|
Moving back Monday. Now that Shinsei is screwing with what used to be their good services, is there a better bank option or are they still relatively the best in the market? Haven't kept abreast of things while I've been away.
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 08:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 23:38 |
|
|
Jerome Louis posted:Currently in Kyoto, everything is closed and we're in our Airbnb with a bunch of 9% Suntory Highballs and Family Mart snacks I'm surprised at this. I usually stay in Nishi-Shinjuku Gochome and the listings are basically gone. Where are cheapcunts staying with the airbnb apocalypse? I'd do the capsule thing but at the price of two (wife and I) a hotel/hostel is cheaper.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 12:47
|
|
|
So, I'll be staying in Tokyo for 6 days. I'm curious if it would be better to stay at the same hostel at Shinjuku, or if I should stay at one place in Shinjuku and another place at the opposite side of the city to see more of Tokyo?
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 18:15
|
|
|
One place since the through train is convenient and you don’t need to check out again
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 18:22
|
|
|
There is easily enough around there to kill a week anyway.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 18:50
|
|
|
Okay, I'll just book for Shinjuku then.
punk rebel ecks fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Oct 13, 2018 |
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 19:03
|
|
|
Are Trip.com, OneTrip, Kiwi, as reliable as Expedia for booking flights?
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 21:21
|
|
|
Hey Japan goons, I'm going to be traveling in Japan and Hong Kong in December, and I wanted to get some opinions on my plans. Sorry for the wall of text/huge number of questions! The plan is to fly into Tokyo November 30th, and explore the Tokyo area and the Osaka/Kyoto area until December 18th, when I'll likely fly out from Osaka to Hong Kong. So, the rough itinerary at the moment is: I. 7-8 days in Tokyo area II. Train to Kyoto, maybe stop for a little while at Hakone to see Fuji and relax in a bath if it's not crazy expensive? III. 5 (?) days in Kyoto/day trips to Nara, Yamazaki Distillery IV. 4 (?) days in Osaka/day trip to Himeji V. Fly out of Osaka -For the cities, I'd like to find cool neighborhoods to wander around in and take photos, especially lively ones with murals/street art. Day trips to towns would be fun too, to see another side of Japan and chill out a bit between city days. -I'm planning to use Couchsurfing if possible because I've had a great time with it in the past while traveling, but failing that I'll go with something cheap; are hostels/capsule hotels/AirBnB the go-to for that, and any recommendations? -I love tea, so I'm hoping to find good tea houses to drink tea in as well, and do the ceremony if I can. I also love coffee, so any good coffeeshops/roastery suggestions would be appreciated. I'd like to tour a sake distillery/go to sake bars and bring some good sake back home as well, so if anyone has suggestions for that I'd appreciate them, too. -I'm vegetarian (gasp), so any vegan/vegetarian food suggestions would be dope, especially if I can find veg ramen. Is vegetarian okinomiyaki a thing? Is good vegetarian sushi a thing? -I'd like to go to the Ghibli Museum. Is it worth it if I love the Ghibli films? Do I need to make sure get tickets as soon as they're available online? -I originally considered trying to pull a day or two from Osaka/Kyoto and going out to Hiroshima, but I like to go at an easy pace when traveling and was afraid I was doing too much already. Thoughts on that? For Tokyo: Tokyo is super intimidating because it's so massive. I'll definitely want to see the sights around the Shimbashi (mostly for the tea house in Hamarikyu + the knife shop in Tsukiji that were recommended in here), Tokyo, and Ueno station areas, but I'd really like to explore the more alternative (i.e. hipster) neighborhoods as well, which seem to be around Shinjuku/Shibuya/Ikebukuro. Where's a good, well-connected area to look at staying in if I want to dig into those neighborhoods?
