Tanhuser
New member
Registered: 2010-03-08
Posts: 8
Hello ,
in some weeks I am going to study in Osaka for around 6 months. I arrive at Kansai Int. Airport in the evening, perhaps 6 o'clock. Unfortunately, this is too late to move into my dorm.. so I am basically homeless for the first night. Moreover, I am going to have a major Jet-lag and who knows what else.
I don't want to use a hotel or so as I don't know if I would be able to sleep... besides the fact that hotels cost money. So I thought about staying around the airport for perhaps 12 hours or so. Sleeping here and there if possible - or would this be a problem? And would it be also possible to hang around somewhere in the city (luggage included)? Any ideas?
Babyrat
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2008-10-07
Posts: 144
Youth hostels (if that is the word) is a great way to sleep cheaply and has a high chance that a staff member speaks english if you are flaky with Japanese. Try a google search for osaka youth hostels. And have fun osaka its an awesome place, I prefered it much more than tokyo.
Sleeping in airports is common practice for people that have delayed flights or arrived way to early, so there is no problem doing that.
Last edited by Babyrat (2010 March 08, 1:55 pm)
rich_f
Member
From: north carolina
Registered: 2007-07-12
Posts: 1708
Second that-- Osaka is lots of fun, and the food is awesome. But airports aren't the most comfortable places to sleep. You'll probably hate it in the morning. If you can spare a couple thousand yen, go to a hostel or a manga cafe for the night.
4500 yen will get you a dirt cheap business hotel. They're not too bad, actually. You get a bed and a shower, but you have to go out into the hall to change your mind. The rooms be tiny. Avoid the capsules. Not worth it.
I did something similar when I flew in to Tokyo-- I got in around 5-ish, grabbed a bunch of conbini food, and crashed at a cheap biz hotel and slept for about 10 hours. Got up at 6 am and grabbed the first shinkansen out. The hotel was about 2 blocks from 上野駅, which saved a lot of hassle. 時差ぼけ is a bit of a pain, but I got used to it pretty quickly. (Coming back the US was far worse.)
When you get to Osaka, there's a great little okonomiyaki restaurant called メロディー in Umeda... I found it wandering near the Sky Tower. No idea how to actually find it again. Tiny place, but great food. It's on a side street somewhere. I like their modern-yaki.
vix86
Member
From: Tokyo
Registered: 2010-01-19
Posts: 1469
Delina wrote:
Two off-the-wall suggestions:
1. Manga-kissa (manga cafe) - I don't think sleeping is encouraged but if you need a place to be for a night, you can stay up all night drinking coffee and reading manga. Many are 24 hours.
2. Love hotel. (Believe it or not my mom suggested this as a cheap lodging option... one of the perks of having a 70's hippie mom.)
I did not try either one of these when I was in Tokyo (I was lucky enough to have a friend to crash with) but there's probably someone here who has...
1) Works, but the cost of a Manga cafe will be close to that of a hostel in some cases, but they have net usually which is a plus.
2) Actually this doesn't work any more apparently. I had planned when I went to Tokyo for a con in Dec. to stay in a love hotel for the few days I was there cause I had heard they were cheap. After talking about with some people I learned that some of the other students had actually tried something like this in Osaka it self at one point. Out drinking, missed last train, drunk off their ass, that deal. They tried to go in by themselves and the hotel said "No." Apparently in recent years checking yourself into Love Hotels and commiting suicide has become a fad or something so you can't go into a love hotel unless you are with someone. XD Unfortunately the friend I went to Tokyo with didn't want to try going into a Love Hotel together and seeing what the people would say haha (would have been 2 guys lol). I hear some hotels are totally automated now, but based upon the antedcote I think many still have clerks. Oh well, I really wanted to see the inside of one too 
.
Tanhuser
New member
Registered: 2010-03-08
Posts: 8
Hey, thanks for your suggestions. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I am actually from Europe which, according to wikipedia, should make the Jet-Lag much worse. I don't have any world traveling experience but it doesn't sound like a good deal to pay for one night around half as much as the monthly rent of my dorm, just to experience some form of insomnia. Manga Cafe sounds too complicated for my poor Japanese level 
After all it still seems the best is not to leave the "safe harbor" for the first night as no one said anything against it 
. Lockers are a plus too. I often heard that sleeping at the airport is normal, but usually this was about about people waiting for their flight in the departure zone.
