I've always wanted to go to Japan, but it's always seemed to be just out of my reach. I was unable to study abroad during college for personal reasons at the time, and then I didn't get accepted into the JET program when I applied. I'm a recent graduate with no job, but I have a little bit of money saved up, and I'm not getting any younger!
I'm seriously thinking I want to just take a trip to Japan this summer. If I don't do it now, I may not ever. And summer is already well underway, so I better get started!

But I've never even flown on a plane before, much less left the country. So I have a ton of questions!

- What about visa/passports? How do I get these, and how long does it normally take?
- If I have about $2000 available after paying for plane tickets, will that probably last me for 2 weeks or so?
- How do I change my money to yen? Can I do it at a local bank, or at the airport? Should I pay for everything in Japan with cash?
- What about travel within Japan? How do I get a train pass? What kind should I get? Is it possible to get to hokkaido from honshu by train?
- I have absolutely no idea what I want to see or do in Japan. Any ideas? ^^

I can't answer all of your questions, but let me say that 2 weeks wouldn't be worth your time.

You should get a Tourist Visa and wear out all 3 months you have on that thing.
Don't make a job the point of your trip, but it's very possible for you to 'find' work on your tourist visa, and through a Japanese company, graduate to a genuine work visa.
JET didn't work out, but being in Japan is almost a requirement, and the first step to getting work there.

I'm also a recent graduate, unemployed, and I hoped to do what you're looking to do, but I just don't have the funds for it.

A travel guide will answer most of your questions.
If you stay at hostels and ask where the closest 99yen store is for snacks, staying in Japan can be very economical. If this is your first time traveling abroad, Japan is a good choice as it is safe and you can always find someone who wants to practice their English if you have any questions. Of course, the longer you stay the more enjoyable it will be but two weeks is fine just to get a glimpse of the country.

This forum was a lot of help for me when I had questions like these:
http://www.japanforum.com/forum/japan-travel-advice/

Also, for when you decide what to do about hotels... I heard hostels are the best way to go For example: http://www.hostelworld.com/availability....Kyoto-2802

Also it's important to consider what areas of Japan you want to visit the most. Is Tokyo a must? How about Kyoto/Nagoya/Osaka region? As for what to do - an important thing to consider is whether you're more interested in shopping districts/busy areas or more quiet areas? If you like both, you can go to Tokyo and then Yokoyama (much more calm) is right next to it~

I can only help you with two of your questions. You'll need a passport and if you're going soon you need to get on this ASAP.

This page will tell you some things you'll need (e.g. certified birth certificate, state ID like driver's license, passport photos, etc.)

How to Apply for the First Time (In Person)
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/fir...t_830.html

If you're lucky enough to live near a Passport Agency you could get the whole thing processed in a few hours. Otherwise an Acceptance Facility will send it out for you.

If you're going soon, you'll need to expedite it ($60 extra). Once example is if you have tickets within 2 weeks. But that seems crazy to buy tickets and then use that to get your passport quickly. I'd be worried something would go wrong.

How to Get Your Passport in a Hurry
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/fir...t_831.html

Visa info:

Japan Country Specific Information
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw..._1148.html

QUOTE
A valid passport and an onward/return ticket are required for tourist/business "visa free" stays of up to 90 days.. Passports must be valid for the intended period of stay in Japan. A visa is not required for tourist/business stays of up to 90 days. Americans cannot work on a 90-day "visa free" entry. As a general rule, "visa free" entry status may not be changed to another visa status without departing and then re-entering Japan with the appropriate visa such as a spouse, work or study visa.
UNQUOTE

For the other questions, you should look at some travel books for Japan; they'll answer most of those questions (or see what other people here say.) Traveling cheap, or not, is more an art than a science.

If you have no idea of what you want to see in Japan, you should start by getting an idea before you rush off. Either that, or save up more money. I managed to do 5 weeks there for ~$5,000 on a mix of dorms, cheap hotels, and some nicer hotels. (And I bought a lot of crap, too.)

Zarx, I see you're in NC. If you're in the RTP area, there's a place near Crabtree Mall in Raleigh that specializes in travel to Japan. I used them to get my JR pass, and they may have some deals for air travel and such. It's call Japan Travel Advisor, I think.

You might want to go by there and check them out and see what kind of stuff they have there, too. Of course a lot of what they have will be either a) package tours and b) relocation services for 日本人 who wind up in RTP, but just looking at some brochures may give you some ideas.

Also check out japan-guide.com. A lot of people discuss their Japan travel ideas there.

As for a passport, you can get application forms at most post offices, I believe. (At least the ones with passport offices.) It can take a while to get one done, though, and it can cost extra to get it rushed. I'd say expect at least 2 months' wait for one, unless you pay the rush fee.

