Finally Going to Japan!

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mwalsh

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Well it's been many years coming, but it's pretty certain we'll be visiting Japan next spring. I say pretty certain because the only thing I have booked thus far is our flight to Narita.

From arriving the plan is to stay 3 full days in Tokyo, before embarking on a trans-Pacific cruise out of Yokohama that visits Hakodate and Kushiro before crossing to Alaska and sailing the Inside Passage. I don't care all that much for visiting Alaska, if I'm honest, except that it'll be a good way to take it off the bucket list without specifically booking an Alaska cruise, but I am very excited about being in Tokyo for a few days! Mrs. W., conversely, is not quite the Japanophile I am, and is more interested in the cruise part of the itinerary.

We arrive on a Saturday afternoon, so I'm hoping we can experience a Saturday night in a Tokyo at full tilt, and maybe the cherry blossoms will hold out next year just long enough that we can experience them in full bloom (doubtful, and I think we have a much better chance in Hakodate).

Anyhow, suggestions for how to make the best of our limited time would be welcome, if you'd care to advise. Arigatou gozaimasu!
 
A long visit to Japan and rafting down the Colorado river are life-long dreams for me.

Enjoy!
 
If you ride the Yamamoto train line for a hour it will take you completely around Tokyo at a slightly elevated height to see the big city at one shot. You can schedual to get on and off at a few of the stations to visit some of the local attractions.

At Yoyogi Koen you can visit Meiji Jungu Shrine, Shibuya station has the famous scramble kosaten intersection with all kinds of young people hustling and bustling around, Shinjuku Station has about 5 or 6 levels of subway lines if you'd like to so how deep you can go down without getting lost and hope you can make it back up, at the big stations like Shinjuku and Tokyo station the big department store have great underground food courts, Tokyo Station is near the Imperial Palace, etc.

Food is usually of good quality, enjoy exploring and tastingthe different food!
 
It's really a shame you'll only have 3 days in Tokyo, especially if you consider yourself a "Japanophile." Tokyo alone could take a month; I was there for 9 days in 2015 (out of a 2-1/2 week total trip) and feel I didn't see enough of it.

As a westerner, particularly coming from the US, one of the things you'll be shocked about is the attitude towards customer service, regardless of position. Your lowly 7-11 clerk will be just as polite to you as the waiter in an expensive restaurant. Oh, and no tipping! Employees are expected to give the best customer service regardless of whether or not you "bribe" them, and some Japanese actually find tipping to be offensive.

Another thing you'll be shocked about is how clean everything is. I saw almost no graffiti there, not even in Tokyo. Japanese are a fastidiously clean people, and they often will carry an empty bag with them (usually the one they got from the convenience store) to put their trash in, and yes they will carry that around with them until they can find the proper place to dispose of it. They're also fastidious recyclers, and even at McD's you'll find different bins for different materials to be disposed of, and yes you'll be expected to use the right bin.

For your short time in Tokyo I'd book a bus tour of the city on your first full day, to give you a brief overview of it. You can then go back to whatever areas you had a greater interest in. I recommend using the Hato Bus tour line: https://www.hatobus.com/ and yes they have tours with English narration.

Speaking of tips, a few more:

1. Narita Airport is a long ways from central Tokyo. DO NOT TAKE A TAXI from this airport all the way into Tokyo, you'll be paying a fortune. There are two express trains, the Narita Express (run by Japan Railways Group or JR) and the Keisei Skyliner (run by Keisei , a "private" railway which is a bit of a misnomer as the JR Group is also privately run, though it was once government-owned). Narita Express or N'EX is best for accessing points along the southern, eastern and western sections of the Yamanote Line "circle" particularly if Tokyo, Shinjuku, and Shibuya stations will be your destination. Keisei Skyliner is better if you're staying in the northern part of this circle such as near Ueno Station where I stayed. The Yamanote Line is the rail line that runs in a circle (more like an oval actually) around central Tokyo. If you're staying in a hotel that typically caters to westerners rather than Japanese, there may be a direct bus from the airport to your hotel, called a "limousine bus" provided by a third-party company. Check with the bus desk at the airport.