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 21:34
|
|
|
AirBnB still lists a lot of actual guesthouses, it's worth checking there still. I used it last time I was there after the ban and was fine. Recommendations: A) If you're doing five days in Kyoto, split that into three Kyoto and two Nara. Nara is much chiller and worth staying in IMO. They're both nice but I definitely appreciated being able to stay in Nara and not have to rush back to Kyoto or Osaka in the evening. B) Vegetarianism is doable but it's much more doable if you're flexible. Dashi is in literally everything and has fish in it. Accept this and there's a huge range of Japanese food you can eat. If you're being strict you're going to be a lot more annoyed and sad. If you're willing to go all the way to pescetarian while in Japan you will have zero issues with food. Avoiding meat is very easy, avoiding seafood products is not. I would really recommend this so you enjoy your trip more. If you don't, Buddhist temple food is all vegan and is pretty good, and not only served at temples. C) Sake brewing season is winter so you'll be able to enjoy that. Don't bother in Tokyo, only thing to do there is go to the Fukumitsuya sake store there, it's my favorite brewery and you can sample everything and buy good poo poo. Kyoto and Nara have a ton of sake breweries, look on the googles. Every sake brewery I've ever seen is open to the public and you can go in for tastings, it's quite cheap. 500 yen for four or five samples is the norm. They don't all do tours but you'll be able to find one, and one is enough since they're all the same idea. Be sure to reserve in advance for the Yamazaki tour, you can't just walk in. Hiroshima is cool and chill, if you have the budget for bullet train it's not that far. But I again wouldn't try to smash that into a day trip even though it is technically possible, stay overnight and you'll be more relaxed. In Kyoto I stayed at a place called Ruida House, Nara I did Hiloki Hostel. Both were perfectly nice, cheap, and in pretty good locations. Private rooms in each. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Oct 13, 2018 |
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 21:46
|
|
|
Tsukiji closed/relocated last week sowait a little for trip reports of the new Toyosu market and post-Tsukiji shop status. Go to frikkin Nikko, ya dingo!
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 23:13
|
|
|
Keret posted:vegetarian sushi  quote:I'd really like to explore the more alternative (i.e. hipster) neighborhoods as well, which seem to be around Shinjuku/Shibuya/Ikebukuro. Where's a good, well-connected area to look at staying in if I want to dig into those neighborhoods? You should check out Shimokitazawa and Koenji. Both are pretty accessible from Shinjuku.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 02:08
|
|
|
Hi I'm up in the Japanese Alps and it's beautiful here ty thanks for reading.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 03:07
|
|
|
Go to this vegan restaurant in Kyoto, it is hidden right in Nishiki Market and is so good: hale Japan, 〒604-8055 Kyōto-fu, Kyōto-shi, Nakagyō-ku, Higashiuoyachō, 京都市中京区 錦小路通麩屋町西入ル東魚屋町198-1 Just plug it into Google Maps
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 03:22
|
|
|
I'll be visiting Wednesday through the end of the month. It looks like Google maps won't allow me to download maps so I don't have to chew through data while I'm there. Are there any similar, good map options that I can grab before I leave? Not using data isn't a huge deal I just found it incredibly useful while traveling in other locations.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 05:39
|
|
|
Maps.me is an app that has offline maps, worked well for me last time I used it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 05:40
|
|
|
Aexo posted:I'll be visiting Wednesday through the end of the month. It looks like Google maps won't allow me to download maps so I don't have to chew through data while I'm there. Are there any similar, good map options that I can grab before I leave? Not using data isn't a huge deal I just found it incredibly useful while traveling in other locations. Keep in mind you can also just go to the app and load up a map and you'll have it cached; doesn't work if you want to zoom in a lot but will give you general directions well enough. Also a lot of (all?) the train stations in the city have wifi now. So just cache the nearby map as you're going wherever and you'll be good.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 05:53
|
|
|
ntan1 posted:Hi I'm up in the Japanese Alps and it's beautiful here ty thanks for reading. drat this post makes me jealous AF
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 08:03
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 08:29
|
|
|
The Great Autismo! posted:drat this post makes me jealous AF Just saw JR Skiski ads in the train stations this weekend, almost snow season 
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 09:56
|
|
|
Take a map screenshot????????????
