Well, I've been saying for a while to myself, "I'm gonna go to Japan sometime soon", and putting it off, and putting it off. Finally I said "screw it, there's no time like the present", and bought tickets. I'll be arriving in Tokyo at 4:20 Tokyo time, July 24th, and staying til August 19.

That gives me about a week to prepare, basically from scratch. I've never even been outside North America before, this is going to be an epic adventure and pure absolute glory times.

I want to steer clear of tourist traps and see real Japan. If possible, I wanna go all around the country, not just stay in Tokyo. Maybe even go to some of the separate islands. Definitely hit up Osaka if nothing else.

What all things should I know... this is gonna be so awesome and badass. I'm so eager. I would've bought a ticket departing sooner, but July 24 is the absolute earliest possible because I have an appointment the day before.

I'm psyched.

best decision you have ever made in your life buddy ^_^ you won't regret it!!! i have been there 4 times myself and i have been all over... don't forget to eat some 焼肉　while you are over there... i recommend the レストラン (actually i can't spell that right in english haha) named Toraji. If you want a really cheap place to stay at, try Yoshida House http://yoshidahouse.net/en/index_en.html i stay there all the time, it's a pretty decient place for the price (￥２２００ a night) feel free to ask me for any travel tips ^_^ have fun!!!

Edit: actually the Toraji chain of レストラン has one day a month where all of there meat is half off. it's the 29th. get it? niku means both "肉"　and "29" haha those crazy japanese ^_^

Yeah your going to love it! After I came here once I knew I wanted to live here and so now I am working in Japan! Dream come true!

If your going to be in Oosaka then I would say hit up Oosaka castle, and Kyoto for some good temples and such. I wouldn't worry much about trying to avoid tourist traps as unless you have somebody showing you around it's going to be hard to find places!

I live in Shiga-ken just north of Kyoto/Oosaka so if you have any q's about that area ask away!

If you want to avoid touristy places then I would advise against Tokyo and Kyoto. Maybe spend a little bit of time there, but not too much. Maybe try to get up to Hokkaido a bit. There's a lot of onsen, and it's not really crowded.

Hashiriya Wrote:best decision you have ever made in your life buddy ^_^ you won't regret it!!! i have been there 4 times myself and i have been all over... don't forget to eat some 焼肉　while you are over there... i recommend the レストラン (actually i can't spell that right in english haha) named Toraji. If you want a really cheap place to stay at, try Yoshida House http://yoshidahouse.net/en/index_en.html i stay there all the time, it's a pretty decient place for the price (￥２２００ a night) feel free to ask me for any travel tips ^_^ have fun!!!

Edit: actually the Toraji chain of レストラン has one day a month where all of there meat is half off. it's the 29th. get it? niku means both "肉"　and "29" haha those crazy japanese ^_^

Thanks for the recommendation for the Yoshida house! I took a look and if I ever go to Japan (hopefully), I will definitely take a room there.

no problem

Hooray for impulse decisions! This is a good one

Traveling around the country is pretty easy. Just be sure to get yourself a JR Rail Pass. You have to get it before you leave, but it'll save you a bundle when it comes to trains (you can ride on any train, with the exception of the Nozomi Shinkansen and I think a few of the limited expresses, with just your pass).

I'm in Yamanashi, which is just west of Tokyo... home to Mt. Fuji and the 'Napa Valley of Japan' so to speak. It's got some pretty inaka parts, but it's close enough to Tokyo that it works well for a get away from the city. Let me know if you need any recommendations!

what about a Suica card for the trains? i'm kinda unfamiliar with the JR railpasses O_o

You know, it's true that Tokyo and Kyoto are touristy, but they earned that position. You don't need to spend your whole trip there or anything, but I think you'd be missing out if you don't give them at least some of your time. It's been a long time since I went to Kyoto, but I remember really liking it. Go to Ryoan-ji, so you can see the original rock garden that spawned a million imitators.

On my last trip to Japan last year, I went to Hakone, which is a day trip from Tokyo and was very pretty. If you're feeling a little crazy, you might even consider climbing Mt. Fuji. It's not necessarily a whole lot of fun, as such, but it is an experience you don't forget. It was a classic Japanese experience for me when I figured out that even the trail up Mt. Fuji is crowded. (I went during a major holiday, which exacerbated the problem.)