2. While I discourage using a taxi from the airport, it is well worth the money to use a taxi once you get into central Tokyo by train. The regular commuter lines aren't built for large amounts of luggage and they can get quite crowded. There is a popular and rather inexpensive luggage delivery service called "Takkyubin", and they have an office at the airport near the meeting point, but if you do use this don't expect to see your luggage again for a day or two, so make sure you have a small bag with a day or two worth of essentials. If you use a taxi, it's best to have the phone number of your destination, or a printout of their address; Japan uses a very strange and confusing addressing system that makes no sense whatsoever to westerners. GPS/sat-navs in Japan have the ability to take you somewhere based on its phone number. Taxi drivers typically do not speak English.

3. For getting around, buy a refillable transport card. For Tokyo there are two types, the "Suica" and the "Pasmo." The former is administered by JR, the latter by the Tokyo Metro subway. In the Tokyo area they are pretty much interchangeable, and are also good on most transit buses. You can buy and refill them at the train stations and most convenience stores. Some stores particularly those at or near train stations will even let you pay for your purchase with a Suica/Pasmo, and some vending machines will also accept them.

4. Money. Despite its reputation for being high-tech, Japan is still very much a cash-only society. Except for places that cater specifically to western tourists, or the Ginza shopping district, you'll find credit card usage to be difficult. Japan is a very safe place so it's not unusual for locals to carry the equivalent of a few hundred dollars at any time, and some ATMs will dispense as much as 100,000 yen (roughly $900 US) at one time. Speaking of which, the only ATMs that will accept cards from American banks are the ones at 7-11, at the Japan Post office (they have a symbol which looks like a "T"), and at the few Citibank branches in the country.

5. Almost all restaurants have plastic facsimiles of their menu in the front window, which is helpful because most menus will be in Japanese and the servers are unlikely to speak a lot of English. So take a photo of whatever you would like to eat and show it to the server. Many restaurants will also have picture menus but not all.

There are many travel tip websites and videos on visiting Japan, and I would recommend viewing them. I would also recommend the YouTube channels of these two western expats: "Rachel and Jun" who are an American-Japanese couple, and "Abroad in Japan" is a Brit named Chris Broad who came to Japan several years ago and has documented his experiences here. Some of the latter's videos may not be safe for work as he does have a bit of a potty mouth; indeed his funniest video of all is possibly the one where he actually teaches English profanity to Japanese. This video from Attaché also has some good tips on coming to Tokyo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdIaEL72PwI

Feel free to ask me more questions. When I was there I met up with cwerdna for the Tokyo Motor Show and he's been to Japan a few times, I'm sure he'll have other tips as well.
 
Wow. Thanks for that. I too plan on a Japan trip someday, and I'm going to have to bookmark this thread for tip references. I find travel much easier nowadays with google translate on my phone.
 
Excellent stuff guys, thanks! Unfortunately I'm stretching the amount of time I can be gone from work as it is - the cruise eats up 15 days of the journey - so just three days in Tokyo it will have to be.

I think from Nartia we're going to use the Airport Limousine Bus, since it will drop us right at the hotel I have in mind booking (Hotel Sunroute Plaza in Shinjuku, unless anyone here has a better suggestion). I would love to take the train, but we'll have a lot of baggage and Naomi isn't especially adept at being her own porter.

To Yokohama I think we're going to book Tokyo Airporter for private van transfers. It should come in at under $200, where the nearest rival, Green Tomato, was $375! :shock: I did consider having the folks from Kuroneko Yamato take care of the bags for us so we could take the train - they have an office quite near to the cruise terminal - but I'm uncomfortable with letting our luggage out of our control when we're heading away from the country (although they might well be able to catch up with us in one of the two Hokkaido Prefecture ports if it all went sideways).

Keep the tips coming!
 
