The Japan Trip Resource Thread!

[r3z]

In my experience (particularly in East/SE Asia) it is the law to carry your passport with you at all times in quite a few countries - but usually because some of the countries, such as Thailand, have a national ID card for their own citizens which they must also carry with them always (kind of like the national ID card which is s'posed to be introduced here). However, in Japan it is only the foreigners subjected to this.. because most of the crime in Japan is committed by foreigners, of course (j/k!).

Actually, I was stopped once in Ueno Stn by 2 plain clothes police officers also.. they asked for my ID and a couple of questions, so I gave them my foreigner card and after namedropping the uni I was studying at (very good reputation, so I had learned early to try and slip it into the conversation quickly when speaking to Japanese people to impress them!) they were pretty surprised and actually got a bit chatty!

Another American guy where I lived also got stopped once while riding a borrowed bike and without his registration card.. it was only 5 mins walk from our apartment block so they could have come with him but instead they questioned him for 20 minutes. In the end they let him go without checking anything, I guess cos it was a residential area and the fact he could speak Japanese very fluently.

[Anpanman]

First time I was in Japan I carried mine all the time, and it's certainly good practice to carry it about with you.

That said, I have to hold my hands up and say I never carry mine about with me though where our home in Japan is, it's quite rural and thus things may be different to a large city.

The amount of times I've borrowed the sisters bicycle to go to the gameshop down the road which goes right past one of the largest Police Station in the prefecture I've lost count, and never had any trouble at all.

[randombs]

so do the police just not like people on bikes? is it to do with paperboy or something?

[r3z]

Apparently bike theft is not uncommon, so that they should be registered by the owner.. not sure if it's law(?) but as you can get fined for parking in restricted areas (a friend of mine did!) it probably is.

[kryss]

Me and the wife got stopped outside our local station by a couple of officers one evening to check our ID. Then they decided to ask us questions about English grammar...

A friend went to a kouban (Japanese for "police display box" [j/k]) to ask for directions and they kept her there for 2 hours because she didn't have her gaijin card on her. She had to ask her housemate to bring it for her.

We actually got broken into last January and someone (who turned out to be from Myanmar) stole our 3 DSs, my Wii and some other stuff. The cops came over in force to take fingerprints and any evidence they could find. It turns out it was "Welcome to Japan" week.
Shockingly enough, I had a phonecall from the main police station in Matsudo saying they had found some of our stuff and wanted to give it back! So we got back our electronic translators, our DS phats and my Wii. Of course I had bought a new Wii in the February after the insurance money came through, leaving me with 2 Wiis.

[JAPJAC]

I went to Chiba recently, to the AUO Show and made a video.

Street Fighter 4, Trouble Witches AC, DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu, Asian birds and more!

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vBDvzQiOvw

Cheers.

[hudson]

Need some help from the experienced Japan goers/livers...

Me and the girlfriend (mainly the girlfriend) have come up with a rather organized table of our Tokyo/Kyoto trip in September.

The table displays travel times/types and activities etc.

It would be great if any of you could give us ideas of where else we should checkout in Tokyo and Kyoto. Also, if you're a bit clued on travel in Japan, some nods or nays to whether we've gone about it the best way. We're going to get a weekly rail pass too, that good thinking or?

Any input at all appreciated. I will try to skim back through this rather large thread if I can

[L3wisD]

Hi all.

I'm flying into Tokyo next wednesday (in time for the TokyoCooney Hanami party! woop!)

And I'm curious as to how much spending money I'll need.
I can't seem to find a good solid answer anywhere on the internet.

I'm going for 18 days. And I'm looking to budget ?80 a day (roughly ?16,000)

I don't think I'll be doing much souvenir shopping, so it's mostly for food and drink. Will it be enough do you think?

But if it isn't, I've always got my bank card to fall back on.
But I'm lead to believe finding a cash machine that'll work will be a headache.

