Japan

General Info

Last visited

December 1992

Language

Japan is a progressive country but there's more people talking English in Indonesia, Thailand or Vietnam. Japan is not geared up to occidental tourists. Hardly anything is written in English. When travelling by underground you have to orient yourself by the color scheme. Make sure you have your hotel name written in Japanese letters so to show it to the taxi driver.

Money

Make sure you have loads of cash with you. Japanese people are not used to pay with credit cards. Therefore nearly everything has to be payed in cash. Whatever you buy is expensive quite expensive.

Customs and behaviour

You will put your foot in something at least once a day. Try to get prepared at least to the basic rules of Japanese practice beforehand.
It is very uncommon that people don't observe the rules. We were travelling in one of Japans fast trains called Shinkansen sitting on the wrong seats. The conductor became nervous and unsuccessfully tried to explain us in Japanese what crime we have commited. He was completely exhausted and sweating when we finally got the message and changed our seats. To be mentioned is that the coach was half empty.

Prices

Underground 2-3 USD
20Min. on Shinkansen 45 USD
60Min. on bus or train 45 USD
Hotel room 150 USD
Lunch or dinner 40-70 USD
Coffee 7-8 USD
Beer 8-10 USD

Food

Fresh seafood accompanied by rice or noodles. Soups are very tastey and don't blast your budget. Shabu-Shabu is like Fondue Chinoise and Sushi-bars are all everywhere. There's quite some French cuisine restaurants in Tokyo if you are fed up with rice and fish or want to sit on a decent table. Coffee is expensive in the restaurants, you can buy a hot can in one of the coffee machines outside.

Public transport

The public traffic system in Tokyo, Kawasaki and Yokohama is efficient and well organized. And yes it's true, passengers get squashed into the trains during peak hours.

Kamakura

It is a city in the South of Tokyo whith quite some Buddhistic temples and Shinto shrines. Famous is the bronze buddha.

Nikko

It is a Buddhistic and Shintoistic center in the north of Tokyo. It has quite a collection of temples. Famous is the carving of the three wise monkeys.

Tokyo

Tokyo has an efficient public traffic system. Even westerners can understand it. Millions of people live and work there. It is a good place to get to know Japanese everyday life. But it is not a tourist's Mecca. There's unusually few sights in that city. Tokyo's landmark is its tower, a replica of Paris' Eiffeltower.

Tokyo - How it is

Nikko - The famous three wise monkeys

Kawasaki - East meets west