A Travel and vacations forum. TravelBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » TravelBanter forum » Travel Regions » Asia
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Costs in Japan



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #31  
Old August 28th, 2004, 05:04 PM
Gerry
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article , Thomas F. Unke
wrote:

I've had only one beer in Japan that was tolerable.


Lucky you ... you found one more than me.


In Hachimantai I found this curiousity, apparently distribution limited
to the north.

http://homepage.mac.com/gscot/unthinkable.htm

I saw it again on a south-bound bullet train from Morioka. Then it
vanished again like a dream...

--
Invest wisely: Over the past 75 years, stocks have averaged annual gains of 2.3
percent under GOP administrations, compared with 9.5 under Democratic ones.
-- Jerry Heaster
  #32  
Old August 29th, 2004, 05:37 AM
Chris Kuan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Gerry wrote on Sun 29 Aug 2004 04:14:11p

In article , Chris
Kuan wrote:



http://mrgazpacho.redirect.hm/temp/maetel_beer.jpg

Fans of Leiji Matsumoto (or the music videos such as "One More Time"
that he did for Daft Punk) will recognise Maetel from Galaxy Express
999. I have no idea why this promotion was running, but eh.


Though I can see it's not the rationale, was the beer any good?


I don't really enjoy the taste of beers, so I can't give an informed
opinion (^_^)

--
Chris
Concatenate for email: mrgazpacho @ hotmail . com
  #33  
Old August 29th, 2004, 07:14 AM
Gerry
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article , Chris
Kuan wrote:

In Hachimantai I found this curiousity, apparently distribution limited
to the north.

http://homepage.mac.com/gscot/unthinkable.htm

I saw it again on a south-bound bullet train from Morioka. Then it
vanished again like a dream...


In a shop at Hiroshima station last April, I found the following:

http://mrgazpacho.redirect.hm/temp/maetel_beer.jpg

Fans of Leiji Matsumoto (or the music videos such as "One More Time" that
he did for Daft Punk) will recognise Maetel from Galaxy Express 999. I have
no idea why this promotion was running, but eh.


Though I can see it's not the rationale, was the beer any good?

--
Invest wisely: Over the past 75 years, stocks have averaged annual gains of 2.3
percent under GOP administrations, compared with 9.5 under Democratic ones.
-- Jerry Heaster
  #34  
Old September 12th, 2004, 03:30 AM
Cyril & Sandy Alberga
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Iceman wrote:
On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:36:05 -0400, "Robert"
wrote:


I am looking to visit Japan. this will be my 1st time.
First "warning" I been hearing about is of course - Costs, that

EVERYTHING
is
sooooo expensive.

Can someone plz give me an idea just how expensive tthings are there.
Just daily ordinary things a tourist would want to consume or buy.
a list would be great. You can list either Yens or $.



As long as you don't insist on renting a car or staying in a large
Western-style hotel room in a central city, you can visit Japan on a
moderate budget. It's not necessarily more expensive than traveling
in Europe or the US, but you do need to plan things carefully. There
are inexpensive hotels, which you should book well in advance.
Familiarize yourself with public transportation in the places you
visit so don't have to take taxis at all except in the middle of the
night. Always check the price of a restaurant before you enter it.
Restaurants that cost US $200 or more per person certainly exist, but
there are excellent sushi, tempura, sukiyaki, and teppanyaki
restaurants in the US $20-30 per person price range also. (And
excellent inexpensive Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Thai food is
available in the major cities.) And even many of the expensive
restaurants charge only 10-30% as much for lunch as they do for dinner
while serving essentially the same food, so you can eat at many of the
best places if you look for lunch specials. Bars and clubs are very
expensive - $25-30 cover charges at clubs are not unusual, and $6 per
drink is the minimum even in dive bars, with nicer bars often charging
$10 per drink or more. Museums can charge as much as $10, or even
more for special exhibitions, but temples, shrines, and gardens are
normally free or cheap.