If you are in Tokyo for any time at all I'd recommend getting a Suica card. So handy, you can get them at most largish stations.

Also, if you are interested in Climbing Fuji, I am intending to do it around 6th August, leave Tokyo in the evening, climb through the night, see the sunrise. Am alone so wouldn't turn down a climbing buddy if you interested.

I blogged my 5 weeks in Japan last year... it's long, and boring, but full of details. As I said in a previous thread, I hit ~9-10 cities.

http://www.stupidamericantourist.com

I still need to finish putting photos up. >_>a

-ONE BAG. If you're traveling all over the place, try to use one small bag. Trust me on this. Large bags = PAIN.
-Get a JR pass. Don't get the green one. If you're leaving Tokyo, anyway. Green cars are full of tourists, and the regular seats are big enough. (Unless you have your own gravity well and a small moon.)
-You can stow large luggage behind the last row of seats in Shinkansen cars.
-Use the Welcome Inn group for reservations. Cheap and safe.
-Kyoto is cheesy, but fun. Kinkakuji is always nice, as is Kiyomizudera. Arashiyama is nice at sunset.
-If you go to Kyoto, go to the tourist center on the 9th floor of the train station. It totally rocks.
-Department stores have cheap food right before the depachika closes at 7-9 PM. (They also double as a good place for a pit stop when necessary.)
-SUICA cards are nice in Tokyo, Sendai, and Osaka.
-Osaka is FUN. Dotomburi FTW. Just wandering and people-watching is a blast.
-In places that don't have SUICA, use the low-fare trick. Buy the cheapest subway ticket and just use the fare adjustment machine.
-Buses are confusing at first.
-If you don't know how to buy tickets or use the bus, watch other people do it first.
-Get a point card if you buy anything at Yodobashi or Bic.
-Funabin is how you want to send your spoils back. Takes 8-10 weeks.
-Everything closes early in inaka.
-If a store says it closes at 5, that usually means by 4:45 they've covered everything up and are getting ready to leave.
-Togakushi is almost worth the trouble. 500 meters of giant trees line the path to the shrine, but it's a monstrous bus ride/hike from Nagano.
-Bring clothes you can wash in the sink and dry on a hanger.
-Enjoy the mind-numbing culture shock.

Fuji Rock Festival, the biggest music festival in all of Japan, is Thu 7/25 - 7/27
A 3-day ticket costs 42000 yen(about 420 US dollars). Needless to say. It's an unforgettable experience. Bands from all over the world come to play at Fuji Rock.

Take a look at gallery photos from previous festivals:
http://www.fujirockfestival.com/history/photos.asp

Band lineup is here:
http://www.smash-uk.com/frf08/lineup.html

Hashiriya Wrote:what about a Suica card for the trains? i'm kinda unfamiliar with the JR railpasses O_o

Suica is fine for getting around in Tokyo... and I think you can use it in Osaka and some other areas now too.... but if you're looking to do a lot of traveling (especially on the shinkansen) then the JR railpass will save you a bunch of cash... and you can use it on the normal JR lines too. Granted, it's only good on JR lines, so if you take any private lines, you'll have to pay. But outside of the major metropolitan areas most lines are JR anyway.

The only catch is that you have to be in Japan on a tourist visa and you have to purchase the pass before you leave for Japan. Then you exchange your voucher for the actual pass once you arrive in Japan. (This can be done at Narita Airport and some of the larger JR travel centers in say Shinkansen. I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $275 for a 7 day pass, the last time I checked... So if you're going to do a lot of running around the country it'll save you a bundle of cash (a round trip, reserved seat shinkansen ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto costs almost as much as the pass). The pass is good nationwide. More information can be found at: http://www.japanrailpass.net/index.html

If you're not on a tourist visa, JR East has a number of handy passes: http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/index.html
And if you're only going to be in one area, (ie Kanto or Kansai) and don't need the nation-wide pass, check the website of the local JR branch that's in that area as they probably have a regional pass for tourists. The JR East one is here: http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/eastpass/eligibility.html


To add to sfekas - I'd definitely recommend Hakone as well. Easily reached from Tokyo (Odakyu has some good passes for the area.. round trip train fare to and from Hakone plus it gets you on the switchback train, rope ways and the pirate ship across the lake).

If you're not into climbing Mt. Fuji, there's also plenty of other things to do in Kawaguchiko/Fujiyoshida and the rest of the Fuji-go-ko area. And if you make it down there be sure to try some houtou (the Yamanashi specialty).

