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Going to Japan
I'm going to Japan in winter for two weeks. Any suggestions, warnings, advice?
Comments
Being reserved and intelligent is a good way of covering up the fact that it takes you twice as long to work out what you are going to say.
Try and learn some Japaneses before you go, though you can pick up a lot as you go having those first bits is important.
Just avoid stuff that takes up a large amount of space or requires personal attention. Those things tend to be incredibly expensive.
The best advice I can give is to respect order and personal space. Westerners can be like bulls in a china shop at times. Japan works so well because it is just so darned orderly. It's got to be if you're going to cram that many people on an island.
Well, thanks for your advice so far.
Were those take-out lunches any good, though? I'm not really a picky person, but I value good food, and would like to eat nice Japanese stuff if I go all the way over there.
And yes... you can get nice food for affordable prices. Just make lunch your main meal of the day. Lunches are very affordable since a ton of business people descend on restaurants to eat during the lunch hour. What's going to cost you money is space. If you want a large table, then the meal is going to be expensive. If you're willing to be packed in tighter, then your meal will be cheaper. The bigger the turnover, the cheaper the prices.
7-11 serves fresh food. It's delivered several times a day. They have salads, soup, dumplings, sandwiches, etc. It's all way better than in the U.S.A. I often got something there for dinner.
Judging by the fact that you referred to Euros, I'm guessing that you are coming from Europe. The exchange rate is quite good for you. The Yen hasn't fared much better than the dollar recently. And since you are from Europe, you're probably used to more compact restaurants - unlike the chain monstrosities we have here in the USA.
One tip... train prices can be expensive. Look for local trains. Often they take only a few minutes more, and cost much less. For example, a local train from the airport to downtown is about half the cost of the airport express train.
I'm from Germany, and I've never been to the USA . While I think that restaurants in Germany aren't narrow at all, I think I can deal with less space. We're planning on spending our first night in the capsule hotel, too... The narrowness (horrible expression, but I'm tired and can't think of anything better right now) will be part of the experience... or something ^.^'
The bigger the turnover, the cheaper the prices. 7-11 serves fresh food. It's delivered several times a day. They have salads, soup, dumplings, sandwiches, etc. It's allwaybetter than in the U.S.A. I often got something there for dinner.
The 7-11's in Japan kick ass! Seriously, if you are going to Japan, you have to stop by some 7-11's. Food in general was not expensive. Before going, I thought food would be super expensive, but I found resturants to be cheaper than in the US.
Are you interested in the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum? It is in Takarazuka. You can get there from Kyoto using your Japan Rail Pass. That is how I visited it.
If you read Japanese, their bookstores are so much cheaper and their used book stores sell products indistinguishable from new (apparently they don't take anything less than 'like-new', and people take better care of their books).
Tokyo: Ueno park is pretty good, has a lot of galleries, museums, fountains and a zoo. Very nice
Asakusa shrine is a large shrine with a number of smaller shrines and monuments around it.
Yasukuni shrine is another good one. The attached museum has a reasonable amount of english notation, and is good for reminding you that there is a gap in Japanese history between the samurai and Pearl harbour. It's also reasonably close to the Imperial Palace.
Akihabara is definitely worth a look. The comic type shops have a worrying tendency to put the normal stuff right next to the hentai stuff. Also here I saw for sale a terabyte hard drive (stupid expensive, but tempting nonetheless).
Meiji Jingu is a shrine dedicated to the emperor Meiji and the empress Shoken. While walking through the gardens you will forget your in one of the biggest cities in the world.
Kyoto has tons of beautiful shrines. Definitely check out Kiyomizu, Kinkaku-ji (the golden temple), Ginkaku-ji (the silver temple).
In Osaka you should consider visiting Osaka castle, the Umeda Sky Tower (if you can I'd recommend around sunset), Dotonbori (although if you're epileptic, maybe not), a night out in Shinsaibashi, and Kaiyukan aquarium.
The 7-11s are really good, as are all the convenience stores. You should also try an izakaya while you're in Japan. Food and drink in a great atmosphere.
DO NOT under any circumstances attempt to order any type of ethnic food. Italian, Greek, American, Mexican, whatever. It will, unless it is a particularly expensive restaraunt, be "ninja food" and horrible as described in the above mentioned podcast. Stick to the Japanese food in Japan (with exceptions for McDonalds and other chains. They're pretty predictable).
