Questions about Japan's airports

[jwinges]

Hey Guys,

My wife and I are heading to Japan in late March and need some advice (since travel agents are worthless). We've been looking through the Lonely Planet series of books and want to see a couple of cities. We have 15-16 days minus 3 days at a conference in Tsukuba Science City to split between seeing

-Kyoto (probably spend 2-3 days, also want to find a nice hot springs here)

-Osaka (probably only spend 1-2 nights)

-Tokyo (we want to spend the bulk of our time here, i think)(Time for akihabara, ghibli museum, etc, a lot of shopping going to be happening.)

We're thinking of starting by flying into Kansai Int. and flying out of Tokyo.

Questions are:

1. If anybody has any suggestions of hotspots or things we won't find in Lonely Planet it would be greatly appreciated.

2. Suggestions for nice, resonably priced ($80-120 american/night) hotels in these cities

3. Hotspots and nightlife

4. Daytrips etc.

Basically, I'm finding this worse than planning a wedding. The choices are rediculus and we have so little time.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Sumdumgai]

Well you better know how to navigate using a map, because there are no street names in Tokyo.

If you're going shopping for anime goods and doujinshi, Akihabara is the place my wife and I spent the most time at. There is a Mandarake and Toranoana in the area. I think there's a Melon Books... There are plenty of shops with toys. There's also a multi-story Gamers there.

My wife and I aren't social people so we don't know any good night-life spots.

And we only went to one temple, then spent the rest of the trip going to shops and Comic Market. So can't help you on day trips either.

[sketchley]

Advice - read more than one guide book, as they all have different points of view, and highlight different aspects of the country and culture. Also check out some of the information that may be available through your nearest Japanese embassy, (your country's) embassy in Japan, and any local Japan travel bureau agencies that you can find near you.

Take note of local holidays. One of my more pleasant memories, is the picture of a wide-eyed white tourists in Korea, walking past an entire city of closed shops, because they didn't bother to check on Korean holidays nor realize that during Korean thanksgiving EVERYONE closes up shop, and returns to their hometown. There are a few times of the year that the same happens in Japan.

When my parents came to Japan, they stayed at Leo Palace 21. Mind you, they stayed for 3 weeks in the same place. the location was good, roughly mid-way between Osaka and Kyoto, making both cities easily accessible for day trips. Believe me, 3 weeks was not enough, and they barely scratched the surface of things to see.

The best thing you can do is read guides and information, and make a list of 'would be nice to see' spots. Don't make any hard plans, as once you're hear you might want to visit some place that you didn't know about until after arriving, or you might end up spending a full day at only one site, despite a bunch of other equally intersting sites within a few blocks.

Make a (Japanese) friend here before coming via an IM service - or even better, a traveling Japanese in your place of residence. They will be better than the perfect guides.

On the airports - Narita generally has the most connections to different places outside of Japan. The new Chuo-bu airport in Nagoya is offering some strong competition to Kansai airport, and it may be cheaper to fly into there, and take a train into Kinki.

For transport between Kansai and Kanto, there are numerous options. The cheapest is a red eye bus. The fastest would be a flight - after the new Kobe airport opened, it was cheaper to fly from Kobe to Haneda then it was to take the shinkansen. It probably still is. But, don't be afraid to take an overnight train or some other means that'll allow you to see more of the country.

As far as shopping goes, the general rule of thumb is: the easier and/or more convenient it is to get to, the more expensive it'll be. Some of the best places to buy anime and manga goods are slightly off the beaten path. Mandarake is a good place to start, but surprisingly, I've been finding some really good stuff at Book Off for dirt cheap prices.

[sketchley]

Oh, and start learning the language. At the very least, it'll help doors open quicker. At most, it'll help you start to understand the culture, which will make you good friends, and help you with your bottem line (as in: understand the words for "sale". So many foreigners who come here and never bother to learn the language litterally walk past so many bargains it's not funny. All because they never bothered to learn one or two words; and yes, they usually end up buying the same thing for a more expensive price.)

Edited October 28, 2006 by sketchley

[F-ZeroOne]

Rule one of visting Tokyo: YOU WILL GET A GOOD MAP OF TOKYO. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE!

Seriously, Tokyo is a fun city to get lost in but there will be times when you don't want to be lost. Even the taxi drivers don't know their way round, thats why they all have GPS. Kodansha publishing do a handy, A5-size Tokyo city atlas that also covers Yokohama and should probably cover most of the things you're likely to be doing in the amount of time you have.

If you have a PDA, theres a freeware program called Metro that covers Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and whioch can be very helpful if you get stuck. It sometimes suggests a slightly more roundabout route than strictly neccesary, but I'd still be going round and round Osaka without it!