Hashiriya Wrote:don't forget to eat some 焼肉　while you are over there... i recommend the レストラン (actually i can't spell that right in english haha) named Toraji.

Haha, I took one look at that word and said, "that's gotta be やきにく" (never having seen it before). Opened rikaichan and it was confirmed. I love having this great grasp of Japanese, it feels great I will definitely stuff some 焼肉 down my throat Maybe some 肉じゃが,すき焼き, and お好み焼き too.

shinnyneo Wrote:Yeah your going to love it! After I came here once I knew I wanted to live here and so now I am working in Japan! Dream come true!

Wow! That is really awesome! Where are you working?

erlog Wrote:There's a lot of onsen, and it's not really crowded.

Oh man, I am definitely getting the onsen experience. This is so awesome.

shneen Wrote:Hooray for impulse decisions! This is a good one

Hehe, is there any such thing as an impulse decision that ISN'T good....

shneen Wrote:It's got some pretty inaka parts, but it's close enough to Tokyo that it works well for a get away from the city.

I've definitely gotta see some 田舎 while I am there. Oh man, if I can get pictures of myself standing in a rice paddy, that would be so sexy

sfekas and tomusan Wrote:Climbing Fuji

Damn I hadn't even thought about that! Sign me up!! Tomusan, I will email you.

richf Wrote:http://www.stupidamericantourist.com

Haha, I love the url.

richf Wrote:-ONE BAG. If you're traveling all over the place, try to use one small bag. Trust me on this. Large bags = PAIN.

Haha, yeah, I do this even traveling from one state to another. My friends think I'm crazy cuz whenever I'm getting ready for to move states permanently, I get rid of everything til I can do the entire move with no checked luggage...

richf Wrote:-Department stores have cheap food right before the depachika closes at 7-9 PM. (They also double as a good place for a pit stop when necessary.)

Haha, this is GOLD!! $貝$費$幣$

richf Wrote:-Enjoy the mind-numbing culture shock.

This is gonna be the best part. My life motto is "get the hell out of the comfort zone"

chamcham Wrote:Fuji Rock Festival, the biggest music festival in all of Japan

Wow, thank you for the heads up, I am definitely looking into this!

everyone Wrote:JR railpass

I'll look into this. Would I be able to get it on such short notice? Less than a week til I leave.

Shouldn't be any problem with getting it in a week, as long as you get on top of things. I know before I left for my study abroad, a few people in the group called two days before we left and had the passes overnighted and they got them in time. So give one of the agencies on the list a call and they should be able to get one to you.

And let me know if you guys need help with the Mt. Fuji area. Its about a 45 minute drive from where I'm at, and I have friends in Fujiyoshida (city right at the base of the mountain) who know where good restaurants and onsens are.

Yeah, you can get one quickly if there's a travel agent nearby. I got a 21-day pass for $500, and squeezed out $900 worth of train travel on it. Then again, I had a Japanese travel agency in Raleigh, not 30 minutes away.

Also: http://www.hyperdia.com/

That's a link to a train timetable site. Probably easier to use the English interface. It's a lifesaver.

Finally, if you have any prescriptions, and you're going to be over there longer than 30 days, you need to call the JP Embassy in DC ASAP and request a yakkan shoumei.

Oh, before I forget-- Comfort Inn has branch hotels in most major cities. (But only one in Tokyo, and it's out of the way.) You can use your US discounts there, too. Runs about 6000 yen a night. Nice hotels, if you want a break from dorms.

Meet some locals or friendly foreigners who live there and know the score, and go to some regional events if you can. The cities are cool, but the country side will give you a better picture of what Japan is all about, and make your trip far more memorable.

snispilbor Wrote:My life motto is "get the hell out of the comfort zone"

No luck there!
In my opinnion Japan is a very comfortable country in many ways.

You are going to be in for quite many surprises though!
I have been to many places in europe and had read lots about Japan before going there. I thought that I had a quite good idea of what I was getting into but, Man! It was different! Every imaginable thing! (Well.. Perhaps a bit of exagaration..) Toilets, cars, driving, food, etc. And everything was so damn small and.. "狭い" is the right word! Streets, bus seats, rooms, etc. That was a shock for me!

I loved it! Only regrettable thing was having to come back home.
Man! I wanna go there!


