Visiting Japan and Australia
Jul02
Greetings all,
I’m currently planning a trip to Japan in late October/earlier November and then Australia in the following February/March timeframe. Each trip is about 2 weeks long.
I’m looking for suggestions, and tips from anyone who lives or has visited either country before. I have no plans yet where to go in each country yet (though Tokyo is a good bet for a brief period) so I’m open to any and all suggestions.
English is the official second language of Japan. However, what the Japanese teach in their schools is not how to speak English conversationally, but rather, how to read/write it. So, there’s a whole bunch of info available in English on various *.jp websites, and signs are generally helpful, but stopping someone in the street is usually an exercise in mutual frustration.
Australia — there’s a cross-country railroad that goes from “the eastern states” (east coast) to “the western states.” You get a discount if you show ’em a foreign passport. The one time I was on vacation/holiday in Australia, I didn’t take that cross-country train, and I’ve kicked myself ever since.
Cheap food — meat pies (pronounced “mate poise”) — YUM! Think pot pies without the aluminum pie pan.
I’d recommend Kyoto in Japan. I had a wonderful time just wandering the streets there and the people were very friendly. Tokyo was big and impersonal.
Neato I live in Australia and I recommend visiting Sydney. Hunter valley gardens(both in NSW), Canberra (in ACT) and if you like long drives through the middle of no where then Uluru (Ayers Rock) (in the NT) would be enjoyable as well. The Great Barrier reef in Queensland (QLD) would probably be memorable considering its winter here. I hope you enjoy yourself
Australia is awesome, I’d know i live here. If the season has started i recomend seeing an Australian football match, preferably at the MCG in Mebourne, Victoria(best stadium in australia). Apart from that I’d look at the gold coast up in Queensland, they have awesome theme parks, like Wet’n Wild. Anyway hope this was helpful and try not to piss anyone off or they’ll play knifey spooney with ya xD. GL
Munich has their 200 anniversary of octoberfest this year
It’s a Good story. Nvm about the bad spelling
Business or pleasure or both?
You never did explain what expensive, dangerous and dirty machinery
you worked on, or if people shot at you while you did.
Is it a giant trench digging machine like a chainsaw for rocks?
Without getting to much into it, it’s things like radars, high capacity radio gear and other high tech stuff
Ohhh Area 51 stuff ehh.. wink wink nudge nudge know what I mean? Having spent 2 1/2 years in the Philippines, my suggestion is to get away from the big cities. Go where the average tourista never goes. You will be much surprised.
I’ve gotta ask – at what base are you stationed? There aren’t that many left; I’d get a kick out of it if you are stationed at the one I am: C3.
I’ve been to Australia (a couple of months ago), and a buddy of mine went to Japan and raved about it. He intends to go back to live there for a year and teach English at some point.
The high points of Australia – Went to Syndey, Brisbane, and Moreton Island. I found the prices to be higher than expected (1.5 – 3 times the cost for the same value item or service in the US, particularly the food), the people to be fairly universally very friendly, and the food to be largely dull (and I’ve been eating in a *DFAC* for 3.5 years). Hopefully this is just the experience of staying in large cities; I can’t say for sure. I’m more of a travelin’, country kind of fella, but I flew my girlfriend in, and she’s more city-oriented.
Be prepared to shell out the bucks if you want a nice hotel room, especially in Sydney. Don’t stay at the Travellodge Wynyard in downtown Sydney – we had a fairly negative experence there. The Point in Brisbane was quite nice. If you like Australian wildlife, I can recommend some great places.
All in all, I had a great time there, and would gladly go again – but I’d want to get out and see more, next time.
Drop me a line if you want more details, or if by chance you are at C3 – I’ll buy you a round at the Green Bean. And get that Big Voice lined out, eh? :-]
From Brisbane (Australia), lots of stuff to do within 150km of the city center, their are the Gold & Sunshine Coasts, good beaches (late summer/fall in this part of the world when your coming) with National Parks, the Gold Coast also has the Tourist Strips and a touch north of that the Theam Parks. If you make your trip in late March and can stay over in to the first few days of April their is Supernova the touring Pop Culture Conventional that has it’s Brisbane Con on from the 1st to the 3rd (of April). Lots to See and even more to Do even if you don’t leave the City.
