From Switzerland to Japan by Train | Travel Agency >
Preparation
While for all my other travel projects, up to now, I have never planned in great detail, this trip required some more preparation. For once, I did require a number of visas, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia and China, and additionally the required trains do not quite run on a hourly basis.
Of course, the first source of basic information was the internet. There are various sites either entirely dedicated to or containing information about the famous Trans Sibirian Railway. I knew from the very beginning, that I did neither want to fly to Russia, nor did I want to make this trip in one of the special tourist trains. My intention was, from the very
beginning, to get on the train right at the station where I live and travel all the way to Tokyo by using those trains, which also locals use for their transportation. Plus, of course, some short distances by boat.
I quickly learnt about the three different main routes: Moscow to Vladivostok, Moscow to Beijing via Manchuria and Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia. Deciding on the route was not too difficult either. I love to see different cultures, especially asian ones, so sure I would be taking one of the routes going to Beijing. Visiting Mongolia on the way was just too good an opportunity to miss. So the decision for Russia - Mongolia - China was a quick and easy one.
There are a few options on how to get to Moscow from Switzerland in the first place. In any case I would have to cross a couple of countries. When my friend Nori came to Europe a couple of years ago, she was very fond of Prague. So why not go and have a look for myself? After all, I've never been to the Czech Republic before. And from there on to Warsaw, Poland. While it would surely be possible to go further north from there, on to Lithuania, Latvia and possibly even Estonia, I decided to go to Moscow directly from Warsaw. After all, my intention was not to spend half my time only to get to Moscow and then having not enough time left for the remainder.
So now I had roughly sketched out the route as far as Beijing. Well, it should not only be Beijing, but too much traveling in China I could not afford either, speaking in terms of time. Leaving China, there are a couple of possibilities. For once, there are direct connections to Japan by sea. And at first this was also all what I could find. But this did not appeal to me. I wanted to go to South Korea as well if possible and I even considered North Korea. Digging deeper for information, I finally found out how to get to South Korea by ship from China. And, behold, there exists a possibility to enter North Korea by train from China. Now that was an interesting and very tempting option. Judging from the information I could get, it seemed that going to North Korea this way, you were only allowed to travel certain lines, walk in predefined streets, etc. and all this only with guides (I rather thought of guards) at your side all the time. I didn't think this would make for an at least somewhat balanced and insightful experience. So I finally decided to not pursue the North Korean trail any further and instead take the boat to South Korea, spend some time there, cross the country again by train and finally head over to Japan by ferry.
Well, a rough plan was laid out. Now it was time to fill in some more details.