Japan.

Soldato
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Hi.
Im thinking of going Japan in October for my birthday. Mainly so i can avoid anything my family might be planning. :p

Are there any tips for going?
Like good airlines? (like ones with laptop power topics).
Good hotels?
Hotels in good areas (with good transport to places/near to places).
Places to visit?
Anything else?

The best ive found, with my limited knowledge of Toyko, is this one from Expedia.
** the b sangenjaya Hotel
- Complementary Internet Access.
- Dual bed room.
- Air Conditioning.
6 Days return from London Heathrow.
£794.
http://www.expedia.co.uk/pub/agent.dll?qscr=cmhi&itid=&itdx=&itty=&ecid=&tpst=&thar=&thid=

Return from London, preferably from Manchester.
6 days, from the 14th to the 20th.
As cheap as possible.
Hotel must have Air Conditioning and complementary net access.

Thanks in advance for any advice/information.
 
Wise Guy
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BoomAM said:
.....
As cheap as possible.
My advice is that you don't normally find "good", "cheap" and "Japan" in the same sentence ..... or at least, not unless there's a fair smattering of "not" in there, too, in relation to "cheap". :)
 
Soldato
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oooo my turn to reply to this thread.
first of all, im japanese and used to live there so you can trust me( just about)
but with the accomondations i cant give you any advise.
I usually fly with KLM just because there cheap. you better be quick with the tickets they do go fast. you will be going though amsterdam with this airline. there you can pay a bit to use the lounge which you can use the internet in.
its about a 9 or 10 hour flight depending on the season.
and if your lucky you will be able to tka ehter new 777 airplanes which has good space and LCD monitors on everyseat.

Places to visit eh.. thats a hard one.
really does depend on what you want to do. is it to know the histeric places? or to see the neons in tokyo? famous buildinds? technology?
 
Soldato
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shimy182 said:
I usually fly with KLM just because there cheap. you better be quick with the tickets they do go fast. you will be going though amsterdam with this airline. there you can pay a bit to use the lounge which you can use the internet in.
Hmm. Amsterdam, i could get there from Manchester, which makes it easyier for me. (4 hour drive to London Heathrow, or 30min train ride to Manchester Airport? :p)
Places to visit eh.. thats a hard one.
really does depend on what you want to do. is it to know the histeric places? or to see the neons in tokyo? famous buildinds? technology?
I am very interested in the technological aspect of Tokyo, but i also wouldnt mind seeing some of the more stereotypical architectural areas of Japan.
 
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Soldato
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hmm. then you can try going on the bullet train to nara to see the great budda, or maybe go down to kyoto to see the temple. although the fun will only last minutes and you will want to go back to tokyo.
the best place with technology and electricals is akihabara. i really do recommend that place. My house in japan is only 20 mins drive away :)
you can also try ikebukuro. theres a building called sunshine its quite big building its got 60 storyes high and theres a uber fast and cool lift which goes up as fast as 35 mph.
http://www.sunshinecity.co.jp/ < wish they did it in english
in the end try going to kou-raku-en its like a small theme park with a really insane roller coster called thunder dolphin. theres also the great wheel like the millenium wheel in london but without the skelitons in the middle of the wheel.
http://sfr.tea-nifty.com/sfrm/images/big_o.jpg
best photo i can find...
 
Associate
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OK here is my (very brief) take on this (I have to leave in a mo for a business trip.

Airline: KLM, although ANA and JAL offer internet access and power for laptops (not in econ though)
Location: Kansai - Osaka has all the neon that Tokyo does (Dotonburi, Shinsaibashi, Nanba and DenDen town), Kyoto has all the old buildings and temples, Kobe is a fantastic city to visit, it's beautiful. Himeji also has a fantastic castle, it's world famous.
Hotels: You'll probably find Kansai slightly cheaper than Tokyo for hotels and other costs. If you can find a business hotel, they tend to be cheaper but you won't get any whistles and bells (although most do offer internet access). If you're into theme parks too we have Universal Studios in Osaka. From Shin-Osaka you are around 1 hour 30mins from Hiroshima via bullet train, a very poignant place to visit.

I'm a little biased because I live in the Kansai region, but I think that Kansai has everything you need to see in one area.
 
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Kamikaze_Pigeon said:
OK here is my (very brief) take on this (I have to leave in a mo for a business trip.

