#15

Practical stuff:

Phones can be a real pain in the arse. You need a japanese residential address to buy a normal sim card. There are tourist ones available at the airport, but to get the good deals you often need to order one in advance and arrange to collect one at the airport. My friend got a mobile hotspot thing for wifi, but it was quite annoying, and was a pain to collect and return to the post office at the airport because of the queues.

There’s lots of free wifi around though.

Cheap food:
7-11/Famima/Lawson buffet food is actually really nice. Also the lunch deal is king, lots of places do a 500-700Y lunch deal (so abut £5-7). Basically if you mostly eat Japanese food, you can eat well for cheap, imported food is expensive. Fruit is expensive too.

Cash machines:
Get a Monzo card. Lots of cash machines are funny about foreign cards, but will accept the Monzo ones.

#16

If you’re going in 2022, I’d definitely try and get to the Inland Sea, and try to time it with one of the Setuichi triennale sessions, if it’s going ahead:

There are a collection of old island villages where artists work on installations in abandoned houses, which are opened up for a few months every three years. That whole area is worth a visit, too as you’ve got the art museums like Benesse House on Naoshima, which are open all year round.

We did that in spring 2019 as part of a two week trip. We didn’t see everything we wanted to, obviously, but I think it’s long enough to get a flavour of the country.

I’d recommend flying into and out of Tokyo, getting a Japan Rail pass, and having an itinerary something like:

  • Tokyo (four nights total), including
    Day trip to the Hakone ‘circuit’
    Trip to the Ghibli musuem (you must book this in advance)
  • Osaka (two nights total)
  • Kyoto (three nights total, including a day trip to Nara, which is halfway between Kyoto and Osaka)
  • Hiroshima (two nights, including a day trip to Miyajima)
  • Trip to the inland sea area. Allow for two full days. You can get a ferry from Takamatsu and island hop. If you want to push the boat out, then an overnight stay at Benesse House is something really special.
  • Trip to and overnight stay in Koya

That keeps everything pretty local, and minimises the long train journeys. You’ll never see it all and will want to go back as soon as you leave.

You can get companies that will arrange an itinerary, hotel bookings, train bookings etc for you, and if you’re worried about the language barrier (and Japan’s slightly backward attitude to internet booking), then they can be useful, but aren’t necessary.

#17

Oh yeah, this was great. Did yours include a trip on some sort of ridiculous pirate ship?

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#18

I do wonder how hospitable Japan will feel after the pandemic. I can see it nudging more people into outright hostility to foreigners. My friend who was living there last year was saying it was getting more of an edge.

#19

It was posed as a “prize draw” at a Japanese food fair, but the entry form asked if you had a travel blog, and then they kept talking about “nice photos” after I won, so I took the hint, and they were pleased to have plenty of stuff to put in the news section of the site.

#20

Try and eat every type of Kit Kat.

And keep a spreadsheet.

For DiS.

#21

Those omiyage regional fancy kitkats are intended for bringing back to work for the communal snack table, so I feel like really they should get some for every member here. It’s only fair

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#22

The spanish galleon? Yup. We couldn’t go on the cable cars due to seismic activity, so had to catch a bus on that bit, so we only managed to rack up the train, switchback train, funicular and boat on that day…

The open air art museum and the onsen at the end of the day were probably the highlights.

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#23

Also there’s a regional stereotype that I found to be somewhat true- people from the east of Honshu, which includes Tokyo, being more buttoned up and introverted, and people in the west (Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima etc) being more loud and chatty.

An old lady on a tram in Hiroshima decided to give me an unprompted guided tour of various sites through the window after she saw me looking at a map.

#24

Alright Phoebe Bridgers x5

(Japan sounds rad)

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#25

Tokyo you could spend as much or as little time as you like, it has a bit of everything but is also confoundingly huge and lacks the specific character of some of the other cities.

If you’re going to western Honshu, it’s an option to stay in Osaka and do day trips to Kyoto, Nara, Kobe etc. Works out since there’s not much to see in Osaka during the day, but the nightlife is excellent, while the other places are relatively dull at night.