Hope this isn't too late (been off-line for a bit). My wife and I spend
25 days in Japan this past March. We flew on mileage point, and we
bought the 21 day JR-pass (which was NOT cheap, a bit over $500 each --
US that is). Discounting that I would guess (I don't have solid
figures) that we spent under $200 a day for the two of us. This
included all our entrances (and as someone else said most of the temples
did charge admission), hotel, food, a one day car rental to get up to
the Gassho villages, etc. We usually snacked for lunch, buying stuff in
supermarkets. Admittedly, we are not bar/nightclub/disc types (being
over 70, you know), so there wasn't a lot spent on drinks. As said, if
you are devoted to Micro-brew, stout, porter, brown ale, you will be
mostly disappointed (though I did see some locally brewed stout). We
did have on fairly expensive meal, "Kyo-ryori", in Kyoto, but we had a
lot of very reasonable meals everywhere. Don't miss the Okonomiyaki.
Our favorite was in Nara, but the Hiroshima style is good, too.

We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima (visiting Himeji on a day trip
-- the wonders of Shinkansin!), Toba (as a base for Iseshi & Futami),
Kanazawa & Nikko.

You can find comfortable hotels for under $100 almost everywhere (Nara
was the hardest place to find a bargain, and the place we stayed was
only so-so, but had good food). Business hotels usually include
breakfast, sometimes with Western as well as Japanese. Go with the
custom! A couple of places to check a

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/
TOYOKO INN

http://www2.choicehotels.com/ires/en-us/html/Search
ChoiceHotels.com: Advanced Search

(In Japan these seem to be part of the Greens hotel chain -- I don't
have their URL.)

http://www.mytrip.net/en/index.html
MYTRIP-discount hotels, last minute travel

We made all our reservations ahead, via the 'net. If you get the
JR-pass it pays to plan your main connections ahead, as you can reserve
them all when you exchange the voucher for the pass. I found the
time-tables infuriating, but with a lot of work figured things out. The
biggest problem is that the easiest to use time-table only shows you
five possible connections, and will use lines which don't honor the
JR-pass. Read the rule carefully. Note that any time you hit a
"private" line's roadbed, even on a JR train, you pay a cash surcharge.
In at least one case we had to add a bit of extra distance to keep to
JR track. Check these sites:

http://www.japanrail.com/
Japan Rail

http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi
HYPERDIA Japan Home Page

What else? Food -- mostly very good. In Kanazawa, which has few
non-local tourists, we went into a busy looking place and told them
"feed us". The food just kept coming until we held up our crossed arms!
Once people see you are trying (using hashi -- chop sticks), not
demanding western food, they bend over backwards to help, even if you
don't speak any Japanese. They just seem pleased that you are jumping
into their way of life.

Yes, I know that you will get a closer look by staying in Ryokan, but
that will, generally, push the cost up. We didn't, so I can't say what
we missed, but we had a great time and felt welcome everywhere.

Cyril N. Alberga
  #35  
Old September 12th, 2004, 03:30 AM
Cyril & Sandy Alberga
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Iceman wrote:
On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:36:05 -0400, "Robert"
wrote:


I am looking to visit Japan. this will be my 1st time.
First "warning" I been hearing about is of course - Costs, that

EVERYTHING
is
sooooo expensive.

Can someone plz give me an idea just how expensive tthings are there.
Just daily ordinary things a tourist would want to consume or buy.
a list would be great. You can list either Yens or $.



As long as you don't insist on renting a car or staying in a large
Western-style hotel room in a central city, you can visit Japan on a
moderate budget. It's not necessarily more expensive than traveling
in Europe or the US, but you do need to plan things carefully. There
are inexpensive hotels, which you should book well in advance.
Familiarize yourself with public transportation in the places you
visit so don't have to take taxis at all except in the middle of the
night. Always check the price of a restaurant before you enter it.
Restaurants that cost US $200 or more per person certainly exist, but
there are excellent sushi, tempura, sukiyaki, and teppanyaki
restaurants in the US $20-30 per person price range also. (And
excellent inexpensive Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Thai food is
available in the major cities.) And even many of the expensive
restaurants charge only 10-30% as much for lunch as they do for dinner
while serving essentially the same food, so you can eat at many of the
best places if you look for lunch specials. Bars and clubs are very
expensive - $25-30 cover charges at clubs are not unusual, and $6 per
drink is the minimum even in dive bars, with nicer bars often charging
$10 per drink or more. Museums can charge as much as $10, or even
more for special exhibitions, but temples, shrines, and gardens are
normally free or cheap.


