File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
So /trv/, Next summer 3 friends and I are heading to japan for about a week and a half. We are probably going to get a hotel in either Tokyo or Osaka. However, this is the first time we've planned a trip like this so I'm wondering if any of you could give some advice about going to Japan and cool things to do.

Thanks.
>> Anonymous
>I'm wondering if any of you could give some advice about going to Japan

Noone here knows anything about Japan.
>> Anonymous
>>30814
Don't go
/thread
>> Anonymous
I'm going to Japan June 2, for the first time. I've taken 3 years of the language, and 1 year of culture courses.

I'd tell you stuff, but I'm absolutely sure this thread will be gone by the time I'm back.
>> Anonymous
If it's not too late to change I would suggest not going in the summer because it's a lot more expensive and the weather is extremely hot and humid and you're going to annoy the other passengers in your crowded train with your foul gaijin sweat like I did.
>> Anonymous
Accidental sage.
>> Anonymous
>>30821

Truth.
>> Anonymous
You really don't need any advice. There's nothing that can go wrong unless you're a total fuckhead. Even then you're hard pressed to ruin your vacation.

Or maybe there's one thing, don't take a taxi unless you really fucking have to, and if you do don't rely on him to understand where you want to go.
>> Anonymous
>>30821

It is more expensive because the time period that the group wants to go, at this moment, is during the Obon festival so we've come to terms with spending more money. That and we are all college students, so the best time to go is during the summer.
>> Anonymous
This is the only map of Tokyo you'll almost ever need.
http://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-City-Atlas-Bilingual-Guide/dp/4770025033/

Pack lightly or else the shit you buy won't be able to make it back unless you go to the post office and ship it back home, which is fucking
expensive.

Akiba isn't actually all that good for shopping. There isn't much there you can't already buy in the US over the internet with expensive shipping. Unless it's something you were going to buy anyways you're better off spending money on experiences, services, shows and stuff, not material goods.

It's hard to provide any advice that isn't really obvious common knowledge (amongst weeaboos)
>> Anonymous
>>30833
That map looks useful but could you tell me that advice because I am not a weeaboo.
>> Anonymous
japan is overrated, damn weeaboos
>> Anonymous
>>30834
Get a Suica + N'Ex bundle.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/
After that first express ride from Narita Airport to your hotel in Tokyo don't bother futzing with paper tickets. Suica cards are wireless RF smart card wonderpass things. You don't even have to take them out of your wallet. Just wave your wallet in the general vicinity of a blue circle and the turnstile opens up for you while the amount in your suica card is debited.

If you're going to be doing more than just Tokyo, consider a rail pass. This pays off for itself if you're traveling as far as say Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto and back.
http://www.japanrailpass.net/
An Exchange Order must be purchased before traveling. The exchange order is exchanged for the actual pass when you get there.

The Japanese Google Maps has a really nice train route finder figure-outer thing. http://maps.google.co.jp
Hyperdia is another good one
http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi

ANA/JAL's air passes are also worth consideration. They're good for domestic air travel within Japan.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2365.html

Trains shutdown somewhere around midnight and don't open back up until 5 AM or thereabouts. A lot of nightlife establishments in shibuya, shinjuku and so on open 'til 11PM and are open all night. Be ready to pull an all-nighter or be forced to stay at a capsule hotel or take an expensive taxi.
>> Anonymous
Stay the fucking hell out of Roppongi (except for the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower) unless you're boorish gutter trash.
>> Anonymous
try a cosplay cafe
>> Anonymous
dont go its gay
>> Anonymous
>>30821
Some of us use deodorant, and the Japanese on the trains stink like shit anyway.
>> Anonymous
>>30844
It is a fool who has never been to Roppongi, or who has been to Roppongi twice.
>> Anonymous of Philadelphia(Has Told People to Kill Themselves 73+ Times) !!CF3BKIiUIDY
>>30844
This.
>> Anonymous
>Some of us use deodorant
It won't work. You'll need industrial strength certaindri or something. You'll also need to bring it with you and occasionally go into the bathroom to reapply it.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>30814
Ok, here's what you want to do. Go to Mt. Fuji. I did the exact same thing as you (3 friends last summer, but for 3 weeks, whatever). Anyway, for the last 4 days, we went to Mt Fuji. K's House
http://kshouse.jp/fuji-e/index.html
Try and get the 4 person suite on the 3rd floor. It has a private bathroom, and believe me, that was the best thing ever. Anyway, be sure to go between July 1st and Aug 26th, as those are the only two months you can actually go up the mountain. If hiking's not your thing, go to Fuji-Q Amusement Park. It has the most kickass roller coasters anywhere. Also, be sure to take a ride around the nearby lake on a speedboat (splurg and go the full circle, its worth it). Check out the cable cars, and take advantage of the friendly staff at K's. Just be sure not to go up Fuji at 2 pm, get stuck at the 8th station at 8 (past dark), try and get down in the dark through storm clouds, and struggle to find a taxi cab ANYWHERE nearby. Cause we didn't do that. No. Pic related.
>> Anonymous
so what would be a better choice, Tokyo or Osaka?
>> Anonymous
>>30916
I like Osaka for its proximity to Kyoto, but either way will be fun. My biggest advice is to book the cheapest hotels/ryokans you can NOW.

