I'm Going To Japan

supermidget wrote:

My stay in japan is 5 weeks total; 2 of it are in this family, 1 short week in Tokyo where i'm climbing Fuji-san and going to get myself drunk in clubs :P After that im in a volunteer summer camp 2 weeks where we help local people in a village cleaning up some public roads and places.. wer also visiting handicapped people and help to organise a summer festival. Should be fun! :woot:

5 weeks, much longer than i had, you are lucky. 1 week in Tokyo, i'd say that is probably enough time to do what you have planned, but still, i stayed a week, and wish it were much longer, Tokyo is huge!
volunteering 2 weeks at a summer camp, that sounds so nice, did you have connections with one of the communities?
where are you clubbing at? in Ropponggi? have fun. :applaud:

if you get a chance, don't miss out on the great underground food markets at the big dept. stores in Tokyo, Isetan, and others like it..
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or the convenience stores, like Lawson or Family Mart....aahhhh, a great place to grab some "Lemon Water or Calpis", or a variety of Onigiri's, and some Manga.
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oh, i didn't have a connection with a community, I signed up at a volunteer organisation in my country that cooperates internationally. I just said i wanted to do something in Japan and they gave me a list of projects, and I choose one. It was actually more complicated than that but you get the point.

Are you sure 1 week is enough? because it is actually 5 nights only so I might have 4 whole days. Subtracting 1 evening/night and morning for Fuji... its not so much. I'm thinking of leaving my homestay family earlier so I have more time in Tokyo.

The club I'm going to, is indeed in Roppongi. Im going there with two dutch friends, so it should be great. :)

supermidget wrote:oh, i didn't have a connection with a community, I signed up at a volunteer organisation in my country that cooperates internationally. I just said i wanted to do something in Japan and they gave me a list of projects, and I choose one. It was actually more complicated than that but you get the point.

Are you sure 1 week is enough? because it is actually 5 nights only so I might have 4 whole days. Subtracting 1 evening/night and morning for Fuji... its not so much. I'm thinking of leaving my homestay family earlier so I have more time in Tokyo.

The club I'm going to, is indeed in Roppongi. Im going there with two dutch friends, so it should be great. :)

so, how long have you been there so far? did you check out some of the pix i posted above? :lol: be sure if you have time to visit some of them, especially the underground food markets in Tokyo, they are the best. but only if you have the time.
One week, yeah you are right there isn't much time.
Hakone is about 90 minutes from Shinagawa station/Shinjuku station. That is probably two days, depending on how long you plan on staying in Hakone. Roponggi is probably another day, and where do you plan on visiting within Tokyo. When i was there, I saw Ginza, Shinjuku, Shibuya in a day, then went to Roponggi, Akihabara, Shinagawa. You get the point, a lot of walking and figuring out the train stations, getting lost, trying to communicate with other Japanese, using my phrase book in Japanese. Have fun touring around and checking out different places, and seeing all the cute japanese girls :naughty: :smitten:

qilver wrote:

so, how long have you been there so far? did you check out some of the pix i posted above? :lol: be sure if you have time to visit some of them, especially the underground food markets in Tokyo, they are the best. but only if you have the time.
One week, yeah you are right there isn't much time.
Hakone is about 90 minutes from Shinagawa station/Shinjuku station. That is probably two days, depending on how long you plan on staying in Hakone. Roponggi is probably another day, and where do you plan on visiting within Tokyo. When i was there, I saw Ginza, Shinjuku, Shibuya in a day, then went to Roponggi, Akihabara, Shinagawa. You get the point, a lot of walking and figuring out the train stations, getting lost, trying to communicate with other Japanese, using my phrase book in Japanese. Have fun touring around and checking out different places, and seeing all the cute japanese girls :naughty: :smitten:

Thanks :D sorry I already posted it I think, but I am now in Japan for 1 week already (i landed tuesday). For now I will keep your list as a guide since I haven:t made any decision yet, as for visiting districts. Good thing is I can communicate with Japanese a bit, so asking is no problem.

I saw the pictures you posted, it seems interesting... if possible id want to go underground for some time too... i hope its cooler there..


Now I have one major problem.. which is that I cant get money from my account in my country. Im now at the country side and the local bank (though it seems modern) doesnt accept creditcard or dutch PIN card. This week I will go to Kyoto and I pray to god I can get money there, cause otherwise I will have to Tokyo or something just to get money. Tickets to Nagoya from here are already 70 dollar cheapest - Tokyo is twice the distance!

supermidget wrote:
Now I have one major problem.. which is that I cant get money from my account in my country. Im now at the country side and the local bank (though it seems modern) doesnt accept creditcard or dutch PIN card. This week I will go to Kyoto and I pray to god I can get money there, cause otherwise I will have to Tokyo or something just to get money. Tickets to Nagoya from here are already 70 dollar cheapest - Tokyo is twice the distance!

