Japan!

safetyboy

Lots of you have been to Japan it seems, i was over there in 2007 and thinking of going back this year for 2 weeks. i stayed in the toyoko inns for a month last time and it worked out pretty expensive tbh. about €70 a night.

Anyone know of a cheaper accommodation there that's pretty decent

Pyongyang

I'd be interested to know too. Wife and I were going to go in October but might have to put it back until Spring now due to work commitments.

Still, better late than never.

johnny_ultimate

Well I've always been travelling on a budget when I've been to Japan, so I'm a hosteller. Everytime I've been in Tokyo, I've hightailed it for K's House in Asakusa. They're a chain of hostels around Japan, and while they're all extremely fun, comfortable and clean, the Tokyo one is the best. Super friendly staff, free wi-fi and, most importantly, a two minute train ride away from Akihabara.

Hostels ain't for everyone, and even for backpackers Japan's not cheap (25 euro is probably the cheapest you'll get it for). But can't recommend the place enough.

I'm just lucky I've never had enough money to stay in the Park Hyatt. I've been tempted, but I'd probably just end up sitting in a geeked out gaze while there. I was bad enough when I found out the nightclub I was in was the one featured in Lost in Translation. The hotel or karaoke booth would render me incapacitated.

safetyboy

Looking better already!

johnny_ultimate

There's always capsule hotels, although they're far from optimal (especially if you have luggage) and TBH not as cheap as you'd hope - the same if not more expensive than a hostel. It's an experience, but one night's enough. That's if you can find one they allow gaijin into, of course!

Retr0gamer

Also I heard you should bring disinfectant for the capsule hotels. They pipe porn into them and there's a very good reason that they blast them from a distance with a hose to clean them.

Pyongyang

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Also I heard you should bring disinfectant for the capsule hotels. They pipe porn into them and there's a very good reason that they blast them from a distance with a hose to clean them.

Sort of similar to how taxi drivers spend an hour washing down their back seats on a Friday night then... :pac:

ondafly

Heres a useful video giving directions to Super Potato; I know I struggled to find the place the first time around ! The start of the video, is leading straight out from the subway station (i think)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffw0V_MBjw8

CiDeRmAn

What about the language barrier?
I would imagine that it is the one biggest issue with gaijin heading over?

Steve X2

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

What about the language barrier?
I would imagine that it is the one biggest issue with gaijin heading over?

Retro shopping bypasses all language barriers

Seriously though, I've been over a good few times now and I still speak practically no Japanese and have rarely had any problems.

Then again I'm fairly used to being in places and around people who speak languages I don't so I always feel ok about being out of the loop a bit in the conversation (girlfriend is half Czech and half Italian and her parents and friends don't really speak English, so i usually just smile and nod etc).

Man that vid has made me want to go back again now, I feckin love it over there

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ondafly

likewise - the language barrier is a non issue really. Everyone assumes you speak no Japanese anyway. Signs are generally in english at the subway, its just gets a bit mad around Akiba only, as the buildings are quite narrow in some cases, and all you see is a stairs, with 1F, 2F , 3F, 4F etc on each step, with Kanji, and no clue as to what are on each floor. So a little trial and error and you find yourself in some seriously funny and crazy shops !

I found everyone really helpful also, and nearly every restaurant has the meals recreated in the window in plastic or have an english menu also. Only place I had difficulty was in a Korean restaurant in Tokyo, the menu was completely in Korean, and the staff didn't even speak Japanese, never mind English ! but I still managed to get a Satay and a few beers ordered....mmmmm

The video above also shows were one of the "Traders" shops is !

o1s1n

I'd love to go to Japan but the language barrier is one thing which always freaked me out. Some people enjoy trying to find their way around in such a situation - not me, I crumble and die!

Glad to hear it's not too much of an issue though. I'll have to make the trek one of these days.

Retr0gamer

Since there's very few native english speakers in japan (which also leads to engrish since they are thougth english by non native speakers) most japanese are delighted to talk to a native english speaker to practice. Or so I hear.

Steve X2

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Since there's very few native english speakers in japan (which also leads to engrish since they are thougth english by non native speakers) most japanese are delighted to talk to a native english speaker to practice. Or so I hear.

Seems to be true in my experience.

A lot of people do a TEFL course and head over to teach English in Japan. A great thing to have if you ever wanted to travel around the world for a year or so as you can teach English in loads of places and earn a little cash and have some great experiences.

I did the TEFL here in Ireland and it was so easy to do and can be done quickly if English is your native language.

Well worth doing if you think you might be travelling in the next couple years. Do the course and get a few course addons done as well and you're all set.

http://www.teflireland.com/

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johnny_ultimate

The language barrier is one of the great myths about Japan. In all but the smallest of train stations or the ruralest of towns (which you likely won't be near much) signs are in English. Ordering food is occasionally tricky - while a lot of restaurants have the famous plastic models of the menu in the front window, a lot of others have vending machine based ordering. While bigger places will often oblige you pictures, others will only have kanji symbols and prices. For the most part though, it's a non-issue. As I said before, getting stranded in a rural train station somewhere between I think Hiroshima and Beppu is the only time I've ever run into serious language barriers, and that sorted itself out in an hour or two!