We also took a cruise all around Japan last Fall: started in Tokyo and ended in Shanghai...with a short detour to South Korea (Celebrity Cruises). The highlight of our trip was a couple days (on each end) in Tokyo Disney and Shanghai Disney. There are plenty of "1 day tours" of Tokyo, and we took one arranged by the cruise line (the bus passed right by the Nissan plant in Yokohama where my Leaf was built).
Have fun: it's an interesting country!
 
mwalsh said:
I think from Nartia we're going to use the Airport Limousine Bus, since it will drop us right at the hotel I have in mind booking (Hotel Sunroute Plaza in Shinjuku, unless anyone here has a better suggestion). I would love to take the train, but we'll have a lot of baggage and Naomi isn't especially adept at being her own porter.

If there is an airport limousine bus direct to your hotel from Narita, this is the best option. As far as getting to the cruise terminal, I also came across this website: https://www.veltra.com/en/asia/japan/tokyo/a/124496 I don't know how good they are, but they are about half the price of the Tokyo Airporter (probably shared use service like SuperShuttle). Viator has something similar: https://www.viator.com/tours/Yokohama/Private-Yokohama-Transfer-Yokohama-Port-to-Tokyo-Hotels/d25747-6006YOKPRTHTL_P is for going from Yokohama to Tokyo but I'm sure if you cal them they can book something in the opposite direction.

I've never stayed at the Hotel Sunroute Shinjuku, but looking at the map it looks to be in a very convenient, if very crowded place. Shinjuku is not only Japan's busiest rail station, but it's the busiest transport hub in the world. It's important to look at the maps inside the station and use the right exit for your hotel, or you could get seriously lost; I've been in towns that were smaller than the network of below-ground stores and restaurants attached to Shinjuku.

You also mentioned spending your first night in Tokyo at "full tilt." Assuming you're not jetlagged, I would not wander too far from your hotel, as there's plenty to see around Shinjuku. If you've never been there, Japan is quite a culture shock and even little things like figuring out how to buy a transport card take a bit of time, much less navigating your way around such a densely packed environment. It really brings you out of your comfort zone to be thrust into an environment where you can't read most of the signage, but you'll be glad you experienced it.
 
RonDawg said:
As far as getting to the cruise terminal, I also came across this website: https://www.veltra.com/en/asia/japan/tokyo/a/124496 I don't know how good they are, but they are about half the price of the Tokyo Airporter (probably shared use service like SuperShuttle).

Veltra is booking for Green Tomato there. Green Tomato's shared shuttle service to/from Yokohama only runs when the Diamond Princess is docked. And we'll be on Holland America Volendam, so unfortunately that won't work.
 
RonDawg said:
You also mentioned spending your first night in Tokyo at "full tilt." Assuming you're not jetlagged, I would not wander too far from your hotel, as there's plenty to see around Shinjuku. If you've never been there, Japan is quite a culture shock and even little things like figuring out how to buy a transport card take a bit of time, much less navigating your way around such a densely packed environment. It really brings you out of your comfort zone to be thrust into an environment where you can't read most of the signage, but you'll be glad you experienced it.

We had to "crash" the second full day we were there (in Tokyo Disney). Luckily our hotel was literally connected to the park. We started out the second day OK (this is after 2 nights worth of sleep) and after lunch we just couldn't stay awake anymore; we slept, went back into the park for the rest of the night...and slept again. We were pretty much OK the rest of the trip (cruise), although I took naps occasionally (it was vacation after all).
Also, we paid for a cab on one of the legs (I think it was back to the terminal) just to avoid getting lost with luggage in tow. And take some cash with you to get started (like $50 worth); you can always hit an ATM in country when you need more. Having said that, we used very little cash (almost all CC transactions). Oh, and don't forget to notify the CC companies (and bank) what countries you'll be in before you actually get there.
 
It's hard to add to the suggestions already given, because you do not have much time. There is too much to do, but avoid all restaurants that have less than 10 seats and are in the basements in Tokyo. My wife, son and I spent a little less than US$400 on appetizers one night. Also, start thinking about your next trip there.

