just before you board. There are several classes of cabin onboard, ranging from very swank VIP and “Special Class” cabins to a 40-person Japanese style cabin (for men only).

Related posts:

1. Japan Rail Pass: To Buy or Not to Buy?
2. Japan: How Much Does It Really Cost?
3. Snapshot: Hida Folk Village
4. Expense Report: Ten Days in Sichuan
5. Expense Report: 6 Days in Guizhou

Tagged as: boat, China, Japan, Osaka, Shanghai, transportation