I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Sure, but the act is her livelihood. She's done well with it.
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Japan Travel |OT| One does simply not visit just once
- Thread starter hwalker84
- Start date
Ehh. Dottonbori's cool but Amerikatown/Namba is better, right nearby too really. Less tackiness, better small restaurants, English and Japanese bars, plus Space Station the video game bar if GAF is into that. (Wii U, PS4, 360, NES, N64, etc, etc)
yeah well as I said most of them are rubbish and just try too hard, but those guys are pretty good.
Flight to Tokyo is tomorrow! I honestly can't wait, never been to Japan before, honestly so excited. So far my plan is a few days in Tokyo, then down to Kyoto, then down to Hiroshima and back to Tokyo. I already have a list of things I want to do, but any last minute suggestions from you guys would be great (sorry I don't have time to scour the entire thread). Thanks!
As I said before, if it's organised for the first week in September, I'm all for it. If it's in the Tokyo area.again, we need to get some sort of tag people can wear around Tokyo so some of us stalkers can say hi
(or , you know, we could prearrange something lol)
To progress on my hotel curfew question from the other day, there is none. The website of the place I'm staying has a closing time listed, but that only refers to initial check in.
good taste!
haha. funny.
Just got back from my trip to South Korea and Japan over the past month. 1 week in South Korea(Seoul only), and 3 weeks in Japan. We stayed at hostels the entire time, outside of an onsen for 2 nights, and missing the train led to a hotel.
What we did in Japan
Day 1 - Came in on the day of the Typhoon. Got to see the back end of a festival. Largely just to stay before we went on our trip.
Day 2-5 - Kyoto. Went to most of the temples, hiked in the forest, was during one of their big festivals, road bikes, burst into KyoAni, Went to Kobe twice. We ended up staying in our Onsen here for two of the 4 nights.
Day 6-7 - Osaka. Again, lots of temples, local sights. Nothing really stood too much out for me here
Day 8 - Kobe. Ended up going out the night we got there, and hiked around all the following day to the docks and gardens.
Day 9 - Oniminichi. Ramen and hiked around, But nothing specific.
Day 10- Bike path between Oniminichi and Imbari. stayed at a private onsen in the middle.
Day 11 - Missed our train back, So stuck in Fukayama,
Day 12 - Went to Hiroshima for the day since we were still out there, before taking trains all the way to Tokyo.
Day 13 - Stayed in Shinjuku.
Day 14-15. Went up Mt Fuji.
Day 16-19. Tokyo exploring, Each night involved a different place, Shinjuku, Roponggi, Shubuya, Akiba. And went over most of the major sites along the way.
Day 20. Day trip to Nara.
Day 21. Day buying the remaining gifts and items, largely running around. And night with friends met.
Day 22. Back home.
It's definitely a quick note, but covers the trip.
What we did in Japan
Day 1 - Came in on the day of the Typhoon. Got to see the back end of a festival. Largely just to stay before we went on our trip.
Day 2-5 - Kyoto. Went to most of the temples, hiked in the forest, was during one of their big festivals, road bikes, burst into KyoAni, Went to Kobe twice. We ended up staying in our Onsen here for two of the 4 nights.
Day 6-7 - Osaka. Again, lots of temples, local sights. Nothing really stood too much out for me here
Day 8 - Kobe. Ended up going out the night we got there, and hiked around all the following day to the docks and gardens.
Day 9 - Oniminichi. Ramen and hiked around, But nothing specific.
Day 10- Bike path between Oniminichi and Imbari. stayed at a private onsen in the middle.
Day 11 - Missed our train back, So stuck in Fukayama,
Day 12 - Went to Hiroshima for the day since we were still out there, before taking trains all the way to Tokyo.
Day 13 - Stayed in Shinjuku.
Day 14-15. Went up Mt Fuji.
Day 16-19. Tokyo exploring, Each night involved a different place, Shinjuku, Roponggi, Shubuya, Akiba. And went over most of the major sites along the way.
Day 20. Day trip to Nara.
Day 21. Day buying the remaining gifts and items, largely running around. And night with friends met.
Day 22. Back home.
It's definitely a quick note, but covers the trip.
MikeHattsu
Member
Did they chase you out with a map to the gift shop location?
Yup. They chased me out apologizing with a map. LOL. I did love this about the country. I would do something wrong and they would be apologizing to me.
Here's another random question for you guys: What places should I visit to pick up a couple of light novels? Even though I know my current knowledge of japanese won't be enough to read them without constantly looking words up in a dictionary, I'd love to pick some up while I'm in Japan since ordering them would be a real hassle due to Argentina's current import restrictions.
Since I read that they cost around 600 yen per tome, I figured I'd probably be looking to pick up two full series: Umineko no naku koro ni and Kokoro Connect. Are these two still easy enough to find that I'd be able to get them without much effort, or should I go looking for specific shops to get my hands on them? Both new and used copies would probably be fine with me, in case that matters.
