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Cheap Trick posted:I've done a Tokyo-Kyoto return trip, and the standard train fares do indeed work out cheaper than a rail pass. Worth getting the rail pass if you do intend to go to Osaka as well; I can't provide any advice about stuff to see there. I'm going to be vacationing from Tokyo -> Osaka -> Kyoto -> Tokyo in the middle of June and just priced out the shinkansen fares. Kyoto to Tokyo is 13,520 JPY. The break even point for a 7-day JR pass seems to be a round-trip from Tokyo/Kyoto + either the JR NEX or JR monorail round trip from the airport. Any 3-4 shinkansen tickets should also total up to more than the individual tickets. Even with the JR rail pass you'll want to get a suica (passmo) cash card because several of the subway companies are run by other companies (Toei/Tokyo Metro/Odakyu) and they won't accept the JR pass. There's other limitations to the JR pass preventing you from using the express trains and some other "gotchas". CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 17:18 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 17:16
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Cheap Trick posted:I also like Suica because I can buy snacks from convenience stores without having to mess about with spare change. Yes. I bought this meat on a stick with my passmo, and they even gave me a free card holder as part of a promo: 
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May 3, 2013 02:21
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Wibbleman posted:Is that "meat" or fish paste? Looks fish pasty to me. Fish paste, deep fried to "on-a-stick" perfection. It was a shop up the hill in Hakone. And the passmo holders: 
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May 3, 2013 04:42
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Just flew in to Narita from San Francisco yesterday and I have to say that United is way more comfortable than JAL
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Jun 10, 2013 21:11
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tarepanda posted:You've always been able to (try to) do that, as far as I know. It's just that it is (was?) impossible to get in day-of unless you had reservations. My wife and I went on a weekday night last October and we were able to get tickets with no wait, and only a 5 minute wait for the second tickets to get to the upper observation deck.
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Jun 11, 2013 01:30
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Here's a question for you guys, when my wife and I were in Tokyo last October we tried to visit a maido cafe only to mistakenly witness the horror show that is Maido Dreamin. Do you guys know of any maid cafes that are more "cafe" and less Chuck-e-Cheese freak show?tarepanda posted:Good to know. I guess the Sky Tree just shot to the top of my "nice date" list. Just remember that this applied to weekdays not including student holidays, etc.
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Jun 11, 2013 03:26
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tyblazitar posted:You'll want to check out Cure Maid Café. It's got a pretty nice relaxed atmosphere, completely different from MaiDreamin' or @Home. They have good scones, a wide variety of tea and cakes and a relatively classy interior. That sounds more like it. Thanks! Also, I'm currently in Osaka, and humid or not it's hot as gently caress. This even feels hotter than Hawaii in the summer.
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Jun 13, 2013 01:20
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Any of you guys know where the best place to buy stacks of origami paper? (100+ sheet cubes etc) Edit: also any suggestions on the best okonomiyaki place near Kyoto station would be much appreciated. 
CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Jun 16, 2013 |
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Jun 15, 2013 13:49
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Thanks. I passed that info along. One last request - any good sushi restaurants in ginza < 1man per head? All the google results (with ratings) I'm finding are over 2man and/or take reservations a month in advance. I don't read well enough to use tabelog effectively.
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Jun 21, 2013 01:02
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CrazyLittle posted:One last request - any good sushi restaurants in ginza < 1man per head? All the google results (with ratings) I'm finding are over 2man and/or take reservations a month in advance. I don't read well enough to use tabelog effectively. Ended up going to 板前寿司 銀座コリドー / ITAMAE SUSHI Ginza Corridor for lunch. Maguro/chutoro/ohtoro plate was ¥1900 or so, and a assorted plate was another ¥900.
