Quick japanese travel question

[Hellfury]

Let all the girls take pictures of you.

Does this have some kind of special significance in Japan o.O?

[Cletis]

If your single... Yes

[Ishido]

Does this have some kind of special significance in Japan o.O?

Japanese people love taking pictures.


I just spent last week in Tokyo, and while you can easily spend 2 weeks in Tokyo and not see anything twice, I recommend at least taking 4-5 days if not a week to see Kyoto and the rest of the Kansai area (Osaka, Nara, Kobe, etc). If you get the JR rail pass it's a very short journey on the shinkansen, although be aware that using JR services only is VERY inconvenient for traveling, both in Tokyo and elsewhere. It is very economical if you buy the pass, however.

Hotels you will find mostly start around $100 per night and go up fairly quickly, it is possible to find cheaper but everything in that range will be a combination of small, poorly located, lacking english speaking staff, etc. Business and Hostels are quite a bit cheaper but you seem to not be interested in that. Food and shopping is expensive. You can easily spend as much as you want eating and shopping, but you can also get by on about $20 per day not eating badly. It all depends on what you are doing.

In spring I recommend avoiding Golden Week (end of April/start of May) because everything is horribly crowded and lodging more expensive. If you can make it during the week or 2 that the sakura are blooming that is a very cool thing and another activity that you can do.

[Hellfury]

In Norway, using cards is pretty much the standard way to pay for anything these days, a car or a pack of chewing gum, cash is mostly used by old people and stuff you want off the books. How is Japans larger cities on this?

[Darlantan]

They use cash way more than any other place I have been to. Of course, there are plenty of places where you can buy stuff using cards, but I would not depend solely on it.

[Silenka]

In spring I recommend avoiding Golden Week (end of April/start of May) because everything is horribly crowded

I've just heard from one of my teachers who used to live in Japan that Golden Week is a great time to go to Tokyo because everyone's left there on holiday and it will be almost completely empty lol.

[Osede]

In Norway, using cards is pretty much the standard way to pay for anything these days, a car or a pack of chewing gum, cash is mostly used by old people and stuff you want off the books. How is Japans larger cities on this?

ya...that is the major difference between eastern and western country. Even in states, I never have more than 20USD in my wallet. Except these days due to I'm selling furniture for moving out.

Majority of store only accept cash, maybe some large store, for example yodobashi. But still, if you are in japan, just go ahead and ask if they accept card before you shop or eat. Then you can decide by depending on your budget.

[Arcien]

I've just heard from one of my teachers who used to live in Japan that Golden Week is a great time to go to Tokyo because everyone's left there on holiday and it will be almost completely empty lol.

Seconded this. I was there on 28 and 29 April this year and it wasn't bad at all. Went to Ueno-Akihabara on Saturday, and Harajuku-Shibuya on Sunday. Expenses can be cheap or expensive (in Tokyo) depend on what you want to buy. I spent most of my money on food rather than shopping. I saved a lot on breakfast since I usually woke up around 9 AM and there's Lawson shop (100 yen shop) just next to my hotel. Lunch and dinner usually took no more than 4000 yen per person but of course if you want some grand stuff, you can expect to pay more.

PS: You can save some money on accommodation if you reserve them early.

[hey]

Lunch and dinner usually took no more than 4000 yen per person

Did you add a 0?

[Arcien]

To be exact, I never spent more than 1300 yen for lunch and 1500 yen for dinner. It's just a meal plus a plain cold water (they usually serve this unless you ask for something else). I also had a lunch buffet in Indian restaurant for 1200 yen which is not really bad at all :D There were a lot of Japanese eating there too. So, if the price is more than 2000 yen per meal, are kind of luxury. For lunch, some restaurants have lunch deals (11.30 AM - 2.30PM). I rarely saw them though. They say most of it are near office building.

[Ishido]

I've just heard from one of my teachers who used to live in Japan that Golden Week is a great time to go to Tokyo because everyone's left there on holiday and it will be almost completely empty lol.

Definitely not what I experienced. For the first half of the week (first Saturday-Wednesday) it seemed roughly normal, but Thursday-Sunday were far more crowded than when I was in Tokyo back in March. Specifically the more popular areas/tourist areas were far more crowded. Omotesando and Odaiba seemed particularly crowded.

[SwinglineStapler]

Just posting to add my voice to the chorus of people suggesting the JR gaijin pass. This is nothing a guide book won't tell you, but when you go make sure to go to a couple izakaya-type establishments, especially since you'll be traveling with friends. Yakiniku is also a must in my book. If you want to spend some time outside of Tokyo, western Japan is very pretty. Go see Miyajima and stop to see Hiroshima on the way.

If you want the "old Japan" feel, the Kyoto attractions are nice, yes, but Nara is a better choice in my experience, as there were foreigners crawling all over everything in Kyoto when I went, and that was in off-peak season (near Oshogatsu).

[DragonCloud64]

Also just a quick tip for those visiting Tokyo: if it gets too late and you miss your train to get back to your hotel, etc., crash at a manga/internet cafe. Not much space to stretch out but at least it's cheap.

[popsiclestix]

Living here I will give what I know:

Golden week is nuts in Japan. It is usually the last week of April or first week of May. Imagine everyone who has been working 6 days a week, gets to take a week (it seems like 2 weeks honestly) off. A lot of local businesses close and people travel to different countries or different parts of Japan. The trains and roads seem twice as crowded throughout the day.

Late July and August are just too hot to visit Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka. Japan gets hot and humid in the summer.

Regarding money, most of the transactions are done in cash. I honestly rarely see people use credit cards. Americans use it for every purchase.

Japanese Hotels charge per person. Unlike America, where we charge per room, Japanese will charge per occupant.

I don't know anything about the JR Pass, but do get a Pasimo or Suica. They are prepaid NFC cards and are used to pay for vending machines, convenience stores purchases, trains, and bus fares.

If I were to budget a trip. Get your hotel rooms and travel costs down first and factor 10,000yen per day. Use this to budget your days around.

[Zilong]

Japanese Hotels charge per person. Unlike America, where we charge per room, Japanese will charge per occupant.

Per hour too, dohohoho

[SaviorSelf]

So much to read through, but if you want to PM me with a list of questions I could try and answer them for you. Anything Japan related I'll try and give some insight too since I know I had a lot of questions and the people I talked to over there were so shitty with helping me lol

As far as the JR Rail Pass, I don't know how much that would even save unless you take the shinkansen or something. I took the trains around Tokyo a ton of times and it is honestly so cheap, that I don't think on a first time trip you can justify getting it unless you are using the shinkansen multiple times.

[Renzokuken]

I know it's been said in this thread already, but just to reiterate, one trip on the shinkansen will more than pay for getting a JR pass.