Since I read that they cost around 600 yen per tome, I figured I'd probably be looking to pick up two full series: Umineko no naku koro ni and Kokoro Connect. Are these two still easy enough to find that I'd be able to get them without much effort, or should I go looking for specific shops to get my hands on them? Both new and used copies would probably be fine with me, in case that matters.
Book off is a good place to start
openrob
Member
Ok guys I am welcoming you into my life of last minute.com planning.
I leave tomorrow for China, and arrive in Japan in 2 weeks. I have planned NOTHING for Japan, just my tickets. Flying into Osaka and flying out of Tokyo. How long should I spend in Tokyo Ideally? (1 Week total in Japan).
I am going to the Japan centre at 2:00pm (London) to buy a Jrail Pass - I didn't know I had to buy before I left!
My life is so disorganized... Ugghh!
I leave tomorrow for China, and arrive in Japan in 2 weeks. I have planned NOTHING for Japan, just my tickets. Flying into Osaka and flying out of Tokyo. How long should I spend in Tokyo Ideally? (1 Week total in Japan).
I am going to the Japan centre at 2:00pm (London) to buy a Jrail Pass - I didn't know I had to buy before I left!
My life is so disorganized... Ugghh!
All of it. Tokyo dabes.
Snkfanatic
Banned
Just wanted to say I love the thread. I am thinking of going next year with some friends and all this info will be very helpful. Won't be my first time outside of the US but it has been a long time since I have flown or visited anywhere.
Do you think $3,500 is a decent budget for 1 person for a week/week and a half? I checked flights from my area (Eastern US) to Tokyo and it looks like $1500 to $2000 just for the flight alone. I want to make sure I have enough to enjoy myself and shop for goodies here and there.
Plan to go to Tokyo, Akihabara and other sights. This is all very early so I am just thinking of getting a budget goal.
Do you think $3,500 is a decent budget for 1 person for a week/week and a half? I checked flights from my area (Eastern US) to Tokyo and it looks like $1500 to $2000 just for the flight alone. I want to make sure I have enough to enjoy myself and shop for goodies here and there.
Plan to go to Tokyo, Akihabara and other sights. This is all very early so I am just thinking of getting a budget goal.
Nice tip! Their site's store locator is a bit hard to navigate with all the regions being written in kanji, but I guess I can always check Jisho.org to guess the kanji of the place I'll be staying at.
Regarding housing, I've checked that I'll be taking the Keiyo Line to attend to the TGS, but a quick Sakura House search returned no places that were near a stop from that line.
Therefore, my question is this: Is connecting two or more train lines and coordinating their arrival/departure times easy to the point where I can choose any Sakura House that's around a station and get to and from the TGS in a timely manner, or should I look for specific places that offer the least number of required line swaps?
MikeHattsu
Member
As long as it's somewhere close to a Yamanote line station, you'll be fine. There's trains at least every 5 minutes and you can transfer to the Keiyo Line at Tokyo Station.
RapidCancel
Member
Book off is pretty easy to spot, I've found quite a few just from walking around town. There's one really close to akihabara station. You can even find some just by searching on google maps.
Just bought my ticket for HK and Japan this year. I'm starting to feel like I should be visiting other places since this is my third year in a row I'm visiting Japan, along with another trip planned for next year, but then I think about all the food and stuff I miss there and it doesn't matter anymore. I'll be there during November this time, so any recommendations on some nice places to go hiking and check out the autumn leaves?
Jack Random
Member
you'll need to play with flight dates, if you are careful, you can get the ticket price down to $1300 or so (at least, from NY/NJ).
I typically budget $2.5k for flight and hotel and about $1k for spending cash
RapidCancel
Member
Don't forget that there are certain months where its more expensive to go compared to others. If you can adjust your dates around then I'd suggest doing it to save some money. I would imagine it would be a bit cheaper than what I pay for tickets from Texas because I always have to make a stop on the east or west coast.
I typically paid $1200 or so for tickets close to new years, but booking for November this year was right at $1000.
I typically paid $1200 or so for tickets close to new years, but booking for November this year was right at $1000.
Snkfanatic
Banned
We are looking at September October time so hopefully it shouldn't be to bad.
I would suggest to anyone traveling to Japan, or any other part of the world, to try out CouchSurfing. Meeting locals and spending time with them is the best way to travel anywhere. They provide very useful tips and information that no Internet blog, tourism site, or almost any other source of information can.
A nice example of a tip a fellow Japanese friend gave me is that is that you can go to the supermarket a little before closing time to get a great discount on food (sushi, sashimi, etc.).
A nice example of a tip a fellow Japanese friend gave me is that is that you can go to the supermarket a little before closing time to get a great discount on food (sushi, sashimi, etc.).
RapidCancel
Member
Mid/late September and late October would be a cheaper time to go. If I didn't have to go to HK this year my ticket would only be $940! D:
My teacher has this permanent Japanese SIM card she bought five years ago online from the states for 35$. No plan, no contact, pay-as-you-go. They were authorized by Softbank, I believe.
Initially my plan was to get that (for the SMS capabilities) and then pocket-Wi-Fi or a data card for when I need google maps, etc.
