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Just a few questions about traveling to Japan?

Nana007

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Okay, I have a couple of questions, if anybody doesn't mind answering. I am currently planning (nothings been finalized yet) a very quick trip to Japan around July 28-August 2. And I just wanted to ask some questions about it.

Firstly on this trip I am most likely going by myself. Now I always here about how safe of a country Japan is, but in reality How safe will it be for a 19 year old female to travel by herself in Tokyo (most say just avoid Roppongi at night and you'll be fine) but what is the reality.

Also getting around with no knowledge how easy is it to do? I am only in Japanese 2 so I have only enough skills to talk about food and what I like to do and don't like to do. Some people say its easy other says its complicated but how hard will it be for me to navigate Tokyo?

And finally the tickets. When is the best time to buy them, and the cheapest places. I have been looking at some sites and travel agents. But most of the search sites have the lowest price as $1007 including taxes. And the travel agent sites I have visited, they have some pretty good deals, but they are no good. Because its like Depart before May 31st and get tickets for $570. Which isn't in my window. Now I know when I want to travel is during peak tourist season, so I won't get the cheapest prices.

So anyways my question is the current price I am seeing of $1007 will that be the lowest, or will something lower appear? Some people say, it is to early to get deals for summer travel to wait till the end of May/June. But I don't want to wait too long and have to pay higher?

I will be grateful if any of you can answer my questions?

And another I just thought of, Japan in summer has really bad humidy. Well I have lived in both New Orleans and Houston and they are pretty humid so is it worse or about the same. And will the mosquito and Cockroach problem be just as bad as New Orleans in the summer?
 
I'd say if you're concerned with how to get around Tokyo, grab a guide book before you leave. If your trip is short enough, you'd probably just be able to check one out from a library. They provide insight as to some of the glossed-over sites to see, have maps in English, have key phrases, and are just good resources to have.

I'd say you should be fine by yourself, but I'll leave this up to a female to describe how it feels.

I'm not sure if they have them in your area, but find a travel agency that caters to a Japanese population. Having been to VA, I know it's not the most common ethnicity to see, but if you can find one, they're incredibly valuable. I get my tickets through a local Marukai, and they always have better prices than internet sites.

The humidity is pretty bad, but you'll find A/C pretty much everywhere. It's on trains, in stores, etc etc. I doubt it'd be anything worse than what you see in NO. The only times I had problems with mosquitos was in Okinawa, but I'd get bitten every once in awhile in my host mom's house. She liked to say it was because I smelled like beef.
 
Ah thanks, well I live close to DC, so we have a really good International population. Although the largest Asian Ethnicity I see is Korean, but I am pretty sure I can find a Japanese travel agent here.
 
The more advanced you buy your plane tickets before your departure date the cheaper they will be. I use either Travelocity or Priceline.com to get my tickets.

Get yourself some travel guides and maps from the Japan National Tourist Organization (I'll always sing their praises). They have a website where you can request brochures and maps and they'll send them FREE! Travel Japan - Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) is the site.

Yes, avoid Roppongi at night unless you are with a trustworthy group. Otherwise, you should have no problem navigating around Japan. A good map of Tokyo is a must! I am going in two weeks.

The humidity is bad, so wear cotton blouses and shorts. Be prepared to drink a lot of water.

You'll have a blast!
 
-I wouldnt say avoid roppongi. By all means it is a fun place, but do not go there your first night alone. Find a good female friend that has been there a while and hang out. do what she does. In time you will learn what kind of places are good and what are not.
-When i got to japan i spoke no japanese and knew nothing about it before hand. You having learned some and taken an intrest should have no problem picking up the culture at all. I live on a US military base so things are different for me when learning. You on the other hand will be out and about and will pick it up much faster then i did. As far as getting around. Not that hard once you get out and try it for the first couple of times. The train system is a real easy way to get to where you want to in Tokyo along with the subway. This may sound funny but if you like do you have msn or something? I sometimes sponser familys in coming here for the first time and might be able to help.
at a place right off base called night flights. they have tickets 1 way for around 400 to either LA or NY. im sure if you look around you will find a good deal. those are good with 3 days in advance. as normal if you give them more time they will get a better deal. but they will take the time to call the airline companys and bargin with them for extra seats.
Well i lived "Up North" most my life. other then the half a year in training down in Texas. It gets hots but i dont think it gets quite as humid. Cockroaches.. holy @#$% they get big. lol compared to where i lived. I once was afraid to step on 1, thought he would carry me away... well not really that big. Mosquitos i have no real problems. Other then some of the parks you dont find much stagnet water in down town tokyo
 
Woman alone in Japan
i am not bored enough today to search the forum for the answers to the other questions, but hope this helps in the meantime.
 
