Planning vacations in Japan

[Gatillero PR]

Hi, my wife and I are planning to take a vacation to Japan, we want to know wich are the best areas of interest. I've checked expedia.com to get a package and there are a lot of hotels to chose from, we just want to chose the right one for the best area. Any info will be apreciated.

Thanks

[ly000001]

You should probably get the latest copy of Lonely Planet's guidebook on Japan; personally, I found them to be the most useful books when I travel to Japan and other places.

A nice place I stayed at in 1999 in Tokyo was the Hotel Metropolitan in Ikebukuro. It's a Western-style hotel (I think in the Crowne Plaza chain of hotels) that's about a two-minute walk away from the Ikebukuro JR station, and most of its staff speaks English. According to my current Lonely Planet book (published in Oct. 2003), a double there will cost 22000 yen/night.

[F-ZeroOne]

I've stayed in the Hotel Crowne Plaza; its nice but pricey. Avoid the main bar and try and get breakfast somewhere else if you can; Ikebukuro station is a very short walk away and should have all manner of cafes and things to get a more reasonably priced breakfast in.

The Japanese Inn Group is a good starting point for value accomodation in Japan.

Investigate a Japan Rail Pass. A 7 day pass will start out around £150 ($200?) Sounds expensive, but a one way trip from Tokyo - Kyoto by bullet train will be about £60 ($100). Thats one way. You don't have to get one, and if you're prepared to take slower trains, it might not be worth doing so, but if you're going to travel around a bit, its worth it.

If you do get a rail pass, buy a plastic protective folder either before you go or when you arrive (Tokyu Hands Shinjuku, the store that sells everything, will have something suitable); it disintegrates easily on its own.

Railway station staff generally speak enough English in my experience, but elsewhere in Japan it can be difficult - bear this in mind when going for meals. The Tokyo public transport can be confusing at first but is generally logical once you get used to it.

Main piece of advice, if staying in Tokyo: get a good map. A really good map. Kodansha do a bilingual Tokyo A5-size atlas thats very good; its a bit pricey, but believe me, you'll thank me later. GPS can be helpful for direction finding but English-language street map data seem to be unavailable.

True story: one time in Tokyo I was with a friend, and we were looking for a place he knows. We had a map, we had the address, and my friend speaks Japanese at the conversational level.

We circled around Shinjuku for an hour without finding the place, and eventually resorted to phoning them for more specific directions.

The phone turned out to be right next to the building. We'd been walking round it all the time without knowing. GET. A. GOOD. MAP. OF. TOKYO!

Don't take much luggage. Japans public transport is awe-inspiring, but luggage space tends to be limited and some places you can stay at have staircases that are 90 degrees to the vertical. Not good for hauling heavy luggage up. Railway stations always tend to be huge. You can do a heck of a lot of walking in Tokyo.

Tokyo quick recommendations: Akihabara for electronics and anime; Shibuya and Harajuku for fashion and music, Shinjuku for department stores, Ueno for museums.

Try and see Mt. Fuji if the weathers nice!

Kyoto is a nice place to visit, but don't delude yourself that you can do it all in a day, especially if travelling in from Tokyo. If you only have a day, pick two or three things you especially want to see, and try and keep them all on the same side of the city. Ideally, to really see what Kyoto is like, you should stay there for a few days.

Kyoto quick recommendations: Kiyomizudera temple, the "Golden Pavilion", the old "geisha" area, Nara (not part of Kyoto but short train ride away).

I've always wanted to spend more time in Hiroshima; its always struck me as a pleasant place, though its history can make for unsettled feelings for Westerners.

Thats just some very quick advice - if you've got any more questions, e-mail me at justin@briareos.demon.co.uk and I'll try to answer them if I can!

[Gatillero PR]

Hey thanks for the advice guys, now I have something to start.

[Solscud007]

If you can, get in touch with Seiichi. His english isnt that great but He will take you to all the great toy shops in Tokyo. And I mean all!!!

[wolfx]

......but He will take you to all the great toy shops in Tokyo. And I mean all!!!

And THAT is all that matters, no?

[Solscud007]

I've stayed in the Hotel Crowne Plaza; its nice but pricey. Avoid the main bar and try and get breakfast somewhere else if you can; Ikebukuro station is a very short walk away and should have all manner of cafes and things to get a more reasonably priced breakfast in.

