Visiting Japan

[Guardian Enzo]

It is quite baffling and infuriating that such a tech-savvy and advanced country has such abysmal wi-fi coverage.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

It is quite baffling and infuriating that such a tech-savvy and advanced country has such abysmal wi-fi coverage.

Korea OTOH...is literally saturated in wifi...

But Korea is an anomaly...everywhere I go, no matter the country, public wifi is near non-existent...

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

It is quite baffling and infuriating that such a tech-savvy and advanced country has such abysmal wi-fi coverage.

I remember reading somewhere is that it is due to the outrageous amount of steel used to harden those anti-quake buildings that make including wifi transmitters a pain; don't know how much truth is there in it.

Last year I went with Joker and we were both sharing a mobile 3G-Wifi - I can lose the signal to it even if we have a single piece of solid wall between us. And being the old man he is it makes it hard for me to chase and take pictures of lolis I spot 25m away, hence the lack of cute pics to upload here.

[D4nc3Style]

Okinawa was an amazing place when I visited. Tokyo was dirty as hell .-.

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by D4nc3Style

Tokyo was dirty as hell .-.

Say wut. Which district did you go to? Last time I went it was practically the world's cleanest city.

[GDB]

Maybe he meant dirty as in perverted? Otherwise yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me either.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I remember reading somewhere is that it is due to the outrageous amount of steel used to harden those anti-quake buildings that make including wifi transmitters a pain; don't know how much truth is there in it.

Last year I went with Joker and we were both sharing a mobile 3G-Wifi - I can lose the signal to it even if we have a single piece of solid wall between us. And being the old man he is it makes it hard for me to chase and take pictures of lolis I spot 25m away, hence the lack of cute pics to upload here.

No, honestly that's almost no factor. The truth is that there's simply almost no free wifi on offer, period.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

No, honestly that's almost no factor. The truth is that there's simply almost no free wifi on offer, period.

Hey, bandwidth costs money you know. [/corporatist]

[JokerD]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Hey, bandwidth costs money you know. [/corporatist]

Maybe the normal Japs don't depend on it since they have a reliable telecom coverage?

[Samari]

Hey. My wife and I are planning to visit Japan in mid November. We'll be there from the 14 - 24. In that time span we plan to visit three cities: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka in that order. We've both been to Japan before, but it has been a while. I'm an American and she is Chinese, but we feel like we have a decent enough familiarity with Japanese customs to get around. That being said, we're still going over the logistics of our trip. We're not certain how often we should be in each city. I'm guessing 14-17 in Tokyo (14 we get in that evening), 18 - 21 in Kyoto, and then 21 - 24 Osaka. We would leave on the 24th back to the USA. I'm having a little bit of difficulty breaking down the time shared in each place so I'm welcome to suggestions. Also we'll have to utilize the JR Pass. We're not sure if we should just get the 14 day nation pass which is $400 per person, or if we should get two regional passes, one for the East and the other for the Kansai region. I think it's cheaper, but I don't think it supports bullet train like the national one does. Anyways, it's a few months before we leave, but I'm just trying to get things setup sooner rather than later. Thanks.

[YF19EX]

Lets start with airline items. I assume you are flying out of SFO? That leaves you with the following direct Tokyo flights:
NH008 (Narita)
UA852 (Narita)
UA838 (Narita)
JAL2 (Haneda) as your primary means to get to Tokyo.
If I were you, I would take ANA (NH1075) out of SJC. Its a lot less hectic. Although if you plan a return direct flight from Osaka, that leaves you with UA34 and UA886 back to SFO.

As a general note, I fly ANA regularly with JAL being my backup. Believe me avoid the UA852 with the older 90s 747. Take a 777 from ANA NH008 or the 787 Dreamliners flown by ANA (SJC NH1075) and UA34. The new Dreamliners are far more comfortable because they increase the humidity in the cabin to make it less dry. And a general note ANA's customer service is light years above UAL with the same pricing sometimes due to the Star Alliance partnership. It is common to find roundtrip tickets around the $1000 range if you look and plan right.
If you are arriving in Tokyo on the 14th means your flying out of the states on the 13th.

The longest trip I have taken was 2 weeks. 1 week I based myself out of Osaka and we used the JR rail pass to hit up, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kure, Kyoto, Miyajima Island and Himeji. These were basically one day trips but the JR rail pass allowed us to bullet train out to these areas within an hr or two on the start of the day allowing us to get back to Osaka at night. We bought the one week pass because our last week was going to be in Tokyo. Your JR rail passes will pay for themselves within 2 or 3 uses of a bullet train with the average price being $150 per one way if you paid by yourself. Passess cover all the JR rail lines found within each city. JR Rail passes also cover ferry's run by the JR line. We took one to get to Miyajima Island. Mind you this does not cover private monorails, subways run by other lines.

Amazingly I have not explored Osaka as much as I would liked. I have hit up the DenDen town (Osaka's Akihabara) and other sights but not as much as Tokyo. I could tell you a dozen or more places to roam in Tokyo alone. Kyoto is pretty much temple town. We spent the day at the Kyoimizu Temple which is a must and wandering the rest of the city till evening.

