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goin to japan nnnnnnnnnnnn, yaaaa EDIT: more q's see last post
Shazkar Shadowstorm
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
EDIT: Please see my bottom post for updates, I have new questions
Hello forums!
My brother is studying abroad in Kyoto in the spring, and my friend is in Tokyo (well, Yokohama).
I wanna go visit them.
Well, a few things:
- While both my friend and my brother are semi-fluent in the language, I don't speak Japanese. I'll try and learn some phrases and whatnot to get by, I have a few months. I have no travel buddies other than the people I'm visiting at the moment... but I might be able to get people to come with me.
- I've read this: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/31731/trip-to-japan-anyone-did-it-before/p1
- I actually already bought plane tickets, flying into KIX and out of NRT in early/mid April for total of 11 nights in Japan.
- So, thing is, my friend in Tokyo has break for 2 weeks, ending March 25th... he said if I go then then he'd be able to do touristy things with me because he wouldn't have class. I would've booked a flight for then, but I had a work project... which I just found out today got cancelled by the client. So for a change fee of not too too much, I could go in March instead! (Very annoying, I just bought my tickets 2 days ago, but what can ya do?)
Okay, so:
- Is the weather in March significantly worse than the weather in April? Like, ignoring the cost of the change fee, is there anything negative about me moving my flights back to March from April so I can have more friend time (with someone who actually knows Japanese and knows Japan)?
- Is 11 nights a good number? It seemed like a good balance between too much and not enough, but if I'm changing my flights I could alter that.
- Should I do like, 1-2 nights in Osaka, a bunch in Kyoto, and a bunch in Tokyo, or would you suggest anything else?
- Umm, anything else important? Right now I want to figure out this flight/am I going in March/April question, and then I'll come back and resurrect this thread with more questions I will almost certainly have.
Hello forums!
My brother is studying abroad in Kyoto in the spring, and my friend is in Tokyo (well, Yokohama).
I wanna go visit them.
Well, a few things:
- While both my friend and my brother are semi-fluent in the language, I don't speak Japanese. I'll try and learn some phrases and whatnot to get by, I have a few months. I have no travel buddies other than the people I'm visiting at the moment... but I might be able to get people to come with me.
- I've read this: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/31731/trip-to-japan-anyone-did-it-before/p1
- I actually already bought plane tickets, flying into KIX and out of NRT in early/mid April for total of 11 nights in Japan.
- So, thing is, my friend in Tokyo has break for 2 weeks, ending March 25th... he said if I go then then he'd be able to do touristy things with me because he wouldn't have class. I would've booked a flight for then, but I had a work project... which I just found out today got cancelled by the client. So for a change fee of not too too much, I could go in March instead! (Very annoying, I just bought my tickets 2 days ago, but what can ya do?)
Okay, so:
- Is the weather in March significantly worse than the weather in April? Like, ignoring the cost of the change fee, is there anything negative about me moving my flights back to March from April so I can have more friend time (with someone who actually knows Japanese and knows Japan)?
- Is 11 nights a good number? It seemed like a good balance between too much and not enough, but if I'm changing my flights I could alter that.
- Should I do like, 1-2 nights in Osaka, a bunch in Kyoto, and a bunch in Tokyo, or would you suggest anything else?
- Umm, anything else important? Right now I want to figure out this flight/am I going in March/April question, and then I'll come back and resurrect this thread with more questions I will almost certainly have.
poo
Shazkar Shadowstorm on
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End of March beginning of April is Cherry Blossom season (if you're into that). Weather wise I'd say April is a bit better; however it is not "significantly" better (and certainly not worse - depending on where you are from of course).
EDIT: Well, $250 change fee, but the prices went up since this morning, so right now that's not worth it. If the prices go back down I'll pay the fee and change it, otherwise, eh, I will survive with April.
SO, time to figure out an itinerary regardless, because whether it's March or April, I'll still fly into and out of the same places.