Hope this isn't too late (been off-line for a bit). My wife and I spend
25 days in Japan this past March. We flew on mileage point, and we
bought the 21 day JR-pass (which was NOT cheap, a bit over $500 each --
US that is). Discounting that I would guess (I don't have solid
figures) that we spent under $200 a day for the two of us. This
included all our entrances (and as someone else said most of the temples
did charge admission), hotel, food, a one day car rental to get up to
the Gassho villages, etc. We usually snacked for lunch, buying stuff in
supermarkets. Admittedly, we are not bar/nightclub/disc types (being
over 70, you know), so there wasn't a lot spent on drinks. As said, if
you are devoted to Micro-brew, stout, porter, brown ale, you will be
mostly disappointed (though I did see some locally brewed stout). We
did have on fairly expensive meal, "Kyo-ryori", in Kyoto, but we had a
lot of very reasonable meals everywhere. Don't miss the Okonomiyaki.
Our favorite was in Nara, but the Hiroshima style is good, too.

We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima (visiting Himeji on a day trip
-- the wonders of Shinkansin!), Toba (as a base for Iseshi & Futami),
Kanazawa & Nikko.

You can find comfortable hotels for under $100 almost everywhere (Nara
was the hardest place to find a bargain, and the place we stayed was
only so-so, but had good food). Business hotels usually include
breakfast, sometimes with Western as well as Japanese. Go with the
custom! A couple of places to check a

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/
TOYOKO INN

http://www2.choicehotels.com/ires/en-us/html/Search
ChoiceHotels.com: Advanced Search

(In Japan these seem to be part of the Greens hotel chain -- I don't
have their URL.)

http://www.mytrip.net/en/index.html
MYTRIP-discount hotels, last minute travel

We made all our reservations ahead, via the 'net. If you get the
JR-pass it pays to plan your main connections ahead, as you can reserve
them all when you exchange the voucher for the pass. I found the
time-tables infuriating, but with a lot of work figured things out. The
biggest problem is that the easiest to use time-table only shows you
five possible connections, and will use lines which don't honor the
JR-pass. Read the rule carefully. Note that any time you hit a
"private" line's roadbed, even on a JR train, you pay a cash surcharge.
In at least one case we had to add a bit of extra distance to keep to
JR track. Check these sites:

http://www.japanrail.com/
Japan Rail

http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi
HYPERDIA Japan Home Page

What else? Food -- mostly very good. In Kanazawa, which has few
non-local tourists, we went into a busy looking place and told them
"feed us". The food just kept coming until we held up our crossed arms!
Once people see you are trying (using hashi -- chop sticks), not
demanding western food, they bend over backwards to help, even if you
don't speak any Japanese. They just seem pleased that you are jumping
into their way of life.

Yes, I know that you will get a closer look by staying in Ryokan, but
that will, generally, push the cost up. We didn't, so I can't say what
we missed, but we had a great time and felt welcome everywhere.

Cyril N. Alberga
  #36  
Old September 13th, 2004, 04:20 PM
Robert
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

thanks !

"Cyril & Sandy Alberga" wrote in message
news:dxO0d.566$VV2.48@trndny06...
Iceman wrote:
On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:36:05 -0400, "Robert"
wrote:


I am looking to visit Japan. this will be my 1st time.
First "warning" I been hearing about is of course - Costs, that

EVERYTHING
is
sooooo expensive.

Can someone plz give me an idea just how expensive tthings are there.
Just daily ordinary things a tourist would want to consume or buy.
a list would be great. You can list either Yens or $.