Tokyo ah I love that city. I have been to through the neighborhoods, temples, Aki, malls, museums, mom and pop eateries to the NY Bar and Grill atop the Park Hyatt. It has it all and its pretty hard to just spend a few days in that city alone. You almost need 2 weeks to explore it fully if you have not. But there are plenty of resources online and through other peoples blogs that will let you look to see where you want to go. But ask if there are any particular places in Tokyo you may want more details on, chances are, I have been there.

Travel tips.
1. Get a unlocked smartphone. As many others have said, there is plenty of wifi around Japan but almost all of it is locked out. 4/3g cell networks are the only real way to have data on demand. Rent a simcard or whole phone from JCR Corp etc. They are expensive but having data on the trip is a must. Internet is damn reliable with it being available at the top of a skyscraper or several meters below in a subway train. Although 4G network is preferred. The 3g network works but over the years with the mass influx of smartphones, even Japans data networks can get strained. There are apps that can plan your train routes and destinations more efficiently

2. Get a Suica card. They are RFID card similar to Clipper cards in the bay area except far more useful. They can be found at the JR rail station ticket machines. They are used 90% of the time for travel on trains. Although you have a JR rail pass which will get you through probably 80 to 90% of your travel, there times you might need to take a mono rail or subway not covered by JR rail. They make getting in and out of gates so much easier by not having to go to a ticket machine, figuring out your fare and making sure you don't lose it on the train and feeding it when exiting. All you have to do is wave the card (or in my case like many other people, put it in my wallet and scan through it as I go past the gates) I believe the prices is 1000 yen for the card. 500 is for the price of the card and the other 500 can be used on fare. You can put as much as you want on it but remember treat it like cash. Cards can also be for use in convenient stores and vending machines which have Suica readers. Pretty much all of the other private subways or other lines that use the older PASSMO system as they are fully integrated to use Suica so you can use one card for may different lines.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Your going to have a blast!

[Samari]

Originally Posted by YF19EX

Lets start with airline items. I assume you are flying out of SFO? That leaves you with the following direct Tokyo flights:
NH008 (Narita)
UA852 (Narita)
UA838 (Narita)
JAL2 (Haneda) as your primary means to get to Tokyo.
If I were you, I would take ANA (NH1075) out of SJC. Its a lot less hectic. Although if you plan a return direct flight from Osaka, that leaves you with UA34 and UA886 back to SFO.

As a general note, I fly ANA regularly with JAL being my backup. Believe me avoid the UA852 with the older 90s 747. Take a 777 from ANA NH008 or the 787 Dreamliners flown by ANA (SJC NH1075) and UA34. The new Dreamliners are far more comfortable because they increase the humidity in the cabin to make it less dry. And a general note ANA's customer service is light years above UAL with the same pricing sometimes due to the Star Alliance partnership. It is common to find roundtrip tickets around the $1000 range if you look and plan right.
If you are arriving in Tokyo on the 14th means your flying out of the states on the 13th.

The longest trip I have taken was 2 weeks. 1 week I based myself out of Osaka and we used the JR rail pass to hit up, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kure, Kyoto, Miyajima Island and Himeji. These were basically one day trips but the JR rail pass allowed us to bullet train out to these areas within an hr or two on the start of the day allowing us to get back to Osaka at night. We bought the one week pass because our last week was going to be in Tokyo. Your JR rail passes will pay for themselves within 2 or 3 uses of a bullet train with the average price being $150 per one way if you paid by yourself. Passess cover all the JR rail lines found within each city. JR Rail passes also cover ferry's run by the JR line. We took one to get to Miyajima Island. Mind you this does not cover private monorails, subways run by other lines.

Amazingly I have not explored Osaka as much as I would liked. I have hit up the DenDen town (Osaka's Akihabara) and other sights but not as much as Tokyo. I could tell you a dozen or more places to roam in Tokyo alone. Kyoto is pretty much temple town. We spent the day at the Kyoimizu Temple which is a must and wandering the rest of the city till evening.

Tokyo ah I love that city. I have been to through the neighborhoods, temples, Aki, malls, museums, mom and pop eateries to the NY Bar and Grill atop the Park Hyatt. It has it all and its pretty hard to just spend a few days in that city alone. You almost need 2 weeks to explore it fully if you have not. But there are plenty of resources online and through other peoples blogs that will let you look to see where you want to go. But ask if there are any particular places in Tokyo you may want more details on, chances are, I have been there.