You will probably want to investigate a Japan Rail Pass; these cover a specific period (up to 21 days, IIRC) and are well worth it if you're going to be travelling around a bit. Prices start at about £150 or so for a 7-day pass.

2 -3 days is nowhere near enough time to see all Kyoto and the surrounding area has to offer, but you could probably see the most famous sights. Do try to get to see Himeji castle while you're there.

If you want any advice on anime shopping for while you're there, please PM me and I can send you some tips.

Bear in mind you need to arrange a time to visit the Ghibli museum before you get to Japan.

Edited October 28, 2006 by F-ZeroOne

[Akilae]

Kyoto:

Kyoto Tower Hotel. Relatively cheap, cozy, and right across the street from the train station, very convenient.

Locations: Basically anything that can be seen has been covered by the Lonely Planet guides, I'd suggest on going on Johnny Hillwalker's walking tour if you want to take the easy way out, even though every foreigner passing through Kyoto has walked with the guy at least once... If not, get a map, plot your own course, and start walking! Kyoto isn't large, and it's easily walkable if you tackle different sections of the city each day. Personal favourites: Kiyomizu Temple, the path leading up to Kiyomizu (many temples branching off from there), Nijo-jo (yeah, experience what "oooh... Last Samurai!!" moment), Higashi Honganji, Philosopher's Walk, Kinkakuji, Jinkakuji, Sanjosangendo. Top off one of the days by becoming a Geisha groupie for a night at Gion. A day trip down to Nara is also rewarding, and you get to feed the deer too!

I'm not sure about the festivities that go on, but the last time I was there in March, some noteables: the Lantern festival along the Kiyomizu path, early sakura bloomings, and supposedly I arrived around the time of the annual free geisha performance (offered once a year, FREE, for the general public), but I didn't know till after I left.

In case you haven't figured out yet, I'm heavy on history and architecture, Kyoto and Nara alone could supply me with enough material for a week...

Oh, plan on dining at normal hours in Kyoto. Pretty much everything closes after dinner time.

[Beltane70]

Bear in mind you need to arrange a time to visit the Ghibli museum before you get to Japan.

That all depends on if you don't know anyone that lives in Japan. If you have friends already in Tokyo, they could probably get you tickets as early as the day before you want to go. That's exactly how my friends and I got our tickets when we went earlier this year. In fact, I think our friend actually bought us our tickets on the day we went to the museum!

[wolfx]

If you're gonna travel alot by train (i'm sure you will), explore your options with a rail pass. Japan Rail offers a buncha packages specially for tourists (locals can't buy it) which offer you a cheap flat rate to go all over japan for 2 weeks, a month etc.

Have a very good english guide to the railway system in Tokyo or wherever you wanna go like Kyoto etc. Very very important. And of course get on the right trains. It can be confusing at 1st.

Akihabara is a must visit, if you're an anime/toy/figure fan.

Asakusa is the place with the big lantern. An obvious tourist spot.

A japanese friend will make your stay alot better and easier.

[sketchley]

You will probably want to investigate a Japan Rail Pass; these cover a specific period (up to 21 days, IIRC) and are well worth it if you're going to be travelling around a bit. Prices start at about £150 or so for a 7-day pass.

No, no, no, no, no. Only get a JR pass if you are planning on travelling in areas where JR is the ONLY rail service. In big cities, there are also subways (2 seperate systems in Tokyo) AND private rail companies! There are far, far more convenient, and cheaper tickets. A good one, when visiting Kansai, is the Kansai Surutto 3-day ticket (also available in 2 day, and single day to specific locations.) If you really know what you're doing, you'll do 3 to 4 times the purchase value of the ticket. This ticket is effective in Kyoto, and Osaka - 2 cities were JR's service is less than good, and private rail and the subways more than make up for it. Tokyo, I don't live there.

Avoid going to places to view cherry trees when they are blossoming. Calling them crowded is an understatement.

PS Akilai, it's Ginkakuji, not Jinkakuji.

Kyoto has restuarants that stay open until all hours of the night - I've eaten in them . My wife's sister's husband has a sushi shop that is open until the first trains of the next morning. If you are referring to temples, yes - be aware that temples and shrines generally close between 3 and 5 PM - but they do generally open earlier than anything else: 7 AM. It's Buddha time.

And who's this Johnny Hillwalker? I've been to Kyoto numerous times too...

Oh... Lonely Planet (and possible other) guidebooks on Japan are generally out-of-date, and are written by short-term travellers. In other words, some of the restaurants listed are not the best by any measure, and some of them listed are overpriced.