As long as you don't insist on renting a car or staying in a large
Western-style hotel room in a central city, you can visit Japan on a
moderate budget. It's not necessarily more expensive than traveling
in Europe or the US, but you do need to plan things carefully. There
are inexpensive hotels, which you should book well in advance.
Familiarize yourself with public transportation in the places you
visit so don't have to take taxis at all except in the middle of the
night. Always check the price of a restaurant before you enter it.
Restaurants that cost US $200 or more per person certainly exist, but
there are excellent sushi, tempura, sukiyaki, and teppanyaki
restaurants in the US $20-30 per person price range also. (And
excellent inexpensive Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Thai food is
available in the major cities.) And even many of the expensive
restaurants charge only 10-30% as much for lunch as they do for dinner
while serving essentially the same food, so you can eat at many of the
best places if you look for lunch specials. Bars and clubs are very
expensive - $25-30 cover charges at clubs are not unusual, and $6 per
drink is the minimum even in dive bars, with nicer bars often charging
$10 per drink or more. Museums can charge as much as $10, or even
more for special exhibitions, but temples, shrines, and gardens are
normally free or cheap.


Hope this isn't too late (been off-line for a bit). My wife and I spend
25 days in Japan this past March. We flew on mileage point, and we
bought the 21 day JR-pass (which was NOT cheap, a bit over $500 each --
US that is). Discounting that I would guess (I don't have solid
figures) that we spent under $200 a day for the two of us. This
included all our entrances (and as someone else said most of the temples
did charge admission), hotel, food, a one day car rental to get up to
the Gassho villages, etc. We usually snacked for lunch, buying stuff in
supermarkets. Admittedly, we are not bar/nightclub/disc types (being
over 70, you know), so there wasn't a lot spent on drinks. As said, if
you are devoted to Micro-brew, stout, porter, brown ale, you will be
mostly disappointed (though I did see some locally brewed stout). We
did have on fairly expensive meal, "Kyo-ryori", in Kyoto, but we had a
lot of very reasonable meals everywhere. Don't miss the Okonomiyaki.
Our favorite was in Nara, but the Hiroshima style is good, too.

We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima (visiting Himeji on a day trip
-- the wonders of Shinkansin!), Toba (as a base for Iseshi & Futami),
Kanazawa & Nikko.

You can find comfortable hotels for under $100 almost everywhere (Nara
was the hardest place to find a bargain, and the place we stayed was
only so-so, but had good food). Business hotels usually include
breakfast, sometimes with Western as well as Japanese. Go with the
custom! A couple of places to check a

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/
TOYOKO INN

http://www2.choicehotels.com/ires/en-us/html/Search
ChoiceHotels.com: Advanced Search

(In Japan these seem to be part of the Greens hotel chain -- I don't
have their URL.)

http://www.mytrip.net/en/index.html
MYTRIP-discount hotels, last minute travel

We made all our reservations ahead, via the 'net. If you get the
JR-pass it pays to plan your main connections ahead, as you can reserve
them all when you exchange the voucher for the pass. I found the
time-tables infuriating, but with a lot of work figured things out. The
biggest problem is that the easiest to use time-table only shows you
five possible connections, and will use lines which don't honor the
JR-pass. Read the rule carefully. Note that any time you hit a
"private" line's roadbed, even on a JR train, you pay a cash surcharge.
In at least one case we had to add a bit of extra distance to keep to
JR track. Check these sites:

http://www.japanrail.com/
Japan Rail

http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi
HYPERDIA Japan Home Page

What else? Food -- mostly very good. In Kanazawa, which has few
non-local tourists, we went into a busy looking place and told them
"feed us". The food just kept coming until we held up our crossed arms!
Once people see you are trying (using hashi -- chop sticks), not
demanding western food, they bend over backwards to help, even if you
don't speak any Japanese. They just seem pleased that you are jumping
into their way of life.

Yes, I know that you will get a closer look by staying in Ryokan, but
that will, generally, push the cost up. We didn't, so I can't say what
we missed, but we had a great time and felt welcome everywhere.