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 14:06
|
|
|
Offline works fine. And there is free wifi all over the place. 7-11 for example.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 15:21
|
|
|
For the most part in Tokyo I had free wifi where ever I walked. It's pretty nice.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 16:04
|
|
|
I dunno outside of train stations I usually can’t find it worth poo poo so I try to always get a SIM
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 16:07
|
|
|
There's a lot more free wifi nowadays but it's still terrible because Japan and technology. Sign up and get a password emailed to you and you can get on our free wifi 20 minutes per day!!
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 16:16
|
|
|
There's really no excuse not to get a data SIM. Every BIC Camera has a large selection (and they're everywhere), and heck you can even pull one from a vending machine in the Akihabara metro station. Of course if you're going somewhere that doesn't have cell coverage, then you might be slightly hosed, and I'd suggest also carrying a printed map and a simple magnetic compass in that case, since you're obviously far away from civilization.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 16:21
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:There's a lot more free wifi nowadays but it's still terrible because Japan and technology. Sign up and get a password emailed to you and you can get on our free wifi 20 minutes per day!! Pisses me off to no end that the monorail WiFi coming from Haneda needs email registration and doesn’t let you connect temporarily. Email registration is dumb but at least they tend to give you like 10min to then get the registration email, but not that one. Theoretically you can request the mail, then go back down to the airport itself and their actually free WiFi to activate it but it’s just incredibly stupid.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 16:50
|
|
|
I'll plug cdjapan again, I always get their cheapest wifi and it works great. You aren't going to be torrenting on it but for your maps/translation/chat/etc needs it's fine and it's like $50 for three weeks. No limit on how many things can use is simultaneously either, so if you're traveling with a phone and tablet instead of just a phone it's better than a SIM.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 16:52
|
|
|
Most phones are able to act as a WiFi hotspot so I dunno what the point of those WiFi devices are. I used a couple of those bMobile ones with the fish on it that were 5GB for three weeks each and it worked everywhere, even when I was out in the sticks. The only time I had issues was when this inaka girl gave me her Line and wanted to hook up later, but the reception in the forest I was camping in was spotty and intermittent so all the messages were super delayed. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 20:47
|
|
|
I'm going with a pocket wifi because for work reasons I need to be accessible with my regular phone number, but I would have gone with a sim otherwise. Still, between early reservation and one of those YouTuber coupon codes, it's drastically cheaper then the daily roaming charges.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2018 20:51
|
|
|
Coxswain Balls posted:Most phones are able to act as a WiFi hotspot so I dunno what the point of those WiFi devices are. Using your phone as a wifi hotspot drains the battery like crazy. I did it in Korea since I could only get a sim for dumb reasons, and my phone went from about nine hours to an hour and a half or so of battery life.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 00:07
|
|
|
If you guys still have to argue about the merits of a sim card then you all are loving retarded. I have been telling people to get a data card since 5 loving years ago and some of you travel newbies are still dumb. Everyone has to start somewhere fresh but come on. And that’s why the last thread got closed downs, because of SIM CARDS.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 00:11
|
|
|
I use the maps on tourist pamphlets, lol.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 01:01
|
|
|
peanut posted:I use the maps on tourist pamphlets, lol. You're a Japanese waifu so. Seriously though I still see Japanese people walking around with tourist maps overseas all the time. What the frig even
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 01:06
|
|
|
peanut posted:I use the maps on tourist pamphlets, lol. same
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 01:09
|
|
|
lol if u don't just wander around aimlessly. plans and itineraries on vacations are for losers.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 01:31
|
|
|
I usually just fly places and then never leave my hostel *galaxy brain*
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 01:34
|
|
|
Just lol at your plebian rear end if you aren't simply asking your driver to take you
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 01:46
|
|
|
So what's the best way to get from Narita airport to my hostel in Shinjuku?
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 02:54
|
|
|
Narita Express goes straight there but costs a little. Generally worth it for the ease, speed and comfort though. But drat dude do a google search every once in a while because it's probably literally less effort than asking here.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 02:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 23:38 |
|
|
LimburgLimbo posted:Narita Express goes straight there but costs a little. Generally worth it for the ease, speed and comfort though. Okay, I'll stop asking so many questions here. It's just that I trust goons to give me accurate information and perspective.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 02:59
|
|