The Japanese Inn Group is a good starting point for value accomodation in Japan.

Investigate a Japan Rail Pass. A 7 day pass will start out around £150 ($200?) Sounds expensive, but a one way trip from Tokyo - Kyoto by bullet train will be about £60 ($100). Thats one way. You don't have to get one, and if you're prepared to take slower trains, it might not be worth doing so, but if you're going to travel around a bit, its worth it.

If you do get a rail pass, buy a plastic protective folder either before you go or when you arrive (Tokyu Hands Shinjuku, the store that sells everything, will have something suitable); it disintegrates easily on its own.

Railway station staff generally speak enough English in my experience, but elsewhere in Japan it can be difficult - bear this in mind when going for meals. The Tokyo public transport can be confusing at first but is generally logical once you get used to it.

Main piece of advice, if staying in Tokyo: get a good map. A really good map. Kodansha do a bilingual Tokyo A5-size atlas thats very good; its a bit pricey, but believe me, you'll thank me later. GPS can be helpful for direction finding but English-language street map data seem to be unavailable.

True story: one time in Tokyo I was with a friend, and we were looking for a place he knows. We had a map, we had the address, and my friend speaks Japanese at the conversational level.

We circled around Shinjuku for an hour without finding the place, and eventually resorted to phoning them for more specific directions.

The phone turned out to be right next to the building. We'd been walking round it all the time without knowing. GET. A. GOOD. MAP. OF. TOKYO! 

Don't take much luggage. Japans public transport is awe-inspiring, but luggage space tends to be limited and some places you can stay at have staircases that are 90 degrees to the vertical. Not good for hauling heavy luggage up. Railway stations always tend to be huge. You can do a heck of a lot of walking in Tokyo.

Tokyo quick recommendations: Akihabara for electronics and anime; Shibuya and Harajuku for fashion and music, Shinjuku for department stores, Ueno for museums.

Try and see Mt. Fuji if the weathers nice!

Kyoto is a nice place to visit, but don't delude yourself that you can do it all in a day, especially if travelling in from Tokyo. If you only have a day, pick two or three things you especially want to see, and try and keep them all on the same side of the city. Ideally, to really see what Kyoto is like, you should stay there for a few days.

Kyoto quick recommendations: Kiyomizudera temple, the "Golden Pavilion", the old "geisha" area, Nara (not part of Kyoto but short train ride away).

I've always wanted to spend more time in Hiroshima; its always struck me as a pleasant place, though its history can make for unsettled feelings for Westerners.

Thats just some very quick advice - if you've got any more questions, e-mail me at justin@briareos.demon.co.uk and I'll try to answer them if I can!

Yes get teh rail pass. Not jsut for the long trip bullet trains but for the subway. Sort of. The rail pass lets you on anything that is JR (Japan Rail) if for some reason you need to take a smaller subsidiary subway then it doest work. But for major tourism you wont be venturing around such places. The JR lines do a great job of getting you where you need to go.

Word of advice, you will find it difficult to navigate via street signs. there are none that I could use for reference during my month stay in Japan. Japan is organized but not that organized. You will need to remember locations rather than streets.

Honestly Seiichi or someone native is your best bet. (of course Im speaking of toy shopping and if you hook up with Seiichi liek Kidk, XStoys and I did then you will be walkign all day on trains back and forth with armloads of toys) the places he takes you are little hole int he wall shops that I dont even think a native toy enthusiast would know how to get. It is very difficult to look for stuff without a guide. If your like EternalD you take a tour but then they only take you to the touristy places and those are nice but friggin boring. Luckily I met up with him during my stay in Tokyo and we walked and found a Toys R us and he got a Low Vis for 90 dollars.

But then you are going with your Wife and she may not be so keen on toy shopping as us nerds our hehe.

Oh Akihabara will suck up your entire day literally. Every shop is some electronics. But dont be fooled its not a haven of under priced high end goods. Its jsut amecca of electronics. and to find a decent price you have to look and look hard.

oh go to Nara!!! The deer are like rats. well ok that is my take on them. THe deer there are liek city pigeons. they are domesticated to the poitn where they are wild but are not afraid of humans and rely soley on their generosity to feed them. I dont think they know where to get food other than humans. They will swarm you for food. oh yeah and there is Todaiji, the largest wooden structure in the world. (it is a large wooden temple with teh largest wooden buddah).