So if anyone knows of any Gaijin-friendly cash machines in Shinjuku (especially near the Shinjuku prince hotel) aswell, that'd be ace.

[saif]

Hoolak, where are you staying? Train pass will pay for itself with one trip to Kyoto. Worth getting as it will also cover your airport trips.

Lewis, 16k is enough for food and drink easily. If you are careful, you can easily get meals for 1k that are decent.

[hudson]

Hoolak, where are you staying? Train pass will pay for itself with one trip to Kyoto. Worth getting as it will also cover your airport trips.

Saif, can the rail passes be used on all rail line/types i.e Subway?

We plan on staying in hotels, so far we have the following as possibilties...

Tokyo

Hotel Monterey Akasaka
Hotel Monterey Hanzomon
Shinjuku Prince Hotel
METROPOLITAN - TOKYO Crowne Plaza Hotel

Kyoto

Matsui Honkan
Nissho Besso
Westin Miyako
Gion Yoshi-Ima

We would of maybe booked something, but they don't allow you to book that far in advance (September) for some reason.

[Kieran76]

Hi all.

I'm flying into Tokyo next wednesday (in time for the TokyoCooney Hanami party! woop!)

And I'm curious as to how much spending money I'll need.
I can't seem to find a good solid answer anywhere on the internet.

I'm going for 18 days. And I'm looking to budget ?80 a day (roughly ?16,000)

I don't think I'll be doing much souvenir shopping, so it's mostly for food and drink. Will it be enough do you think?

But if it isn't, I've always got my bank card to fall back on.
But I'm lead to believe finding a cash machine that'll work will be a headache.

So if anyone knows of any Gaijin-friendly cash machines in Shinjuku (especially near the Shinjuku prince hotel) aswell, that'd be ace.

80 quid a day will be more than enough for food and drink.

[saif]

Rail passes only valid on JR (the main company) and not the subway. JR will get you pretty much anywhere you want in Tokyo and the main places in Osaka and Kyoto but, as I said, it is by far the best thing to do if you want to go via shink to kyoto.

With planning, the JR pass would allow you to get anywhere although not necessarily in the most efficient way.

What is Akihabara Crossfield? As I see it you have 2/3 days that you can use in Tokyo. Kyoto will sort itself out in all honesty (but be careful on a sunday...) but Tokyo is more variable. What dod you want to do there? What is the GF into? I'd probably try and get the Sunday into a Tokyo day tbh as there will be more you can do there if places are shut. I do not know for definite if the temples are open on Sundays.

[hudson]

Not sure what the 'Crossfield' bit is to be honest, I think she may of picked that up from a guide book. I want to be checking out arcades, game shops and electronics..gadgets etc. I suspect Akihabara is the place for this caper?

So when we arrive in Kyoto, there's a very good chance place such as temples will be closed for the day? What else is there to do there?

Girlfriend is mainly looking forward to Mt.Fuji, all things historical etc as am I to a degree, but I'm mainly in it for the geek fest thirst Oh, I really want to try and make a J.League game if possible.. Tokyo Verdy or F.C Tokyo I believe the local teams may be? Is it possible?

[kryss]

Akiba Crossfield is just a building in Akihabara, I think there's an Anime shop in there but not much apart from that. It's near the station so you wouldn't be far from everything else anyway.

Temples are open pretty much every day, in Kyoto you want to check out either Kiyomizu-dera (seen in many TV shows and anime), ginkakuji or kinkakuji (the latter of the two being the most famous - the Temple of the Golden Pavilion)

The one time we went to Kyoto we stayed in the Oakes Hotel on shijou-dori and it was really nice, though what you REALLY want to do is to have a night in a Ryoukan in Arashiyama.

I'm not sure about the football side though, September is a little far ahead to be checking that I think.

Oh, and 16'000yen feeds me and the wife for about a week.

[hudson]

Cool, so any places you recommend we should check out?