Other stuff can wait until you figure out where you want to go. I did the whirlwind tour of the whole country, except Hokkaido, because train travel there to there was going to be brutal on my schedule. If you want more info, just PM me.

Thanks for all the info everyone. I'll spend some time sorting through this and decide what I want to do.

Never been to Japan but I can recommend some stuff:

. Get your passport first, when dealing with any government agency rule 1 is don't believe their time estimates. I assume you're from the US and then don't need a visa for tourism. Otherwise check out Project Visa.
. There's a handy travel wiki to Japan here. Read the section on the Japan Rail Pass and see if it applies.
. Get some foreign exchange before you leave or take US dollars in cash which can easily be changed. You don't want to have an ATM swallow your card just after you arrive. Paying for anything on a foreign card you get charged a bank fee + the exchange rate. If you're making large purchase it's ok, for lots of small purchases the charges quickly add up. Usually I just draw one large stack of cash at a time. In the UK usually £200, in Australia $400 or so, then pay cash for everything. Much easier to keep track of how much you're spending.
. Also you may have to warn your bank you're going overseas otherwise they stop your card if they think it's been cloned (very annoying).
. Hostels are far cheaper than hotels, use them instead. Smaller dorms are more expensive but not always better. Usually the room is much smaller as well, and 3 other people randomly wandering in and out at all times is about as annoying as 7 other people. Buy some decent earplugs really helps.
. If you don't have a fixed time to be back, buy a return ticket which allows a free change of the return date. Then you can stay until you run out of money instead which may be possibly longer. Put the return date further ahead, you can always shorten the stay, but it can be difficult to work out when you're going to run out of money and you can usually only change once for free. You don't want to pay the penalty for changing, check the minimum stay period though. I did this when I went to SE Asia and stayed for 6 months
. $2000 should easily last 2 weeks. It's £1200, that'd be OK for 4 weeks in London, which has comparable prices to Tokyo. Depends how much you spend on being a tourist though, tours and so on can be expensive.

Biggest tip I can give if you are thinking about cash limits, don't stay in Tokyo. Rent a room at a guesthouse for a month in Kyoto, Okinawa or wherever takes your fancy. Just don't waste your money on Tokyo. Don't mean anything personal to anyone who lives in Tokyoy but as a visitor, Kansai is much more affordable and you can visit Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Nara. I once rented a room in Osaka for 20,000 yen a month, so there are some good deals out there.

You're missing out on SO much by not going to Tokyo though. I love Osaka and Kyoto, but Tokyo more or less defines modern Japan.

I know what you mean but i do think that Tokyo is very unique and doesn't reflect on what is happening in the rest of the country. Tokyo is very close to what the outside world sees Japan to be but Osaka/Kyoto provide the other side of the coin that is needed. Just like any country though. London is not exactly a representation of what is going on in England but London fits perfectly into what people see English culture to be.

Arguably there is a lot more to see (as a tourist) in the Kansai area than in Tokyo. Tokyo and the rest of kanto was the frontier for most of Japanese history afterall.

You can always take a night bus to tokyo for a few days. If you get a sale it's only 8000Y return.

I am going to be heading to Japan in September, and I am going to go for the 90-days allowed without a visa.

Personally, I will be aiming for a monthly living expense of around $800 per month. It might be hard to do, but that will be my goal. I think that you can definitely stay in Japan for 2 months on $2,000. You may even be able to stay 3 months if you found a cheaper place to stay.

Here is how I am going to live cheaply in Japan. First of all, I'm going to pick a smaller city, far from Tokyo, I am going to find shared accomodation, maybe a hostel/dormitory type of thing, or rent a small room from someone. Also, I am going to throw out all my western standards of living, and do exactly what Japanese do, and save money that way. Such as using public baths if my place doesn't have that, eating ramen from food stalls, etc.

I am not going to travel around Japan, rather just get to know one place, and study Japanese the whole time I am there. Going to Japan will be an opportunity to immerse my entire environment in 100% japanese, and accelerate my learning.

BTW, You can use Skype's 'add a contact' search function to find japanese people in a specific city that you are interested in, and talk to them about living expenses, finding a cheap place, etc. Very useful!

P.S. Apply for a passport if you don't have one, ASAP. It can take weeks to get it. You can often pay extra to expediate your passport's processing.

I do not believe people should hastily decide to go to smaller cities for 3 months. Remember, the joy of tourism escapes within 3 weeks. After that, you're going to want to actually do things. Living in a small town in Japan isn't much more fun than living in a small town anywhere else. By traveling around, you can keep the feeling of exploration going. Alternatively, by being in a bigger town, there will always be stuff to see and things to do.