Edited June 7, 2004 by Solscud007

[Akilae]

I'd highly recommend Kyoto... I spent three days there, and only scratched the surface in terms of what there is to do in that place.

Railway station staff? Didn't know there were those, I just walked up to the machines and guessed my way through the menus :-p It's not TOO hard though.

Tips for Kyoto: I stayed at the Kyoto Tower Hotel. Easy to spot, you can never get lost (just look up and you know the way home), and the area's VERY convenient, right across the street from the JR station. The hotel staff also speaks passable English, if that's important. Most of the shops don't speak English, but people are more than happy to converse in sign language and an occasional finger pointed to whatever you want to buy.

Invest in a Lonely Planet guide, very useful. Among the things it recommends, Johnny Hillwalker's (he's Japanese, his real name escapes me...) walking tour of Kyoto is very nice, and pretty much takes you to all the major spots in the North-Eastern quadrant of the city. The dude speaks good english, and takes you to the local shops, no tourist traps. He stops right at the foot of Kiyomizu temple, you can go up, come down, walk a bit further north, and arrive at the Gion geisha district, spend a few hours as a geisha groupie (if you're lucky...), and end a day. In fact, you can see all of Kyoto pretty much like this, if you're not averse to working your way through town by sign language and simple english/japanese.

Places to see: Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Nijo-jo (a must if you liked The Last Samurai), Higashi Honganji (free tea served!!), Gion, Miyozuki, Nintendo, JR Station, many, many more.... If you're into old-school anime, while I was there they had a whole Atom Boy exhibit going right inside the JR station, dunno if it's still around though.

If you REALLY feel like taking a local tour, English-speaking guides are available, ask your hotel concierge for details. Tours range from half-day trips, one-day Kyoto trips, to one-day Nara trips. Be warned: these guides DO take you to tourist traps.

Since you're in Kyoto, Osaka is just a half-hour JR ride away if you take the express line. The Osaka New Hankyu Hotel is a very good place to stay, although I found their english to be a tad more limited than Kyoto Tower.

Like most ppl here already said, try to have somebody that you can call in an emergency... preferablly somebody that knows Japanese. Makes life easier.

JR Pass is a must if you plan to be there for quite a stretch... you can even ride on the Nozomi with that pass!!

[Akilae]

<snip>

oh go to Nara!!! The deer are like rats. well ok that is my take on them. THe deer there are liek city pigeons. they are domesticated to the poitn where they are wild but are not afraid of humans and rely soley on their generosity to feed them. I dont think they know where to get food other than humans. They will swarm you for food. oh yeah and there is Todaiji, the largest wooden structure in the world. (it is a large wooden temple with teh largest wooden buddah).

Well, as we're fond of saying in NY... pigeons = rats with wings.... so I guess the deer are like... very large rats with antlers?

But indeed, Nara, deer, well worth going. Wish I had time to go when I was there...

[CID]

There was this article I found on one of the site I rarely visit. It talks about some of the Japanese stores in Japan, etc.

Click here

[Major Johnathan]

Man that sounds fun... it's my life long wish to visit Japan. I could kick myself for not learning Japanese when I was younger. My Japanese is limited to things like "Launch the Mobile Suits!" ...

It seems staggeringly expensive to spend any time in Japan. I would love to just wander around aimlessly and observe. And not just the cities but the out of the way mountain and farming communities, but I think they'd arrest me for vagrancy... how are Japanese jails?

Edited June 7, 2004 by Major Johnathan

[F-ZeroOne]

And not just the cities but the out of the way mountain and farming communities, but I think they'd arrest me for vagrancy... how are Japanese jails?

Very crowded by most accounts - and, er, no, I'm not speaking from experience!

Japan can be an expensive country, but it doesn't have to be...

Another piece of advice: do your research. Read up on the places you want to go to, try and get familiar with them in your mind. You'll be too distracted once you're there...

BTW, SolScud, when you say "the subway" in reference to the Japan Rail Pass, do you mean the above-ground JR services like the Yamanote and Chuo lines, or the underground subway - as far as I'm aware, those are privately operated and a JR Pass doesn't cover them...?

One onther point I make: when you buy a Japan Rail Pass, what you get is an exchange order that you swap for the Rail Pass in Japan - most large railways stations should be able to do this, but I think you can also do at the airport rail terminals if you want to use it right away.