Japan

[danrc]

The search facility is down so I am sorry if this is a repost.

We are planning to go to Japan for part of our honeymoon next year, are there any suggestions for places to visit/see/experience? What about must sees? Any places to avoid? What are the do's and dont's?

We were wanting to go to Suzuka for the F1 but other than that we're open to ideas.

Also, how cheap and easy is it to fly from Japan to Australia? We have friends who won't be able to make the wedding so would like to "hop" over to Oz to see them.

Thanks in advance
Dan and Suzie.

[Matt Harper]

"Hopping over" from Japan to Australia is like hoping over from the UK to South Africa.
I work in Tokyo quite a lot. It is one of the world's spectacular cities.
Take lots of money.

[XJSJohn]

As mentioned, Japan to Australia is a long way .... its a 5 hour flight from Singapore to Osaka on its own!!

I know Osaka better than Tokyo, the two cities have very different vibes but are easily connected by flights and bullet trains.

Osaka food is excelent! Other places nearby (ish) are Nara and Kyoto.

Some fantastic country scenery too!!

[anonymous-user]

Not a place I'd go for a private visit, Ok on business but expensive as hell, last time I was there in '96 the minimum charge in the hotel resturant was 115 pounds (oK it was a good hotel). I think that cheap Japanese food is awfull, so it not easy to eat cheap either.

[danrc]

Thank you for the replies, we did think it would be an expensive trip but are prepared for that. It is a place we have always wanted to visit and this sems like the ideal opportunity.

I did put hop in inverted commas

Are there any decent guides out there?

[tontoro]

The expense of japan is a myth, Tokyo is no worse than London. People who say so have generally only been to expensive hotels/areas. Imagine visiting London and only spending time in Mayfair, you would be saying it's ludicrously expensive too!

I'll write more later, on my phone now. Japan is my favourite country.

[danrc]

tontoro said:

The expense of japan is a myth, Tokyo is no worse than London. People who say so have generally only been to expensive hotels/areas. Imagine visiting London and only spending time in Mayfair, you would be saying it's ludicrously expensive too!

I'll write more later, on my phone now. Japan is my favourite country.

Your input would be very much appreciated. Take your time, i'm going for another year and a bit. This is a bit of a reccy mission

Thanks
Dan

[havoc]

tontoro said:

The expense of japan is a myth, Tokyo is no worse than London. People who say so have generally only been to expensive hotels/areas. Imagine visiting London and only spending time in Mayfair, you would be saying it's ludicrously expensive too!

I'll write more later, on my phone now. Japan is my favourite country.

Agreed. We went when the exchange-rate dropped to 120-130, and found it expensive but not stupidly so.

Advice:-
- Use the shinkansen to get around. You can get a 1- or 2-week "JR Pass" (Japan Rail) which you have to purchase before you go there (only foreigners can buy them). Various options including regions-only, but they typically exclude the ultra-fast Nozomi limited-stop shinkansen (you still get the rest which are plenty quick, just not those). You can find an online timetable which will help you plan which trains to get...
- Do a LOT of planning before you go - it's not as easy to discover stuff to do on the fly as it would be in Europe.
- Seriously consider using takkayubin (overnight luggage transport) services - there's not usually a huge amount of luggage space on the shinkansen. We took 2 cases, kept the smaller one with us from place-to-place and sent the big one on-ahead each time. Worked pretty well.
- Get a Japanese language course before you go and spend a couple of months practising the basics - while English is getting more widespread now, you'll still struggle to be understood outside of the big-cities and anywhere off the beaten track. Plus it goes down well...
(Although as you'll be planning a wedding you may want to get that course now rather than later)

When to go:-
April = sakura cherry-blossom for about 2 weeks.
June/July/August = LOTS of humidity - I hope this wasn't when you were planning on going?!?
October = autumn leaves.
Dec/Jan/Feb = snowy and cold across a lot of the country.
(needless to say Apr and Oct are the best times. Do avoid "Golden Week" (Apr or May I think), as that's when the whole of Japan goes on holiday.


Where to go:-
- Tokyo and Kyoto are must-sees, albeit depending on whether you like big cities you may not want to spend much time IN Tokyo.
- For temples the following were really worthwhile: Mijajima island (W of Hiroshima), Fushimi (little shrine S of Kyoto), Nara (lots of temples in woodland), Kyoto itself. Nikko is also supposed to be very good.
- You may want to take-in a sumo event, but these aren't that frequent so research before you book your flights if that's important.
- You may want to take in a traditional festival (matsuri) with old-style floats etc. Sounds very kitsch and in some ways it is, but they do it SO well - we did the Takayama Matsuri and really enjoyed it.
- There's also a display of (traditional samurai) horseback archery 2 sundays a month at a place called Kamakura (S of Tokyo), which gets very busy (ridiculous crowds), but is also very impressive to watch.
- Make sure you stay in a ryokan (traditional guest-house - futons, tatami mats, shoji screens) at least once - we did in Takayama and that felt 'right' - it probably wouldn't have done in high-tech Tokyo.
- An 'onsen' might be worth a go too - hotel or guest-house with traditional hot-spring communal baths.
- ...and how can I forget Mt Fuji. At the very least, time one of your Kyoto-Tokyo trains for daylight so you can see it out of the train window.


It's a fantastic place, and you'll have a great time.

[mrloudly]

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

It's a must if you like gadgets :-)

Go to Tokyo main station at rush hour just to experience it!!!!

The main fish market in Tokyo is another amazing trip if you can get there.

Restaurants take some finding, they'll be tucked upstairs or downstairs and you wouldn't know :-) Get to know
the locals and they'll point you in the right direction.

I was taken to the Japanese Opera, let me just say... Interesting :-)

Shinkansen is really cool!

