The Japan Trip Resource Thread!

[Bort]

Cheers for the info Darwock. I was eventually going to get around to PMing you, I just had to pass phase one before really starting to plan/book things. Just a few days to go on that one.

I completely forgot about the change of venue. The majority of the questions I had are largely redundant now. Muppet.

As for Fuji, I've read that there are shuttle buses from the train station to the track (can't remember at the minute if it was from the shinkansen station or a regional station) so I'm siding with a morning and evening shink trip for the three days. I'll have to check on the attendance figures for the first two days last years to see if the Japanese turned up on mass for all three days. The first sessions are quite early so I don't want to be pratting around too much.

[JAPJAC]

My friend TekCadet came to Tokyo/Kyoto Japan for 5 weeks on holiday last year. I made a video. Highlights include some Sega OutRun Hydraulic Coin-op action and some ropey Ketsui playing. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULlVbo58WjU

(Best viewed in the smaller size).

[huxley]

Nice vid JAPJAC - that wouldnt be another shot of the loo in the Angel would it?

[JU!]

What game centre is that OutRun machine in JapJac?

[Mercian]

Remember to pick up your free drugs!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7419969.stm

[kryss]

...Now why didn't I get one of those?

[Darwock]

I got planted with drugs the last time I came in to Kansai airport - they were actually in the process of setting up my girlfriend to do it, but when I appeared they jumped at the chance to have their dogs sniff a foreigner instead!

He just stuck them in my pocket and sent me off through the airport! I was pretty apprehensive about it as one bit of miscommunication between him & his colleague with the dog and I'd in the middle of an international incident...

The dog was awesome - I could see it at the far end of the massive arrivals hall as I came down the stairs - the minute I stepped in the room it jumped up and started running my way - sniffed a couple of people in front of me, then came right over to me and... sat down! Just sat there looking at it's handler. Amazing dogs, pity that Tokyo one screwed up!

[Fargo]

I've been planning to take a trip to Japan since last summer but unfortunatly none of the friends I had planned to travel with are in a position to go this year. So instead of postponing it yet again I was considering traveling on my own. Anyone every done this before and what was the experience of being alone like?

Secondly I know alot of these questions may have already been answered but its a big tread so if anyone could help me out with some more It would be appreciated. At the minute I reckon I could have about 1600 euro saved for the trip by the end of july or slighty more if I went in august. 800 for flights and the rest for accomodation and spending money, is it feasible on this budget? Is there more than one airport in tokyo and if so which is the best to fly into? and if i planned to travel outside of tokyo to say one of the following, mount fuji, kyoto or osaka whats the cost and best way to travel. I'd plan to go for between 10 days and two weeks altogether.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[kryss]

Haneda Airport is the only airport actually in Tokyo, but isn't international. Narita Airport is the one you'd be flying to. Sorry, "Tokyo" Narita Airport, which is actually in Chiba, but easy enough to access.

How much is 1600 Euros in Yen? You'll probably find flights are more expensive in August, though never having flown at that time of year I wouldn't know.

[r3z]

You should be able to do a couple of weeks alright on that kind of budget assuming you weren't intending to spend a lot of money on expensive electrical items/etc. Travelling to Kansai could eat into a very big chunk of your cash tho if you were travelling by Shinkansen (the best way) - one way Tokyo-Kyoto is about 13000 yen, but gets you there quickly and comfortably with no hassle in under 3 hours.

One option on a budget is an overnight coach leaving from Shinjuku which are relatively cheap at around 3500 yen, and you could look at it as saving a nights accommodation as well I guess. I haven't used them myself as I've used overnight coaches elsewhere and I don't tend to be able get to sleep on them, but my friend said it was ok.

Personally, I would opt for the Seishun 18 Kippu which is a special discount train travel ticket which you can use for travel on all JR lines - local and rapid trains only, no express/shinkansen - over 5 days (non-consecutive so doesn't have to be 5 days in a row). As you are restricted to local and rapid trains only it does take about 11 hours Tokyo-Osaka which will use up most of one day of your holiday (+another day on the way back), and you need to change train 4 or 5 times which could be confusing if you don't know much/any Japanese but most connections are very simple (pretty much ride each train to the last stop, then get off and just walk over to the train waiting on the other side of the platform!) or there are plenty of people to ask for help as the route is very busy.

However, despite the time it takes the ticket costs only 11500 yen (less than 1-way on the Shinkansen and working out at a little over 2000 yen/day!) and you can use the 5 days travel as you want so you could make the most out of it and use it to get out to a few more places while your here.. for a 2 week trip/first time in Japan I would suggest you could use the Seishun 18 Kippu like this:

1st day: Travel Tokyo to Osaka (the ticket is valid until the last train departing before midnight, so can also use the ticket to go out somewhere in the evening when you arrive.. I'd recommend staying near a station on the southern part of the loop line so you can get out to Dotonbori).
2nd day: Day trip from Osaka to Himeji, visit the castle then stop in Kobe for a look around on the way back.
3rd day: Travel Osaka-Nara, do some sightseeing there, then travel Nara-Kyoto in the evening.
4th day: Travel Kyoto-Tokyo (again, can use the ticket in the evening when you get back to Tokyo)
5th day: Day trip from Tokyo to Kamakura, and stop in Yokohama on the way back.

Aside from travelling Tokyo-Osaka/Kyoto which takes the best part of a day due to the distance, the other trips are much shorter and you would generally use local/rapid trains anyway so the travel times are not any longer than usual (30min~1hr for the routes mentioned). In a two week trip you would still have a 3-4 days to set aside for sightseeing in Tokyo, 2-3 for Kyoto, and a day or 2 at most is more than enough for Osaka (IMHO). And if you didn't want/have time to go out to Himeji+Kobe or Kamakura+Yokohama you could just use the extra days on the ticket to travel around using the JR lines in Tokyo when sightseeing.

[Anpanman]

You should be fine travelling alone, did my first trip out there in 94 when there were fewer tourists than now & managed to sort out my travel and get myself around whilst out there.

Haneda Airport is the only airport actually in Tokyo, but isn't international.

HND does actually handle some international flights including some by foreign carriers but the vast majority is domestic.

[kryss]

They have flights to China and Korea? Odds are you'd fly into Japan at Narita. But does anyone visit the famous Narita Shrine? Not likely.

I've been hearing rumours of a semi-international (like Haneda) airport being planned near Mito in Ibaraki. Apologies for getting off topic.

[Anpanman]

Correct, to Shanghai and to Seoul's 'domestic' airport, also Taipei was served until China Airlines switched over to NRT.

Interesting, haven't heard that one about Mito.

May visist the Narita Shrine on our next family visit.

[Fargo]

Thanks for all the info guys, just one more question concerning the time in which to go. In terms of weather etc would it be better to go in July or August. I can handle hot weather fairly well but am slighty worried that it may be a little to hot in july.

[kryss]

It'll be the same for both months practically, though July is a little wetter. The "rainy season" doesn't seem to exist in the same way people think it does in Tokyo. It's meant to be June to mid-July, but we've only had 2 days of rain so far this month. I think.

Ibaraki Airport:

http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/bukyoku/kuko/english/index.html

Here is the location, with Haneda and Narita marked to show their relative locations.

http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/bukyoku/kuko/english/index2.html

The black/white dotted line is the Jouban Line which runs from Ueno to Sendai (although there's only 1 train a day to Sendai)

Here is the area on Google maps.