Airline: KLM, although ANA and JAL offer internet access and power for laptops (not in econ though)
Location: Kansai - Osaka has all the neon that Tokyo does (Dotonburi, Shinsaibashi, Nanba and DenDen town), Kyoto has all the old buildings and temples, Kobe is a fantastic city to visit, it's beautiful. Himeji also has a fantastic castle, it's world famous.
Hotels: You'll probably find Kansai slightly cheaper than Tokyo for hotels and other costs. If you can find a business hotel, they tend to be cheaper but you won't get any whistles and bells (although most do offer internet access). If you're into theme parks too we have Universal Studios in Osaka. From Shin-Osaka you are around 1 hour 30mins from Hiroshima via bullet train, a very poignant place to visit.

I'm a little biased because I live in the Kansai region, but I think that Kansai has everything you need to see in one area.

I agree Osaka was/is great and the surrounding area's. I spent 6 months in japan last year, and it aint as exspensive as people say it is... eating is very cheap, and i miss it. I am doing a website of my travels in japan its in early days at the moment but your off in october so i should have a lot more up by then. as for airfare check out this website HERE some good prices, also look into getting your rail pass before you go if your gonna use the bullet trains, and JAL offer cheaper internal air tickets for non-residents of japan. I travelled all over i went from hokkaido to Miyako-jima (part of okinawa) and had a great time. but i always loved coming back to Osaka :)

Timbo
 
Soldato
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If i was to go for longer than 6 days, i asume that i could cut acommodation costs if i got a hotel outside Tokyo?
Ideally, i'd like to spend 2 weeks there, but im not exactely loaded, and on £200 a month atm, i'm interested in the most 'bang for buck'.

Im not overly interested in theme parks and whatnot as its more of a 'western thing' rarther than a Japanese thing imo.

My mate suggested going Tokyo for a few days, and then HongKong, but to be honest, apart from the OperaSchool where JackieChan trained, theres nout there that overly interests me. Although i dont know a lot about HK.
 
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Soldato
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I think a lot of my friends and family think im joking about going. But im not. I havnt been on a holiday in almost 8 years now, and could do with a break. Money going well, im definatelly going.

Ive done some searching around on Expedia, and for about £800-900 i can go from the 12th to the 20th in a reasonable hotel. I have about a third of that saved up already. So i should easyily be able to save up the other £600 or so quid i need out of the £1800 or so i'd be earning up until October.
 
Associate
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Hi,

well this is the budget i had for 21 days travel in japan:

plane ticket MAN to LHR - 31.9
planet ticket LHR to Kansai - 575
JR rail pass 21 day - 311
21 day budget - 703.99

21 day total - 1621.89

basically i had around 5000 yen per day which is about 25 quid for everything, half of that was on accomadation maybe a bit more depending where you were staying. whats not included in that budget was spending money for any presents, as in big exspensive present cause i was travelling and it wasn't a holiday. like i said i will hopfully have more info on my website soon about where i stayed and stuff and any little tips that i found useful.

Timbo
 
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Kyoto is superior to Tokyo.
Osaka smells bad.
Himeji is a castle and nothing more really. (although I think they have a temple that was used in The Last Samurai)

In October you really won't need air conditioning. If you were coming in the summer then yes, Kyoto is horribly humid, but in October it's nice and you can go to places to see the leaves changing colours. I can't really recommend hotels or airlines as I live here but yeah Kyoto and the surrounding area is the nicest part of Japan.

It obviously depends what you want to do here, Kyoto being the old capital has a lot of temples, an absolutely obscene amount and if you wanted to see them all.. you'd need to be here a damn long time. To the north of Kyoto is Shiga and lake biwa, the largest lake in Japan. Lots of nature. To the south is Nara (Todaiji temple, a giant buddah and a ninja place), Osaka is 30 minutes away for any shopping and electronics needs and assuming you get the JR pass you can go to places like Hiroshima easily.
 
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Yes, Narita Airport has its own train station. All the airport trains stop at both terminals (NRT has terminal 1 and 2, depending on which airline you fly)

Fastest train that goes to most places cost 3000 yen / £15 per oneway (JR N-ex)

Second fastest (Skyliner) costs 2000 yen / £10 but only goes to the Ginza/Tokyo Station area so you have to change to the subway if you are going to the west like Shinjuku or Roppongi.

Slowest (JR or Keisei, the normal tube type) cost somewhere around 1000 yen / £5 but take more than an hour. I guess it depends on whether you are in a rush / keen to get to the hotel asap, or prepared to spend some extra time on the train.
 
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