Enjoy!

Andy M

[Matt Harper]

I find the place to be more expensive than London and NY, on a par with Paris, I'd say.
Nice, but not luxury hotel is around $400 per night and it is a city of $100 cab rides and $15 Kirin's.
That said, it is also vibrant, quirky and culturally wonderful - and a city of contrast.

This on one side of the street....Shibuya Ku



and this on the other side....


All within 5 minutes walk of the breathtaking Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine. Rebuilt after WW2, but still very impressive.

[skeeterm5]

If you get the shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka but dont battle with your cases. Send them by courier, Black Cat is the firm - best bit of advice we had.

Although it is odd to wonder how the cases got to the next hotel before we did when we were on the 'bullet train'

Worth a visit:

- Hiroshima
- Tokyo has a great underground shopping centre, although we struggled to find the way out
- Osaka Jo
- Kansai airport is an engineering marvel

We spent 3 weeks in Japan on our own and for most of the time had no idea what was going on, the culture is just so different. If I were going again I would seriously consider engaging a local guide.

Very friendly place, it is expensive but no more so than New York or London.

S

[havoc]

skeeterm5 said:

If you get the shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka but dont battle with your cases. Send them by courier, Black Cat is the firm - best bit of advice we had.

Although it is odd to wonder how the cases got to the next hotel before we did when we were on the 'bullet train'

Worth a visit:

- Hiroshima
- Tokyo has a great underground shopping centre, although we struggled to find the way out
- Osaka Jo
- Kansai airport is an engineering marvel

We spent 3 weeks in Japan on our own and for most of the time had no idea what was going on, the culture is just so different. If I were going again I would seriously consider engaging a local guide.

Very friendly place, it is expensive but no more so than New York or London.

S

1) Takkayubin services are almost always overnight, so unless you sent your cases on BEFORE you went to sleep the night before, I think you're mis-remembering.
2) Kansai may be an engineering marvel but the OP will be on honeymoon!
3) We spent 2 weeks travelling around and managed just fine - we engaged a guide for a 1/2-day in Kyoto to take us round the temples, and she was a nice lady but we weren't 100% convinced it added much.

[kennym999]

My brother has lived just north of Tokyo for 7 years. My wife and I went to Australia on Honeymoon 3 years ago and stopped over in Tokyo for 2 nights on the way home (flying from Brisbane). When you look at potential stop overs its not exactly the worst. In terms of prices I dont think it was any worse than Australia is now. You can spend all your time in Tokyo and still not see it all. Id recommend paying for a good guide book or even a guide if thats possible. My brother speaks and reads Japanese so it was easy for us but when we were on our own it was near impossible. A visit to the electronic district is a must for gadgets. If you have enough time id recommend visiting Niko which is about 2 hours north of Tokyo. I didnt go on honeymoon but went when I was in Japan for a fortnight. Its the place where the see no evil here no evil thing started and the scenery on the way is fantastic.

[N Dentressangle]

GlenMH is your man:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...

He's lived in Japan for the past 2 years, and likes his travel so should be able to help. Have a read of his blog from his profile for some ideas or drop him a pm - I'm sure he could put together a pretty definitive itinerary!

HTH

[skeeterm5]

havoc said:

1) Takkayubin services are almost always overnight, so unless you sent your cases on BEFORE you went to sleep the night before, I think you're mis-remembering.
2) Kansai may be an engineering marvel but the OP will be on honeymoon!
3) We spent 2 weeks travelling around and managed just fine - we engaged a guide for a 1/2-day in Kyoto to take us round the temples, and she was a nice lady but we weren't 100% convinced it added much.

1) wrong - case picked up in the morning and delivered in the afternoon on the same day
2) true, but they may want a rest.......
3) Depends how much detail you want, I came away thinking we had missed a lot, and I dont mean a guide just for temples, I was meaning one for day to day culture too.

S

[tontoro]

have a look on this thread

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=14&...

i'll talk about the expense of japan one more time, then i'll stop banging on about it! Yes you can find places where a beer will cost $15. The first time I stayed in Tokyo my hotel had a sky bar type thing on the top floor, and a bottle of beer cost that. But in a normal place it will cost about Y4-500, which at the moment is about £3-4.

As it happens I'm going there on honeymoon in February, after spending some time in Thailand.

If you like whisky then the Yamazaki distillery (near Osaka I think) has a good tour with an english audio guide, and a very cool "whisky library". I don't like their produce too much though - I prefer Yoichi which is near Sapporo, but it's not such a good place to visit unless you are specifically interested. I'm planning on going to a Sake distillery too, but haven't been to one yet.

As someone else said, Sumo tournaments are fun if you happen to be in the right place at the right time. However, you can learn from my mistake here! We went to the Osaka tournament, and turned up at about 10 am to an almost deserted arena, with a couple of young boys doing sumo in the ring. Turns out that the top two divisions (who everyone wants to see) don't stat until about 3pm, so we spent 4 hours watching the minor leagues...

If you say what sort of stuff you are interested in then I'm sure people here can give you more suggestions?

[anonymous-user]

Lived there for a few years, speak the lingo and still have many friends there who would be more than willing to help with advice and more if needed.

Don't believe what you may have heard - Japan can be expensive, but in reality you can get cheap food and beer pretty much anywhere. The Japanese are probably the most warm, friendly and welcoming people you can ever come across, and you will have people falling over themselves to help you if you look even half lost.

If you do a search on Japan you'll find my previous recommendations on where to visit so I won't bore you with that now, but it is a wonderful place to go see- make the effort and I promise you won't regret it.

[Mr Dave]

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7deClndzQw

On the Island of Okinawa but still looks impressive.