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About LinkBacks..for October and I am crapping my pants. £1000+ for 2 tickets. No going back...and I am bricking it already as well as pretty excited.
Only 5 months to go before I pluge into a completely different culture and language!
Any tips?
..for October and I am crapping my pants. £1000+ for 2 tickets. No going back...and I am bricking it already as well as pretty excited.
Only 5 months to go before I pluge into a completely different culture and language!
Any tips?
I am planning a similar trip but will be going in November, so any tips would be good
Flights for me are looking to be around £480 with Cathay Pacific, which I dont think is too bad.
Nice one! It's one place I really want to visit - but I don't think i'll be able to this year as I think I'll be going India. Maybe next year.
How long you staying there for?
Good going sleepy! What you up to there? Where will you be?
I'm moving over in August, but will most likely be out in the inaka. I'm super nervous, but super excited at the same time, too! Trying to finish my degree, sort my life, and learn some Japanese just now.
Empty suitcase there..... most expensive, technology filled suitcase on the way back! Job done
Jealous
Also interested in where about your heading too? Hoping to get there after I finish up my degree too
Pack a change of underwear.Originally Posted by sleepyhead
Wear a dapper hat.
In bars, remember to advertise your comparatively huge Caucasian, um, feature.
Costs me £1200 to get to Mindanao in Philippines so I know the feeling!
When you blow that much on a holiday, you have to really make the most of it. I know it pretty much goes without saying, but I mean be ridiculously adventurous. Do things you've never done before, don't be afraid to talk to anyone and make friends, and make the most of every hour of every day that you are awake! You want to come home from Japan exhausted, and unable to think of something that you wish you did. There were a few for me when I went on holiday, but they were mostly/entirely due to financial constraints.
By the end of my 7 week vacation in Philippines, I had to designate a few days to stay at home with the family since I was usually doing something every day. I even met a few girls and went on dates out and about the place and got to really grasp the nightlife there
I also understand it's also a matter of money there though. Luckily I had a really good situation there where things worked out for cheap (rent, food, etc) and the money I had leftover at the end I spent on an aircraft ticket for two to a really exotic part of the Philippines that looks like paradise postcards
Good luck, and all the best mate. Take a million pictures as if Japan was going to soon become illegal to visit! Haha.
Going for 14 days (approx) and we are staying in a ryokan in the Chidori-Cho district which is about 2 hours public transport from Narita airport. I'm going with a friend who has been there before - he knows the public transport system/places around Tokyo better than he does London. Hopefully my trusty SE C905 will be a good pocket camera and of course buying loads of goodies. Don't really have anything planned to do out there specifically other than go nuts in Akiba, check out maid cafes, do some otaku stuff, most of all have fun.
PS DirectHex - I'm not Caucasian
It's a fantastic place. DO read up on the ettiquette because, as you say, it is a completely different culture and almost everything that we'd consider polite here is rude over there, and vice versa! Learning the most common pleasantry phrases will also get you a very long way - pleases, thank you (no, thank you, no, thank you.. it can go on a while), good mornings, good evenings etc.
Generalising, they are an amazingly friendly and welcoming people, and they have a pretty good sense of fun and humour outside of business. They will laugh at you at some point, but you can laugh at them too
LOL what a coincidence. I'm going next Thursday to Japan! going for about 13 nights. I've never been to the east either so this will be exciting too. Don't get fooled on gadgets being cheap there. It's expensive (I've done a lot of reading up lol) it's about the same price here or a bit more, only thing is they get stuff before us . I'm gonna be staying across the road from Shinjuku station.
After I found out 3 million people pass through that station a day I hope I find the right bloody exit otherwise I'm gonna probably getting squashed by so many people. I live in London already and am used to packed tubes but I bet this is gonna be a piss take! Also mate are you going around Japan outside of Tokyo?? If you are you better buy the Japan Rail Pass otherwise you won't be able to do day trips out of the city it will cost you INSANE amounts of cash. The Japan Rail Pass is £202 quid for 7 days but it lets you travel around the whole country unlimited and even covers bullet trains. Example trip: Osaka to Tokyo is 3 hours on bullet train and don't have to change trains. Without rail pass its 9 hours and change 6 times and costs £100-120 quid one way! Also make sure your phone is 3G if you intended to use it over there as non 3G phones don't work over there!
Check out http://www.japan-guide.com for more info and this other awesome site they got 360 degree panoramas of places in Japan http://www.360cities.net/map#lat=34....-castle&zoom=7
You mean they looked like girls.
I think I mentioned it before in a Japanese thread, but I would really like to go, but not sure what to do when I'm out there. I think I would wantto experience the place (like working there for a couple of weeks) rather than just "visit". Got the money and time, just no-one to go with me because I know I'll bottle out doing random stuff, which I would probably regret not doing later.
Stay with a Japanese family - that gives you the real experience
Take lots and lots of little gifts nicely wrapped up. Have some kind of business card too - and when you swap them make sure to study the other persons card carefully, maybe making a note or two on it, then place it reverently in your wallet which you should then place in a front pocket somewhere.
I spent a fortnight in Japan a year or two ago and loved it. The JR rail pass was very handy, as we stayed on Tokyo, Hiroshima (lovely place) and Kyoto.
Language was a problem, but out of courtesy I tried to learn a few basics, which people appeared to appreciate. Walking through some of the stations, people would ask us, in English, if we were ok and knew where we were going, including an older gentleman at Hiroshima station. If only other countries are as polite!
Loved the food courts under the supermarkets, drooling over the cakes, and the snack shops on the railway platforms, no idea what's in the box but you eat it anyway.
Great place, I'd love to go back.
You're thinking of ThailandYou mean they looked like girls.
I spent 10 days in Tokyo a couple of years ago - stayed mostly in youth hostels, with two nights in a ryokan (strangely run by Chinese, who thankfully spoke rather good english), and one night with the family of a Japanese friend (who were extremely hospitable - wish I'd brought something to give them).
It's good that you're going with a friend, because at times I think I was going a bit mad after a couple of days with no-one to have a conversation with (their english isn't the best, and neither is my japanese). It definitely pays to know some basic japanese though!
Check out some matsuri/festivals if you're in the right place and time, as well as the temples, markets and all the touristy stuff (plenty of that in Tokyo).
Onigiri from the convenience stores is nice (I could live on those!), and they have some interesting bread-type food too, called melonpan.
Maybe you could also pick yourself up a nice Soldam case while you're over there too
Fascinating country, I'd really like to go back some time!
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