Japan - advice needed!!

Miss Fluff

Hello, any advice or top tips for travelling to Japan? Thanks

Culchie

I'd say if you posted in the soccer forum, the lads over there would give you great advice after the last World Cup.

If you ask moderators kindly (PM them in advance), I'm sure they'll allow the thread, as it would definitely be the best source of information.

BuffyBot

Miss Fluff wrote:

Hello, any advice or top tips for travelling to Japan? Thanks

Do a search on this forum too, there has been a few threads.

Miss Fluff

Thanks, have done - Cheers :rolleyes:

Dont be at yourself

If you're in and around Kyoto (which is a must!), go to Kinkakuji (the temple of the golden pavillion). It is literally the most beautiful site in the world, absolutely amazing. There's tonnes more temples and stuff in Kyoto, and a trip to kyoumizudera (clear water temple) is also recommended. If you plan on going to a lot of temples and shrines, you can buy a temple book for about 8 or 9e and get a calligrapher at each temple to write the temple's name, the date of your visit and stamp it with a seal - a cool souvenir!

davros

Top tip: learn the katakana alphabet before you go. It's not difficult. It's much used in Japan to represent words borrowed from foreign languages, particularly English. Once you learn it, you'll suddenly find you understand tons of stuff, like restaurant menus.

Something unusual to see: Toyota Factory Tour. Depends on your interests, I suppose, but I thought this was remarkable. A little bit awkward to get to but absolutely worth it.

NoDayBut2Day

Aw, too bad Expo just ended; I was there this past August and it was amazing!

But anyway... umm... I'm not sure about the weather there now, but it was *really really hot and humid* in August when I was there. So you might want to check how weather is.

Simple phrases I'm sure you know or can learn easily somewhere online... such as "Konichiwa"(good afternoon) or "Arigato"(thank you) help a little too.

Have tons of fun!!!

Cake Fiend

An obvious one, but try to learn as much basic Japanese as you can before you go. Most Japanese in cities speak a little English, but they're hesitant to do so - until you start gabbing Japanese at them! They're far more likely to want to interact with you if you show that you've learnt some of their language (for some reason they find it utterly amazing when foreignors can get their head round Japanese).

Vok

Still recovering from Jet lag from an utterly amazing 2 and a half weeks there.

Most important tip - plan ahead.

Depending on the kind of tourist you are, you may wish to leave everything til you get there and just see how things pan out before making any decisions. This really isn't an optimal use of your time.

We'd worked out 4 hub locations for while we were there - Tokyo / Fukuoka / Kyoto / Ishigaki in Okinawa - and had done a good bit of research on what we wanted to do but still found we were spending way too much time trying to organise accommodation once we got there. If it's not totally against your nature, you should try to have as much of that sorted and out the way before you get there. This mightn't be such a big deal if you're hanging around Tokyo for two weeks but we were doing a lot of travelling. Hostels.com is good for reasonable Ryokan and hotels. As is Club Tocoo. Booking through the web also spares you the hassle of trying to inquire in halting Japanese and not having any clue what's being said back to you.

Which brings me to the next tip - Learn as much Japanese as you can. I'd learnt some before I went over and figured I'd be able to pick it up as I went along since I'm normally pretty quick picking up languages. How wrong I was. First off, you're generally quite tired from the jet lag and then, if you're actually trying to get things done, you don't have time to sit around learning your grammar.

80%+ of the Japanese people I met spoke English as well as I spoke Japanese i.e. pretty badly and we often found ourselves in a situation where both parties were stuck for words in the other's language.

I'd learnt from Pimsleur Essential Japanese and found that certain crucial parts of my ultra-polite Japanese was not what was spoken by the vast majority of people - "ga ari masen" vs. "ja nai" being the most egregious example. So, if you can, get speaking to a Japanese person before you leave.

I also agree that you should try to learn Katakana. Wish I had as it would have given me some idea of what at least some of the ubiquitous signage meant. You should also learn some Kanji symbols for stuff like JR Station or Subway or Hotel. Thankfully, most areas like subways and airports, where you really need it, had English translations available.

All of that aside, you're in these people's country and to expect them to know your language is a bit rich. And, as Sico pointed out, they really appreciate that you've made some kind of effort.

Know at least a couple of Japanese dishes that you're pretty sure you like. If you're in a restaurant with no English menu and no representations of the dishes outside, it always helps to be able to ask for Cha Han or Yaki Soba or what have you.

if you want to see a lot of the country, and don't have a lot of time, consider getting a JAL Air Pass. You can buy up to 5 internal flights for just under 100 euros each. We saved over 300 euros on the flights to Okinawa alone. JAL have an office here in Dublin who can sort it all out for you.

Next, travel light. How I cursed the 3 utterly redundant jumpers I brought with me as I slogged up another subway stairs. Laundries are plentiful and very very cheap.

Bring lots of money. Japan was far less expensive than I expected in terms of food and even accommodation but, over time, it all adds up especially if you're using public transport a lot.

Spend lots of money. You're spendng the best part of a grand to get over there so don't spend your two weeks there eating convenience store noodles to make it back. Do that here before you leave if you have to but don't scrimp once you get there. You can get good value in your choice of accommodation and food if you do enough looking around.

Visit Okinawa. Specifically, the Yaeyama Islands like Ishigaki, Iriomote and Taketomi, or go further north to Miyako-shima. As one of the locals told me, it's like Latin Japan. Totally chilled out, friendly people in an utterly beautiful setting. An incoming typhoon meant we had to hightail it out of town two days early and that's the only disappointment I had in an otherwise incredible holiday.

Do as much as you can. This might not be to everyone's taste but in a country like Japan that's so exciting and interesting and engaging, it seems criminal to waste an opportunity to learn more about it, even if it means you're hanging tired at the end of the day. At times I cursed having to catch another plane / train in order to get to the next place but, looking back, I can only remember the great experiences that those efforts yielded.

Lastly, try not to bore the crap out of everyone about how amazing Japan is once you get back. I'm failing miserably.

Cake Fiend

Vok wrote:

Do as much as you can.

Good tip, and really applies to anywhere you're going to visit. Japan is not exactly an easy place to get to for most people (very expensive 11+ hour flights either way) so an advance plan of where you want to go, what you want to do etc. is essential, especially in cities like Tokyo, where you could spend an entire day sightseeing just in one single ward of the city. Japan has such a hugely different culture and history that there's a huge amount of things to see and learn.

BrianD

Japan Rail passes are great way of getting around but you need to buy before you arrive in Japan (they can not be bought in Japan). The rail system is also bi-lingual so it is easy to navigate. If you do get a pass and arrive in Tokyo and spend a few days don't validate your rail pass until you are ready to depart the city - it's more efficient to pay for the local trains rather than using days from your pass.

Ryokans and commercial hotels are the cheapest places to stay. There is a network of them and they will make your onward bookings.

My experience in 1998 was that almost nobody spoke english (or was willing to). You will find that you will be approached in the pubs and train stations by people who want to practice. In most other countries you would be suspicious of their motives but in Japan there are very few scam merchants!