Discussion
Japan does not need to be expensive. If you don't need to stay in five star hotels there are other options.
We just came back from Japan after staying a month there and just for the basics ie flights accommodation and a hire car excluding petrol came to just under 1k each but there was four of us sharing everything.
There lots of nice apartments for reasonable prices from airbnb.
Five days will not be enough to travel outside Tokyo but if you do stay longer you must do mt Fuji . It was for us an amazing experience and when you strip yourself starkers at an onsen and mt Fuji is right in front of you it is like ...whoa
We actually based ourselves in Osaka and against everybody's advice we drove to Tokyo and stayed for six days.
When you get off the plane get yourself a data sim if you haven't got roaming on your own sim.
I got myself a so net sim from a machine its 3000yen for 1gb or 5000yen for 3.3gb if you have an iPhone remember to download the apn settings before you travel you can get all the info here http://www.so-net.ne.jp/prepaid/en/
Like someone else says you need to get yourself a suica or pasmo card. You just buy one from the ticket machines just press English before you start and follow the instructions.
download a copy of Tokyo rail map lite if you have ios ,input where you are and where you want to go and bobs yer uncle. The app shows you where to get off to change and which colour line you need to follow.
There are cheap eats all over Tokyo and there are sushi chains everywhere that only charge 100 yen a plate and when you can get 195 yen to the pound you're laughing. Most places has an English menu but if they haven't whip out your phone and take a photo of the plastic food they have on show at every eaterie and just show the photo to the server .
If you want to try the best ramen in the whole of Tokyo imo you need to try mutekiya ramen at ikebukuru. You will not be disappointed though there usually is a queue to get in.
One of the places I will recommend is diver city in odaiba just the trip over to the island is great especially when you pass over the rainbow bridge. Shopping and food galore with sega and Namco city there.
The best bit though is the awesome 65 ft gundam model .
At the Ferris wheel there is an Toyota autodome where there is a mini track and you can book a car to test drive though you will need a international driving licence but it's only £5.50 at the post office.
Don't be afraid of anything as everyone is wacky there and it'll only be normal to them .I actually once saw a fully grown man in a pink school girl uniform at the metro.
Please do try to eat as much as you can as that in itself is a mighty experience and most of all enjoy yourself
Here's a wee selection of photos to whet your appetite
Ps there's loads and loads of nice cars everywhere
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We just came back from Japan after staying a month there and just for the basics ie flights accommodation and a hire car excluding petrol came to just under 1k each but there was four of us sharing everything.
There lots of nice apartments for reasonable prices from airbnb.
Five days will not be enough to travel outside Tokyo but if you do stay longer you must do mt Fuji . It was for us an amazing experience and when you strip yourself starkers at an onsen and mt Fuji is right in front of you it is like ...whoa
We actually based ourselves in Osaka and against everybody's advice we drove to Tokyo and stayed for six days.
When you get off the plane get yourself a data sim if you haven't got roaming on your own sim.
I got myself a so net sim from a machine its 3000yen for 1gb or 5000yen for 3.3gb if you have an iPhone remember to download the apn settings before you travel you can get all the info here http://www.so-net.ne.jp/prepaid/en/
Like someone else says you need to get yourself a suica or pasmo card. You just buy one from the ticket machines just press English before you start and follow the instructions.
download a copy of Tokyo rail map lite if you have ios ,input where you are and where you want to go and bobs yer uncle. The app shows you where to get off to change and which colour line you need to follow.
There are cheap eats all over Tokyo and there are sushi chains everywhere that only charge 100 yen a plate and when you can get 195 yen to the pound you're laughing. Most places has an English menu but if they haven't whip out your phone and take a photo of the plastic food they have on show at every eaterie and just show the photo to the server .
If you want to try the best ramen in the whole of Tokyo imo you need to try mutekiya ramen at ikebukuru. You will not be disappointed though there usually is a queue to get in.
One of the places I will recommend is diver city in odaiba just the trip over to the island is great especially when you pass over the rainbow bridge. Shopping and food galore with sega and Namco city there.
The best bit though is the awesome 65 ft gundam model .
At the Ferris wheel there is an Toyota autodome where there is a mini track and you can book a car to test drive though you will need a international driving licence but it's only £5.50 at the post office.
