That's it. I'm going to Japan, but won't have too much time, so I need all the help I can have to make the most of my travel. Specially I would appreciate any advice on what electronic dictionary should I buy, or which features should I pay more attention to, or what books I MUST buy, places I shouldn't miss, any info on the use of public transport, were to get good maps and that stuff before going there, museums, videogame centers, maid's cafes （笑）, and everything a foreigner MUST experience on its first (and unfortunately short) visit to Japan.

Also, any advice on what I should or shouldn't do would be extremely appreciated.

welcome to japan!

could you start us off by letting us know the general regions you are planning on passing through?

If you are going to be traveling around japan, a rail pass might be a lot cheaper.

http://www.japanrailpass.net/

there are a lot of museums in Tokyo (of course). There are several good ones around Ueno Park. And I liked the Ueno zoo too, even though the stupid panda was sleeping when I went instead of doing cute panda things >_<

maid cafes: akihabara

It would be good to have an idea of what sort of things you're interested in to know what you shouldn't miss. In general I would advise that you try to spend some time outside the major cities as it will give you a different perspective on Japan. There are a number of bilingual maps available (I'm not certain where you're up too with your Kanji). Some that I'd recommend are "Japan: A Bilingual Map : A Complete Map of Japan" from Kodansha but if you plan to spend more time in Japan in the future you might want to look at Japan: A Bilingual Atlas (A Kodansha Guide), Tokyo City Atlas: A Bilingual Guide (3rd Ed.) by Kodansha International, Kyoto-Osaka: A Bilingual Atlas. Make sure you get the most up-to-date edition available. All of these are available from amazon.

As far as electronic dictionaries go, it may be a great deal cheaper to buy it in Japan, but only if you are either confident enough to ask a few questions on your own, or you have a Japanese-speaking friend to go shopping with.

I picked up a Sharp Papyrus PW-AT750 for ２０,０００円 in Akihabara, and a quick check on http://www.thejapanshop.com shows that I saved more than 30%. For my purposes it is exactly what I needed, being on the low end of the price range for dictionaries with handwriting recognition for kanji. You can get one for considerably cheaper if you are willing to do without that feature.

Another feature to pay attention to is the dictionary used. I can't give you much advice there, except that most of the ones I tried used some version of the Genius dictionary for J-E. Mine uses G2, and seems adequate for my needs.

One other caution - the electronic dictionaries most commonly available in Japan are, naturally, for Japanese speakers learning English, and as such the interface is usually in Japanese. Don't be put off too much by this though, as you only need to be able to use a small portion of the features to look words up effectively. I think I use only 5-6 of the function buttons on mine, and I figured those out through trial and error. Some come with English-language quick-start guides as well.

For those intending to buy electronics whilst in Japan: A lot of people use the Japanese price comparison website kakaku.com. Input the type number of the device you want and boom, you get an overview of shops who have the cheapest deal.

Example:

http://kakaku.com/item/20756510338/

This page shows that the bottom price for the Papyrus PW-AT750 is currently 17,740 yen. A lot of the stores are located in Akihabara, so if you`re going there anyway..

Another tip:

It`s very much possible to bargain at Japanese electronic stores. They even did a show about it on Japanese television once. That`s where I got this idea from: A few months ago I went to Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara (really huge everything under one roof store, recommended) to buy a digital camera for an aquaintance. We talked a lot to one of the sales persons there, making sure he understood that we were interesting in buying. After some time we said, look, your store has this policy of trying to offer the best deal, but, tada, on this printout of the kakaku.com website it says that for the price you`re offering your store is ranked 34th place! This made quite an impact and in the end we got the camera for approx. 5000 yen less. It becomes even cheaper when you tell them you don`t need bonus points. So to make a long story short, try it out for yourself some time, you`ll be amazed!

