Osaka, Japan.

Shikarilol

Shikarilol

Shikarilol

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So next Friday I head out on a 10 day trip to Japan. I'm primarily there to visit my girlfriend who has been working in a hospital there, but I'm going to want to visit some sights and do some 'typical Japanesey things' too. She will obviously be able to help in this area, but I was wondering if anyone here had some experience with Japan! I will be staying in Osaka, but I'm willing to travel around if something is really worth seeing/visiting.

Thanks, Liam.

P.s. I'm not a fan of Anime/Manga, but i'd be willing to see a cosplay convention if there are any taking places Between July 10th-17th!
 
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I've not visited Osaka, but Kyoto has lots to do to keep you interested for a couple of days. It was former imperial capital and has lots of temples and zen gardens. Depending on your finances you could pop up to Tokyo on the Shinkansen, it only takes 2 hours or so :)
 
I think we will be going to Kyoto, so its good to hear from someone else that its a decent place to visit! As for the sushi, i can't say i'm a fan... suppose i'll have to get over that though. As for Godzilla; I'll use my girlfriend as a meat shield!

In regards to finance, i'll only have around £600 to spend. I'm unsure how far that will get me :|
 
Nara is a very short train hop away. It's awesome, it's basically a big park area with lots of temples spread throughout it, but the main point of it is the sacred deer. These deer are everywhere and they're free to roam around as they like.

Some of the deer have even learnt to bow to beg for food. One bowed in front of me, so I rewarded him with these deer crackers you can feed them with. Was pretty cool. Oh and they will chase you relentlessly if they see you have the crackers.

Kyoto, also not far away is the main place to see temples and shrines in Japan.

In Osaka itself they have a very good aquarium, one of the biggest in the world, I enjoyed that a lot too.

And of course if you could do a day trip to Hiroshima from Osaka then do it!!! Nothing is as eerie as visiting the A-bomb dome building that is still standing, or the epicentre of where the atomic bomb went off.
 
Stumble Bum said:
In Osaka itself they have a very good aquarium, one of the biggest in the world, I enjoyed that a lot too.
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Few would probably agree with me, but I found Osaka aquarium very overrated. I personally found Marine World - Uminonakamichi to be better.
As said Nara is a very nice, the deer are awesome. Kyoto is nice but not quite as easy to get around to some of the temples as some other places.
Hiroshima is a couple of hours away on the Shinkansen, worth a trip though.
The port area around Kobe is nice too, not an amazing amount to do there but I mainly went to visit the Kawasaki museum though.
 
You gotta ride the new Hayabusa train, what a beast!
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Osaka is ok, the castle isn't bad but can get crowded, shopping is pretty reasonable and there are some good places to eat, (I had very good sushi and Argentinian BBQ while I was there). But I didn't really find it that great a place for sights etc ...

As has been said you are with in easy travelling distance to Kyoto, which has lots of things to do. Hiroshima is also certainly do-able via bullet train and is well worth a visit. Tokyo may be a bit far though at ~2:40 each way.

I would strongly suggest making a list of places you want to take a look at whilst you are there and finding out where they are etc and how to get there before going. These are very big cities and pre-planning really helps, (I'm not saying don't do things on impulse but if there are specific things you decide to do then there's nothing worse than wasting half a morning trying to find somewhere).

Personally I found the Japanese people to be very helpful, in fact my father got (very) lost in Osaka and some kind person helped find a tube station, buy a ticket and as they were going to the same area helped him get out of the station to where he wanted to go at his destination (I did still make fun of him afterwards though).
 
Thanks for all the tips! I'll have a chat with her tomorrow morning about some of these places. I know she has visited some already, so I'll be able to get her opinion on them too. Much appreciated guys!
 
As people have said Tokyo is a couple of hours away but you could make it into a 2-3 day trip. It really is worth it. Its just an immense place!
 
£60 a day? Is it just me or is that not very much? Especially with the low exchange rate at the minute. I assume you will be staying with your girlfriend, but does she have a car? Trains are very expensive and if you want to see some sights then it will eat up quite a bit of your budget. There are rail cards you can buy online before you leave, and if you are thinking of making regular use of the trains you would be insane not to get one, im not sure if your girlfriend will be able to use it though as they are specifically for tourists.

Tokyo can be expensive as well, especially if you stay there unless you make use of the capsule hotels or the hostels which if you are with your girlfriend might not be ideal.

Very jealous though, im planning a trip to Japan for next year. Will be mostly staying in Tokyo but visiting Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka. Hopefully a couple of days in Okinawa as well. Enjoy your time there :)
 
Best I can do with the money, being a jobless student and all. I have to take into consideration of the rest of the summer too, so the money is going to be pretty tight! Will have a look into that rail card though, thanks!
 
Definitely try to get down to Hiroshima. Amazingly interesting place.
Miyajima is just over the water from there, and we stopped off at Kure on the way back (based in Kobe).
Much better to hire a car as you can explore a little bit more, and have all the staff at the petrol station line up at the exit to bow to you when you drive out :)
 
Shikarilol said:
Best I can do with the money, being a jobless student and all. I have to take into consideration of the rest of the summer too, so the money is going to be pretty tight! Will have a look into that rail card though, thanks!
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If you are staying with your girlfriend, then hopefully you can mooch off her for home cooked meals anyway so you will probably find the money wont be too tight as long as you stay away from all the shops.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361.html Rail card prices here. It might seem expensive but you can easily spend the same amount on a single journey without it.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2019.html General train info here.

:)
 
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Had a chat with her and she seems to agree on most of the stuff mentioned in this thread, she has been to a few of the places herself, but has been recommended by locals about most of the stuff listed here! I also managed to bump up my spending by £100, so that should help, especially with the rail card being so expensive.

In regards to me mooching off her, I can't really. She is only out there for a few months and is living in nurse accommodation which is strictly female only, so I will be buying a hotel room for us both.

Thanks for all the help guys, most of the other forums I lurk just got side tracked and hijacked by Japan fan bois when I posted the same topic! >.<
 
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