Tobberoth, I'm not going to Japan for tourism.

BTW, I said smaller city, not town

I'd want a city of at least 200,000 population I think.

scuda Wrote:Tobberoth, I'm not going to Japan for tourism.

That not the point. The point is that "this is Japan, wow" is an extremely temporary feeling. After a month, you're going to be bored to death.

Tobberoth Wrote:

scuda Wrote:Tobberoth, I'm not going to Japan for tourism.

That not the point. The point is that "this is Japan, wow" is an extremely temporary feeling. After a month, you're going to be bored to death.

That's good, I want to be bored, I want to be forced to study japanese to escape that boredom

kyotokanji Wrote:I once rented a room in Osaka for 20,000 yen a month, so there are some good deals out there.

How did you find that deal?

I lived in Shiga prefecture my first three months in Japan and I can't say I ever got bored. The culture is so very different than that of America's that everything was an adventure. The roads were narrow with old wooden single story family owned shops. I felt like a Samurai was going jump out at every turn and challenge me!
I was the only Caucasian I ever saw there and was treated very friendly by the locals. I loved living in Kyoto and Nara as well but I am definitely thankful I had that small town introduction.

By the way, you wont be bored at all. You'll love your time there, behind the flashy lights and all that nonsense it's a very relaxing place to be. Just walk and walk for miles and you'll never be in danger. The idea that you'll be bored is insane. The trouble is though, if you just study, you wont get any interaction and you'll find problems in improving your Japanese. People don't talk to each other in public, so practicing chatting is not like in other places Make some plans before you go regarding events to visit, people to meet etc. Just going to Japan wont improve your Japanese. I know that sounds strange but it's true.

My 20,000 room was found via a friend and I think he saw it in an ads magazine such as the kansai flea market. There are plenty of places like that around but they are not so great. Do a search on the internet for guesthouse or gaijin house kyoto or osaka and you may find something.

Someone else mentioned this on another thread,

http://www.wwoofjapan.com/main/index.php?lang=en

Instant interaction with people, nice clean air, study time etc Do this as one of your months, maybe the final month after you've studied a bit.

Zarxrax Wrote:- What about visa/passports? How do I get these, and how long does it normally take?
- If I have about $2000 available after paying for plane tickets, will that probably last me for 2 weeks or so?
- How do I change my money to yen? Can I do it at a local bank, or at the airport? Should I pay for everything in Japan with cash?
- What about travel within Japan? How do I get a train pass? What kind should I get? Is it possible to get to hokkaido from honshu by train?
- I have absolutely no idea what I want to see or do in Japan. Any ideas? ^^

1. http://travel.state.gov/passport/fri/pubs/pubs_854.html
This should give you everything you will need for the passport
2. As others have said, it just depends on how much you are willing to rough it. Staying just outside of the big cities will help a lot. If you stay in Ibaraki and then take the highway bus or train into Tokyo you can find a lot cheaper hotels.
If you can read and speak Japanese you can usually find Ryokan or business hotels catered to Japanese customers run by people who don't speak English for less than hotels that focus on foreigners. Japan has a really good highway bus system that goes all around Japan. It's usually a pretty cheap and convenient way to travel. You could take a night bus from Osaka to Tokyo, sleep on the bus and arrive the next morning, for example.
3. You can change your $ to Yen at a local bank but it is almost always more expensive than changing in Japan. There will be an exchange counter at any international airport. Japan is a VERY cash based society. Many places still do not accept cards. I would just plan on using cash for everything.
4. The kind of pass will depend on where you want to go and how much you want to travel. You can get to Hokkaido by train, but you can usually find some cheap flights that may be as much as a train ticket, too.

Avoid the exchange counter at the airports. Those are a ripoff. You'll lose up to 10% of your money there in fees.

I ordered about 35,000 yen at BofA a few weeks before I left, and got a good rate. It's Bank of America, so they're not going to give you a crap rate, and they have a ton of branches in NC, where you live, Zarx. The other major banks in NC will also give you good rates, too. It just takes a few days to get the money, because yen isn't a popular currency in NC.

Then when I needed cash in Japan, I went to Japan Post ATMs, and took out money there with my ATM card, and got a really good rate. (The fees at Japan Post ATMs are lower than at bank ATMs, and they're open later.) Just make sure you tell your bank you're going to Japan first, so they don't have a cow when you start taking money out of your account from random places in Japan.

Same goes for credit cards, BTW. If you plan on any big purchases, and plan on using plastic, definitely call ahead before you go.