A good place in Tokyo is: http://www.housejp.com.tw/englishindex.htm
>> Anonymous
Also don't worry about stinking up the train, or trying to be a faggot and all culturally sensitive for the Jap's sake. It doesn't matter what you do, you are a gaijin to them. No matter what. So don't weaboo it up, just act however the fuck you please whenever you please
>> Anonymous
>>30922
of course *unless* he's cute :3
>> Anonymous
>>30915
You can still go in September. But the later you go there, the worse the Weather might be. And the busses to the 5th station only go back until 2 pm. Either you have to go up really early and be fast, or you can go up late and stay at the to station, what is also recommendet because you can see the dawn on Mt. Fuji.
>> Anonymous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsiCw0kUNQ0
>> Anonymous
>>30916

Given the choice, I'd go to Osaka. The food is better and there's a lot of it. When I think of Tokyo food I think of train station katsukaree. In Osaka you can wander around Namba and find just about anything. It's also close to Kyoto, so you can see things there too (which you should...).
>> Anonymous
>>31005
Some of the most famous foods of Osaka includes:

1) Takoyaki (dotombori)
2) Okonomiyaki (dotombori)
3) Various fried items on a stick (under tsutenkaku)
4) Fugu (dotombori, tsutenkaku)
>> Anonymous
Alright, so costwise, how much do you think it should run for 4 people to party in Japan for 1 and a half weeks to 2.
>> Anonymous
I've been to Japan only once before. Here's my preliminary budget that I'm using for myself:

Roundtrip 2 weeks to/from LAX/Narita in November, United Airlines via Expedia, already booked. I paid $942.80
Toyoko Inn Shinjuku Kabuki-Cho 6800yen x 10nights = 68000yen = $657.58, single room (so lonely)
Toyoko Inn Osaka Nanba 6200yen x 3nights = 18600yen = $179.87
7 day ordinary Japan Rail Pass = 28300yen = $273.67
My flexible upper limit is $3500.
Total expenses that are nailed down: $2053.92.
(Upper limit - Nailed Down Expenses) / 14 days = (3500 - 2053.92) / 14 = 103.29

I can spend at most $103.29 per day for all other expenses not explicited noted in the budget. Food, porn, arcade, massage, yakuza bribes, enjo kosai, delivery health, whatever. I should probably put a food estimate in there too.

as I write this, 1 dollar = 103.41 yen. Yeah, I was using US Dollars this whole time, for you not-American fags.
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?from=USD&to=JPY&amt=1&t=3m

Use this budget as a template and modify accordingly for your situation. Go aspie nerd fag about it, put this in an excel spreadsheet and see how the numbers add up. Reply and tell me how I'm either pissing my money away or how my plan will never work. Whatever. I hope I'm making /trv/ useful.
>> Anonymous
>>31143
what the christ, why are you stayin gin 6800yen hotels? is that the price for a double (i.e., you'll be paying 3400/person?) or a single?
LOOK HARDER, you can find hotels on the cheap, 4500yen-5250yen. It's not a BIG savings, but hey, savings are savings, and you'll be getting pretty much the same service.

travel.rakuten.co.jp for hotels, but don't use the English side, as the prices are higher and the selection worse. Use the Japanese side. Man up and learn a language, if that's daunting. Also use firefox extensions like rikaichan to help you out.
>> Anonymous
31143 here
My Japanese is passable enough and I've checked rakuten before but didn't think of checking the Japanese side. Thanks for the tip.
>> Anonymous
>>30990

wtf was that fuk u
>> Anonymous
>>31380
People like you are ruining 4chan. Please, get the fuck out.
>> Anonymous
I concur.