Random Japan Trip Notes
- Thread starter POB
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Ahh the Air Itallia deal, that is what got me started. In the end I decided the connection times were not worth the saving over using KLM from my local airport Bristol.
As ikillbears mentioned yoshinoya is good. But Curry House CoCo is my favorite. It is Japanese curry which is different.
Other than that for cheap eats just grab random ramen etc from everywhere.
Most places have plastic models of the food, vending machines to buy food are common, the machine prints a ticket which you hand over when you sit down.
Make sure you have Okonomiyaki somewhere.
Yep thats the one! The connections are a bit...long but for the price we didn't really mind.
Thanks for the replied regarding the food, I love the idea of the plastic models makes finding a dish a little easier (as long as it doesn't have tofu in as I will throw up
). As we are only going for 7 days, we are doing some of Kyoto in a day (around 8 hours I think we can spend there due to trains). If need be we will go down for a second day. It's a bit of a pain but we have already paid for our hotel in Tokyo and can't really afford to stay down in Kyoto. Can't wait to go now!
The Peak Lounge in the Park Hyatt Shinjuku is pretty great/romantic. They do a 'Peak of Joy' menu which is two courses of three small dishes plus an hour of free drinks and cocktails for about 5000yen each (about £25). It's on the 40-somethingth floor of the building so there are amazing views at sunset.
Otherwise in Japan you can't go far wrong anywhere, almost everywhere I've eaten out there has been really good.
Thanks for the replied regarding the food, I love the idea of the plastic models makes finding a dish a little easier (as long as it doesn't have tofu in as I will throw up
As we are only going for 7 days, we are doing some of Kyoto in a day (around 8 hours I think we can spend there due to trains). If need be we will go down for a second day. It's a bit of a pain but we have already paid for our hotel in Tokyo and can't really afford to stay down in Kyoto. Can't wait to go now!
Random plastic dishes in Ginza (Ginza is an upscale shopping area, and this was a restaurant rather than noodly bar)
I did an overnight in Kyoto. Stayed in the capsule hotel
Very clean one in Kyoto called Nine Hours http://ninehours.co.jp/en/
Caporegime
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Looking forward to all the parts! I'm so going to go, need to start saving.
Leaflet mentions no tattoos in English. I've seen mentions on tripadvisor of people being refused entry (check the lower stared reviews)
You might get away with it if it was small and could be covered up.
I've scanned the English guide they gave me:
http://www.docdroid.net/y3x8/onsen-guide.pdf.html
Caporegime
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I saw a couple of videos on onsen on YouTube, the rules are very strict from what I've seen.
Soldato
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think it depends on the size of the place. popped into one with a mate of mine in kyoto. we were both tattoo free at the time but then this rather beastly japanese chap rocks in with a really rather large amount of tattoos. being the bad ass's that we were we summarised that he must be yakuza or at least in a gang and tried to not look at his tats which were awesome! this thought was later played up by the fact he just chilled in the electric bath one. which is a very very weird experience!
I personally used http://japan-wireless.com/
Had it delivered to my Hotel, was waiting at checkin. They do have options to get it at a post office in the airport.
Worked perfectly. Service is reliable even in the subway!
I picked an LTE model. Y!mobile LTE 75Mbps *speed restriction after 10GB usage.
But from what I've read all the companies seem decent enough.
I nearly used http://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/ but left it slightly too late to book it.
Caporegime
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I am confused about mifi...why do you need one if you have a smart phone? Do their phone network not carry data or tethering is not allowed?
You can just use a SIM. Companies sell/rent them. SIM would be data only for visitors I think.
Depending on the data allowances Mifi can be cheaper.
Mifi was just better for me, as I wanted to keep my UK SIM in-place without taking a second phone.
Shame Japan is not on the Three feel at home list.
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Soldato
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Mobile roaming in Japan is very expensive .... it's normally falls on the "rest of the world prepare to be reamed section" with UK carriers. Think £6-£8 per MB (for 3g ... for 4g prepare to be bent over). Personally I got wifi access point access from DoCoMo for Y3000 for 3 weeks, and there were loads of access points everywhere I went, and signed up (in advance) for free wifi access in Starbucks out there. I considered a mifi unit but it worked out a lot more expensive for 3 weeks hire.
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Soldato
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I kinda wish I'd tried to get AKB48 tickets. (140 member girl group) They have a foreigner lottery but you have to do it in advance.
And you have pretty much no chance with it as there are only a handful of seats per show which are eligible for that category. You can apply via their Japanese ticketing website for the main ticket lottery (you have to signup in Japanese but there are fan made tutorials online) but even then you are talking a 1/30 chance for a normal theatre show rising to 1/70 if there's any form of event on (birthday show or graduation for instance). Odds are slightly better for the sister group theatres but still not good (as the other theatres are larger).
140 members is a bit of a low figure if you include the Japan based sister groups and the Team 8 tie-in with Toyota.
There are two resturaunt floors in the UDX building in Akihabara ... personally I like the sashimi don place on the first floor of them and the okonomiyaki place on the second.
I would recommend getting a Suica card for getting around .... very easy and means you don't end up with lots of change.
Roll on this time next year when I'll be out there again
I did get some AKB48 DVDs in Book Off (Love that store) There is such a learning curve with that group
Have you seen them live?
You can get 500 Yen back if you return it but I kept it.
I went with passmo for my rail card but I don't think there's any difference. As for AKB48, I didn't get the appeal when I was out there, now I quite enjoy them. The vehicles driving round with music playing was a bit odd, heard nothing but "I'm very very good" for most of the time I was in Shibuya.
I should stop reading this thread, I want to go back so badly now
I should stop reading this thread, I want to go back so badly now