Anyway, himeji castle on your way to Oosaka is something to see! And Hiroshima peace memorial park and the A-bomb dome.

And there was somewhere a park illustrating life in edo period. I wanted to go there but didn't have time. Had to content myself with just seeing the gates. It was called... Edo wonderland!

Also In Oosaka you can get this card at a tourist information center that allows you to use all the city's public transportation and get into all kinds of museums etc. I especially loved the Oosaka　海遊館!
In many of those museums you could rent an audio guide for something like 300円 with english explanations.
The card was called an "Oosaka pass" or something. I bet they have similar things in other cities too.

I'm not sure if some of these have already been suggested!

Oh yeah, the Aquarium in Osaka is pretty neat. But if you're going on a weekend, seriously, get there early. The lines get huge fast.

And yeah, if you go to Hiroshima, you should go to the A-Bomb dome and the museum. Depressing and sobering, but it's important. And if you're in Hiroshima, you might as well go to Miyajima. It's really pretty. There's even a rickety sky gondola thing you can ride to the top of the mountain. It's not cheap, but the views are incredible.

Also, if you wind up near Sendai, I sort of recommend Matsushima. It's totally touristified, but if you head to Otakamori near Oku-Matsushima, the views are great. (To get to Otakamori in Oku-Matsushima, take the train to Nobiru, then ask the lady at the conbini in the station if you can rent the bicycle-- you'll need it.) Lonely Planet Japan has good details on how to get to Otakamori. It's a bit of a trek, but if you do Matsushima, I think it's the best experience of it. After a 5Km bike ride, you have a small mountain to climb, but the views are awesome.

Oh, and the Daibutsuden in Nara is pretty neat, too. Just beware of the deer.

On the topic of Hiroshima, there is a 乗り放題 ticket that includes the ropeway on Miyajima. I think it's 1500円/day. It pays for itself pretty quickly.

I was disappointed the first time I came to Japan - I had no culture shock and virtually nothing surprised me. Just little things like how you board a bus from the rear and pay when you get off. Or how Japanese people don't wash their hands with soap after using a toilet - just a quick rinse with water from the basin built into the tank.

The thing that killed me more than culture shock was jet lag. I felt like crap for a good 3-4 days.

Oh, if you're going to Tokyo for a while, you should spend the money on the Tokyo Street Atlas by Kodansha. VERY useful. It has maps with good detail in it... it doesn't cover all of Tokyo, but it will help you find things like hotels, and you'll learn how to look up Japanese-Style addresses. It came in handy numerous times for me.

Also, I found that after a while I got into a routine I'd follow whenever I got to a new city-- I'd get off the train, wait a minute to get my bearings, then find the information counters and raid them for city maps and ideas for what's good/famous to see. The desk attendants usually speak good English, and if not, well, now you can start using all that Japanese you've been studying.

Tourist information centers are about the only places where you can get service in English and actually feel that they understand it!

I tried to ask if I could take some pottery cups, that we had gotten as gift, to the cabin in 関西空港 and the lady behind the information counter just asked, where we were going and promptly gave me directions to were we were supposed to check in.
All in a very nice and accent free English!
In the end I had to ask her in Japanese..

Navigating in the japanese railway system really made wonders to my speaking and listening skills just because there was no other option!
And listening to and trying to understand the announcements is really fun!

"二番乗り場に電車が参ります、ご注意ください", "次は新大阪", "右側の扉が開きます！", etc.

Getting practise is no problem there! And even if you get to a wrong train, thats only more practise!

I'm so jealous.. but enjoy your stay for sure!

I plan on going to Japan next summer or fall.. I'll have finished up my college education by december and will earn a little more money before departing.

I want to arrange a 3 month stay if possible.. which would be allowed under a tourist visa I believe. I'm not looking for a tourist experience, but a stay in an authentic japan where my money is tight.. I also think I'm going to look look for a job that may be able to get me back into Japan right away after those 3 months are up.


That's next year folks.. beginning or end of summer.. so if anyone else is planning on going, maybe we can stay in the same gaijin house.

lol @ the Osaka Aquarium... that was the biggest crab i had seen in my life!!! you guys saw those crabs right? they look like aliens they are so big!!!

if you get confused what kind of 焼肉 to buy i highly recommend ハラミ. (yes i am a yakiniku freak ^_^)