　Thanks for all your advice, specially the Kakaku site, it's great!
Sorry for not giving you more info, it's just that I'm so excited that I just wrote the first thing that crossed mind. XD

Well, actually, I'm going to spend 15 days in Japan, 3 of them in Tokyo and the rest in Osaka. And as for my interests... well... since this is my first time abroad, and I don't have plans on going to Japan again on the short run since I don't have much money, I would like just to experiment EVERYTHING I can, from a karaoke box to a Noh play, including Akiba, Kabukichou, buying manga, anime, music, omiyage, watching what real gothic lolitas and oshare look like in live o_O, and anything related to learning japanese, as I've being studying the language for a couple of years -unfortunately, my proficiency isn't still even near to making me proud.

As for the dictionary, I would love having one with a color screen and japanese keyboard, but the Sharp Papyrus at near 18.000 yen looks pretty interesting... and I definitively won't buy one without pentouch.

It seems like not enough time in Tokyo. Particularly if Tokyo is the beginning of the trip. There is a good chance that the first day or two could have some jet lag recovery

Another bit of practical advice, have some good walking shoes. If you are getting around by train and bus, you will also be walking a lot.

From Osaka, you can easily get to Kyoto for a day-trip.

and if you want to plan train trips, this site is good:
http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi

Please try to keep a log! It would be great for the rest of us.

Indeed, I think I won't have much time, that's why any advice will be appreciated, like ideas for a single day out at Tokio, ways for not getting lost -shudder-, large and cheap libraries -and I mean where to buy bout learning books and funny stuff like manga. Or any advice on how fighting back jet-lag. :s

Megaqwerty, what do you mean exactly?, something like a blog?, posting here from Japan? what would you like to read from me?


Thank you all for your replies. =)

i agree that 3 out of 15 days is not enough time for tokyo. it has a lot to offer.

other people may agree or disagree with my suggestions so collect as many voices as you can. but here i go:

tokyo:
--skip roppongi if you are short on time. it's a black hole (in more ways than one)
--check out shibuya instead.
--akihabara for tech and maids (who seem to be wearing lots of bandages these days)
--harajuku for the famous cosplay bridge, followed by the majestic meiji shrine around the corner (this must be done on a weekend day)
--maybe ueno park?
--asakusa shrine?
--i really enjoyed taking a relaxing stroll through the civic areas of downtown tokyo. a peacefull park like atmosphere with the parlaimentary buildings, etc.
--try staying in a capsule hotel one night (green plaza in shinjuku, or riverside in asakusa are reccomended)

osaka:
lots to see here, especially if you are there for 10+ days. i'm sure you will figure it out there. but i highly recommend some day trips from that home base:
--kyoto is so close, spend 2 days there if you can
--nara temple complex is also close and a must see. one full day is sufficient
--himeji castle is maybe an hour away further west. it is one of the very few original castles left (meaning, not modernly reconstructed from concrete)
--arima onsen spa town is about 30min away and a great chance to enjoy japan's favorite way of relaxation.

If you`re going to Akihabara why not go to a culturally interesting "maid cafe"? The Don Quixote store in Akihabara has one in the upper floors. Of course there are other cafes to. If you don`t want to cash out, there are far more maids hanging around at JR station on the weekends than during weekdays. So if you can choose try and go there on Saturday or Sunday!

Link to a maid cafe vid:

Transtic Wrote:Megaqwerty, what do you mean exactly?, something like a blog?, posting here from Japan? what would you like to read from me?

Something for prosperity: the most obvious beneficiary would be you, of course, but, like I said, those of us who have yet to go to Japan would also benefit, not only from your own particular path, but also from any mistakes you may make.

Well, I hope I won't make too many mistakes... -shudder-

I had the idea of making a blog or something like that for a while, but then thought that 2 week are too little time, and I don't even know if I will have the time to write a decent blog, so give it up. Anyway, if someone wants to read about any weird thing or make use of my little experience, feel free to make as many questions as you wish, It would be fun to write about this here. =)

By the way, something that I have thought lately, is that as my level of Japanese isn't that good yet, and given that I won't have too much time to waste, it would be convenient bringing some useful softwares with me. Firstly, of course, our beloved Firefox. Of course I could download Firefox in Japan, but I'm planning to take with me a copy of Firefox, plus a pack with all my extensions, Bookmarks, Search engines and other stuff. I plan making that pack using FEBE and CLEO extension. (you can look for info about these great extensions on Firefox's site). I hope that will save me a lot of time and prevent me from getting histeric when using a computer in Japan.