Train-pass-wise: I did the 3-week JR pass for ~$500, and managed to squeeze about $900 worth of travel out of it, but I was taking the 新幹線 from Nagoya to Fukuoka to Sendai and all over the place in-between. (Yes, I counted all the fares up using hyperdia.)

1) I think other people have covered the passport question.. but I'd certainly get on that first. Processing can take up to 6 weeks (yipes!). You can expedite it for more $$, obviously. The travel.state.gov website should have all the info you

Visas - Americans fall under the visa wavier program, so you don't have to apply for anything beforehand. You'll get a 90-day temporary visitor sticker when you land.

2). It's probably doable. Most touristy areas will have backpackers hostels or minshuku that you can stay in for fairly cheap. I typically pay between 2,500 yen - 4,500 yen a night, depending on where I stay and what type of room I get. I usually budget 7,000-10,000yen per day when I'm traveling for food/souvenirs/local transportation (bus/taxi, etc)/admission fees and that is usually plenty.

3) Generally in-country exchange rates are better than the rates you'll find at airports in the States. Whenever I go back and forth I usually just change a couple hundred dollars at Narita... then use my bank card to get at the rest. All Japan Post ATMs take foreign cards (no problems), and the ATMs in 7-11 take them now too...
Japan is a cash based society... while it's slowly changing, it's a lot less hassle than having to deal with your credit card, obviously. You'll be able to use your credit card at hotels and large stores (like big department stores and the electronics store, etc). But for the grocery store, convenience store, etc. expect to pay in cash. Don't worry too much about carrying large amounts of cash with you... everyone does it, and you're pretty safe doing so. And ditto to the thing about calling your card companies.... heck, I've had one company cancel my card for foreign charges even though I had called and told them (several times) that I live overseas (grumble grumble).

4). All 4 main islands are connected by rail... and the rail pass that you'll want is probably this one: http://www.japanrailpass.net/ which is good nation-wide and valid on the shinkansen. There are regional passes available as well, if that would fit your scheduling better... but the national pass will save you a bundle if you're planning on going to lots of different places.
There's also the Seishun 18 Ticket, which is good nation-wide but on local trains only (no Limited Express or Shinkansen)... it's 11,500 yen, but you can only use it during certain periods, so it would depend on when you're going to come.
Highway buses are another option, and while they take some time, they're fairly cheap. I went to visit a friend in Okayama prefecture last spring and paid around 17,000 round trip for the night bus. This is cheaper than one way on the shinkansen from Tokyo to Okayama. Buses from Tokyo to Kyoto/Osaka start around 4,500 one way.
Flying domestically is kind of expensive. Tickets to Hokkaido start at about 10,000 yen one way. If you're going to be here during a peak travel season, expect to pay a little more.... probably closer to 15,000 minimum, one way.

5). I spent 6 days traveling around Kyushu over spring break and it was probably one of the best trips I've had in Japan... definitely a favorite. Very different atmosphere than where I live (Yamanashi) and the people are incredibly friendly. I have yet to make it to Northern Japan (that's on the list for this summer), but besides the obvious Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka.... my favorite places that I've been are:
Nikko (couple hours north of Tokyo... doable in a day trip if you start REALLY early... but two days is probably best) Beautiful scenery, great temples. You can get a money saving train/bus pass from Asakusa.
Fujigoko Area - I'm a bit biased towards this one, since it's about a 40 minute drive from where I live, but there's lots to see, some really nice onsens, scrumptious hotou, and of course, Mt. Fuji. The train to get there is expensive, but there's several buses that run from Shinjuku.
Mt. Aso - Active volcano in Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyushu. You can take a ropeway right up to the crater. The surrounding area is pretty inaka.... the train line to get there isn't even electrified, which was a definite change from what I'm used to.
Himeji - Home to one of the most impressive Japanese castles... doable in a day trip from Kyoto/Osaka
Matsumoto Castle - Another nice castle in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
Kamakura - Old capital of Japan, south of Tokyo. Lots of great temples.

I use japan-guide.com to get ideas for where I want to... then typically turn to my Lonely Planet/coworkers for more ideas. I'd be glad to help you with ideas, just send me an email. I'm most familiar with Tokyo, Yamanashi and the surrounding areas.

I am also thinking about a trip to Japan and all these comments give great advice! but does anyone recommend a certain time of year to visit?

WeTsTICK Wrote:I am also thinking about a trip to Japan and all these comments give great advice! but does anyone recommend a certain time of year to visit?

I would say the fall. Summer is brutally hot and humid. Winter is bitterly cold. And spring is still chilly and has a long rainy season going on right now. So I would say September or October after it has cooled down or May or June after is starts to warm up a bit. This is just for the Kanto area though. Of course the weather will be different in different parts.