I’d spend a night or two in Hakone, it’s a great place to do some hiking and there’s plenty of ryokans with naturally fed onsen.

If you want a radical option, do Kyushu for two weeks. The cities are a more manageable size, the landscape is gorgeous, and people were much more pleased to see tourists on the whole.

#26

went 4 years ago :sob: want to go back.

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#27

Lived there for seven years so feel free to ask anything specific. I think a lot has been answered already and I second most recommendations (sumo, Kyoto, Hiroshima), one to add to the Seto Inland Sea if you like cycling is the Shimanamikaidou, a cycling route between Honshu and Shikoku that goes across lots of bridges between little islands.
The main thing I tell people is to get out into the countryside/mountains and stay at a ryokan with an onsen or routenburo (outside hot spring). They’re expensive but one night is worth it. I think Marckee recommended Koya and there are some nice ryokans around there in Wakayama.

Tokyo is great to live in but I don’t know what to recommend doing there if you’ve only got two weeks. Might be best to just spend a couple of nights soaking it up. Koenji and Nakano were my favourite neighbourhoods for eating and drinking.

#28

It goes through Onomichi where I stayed, and the guesthouse people were confused first of all that we didn’t have any bikes with us and didn’t need to store them there, because most foreign tourists there are cyclists. (Japanese people visit for the retro charm)

#29

Haven’t been but have wanted to for years and have done research. If you Google cheeserland blog, this woman visited every prefecture in Japan and talks about it in great depth. Used to read her blog about 12 years ago and have decided when I finally do go to intensively research her website for tips. As for racism, it depends massively. White/white passing people tend to, as Em mentioned, be spoken to in a friendly manner/as English practice buddies. The black experience is wholly different from what I have heard, with a lot of unpleasant staring, startled swerving and empty seats on either side despite rush hour train travel.

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#30

I’ve had a plan for a while to go to Japan when I turn 50. In 2027. International travel should be ok by then, right?

#31

Lots of stories about language schools in Japan and Korea being very racist in their hiring policies and also a weird refusal to believe that a non-white person could be British or Canadian for example.

Even if you’re white/white-passing I think it depends how much your appearance differs from the average japanese person what kind of reaction you’ll get. I don’t really stick out from the crowd there, so although people knew I wasn’t Japanese they just talked at me in Japanese and hoped I understood something. My friend was more of an exotic novelty, so she got a different kind of attention that could sometimes be annoying or intrusive. It felt sometimes like I just got accepted as a background person, and she was always on show.

#32

I only went to Tokyo, Edo Open Air Architecture Museum. Hamarikyu Gardens. National Art Centre.

Just wander round. Can recommend so craft aley places too if youre into that.

#33

Been twice. Both times we spent around a week in Tokyo (recommend switching hotels halfway to explore different areas) and the rest of the time travelling around. First time West through Kyoto and second time to the North to check out some sakura.

Hiroshima was an unexpected highlight. Friendly people, six million versions of okonomiyaki and get pissed on by deer.

Don’t miss the Kanegawa phonograph museum.

You can eat very well for not much money but bevvying will cost you.

Gigs start early. Tried twice to get to one and they were already packing up at 9pm.

Bars open late. Went to a few random, tiny ones that I’d never be able to find again. Listened to Sensational Alex Harvey Band and watched an Einstürzende Neubauten live video with some goth guys.

One night in a love hotel is fun.

Cash is very much king.

Downside. My partner is very tall and European which attracted some unpleasant attention from one drunk salaryman.

#34

Also a former resident of that amazing country, so ask me anything specific. My wife and I are particularly hot on the peculiarities of pregnancy and giving birth in Japan, as well as the best paces to buy baby clothes :wink:

I’ve previously said loads in the threads that have already been linked to, so I won’t go on here, but as people have said upthread, Hakone is an essential day trip from Tokyo and the open air sculpture museum is amazing. Kamakura is also a good day trip from Tokyo, a coastal town with lots of temples and also a giant Buddha.