Cyril N. Alberga



  #37  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 11:57 PM
HH
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Ryokan come in different flavors. Some can be quite expensive, but those
that cater to middle-class Japanese travelers and business people can be
quite reasonable. For example, see the comment on the ryokan near the end of
my article at http://softadventure.net/japan2003article.htm. The cost for
two was US$81. at the ryokan in Narita City. BTW, if you have some hours to
while away before a flight from Narita airport, take the train to Narita
City. It's just a few minutes from the airport. Better yet, extend a day and
wind down in Narita City. The park is delightful. Here is a useful site for
ryokan. http://www.ryokan.or.jp/index_en.html

Harlan
---
[If you reply to my email address, please delete the word REMOVE from my
email address.]


"Robert" wrote in message
...
| thanks !
|
| "Cyril & Sandy Alberga" wrote in message
| news:dxO0d.566$VV2.48@trndny06...
| Iceman wrote:
| On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:36:05 -0400, "Robert"
| wrote:
|
|
| I am looking to visit Japan. this will be my 1st time.
| First "warning" I been hearing about is of course - Costs, that
| EVERYTHING
| is
| sooooo expensive.
|
| Can someone plz give me an idea just how expensive tthings are there.
| Just daily ordinary things a tourist would want to consume or buy.
| a list would be great. You can list either Yens or $.
|
|
| As long as you don't insist on renting a car or staying in a large
| Western-style hotel room in a central city, you can visit Japan on a
| moderate budget. It's not necessarily more expensive than traveling
| in Europe or the US, but you do need to plan things carefully. There
| are inexpensive hotels, which you should book well in advance.
| Familiarize yourself with public transportation in the places you
| visit so don't have to take taxis at all except in the middle of the
| night. Always check the price of a restaurant before you enter it.
| Restaurants that cost US $200 or more per person certainly exist, but
| there are excellent sushi, tempura, sukiyaki, and teppanyaki
| restaurants in the US $20-30 per person price range also. (And
| excellent inexpensive Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Thai food is
| available in the major cities.) And even many of the expensive
| restaurants charge only 10-30% as much for lunch as they do for
dinner
| while serving essentially the same food, so you can eat at many of
the
| best places if you look for lunch specials. Bars and clubs are very
| expensive - $25-30 cover charges at clubs are not unusual, and $6 per
| drink is the minimum even in dive bars, with nicer bars often
charging
| $10 per drink or more. Museums can charge as much as $10, or even
| more for special exhibitions, but temples, shrines, and gardens are
| normally free or cheap.
|
| Hope this isn't too late (been off-line for a bit). My wife and I spend
| 25 days in Japan this past March. We flew on mileage point, and we
| bought the 21 day JR-pass (which was NOT cheap, a bit over $500 each --
| US that is). Discounting that I would guess (I don't have solid
| figures) that we spent under $200 a day for the two of us. This
| included all our entrances (and as someone else said most of the temples
| did charge admission), hotel, food, a one day car rental to get up to
| the Gassho villages, etc. We usually snacked for lunch, buying stuff in
| supermarkets. Admittedly, we are not bar/nightclub/disc types (being
| over 70, you know), so there wasn't a lot spent on drinks. As said, if
| you are devoted to Micro-brew, stout, porter, brown ale, you will be
| mostly disappointed (though I did see some locally brewed stout). We
| did have on fairly expensive meal, "Kyo-ryori", in Kyoto, but we had a
| lot of very reasonable meals everywhere. Don't miss the Okonomiyaki.
| Our favorite was in Nara, but the Hiroshima style is good, too.
|
| We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima (visiting Himeji on a day trip
| -- the wonders of Shinkansin!), Toba (as a base for Iseshi & Futami),
| Kanazawa & Nikko.
|
| You can find comfortable hotels for under $100 almost everywhere (Nara
| was the hardest place to find a bargain, and the place we stayed was
| only so-so, but had good food). Business hotels usually include
| breakfast, sometimes with Western as well as Japanese. Go with the
| custom! A couple of places to check a
|
| http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/
| TOYOKO INN
|
| http://www2.choicehotels.com/ires/en-us/html/Search
| ChoiceHotels.com: Advanced Search
|
| (In Japan these seem to be part of the Greens hotel chain -- I don't
| have their URL.)
|
| http://www.mytrip.net/en/index.html
| MYTRIP-discount hotels, last minute travel
|
| We made all our reservations ahead, via the 'net. If you get the
| JR-pass it pays to plan your main connections ahead, as you can reserve
| them all when you exchange the voucher for the pass. I found the
| time-tables infuriating, but with a lot of work figured things out. The
| biggest problem is that the easiest to use time-table only shows you
| five possible connections, and will use lines which don't honor the
| JR-pass. Read the rule carefully. Note that any time you hit a
| "private" line's roadbed, even on a JR train, you pay a cash surcharge.
| In at least one case we had to add a bit of extra distance to keep to
| JR track. Check these sites:
|
| http://www.japanrail.com/
| Japan Rail
|
| http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi
| HYPERDIA Japan Home Page
|
| What else? Food -- mostly very good. In Kanazawa, which has few
| non-local tourists, we went into a busy looking place and told them
| "feed us". The food just kept coming until we held up our crossed arms!
| Once people see you are trying (using hashi -- chop sticks), not
| demanding western food, they bend over backwards to help, even if you
| don't speak any Japanese. They just seem pleased that you are jumping
| into their way of life.
|
| Yes, I know that you will get a closer look by staying in Ryokan, but
| that will, generally, push the cost up. We didn't, so I can't say what
| we missed, but we had a great time and felt welcome everywhere.
|
| Cyril N. Alberga
|
|


