Suggested Destinations? Japan Help

[ktmrider]

As I have posted on this forum before, I am leaving on a round the world trip in mid September (after motorcycling to Alaska in August). My first destination is Hawaii to visit friends, hike Haleakala, and see if the flight deck of the USS MISSOURI is as I remember it. Then it is off to the Philippines to look at WWII sites. Am then thinking about New Zealand for hiking but with the reversal of the season, I think January is a better time. Am thinking the train from Singapore to Thailand through Malaysia will be fun. Also, I am meeting my daughter in Thailand and Cambodia over Christmas.

So, I will be spending several months in the Philippines and SE Asia but am looking for other destinations as well. I lived in Okinawa courtesy of the USMC a long time ago. I have given thought to Japan as a destination but have shied away from it as I have always thought it expensive. Now the yen to dollar ratio is great and I am starting to think that Tokyo (like NYC) is expensive but getting out into the country side less so.

I would like info on traveling in Japan as well as other suggested destinations in Asia. Have traveled a lot in the last couple years in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos and as I said, I will be back there for Xmas. Am not interested in China and plan on India as a destination as I travel west followed by Egypt and Europe.

And how hard is it to get to WWII sites in the Pacific? Anything worth seeing in places like Guadalcanal or Iwo Jima?

Any and all input appreciated. Rich

 

[Maiku]

Tokyo is not that expensive. I lived near Tokyo. I never found accommodations or food outrageous.

If you are looking for western style hotel Tokoyo Inn is hard to beat for prices. Here is their website http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/

Get the Japan Rail Pass that covers the entire country. The JR Pass covers JR Bullet Train, JR Express Trains, JR Local Trains, JR Buses and JR Ferries. It does not cover subways or private rail lines. The pass is offered for 1-week, 2-week and 3-week intervals.

Note the JR Passes are not available in Japan. You MUST buy them from authorized travel agent outside Japan. Here is the link http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/

Things to see in Tokyo? Too many to mention. Things to see in and around Tokyo? Too many to mention. Things to see in and around Kyoto? Too many to mention.

I will push UNESCO's Nikko Temples and Shrines. It is a day-trip out of Tokyo. WHY? I got married there at the Toshogu Shrine. Best day of my life.

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/scenic/worldheritage/c_4_nikko.html


Pick a travel guide book and read. You will find many things to see and do.

Enjoy Japan.

 

[Lauffray]

Notions of affordability are relative to your income and how much convenience and comfort you want while travelling, which is to say it varies from person to person.

 

[rscheffler]

I recently spent a week in and around Tokyo. It was my first time there, however, I stayed with friends. Therefore I can't comment on accommodation costs.

Otherwise I found it to be similar in cost to a large US city. You can find many restaurants with good food and low prices, but they're going to be more of a place where 'locals' are common, rather than American visitors. It means English might be a problem and you'll be pointing at pictures in menus, assuming they have picture menus. 🙂 Otherwise, you can easily find restaurants in any higher price range, and they'll generally be a bit more able to handle non-Japanese. I.e. some degree of English.

Tokyo is huge and a week just scratched the surface. You could spend the whole time there. Just get a Suica stored value card and you can use it for subway/local train travel throughout Tokyo and for day trips on the commuter trains to other nearby destinations, like Kamakura.

IMO Japan is an easy Asian destination and there is enough English signage to get by. For example, most of the train stations would also display arrival/departure info in English. Apparently there is a government effort to integrate more English ahead of the 2020 Olympics. But in more rural areas, it could be different. I never got that far this time. Most things were well organized and it was easy to get around without a car. People were polite and while it is busy in Tokyo, I never found it to be chaotic. There was order in nearly everything I experienced in Japan.

Something that did annoy me slightly was that credit cards weren't as widely accepted as in the US. Some restaurants and stores may not accept them, so it's good to have more cash on-hand than you think you would otherwise use if traveling in the US, for example.

Overall, I felt the day to day cost wasn't exactly a bargain, but still reasonable. Probably on par with a larger US or European city. As mentioned, the exchange rate is currently very favorable, which helps a lot. Also, if you're looking for any camera equipment, particularly new Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses, the current prices in Japan are about 20-30% less than the US. You can shop tax-free in most stores, just be sure to have your passport with you (as opposed to other destinations, such as Europe, where you pay the VAT and get only some of it refunded at the airport).