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Jun 22, 2013 21:10
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Pompous Rhombus posted:If you're going to be in Hiroshima prefecture, there's an island called Okunoshima that I'm pretty keen to check out, both because of WW2 history and rabbits. Yes, this was probably the best part of the trip I just got back from Wiki link fixed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okunoshima If you want to stay the night on the island you need to make reservations a while in advance. The openings when I was there in June were extremely limited. Sorry for the vertical video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Qfo_h7J-8
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Jul 2, 2013 07:35
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Shibawanko posted:By the way, has anyone ever tried to walk from Haneda airport into the city? I did a dumb and will arrive there after the last metro leaves so either I'll have to do a little sleepover or I can walk to Shinagawa (no taxi for me). Does anyone know if there's a footpath, or is it just bridges for cars? I believe the limo buses run late into the night as well, but the vouchers won't work for the late night ones.
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Jul 7, 2013 08:59
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Airport Limousine Bus runs all night, just at double the fare from midnight to 5am. That's what my wife and I did when we flew SFO to HND and got past security at 11:30pm and then watched the ticket counter girl freak out for 30 minutes over our JTB bus voucher that was mistakenly issued for NRT. We were heading to Shinjuku so our bus fares were more like $20/each but it beats hanging around in an airport for five hours. If you're just going to Shinagawa it should be a lot cheaper. If you're really that stuck on not paying, then the airport monorail to Shinagawa starts up again at 5am. It's 12km walking, and at the minimum Google puked up a warning about there might not be sidewalks. (IE not safe to walk) *edit* another late night bus service, Keihin Kyuko Bus 1000JPY to Shinagawa: http://hnd-bus.com/route/nightmorningbus.html#shinagawa CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Jul 7, 2013 |
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Jul 7, 2013 18:09
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I paid for a week-pass on Wi2 around Tokyo and it was not a pleasant experience. You constantly get kicked off and have to log back in again. It was hardly worth the ~$15 cost (Visa tourist special)
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Jul 24, 2013 04:28
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Quite frankly the best option I've found was to add international roaming and data to my US-based cell phone and then just use that sparingly to find directions.
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Jul 24, 2013 15:52
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Mister Roboto posted:Speaking of, would it be a good idea to get a Japanese Sim card or something similar? International data roaming is probably cheaper. zmcnulty posted:Yes you can do rentals of SIMs/pocket wifi routers as well. Dunno if prepaid is an option, last I checked you had to be a resident but that may have changed. Yeah, but this is $15 per day. Even a $100 roaming plan is cheaper than renting a mi-fi for a week.
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Jul 30, 2013 16:39
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DontAskKant posted:A day!? Singapore was $15 for a week or two with excellent coverage. Guess $40 for 5 days of my roaming isn't too bad in comparison. Wifi hotspot rental: 1,575 Yen/Day (incl.tax) iPhone SIM: The data communication (e.g. web browsing, web based email, packet communication etc.) charge is 0.32 yen/packet(128bytes) and this charge is capped at 1,500 yen per day. Data cap plan does not cover rental fee, voice calls, video calls, SMS, S!Mail(MMS), International SMS, or International S!Mail(MMS).
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Jul 30, 2013 17:02
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suztan posted:1.) I don't want to miss any neat obscure places. Or, probably in Tokyo in general, I suppose. I'm looking specifically for a good udon or sushi place, My picks: Go to menya Fu-Unji a few blocks south of Shinjuku station, and order the special tsukemen. Be prepared to stand in line to get in. This guy's line can stretch down the block at its peak.  