Nara is a good place to visit (biggest Buddha in Japan, largest wood building in the world, one of the most famous shinto shrines in Japan, etc..) If you base yourself between Kyoto and Osaka cities, making day trips to Nara, Himeji, Koyasan, and possibly even Ise-penninsula (haven't done that yet - it's a bit far for a day trip.) Koyasan may well be worth your while, as it has more historical, religious, and art per block, than Kyoto - in fact, a lot of what can be seen in Kyoto can be seen there, but concentrated in a much smaller location. Visiting the biggest graveyard in Japan (located up there) is also a mind-boggling adventure - a graveyard that contains historical heavyweights like Nobunaga, Hideyoshi...

[sketchley]

Kansai Surroto Pass English website: http://www.surutto.com/conts/ticket/3dayeng/index.html

[F-ZeroOne]

No, no, no, no, no. Only get a JR pass if you are planning on travelling in areas where JR is the ONLY rail service.

I did say "probably". I have done Japan without a rail pass, though my experience is it does require a little planning. I've also travelled from Hokkaido to Kyushu and back to Tokyo over nearly three weeks on a rail pass, and if you consider that a one way ticket between Tokyo and Osaka costs £60 or so, it can be worth it in some cases. You pays your yen, you takes your choice...

[big F]

Like F-ZeroOne says The JR pass can be good if you are going to be using JR lines for distance journeys. Short hops are fairly cheap so the money spent wont add up to the full fair of the JR pass. In the JR pass`s favour its helpfull when your still "learning" how the whole trian transport thing works in Japan. It is so easy to get off at the wrong station and have to pay the top up fee only to get back on the next train to go where you wanted to go in the first place. The JR pass can only be bought in your home country AFAIK. I got one for the first time I went there. It really helped. The Time out guide to Tokyo is helpfull if a tiny bit out of date in some areas. but it does have good train maps in the back and some city maps too with road names.

Learn some Japanese, Even if its just please and thankyou, it goes a long way.

My best advice is plan to do at least 2 times as many things as you have days for, that way you wont be disapointed. sometimes 2 or more things can be crammed into one day. You`ll never get to do everything. The only other thing to remember is you will want to go back. I do at least twice a year.

Edited October 28, 2006 by big F

[sketchley]

Yes. I have not stated that a JR pass is not a good thing, just that for the needs of jwinges, it is bad advice due to the needs of his trip, and where he wants to go.

First, he'll be coming from Tsukuba City to Tokyo. On the new Tsukuba express, direct line from Tsukuba to Toyko, the terminal station in Tokyo is in Akiba.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukuba_Express

Tsukuba express is not a JR line.

He also plans to travel to Kyoto and Osaka. I've already mentioned that there are both cheaper, or faster ways of travelling than via JR. In fact, with the JR pass, he'll have a limited number of Shinkansen trains in which to take between Kanto and Kansai.

http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en001.html

But, don't take my word for it. Here's an excellent article on the whole issue that highlights how useful a JR rail pass is in Tokyo, and the Kobe-Osaka-Kyoto corridor: http://greggman.com/japan/tokyo-trains/tok...ng=english%7C?q

Here's a map of the rail lines in the Tokyo area (a bit out of date, it doesn't have the completed Tsukuba line): http://www.u-bourgogne.fr/monge/g.dito/poi...yo_trainmap.pdf

Here's a rail map of Osaka - note the limited access of the JR lines: http://www.ofix.or.jp/travel/trans/images/RailMap.pdf

Express buses between Tokyo and Osaka: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2366_osaka.html About 19 GBP one-way.

[jwinges]

Hi Guys, Thanks so much for all the opinions and ideas. My wife already read the lonely planets guides to Japan, and Tokyo and she's reading the Kyoto one now. I'm just starting.

Man you guys are an invaluable source of info. thank you so much.

One other idea we had was to maybe go snowboarding around Mt Fuji for a day (I'd rather go way up north but we don't have time this trip). Have any of you ever been snowboarding around there. I'm not even sure they will have good snow in late march. Would it even be worth going?

The other thing I'm curious about is Tsukuba Science city. Since my wife will be at the haptics conference I'm kinda on my own for a day or two. Is there much to do around there?

Thanks again guys, your advice has really helped a lot.

[Raptor]

There's more to do in Tokyo in than you could possibly ever do in two weeks... sort of like how you can't manage to go to all the theme parks in Orlando in a day, so IMO it's best to pick one of the big cities and just stick with it.

Tokyo would be my pick, if you like anime, since you've got a lot of famous locations (albiet most of them don't really matter...lol) you could visit, Akihabara for games/anime/electronics (and airsoft guns )... if you want to see the other big cities you should come back and do them later (it takes half a day just to get from Tokyo to Kyoto anyway).

I was there a year and I didn't see "everything"

I've been past the town (on a train) where Initial D takes place

[jwinges]

I remember hearing once that you can rent cell phone at the airports in Japan. Can anyone confirm this and would they have GPS direction/maps/points of interest?