@vix86
I am going to the Osaka University, Suita campus. My dorm should be somewhere in Suita too.
Delina
Member
From: US
Registered: 2008-02-12
Posts: 102
The WikiTravel on Kansai Airport seems to imply that sleeping is normal, and that the information kiosks will even give you a free blanket. Aww. Unfortunately I'm not the kind of person who can sleep anywhere, but good luck to you if you try. 12 hours in the Frankfurt airport (while it was under construction) was one of my worst travel memories, but Kansai Airport may be nicer.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Kansai_Interna … port#Sleep
I wouldn't discount Babyrat's suggestion about youth hostels. They're more in the range of one or two reasonable dinners out than half a month's rent. Several people I met who had no Japanese skills were staying there. This one is ￥3,300 for a dormitory room, and someone there speaks enough English to put together this web page:
http://www.osaka-yha.com/shin-osaka/shi … page1.html
There are also several web sites like this that list hostels and have traveler reviews:
http://www.hostelworld.com/findabed.php … ntry.Japan
If you're going to have all your stuff with you, and are considering dormitory-style lodging, you might want to think about whether there will be a safe place to put it while you're sleeping.
As for jet lag, I'm American and did find the west-to-east leg to be much worse. I kicked it by arriving in the evening extremely tired, having a nice big dinner (eating meals in sync with your new local time will help to quickly reset your clock - avoid the midnight snack and make sure to get up for breakfast), and falling right to sleep. I thought I had it licked, but then my roommate came back from Europe a couple of days later and kept waking up in the middle of the night, flushing the toilet and waking me up. 
Jet lag is contagious!
vix86
Member
From: Tokyo
Registered: 2010-01-19
Posts: 1469
Tanhuser wrote:
Hey, thanks for your suggestions. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I am actually from Europe which, according to wikipedia, should make the Jet-Lag much worse. I don't have any world traveling experience but it doesn't sound like a good deal to pay for one night around half as much as the monthly rent of my dorm, just to experience some form of insomnia. Manga Cafe sounds too complicated for my poor Japanese level
After all it still seems the best is not to leave the "safe harbor" for the first night as no one said anything against it . Lockers are a plus too. I often heard that sleeping at the airport is normal, but usually this was about about people waiting for their flight in the departure zone.
@vix86
I am going to the Osaka University, Suita campus. My dorm should be somewhere in Suita too.
Haha, not the same university but you and me are literally in the same city. Kansai Daigaku and my dorm are in Suita as well, but it looks like OsakaU is little bit north of KansaiU. I hope they've given you good directions to your dorm, if not I should be able to give you some advice for getting to that region. For one, be sure you have about 20-30,000Yen on you. You'll have to take a bus from KIX to Umeda station and that's 1500Yen.
Overall though, ya I would probably just wait it out in the airport. I can't recall what KIX's seats were like but you might be able to find an empty spot and sprawl across 2-3 seats and sleep, assuming the police don't bug you (The cops were bugging non-jps for their passports, when I left from Tokyo). Post if you got any more questions, I or plenty of other people would be glad to answer any.
Tzadeck
Member
From: Kinki
Registered: 2009-02-21
Posts: 2484
Delina wrote:
Two off-the-wall suggestions:
1. Manga-kissa (manga cafe) - I don't think sleeping is encouraged but if you need a place to be for a night, you can stay up all night drinking coffee and reading manga. Many are 24 hours.
2. Love hotel. (Believe it or not my mom suggested this as a cheap lodging option... one of the perks of having a 70's hippie mom.)
I did not try either one of these when I was in Tokyo (I was lucky enough to have a friend to crash with) but there's probably someone here who has...
Sleeping IS encouraged in a Manga-Kissa. There are definitely some manga-kissa that are only for sleeping. I know one in Kyoto that has thousands of blankets and pillows everywhere, and the lights in the building are kept off even during the day, haha. Of course, there are private little lights in the booths. When sleeping in one, it's all about getting a good chair before all the full-reclining ones are taken. If you come in at 4 am or so, you probably won't get a good chair.