  #38  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 11:57 PM
HH
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Ryokan come in different flavors. Some can be quite expensive, but those
that cater to middle-class Japanese travelers and business people can be
quite reasonable. For example, see the comment on the ryokan near the end of
my article at http://softadventure.net/japan2003article.htm. The cost for
two was US$81. at the ryokan in Narita City. BTW, if you have some hours to
while away before a flight from Narita airport, take the train to Narita
City. It's just a few minutes from the airport. Better yet, extend a day and
wind down in Narita City. The park is delightful. Here is a useful site for
ryokan. http://www.ryokan.or.jp/index_en.html

Harlan
---
[If you reply to my email address, please delete the word REMOVE from my
email address.]


"Robert" wrote in message
...
| thanks !
|
| "Cyril & Sandy Alberga" wrote in message
| news:dxO0d.566$VV2.48@trndny06...
| Iceman wrote:
| On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:36:05 -0400, "Robert"
| wrote:
|
|
| I am looking to visit Japan. this will be my 1st time.
| First "warning" I been hearing about is of course - Costs, that
| EVERYTHING
| is
| sooooo expensive.
|
| Can someone plz give me an idea just how expensive tthings are there.
| Just daily ordinary things a tourist would want to consume or buy.
| a list would be great. You can list either Yens or $.
|
|
| As long as you don't insist on renting a car or staying in a large
| Western-style hotel room in a central city, you can visit Japan on a
| moderate budget. It's not necessarily more expensive than traveling
| in Europe or the US, but you do need to plan things carefully. There
| are inexpensive hotels, which you should book well in advance.
| Familiarize yourself with public transportation in the places you
| visit so don't have to take taxis at all except in the middle of the
| night. Always check the price of a restaurant before you enter it.
| Restaurants that cost US $200 or more per person certainly exist, but
| there are excellent sushi, tempura, sukiyaki, and teppanyaki
| restaurants in the US $20-30 per person price range also. (And
| excellent inexpensive Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Thai food is
| available in the major cities.) And even many of the expensive
| restaurants charge only 10-30% as much for lunch as they do for
dinner
| while serving essentially the same food, so you can eat at many of
the
| best places if you look for lunch specials. Bars and clubs are very
| expensive - $25-30 cover charges at clubs are not unusual, and $6 per
| drink is the minimum even in dive bars, with nicer bars often
charging
| $10 per drink or more. Museums can charge as much as $10, or even
| more for special exhibitions, but temples, shrines, and gardens are
| normally free or cheap.
|
| Hope this isn't too late (been off-line for a bit). My wife and I spend
| 25 days in Japan this past March. We flew on mileage point, and we
| bought the 21 day JR-pass (which was NOT cheap, a bit over $500 each --
| US that is). Discounting that I would guess (I don't have solid
| figures) that we spent under $200 a day for the two of us. This
| included all our entrances (and as someone else said most of the temples
| did charge admission), hotel, food, a one day car rental to get up to
| the Gassho villages, etc. We usually snacked for lunch, buying stuff in
