Come Visit Japan

[Mizango]

I used to want to go to japan
then I heard they have huge bees
fuck that

Don't worry, my area only has huge spiders.

...

why

why do you do this to me

I was so interested in applying for this offer until I saw you say this. I can't stand spiders, the bigger they are the worse it is.

Lol, this makes me think of THE spider pic.. the one that's like in the corner of the ceiling, and is huge like xbox.

Exactly lol.

Flawlessly played Spider card by Elmer, well played indeed my friend.

[Dmitry]

That sounds like an awesome idea. Too bad I'm a poor college student

[Maguspk]

You can get commercial for like 800-900USD but meh. I just usually do a MAC flight and pay 25 bucks.

I may be interested in this around Christmas, I had planned to visit back to Japan then, I hope to get to Peru around August. ;/

MAC as in you hitch a ride on a military plane? How do you go about doing that if it's really that cheap it sounds awesome...

[Churchill]

Being in the military or I think part of a military family helps. (See: makes it possible)

Assuming you are talk to your travel office on post and they should be able to help you. Some posts have a MAC office but those are ones that have flights that come in regularly.

[Koga]

Elmer, if you can get some pricing figured out and give me a rough estimate I would actually love to come but I would be looking to either go in the Fall or in the Late Winter/Early Spring for for the Cherry Blossoms.
I'm looking to do this sometime next year and by that time I will have finished my Japanese Classes so I should be able to communicate somewhat as well.

Can you PM me an agenda as well if you get something put together. Would be looking for some geographical land marks and some tourist attractions as well. Would be looking at maybe spending ~10 days.

[Sylphet]

From what I've read you guys are thinking of something along the lines of a bed and breakfast. It's an interesting idea and certainly $500 for a week of room and board is extremely reasonable considering that if one was to stay in a ryokan you could pay that per night. However there's also a huge amount of responsibility involved in setting everything up like that on an individual basis and I'm unsure of what you and your spouse's work schedules are like. If one or both of you work from home a lot it becomes more feasible.

I think there's a decent market for something like this amongst the college-age set who don't care so much about their living accommodations as long as there's a roof over their heads. However, that crowd will also likely be attracted to the more urban areas of Tokyo and Kyoto which will require train rides.

I'd suggest that you guys make a web site with pictures and prices, obviously after you have thought carefully about the budgeting. It would be a full time business to run year round but maybe you could start out with blocks of time for a few trial runs to see if it's something that you would really like to do on a more regular basis.

Things I'd want to know:

Is there easy access to public transportation? If not will transportation to/from major train stations be provided?
What are the costs and schedules to take trains to major metro areas?
What is there to do locally?
How many people could stay at once? (you may not want 4 college kids in a single room)
What rules would you have for curfew/noise/drinking etc?

All that being said, it sounds like something that I'd love to do as the price is extremely reasonable and I've already seen Kyoto and Tokyo and would love to see more of (the other parts of) Japan. Do you have issues with kids? :D

[Osede]

Things I'd want to know:

Is there easy access to public transportation? If not will transportation to/from major train stations be provided?

JP public transport > other asia countries >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> US. So, dont worry, you can get to anywhere w/o a car.

What are the costs and schedules to take trains to major metro areas?

train schedule are like 2-10mins for each arrival. (in side tokyo city is about 2mins for each, while some place about 5-10mins). Which is every convinience. And you can consider to buy a 3 or 5 days pass, or you might can go get a some sort of JR (japan railway) visitor pass that you can ride free JR train in anywhere in japan.

What is there to do locally?
How many people could stay at once? (you may not want 4 college kids in a single room)
What rules would you have for curfew/noise/drinking etc?

rest of these i think will leave elmer to asnwer them

[Sylphet]

I actually knew those things too! I meant them to be more of a guideline for things that people in general would want to know or be curious about. If he's going to do this for real I'd highly recommend him starting a website with a FAQ page answering questions like that.

An additional $2000 monthly income is not a bad deal (subtract some for the expenses of paying for food etc), even if it's just for a couple of months a year. If it works out with the rest of his life I think it's a great idea.

[Zigma]

that price is very very good!

[aurik]

I'd do it if I ever had vacation days to spare at work.

edit: $500/wk is actually only slightly more than my rent in Calif, lol.

[Talus]

What would be the house policy on guests bringing in guests, i.e. hooking up?

P.S. No one tell my girlfriend, thanks! Japan is definitely a different zip code!

P.P.S. I have business contacts in Nagoya - how close are you, Elmer?

[Serif]

I'd do it if I ever had vacation days to spare at work.

edit: $500/wk is actually only slightly more than my rent in Calif, lol.

That is why I love the South.

320 a month plus utilities, so I am only paying like 450 a month to live in a 1200 square foot apartment.

This sounds pretty good, I think Welt and I were thinking about possibly coming to Japan when we graduate in December so I will be interested in this when the prices and everything else is finally decided.