I advise a trip to northern Japan. Hokaido is my favorite part of Japan. you can get far with just hand signals^^
When you go to Japan, remember the goldern words: “sumimasen (sue-me-mah-sen)”, which is good for “excuse me” and “thank you”, and also “arigato (ah-ree-gah-toe)” which you probably already know. If you want someone’s attention, “ano, sumimasen (ah-no)” is fine. Being at least minimally polite will go a long way, because they really won’t expect that much from foreigners. You’ll get a lot of people with English at hotels and major stores, but mostly you’ll be on your own. There’s a really good little book called “Survival Japanese” that was awesome help before I took classes.
Be prepared to walk, and walk, and walk, get some good comfortable shoes.
Vending machines are your friends, and so are convenience stores (conbini). 7-11 ATMs take US bank cards, and they give you yen.
If you’re going to do a lot of cross-country train travel, get a JR Rail Pass, if you’re going to hang out in Tokyo don’t bother. You save money with a Rail Pass if you’re going to travel a lot on the bullet train, otherwise you’ll waste the money.
Take the Shitamachi Bus from Tokyo Station, get an all-day pass for 500 yen and you can hit all the major tourist sites from one bus, and you can ride any Toei bus or subway with the pass.
The Sumidagawa boat tour (Suidobus) is neat, you can take a boat down the main river in Tokyo from the big temple at Asakusa down to Tokyo Big Sight which you’ve probably seen in anime.
Email me if you want more suggestions, I’ve got tons.
Hi there, I’m a Yank expat in Yokohama. Longtime sailorsun fan, first time poster…
Let me second everything CptNerd said above, especially about “sumimasen” “arigato gozaimasu” and just being polite in whatever Japanese you can muster. I’d definitely get a Japan Rail Pass BEFORE you arrive in Japan IF you plan to do a lot of cross country travelling. You can’t buy it in Japan… you can only change your voucher at the airport. If you’re going to do a lot of exploring within Tokyo, I definitely recommend getting a rechargeable Suica IC card from any JR station (including the airport). It costs 2000 yen (500 yen for the card, and then your first 1500 for fares), it can be recharged at any station, and can be used to pay your fares on virtually every train/subway/bus in the greater Tokyo/Yokohama area.
Tokyo is okay for checking out the anime & techie subcultures of Japan. There are also a few museums I’d recommend, like the awesome Miraikan (“Future Museum” featuring emerging technology). But for more traditional Japanese culture, get away from the gray highrise buildings of Tokyo and go to Kyoto. A bit closer to Tokyo you have centres of ancient Japanese culture in Nikko and Kamakura, but Kyoto is worth spending a few days in to explore.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to e-mail me and I’d be happy to share suggestions. I’ve lived in Yokohama for the last year and before that in western Japan (in Kochi Prefecture, a lovely place off the tourist path on the island of Shikoku), so I’d like to think I know Japan somewhat well. Hope you enjoy your trips!
Small world. I have a friend that taught English in Kochi a few years ago. Last I knew she married an army guy stationed at Asakusa and moved in with him there.
Btw — what do you mean you can’t get the JR Rail Pass in Japan? I better hurry up and book mine then. The travel agent gave me the assumption that whether I got it from them, or in Japan, that it would be the same price and it was sold both places.
To be honest, I’ve never personallly used the Japan Rail Pass… and couldn’t at the moment as I’m here on a work visa. However, JR’s own site says that you have to buy an “exchange order” outside Japan and then exchange it for the pass proper either at the JR office at the airport or selected stations.
http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en005.html
Where in Australia are you visiting? Unless you plan to spend a lot of money on air-fares or a lot of time on the road, you’ll be pretty limited on how much you can see in 2 weeks.
Before I relocated to Canada a couple of years ago, I worked in most places in Queensland, and a fair bit of the rest of Australia, so I understand the distances and times involved in the travel. Too many tourists fly into Sydney and think they can do “day trips” from Sydney to Ayers Rock/Uluru and The Great Barrier Reef. Not so.
If you’re dealing with RADARs, then most likely it’ll be either military or aviation (I spent nearly 3 decades in Australian aviation, the last decade dealing with Thompson-CSF RADARs so I know the sort of places they’re installed) which limits where you’ll be going.
