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#31
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 | | |
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