Politeness is the only thing you'd want to watch out for over there. Eating food on the street is one thing that will cause a lot of funny looks and chuckles at the weird gaijin.

One thing I'd urge anyone going over to do though is break free of Tokyo. It's a great city, but there's so many wonderful places in the country it's worth travelling around as much as you can. Kyoto especially - and Nara which is nearby - is a pretty essential, but there are tonnes of other places worth exploring. Even Kamakura, just a day trip outside Tokyo, provides a radically different experience for a mere train fare. I've only seen a handful of them, so always have the urge to go back!

CiDeRmAn

I'd never get the wife onto a plane for that duration of a flight.
It's difficult getting her on a flight to Paris!

Always wanted to go though, a little pricier than a drinking weekend in London I reckon!

Have to bring plenty of empty luggage too, for all the goodies!

ondafly

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I'd never get the wife onto a plane for that duration of a flight.
It's difficult getting her on a flight to Paris!

Always wanted to go though, a little pricier than a drinking weekend in London I reckon!

Have to bring plenty of empty luggage too, for all the goodies!

if the A-team can get Mr.T on the plane :pac: should be no bother ! the flight over isn't actually too bad, quite sureall though, being woken at 3am being offered noodles or ice-cream ! that was with KLM.

corblimey

I went over back in ought-nine, and had a wee bit of Japanese with me (mostly forgotten now). I tried my hand at it for the first few days, but once the Japanese heard me, they launched into speedy responses that were lost in translation. So unless you're fluent, I'd stick to the English, "suimasen" and lots of pointing.

Also I heard you should bring disinfectant for the capsule hotels. They pipe porn into them and there's a very good reason that they blast them from a distance with a hose to clean them.

I always thought the capsule hotels were relatively clean and tidy - is it the love hotels you're thinking about perhaps? Whole different concept

shindig-jp

safetyboy wrote: »

Lots of you have been to Japan it seems, i was over there in 2007 and thinking of going back this year for 2 weeks. i stayed in the toyoko inns for a month last time and it worked out pretty expensive tbh. about €70 a night.

Anyone know of a cheaper accommodation there that's pretty decent

One Hour from Tokyo Washinomiya Town, Kuki City Saitama. 400 meters from the train station, two room standalone house on two floors; self-catering holiday accommodation and offered solely to the Irish holiday maker seeking to experience the Japanese way of living daily home life, something you will not get by staying at a hotel. A really funky holiday pad (100mega) WiFi enabled, up to four Persons sharing, children welcome. Bedding would of course be Japanese futon style and 4 full sets of fresh futon will be provided.
It’s a fully air-conditioned small home set in a residential area consisting of a super modern WC and power shower facility, fully equipped trailer home style galley kitchen, microwave, fridge, freezer, two ring Japanese gas cooker stove & grill, washing machine. Supermarket & shops a few minutes’ walk away.
The owners of the property are seeking Town Twinning or Sister City status between Washinomiya (West) Town Japan and a place area in Ireland (yet to be decided) to be formalized by the two local governments.
20 applicants are invited to take a 14 day holiday in the Town of Washinomiya Saitama. The cost per named applicant is 1000 Euro for accommodations only which could be shared among family members or friends and will not exceed 4 members inclusive of the applicant.
The 20 Irish named applicants will be known as the delegation to Japan for obvious reasons in achieving a qualification in the goal of gaining Twin Township status.
Here’s the bonus. Once all applicants and their individual members have taken their 14 day holidays, for the year 2012 they will be offered seven nights’ free accommodations on a return trip which can be taken anytime of course by arrangement during the following three years.
Holidays for the Dragon year of 2012 will start in April and must be booked and paid for in advance by December 1st 2011. The holiday roster will be decided among the 20 fully paid up applicants at a first meeting to be arranged at a venue in Dublin. The final Venue meeting to iron out any problems in the holiday roster will most likely be a spot in the Phoenix Park which will coincide with the annual Japanese festival held there.
If anybody is interested ?. Found on Tokyo Craigs list
http://tokyo.craigslist.jp/reo/2541544016.html

elekid

o1s1n wrote: »

I'd love to go to Japan but the language barrier is one thing which always freaked me out. Some people enjoy trying to find their way around in such a situation - not me, I crumble and die!

I'm the same, so I was really worried about the language barrier before I went last year, but there was nothing I couldn't do with a bit of pointing and a Japanese phrasebook. There's lots of English signs and information over there too so don't let that stop you.

