Big in Japan
Posted: 12 Jun 2012, 09:13Following my recent trip to The Land of the Rising Sun, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the country and how to get by.
Don't bother with a car.
Unless you are planning on heading into the more remote areas, don't bother with renting a car. In the cities, public transport is excellent. For travelling between cities, the railways are fantastic. Spotlessly clean, fast, safe and reliable. The Shinkansen is everything a railway should be an more. One tip, purchase a JR Rail Pass. A 7-day pass cost me about £215 but apart from a few exceptions, it gives unlimited use of the JR trains, both local and Shinkansen. A quick tally shows I used £500+ worth of travel. You can also get 14 and 21 day passes too, but you must purchase them before you leave the UK as you exchange the voucher in Japan. Signage is in English as well as Japanese and the ticket machines even have an English button (which the Top Gear team 'conveniently' missed)
Taxis are very expensive in Japan and just sitting in one in Tokyo with cost you 710 Yen (£6) never mind going anywhere.
Contrary to what you'll read in many blogs, travel guides etc. Japan does not have to be expensive. Apart from your flight, hotels will be the biggest expenditure so shop around. Dining out doesn't have to cost a lot either. OK, just like any country if you want to pay a lot, you can be accommodated. It's very easy to spend ¥10,000 on an evening meal or go to a small food bar and pay ¥500 for a plate of katsu curry or noodles. Railway stations are brilliant places for food and reasonably priced too.
Thirsty? Not a problem as there are drink vending machines nearly everywhere selling soft drinks and cold tea/coffee along with local drinks such as Pocari Sweat and Calpis and where a bottle of Coke will cost ¥150, same as a shop. Need a snack? Again, no problem. There are convenience stores everywhere. Food Mart, 7-11 and Lawson are the 3 big ones. A rice ball will cost about ¥110. These can be a lottery as there may be no English description but half the fun is trying something new.
Internet access. Unless you want to run up a huge bill, disable your data roaming before you land. Surprisingly Wi-Fi hotspots are rare and free ones even rarer. Hotels will charge about ¥1500 per day and that's no good on the go. I rented a local Mi-Fi for around ¥10,000 for 12 days with unlimited usage and the only places I lost coverage was in railway tunnels.
http://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/pocketwifi.html
Collect from Post Office at airport and return in pre-paid envelope provided. The battery will last several hours but it might pay to invest in a external power supply to keep you connected.
There's plenty more advise and will add it as I think of it.
Don't bother with a car.
Unless you are planning on heading into the more remote areas, don't bother with renting a car. In the cities, public transport is excellent. For travelling between cities, the railways are fantastic. Spotlessly clean, fast, safe and reliable. The Shinkansen is everything a railway should be an more. One tip, purchase a JR Rail Pass. A 7-day pass cost me about £215 but apart from a few exceptions, it gives unlimited use of the JR trains, both local and Shinkansen. A quick tally shows I used £500+ worth of travel. You can also get 14 and 21 day passes too, but you must purchase them before you leave the UK as you exchange the voucher in Japan. Signage is in English as well as Japanese and the ticket machines even have an English button (which the Top Gear team 'conveniently' missed)
Taxis are very expensive in Japan and just sitting in one in Tokyo with cost you 710 Yen (£6) never mind going anywhere.
Contrary to what you'll read in many blogs, travel guides etc. Japan does not have to be expensive. Apart from your flight, hotels will be the biggest expenditure so shop around. Dining out doesn't have to cost a lot either. OK, just like any country if you want to pay a lot, you can be accommodated. It's very easy to spend ¥10,000 on an evening meal or go to a small food bar and pay ¥500 for a plate of katsu curry or noodles. Railway stations are brilliant places for food and reasonably priced too.
Thirsty? Not a problem as there are drink vending machines nearly everywhere selling soft drinks and cold tea/coffee along with local drinks such as Pocari Sweat and Calpis and where a bottle of Coke will cost ¥150, same as a shop. Need a snack? Again, no problem. There are convenience stores everywhere. Food Mart, 7-11 and Lawson are the 3 big ones. A rice ball will cost about ¥110. These can be a lottery as there may be no English description but half the fun is trying something new.
Internet access. Unless you want to run up a huge bill, disable your data roaming before you land. Surprisingly Wi-Fi hotspots are rare and free ones even rarer. Hotels will charge about ¥1500 per day and that's no good on the go. I rented a local Mi-Fi for around ¥10,000 for 12 days with unlimited usage and the only places I lost coverage was in railway tunnels.
http://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/pocketwifi.html
Collect from Post Office at airport and return in pre-paid envelope provided. The battery will last several hours but it might pay to invest in a external power supply to keep you connected.
There's plenty more advise and will add it as I think of it.