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Travel to Japan
jeddy lee
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My wife and I usually plan our vacations for the next year in advance, but we thought we'd get a leg up on this idea to visit Japan in 2011. We already have our 2010 vacation booked up, but this would be the first time we leave the country together, so I wanted to get plenty of informaiton in advance so I can know what I'm looking at spending.
We will be going mainly for pop culture and history, we don't really like organized tours, and we both have interests in public transportation and saving money.
I guess the help aspect of this, is what advice do you have on places to go? How about websites to read up on? Advice on how to save money once there? Are there things like European Hostiles or will it all be hotel stays?
We will be going mainly for pop culture and history, we don't really like organized tours, and we both have interests in public transportation and saving money.
I guess the help aspect of this, is what advice do you have on places to go? How about websites to read up on? Advice on how to save money once there? Are there things like European Hostiles or will it all be hotel stays?
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PS2
FF X replay
PS3
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MGS 4
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360
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DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
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I've stayed at hostels, capsules (mostly male only, but sometimes female capsules exist), hotels, ryokan (business and traditional), and big onsen style hotels.
At least once you should hit up one of the big onsen hotels and man up and bathe with other people, its a big part of the culture (I think) and if you aren't shy and the other guys seem responsive a really interesting way to talk with people, even if the language barrier is an issue.
I know some business ryokan are equal in price to hotels in the states (around 40 US) in some smaller towns so another way I would try to save money if I was feeling brave would be to just go a little bit off the beaten path and find a place for a night or two, and they may enjoy the chance to meet someone from another place.
As for the sites. Tokyo is nice though some people say its overrated. I'd never seen a big city before I saw Tokyo so I thought it was the most amazing place ever (except for all the people). I loved Osaka back in college but it may not be as fun now, I dunno. Visit Kyoto for the history factor as well as Hiroshima. The deer park is Nara is fun. For the gamer part you can hit up DenDen town near Osaka and Akihabara in Tokyo but honestly I love games, but hate going to Aki because of all the people.
Manga cafe's are also a possiblity for a place to stay. Get an enclosed room with a tv or something and just sleep for a bit. Some have showers and you can freshen up.
1) Get a rail pass, know where you are going, what rail lines serve where and get a pass - it will save you a lot of money and headaches. Japan Rail (JR) pass should be sufficient although there are several carriers in Japan I believe JR is the largest and goes most anywhere.
2) Hostels, yep they have em... lots of them, good thing too since hotels are insanely expensive. If you do book a hotel make sure it's not a Love Hotel - no it's not a sleazy hotel, but it is hourly rates, and you pay to leave the room (firecode?) In a country where houses still have paper walls if you want to get with your girlfriend you don't do it at home.
3) Eat out.. no seriously. Cooking food yourself is actually more expensive than eating a meal at a roadside Ramen house. Also, 7/11 is not a bad convenience store chain in Japan - they are awesome. Full hot meals can be had on the cheap, Bento boxes and onigiri are quite good from 7/11.
Things to do - well if your there for the pop culture and the history.
If it ends in *-ji it's a temple, if it's *-jo it's a castle
Castles - Nijo in Kyoto and Himeji in the town of Himeji are both open to the public and are wonderful examples of traditional Japanese castles. Himeji withstood something like 600 sieges over it's life only to burn down in 1957 when it was struck by lightning (it has been rebuilt and is a world heritage site now).
In Tokyo:
Ueno park in Tokyo is famous for its cherry blossoms if you go at the end of March / start of April. It was also the place of the last battle between the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Pro-Emperor forces in the 1860's.
Ginza is Tokyo's fashion district if you enjoy that sort of thing - a lot is going on at all hours. Fun walkable place.
Akihabara - the high tech mecca of the modern world, beware the roving bands of Otaku
Tsukiji wholesale fish market - if you are up early is an interesting place in Tokyo (5am is sort of late to get there for the fun auction part)
Senso-ji - pretty awesome 5-story pagoda
Edo Tokyo Museum - awesome dioramas... the Japanese love their tiny models.
In Kyoto:
International Manga Museum, Nijo Castle are a few of many things to do - the Kyoto train station itself is awesome (11 stories of awesome) Nijo castles gardens are spectacular and you could seriously spend an entire day just sitting by the ponds seeking inner peace.
Nintendo headquarters are in Kyoto but they don't have tours
Kin-ka-ku-ji the silver temple is pretty spectacular if you're in the neighbourhood.
That's all I can remember for now... if you have more of a time of year and location you're headed to it would be a bit more helpful, Japan is a big country (seems small on the map, but there are 100 million people there, and it's spread all over a bunch of islands).
Oh yeah, Hiroshima... the bomb museum (can't remember what it's called) is very interesting and focuses on the effects of the bomb and how it changed Japan's people... it's a bit of a downer so be prepared if you go.
In regards to those temples where you do chores, are those throughout the cities as well as the country-sides?
What is the fashion capital of Japan? I am certain my wife would love to go there, and I'd lie if I said I wouldn't mind finding something cool myself.
I've never travelled out of the country as a stable adult, so I don't know how credit cards work overseas, do I just swipe it and it automatically does the conversion when it hits my bank?
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
I'd say you get a pretty decent stint of fashion in Shinjuku. The temples are all over the place and of course close to train stations so you aren't too far, I don't remember the websites but if I see them I'll edit my post.
In the big cities you can do the english thing and probably some of the bigger temples. Convience stores work like in the states. You take what you want up. They ring it, you see the amount and pay, no questions asked.
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
you take out the money in Yen and it comes out of your account, ATMs that are international are usually in Post Offices.