[Lordwafik]

Why didn't you do this when I was there elmer ((( It was boring when I went since I knew nobody.

[Elmer the Pointy]

I'd suggest that you guys make a web site with pictures and prices, obviously after you have thought carefully about the budgeting. It would be a full time business to run year round but maybe you could start out with blocks of time for a few trial runs to see if it's something that you would really like to do on a more regular basis.

I've been meaning to redo my site for ages, and I definitely want one for this. We certainly have plenty of pictures, especially of the cherry blossoms that were up recently, which Koga expressed interest in.
Here's a short video, where I tried to catch the petals falling on film.

Is there easy access to public transportation? If not will transportation to/from major train stations be provided?

We live close to the train station, and it's a fairly major one that offers bullet-train service to Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. The city is already right there, so lots of shopping and eating without needing a bus. One idea we had is to offer an extra bike during your stay. So even if the walk is only 10 minutes or so, you can cruise down fast and easy and navigate around quickly too. Bikes can be locked and left practically anywhere.

What are the costs and schedules to take trains to major metro areas?

Our city is a technically a major metro area with a much more relaxed feel. If you're just looking for the accessibility of shops and bars and such, you're set. If you want Tokyo/Osaka specifically, there's the bullet-train, which runs multiple times an hour throughout the day. You can get to Nagoya in under an hour, no problem, for like $30. Tokyo is like $60 and 1hr45min. Kyoto about 2hrs, Osaka, 2hr30min.

If you really want to hit those last 3 major cities, they would be day trips.

What is there to do locally?

There's a lot of shopping, giant malls, souvenir stuff, traditional clothing, books, kitschy Engrish stuff.
There's many bars, karaoke bars, yakiniku restaurants where you cook your own meat, conveyor belt sushi.
A lot of history in the area too, Hamamatsu castle, founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu, festivals throughout the year, many temples and places to hike, natural hot springs in the mountains, and Mt. Fuji about 1hr train ride, or faster if you splurge for the bullet-train.

How many people could stay at once? (you may not want 4 college kids in a single room)

I would probably limit it to either one person or a couple, just for their comfort. You mentioned kids though, so you may have husband/wife 1-2 kids maybe? I don't have issues with kids, but the number would be something to discuss beforehand. We are still looking around for the actual place so I don't know exactly yet how comfortably they would fit. Still, it may turn out to be no problem, we'll consider that as we continue our house-hunting.

What rules would you have for curfew/noise/drinking etc?

Drinking is okay, curfew might not be so necessary, at least not an early one. I'm usually up late anyway. Noise would need to be low at night, but that's just normal for the neighborhood. Everyone needs to be relatively quiet and not disturb their neighbors.

What would be the house policy on guests bringing in guests, i.e. hooking up?

I'm completely understand the lack of a proper hook up place. Still, it might be a little weird having people hooking up in the next room lol. I dunno, maybe I could help out somehow. I could at least introduce you to girls... the rest might be up to you

P.P.S. I have business contacts in Nagoya - how close are you, Elmer?

Not far, I went there to vote in the primaries. I may have met your contact, there were a number of foreigners at the voting area.

[Koga]

What about the Matsuri Festivals?
Would you recommend a certain shrine over another?
If I went in the fall I would probably try for the Awaodori one; or maybe even later to go to the Chichibu Yomatsuri.

Any input?

[kuronosan]

Dude, I'm totally interested if you have the details worked out. I'd suggest perhaps you consider taking people around Kyoto and showing them some of the more beautiful sights. I've always wanted to see Kyoto...

Damn, if it works out to be a good deal I may actually do it just to do it.

[Caiti]

As Sath has already said, the two of us would be very interested in this come the winter. Please give more info when available!

[shukuffxi]

Just chiming in, for those who're actually interested in school in Japan, there's a fairly decent place that's cheap, called Yamasa if you're interested, that's where I went when I was there. Sort of backwater-ish area, small town, but has all the normal stuff, and was fairly cheap, but as far as I know, they only work in increments of 3 months+, tho I never looked into less time. They provide room/board/net/etc. Classes were OK, and they helped set you up with whatever you needed (cel phone, etc).

I can tell you from when I was there, the price Elmer quoted was really sickeningly good for 1 week >_> If I were to go back, i'd take it in a heart beat. I'd really like to note how freaking amazing it is to have someone who speaks fluent JP there who you know, when I got off the plane it hit me that "Holy shit, I can barely get around at all with what little extremely basic JP I know".

[shihei]

What if you don't speak a lick of japanese, like is the area very tourist friendly? Alot of people would understand you, if you were to talk in english?

[Pyro]

If I were to fly into Narita roughly how long would it take to get to your city? I'm on the edge of going to Japan and really the only thing stopping me is housing. The Holiday Inn next to the airport is pretty much my only option so far.