Don't be afraid of anything as everyone is wacky there and it'll only be normal to them .I actually once saw a fully grown man in a pink school girl uniform at the metro.
Please do try to eat as much as you can as that in itself is a mighty experience and most of all enjoy yourself
Here's a wee selection of photos to whet your appetite
Ps there's loads and loads of nice cars everywhere
Edited by hamish88 on Thursday 25th June 02:02
Edited by hamish88 on Thursday 25th June 02:03
[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/wCwtKZi5[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/UYsrA9Ek[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/s2tKPCNk[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/nzKp73sM[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/kRH7ocQs[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/LlIMdgyZ[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/CTlsbymx[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/Ay1r7jwu[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/kPIJjjiR[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/gGcU9Lju[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/DKUkV7Gi[/url]Edited by hamish88 on Thursday 25th June 02:09
Edited by hamish88 on Thursday 25th June 02:10
Edited by hamish88 on Thursday 25th June 02:18
Totally agree with it not having to be expensive. I guess if you like to play it safe an follow the standard tourist agenda it can be. For an idea of cost, outside the tourist traps a pint of lager is about 500 yen (£2.50)
We went last October, travelled around Japan but spent around 5 days in Tokyo. My first piece of advice would be get a sim card. You can order one online to be delivered to your hotel. It will be there on time. Very useful for getting around as the addresses don't make sense.
Go to the fish market early morning, its mental.
Don't just eat in western style fancy restaurants. The best food we had was in small places, izakaya (pubs with food), yakatori, gyoza etc
Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku all very good areas for wandering around gawping at "japaneseness"
Get a pass for the Metro. Its all in English, I would go as far as to say its easier to use than the tube for those unfamiliar with either. its cheaper and quicker than taxis.
Stay in a Ryokan and visit an Onsen (and read the rules!)
If you venture outside of Tokyo. Get the Shinkansen. I didn't know it was possible for a tall person to get off a train feeling refreshed.
We went last October, travelled around Japan but spent around 5 days in Tokyo. My first piece of advice would be get a sim card. You can order one online to be delivered to your hotel. It will be there on time. Very useful for getting around as the addresses don't make sense.
Go to the fish market early morning, its mental.
Don't just eat in western style fancy restaurants. The best food we had was in small places, izakaya (pubs with food), yakatori, gyoza etc
Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku all very good areas for wandering around gawping at "japaneseness"
Get a pass for the Metro. Its all in English, I would go as far as to say its easier to use than the tube for those unfamiliar with either. its cheaper and quicker than taxis.
Stay in a Ryokan and visit an Onsen (and read the rules!)
If you venture outside of Tokyo. Get the Shinkansen. I didn't know it was possible for a tall person to get off a train feeling refreshed.
NerveAgent said:
My first piece of advice would be get a sim card. You can order one online to be delivered to your hotel.
This I forgot to mention but it's a very good point. I rented a wifi hot-spot rather than a SIM but it was immensely useful and worked pretty much everywhere.We got ours from Global Advanced Telecomm.
Tokyo is fab. You can reduce your food budget if you make lunch the main meal of the day. Lots of decent restaurants charge a fraction for lunch than they do for evening meal, often for the same thing.
Great cheap eats tip. Lots of tiny restaurants have no till or people taking money, there isn't the room. So there's a vending machine at the entrance and you put your money in that and choose your dish by pressing the button, get a ticket and hand that to the bloke in the kitchen. But the machines menu and the buttons are in japanese. Just select the top left button. That will always be the house special, it will be mid priced and usually fantastic.
Many of these places do a "one coin meal", one coin being a 500yen coin, about £3. For that you will get a huge bowl of whatever the restaurant sells, with an egg on it. Everything comes with an egg. Just deal with it. If you don't like egg, Japan isn't for you!
Great cheap eats tip. Lots of tiny restaurants have no till or people taking money, there isn't the room. So there's a vending machine at the entrance and you put your money in that and choose your dish by pressing the button, get a ticket and hand that to the bloke in the kitchen. But the machines menu and the buttons are in japanese. Just select the top left button. That will always be the house special, it will be mid priced and usually fantastic.