| supermarkets. Admittedly, we are not bar/nightclub/disc types (being
| over 70, you know), so there wasn't a lot spent on drinks. As said, if
| you are devoted to Micro-brew, stout, porter, brown ale, you will be
| mostly disappointed (though I did see some locally brewed stout). We
| did have on fairly expensive meal, "Kyo-ryori", in Kyoto, but we had a
| lot of very reasonable meals everywhere. Don't miss the Okonomiyaki.
| Our favorite was in Nara, but the Hiroshima style is good, too.
|
| We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima (visiting Himeji on a day trip
| -- the wonders of Shinkansin!), Toba (as a base for Iseshi & Futami),
| Kanazawa & Nikko.
|
| You can find comfortable hotels for under $100 almost everywhere (Nara
| was the hardest place to find a bargain, and the place we stayed was
| only so-so, but had good food). Business hotels usually include
| breakfast, sometimes with Western as well as Japanese. Go with the
| custom! A couple of places to check a
|
| http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/
| TOYOKO INN
|
| http://www2.choicehotels.com/ires/en-us/html/Search
| ChoiceHotels.com: Advanced Search
|
| (In Japan these seem to be part of the Greens hotel chain -- I don't
| have their URL.)
|
| http://www.mytrip.net/en/index.html
| MYTRIP-discount hotels, last minute travel
|
| We made all our reservations ahead, via the 'net. If you get the
| JR-pass it pays to plan your main connections ahead, as you can reserve
| them all when you exchange the voucher for the pass. I found the
| time-tables infuriating, but with a lot of work figured things out. The
| biggest problem is that the easiest to use time-table only shows you
| five possible connections, and will use lines which don't honor the
| JR-pass. Read the rule carefully. Note that any time you hit a
| "private" line's roadbed, even on a JR train, you pay a cash surcharge.
| In at least one case we had to add a bit of extra distance to keep to
| JR track. Check these sites:
|
| http://www.japanrail.com/
| Japan Rail
|
| http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi
| HYPERDIA Japan Home Page
|
| What else? Food -- mostly very good. In Kanazawa, which has few
| non-local tourists, we went into a busy looking place and told them
| "feed us". The food just kept coming until we held up our crossed arms!
| Once people see you are trying (using hashi -- chop sticks), not
| demanding western food, they bend over backwards to help, even if you
| don't speak any Japanese. They just seem pleased that you are jumping
| into their way of life.
|
| Yes, I know that you will get a closer look by staying in Ryokan, but
| that will, generally, push the cost up. We didn't, so I can't say what
| we missed, but we had a great time and felt welcome everywhere.
|
| Cyril N. Alberga
|
|


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Carnival Profits Up Sharply! Ray Goldenberg Cruises 38 June 29th, 2004 12:07 AM
Carnival Earnings Rise Sharply! Ray Goldenberg Cruises 2 March 23rd, 2004 04:56 AM
Carnival Corporation 4th Quarter Financials! Ray Goldenberg Cruises 0 December 18th, 2003 03:49 PM
made in Japan = costs more in Japan?? Hugo Drax Asia 12 December 17th, 2003 09:02 PM
Japan rail pass/Osaka-Kyoto trip Not the Karl Orff Asia 0 September 25th, 2003 06:58 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:25 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 TravelBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.