Ah thank you. Also I found a good deal on a plane ticket $520 RT with Continental. Anyone who has flown Continental on a International Flight how are they? Someone said that JAL is better to fly, but they charge $630 RT. How does JAL compare to Continental, and is the service worth paying more for JAL?
 
The service with the two airlines is about the same. For $520, you will be sitting in coach anyway and it really will not matter! Continental probably has an older staff on board though.

As for mosquitos? They will not be any worse than what you saw in NO. I lived in 'Bama most of my life, and the bug problem is not that bad here. Bring some "Skin so Soft" and that will help out. (it works really well compared to other brands!)

Humidity and heat? No worse than NO or Texas in summertime. Tokyo will feel extremely hot though...that is because the whole damn city has been concreted over...or blacktopped...not much natural scenery to help with the heat.

Safety? You should be fine...even in Roppongi, but...is that really where you want to go if you only have a few days to visit? You can get drunk anywhere , why fly to Tokyo to do that? But...if you should choose to go out at night, just be aware of your surroundings. I would hope that you wouldn't choose to go home with a stranger in a new country...but that is up to you.

About the travel guide, pick up as much as you can online and create yourself a little book of your own, with the places you want to see. You have plenty of time now to begin getting everything ready! I wouldn't suggest bringing a library book...that can get pricey if it gets lost or something. Go on amazon and purchase a used one for 1/2 or 1/3 of the original price.

Trains/subways? Easiest city in the world to get around (IMHO). You should figure it out quite easily. Just remember not to miss the last train of the night...taxis are quite expensive here!

Good luck on your trip!
 
I have to ditto CC1 on the "Why travel to get drunk?" thing.

In my youth, I was in the Navy and stationed aboard a ship homeported out of Japan. Besides Japan, we also visited Korea, Philipines, Hong Kong, Hawaii, etc etc.

One night, after returning from liberty in town, one of the senior officers asked my why I didn't come back drunk every night like most of the other guys did. I told him there were tons of people back home who would love to visit the places I'm visiting and see the things I'm seeing but who would never get the chance....and here I was getting paid for it. And that if all I wanted to do was get drunk I hardly needed to travel halfway around the world and put up with the Navy's BS in order to do it. I could have stayed home and done that.

Figure the total cost of your trip and the number of hours total you're going to be here. Subtract the number of hours you're going to be asleep while here and then calculate how much you're paying for each hour of consciousness. Now figure how many hours you plan to spend in some drunken stupor of which you will have no recall and subtract that from the hours of consciousness and refigure.

The point is: The more time you spend drinking and clubbing, the more $$$ memories that you'll actually be able to recall end up costing you.
 
Oh I am not going to get drunk. I don't drink(often) and I am underage to boot haha. No thats just what I always hear, that Ropponogi and another area that I can't name, are the two worst at night. I am going actually for a concert! Which probaly makes even less sense than going to Japan just to drink.

And of course I will be in coach, I definately can't afford business or first class. This is coming all out of my own pockets. Just wondering on the quality of the service. Although someone said JAL is the best just for their little personal entertainment things.
 
To me, price beats quality of service. I've always said that if the ticket were cheap enough I'd stand in the aisle and hang off a subway-style strap for the whole trip.
 
Mike Cash said:
To me, price beats quality of service. I've always said that if the ticket were cheap enough I'd stand in the aisle and hang off a subway-style strap for the whole trip.
Click to expand...

Now that I would love to see .

Personally I become bored very quickly with the little entertainment systems, so unless you're into that kind of thing, I really wouldn't take it into account. The same goes for food, since it's not like you're going to die - in most cases - from what they serve you. Comfort may well be an issue, especially if you're only spending a few days in Japan; you'll want to be in tip-top shape and a rough journey isn't going to help at all.

A *very* experienced traveller, although primarily in business and more recently first class, rated ANA well above JAL. I would imagine this carries down into the coach class too, though.

Saving money is important, but if you feel so wrecked that you can't take anything in for a few days after the flight, then is it even worth going in the first place? I think not.

Hope you manage to find an airline that suits your tastes.
 