One more thing, your American cell phone carrier may not work there, so check it out before you go. I usually order a sim card to the hotel before I get there, and I also use wifi messaging and calling.
 
RonDawg said:
When I was there I met up with cwerdna for the Tokyo Motor Show and he's been to Japan a few times, I'm sure he'll have other tips as well.
Indeed. I saw this thread last night but I’ve been way too busy and too tired to chime in.

I’ve been to Japan 5x and each of them has included some time in Tokyo. Last time, I went flew to Nagasaki and took trains from there back towards Nagoya then Tokyo, sightseeing along the way (e.g. “Battleship Island”, Fukuoka, Beppu, Miyajima, Kobe, Osaka, Himeji Castle, Nagoya, etc.) ending in Tokyo, including at least 2 days at Tokyo Motor Show.

Will try to chime in this weekend.

I love Japan and have been considering going again near the end of this year for Tokyo Motor Show again + other sightseeing. Not sure what the latter will be, yet.
 
91040 said:
mwalsh- You could come to the Santa Ana meeting tomorrow if you want info on Tokyo.

Sorry, man, working some consulting hours today. That was the deal with the wife - if I took the consulting work over these last two weekends I could blow the extra income on a nice vacay. :D

We're not going until next spring, so plenty of time to connect. I was just all excited about getting our flight to NRT squared away the other day. Don't tell Mrs. W. if you should happen to see her between now and then, but I splurged on JAL First Class as a birthday/anniversary treat for her (not a massive extravagance because I paid with points - it only cost $148 cash). She's only going to find out when I walk us up to the First check-in counter on the day. She's never flown First before, and I think everyone should at least once in their lifetime, so I'm rather hoping the JAL product will be quite special, particularly as there are only 8 seats in the F cabin (versus 14 in the typical British Airways long-haul cabin).
 
Planning now includes having chosen a hotel for the four nights in Tokyo and transportation from the airport - we're going to be staying a the Hotel Century Southern Tower in Shinjuku and getting to the hotel from NRT on the Limousine Bus. I really wanted to take the cool N'EX train, but we'll have so much luggage that I'll pretty much have to porter by myself (Naomi really can't be of any help), that I think the train would just be too difficult.

I think I said in an earlier post that I was originally interested in the Hotel Sunroute Plaza but it turns out that they have no English programming on the TV. So for my wife's sake we're going with the HCST which offers BBC and CNN in English (and has slightly bigger rooms).

I was also somewhat interested in the JR Kyushu Hotel Blossom, but my wife doesn't like the idea of having to trek the luggage around the corner from the Sunroute Plaza (where the Limousine Bus stops), even though it's not really any distance.
 
N'EX is a cool-looking train from the outside, but on the inside it's just like any other train. It doesn't run at the high speeds of the shinkansen (bullet train) either. Most of its speed comes from the fact that it makes relatively few stops.
 
RonDawg said:
N'EX is a cool-looking train from the outside, but on the inside it's just like any other train. It doesn't run at the high speeds of the shinkansen (bullet train) either. Most of its speed comes from the fact that it makes relatively few stops.
On the note of cool looking trains, my favorite is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_Series_Shinkansen. Another pic at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JRW-500_V2_inHimeji.jpg.

Unfortunately, if the Wikipedia entries are right, the numbers of active 500-series will only decline. I saw lots of lots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N700_Series_Shinkansen and I think some of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/700_Series_Shinkansen when I was there almost 2 years ago. I'm pretty sure I rode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_Series_Shinkansen on my trip in 2001 and none are in-service anymore.

I can definitely say their tunnel boom reduction work done on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/700_Series_Shinkansen worked, and I guess the N700 also incorporates it. On my early trips to Japan (first in 2001), I distinctly remember hearing and feeling the tunnel boom upon entry and exit. It's much less pronounced on the newer trains.
 
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