My only other Asian destination has been Taiwan and highly recommend it too. It's only a few hours away from, and less expensive than Japan, particularly for food and public transportation. But has a similar level of infrastructure, if slightly less orderly. People are very friendly, IMO usually more outgoing than Japan, and more likely to be willing to help a lost/confused tourist. Most of the cities are less pretty than Japan, though Taipei has many things to see, and enough English to get by (more than Tokyo). IMO the real beauty of Taiwan is experienced driving through the mountains that run down the middle of the island, and spending time along the less populated east coast. It would probably be a nice country to tour by motorcycle (assuming you can rent one), since it's rather small. You could probably do a full trip around in a couple days, though it would be too rushed. A week would be better. I would highly recommend the drive between Taichung on the west and Hualien on the east, via Puli, Wuling and Taroko gorge.

 

[ornate_wrasse]

I went to Japan in 2005 to visit a nephew who was teaching English in a Japanese high school in Kanagawa, which is close to Tokyo.

I had almost no trouble getting around, including taking a train to a city North of Tokyo to visit a friend (I forget the name of the city) all by myself. The only Japanese I knew was from what I learned from listening to some tapes I'd borrowed from the library, in other words, not much.

There is a certain area of Tokyo that has a lot of photography related stores. I've heard that the farther away the store is from the train station, the cheaper the prices will be.

I also went to Okinawa, flying from the Haneda airport to Naha to do some scuba diving. I was able to dive where, preliminary to the Battle of Okinawa, soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division landed in the Kerama Islands. But, since you lived in Okinawa, you are probably familiar with the WWII sites on the island.

Another place I would suggest is a place I've always wanted to visit primarily because my father fought there in WWII with the First Marine Division. It is Peleliu. Now called Palau, there are tours that will take you to WWII sites that you can visit, including a museum. Even if you're not a scuba diver, you can snorkel in places like Jellyfish Lake, where they have jellyfish that do not sting. Here is a link to a WWII tour you can take:

http://www.samstours.com/palau-tours/ww2-history-peleliu-tour

The full day land tour looks like something that would be of interest to you.

Sounds like a wonderful round the world trip. Enjoy!

 

[JChrome]

They call Kyoto the "Paris of Asia" for a good reason.

Just go there. It's phenomenal!

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Japan is very, very interesting. Tokyo and Kyoto in the summer are very hot.

Tokyo has the best used camera shopping in the world. PM me for suggestions.

 

[ktmrider]

I flew a CH46 helicopter from Okinawa to Taiwan in 1978. It was about 400 miles over water with only one NDB for navigation. Had a great time and was planning my second trip when Carter recognized the PRC.

I am thinking Japan will be on my list. I usually travel fairly cheaply but have a budget of $150 per day or so. My daughter and I stayed in hostels for 90 days last fall in Europe. Have an address in Tokyo for a Japanese woman I met on the Camino de Santiago.

Some of the deepest dives I have ever done were off the coast of Okinawa. If memory serves, we were looking for black coral. I think I saw 145 feet on a couple dives. And it is the only place I have ever dived with sea snakes. The Philippines is only 800 miles from Okinawa. Used to catch a ride in my squadron's helos if I was not on the flight schedule to some island off Subic Bay for diving. Usually brought home a lobster dinner.

Have lots of time to explore. Again, I am fairly familiar with this part of the world thanks to my time in the USMC. I spent eleven years on active duty and had four deployments to the western Pacific as a pilot aboard LHA's.But I am looking forward to going back almost 30 years after active duty. Thanks for the link to Peleliu.

 

[dogbunny]

The Japan countryside has a lot to offer. Buying the Japan Rail Pass is really a no-brainer. If you use the Shinkansen once and the local JR lines a few times, you've basically made your money back on your investment. Tokyo and Kyoto are great, but it is easy to get stuck retracing the same tourist ruts. Small, onsen (hot spring) towns, can really provide a lot of local flavor that you might not get a chance to experience otherwise. Places like Nikko, or Hakone can provide a unqiue experience not too far from Tokyo. A few days in the countryside staying at a traditional inn, sampling some very good Japanese food, and relaxing in a hot spring does wonders for the soul. 😉

 

[Spicy]

Tokyo is cool, Osaka is cool (been there a few times) -- big fan of the Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe area. Haven't visited many places outside of that, but any/all of those would be a solid experience of the Big Asian Supermetropolis (Kyoto/Kobe less so).