Mike Cash said:
To me, price beats quality of service. I've always said that if the ticket were cheap enough I'd stand in the aisle and hang off a subway-style strap for the whole trip.
Click to expand...
This is one of those instances when I have to disagree with you, Mike. I would gladly pay more to sit down on that godforsaken 14~16 hour flight!

As is it, as I posted somewhere else, I did pay an extra 10,000 yen or so to take ANA rather than Northwest next month when I go to my brother's wedding in the States.

But this kind of thing is to each his own, I think.
 
In my view, the airlines are all roughly the same. Just some are a little better than others.

Both United and Singapore served good food and drink during the flights I took with them. Singapore might have been a little better food-wise. I did not suffer from starvation during either.

I watched few movies on each. The United flights had the old big screens whereas Singapore had personal viewers on the backs of the seats. Generally, I would take along a good book to read or nap.
 
One more question, I am trying to get everything booked this week. The concert that I am going to, is in the Budoken, I want to ask, what area of Tokyo is the Budoken located? This is so I can get a hotel room. Or if I can't get a hotel in that area, I know that the closet station to the Budoken is Kudanshita Station. If I were to stay in other areas of Tokyo. Which area, have lines that run directly to this station? I don't want to have to take multiple trains, because I know myself and for sure I will get lost.
 
The Toei-Shinjuku Line goes to Kudanshita Station from Shinjuku. You can find a reasonably-priced room in either Shinjuku or Shibuya (you can get to Shinjuku pretty easily from Shibuya on the Yamanote Line). I know a Ryokan in Shibuya that is reasonable (about $50/night) called Hotel Fukudaya. It is about a 15 min. walk to the Shibuya station. I stayed there in 2001 and it is nicely-run. Since you are young, you'd like Shibuya. That would be a good base for you. You'd only have to take the Yamanote Line to Shinjuku to the Toei-Shinjuku Line. Those are easy.
 
they got curfew
and the rooms start at $59? but end around $79? o yeah, and they have key deposit
oh i see they have $50 rooms also. never been able to get one though
they are pretty strict imo
hotel is quite clean and some rooms are quite spacious
easy to get lost the first time, because that toyota place is kinda of difficult to see with that big highway blocking everything
stay to the right after passing the ampm on the right... look right, and it should be just like the photo
and the laundromat is like three stop lights walking away from the three lane avenue with the ampm/family mart intersection
 

You've been too, eh? Yeah, the curfew thing was the only thing that annoyed me. But otherwise, I liked it there. They had western-style toilets in their Japanese rooms. I'd stay there again but I like to try different places each time I go. Wow! I remember the AM/PM, the Toyota building and the highway. Luckily, the first cab driver knew where it was, I had to present a map to other cab drivers.
 
yah 3 times i think
and it annoys me heavily too
first time i almost tried to escape through the balcony to go to womb cause i had gotten the room then overslept from jet lag
good thing i didn't -- can just imagine trying to explain to a policeman if i got caught crawling out of a window at 1:00 at night
couldn't sleep from the frustration/jet lag though ugh awake the WHOLE night
one time i thought i was gonna be slick and make reservation for the second night and just party at womb the first
but when i went to the hotel the next morning (messed around reading magazines in conbini till 8), they told me nope, you cannot get room till 2 (probably cause they have to spend 10 - whenever to clean rooms)
so i walked all around yoyogi and shibuya alternately hallucinating and passing out until 2:00
 
That's funny. The only time I had a close call was one night when I attended a screening at the Tokyo International Film Festival at the Bunkamura and afterwards a group of us took a taxi to Nakano to go to a Chinese restaurant after-party at the Broadway Mall. (The taxi ride was interesting as I sat in front as the driver zigged-zagged down small streets in heavy rain.) To make a long story short, I just barely got back to the inn in time to beat the curfew. I also had a good buzz going. Luckily, I had a map to the inn for the cab ride from Shibuya station.
 
Reminds me of when I spent a night in a hotel room while moving from one place to another. I decided I'd hit the town all night and just come back in the morning. Handed in my key and off I went.

Walk in at 9am, unshaven, hair a mess, dark sunnies, shirt half hanging out and top buttons undone, and got a standing ovation from the reception staff
 
LOL! I wonder why all the hotels and inns demand that you leave your key whenever you leave the premises? Every place I've stayed at does this.
 
So you dont go out all night and come back in the morning unshaven, ruffled, hungover and keyless
 
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