If you want sushi, go to Ginza east of Tokyo. It's the closest area to the Tsukiji fish market, and unless the place is REALLY bad you're probably going to get really really good quality sushi. You get what you pay for, of course, but the base quality is simply higher in that area. When my wife and I were there in June we tried a place that specialized in ohtoro, called Itamae Sushi (literally "sushi chef") a little way away from Ginza station. We went during lunch and got two special plates, the maguro special plate ($20), and the assorted sushi plate ($10). They sold out of maguro specials after we ordered. Also keep in mind that many places change their entire menus between lunch and dinner, so plan carefully and don't be late!  For cheap/fast sushi, even the sushi-train places are good. This place was the one right next to the south tip of Shinjuku station, and yellowtail-belly was $2.10/plate. I've never been so spoiled:  suztan posted:or a used kimono store. Long answer: Are you trying to buy yukata or kimono? What do you plan to do with it? I can post a LOT more on this topic if you want. But really if you plan to buy and wear it, that's a more complicated question than just "where's a store?" Here's what I brought back last October:  The zori and fans are from different shops in Asakusa. suztan posted:2.) Is renting a bike a good idea? Can you take them onto trains? suztan posted:3.) With the Suica + N'EX deal, is there a way I could, uh, get the Suica card with the penguin on it? This is very important (not really). suztan posted:4.) I've heard a lot about Japanese dress standards with regards to women's dress, would regular Japanese care what a gaijin wears? I'd like to dress to be cool but I don't want to be insensitive. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Aug 1, 2013 |
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Aug 1, 2013 01:25
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suztan posted:I'll definitely try out Tabelog and that tsukemen place! And the reason I asked about used kimono stores is that I've read in several guides that that's the way to go for quality at a good price. I'm mostly looking for obi and obi trappings. What're you going to use the obi for? Any particular style of obi? I ask because the selection and styles vary depending on the purpose. Granted the obi in the picture I posted were $50-60/each, and those are men's casual obi for yukata. Women have even more variation depending on what its intended use is (formal, informal, etc). If you're looking for used obi for furisode kimono, then my best suggestion is to check the side-streets of Asakusa's omotesando. The obi at Tokyo135 will be more modern, and hip, and intended for wear with modern yukata designs.
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Aug 1, 2013 18:51
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(whoops, quote != edit)suztan posted:I know all Suica cards have the penguin on it, but the reason I ask is because the JR East Suica + N'EX page shows a card with a different design, and that seems to be what people get. I'll probably end up asking the person at the JR East counter about it. Ahh, if you get stuck with the promo card and you don't want it, just drain the value by using the trains and buying snacks at combini. You'll blow through the $15 pretty easily. Then you can turn in the promo card for $5 and then buy a penguin JR Suica from any suica ticket vending machine for $20 ($5 deposit + $15 value)
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Aug 1, 2013 18:54
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Mister Roboto posted:What's the Robot bar Perhaps he's talking about this place: http://www.shinjuku-robot.com/pc/
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Aug 8, 2013 05:37
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effervescible posted:If you like sushi, get up early and go get breakfast at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. It was the freshest, best sushi I've ever had. I'm going to go against the grain here and point out that tabelog rated all of the sushi places in neighboring Ginza higher than the ones within the immediate area of Tsukiji. Regardless of where you go, lunch options will be cheaper at the proper restaurants. Also from what I could tell, it doesn't seem like you can watch the fish auctions anymore unless you want to line up at 4am. They only let you browse the outer market... which is still pretty great. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Aug 14, 2013 |
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Aug 14, 2013 06:32
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If you average it that's about a 5 or so.
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Sep 2, 2013 18:55
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Nice Davis posted:I pulled the trigger too soon and too hard on souvenirs. Darn you, cute hat shop across from Takashimaya Osaka! Speaking of, once I got back from Tokyo, I showed my mother the yukata that I had purchased and she says approvingly: "That's a really cool pattern - it's not like you went and bought it from Takashimaya..." Yep, I bought yukata at Takashimaya. It was expensive.