Unfortunately I think things have changed: wherever I look it seems you now need to be a permanent resident of Japan to have a non-disposable/non-time sensitive SIM card. And none of them have SMS, only data.
I have friends in Japan and need to be able to text them while I'm there (I don't want to have to rely on the net to contact them in case they have their data turned off and/or aren't on a wifi connection)
What's my best course of action for SMS or must I rely on LINE and email?
Initially my plan was to get that (for the SMS capabilities) and then pocket-Wi-Fi or a data card for when I need google maps, etc.
Unfortunately I think things have changed: wherever I look it seems you now need to be a permanent resident of Japan to have a non-disposable/non-time sensitive SIM card. And none of them have SMS, only data.
I have friends in Japan and need to be able to text them while I'm there (I don't want to have to rely on the net to contact them in case they have their data turned off and/or aren't on a wifi connection)
What's my best course of action for SMS or must I rely on LINE and email?
BronsonLee
Member
Use apps like TextPlus or Viber, and let them know when you text them that it's you.
Source: Me, I used TextPlus and it worked fine
So these are apps that will send a text on my behalf? Yay technology! I'll check that out, thanks.
BronsonLee
Member
Yes, free texting and calling to some degree. They work via Wi-Fi/mobile data, though.
Yeah that's fine. I was planning on buying some data anyways. Thanks again, should do the trick.
So I'm planning a trip for January - Feb and going back to Asia.
Was thinking about Japan for the first few days - week then off to Korea for 3 or so weeks.
I'm probably going to scour through this thread for some ideas later. Any recommendations on a good location to stay? Going with a friend (or two) and want to see as much stuff as we can. Can i easily train it around to other parts of the country? I saw the post about biking across the country on set trails and dropping off the bike at any checkpoint. Any more info on that? Thanks!
Was thinking about Japan for the first few days - week then off to Korea for 3 or so weeks.
I'm probably going to scour through this thread for some ideas later. Any recommendations on a good location to stay? Going with a friend (or two) and want to see as much stuff as we can. Can i easily train it around to other parts of the country? I saw the post about biking across the country on set trails and dropping off the bike at any checkpoint. Any more info on that? Thanks!
RapidCancel
Member
Typhoon ruining my Kansai trip, couldn't do Nara Koen properly because of the rain (and the train tracks were flooded when we tried to head back to Osaka!), and couldn't go to Fushimi Inari today because of the goddamn rain (plus 40min shinkansen delay!).
I hope the weather is better on Tuesday since that's when we go to Hiroshima.
I hope the weather is better on Tuesday since that's when we go to Hiroshima.
ThreePiMatt
Member
Fly out tomorrow. This is me right now:
Hopefully the typhoon doesn't impact my flight, but it does look like it might rain for a week. Should, at the very least make Summer Sonic and Mt. Fuji interesting.
Hopefully the typhoon doesn't impact my flight, but it does look like it might rain for a week. Should, at the very least make Summer Sonic and Mt. Fuji interesting.
MikeHattsu
Member
Hope you have fun even if there's bad weather!
Fly out tomorrow. This is me right now:
Hopefully the typhoon doesn't impact my flight, but it does look like it might rain for a week. Should, at the very least make Summer Sonic and Mt. Fuji interesting.
I'm a bit jelly, I couldn't get Saturday and Sunday off work. Have fun at Summer Sonic!
ThreePiMatt
Member
Just going Saturday. Which is a bummer because I bought my ticket before Queen was announced to play on Sunday.
Yeah, it's a pretty phenomenal lineup they have this year. Which stages do you plan on hitting?
ThreePiMatt
Member
Haven't really worked that out yet, but Arctic Monkeys and Robert Plant are must see for me. I want to check out Babymetal because I'm too curious as to what that actually is.
Patrick Bateman
Member
Does anyone know if the Nintendo 3DS LL works with US- or EU-games?
I have a chance to get it super cheap in Japan.
I have a chance to get it super cheap in Japan.
No, 3DS is region locked.
Patrick Bateman
Member
Aβydoς;124703174 said:
I'm going in early November. Heat is mostly gone, humidity nearly absent, typhoon season passed, not part of the rainy season, fall colours on the trees, and ticket prices are lower because it's the off season.
PS BronsonLee: I found my permanent Japanese SIM after all. I now have my own telephone number in Japan, and I can SMS when I'm in Japan for 12 cents per message. Was only 35 bucks.
Gives me peace of mind in case I need to contact my friends but don't have data available at the moment
PS BronsonLee: I found my permanent Japanese SIM after all. I now have my own telephone number in Japan, and I can SMS when I'm in Japan for 12 cents per message. Was only 35 bucks.
Gives me peace of mind in case I need to contact my friends but don't have data available at the moment
How did you do that? I was just thinking about what I should do to be reachable by phone while in Japan, since I'm going to get murdered by roaming rates on my crappy Argentine SIM. I had considered stuff such as buying Skype credit and using wi-fi hotspots to do my calls, but I guess getting a SIM I could use on my phone to be more easily reachable would we way better than that.