Travel tips.
1. Get a unlocked smartphone. As many others have said, there is plenty of wifi around Japan but almost all of it is locked out. 4/3g cell networks are the only real way to have data on demand. Rent a simcard or whole phone from JCR Corp etc. They are expensive but having data on the trip is a must. Internet is damn reliable with it being available at the top of a skyscraper or several meters below in a subway train. Although 4G network is preferred. The 3g network works but over the years with the mass influx of smartphones, even Japans data networks can get strained. There are apps that can plan your train routes and destinations more efficiently

2. Get a Suica card. They are RFID card similar to Clipper cards in the bay area except far more useful. They can be found at the JR rail station ticket machines. They are used 90% of the time for travel on trains. Although you have a JR rail pass which will get you through probably 80 to 90% of your travel, there times you might need to take a mono rail or subway not covered by JR rail. They make getting in and out of gates so much easier by not having to go to a ticket machine, figuring out your fare and making sure you don't lose it on the train and feeding it when exiting. All you have to do is wave the card (or in my case like many other people, put it in my wallet and scan through it as I go past the gates) I believe the prices is 1000 yen for the card. 500 is for the price of the card and the other 500 can be used on fare. You can put as much as you want on it but remember treat it like cash. Cards can also be for use in convenient stores and vending machines which have Suica readers. Pretty much all of the other private subways or other lines that use the older PASSMO system as they are fully integrated to use Suica so you can use one card for may different lines.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Your going to have a blast!

Whoops. I should have stated the airlines situation. We already have that figured out. My wife is from Macau and we'll be visiting her family for several days from the 10th to the 14th. So we're flying out of SFO to HKG, taking a ferry to Macau and on the 14th heading back to HKG by ferry to then take a flight to Japan. We'll be using the same airlines throughout, Cathay Pacific. We'll be flying in on the 14th to Haneda Airport. I haven't been to that airport before and my wife doesn't remember if she's been there. Anyways, that is where we'll be heading in before we make our way to the inner city I presume to find ourselves a hotel or hostel for the night. The next day we'll be checking in at a small room via airbnb (assuming we can book the place) in Nakano, a small suburb close to Shinjuku.

[miroku2192]

Hey guys!

I'm flying out to Japan tomorrow. Stopping in Tokyo for 6 days or so, and then touring a bunch of other cities and finally ending in Osaka.

Do you guys have any recommendations on any "must-see" things?

I've already decided to go check out the fish market (Tsukiji?), akihabara tour (3 hours) with maid cafe at end of the tour, and haven't booked other places yet.

Let me know !

[Zakoo]

hello shokun,
it has been a nearly week since i"m in japan so far i did osaka and began kyoto. osaka is quite nice the south of the city was really beautiful to see but i really enjoy kyoto holy even though i have walked 7 hours visiting all the temples. in arashiyama i dont regret anything -my legs dont agree with my head though-

i m going to nara after sleeping a bit, the old architecture really touch the parisian i am.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Zakoo

hello shokun,
it has been a nearly week since i"m in japan so far i did osaka and began kyoto. osaka is quite nice the south of the city was really beautiful to see but i really enjoy kyoto holy even though i have walked 7 hours visiting all the temples. in arashiyama i dont regret anything -my legs dont agree with my head though-

i m going to nara after sleeping a bit, the old architecture really touch the parisian i am.

Have you gone to those Tokyo maid cafes to touch that inner lolicon in you?

I was there last year and one of those girls tried to coddle me into going in, but I knew if I did I would miss the next train. You might want to go earlier in the day before the working hours are over so you can catch one.

[Zakoo]

i do tokyo and the town around next week heh. i will enjoy youth there for the time being its history.

fine slept 3 hours legs and feet are better time for nara.
oh and futon are aweful, are japanese even humans or are made of iron? should check because my back hurt to no end

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Zakoo

i do tokyo and the town around next week heh. i will enjoy youth there for the time being its history.

I certainly hope you know how to discern between legal and non-legal ones.

Wait, they all LOOK illegal, so I think you can just ASSUME that they are all legal! Then again, you can assume that they are all ninja maids who pad.

This is seriously bad advice please do not touch the lolis, legal or not.

fine slept 3 hours legs and feet are better time for nara.
oh and futon are aweful, are japanese even humans or are made of iron? should check because my back hurt to no end

At least you are not sleeping out in a hole in the jungle.

How much do you do workout? Mostly I hear people complaining about futon are those who have lots of body mass, the skinny ones never did. Besides when I was there last year I slept around 4-5 hours per day......apparently it isn't enough in cold weather due to lowered metabolism.

[Zakoo]

probably my height ? 1m88 it was funny to see the reactions of my future co workers next year.( used the visit to osaka to meet my future lab "hey what s your height is that common in france?").

oh yeah there s a festival tonight at kyoto, they write kanji in fire in the mountain. nice

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Zakoo

probably my height ? 1m88 it was funny to see the reactions of my future co workers next year.( used the visit to osaka to meet my future lab "hey what s your height is that common in france?").

oh yeah there s a festival tonight at kyoto, they write kanji in fire in the mountain. nice

You should go up a mountaintop. The view is AWESOME.



And the best thing? There are no shortage of mountains in Japan.

[JokerD]

So I'm planning to visit Japan (again) early next year for the Sapporo and Ashikawa Winter Festival. Any idea if I should make Ashikawa a day trip or spend a night there? I'm kinda torn between the 2.