Visiting Japan this summer - NEED HELP!

[Cactusjack1999]

Hey guys. My mom says that for a graduation present she will allow me to head to Japan for a month (or roughly 3 weeks depending on what I can do)

I've been doing tons of internet research on things, like lodging (found a very nice Hostel about 5 blocks from Oizumi Gakuen station in Tokyo), ettiquite, things I should watch out for (avoid the russian mafia and any black guys asking if I want to see any nude women according to one individual i spoke to)

Anyways... She's really conserned about the fact that I will be going by my self and have no contacts in japan to go with or meet up with. She's also worried what I will do for funds while in japan (she will pay for me to go, stay, and come back. Everything else is up to me i.e food, entertainment, etc, etc)

I'm not asking anyone here to put me up or anything, that would be rude and foolish. I am just looking for advice about visiting japan on a budget (Though I have a rough "tour itinery" of things I want to do/places to go/things to buy)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Yakumo]

Hmm, well I don't know if you want to travel the country but if you do you should get a Japan Rail pass. That will let you use ANY train on the JR system including the Shinkansen (Bullet Train). The passes last about a week and are quite expensive but if you are thinking about travelling you SHOULD buy one as it will save you loads of cash.

Other things to do is get yourself an English to Japanese phrase book. In the more rural parts of Japan you'll find Train Stations with no English. I live in a small town that does have English at the train Station but the Shinkansen station (one stop down) where most foreigners would go has NO English ! Talk about retarded ! The Main Station (Shimonoseki) has English and Korean although the staff can't speak either I'm guessing.

Yakumo

[Karellen]

Be careful with the Japan rail pass you must buy it before you go!In Japan you will not be able to buy one.
A good thing if you want that we help you is to tell us if you want to stay in Tokyo or travel all around Japan :)

[Yakumo]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you must buy the rail pass from the Japanese embassy in your own country. Good job you mentioned that, Karellen. It takes about 1 month for the Pass to arrive I think. The last time I bought one was almost 10 years ago so things may have changed by now. Also be aware that you can not use the rail pass on the underground/subway in Tokyo because they are not part of the JR network.

Yakumo

[Cactusjack1999]

Yeah I'm familiar with the Rail Pass. Should my travel agent be able to get me the rail pass I need or do I have to do it myself?

[AntiPasta]

http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en005.html <-- some info, listing agents in various countries. I got mine from a Japan-specialized travel agency in Amsterdam (not listed on that site).

[dj898]

and if you do travel on the railway system do make sure to sample some of lunch boxes available from various station outside main city... some of them are very good indeed - assuming you like Japanese food of coz.

And frankly you do not need to know that many Japanese phrases to get by - though you need to understand what they are saying... d'oh! ^__^

Every time I visit Japan for business trip I love to just walk around by myself for few hours but sadly I hardly get any free time between meetings... T^T

[Cactusjack1999]

http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en005.html <-- some info, listing agents in various countries. I got mine from a Japan-specialized travel agency in Amsterdam (not listed on that site).

Yeah I've been looking at that. I'm not sure if I have to book a flight with them to get the rail pass from one of those agencies or if I can just call them pay over the phone and have the pass sent to me.

That's what's really confusing to me.

[AntiPasta]

Well, I booked my flight with Alitalia and got my JR pass from said travel agency, granted there was a small surcharge (20e I think on 4x225e, which is not that bad) because of this. Doesn't hurt trying now does it? ;-)

[Cactusjack1999]

If anyone here has any other idea's I'd love to hear it...god knows I really need it.

My mom isn't really doesn't believe that I could go to Japan by myself without having her worry herself into a coma

[Yakumo]

Well tell us exactly what you need to know.

Yakumo

[Cactusjack1999]

Well how difficult is it to find places to eat and how expensive is it to eat there?

I'm not to big on sushi (though I have had some california rolls before. Sacrelige I know) I mean how difficult is it to live off ramen for a week to save cash (and any recommendations on flavors/brands to buy/avoid)

How difficult is it to get a VCR and enough magnetic tape to choke a horse through customs?

How difficult is it to buy tickets to events in japan? I know it's possible to buy them at many convience stores and such, but I've been told you have to find an employee that speaks a bit of english to work the automated ticket machines for you and such. I have also heard there are special ettiquite rules for such events (baseball, pro wrestling, sumo, etc, etc) is this true and what are they?

I'll think of some more later.

[Tachikoma]

From what I have looked up for my trip in November, unless you want to live like you do at home and do weekly shops and cook for yourself, then eating out on a regular basis for that length of time is going to be seriously expensive. You can't just live off ramen or else you will be very ill from the sudden change to your diet, plus you need fresh fruit & veg and protein.

I wouldn't even entertain the idea of taking anything larger than a couple of DVD's and a PSP through customs (for weight charges alone), your best bet is to mail everything, but thats going to be expensive.

[Cactusjack1999]

From what I have looked up for my trip in November, unless you want to live like you do at home and do weekly shops and cook for yourself, then eating out on a regular basis for that length of time is going to be seriously expensive. You can't just live off ramen or else you will be very ill from the sudden change to your diet, plus you need fresh fruit & veg and protein.

I wouldn't even entertain the idea of taking anything larger than a couple of DVD's and a PSP through customs (for weight charges alone), your best bet is to mail everything, but thats going to be expensive.

