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Anyone have any tips for a first time traveler?
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| I am planning on visiting Japan this summer on a Fulbright study scholarship for educators, and I was wondering if anyone had any tips for a first time traveler to the land of the Rising Sun? Like how to use the public transportation there, where to get money exchanged, and how to request diabetic menu options at resturants there. |
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Re: Anyone have any tips for a first time traveler?
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by
on 2005-10-14 21:54:38 |
avoid natto and dont mind the staring when you ride the train. 
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Re: Anyone have any tips for a first time traveler?
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You can change your currency at the airport from which you are leaving from, they usually have offices and tellers where you can choose which sort of money to have them changed into. I am not sure, but you can try asking your Bank branch office whether or not they can change your money into the Japan yen. *keep in mind of the fluctuating currency...it is best to get your money changed when you know you can get more yen for your money* Summer visitation in Japan also means mosquitos. Be sure to pack some mosquito repellant cream and to be mindful that there might be a lot of them at night *wear long sleeved clothes to avoid getting bitten for pajamas, never mind that the weather might be humid at night*. Japan sells those moquitos repellant coils called 'kattori-senko' at any department store, so you can decide to buy them in Japan and use them in your residence where you're staying *but be careful of smoke alarms*. Public transportation will be terribly confusing, but most of the areas that you probably wish to go visit, should be spelled in Romaji. I am not sure what is provided in the scholarship, but if you think you will be riding on the shin-kan-sen A LOT, decide whether or not to buy a Green Rail Pass. You can buy this ticket here in the US at any Japanese Travel Agency, and the convinient thing is that you can purchase it by the days or by the number of weeks you'll be staying in Japan. You can find out more information by going to the agency and asking for yourself. Diabetic menu options is one topic that I can't help you on. Sorry. If you are going to use the train system, try and avoid riding on them during the peak hours around 7-9am because of the rush of students going to school and employees going to work. The trains become literally packed with people, so it depends on whether you know you'll be claustrophobic or will like the whole 'Japanese packed-train experience'. Depending on when you leave for Japan, you might be able to hang out at the carnivals and festivities held by each different prefecture and city. |
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Re: Anyone have any tips for a first time traveler?
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by
 GeicoGecko
on 2005-10-16 22:04:00 |
avoid subways. Try natto, some people actually ENJOY it. don't eat sushi, too expensive, eat ramen and tempura instead. Don't go to raves, Karaoke bars, discos. Don't act like a tourist, speak japanese as much as possible, they understand crappy ass broken japanese better than fluent english. Don't be startled by the high prices of everthing, they earn twice as much as we do. 
I'll eat you. |
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Re: Anyone have any tips for a first time traveler?
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Okay I need some info. I am going to Japan! April 7th through 16th. I have many questions. Okay first and most important. Does Japan currently have a problem dealing with perverts and molestors? I always see in anime people trying to feel up someone one the train or the typical group of punks trying to hit on a school girl. This is a really BIG consern for me. As my personality won't let it slide if I see it. I will kick anybodys ass if I encounter it. My question is how should I go about doing this? If I find a pervert on the train should I immediatly kick his ass and leave or should I knock him out or put him in a hold and take him to the police? If I find a group of punks trying to rape a girl can I get off scott free if I kill all off them? Should I go to the police after I do any beatings or should I try to avoid them so I don't get into any stange conflicts? I am very American looking also. So I don't to get into any confusing situations with the police while I am there. I am not the type that is satisfied by just punching them in the face once, I need to cause a lot of pain before I am satisfied. I HATE perverts and molestors. Okay now for simple questions. Is there anything special going on Japan in Tokyo or Kyoto during April 7 through 16? Such as festivals, comi-ka conventions, etc. I have really americanized taste buds, where should I eat? What to drink? What happens when I put soy sauce on rice or sugar in my tea? Would people get pissed at me? I also don't really like places like shrines or historical monuments. Where do I go for good times? Tokyo aquarium, Akihabara, arcades, parks, foods places, etc is what I like. Also in arcades, I believe they have punch ranking machines. How many letters are you allowed to put in? I am going to get my high score on every machine in tokyo, be on the look out for some one by the name of jomunga or jeremy or some abreviation of that. How do those machines work? I'll think of more to ask later.  Jomunga eats your avatars. |
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Re: Anyone have any tips for a first time traveler?
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Don't bring things you don't need. Don't forget to have a map. Don't forget to have a translation book if you will visit a country with strange or different language. |
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Re: Anyone have any tips for a first time traveler?
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@Jomunga Do you like animals? if you do, you should go to Nara, where there are lots of deer walking about... you can feed them too.. if you don't like animals, how about the quite new Universal Studio in Osaka? It's ok to put soy sauce on rice because Japanese did it too... about sugar on tea... if it is the Japanese Green Tea, I recommend not to put sugar in it cause it will taste strange... Japan also has alot of Western food... or perhaps half Japanese half Western like omu-rice... Hope this helps... ^_^
Dogs are cute!
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