a month in japan.
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- colin_s
i've been meaning to get back to japan, so i decided i'd just buy a ticket. i'll be there the entire month of april. no plans, no reservations, nobody i really know there outside of a family i stayed with as part of a middle school exchange program 15 years ago.
so. i figure get a JR pass. but what else? recommendations on spots, easy lodging, cheap things (this is a costly trip already) are all welcome, anything else is appreciated. sort of flying blind at this point. already teaching myself japanese and reading up, but i'm trying to get as much other input as i can as well.
i'm flying in and out of narita and probably won't make it north of tokyo as most of my destinations are south of there and i do only have the month.
thanks!
- inteliboy0
I'm not jealous at all.
- nb0
Cheap sleeps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net…
- Frosty_spl0
You can get a foreigner rail pass to go anywhere for a month for one price.
Yokohama is really cool. So is Inoshima.
- Frosty_spl0
You can stay in a manga cafe for 2500 yen per night. They have showers, free drinks and snacks. Ramen for 250 yen.
- Peter0
If you stay in net-cafe's you'd have to lug around your stuff with you. Or go get fresh clothes out of a coin locker, if you choose that route. Both cumbersome if you ask me.
Instead, if you want to stay cheap for weeks/months, I'd go for a "foreign" guest house. Shared so not too much privacy, but at least a place to dump your stuff and have access to a proper kitchen if you run out of a food budget -or simply crave something that's not dunked in soy.
Oakhouse or Sakura would be some of the biggest networks for that:
http://www.oakhouse.jp/eng/
http://www.sakura-house.com/en/As for places to see I'm sure you've already marked down the regular attractions. Go for those, they're all pretty decent, but read up on the more specific things in your interest online.
Since you'd be here in April I'm sure you're coming partly for the hanami. I prefer it in Yoyogi, it's big enough of a park with a fun enough crowd, but that's just me. Ueno has more salary-men, but on the other hand they tend to get far more drunk and fun. Hit them both up.
Or, if you want to watch your flowers and get drunk inside (it gets chilly outside) you could hit up my station, Nakameguro, and walk along the river then hit up the taproom for some really tasty microbrews afterwards.
http://bairdbeer.com/en/
- prophetone0
you will be required to dress head to toe as mazinger z when u r there.
- Nathan_Adams0
For cheap eats - bakeries. If you're hunting for books and magazines, and you're out Peter's way in Nakameguro - take a 5min walk to the nearby Daikanyama and check out Tsutaya T-Site, massive collection and even an area where you can read back issues. Also Cow Books along the river for some vintage reads.
Oh, and if you're hanging around Tokyo a bit, don't get the rail pass for the whole trip. Just get it for the period when you're going to be doing inter-city travel, and load up a Suica card for the rest of the time. Best do the inter-city stuff at one end of the trip or the other, so then you can at least use the pass in one direction for the Narita Express.
Another option for cheaper accommodation is to just not stay in the thick of it. There's some more affordable places out west in areas like Mitaka and Asagaya, and it's easy (and quick) enough to catch the Chuo line into Shinjuku.
- moldero0
- *moonwalks back out doorprophetone
- < Those umbrellas are everywhere!stoplying
- TheBlueOne0
Since I'm always staying with my wife's family when I go there I don't have a lot of rec for places to stay on the cheap, as I'm always there with kids in tow, although this place always looked intriguing to me in Tokyo:
http://www.andon.co.jp/index.htm…
Where are you thinking of going? Tokyo and environs is a place you can do a month easy of course.
I always love Kyoto myself. Spending a night at a buddhist monastery there is great and waking up with the monks when they start their chanting is pretty sublime. Plus all the temples and the kick ass hyper modern train station with the awesome restuarants on the 11th floor...
Did Nara one time I was there, which was cool city with an awesome temple.
Went to Gifu prefecture last time to check out the historical farming villages there, Ogimachi being the largest and most interesting. Great mountain food up there as well.
I only have me personal preferences when I go there, which might not gel with yours. There's a little custom jewelry shop in Harajuku in Tokyo I love, ran by a guy from Brooklyn and his Japanese wife: http://www.oztokyo.com/
Got tattooed here: http://www.sunsqlit.com/
Um...shit...get the JR rail pass...pick some destinations, try to make some connections before you go and meet people there. Japanese people can be the most friendly and charming in the world when you don't feel like a total gaijin tool.
Other tips: There are no public garbage cans. Don't walk around and eat food or drink something, very rude. Don't go all gaijin smash unless you have too. Perfect the tilt head to the side, sucking breath through your teeth loudly puzzle/wince look while making the "a-no" sound whenever you want to say "no" or are confused. Lots of mileage in that gesture.
I dunno..I got nothing.
- woodyBatts0
I just got back from Tokyo for a month, I got hookups, feel free to email me directly.
I wouldn't mess with the JR pass until you know exactly where you will be a few new lines opened up in the past few years.
- Frosty_spl0
The food in convenience stores is really good, and not super expensive.
- Are you serious?
Convenience food here is bile.
It's for truckd rivers and salarymen on budgets.Peter
- Are you serious?
- stoplying0
You could climb Mt Fuji? A friend and her boys go back each year to do this.
I was there with my wife for two weeks this past June and we:
Went to a Kabuki performance - awesome, but long.
Went to a Yokohama FC - soccer/football match
Went to the amusement park in Yokohama
Spent almost a whole day in Tokyu Hands store
Ate a lot of onigiri from the 7-11. Cheap, filling and delicious
Went to an onsen in Atami
Sang karaoke and embarrassed myself
Rented bicycles and rode around Tokyo - massive city
Visited Tokyo Tower - good views but meh
That's all I can think of now. Enjoy!
- mg330
I'd love to go back. Tokyo is such an awesome place. I went in 2006 to see a friend who lives there and teaches English. Still lives there, in fact got married and had a kid with a woman there. Pretty awesome.
- Frosty_spl0
I wanted to visit an onsen, but didn't want to see 90 year old balls.
- Frosty_spl0
Go to the Sky Tree.
- GeorgesII0
gaijin,
can't you just stay home?
- autoflavour0
In Tokyo, there is lovely little Ryokan called Kimi, its in Ikebukero..
its a few stations on the JR ring from Shinjuku, but its totally worth it.
tatami mats, futons.. its awesome.http://www.kimi-ryokan.jp/?gclid…
the other thing to DEFINITELY check out is the Studio Ghibli museum..
You will need to book tickets in advance.. but its easily one of the coolest things in tokyo.. and I love Tokyo..
- colin_s0
for anyone out there wondering how this went, i spent the past year cherry picking images from this folio for various things, but
http://distortedperspective.com/…
is my record of the month in japan , photographs catalogued by location. i shot about 34 rolls of film - this is all the b+w non-personal stuff (i stayed with old family friends for a few days, whose photographs i excluded).
feel free to browse!
- also, thanks all for suggestions, i hit up as much as i could in my travels - it was a phenomenal trip.colin_s
- Great shots man!antimotion
- nice work!forwardslash