Yup, that is a problem with the banks there and foreign ATMs. Hopefully it's just a countryside issue and that you would have no problems in the cities.

dochira wrote:
Yup, that is a problem with the banks there and foreign ATMs. Hopefully it's just a countryside issue and that you would have no problems in the cities.

that's why you are supposed to leave your home country with forex in hand...when i left the states for japan i had exchanged over $1000 so I won't get stuck. i'm sure you'll find a bank in kyoto...it can't be that country.

Tu_triky wrote:

that's why you are supposed to leave your home country with forex in hand...when i left the states for japan i had exchanged over $1000 so I won't get stuck. i'm sure you'll find a bank in kyoto...it can't be that country.

Tu_triky, that is a very good point. Before i left Japan, i changed currency to Yen, and brought over 1000 dollars worth, it lasted me throught out the trip. Better to bring it in advance, because most places in Japan accept only cash - yen. The big hotels, some big stores/restarants will accept credit card though. The JR-Pass, which is purchased first in your home country, saved me lots of $$$, and it allows you to travel 7,14, or 21 day on the JR-Trains, including Shinkasen.

The only time I was able to use my credit card was at the hotel and at Laox (the duty free shop) I believe.

dochira wrote:The only time I was able to use my credit card was at the hotel and at Laox (the duty free shop) I believe.

me, too. only at the hotel. i had the good fortune of going to some really good expensive restaurants as well...and they too only took cash.

You walk around with over $1000 in cash!?

i go to japan twice a year and take around 500gbp($1000) for a 12day trip. it usually lasts me but i've never had a problem using my credit card in shops. in fact, i buy cds and dvds with my credit card.

however, they sometimes ask if you want to pay for the goods in one go. this took a bit of getting used to! i say yes to this question to avoid any complications. anyway, it's what i would do here in the uk.

Jimmi wrote:You walk around with over $1000 in cash!?

of course not! one usually stays in a hotel room right and they all have safes....moreover, by the end of the trip....it's not a thousand anymore....


last, but not least, japan is so fuggin' safe that's the one country that you could walk around in with a grand in your pocket and not spazz out...i constantly saw young woman walking alone in the middle of the night in not so crowded places....

kenjilina wrote:i go to japan twice a year and take around 500gbp($1000) for a 12day trip. it usually lasts me but i've never had a problem using my credit card in shops. in fact, i buy cds and dvds with my credit card.

however, they sometimes ask if you want to pay for the goods in one go. this took a bit of getting used to! i say yes to this question to avoid any complications. anyway, it's what i would do here in the uk.

wow, $1000 last you 12 days, is that including hotel accomodations? souvenirs? transportation? etc...
i usually use creditcard in some shops and for the hotel accomodations, if they accept them. That is a good budget you got there for the almost 2 week stay in Japan.

kenjilina wrote:i go to japan twice a year and take around 500gbp($1000) for a 12day trip. it usually lasts me but i've never had a problem using my credit card in shops. in fact, i buy cds and dvds with my credit card.

however, they sometimes ask if you want to pay for the goods in one go. this took a bit of getting used to! i say yes to this question to avoid any complications. anyway, it's what i would do here in the uk.

Mate a fellow Brit needs your help!

What do you do about accomadation? I'm trying to figure out whether to pre-book flight and hotel together in a packaged holiday or just get the plane tickets and turn up like a wondering nomad and hopefully save some cash.

Quite honestly I'm friggin cluesless about how to do Japan.

qilver wrote:

wow, $1000 last you 12 days, is that including hotel accomodations? souvenirs? transportation? etc...
i usually use creditcard in some shops and for the hotel accomodations, if they accept them. That is a good budget you got there for the almost 2 week stay in Japan.

actually, accommodation is no problem because my father has an apartment so any money is just for beer,food,train fares and presents. i'm lucky in that respect i guess.

Jimmi wrote:
Mate a fellow Brit needs your help!

What do you do about accomadation? I'm trying to figure out whether to pre-book flight and hotel together in a packaged holiday or just get the plane tickets and turn up like a wondering nomad and hopefully save some cash.

Quite honestly I'm friggin cluesless about how to do Japan.

i'm at work at the moment so i shouldn't be online!

there is a website i've been on that has cheap hotels. i'll try and find it tonight and let you know later. i'm sure it'll help as i'm using it for a trip to tokyo next year as i can't stay at my dad's. he's in osaka! :hehe:

Oh luckily I got the money problem solved today. We went to Fukui-city, where the biggest bank of Japan had an office. But it didn't work there... no ATM or PIN pass... then by asking we tried a hotel in the neighbourhood, and they had a cash withdrawl machine that worked. Somehow my creditcard wasnt accepted, but I could get money from my account using my Dutch card :S Anyway i'm not worrying anymore... :)

kenjilina wrote:

actually, accommodation is no problem because my father has an apartment so any money is just for beer,food,train fares and presents. i'm lucky in that respect i guess.

i like appreciate the order of importance with regard to your money spent

it's BEER, then food, getting around town (to find more beer) and then omiyage...a true lush....i salute you. :drink: someone after my own heart...or an enemy...someone after MY beer. :)

it's cool..there's maybe enough to go around.