Asia: Japan

scoey53
San Francisco

What I want to do at this place

I hope to tour Japan for three weeks…

I had really wanted to go this year, but thought better to wait til next year, as I just started classes back in November in Japanese. My Girlfriend’s mom just came back from a vacation there. She had a guide to most places she went. I suppose having a guide would be good, however, it would be great to beable to speak well enough to get around, on our own and that would be wonderful.

We thought about going to Tokyo first, and spending three or four days exploring first. Next, to take the Bullet train (Shinkansen) north to Fukushima, Yamagata and on up to Aomori where we would spend five or six days. Return then to Tokyo, and spend another two days there before heading south to Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and down to Miyazaki. Perhaps take a flight to Okinawa while down there. Then back to Tokyo for a final three days before flying out.

Well, we won’t becoming home yet. Going to spend the fourth week in Bora Bora Tahiti. Something we also wanted to do.

Oh yeah, its going to be expensive. I figure we might be able to do it all for about twenty grand. Japan will not be cheap nor Tahiti. But, I have saved for this, and its going to happen next year and I can’t wait.

We hope to go around March or April for the “Sakura Matsuri” Cherry Blossom Festival. Things we hope to do while in Japan?
Visit shrines and Castles of course. Go up the Tokyo tower,
visit the bay of Tokyo (Where in 1953 Godzilla walked out of the bay for the first time!!! Oh..and see his little statue in Ginza near the Toho Studios.)Attend a real Sumo wrestling match, attempt to do Karaoke, do a Kabuki theatre, see about visiting a master swords maker, to see how Japanese Katanas are made. See Mt.Fuji! Visit a Samurai Village, where they re-enact life back during the time of the Shoguns. Look and shop for great Anime collectables, try and catch a JPOP concert if possible. If its the right time of the year catch
a Yomuri Giants game at the Tokyo Dome. Go to the festivals for Sakura Matsuri. Visit a Japanese Hot springs bathhouse resort. Swim and do the Hot Tubs. Visit the Peace memorial in Hiroshima. As a High School student, one of my mandatory required readings was about Hiroshima. I am sure it will be a very moving experience. Spend some time in Akihabara and go to Ginza. There will probably be many more things to do and see,
(like visiting the largest Fish market in the world where you can taste samples and watch companies bid on the fish.)Learn more about the History.

I have been to Barcelona Spain, Napoli Italy, Cannes France,
Moorea Tahiti, Toronto and Vancouver Canada, and to most states in the United States, but this undertaking will be like none I have done before for here we will beable to have three weeks to do everything insted of one. Forget Disneyland..this is going to be a Blast!

Comments:

dshimizu
Windermere

wow

I am so implressed with your plans. You will have such a great time. The country is amazing, unlike anywhere else on earth.

Have fun!

dominique

Willow_The_Wysp
Miyagi

looking for friends

Hello there…my name is Mike…I`m new to this site but I was looking through some photos and comments and I saw yours….you seem an interesting person and i was wondering if you`d like to share ideas and maybe be friends?:)

I am from London,uk but lived and taught English for 5 years in Australia but now I am living and teaching English in Japan:)

Are u interesting in being friends? my mail is: Willow_The_Wysp@yahoo.com

LC stands for ...loves cats?
Singapore

COSTS

i just got back from a 17 day trip to japan and reckon i spent about 2 grand including airtickets. granted my stay was limited to kansai area and tokyo.. but i don’t see why it would cost 20 grand. for 2 people, i think 10 grand would be good enough.
areas to cut costs on: transport and accomodation. transport is ridiculously expensive in japan and travelling in and out of tokyo is going to cost 2 grand at least. try to keep your tokyo stay in one block (and to be frank i really don’t think there is much to do there unless you like a nice expatriate community & hitting the bars). if your airline allows, get an open jaw ticket so you fly to tokyo but fly out from osaka. i did this and my ticket ended up being cheaper for some reason.
within cities, try to get a JR pass. there’re several good plans available from JR. there are those that you can buy from their overseas offices and exchange for a rail pass once you get there, but i have no experience with those. i spent 5800 on a JR pass that worked for osaka and kobe (up to Maiko) for 4 days, as well as a kobe subway 1 day pass and an osaka subway 1 day pass. the condition says that you have to use all these within the stipulated 4 days but because the osaka and kobe subway passes don’t store any information you can just use them whenever you like. travelling between osaka and kobe costs about 900yen each way and the JR pass will also help to cut the cost of going to HIMEJI.
I also got a kintetsu pass for 5 days (3500yen) but the kintetsu system is pretty slow and takes forever(an hour or so) to get from one place to the next when JR would have taken half the time. it covers nara, mie, kyoto and osaka but because of the various train companies operating it might not bring you in close vicinity to where you want to go, and you have to pay more for transfer on some other line.

as for accomodation, in osaka i stayed at a place (in SHIN IMAMIYA) that was 2100 yen a night. it wasn’t in the central part of town and riding the JR out costs about 170 yen or free if you have a pass. compared to hotels which cost at least 7000 and up this is a much cheaper option.
in tokyo i stayed at asakusa, which seems to be where all the hostels are located. price is cheap, 2000 yen or so. the main problem is that it’s about 45 minutes away from shibuya by subway. kind of inconvenient but asakusa has its own charms and the hostel offers a free drink (as in alcohol) for every night of your stay.

well, even though it looks like you’ve planned to spend 20k on this trip i’d still advise you to save that cash and blow them on electronics, food and other stuff that japan has to offer you!

(This comment was deleted.)

Aug 21, 2007, 05:20AM PDT


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