Off to Japan soon
Oct22
on October 22, 2010
at 2:25 pm
Within the next few days, I’ll be heading out for my vacation to Japan. This is one of the trips I’ve been wanted to do for a long time.
This does mean, I won’t be making any comics for the next two weeks. BUT I will be updating my twitter and taking as much pictures as I can, so if you want to see how my trip is going, feel free to follow me on Twitter. I’ll probably also be doing some old fashion sketching on Paper (Something I haven’t done for a while) so I will have some new images to upload when my vacation is over.
As someone who lived in Japan for many years, here are a few tips:
1) Buy a JR rail pass BEFORE you arrive in Japan, and get the 14 day if you can afford it. It is a great deal that only foreign visitors can get.
2) If you fly into Tokyo or Osaka, then explore these areas on your own without using (starting) your JR pass until you are ready to explore the rest of the country.
3) Use Japan Post ATM (bank) machines to withdraw Japanese cash with best exchange rates.
4) Buy a prepaid Suica card at the JR ticket office at the airport, which you can load cash for rail, subways, buses, etc.
5) Top tourist places to visit are: Tokyo (Asakusa, Akihabara, Shinjuku, Odaiba, etc.), Kyoto, Nara, Miyajima (especially view on mountain top), Osaka (Umeda, DenDen, etc.), Himeji Castle, Matsushima, Amanohashidate, Yanagawa Canals, and Sapporo.
6) Top places for Onsens (Hot Spring Baths) are: Beppu, Kusatsu, and the whole Izu Peninsula (from Hakone & Atami to Shimoda).
7) Japan Tourist office at airports and various cities will provide free maps, excellent guides, good advice, hotel bookings, etc.
8) You can also travel without any advance hotel bookings, just stay in cheap business hotels (ホテル) and inns (イン) around the major train stations of the area.
9) Learn a few basic words (thank you ~ arigato gozaimasu, yes ~ hai, no ~ iie, how much ~ ikura-desu-ka, excuse-me ~ sumimasen, sorry ~ gomen/gomen, no thanks ~ iie-kekkou-des, …)
10) Prepaid noodle/curry/… shops with ticket machines offer best value for cheap restaurant food, and QQ (99 Yen) and Lawsons 100 Yen grocery stores are great places to buy cheap food.
Well if he’s staying for 2 weeks and gets the 14 day pass, then there’s no reason for him to not activate the pass right away 😉 I also got the 14 day pass for my 2 weeks there, and it was definitely worth it. Besides just the bullet trains, it also of course covers all JR buses, regular trains, and the JR limited express trains like the NEX from Narita. I would definitely abuse the pass as much as possible for the limited express tickets when you go between areas not covered by bullet train.
The Suica card is nice to have if you spend a lot of time in the greater Tokyo area, but AFAIK it can’t really be used much in other areas of the country. Within the greater Tokyo area it can be really nice though. Not only does it cover incidental fares you may have for subways or private railways, but many convenience stores let you pay via Suica as well.
General rule of thumb in the Tokyo area for escalator ettiquette is to stand on the left, walk on the right side while riding them. Be polite to people of course, and if you do know decent Japanese it tends to get people to open up to you a lot more as well. Midori no Madoguchi (It has a green sign) is where you book tickets for bullet trains and limited express. It’s the same logo in every station once you know what it looks like.
Most public bathrooms don’t have soap or towels btw! So be sure to bring your own hand sanitizer and a small towel — basically everyone carries a small towel with them. (Although I don’t see the Japanese bring their own soap … eww?) ALSO — some bathrooms don’t provide toilet paper, so it’s a good idea to have some packages of tissues with you just in case. Some you can buy tissue for like 100yen, but…
Oh yeah — bring or get yourself a compact umbrella. If/when it rains, you will thank me 😉
Vending machine prices are generally around the same as the convenience marts like 7-11 and Lawsons. If you can find an actual grocery store in the area, you can actually save a lot of money on snacks and even some meal stuff. (For example, Lawsons might sell a 500ml Coke for 120-150yen. The grocery store would have it for like 95yen) The good news is the Japanese don’t rip off for stuff like soda in vending machines at tourist spots. It’s pretty much the same everywhere you go in the country.
Definitely get your cash from the Japan Post ATMs. They don’t charge an ATM fee, and the conversion fee is a flat 3.2% which is a lot less than you can get it any other way. If you plan on buying a lot from specific stores, sign up for a Points Card even if you will only be there for 2 weeks. Many of the places give you anywhere from 10-18% of your purchase total in “Points” on the card, which is basically free money. AKA spend $100 at the store and @ 10% you get $10 on the card for free stuff.
I avoided the “backpacker hotels” at all costs honestly. The “Business Hotels” are pretty much the same, except you are far less likely to have a bunch of obnoxious tourists around. Unless you want to be able to randomly talk to people from all over the place in the lounge at night but… They tend to be very reasonably priced as well, at anywhere from 2200-4000yen for a single room. You can save more if you go with a bunk, but that is kinda the “capsule hotel” experience and not really enjoyable…
Thanks for the tips guys. I’ve already arrived in Japan, and most of my plans have already been made. But I’lll use what I can from your suggestions.
Well vacation is almost over… Transit back to the middle east now… Hopefully comic will start in the next few days