Learning as much Japanese as you can is a must. Pocket translators are handy in a pinch, but you can end up relying on them too much.
Expect to carry a lot of change. Japan has 100 and 500 yen coins (equivilent to about $1 or $5 respectively) and you will end up thinking you are out of cash, when you actually have $30-$40 worth of coins on you.
Any of the historical samurai districts you can get too can be awesome, espescially if they have the old samurai mansions there.
If you can find a BookOff, you will be a happy camper if you're looking for manga.
Sorry I had to bring that up again. XD
My wife & I are planning to visit Japan in 2014 or 2015. We have a pretty good core set of things we would like to see and places we're interesting in visiting. Specifically we want to visit the Miyazaki & Tezuka museums. We've also found a few day-trip style tours that visit a number of shrines, temples, or castles in Kyoto & Osaka.
My problem is that I don't feel I have a realistic understanding of how long it will take to travel between cities & places we want to visit, and I feel a little lost looking at all of the JR bus/train schedules.
I've never used a travel agent before, would I be better served using one, or planning the trip on my own? For the other forumites who've been there, did you plan your trip on your own, or did you work with an agent?
If you have time, devote at least a week.5 to the Kansai area. There is a moderate level of couchsurfing and Airbnb coverage. There's a great couchsurfing host named "Shoji" in Kyoto. Generally speaking, if you are staying in a onsen-enabled ryokan, you want to be staying at least two nights. This will give you time to relax. Otherwise, stay at a hotel. If you're doing an extended stay, look for extended stay places: they will have things like a kitchenette.
100yen stores are the bomb. 7-11 food is delicious. Don't eat Family Mart fried chicken unless you want heart failure. If it's winter, resist the temptation of hot drink vending machines and buy tea/cocoa/misc powder at a cheap supermarket. A nice thermos (from Muji or Loft) will pay for itself. If you see DyDo muscat soda, drink it. Also Yuzu-honey lemonade... mmm
When you're in a particular city, find the nearest non-tourist shopping arcade. You will find fresh fruit and veg for cheaper. If you're near an orchard during its harvest, check it out. You can get huge bags of mikans etc. cheaply. Eat mikans.
Don't buy the full Japan rail-pass, unless you plan to ride the shinkansen a lot. It might not hurt to pick up a rail pass exchange ticket (when the exchange rate is favorable), and get it refunded if you don't use it (takes a while to expire). Every main region has its own set of rail passes for 1-7 days (varies) that is far more reasonable, and do not require purchase before arrival. Even then, they average to 1000-1500 yen a day: you only want to use those passes if you're going a long distance, or using the train at least 3-4 times. For example, Osaka and Kyoto have much less JR coverage than Tokyo. The Kansai Thru Pass covers Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe for 2 or 3 non-consecutive days. Toyko has several different JR/private rail passes. Usually JR is good enough for main transportation in Tokyo. There are also regional shinkansen-included rail-passes.
When planning your itinerary, it's a good idea to keep in mind that many famous shrines undergo renovation fairly frequently. If you can find out when those renovations are taking place, you will enjoy your trip more.
Hyperdia has on-demand train scheduling. This is much easier than shuffling timetables.
In Kyoto, I enjoy Kiyomizu-dera, Kinkaku-ji, and Fushimi-Inari Taisha best.
If you're into onsen, definitely visit an onsen-town. I prefer the ones with plenty of surrounding hike-seeing. Central Kyushu, near Mt Aso, is a favorite, very popular in spring (A nearby mountain is covered in cherry trees) and challenging in winter (due to certain trains not running).
If you can, do shukubo (temple stay) and eat shojin ryori (temple vegetarian food). Unless you have a giant apetite, usually the "small" dinner will suffice. It is amazingly delicious, and will redefine "vegetarian".
Ohh, also. Western breakfast can be hard to find. Your best chances are at a hotel. Otherwise, places like Dotour will have inexpensive toast+jam+coffee/tea. Japanese bakeries are fantastic.
If you like tea, send me a PM!
it was so delicious, i forgot to take a photo before nom nom nom
On that note, if you're in Tokyo, there's a shop/cafe in Shimokitazawa, called Shimokita Chaen Oyama, which is run by two 10-dan tea judges. During cafe hours, they have very delicious yakimochi zenzai.
hey look, it's kerr 2.0