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Nov 1, 2013 05:17
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Revolver Bunker posted:What are some good places for Japanese cuisine ranging from cheap meals to a nice $100+ per person dinners? From earlier back in June but still totally relevant: CrazyLittle posted:How's your Japanese reading skills? "Tabelog" is the Japanese analog to Yelp in the USA, and it's a pretty good indicator of where the locals eat. LimburgLimbo posted:Like Ned said I wouldn't rely on free wireless, get a portable, or of that's too expensive you could try a wireless service like Wi2 300: http://300.wi2.co.jp/campaign/visa/index_sp_en.html If you're staying upwards of a week, just pay the $30-40 for international data roaming and cancel it when you get back. The carrier may even pro-rate you for the unused time. That should be enough to fill your google map searches, and cheaper than the daily mobile hotspot fees + possible data transfer (that some of them charge per kb). IMHO Don't bother with Wi2. I tried it out and it was spotty at best even at the wi2premium access points. At least I didn't pay full price. CrazyLittle posted:I paid for a week-pass on Wi2 around Tokyo and it was not a pleasant experience. You constantly get kicked off and have to log back in again. It was hardly worth the ~$15 cost (Visa tourist special) Oh, and if you're going to be glued to your smartphone the whole time, bring a usb battery pack to charge your phone with. A 3000mah pack should be able to keep you running all day without needing to find a power outlet until you get back to your hotel. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Nov 15, 2013 |
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Nov 15, 2013 05:18
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caberham posted:Data is not expensive at all and very.convenient. Once you land in the airport, either rent a wifi hotspot or a gsm sim card. $15/day is not cheap. CrazyLittle posted:Wifi hotspot rental: 1,575 Yen/Day (incl.tax)
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Nov 16, 2013 04:32
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adamarama posted:Some questions: Hakone Tensei-en... It was awesome. It's also a little bit over your budget. As I recall though, all of the onsen in Hakone are a 10-15 minute walk up the hill.  CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Nov 18, 2013 |
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Nov 18, 2013 21:07
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Ned posted:Use the JR pass once you need to go to Hakone. It's not much use inside Tokyo. Basically it is for taking the Shinkansen. That's not really true. It gets you through the gates at all the JR stations so if you're going along those routes it's effectively free. The only nuisance is that it doesn't work on the Tokyo metro, Toei or Odakyu metro rail systems. Also if you're going to Hakone from Tokyo you're probably better off taking the Odakyu romance train instead. If I were Ada flying in to Tokyo NRT, I would start the JR pass weighted toward the end of the trip. At the start of the trip buy the suica+NEX combo because it's an IC cash card with $20 free to start, in addition to the rail ticket from the airport. Then use the IC card to ride the subways around Tokyo and the JR pass for all the rail travel after. Keep in mind that Hakone transportation is all operated by Odakyu. Kyoto has their own local bus system for touring. Only Tokyo has a significant number of JR stations around its immediate area. More specific: The JR pass gets you through all the JR stations. You just wave your pass at the security guards at the gate and they wave you though. The problem is that this only works on JR trains between the major cities, and between stops around Tokyo. If you want to go cross-town you're back to using the local metro rail system. In Tokyo the JR trains run a circle around Tokyo, and that's usually enough if you're not in a rush to hit up every stop along the way. If you want a faster, more direct route, you're left with using one of the other subway companies that operate in Tokyo - namely Tokyo Metro, Toei, and Odakyu. In Osaka and Kyoto, there are a handful of major JR stations along the way, but anything more specific is either walking or via non-JR bus lines. In Hakone, everything "public transit" is operated by Odakyu, including the most direct train lines to Hakone to/from Tokyo. The best thing a JR pass can do is save you the difference across 3 shinkansen tickets within 7 days, or 4-5 shinkansen in 14 days. Everything else is typically better handled with near-field IC cash cards, which work almost everywhere except the more rural areas. Sheep posted:It may not necessarily be malevolent discrimination, but it is everywhere and quite pervasive, from everyday interactions (ignoring the non-Asian speaking in favor of speaking to any Asian in their party, for example) This is still true even among groups of tourists. I was there with a couple other American tourists, and the locals would address the Chinese guy who knew zero japanese instead of the white guy who called them over and speaks japanese fluently. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Nov 19, 2013 |
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Nov 19, 2013 04:14
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Eregos posted:I've had a couple of chinese exchange students living in my house the past few years, which made me curious: Who would face less discrimination in Japan, A chinese mainlander or an American? I'd also like to point out that the question itself was predicated on the assumption that "American" meant white... which I object to.
