I first booked a ticket and applied for a visa. I know this is not recommended because there are possibilities that visas will be denied yet I know that I cannot get a good deal such as 5000++ if I will book it right after the visa.
Planning:
- Visa: I was amazed how quick the turn-around time was. I submitted my requirements on June 14, 2019, Friday and they texted me that I can get my visa on June 19, 2019, Wednesday—TWAS A BIRTHDAY GIFT!
VISA APPLICATION: The following are the requirements that I submitted to Reli Tours
- Philippine Passport
- Visa Application Form (I ended up rewriting everything when I was in Reli Tours office).
- Birth certificate (Should be from PSA)
- Photo 2×2 (White background, with collar, not-edited).
- Daily Schedule in Japan (Check my sample itinerary below).
| Time & Date | Itinerary | |
| 5-Jul | 8:05 PM | ETA Kansai Airport Arrival |
| 9:00 PM | Check-in at RetroChaya2 | |
| 6-Jul | 7:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Kyoto Day Tour + Arashiyama Bamboo Forest Fushimi Inari – sensational path of orange gates + Kiyomizu-dera Temple Maruyama Park Yasaka Shrine Snack at Shijo-Dori Nanzen-ji Temple – FreeKeage Incline Philosopher’s Walk Ginkaku-jiHeain Shrine + Gion District Shirakawa-minami-dori Nishiki Market |
| 7-Jul | 7:00AM – 5:00PM | Universal Studios Japan |
| 8-Jul | 8:00AM | Check-out at RetroChaya2 Osaka Castle Museum of Housing and Living Old Japanese Farm Houses Pokemon Center Lunch @ Dotonbori |
| 5:00 PM | ETD Kansai Airport Arrival | |
- Bank Certificate – I only have P75k on my bank account. (For JAP, they do not need the ADB, so you can just deposit your money and withdraw it right away, and that’s what I did).
- ITR
- Financials: I am bad with financial planning, so me and my friends used credit card for things that can be paid through credit card and we just brought cash for the merch, food etc.,
Cash: I only brought 10000 JPY = 4800 PHP
- Accommodation: We already booked our accommodation in Tenggachaya through Booking.com, that’s only 3 minutes away from the station.
- Universal Studios Japan ticket: We took the Express Pass, and totally forgot that we need a separate ticket for the general admission!
This wasn’t a solo trip, so I didn’t do a lot of preparation of familiarization of the subway, phone apps, etc… yet I did few researches for Kyoto.
TORN BETWEEN CAREER AND PASSION 
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