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Prep for March Trip to Japan - TheVinster - 2016-01-16
I think I make a thread every time I go on vacation to Japan, but yeah, as always trying to maximize my results.
JR Pass
I'm throwing around the idea of buying a 2-week JR pass; however, I'm not sure if I should with the dollar still strong. I'll be in Tokyo and Osaka so the primary use would be for the shinkansen back and forth. Of course you can use it on all JR-operated lines, but when I was in Osaka I feel I used the subway much more. I'm just not sure I'll get the full value out of the pass unless I go on a few day trips to Kobe, Kyoto, etc. It's very convenient to just show to the person and get through the gate, though (used a 1-week last time I went). Can anyone make an argument for buying it? I'm already booking my hotels, and can say with certainty I won't be straying too far from Osaka or Tokyo unless it's that day trip.
Meetups
The past 2 times I went to Japan, my shyness got the best of me and I killed more time than spent meeting people, or hanging out with friends. Anyone got ideas for some good meetups to go to? I might even chance going to some sort of speed-dating thing if the opportunity presents itself, Japan people seem to love it and I wouldn't mind meeting someone to set up a few dates. Looking for recommendations on that front too. I have a few folks in mind to hang out with but I want to fill in the gaps I may have in my schedule.
RE: Prep for March Trip to Japan - dtcamero - 2016-01-16
-jr pass seems to be worth it if you'll use the shinkansen more than twice a week. up to you i guess.
-tinder is huge in tokyo. find a date and she'll make a great language partner i promise.
much more interesting and less awkward than meet-ups.
RE: Prep for March Trip to Japan - TheVinster - 2016-01-16
(2016-01-16, 11:09 pm)dtcamero Wrote: -jr pass seems to be worth it if you'll use the shinkansen more than twice a week. up to you i guess.
-tinder is huge in tokyo. find a date and she'll make a great language partner i promise.
much more interesting and less awkward than meet-ups.
I would only ride the shinkansen twice, the rest of the value would come from riding to/from various areas in Osaka/Tokyo. As I said I would potentially go to surrounding cities on a day-trip but not much more than that.
Are meetups awkward, though? Specifically I'm talking about meetup.com. I will try to use Tinder in advance to maybe get some conversations going.
RE: Prep for March Trip to Japan - s0apgun - 2016-01-16
JR Pass is worth it. If you travel from Tokyo to Osaka round trip that will nearly cover the price of the 2 week pass. My family just came here and they all had passes where as I was paying out of pocket for every ticket. The pass covers reserved seats too which are quite a bit more expensive. If you're flying into Narita you can use ride the Narita Express into Tokyo or Shinjuku station with the JR Pass which is like 3,000 yen one way. Which by the way if you're coming into Narita I really recommend spending a day checking out Narita-san temple. It is true though that there is less JR lines in Osaka but you can take the JR line to Nara from Osaka which is really awesome if you haven't been. The price will most likely be covered completely in what you plan on doing and its also nice to have that option of hey maybe i want to make a day trip to hiroshima or something.
As far as the dating thing, I have to agree tinder will be a good bet in Tokyo even though I dont use it. You probably wont be taken very seriously if you're just here on vacation from normal girls. So don't expect anything serious besides going out to eat and drink or a hook up. If you dont have anyone to hang out with dont hesistate to go to smaller bars in tokyo by yourself... you will definitely meet people and make friends that way. There's always the club option too if you're trying to meet some girls but I don't know if I'd go to a club alone! Anyways just have fun and enjoy your time here. Not sure how good your spoken Japanese is but don't let it get you down if stuff goes over your head... just smile and keep having fun.
RE: Prep for March Trip to Japan - zx573 - 2016-01-17
I personally crunched the numbers really hard for when I went on my trips to Japan and I could never make the JR pass work for me, so ymmv. If you'd like, you can try to figure out where you'd like to go and how much it would cost to get to and from everywhere using something like Hyperdia. That website is pretty accurate and was my savior when I was in Japan. A two week JR pass is 46,500-ish yen for an ordinary pass (63,000 for green car). Round trip between Tokyo and Osaka is about 28,000 yen. You'd have to crunch the numbers for yourself and decide if you can make it worthwhile for you. You should also check into cheap day passes to places. I was able to take a day trip from Osaka to Himeji on the cheap in 2014 using this I think it was. There also used to be a deal where you could go from an airport around Tokyo into Tokyo using Narita Express and they would also give you a Suica card loaded with 2,000 yen for the price of 3,500 yen I think, but it doesn't look like they have that deal anymore. :\
I'm also pretty shy so I can't speak about bars, but if you're into music and can speak Japanese, I found the people I chatted with at concerts and small music shops to be pleasant. Very easy to go to a concert by yourself without being too shy, too (in my opinion). I also made a post on Japan-guide about a month or so before going to Japan last time looking for new friends and added "also, I'll be in Japan in June!" at the end, and in total I think I ended up meeting with 4 or 5 girls I met there during the two week trip. Surprisingly, everyone who made plans with me actually followed through with them. That's something you can try if you'd like to set something up before you get to Japan. I've never used Tinder in Japan so I can't say if the girls on there are as flaky as they are in the US.
RE: Prep for March Trip to Japan - Zgarbas - 2016-01-17
If you're not set on the Shinkansen, in march you can go from anywhere to anywhere in Japan for ~2000 yen. I love the seishun 18 ticket. We're different types of travellers, but I figured everyone benefits from knowing about it
I've accidentally landed in meetup.com events once or twice and they were enjoyable; nothing meaningful, but time well-spent, and they're really used to meeting people so the events are well organised and everything.
The only speed-dating thing I went to was incredibly awkward (at least until all the girls decided to ignore the men and talk to one another, then we fled the scene for a spontaneous 女子会 which was actually enjoyable) and the men there seemed pretty sad. There is a limit to how many times you can get asked where you're from before you just stop caring about meeting anyone.
RE: Prep for March Trip to Japan - pm215 - 2016-01-17
Yeah, for the JR pass question I'd just feed the trips you're planning to make into Hyperdia and compare the prices. There are other pass types than the "all lines everywhere" one. For Tokyo<->Kyoto unfortunately I think none of them will work, though :-( . Some of those other passes are "any 5 days out of 14" rather than a fixed validity period, which can work very well for a lot of tourist itineraries.
I've also in the past done things like have a 1-week pass and arranged the timing of it so it covered the main journeys I was making and then just bought individual tickets for the days the pass wasn't covering -- this can work out cheaper than a 2-week pass if you're not travelling so much in the second week.