The most important aspects of this pack will be: Rikai chan (for reading japanese) and my list of search engines, which includes some japanese dictionaries (Sanseido, Denshi Jisho, Weblio and others), my bookmarks and a couple more of extensions.

That reminds me my idea of making a "How to make the most of Firefox for studying japanese" (aka, "When I grow up, I want to be like Firefox") thread when I came back from Japan.

Does somebody suggest any other convenient software or website I should make use of in Japan?

You may find WaKan useful. It is a dictionary program that uses Jim Breen's EDICT for it's entries, and it doubles as an E-J and J-E dictionary. It's probably more useful if you aren't able to get online somehow.

[ファブリス]

Personally I would immerse myself completely in those two weeks and not worry about the rest of the world in the least! ^_^ You can make tons of photos and share your experiences afterwards. No time for Firefox, or the Internet.

I've been to Japan in April, but decamerOn and many other members here who are based in Japan are of course far better counsel than me.

As for me the best recommendation for you, is to get as much as possible information ahead, print out everything, and you won't have to stress about it there. Look up all the places you want to visit ahead of your trip, on Internet. You should be able also to get a rough idea of the total cost of train fares. Like me, you might find out the Japan Rail Pass is not so advantageous.

I've read you will spend 10 days in Osaka? Did you consider arriving in Tokyo Airport and departure from Osaka? (kansai Kuukoo) or vice-versa? Because if that's the case I am pretty sure a 2 week Japan Rail pass will cost you more!

I've found Wikitravel useful for this kind of planning because while it's not thorough, it clearly tells you what trains and buses and other transport means you can use, and the fares.

Himeji is worth the trip, from Osaka. You shouldn't worry about the distance, it's very easy to get there, and once you're out of the station you can see the white castle far ahead at the end of the main road! Just before the castle you may come across a flea market to your right.

Time Tables
http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi
Train Route Finder
http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae...keyin.html

Note that there are so many trains in Japan, and so frequent that; with the exceptions of local trains which run less frequently; in your plans you only need to note the time from the hour, most important are the name in kanji of each start-end points and if you did a bit of RtK you will spot them into the train stations maps without much trouble.

ATM locator
http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/glob...chPage.jsp

ps: Moving topic to "Community" forum.

aircawn Wrote:You may find WaKan useful. It is a dictionary program that uses Jim Breen's EDICT for it's entries, and it doubles as an E-J and J-E dictionary. It's probably more useful if you aren't able to get online somehow.

Oh yes, I've been using it for grabbing vocabulary while watching anime. It has some issues but is great at compiling vocabulary quickly without wasting time. Besides, it　ill be useful if I need to figure out kanjis from internet images or printed material.

ファブリス Wrote:Personally I would immerse myself completely in those two weeks and not worry about the rest of the world in the least! ^_^ You can make tons of photos and share your experiences afterwards. No time for Firefox, or the Internet.

I don't know how much "free" immersion will I be allowed, since most probably, I'll spend most of the time on "guided" activities, but I'll try to do my best, without getting "too" lost. O_O

About internet and software, my intention is using those tools to make the most of the time I'll spend in Japan. For example, I can look for info on interesting places, maps and other useful stuff with Firefox+rikaichan, and use Wakan to recognize any kanji or jukugo displayed as images, which couldn't be recognized by rikaichan.

ファブリス Wrote:Look up all the places you want to visit ahead of your trip, on Internet.

I've been using Google and Yahoo maps to search for Book Off stores near the place I'll be at, but none of them convinces me completely, so if I don't find anything better, I'll have to use both together.

I'll take into account your advices, thanks a lot. =)

I'm so excited! せっかくの日が近づいてる!