If not would anyone know if an american cell phone will get a signal there?

ALso does anybody know of a good real time GPS program for PDAs (either palm or Ipac that has maps of Tokyo and/or Kyoto

Thanks

[Akilae]

I remember hearing once that you can rent cell phone at the airports in Japan. Can anyone confirm this and would they have GPS direction/maps/points of interest?

If not would anyone know if an american cell phone will get a signal there?

ALso does anybody know of a good real time GPS program for PDAs (either palm or Ipac that has maps of Tokyo and/or Kyoto

Thanks

You're American cell phone will not get a signal there.

You can rent Japanese cell phones, but I don't know the details, somebody else will have to fill you in on that.

[sketchley]

You can rent them at any of the big international airports. HOWEVER, you have to apply to rent them about a week in advance. The one in which my dad got when he came was bare bones - yes, my latest mobile phone here in Japan has GPS, and a lot of groovy navigation features, however that doesn't come with the barebones one. Also, GPS isn't really helpful without a good map - I've seen a lot of maps in Japan (purchased some too), and I would describe it as difficult to navigate via GPS. It'd be a lot easier to show someone the name of the place that you want to go to =in Japanese= and hope they can give you directions.

The system of navigation I have relyed upon here is figuring out where the nearest station is to where I want to go, and using a map (if you don't have one with you, all stations have a local area map) to figure out the route in between.

No idea about skiing other than it is expensive - and that's for my home country!

I think there are some nice parks and stuff in the Tsukuba area - but pending your interest, you may have more fun hoping on the direct train to Akiba, and spending your day there.

Oh, I was thinking about when travelling to Kyoto - most of the major, or best attractions, are only accessible by bus (or on foot, but I don't recomend walking, unless you REALLY know what you're doing.)

The easiest way to get it is at a kiosk outside of JR/Kintetsu/subway Kyoto station. Or from a bus driver - they generally do not speak any English whatsoever. You might be able to get it from a convenience store - but again, there's the language barrier for those that don't speak Japanese. Getting it at the kiosk is good, as they also give a bus route map of Kyoto, which has handy things like what buses are needed, and where to transfer to go to major attractions.

http://j-hoppers.com/tip_j.htm has a list of prices for it, and the more expensive, but IMHO, unnecessary bus and subway ticket.

Get this bus ticket in Kyoto if you plan to take a bus more than twice, otherwise it's not worth it.

Of course, the afforemantioned Kansai-through pass also works with the bus, subways, and private railway in Kyoto - using that is recommended, if you're hotel is outside of Kyoto, and you plan to visit at least two seperate places.

Also, when in Osaka (Tokyo, and other cities *may* have a variation too,) be aware of things like 'No my car day', and other discount tickets:

http://www.kotsu.city.osaka.jp/english/ticket/index.html

But remember, that this type of ticket is useful only within the city, and only on city provided public transportation - sometimes the private railways are faster and cheaper to get to where you want to go.

Edited October 31, 2006 by sketchley

[jwinges]

Do any of you guys in Japan know of any really nice hotsprings resorts around tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka? I want to try to find one to take the wife to for a night.

Anime Insider has one that looks so nice near Mt Unzon (I think near Nagasaki). I want to find something like that.

[wolfx]

Do any of you guys in Japan know of any really nice hotsprings resorts around tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka? I want to try to find one to take the wife to for a night.

Anime Insider has one that looks so nice near Mt Unzon (I think near Nagasaki). I want to find something like that.

I only visited Tokyo, and i went to this well known bath house/hot spring there, in Odaiba, the same viscinity as Tokyo Big Sight. Its called Odaiba bath house.

If you're goin to Kyoto, there might be a better and genuine hot spring resort there.

[F-ZeroOne]

I'm told that theres a popular public bathhouse at the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium, but the baths I've visited were all much further South than Tokyo and Kyoto, sorry. Some Japanese guesthouses have "Japanese"-style baths which might give you a taste.

And if you do visit a hot water spring, do make sure you know which entrance is mens and which is womens, so you can avoid those "Love Hina!" moments.

Or maybe thats what you're after anyway...

[F-ZeroOne]

The following links might help!

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2292_where.html

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ue3t-cb/index_...e/spalist_e.htm

http://www.outdoorjapan.com/section-onsen.html

[Raptor]

If you want hot springs do it in Hakone...

[Noyhauser]

If you want hot springs do it in Hakone...

Or Shirahama in Wakayama-Preficture... which isn't so much of a large trip, and the scenery in the area is fantastic. The sea front and the verdant mountains, its gorgeous. Also I should say not a big fan of Tokyo, I don't think it has the best parts of Japan either. I love Kyoto... its by far my favorite City in Japan.

Just don't go to Nagoya.