Planning far in advance....ya!

[seichan]

Finally getting a small amount of free-time or at least getting my weekends back.
Calling Japan-experienced travelers (who are still alive on lj).
Decided to travel beyond the layover this fall, and venture outside the Narita airport for the first time.

For those who have been there before, any advice?
1. Places to stay
2. Places to play and shop?
3. What not to bring, must bring, what to get (tickets) beforehand?
4. Tour group, or map-it?

I'd rather not spend my brain power on figuring out stuff, or getting hung up on language barriers.
(We'll be focusing our time in Tokyo, Kyoto and a day trip to Mt Fuji.)

...now to figure out what to do during the summer...

Comments

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo, congrats!

Places to stay: for BL fangirls, you can't beat the Sunshine Prince in Ikebukuro (Tokyo). Prices are reasonable, there's a Family Mart in the lobby (great for small cheap meals), and Otome Road is right there. If your traveling companions are not BL-oriented, though, Ikebukuro might feel too far out of the way. (Otome Road is a 10 minute walk from the Yamanote line, but traveling to the other side of Tokyo can easily take 45 minutes, so you have to think about what parts of Tokyo you'll be hitting up most often.)

If you will go to Kyoto and back (or vice versa, to Tokyo and back if you're flying into Osaka) it is definitely worth while to get a rail pass. You have to make arrangements to order one in advance, before you arrive in Japan -- allow a few weeks at least.

I've never done a tour group, but maybe others can speak to that option. Then again, I have at least some Japanese, and generally travel with others who have the same.

Lots of other stuff under the Japan-trip tags on my journal! Trip planning is so much fun.

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

actually had sunshine prince on my list to look up after reading your post. :)

would starting off a few days in kyoto then moving onto tokyo make the most sense?

thx for the help.

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

It depends where you start -- whether you fly into Narita or Osaka. I've only ever done Narita, but you can get more or less equivalent prices flying into Osaka, I think, so it's a matter of personal preference.

If you're flying into Tokyo, I would see Tokyo first just so that you don't have to pile a tiring shinkansen trip on top of a long flight -- but again, personal preference. FYI, on my first trip, I flew into Tokyo, spent just under a week in Tokyo, went down to Kyoto for about a week, and returned to Tokyo for the last couple of days. That worked well for me.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

I've spent a bunch of time traveling around in Tokyo, but more importantly, I AM YOUR WOMAN FOR KYOTO. Anything you want to know about that city, I can tell you. I love it so, so, so much.

I think the first thing you need to determine is how long you're going to stay in Japan, and how long in each city. Also, what kinds of stuff do you want to do? Fandom sightseeing? Historical site sightseeing? Weird modern Japan sightseeing? All of that will really change what places I'd recommend for you to visit.

For what it's worth, I think most tours are crap (especially if you don't speak fluent Japanese), unless you want quantity over quality, i.e. hitting most of the "big" things to see in Tokyo or Kyoto, but only having 10-15 minutes to spend at each place.

As far as what to bring, again that will depend on where you plan to go and what you want to do. I do really recommend tiny bottles of hand sanitizer, since most bathrooms don't provide handsoap (although Japan is a lot better about this than it was three years ago), and mini packets of tissues so you don't have to buy toilet paper at train stations.

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I might have to hit you up for Kyoto recommendations in future. I won't make it to Kyoto on the next trip, but hopefully sometime again soon. It's been too long.

To nokiirat: re: recs for things to bring along: hand sanitizer, yes. In addition to paper tissues, it's nice to have your own small hand towel (bathrooms don't tend to have towels, either). More importantly: ADVIL (or your painkiller of choice). I had the sad experience of running out of advil on a trip to Japan and having to rely on their ridiculously expensive, tiny-size-dosage excuses for medicine. Same goes for cold meds, if you tend to get colds.

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

funny enough, i tend to get colds from long airplane rides. thx for the reminder.

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

haha, thx for the pocket tissue rec. there's a train station in Korea that had toilet tissue outside the stalls instead of inside...which was unexpected. bathroom emergencies would be a very bad thing. :)

[ashura-sama.livejournal.com]

In Tokyo, I stayed at an inexpensive hotel in Taito a few blocks away from Minamisenju station that has free WiFi and lets you book well in advance. They have English-speaking staff but not at all times. There are a number of small hotels in that street, two Seven Eleven shops nearby and two small markets that I remember (I didn't walk too far away from the station), and a post office within walking distance where you can find a Visa-enabled ATM. If you do stay somewhere around that area, try to avoid Nippori station when you're carrying luggage. It's a pretty old station with little in the way of accessibility. You can ride Keisei straight to Nippori and Ueno by the way.

I went in winter, when night falls very early (to my standards anyway, but considering I live in Brazil, what to me is absurdly early nightfall might be normal to other people), so one of the things that I really wish I'd had with me is a camera that can handle low lighting conditions well. An electronic dictionary is good to have too. I brought my DS and used Kanji Sono Mama Rakubiki Jiten.

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

free wifi is a good thing. I think the couple places I've looked into have per day or hour charges.

is visa a prevalent credit card there? i'm guessing that i should probably have hard cash for most things.

thx for the advice. :)

[ashura-sama.livejournal.com]

In places where they do take credit card, Visa is a good bet, but yeah, hard cash is best. My situation is a bit peculiar because I'm still stuck with the credit limit from when I was an undergrad student, so I got myself a VTM card, a prepaid debit card (VTMs are Visa, but shops that take them aren't as widespread in Japan as I'd expect; you can withdraw from your balance in local cash at Visa Plus ATMs though, which was the case of the one at the post office).

Also, if you're going to be using trains a lot (in Tokyo, I don't know about Kyoto), get a Pasmo card and keep it charged. You won't be standing in long lines to buy train tickets (well, perhaps if you hit Shinjuku station at rush hour), but the card is simply less of a hassle.