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Nov 19, 2013 07:57
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adamarama posted:Cheers guys, very useful. Is it even worth my while to get a JR pass then? I guess I'll be using other lines in Tokyo/Hakone. So is the JR pass worth it for Kyoto/Nara/Osaka? You can lookup the price of Shinkansen tickets along each leg of your trip. If the cost of those is higher than the JR pass, buy it. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Nov 19, 2013 |
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Nov 19, 2013 22:03
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Thanks! That's the one I'm thinking of. If a JR 7-day pass is 28,300 yen, and you're looking at just the cost of JR tickets from Tokyo to Hakone (then Odakyu up the mountain), Hakone to Kyoto, and then Kyoto to Osaka... you're looking at perhaps under 10,000 yen. It's probably not worthwhile. My first trip w/ my wife was:
When I was there last time here's the itinerary we did: (12 days w/ 14-day pass)
And then we also used the JR pass to station hop whenever we could. We also had a fuckup where we didn't realize our Tokyo->Osaka train left from Tokyo station instead of Shinjuku, so we had to get them to re-issue us tickets... which might not have worked had we paid cash. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 00:52
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Grand Fromage posted:I should mention I'm interested in just Japanese, and I require tonkotsu ramen at least once daily. Just wanna point out that Chinese food in Japan is not the same as Chinese food in the USA or in China. So don't arbitrarily write it off. If you're eating gyoza or nikuman anywhere, that's Chinese food too.
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Dec 6, 2013 04:33
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Stumbling Block posted:The Inari shrine is the only remaining to visit place in my list for when I find myself in Kyoto or have a day free in nearby Osaka. A combination of a lack of time and too lazy when I was in Kyoto just last month (and missing out on the peak autumn colours by just one week, goddamnit!) meant I had to give it a miss. Fushimi Inari is definitely worth it, and if you find them I left a pair of Oakley Whiskers somewhere up there. Thanks!
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Dec 7, 2013 00:34
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riderkick posted:You may be better off calling JAL or ANA's overseas office and ask them what constitutes as proper paperwork. The link below has their overseas offices. When I was there in June, they explicitly searched my passport for a tourist SoR stamp before issuing me the JR rail pass.
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Dec 10, 2013 21:54
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Ara posted:You'll also have to sign a form saying that you're not affiliated with the Yakuza. What if you are?
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Jan 11, 2014 21:45
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Dmoz posted:b-mobile. http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/index.html $40 for 1gb or 14 days, no talking minutes allowed, no SMS. No overages allowed - once you use up the 14 days or 1gb it shuts off. bobula posted:What do you guys think is the best solution for two people on a trip who want to have phones to contact each other/data? We both have phones we can unlock here for international use and I'm thinking sim rental, but I've only ever used Softbank so I don't know if there are better options out there. Where are you from and how long are you staying in Japan? Who's your current cell carrier?
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Jan 15, 2014 19:25
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orenronen posted:That tourist edition is kind of a scam, I think. Depending on your current cell carrier, all of the sim rentals are kind of a scam. International data roaming plans can be prorated for how many days out of the month you actually subscribe to it.
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Jan 16, 2014 01:22
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bobula posted:I'm from the US and will be there 2-3 weeks on vacation. I'll be running around from Tokyo down to Fukuoka. I have Sprint right now, but a Nexus 5 so I can sim unlock (or maybe it is already?) and whatever other crap I need to do to use a foreign sim. Wow, Sprint is a gaggle of cocks. $1/mb? gently caress that noise. http://support.sprint.com/support/article/Learn_more_about_International_Data_Pack_Addon/case-gz982789-20120511-112920
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Jan 16, 2014 18:21
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Soricidus posted:And someone just called $0.04/mb a scam! uhhh yeah. AT&T's international data roaming is $60/month for 300mb or $120/month for 800mb and that's prorated for the duration of the plan. At least that's what my wife and I did back in June.
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Jan 16, 2014 20:56
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Soricidus posted:Right, so that can come out cheaper than b-mobile if you don't need much data or if your trip is relatively short. There are still plenty of contexts where the b-mobile SIM would be a better deal (e.g. if you need more than 300 mb and are in Japan for two weeks). Still not seeing the scam Need to make a real phone call for any reason? Can't do it. Want a general-use sim card? Softbank has one, only 150y/day: http://www.softbank-rental.jp/e/rental-price-ib.php oh wait it's 105y/min for talking, and 1500y/day for data. So in other words, in any trip longer than 3 days you're probably exceeding the cost of any of the US international data roaming plans unless you get the b-mobile cripple-chip.
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Jan 17, 2014 21:41
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