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

[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.