Oh bring a change purse cause you are going to use alot of change.
Harajuku, in Tokyo. Bring a camera... and set your face to "shocked". A lot of cosplayers don't like having their picture taken, but it's just a matter of turning on the charm... speaking Japanese also helps to turn on the charm.
-English is not as widely known there as I thought. I know only a tiny bit of Japanese, BUT that was enough in most cases to get by, because you probably aren't going to be having long conversations with anyone. Look up and memorize words like "hello, thank you (a big one, you'll say this alot), it's okay, where is x?", and then memorize the types of responses you'll get, like "left, right, straight ahead, sorry, you're welcome."
-You can get yen out of post office international atms. If you are in a big city, this should be no problem to find and then they work in english too! Smaller towns, I'm not sure, but I would just make a stop at a largish city to grab alot (or most, crime is low low low there) of the money you are going to use. There is a transaction fee, I think it's like 8 bucks.
-Money is exchanged on a little tray when you buy stuff in a shop! I guess it's a cleanliness thing.
-It's really not as expensive as everyone says it is. Actually, the prices there are quite odd, where things like taxis are really expensive, but sushi is not (I went to a conveyer belt restaurant, where the sushi came out on little plates. Each plate was a dollar w/ 2 pieces of sushi on it. And it was GOOD sushi). If I hadn't spent so much money on buying trinkets for my friends and family, I probably could have spent a week there on just a grand (that's ~ 100,000 yen)
-Don't expect to be held to the same standard as other Japanese. Because you are foreign, you will be given a pass on just about every social norm. If you fuck up and don't bow or say exuse me or something, no one will be angry at you. This sounds cool, but it's actually kind of isolating. Be prepared to feel alone (or feel like it's just you and your wife)
-If you stay in a hostel, be careful because sometimes they have roaches...
For some real in depth info, I have a blog about my time there.
Kinkaku-ji is the gold temple and is spectacular. Ginkaku-ji is the silver temple and is more meditative than spectacular. Both are in Kyoto. There's an interesting shrine with a ton of Shinto gates in the southern part of Kyoto as well. Fushimi Inari Shrine, IIRC. There are also several large temples right by Kyoto Station.
As for language, most of the transportation signs are in English. Get yourself a good guidebook--it will really help. Also, there are some really good travel websites for Japan (example: http://www.japan-guide.com). Some of the traditional ryokan cater to foreigners and guidebooks/websites should have information on them. Most big hotels will have English speaking staff on hand. Business hotels are also good places to find decent lodging that isn't too pricey--but remember that in Japan, most hotels charge by the number of people in a room rather than just the size of the room/beds.
Now this is sound advice I can get behind.
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
Credit cards aren't COMPLETELY useless, but you shouldn't even try to use one unless you're dropping at least a hundred bucks. You'll be charged at least a 3% premium on top of the conversion by your bank. Be sure to call your bank before you leave and tell them where you'll be and when.
English will get you around Tokyo, for the most part. It gets less and less useful the farther away you go.
If you're planning to go clothes shopping, be warned in advance that finding stuff that fits the average American body is kind of tricky. I'm 6'1" with a 34" waist and wear an American L, and most stores had nothing that would fit, especially the higher end / more trendy stores. If you stick to Uniqlo (Japanese for "Old Navy") and the like, it's not so much a problem.
The situation is probably worse for women. The first time I went to Japan, I was like "How the hell are all these people so skinny?" and then I walked around Tokyo for a day and realized that they'd been so busy inventing maglev trains and wall-sized LCD displays that they'd somehow missed the idea of the escalator and it all made sense.
Keep in mind, whilst you may be out of luck trying to communicate to people orally, you may have better luck writing things down.
Even complete sentences. Names are pretty much guaranteed. In my years in Yokohama, I barely learned to speak Japanese, probably because I got around pretty well with a notepad and a pencil. And it still worked outside the major cities, at least in Honshu.
Just print in big, legible letters, and you can get pretty far. It doesn't hurt that, in major cities, there's huge amounts of English on every sign or wall.
Also, to repeat....7-11s are pretty great.
I was in Japan about a week after Killgrimage. I don't speak any Japanese at all, and was able to get around. The only place I could count on people speaking some english were major transportation hubs. I found it helpful to get maps from the local JR tourist center whenever possible.
I also second getting the JR Rail Pass. It saves you a good amount of money if you travel outside Tokyo. As someone pointed out, it is kinda limited, it doesn't service some of the smaller towns.
Use credit cards for hotels and maybe restaurants. All else is cash.
Make sure you reserve space if you want to stay at a hostel.
I once 'saved' a German girl in Osaka, because she was following written directions to get where she needed to be. Unfortunately, the name of where she was going was written in English, and the subway map was Japanese only. Planning for contingencies, like having the Japanese version of names written down to, and at least have a tourist grasp of how to say, 'I don't understand Japanese, but can you tell me where X is?' is a good idea.
I don't think there are many French people there.
But seriously, you have more than a year so I would suggest learning a bit of the language, especially the written. It's going to be a huge culture shock completely unlike going to a European country and knowing the basics would make you enjoy it much more.
Also, don't be surprised at the toilets. Learn the proper technique for using them without having to strip buck naked or fouling your pants.
STEAM
edit: Also, if you're in Tokyo, the Yamanote Train Line is your friend. It is basically a giant circle which goes around Tokyo and takes about 40 minutes to get anywhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamanote_Line
If the asians invented this, how come they can't fucking do it where I live?
Drives me nuts :P
If you have time, I really recommend going to Lake Ashi. It is pretty.