A couple of places I'd suggest if you're a FF/DQ fan are:
Luida's Bar
The Square-Enix Character Goods Showcase

Mervyn Skidmore

Hi. I'm going to Japan and Korea for 5 weeks (3 weeks japan, 2 weeks Korea) next month. I'm kind of thinking that i've underestimated the costs. My budget will be about €100 euro per day. I'm going to stay in hostels and buy the 14 day rail pass for japan. Obviously some days I will spend more than others. To be honest I'm kind of sh*tting it now about how much it will cost which isn't a good thing as I should be looking forward to an amazing trip. Any help at all is greatly appreciated!

johnny_ultimate

Mervyn Skidmore wrote: »

Hi. I'm going to Japan and Korea for 5 weeks (3 weeks japan, 2 weeks Korea) next month. I'm kind of thinking that i've underestimated the costs. My budget will be about €100 euro per day. I'm going to stay in hostels and buy the 14 day rail pass for japan. Obviously some days I will spend more than others. To be honest I'm kind of sh*tting it now about how much it will cost which isn't a good thing as I should be looking forward to an amazing trip. Any help at all is greatly appreciated!

Yes it's expensive. If your €100 per day budget includes the JRail ticket then you might be in trouble. If not, you'll be fine though. I've struggled to keep to a €50 per day for various reasons. Hostels are usually 20-25 euro, so that's half that gone in a day before you've even eaten :pac:

Just be sensible, though, and you can get by relatively comfortably. Eat cheaply: I'd personally recommend the wide variety of gyudon (rice and beef) restaurants where you can get a pretty big and pretty delicious meal for 500-600 yen. Yoshinoya are the tastiest. Supermarkets in late evening will hook you up with reduced stock like sushi, while of course cooking for yourself can be cheap. There's always instant ramen if you're really stuck, and of course glorious restaurant ramen is always a good budget food.

The Jrail ticket will save you lots: remember if you're in Tokyo it will get you on the JRail trains like the super handy Yamanote Line, but not subways. But you're best saving it for your big bullet train trips. Just make sure to use it whenever you can.

Other than that, just try your darndest to avoid Japan's greatest danger: shiny trinkets :P It's the impulse buys - cool figurines, random games, awesome t-shirts - that provide the most financial distractions in Japan. And things like going out for the night will have costs that slowly build up: drink in the hostel before going out if you're a drinker (luckily, I'm not!). Watch out for the high entry costs to nightclubs and even things like karakoe can set you back a couple of thousand yen easily.

I can't lie: Japan is expensive, but with careful spending you can get by. While Tokyo might be a little more expensive than other places, nowhere I've visited has been particularly cheap, but of course the quieter locations provide less opportunity to waste your discretionary expenditure on arcade machines. By waste I mean of course "thoroughly enjoy if you don't care about eating". Make sure you get to awesome places like Hiroshima, Kyoto, Kamakura, Takayama and Fukokua (ramen capital of the world!) if you have the time! And a lot of sight seeing can be cheap, although you'll regularly have to pay to get into the 'inner sanctums' of the fancier locations.

On one note, ensure you treat yourself to a sushi breakfast at the Tokyo fish market. It's very expensive (30-40 euro!), but probably the most spectacular food-related treat you'll get in a country packed with food-related treats

Enjoy

Mervyn Skidmore

Thanks for the quick reply! The €100 per day will be purely for hostels and spending money. I'm gonna get the Jrail card here before I go. I am a bit of a drinker but like you said I can get some booze in the supermarket before I head out. Luckily I'm not mad into souvenirs so I'll just buy a fridge magnet! But if I do see some cool little things I might be tempted. I've heard Korea is cheaper than Japan so maybe that'll help too. I really haven't done much budgeting apart from the fact that I'll have €4000 to last me 40 days! The last thing I want is to be that far away without a penny to my name but you've reduced my blood pressure significantly! Any other tips would be great too. Do you reckon I should book all my hostels here or just book as I go along out there? my first ten days out there will be in Tokyo and Kyoto.

johnny_ultimate

Mervyn Skidmore wrote: »

Do you reckon I should book all my hostels here or just book as I go along out there? my first ten days out there will be in Tokyo and Kyoto.

Hmm, it all depends really. The popular hostels do book out relatively early, and I'd definitely recommend having a hostel booked at least a few days before you intend on arriving in a particular city.

As I said earlier, I can't recommend K's House enough. I've stayed in their hostels in Hiroshima, Tokyo, Kyoto and Fuji and they've all been of very high quality. There are a few other decent hostels in the Asakusa area of Tokyo. I'll check up and see if there are any other hostels around the place I can recommend.

safetyboy

Going to book some flights soon, maybe for April, May or even later in the summer, so any advise when is the cheaper time to go flight wise?

LoGiE

I've been twice and stayed in hostels both times. The first was the self proclaimed cheapest hostel in Tokyo and was about 25 minutes out, the other was nice and central. To be honest the trains are so good it doesn't really matter where you stay and they run late too.

Monkeyto

I recommend booking in Winter as the closer to you get to Spring time, the more costly it gets. Spring time is a popular time to travel here and in early May we will have Golden Week when prices for travel go through the roof.