4 nights in Tokyo
2 nights in Kyoto
1 night at a hot spring resort between Kyoto and Osaka
3 nights in Osaka
As you can see, I spent more or less the same amount of time that you will be spending there, although I didn't have anyone to show me around. I definitely ended up feeling like I could have spent more time in Tokyo, but by the same token I could probably live there for a month and still not get to see most of the city, so I didn't feel so bad about having that part of the trip be shorter than I would've liked.
Kyoto was beautiful, but as ED! said, it's highly geared toward the "old Japan" crowd, and in that regard it was very touristy. I stayed there for two days, which I felt was perfect, and then on the third day I left early to go see Nara and Aasakusa, two towns in the Kansai region. If you want non-touristy "old Japan" you're better off finding a ryokan in a mountain inaka village somewhere. Although I must say I liked the guided tour of the old imperial castle quite a bit.
The biggest disappointment of the trip for me was Osaka, but that might just be an aberration, because we had nothing planned for those days, and I think by that time my travel buddy and I were a little tired of each other's company. In hindsight, we should've taken one or two of those days and planned more activities (ie. climb mount fuji, or go to a festival).
The best part of the trip for me was the hot spring. If you've never been to one I can't recommend it enough.
I don't know what the weather is like around those regions during that time, so I can't comment. I believe April is cherry blossom time though, so if you're into that maybe you'll like April.
You will be fine in all of these places with basically no Japanese unless you go to a scummy-looking backalley izakaya, which I recommend wholeheartedly.
You can see a lot of the country in 11 days, especially since you don't have to backtrack for the return flight. You can spend a week in Kyoto, or you can spend 1-2 days and then go around to tons of other prefectures and eating all kinds of great local cuisine.
The best castle in Japan, Himeji Castle, is currently in a box. Don't bother heading that far into Hyogo, you won't see anything worthwhile. (I don't know if you were going to, but yeah, don't bother either way.)
Japan is a country of little pleasures, so you if go around a bit, you'll get a lot more out of your trip than seeing 10 famous places in both Kyoto and Tokyo.
See if you or your brother can get Ghibli Museum tickets too. Book those early, or else (there won't be any).
Nara is a good daytrip too, from Osaka/Kyoto.
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I for one really enjoyed my time in Kyoto (4 days) and Tokyo (7), didn't care for Osaka personally so I decided to hop on a local train back to Kyoto so I could have an extra day to check out some of the stuff I missed.
I didn't think my 2 weeks were too short (also went to Hiroshima & Nagoya), but then again I travelled on my own and wasn't visiting friends.
I'd suggest not going to the capsule hotels (well maybe 1 night if you're curious, but I regretted the one night I was in one). Just go to hostels instead if you want to save money, there are a few good ones in Kyoto. Most places I spent around 2500 yen a night.
It's easy to get by without knowing any japanese. Most people don't speak particularly good english, but you'll get your point across. Or you'll talk to someone else, nbd.
Weather: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2273.html
Find hostel sites. Great places to stay on the cheap. Capsule hotels are more of a novelty these days. They generally aren't cheaper than a hostel.
Trains between cities are not cheap. You're looking at 150 bucks (US) to take a bullet train from tokyo to kyoto. Factor that in. Look up prices online, they change throughout the year. They'll probably be most expensive during the cherry blossom viewing season.
Rent a bike! It's an amazing way to travel around a city. I rented from here in tokyo: http://tokyorentabike.com/
American guy who rented to us, very chill, very cheap.