Many of these places do a "one coin meal", one coin being a 500yen coin, about £3. For that you will get a huge bowl of whatever the restaurant sells, with an egg on it. Everything comes with an egg. Just deal with it. If you don't like egg, Japan isn't for you!
Tonsko said:
The exchange rate makes a huge difference then! When we went, it was about 100 yen to the pound - so that practically doubles from above prices. We stayed in hostels and things too.
Christ, I got 180 yen to the pound 2 months ago. Maybe that why I was walking around thinking "Tokyo isn't that pricey at all!"loafer123 said:
Cyder said:
Bonus points for the weirdest thing you can eat out there.
Ironically, the weirdest thing I had was in that French place next to Tokyo Station, which was Andouillette. I had to go there as my colleague was too squeamish to eat local all the time, so I took revenge!Mind you, I also ate a few things in local restaurants which I couldn't identify...
Great topic, btw. I keep promising myself a trip to Japan!
M
Martin_M said:
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing some pics if you take the plunge!
Well I have taken the plunge, flight booked and in September I will be there for 6 days. Am book-ending it either side with Dubai, but really can't wait now - 2 months and counting!I'm staying in Royal Park Hotel Shiodome, maybe not my first choice, but many hotels seemed fully booked for the period I am there, and this seems a good compromise location wise being approx. 5min walk from Ginza (although happy to be proved wrong!)
Markytop said:
Martin_M said:
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing some pics if you take the plunge!
Well I have taken the plunge, flight booked and in September I will be there for 6 days. Am book-ending it either side with Dubai, but really can't wait now - 2 months and counting!I'm staying in Royal Park Hotel Shiodome, maybe not my first choice, but many hotels seemed fully booked for the period I am there, and this seems a good compromise location wise being approx. 5min walk from Ginza (although happy to be proved wrong!)
Chatting with a recent resident over the weekend and he strongly recommended Andy's Shin Himomoto near your hotel...
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g10...
Wasn't blown away by Tokyo to be honest but then I have lived in massive cities all my life. Wouldn't say it's more manic than London for example, and didn't see anything there that really surprised me. Thought Kyoto was much more fun.
Highlight for me would be the fish market. The "sushi" in the UK is completely different to real sushi at Tsukiji. Not expensive either, about £2 a piece for the fattiest bluefin tuna
so around £30 for 2 for a very decent breakfast/lunch.
). Not sure what you'd eat apart from rice and salad to be honest, the soup noodles, miso soup etc. are non-vegetarian.
Highlight for me would be the fish market. The "sushi" in the UK is completely different to real sushi at Tsukiji. Not expensive either, about £2 a piece for the fattiest bluefin tuna
so around £30 for 2 for a very decent breakfast/lunch.Cyder said:
The Japanese (rightly? ) think veggies are completely weird!
Same across all of Asia (and rightly so ) think veggies are completely weird!). Not sure what you'd eat apart from rice and salad to be honest, the soup noodles, miso soup etc. are non-vegetarian.I'll second the tip about renting a wifi hotspot from the airport, makes life a lot easier. I'll also reccomend taking the trip over to Odaiba - it is where the Japanese go to relax. You can walk across the rainbow bridge too, which is worth doing.
Thanks for the tip on the international driving permit, I tried to test a car at the Toyota Mega Web last time I was there, but my UK license wouldn't cut it.
Thanks for the tip on the international driving permit, I tried to test a car at the Toyota Mega Web last time I was there, but my UK license wouldn't cut it.
Edited by Craikeybaby on Tuesday 7th July 14:16
Apologies if this seems like a thick question, but why the need for a wi-fi hotspot rental?
Is there such a lack of wi-fi, my hotel will have it, so only if I am out and about I guess I might need something, but is there an obvious reason that I am missing why a normal phone-data signal doesnt work?
I appreciate the cost of data on a european phone package might be expensive, but by the time you have hired a hotspot, the break-even point would seem quite high?
Is there such a lack of wi-fi, my hotel will have it, so only if I am out and about I guess I might need something, but is there an obvious reason that I am missing why a normal phone-data signal doesnt work?
I appreciate the cost of data on a european phone package might be expensive, but by the time you have hired a hotspot, the break-even point would seem quite high?
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