Also worthwhile is swinging by Seoul -- it's about an 1hr 45min flight from Tokyo. The English support is waaaaayyyyy better than anywhere in Japan, and it will give you a similar "whoaaaa, we're not in Kansas anymore" feel. Korea might not have quite the cultural cachet as its neighbors, but that gives it a bit more air of adventure...

It's a fun city, absolutely enormous but very easy to navigate, and the subway system is the best I've ever experienced (and I've experienced a lot; US, Europe, Asia). Film camera culture is also pretty strong there, and I can give you some places to visit if you end up heading up there. It, like Tokyo, is also insanely hot in the summer -- very oppressive if you're not used to that sort of climate, but pretty much all buildings are air-conditioned, and the subway is overly-so (to the point where it's pretty common for young women to carry around jackets for the sole purpose of wearing them in the subway). Food is great and cheaper than Japan. If you're looking for seafood, I'd say Japan takes the cake, but Korea does meat better, IMO. Craft beer is also catching up, but not as well developed as Japan.

Bangkok is cool and can be as tame or crazy as you want, and the southern islands (Koh Phangan, I can't remember the other two) are beautiful but becoming overwhelmingly touristy. A quick bus ride (5hours or so?) to Siem Reap (where Angkor Wat is) in Cambodia, if you want to channel your inner Indiana Jones. Beautiful scenery, and cheap to the point that suspends belief.

Taipei is fun, with really cool tea houses up on the mountains next to the city (which have beautiful night views), and i've had a bunch of friends who have been to hong kong and enjoyed it.

edit: not sure why my browser is refusing to do readable formatting w/ paragraph spacing 🙁 sorry all

send me a PM if you want further details. not sure about motorcycling anywhere other than Korea, since I lived there the past 5 years but didn't bring my motorcycle. I did bicycle across the country, though, which was fun. Roads seem like they would be pretty fun for riding, although motorcycles are not allowed on major highways (weirdly). Also traveled pretty extensively around east Asia.

 

[ornate_wrasse]

Some of the deepest dives I have ever done were off the coast of Okinawa. If memory serves, we were looking for black coral. I think I saw 145 feet on a couple dives. And it is the only place I have ever dived with sea snakes.

Thanks for the link to Peleliu.

Were the sea snakes like this one?

It's one I captured when diving in Indonesia in the Lembeh Strait. When diving in Okinawa, I did not actually see a sea snake but saw lots of signs around telling divers what to do if they got bitten by one, i.e. seek immediate medical attention.

My deepest dive was about 135 feet in Cozumel when diving a place called the Devil's Throat.

Since you're a diver, you'd probably enjoy visiting Palau. The diving is supposed to be spectacular. It's still on my bucket list of places to dive. In any event, there's lots of WWII history to explore on the island.

Ellen

 

[maddoc]

Also worthwhile is swinging by Seoul -- it's about an 1hr 45min flight from Tokyo. The English support is waaaaayyyyy better than anywhere in Japan,

Really? I visited Seoul in spring last year and was lucky to be able to communicate in Japanese with the Korean. Hardly anybody I met there was able to speak a single word of English, including the lady at the information desk in the airport (Gimpo) and three police officer I asked for the way to my hotel close to the Yongsan Garrison. The English support was similar to what I experienced in Japan.

 

[bence8810]

I visited Seoul in spring last year and was lucky to be able to communicate in Japanese with the Korean.

I also tend to speak Japanese in Korea, specially around tourist areas. Other places I just point and smile, usually works.

Ben

 

[Rayt]

I find in tourist areas in Seoul if English fails try Chinese.

I travel around Asia often. I am in Hanoi now. All these countries have their special charm. Yangon is a city I would like to visit again soon.

 

[dogbunny]

I lived in Korea for 3 years and Japan for 4 - in Japan at the moment. I found the English support about the same, unfortunately. You can have a good time in both places either way.

 

[skibeerr]

I found one of the biggest charms of Japan the total inability to communicate with words and the way people handled this.

 

[ktmrider]

Lodging?

Lodging?

Any suggestions on specific hotels or hostels to stay in while there. I am very very flexible. My daughter and I stayed solely in hostels during a 90 day trip to Europe.