I did that trip on an overnight bus and it cost about a third of that. You might want to use the following sites:
http://willerexpress.com/bus/pc/3/top/ (for overnight buses to and fro)
http://www.hyperdia.com (for all sorts of travel information from anywhere to anywhere by almost any means of transportation)
EDIT: Also, you'll typically find some transportation deals that you can take advantage of as a foreigner. For example, I used the Kansai Thru Pass to cover all my transportation expenses for three days while I was in the Kansai region. There might also be some deals if you want to travel by plane (I know there's a really good deal for air travel around the Okinawan islands, but since I'm currently a resident I can't use it
Nijo-jo (palace with nightingale floors), Sanjusangendo (1000 life-size golden statues of the bodisattva Kannon), Fushimi-inari (thousands upon thousands of torii gates creating hiking paths through the hills), Otagi Nembutsu-ji (hundreds of rough stone macabre gargoyle-like statues of Buddha)...
The temples are alright but they're samey. The other stuff is better.
My favourite hidden gem of the Kanto (Greater Tokyo) area is Sankei-en, a huge, beautiful, surprisingly unvisited garden in Yokohama with old buildings, a pagoda, a lake full of terrapins and koi carp.
Hot springs - I can recommend Hakone generally. It's a hot-spring resort about an hour from Tokyo. I was there at Yunessan, a bizarre water-park full of baths, including a coffee bath and wine bath, last weekend. As a tourist, you might prefer something more traditional but I loved it.
Osaka is a concrete jungle good for drinking and eating. The people are awesome, but the city is not. Tourists tend to love or hate it - there isn't much to do in the day, but at night it's great.
I'll read through everything and come back with some more questions.
I had been thinking about springing for a JR rail pass... a 7 day one I figure since its 7 or 14 days? Where can I find out more info about that, and would that be a good idea?
There are also great tourist booths at almost every city with people who can help you find places to stay and even make the calls for you.
This seems as good a place as any.
And yeah, I used that one too when I went in 08. No complaints. Just make sure you plan to travel enough to justify the cost, or at least so that you get close enough to the justifying the cost so that having the convenience and flexibility of the pass makes up for it.
What was said about Osaka is pretty accurate - one night there clubbing, getting drunk and seeing the pretty lights by the river is all you need. The other tourist attractions are nothing special. They do have a capsule hotel for 2700-2800 yen a night though.
And trust me, capsules are awesome. If your bags are big it could be complicated, and it won't be as friendly an atmosphere as a hostel. You should stay in one at least one time for the experience. http://www.asahiplaza.co.jp/capcel/english.html Free porn in each room!
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I have Sega, Nintendo and Xbox games and systems for sale. Please help me buy diapers.
And now it's March 11th, and I leave on April 4th, and guess what, I've planned nothing! Nor have I taught myself any basic Japanese like I planned to! And I had so much time....
Anyway, I'm trying to lock down an itinerary at least this week so I can figure out the rest.
The main thing that's up in the air right now is whether or not I should take a day trip / overnight to Hiroshima area.
Recall, I have 11 nights. Also, I have my brother in Kyoto who I can stay with for free, as well as my friend in Yokohama (both of whom speak Japanese and who I want to spend time with).
Here are some kind of plans I was thinking of for itineraries: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjltPLG6GK1wdHJCWkZUaG5OUmhDR3c3SHhKN1VjNXc
Totally open to suggestions though, nothing set in stone at all. I just want to figure this stuff out by the end of the week, because after that it'll be cutting it close.
I think you were following my thread some, but there's a ton of suggestions in there. Tons of helpful information.
Lots of people say the Hiroshima peace museum is fantastic, and there are tours you can take. Kyoto has a lot of the touristy attractions, if that's what you're looking for.
For the Japanese, you can learn enough in the next month to help make a positive impression when talking with people. In my experience people love when you take the time to try to learn their language, and it really makes a good first impression.
Small things like;
Arigato gozaimasu - Thank you very much
Gomenasai - Sorry
Hajimemashite - How do you do?
Boku no nihongo wa totemo warui desu - My Japanese is very bad
All helped me communicate, and if you keep a smile on your face people are usually inclined to help out.
Good luck on your trip and let us know how it goes!
I've been reading your thread, definitely helpful.
I guess figuring out the Hiroshima bit is important, because if I do do that then I'll need a rail pass, if not, then I won't.