Give me some information on your base if operations in Australia (you should be able to retrieve my email address attached to this comment) and I’ll come up with some suggestions.
See if you can extend your Japan trip to three weeks. You will spend more time on the trains then you would expect. Get a JR Railpass (do a google search, you’ll find it). They come in one, two, and three weeks. One trip from Tokyo to Kyoto (round trip) will cost about as much as the RailPass…… Also, check Tokyoroomfinder.com for a place to stay. Some very nice deals for the bachelor. While not listed, many of them do daily rates. A quick heads up, some places have a pay shower. That does not actually mean you pay for a shower, that gets you heated water. One last thing, If you don’t like being on a plane for a day, and feel really grungy, Narita International Airport has Pay showers coming and going! It’s about 5 bucks for up to half an hour, and a real nice break before going into Tokyo (another hour and a half from Narita!).
You can use some night trains free in Japan with the JR pass — the Sunrise Seto runs between Tokyo through Okayama (near Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima). It has sleeping platforms (called nobinobi) but they need to be pre-booked. There’s also the Kitaguni that runs between Osaka and Niigata but it has unreserved seats. You save money on a hotel room as well as not wasting a day travelling if you ride these trains. Win win (but remember to pack some food (ekiben) — there’s no trolley dollies on the night services).
For cheap lodging in the cities look for business hotels — the Super Hotel chain has fixed prices from about 4500 yen through 7500 yen (depending on the city and location) that includes a substantial buffet breakfast. There are plenty of other such hotels around but the prices vary and most don’t offer breakfast. For the price you get a small room with a Toyo toilet/shower/bath cubicle to yourself plus aircon, something not guaranteed at ryokans.
One other thing. Yurakucho station (one station down from Tokyo on the JR Yamanote line) has in a building right outside of the station, the Foreign Information Desk, a service run by the government for tourists. They speak perfect English, and can help you with almost anything. They helped me get unfiltered sake (a holiday drink, like eggnog) out of season. They made phone calls, wrote notes to give to the taxi driver, and got the train schedules. Very helpful, wonderful group of people.
I’m actually leaving for Japan on July 13th for my own 2 week stay 😉 I’m a procrastinator, so I haven’t ironed out my itinerary entirely yet. I mostly plan to have a loose timeframe of specific locations to go to, and leave the exact hotel booking for in-person or few days notice.
First 4 days will be spent in Tokyo where I have a friend studying abroad right now. He will show me around Tokyo a bit and help me get my Japan-legs as far as trains and what else to expect. From there I’ll be getting a JR West rail pass and heading down to Kyoto for a couple days, then probably Nagasaki. The local area my friend’s dorm is in also happens to have their Tanabata festival the weekend I’ll be staying with him, so score! Also on the agenda in Tokyo will probably be Tokyo Tower, Niko National Park, Akihabara, etc.
At some point I would like to try renting a kayak along the ocean or some other scenic location, as I figure that might be fun. And someone else piqued my interest about renting a bike and riding between a few rural towns assuming I don’t have to return the bike at the exact spot I rented it from 🙂
I’ll mostly look at staying in inns (ryokan) or youth hostels … basically whatever cheap lodging I can find. I bought a nice spacious backpack from Timbuk2 that has a laptop compartment, and a large separate area I can carry like 3-4 days worth of clothes, etc. so I should be able to leave my luggage in Tokyo. Should simplify travel and finding stuff to do on a whim immensely.
hi i am a reader of your comic if you are looking for somewhere affordable to stay in Tokyo i know 2 nice places that are a 5 min walk from a train station and a 6 min ride from that station to Akihabara. the first is Taito Ryokan http://www.libertyhouse.gr.jp/ and the second is Tokyo Ryokan http://www.tokyoryokan.com/ both charg around 3000 yean a night or $33.00 american dollars. both nice places and owners are extremly helpful with directions and many other things. i have been staying in these 2 places for the past 8 years during my bi-annual trips to japan.
Well, if you choose to pass by Melbourne (or the hills outside it) I will be happy to cook you the best steak you have ever had. You have the email.
I would recommend reading the webcomic RAW FISH. Its an autobiographical comic written by an american who currently lives in Japan. Its about all the interesting cultural differences and other facts about life there. Its very funny and interesting.