Well I want to bring the VCR and such for video taping the crazyness that is Japanese television. I don't have a PVR or anything so a VCR is practically the only way to go. Though I woudl imagine a used VCR at a salvation army store or something would be pretty cheap.

I don't have a very "healthy" diet here at home (a fact that my mom hates because I don't eat alot of the things she cooks...I don't know why I just don't). Practically no fruits (aside from Ketchup), and such. Though I am not adverse do drinking fruit juices. I am a college student so my diet does practically consists of Ramen noodles and caffine.

I'm not adverse to cooking very "simple" things by my self. Pasta, and other such things. Cooking out of a rice cooker (http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Rice-Cooker-Cookbook-Porridges/dp/1558322035)
and a Shichirin grill would probably be the "easiest" way for me to do it.

BTW. Is it considered impolite to order foods in japan without Egg? Cause every time I see anything in japan they usually put an egg in it or on it.

[Yakumo]

Actually eating out isn't expensive if you know where to eat. Eat in so called family restaurants. Lunch menus are about 500 yen while normal menus are from 500 to 800 on average. Names to look out for are...

Sunday Sun
Jolly Pasta
Gusto
Fracaso (maybe none in Tokyo)
Royal Host
Jonathon's (Tokyo mostly and these are a rip off so avoid!)
Big Boy

There are loads others as well. MacDonald's in Japan isn't the same Shiite as the west either and is also a lot cheaper than the UK. No idea if it's cheaper than the US though.

Basically you can live on food for less 20'000 yen as long as you don't go to trendy restaurants all the time. There are also thousands of places you can eat western food at. In fact probably more than Japanese.

Yakumo

[Cactusjack1999]

Actually eating out isn't expensive if you know where to eat. Eat in so called family restaurants. Lunch menus are about 500 yen while normal menus are from 500 to 800 on average. Names to look out for are...

Sunday Sun
Jolly Pasta
Gusto
Fracaso (maybe none in Tokyo)
Royal Host
Jonathon's (Tokyo mostly and these are a rip off so avoid!)
Big Boy

There are loads others as well. MacDonald's in Japan isn't the same Shiite as the west either and is also a lot cheaper than the UK. No idea if it's cheaper than the US though.

Basically you can live on food for less 20'000 yen as long as you don't go to trendy restaurants all the time. There are also thousands of places you can eat western food at. In fact probably more than Japanese.

Yakumo

Yeah teh "Mega Mac" is evidence of that dude

[Karellen]

But the L-size menu of japanese Mcdonald's is the same that the S-size menu in the US ^^

Actually it's way cheaper to eat in Japan that it is in France,but as far as I know food and restaurant are also way cheaper in the US than in France...So maybe you will find that eating in Japan is expensive.

The sure thing is that if you eat like a japanese (bento,ramen,soba,noddles,small quantity of fresh food like meat,veggies,fish or fruits which are expensive but a lot of rice...etc...) it'll be much more cheaper than if you want to eat like in the US.
And if one day you want to eat a lot for cheap,aside from family restaurant you have also all the tabeodai restaurant like Kushi-ya,Shakey's...etc...You can eat all you want during a limit amount of time,it's very nice.

[Tatsujin]

Yeah teh "Mega Mac" is evidence of that dude
saw it yesterday. have to try one tomorrow:lol:

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/sales/new/megamac/images/mega.jpg

[Yakumo]

You'll have to get there VERY early like 10:30am when the normal menu starts. I've tried to get one twice now but each time they have been sold out. Each store is limited to how many they can sell you see. My local one is on the main rout to Hiroshima yet only allows 30 Mega Macs :crying: THough I did get some vouchers from Mac-Chan (my cuty staff member) for some free coffee :lol:

Yakumo

[Cactusjack1999]

What abotu the rice cooker stuff I mentioned? Has anyone tried anything like that?

(BTW I'm gonna try an "american" Mega Mac later. God bless the Dollar Menu and Loose change!)

[GaijinPunch]

You'll have to get there VERY early like 10:30am when the normal menu starts. I've tried to get one twice now but each time they have been sold out.

Wow... not only do people eat this, but also admit to it?
:shrug:

[Yakumo]

Nothing wrong with a Mac every now and then. I admit that in Tokyo you can get some bad sloppy Macs however down here they're pretty good. Never really ate mac in the UK to tell the truth. Anyway, Burger King is miles better :)

Yakumo

[GaijinPunch]

I had a friend (the guy who said, 'he's a jigger', for your reference) I was walking around with on our lunch break. The third guy in the group said, "we can do McDonalds", at which point the 2nd guy said, "Wait... I make too much mutha fuckin' money to eat McDonalds!". We were far from rich, as well. The way I saw it, anyone making at least minimum wage makes too much to eat that shit.

I don't eat meat other than fish anyway, so that leaves the Filet of Fish only... no thanks.

[Karellen]

But Mcdonald's is a good way to eat some meat for cheap when you're tired of japanese food and when you don't like Lotteria and don't have the money to pay for Wendy's or Kua-aina (if you don't know: http://www.kua-aina.com/).
But well,if you like only fish it's such a waste to eat filet-o-fish in the country of fresh fish...

For me 2/3 cheeseburgers are also a good snack at 16:00 pm when you're hungry and tired of Mister Donuts :icon_bigg