As for love hotels, some of them don't even have a person that you see at all. You just press a button for your room, and when you leave you pay a machine. In ones like these, I assume no one will tell you you need someone with you.
Tanhuser
New member
Registered: 2010-03-08
Posts: 8
Hi,
you somehow managed to make the manga-kiss sound like a good idea. I am not into adventures, at least not when I am the first day in a giant city with a completely different culture/language and when people awaiting me the next day. So can someone recommend me a cafe around Umeda/Osaka station (as this is the best place to stay transportation wise compared to Namba)... or are the cafes countless in numbers and easy to handle even for a foreigner with bad language skills? I assume lockers should be around the station.
vix86 wrote:
Haha, not the same university but you and me are literally in the same city. Kansai Daigaku and my dorm are in Suita as well, but it looks like OsakaU is little bit north of KansaiU. I hope they've given you good directions to your dorm, if not I should be able to give you some advice for getting to that region. For one, be sure you have about 20-30,000Yen on you. You'll have to take a bus from KIX to Umeda station and that's 1500Yen.
Thanks for your guidance. Fortunately they gave me some directions and a pocket guide so I am not lost concerning my dorm. I looked it up in Google earth (actually I didn't do anything else for the last 3 hours than "flying" through Osaka) and my dorm seems to bee situated between Kansai and Osaka University and 2km away from the next train station. After looking over the location, it seems to be having a bike would be really helpful. Is Suita a good place to travel by bike and can you perhaps recommend me any shops for (used) bikes?
rich_f
Member
From: north carolina
Registered: 2007-07-12
Posts: 1708
I totally forgot about this: the Welcome Inn Desk. It's right at the Kansai Int'l Airport Terminal, and they can hook you up with any kind of lodging you need, be it hostel or 4-star hotel, or campsite. They do the whole spectrum of cheapness.
So if you feel overwhelmed, head over to the desk and ask for help. English is spoken there if your brain feels broken. (It can happen at first.)
Website: http://www.itcj.jp/eng/index.php
Check the website to make sure the desk at KIA will open when your flight gets in. They aren't open 24/7. You can also just use the website and set up something through that. (Although I have had better luck talking to them over the phone-- they seem to find better/much cheaper stuff that way.)
Here's a link to a pdf flyer with all 5 counter locations, a map showing where they are, and their hours of operation. Useful stuff for any trip.
http://www.vjy2010.jp/cp/image/20091127-2920_file11.pdf
Last edited by rich_f (2010 March 16, 1:40 am)
vix86
Member
From: Tokyo
Registered: 2010-01-19
Posts: 1469
Tanhuser wrote:
Thanks for your guidance. Fortunately they gave me some directions and a pocket guide so I am not lost concerning my dorm. I looked it up in Google earth (actually I didn't do anything else for the last 3 hours than "flying" through Osaka) and my dorm seems to bee situated between Kansai and Osaka University and 2km away from the next train station. After looking over the location, it seems to be having a bike would be really helpful. Is Suita a good place to travel by bike and can you perhaps recommend me any shops for (used) bikes?
Well thats good that they helped you out. Haha any of the people that came to Kansai before the official pickup date via the University had to fend on their own and some ended up getting pretty lost.
You'll have to judge the distance on your own but I know the girls in the program here, their dorm is about 10 minutes away from the campus (walking). So I know some of them invested in a bike. The Suita region has some hills that are pretty big, but in general I find that much of Osaka is hilly. As far as getting a bike goes, if I recall correctly, there is a used bike shop in either Toyotsu or Suita, I'll have to ask some of the people here. You can get a basic bike for 8000-10,000yen.
Couple other side points which aren't really related to this thread but I want to suggest just in case. As soon as you get free time go to Suita stop and go to the Suita city hall (you can see it from the train station) and start the paperwork for your Alien registration card (Gaikokujin Toroku). You'll eventually get a Certificate which proves the card is in the mail and this lets you get a phone, without it you can't get a cellphone and you'll want one of those ASAP.
