Japan travel info?

Hi,

We are in the very early stages of planning a first trip to Japan next
summer. We think we'll have time to visit the part of Honshu south of
Tokyo.
We think that the best way to get around will be by high speed train
to get from city to city. We plan to stay near major attractions so
visiting the sights can be done by foot and public transport.

However, we have some questions about the practicallity of visiting
this country unknown to us until now. How easy is it to get around for
non-Japanese speakers? Do enough Japanese people speak english?
Would renting a car (and reading roadsigns) be feasable for more
remote areas?

Thanks in advance.


Bye Maurice
--
Hamradio: ON4BAM / M0CIL / 9H3Z http://www.on4bam.com/
Travelogues and Amateur radio
http://blog.on4bam.com/blog/

Maurice ON4BAM wrote:

However, we have some questions about the practicallity of visiting
this country unknown to us until now. How easy is it to get around for
non-Japanese speakers?

Not bad, but not as easy as in places like China and Taiwan. Restaurants
are easy because they have models of the food in the front window. You
can copy down the Japanese characters onto a piece of paper, or take the
waiter outside and point to what you want.

Do enough Japanese people speak english?

Of the eight Asian countries I've visited (China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan,
Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel), Japan had the fewest English
speakers.

Would renting a car (and reading roadsigns) be feasable for more
remote areas?

Yes, if you're comfortable with driving on the left. In Japan they drive
on the wrong side of the road [flame suit on].

I don't think you need a car. You need to travel light and use the
train, buses, and taxis.

Consider a Japan Rail pass (must be purchased outside Japan) if you're
planning on a lot of train trips. It may seem expensive for the rail
pass, but the intercity train fares in Japan are quite high. IIRC, when
I went to Japan just the Tokyo to Kyoto R/T train fare was more than the
cost of the 7 day rail pass. There are some private railways that
don't take the rail pass so be careful. I.e., to go to Nikko there was a
JR route and a private route. The JR route was less direct and involved
a change of trains, but it was "free."

See "http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en001.html".

I would suggest spending some time outside of major cities.

We think that the best way to get around will be by high speed train
to get from city to city. We plan to stay near major attractions so
visiting the sights can be done by foot and public transport.

However, we have some questions about the practicallity of visiting
this country unknown to us until now. How easy is it to get around for
non-Japanese speakers? Do enough Japanese people speak english?
Would renting a car (and reading roadsigns) be feasable for more
remote areas?

Thanks in advance.


Bye Maurice
--
Hamradio: ON4BAM / M0CIL / 9H3Z http://www.on4bam.com/
Travelogues and Amateur radio
http://blog.on4bam.com/blog/

Here is a link that will save you language frustration in Tokyo...Metro.
http://www.tokyometro.jp/global/en/t...y.html#oneday1

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:43:22 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

In article , Maurice ON4BAM
says...

We are in the very early stages of planning a first trip to Japan next
summer. We think we'll have time to visit the part of Honshu south of
Tokyo.

Summer is not a good time to visit the area south of Tokyo - it's too
hot.

I have no choice. Our vacations are a fixed period, I can only move a
week forward or bacjkward from this fixed time.We plan a 3 week stay
(poosibly a few days more)


We think that the best way to get around will be by high speed train
to get from city to city. We plan to stay near major attractions so
visiting the sights can be done by foot and public transport.

That's more or less how I travelled around Japan last year.
http://www.molon.de/travelogues/Japan/2007/

I'll have to take a closer look at your site a little later... thanks.


However, we have some questions about the practicallity of visiting
this country unknown to us until now. How easy is it to get around for
non-Japanese speakers? Do enough Japanese people speak english?

Not too many English speakers in Japan. But that was not a problem for
me.

You speak Japanese? :-)

Would renting a car (and reading roadsigns) be feasable for more
remote areas?

If you plan to visit remote areas it should be ok. I wouldn't drive by
car in urban areas in Japan. They drive on the left side and the street
signs are in Japanese.

Driving on the left is no problem. I've driven my own car (left hand
drive) in the Uk and driven rentals (right hand drive) in Australia,
Malta and South Africa) I'm not worried about traffic ;-)


Bye Maurice
--
Hamradio: ON4BAM / M0CIL / 9H3Z http://www.on4bam.com/
Travelogues and Amateur radio
http://blog.on4bam.com/blog/

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:29:51 +0000, Maurice ON4BAM
wrote:

. How easy is it to get around for
non-Japanese speakers? Do enough Japanese people speak english?
Would renting a car (and reading roadsigns) be feasable for more
remote areas?


Major routes, and major tourist trips/destinations quite feasible.
Not too much English spoken outside of such tourist spots, and very
little indeed in remote areas.

If you have no Japanese I'd suggest not renting a car. I say this
reluctantly because I found a car to be ideal to travel around
non-urban Japan (don't even think of driving in the major urban
areas!), but I can read Japanese....many road-signs also appear in
English script, but again only in well-travelled tourist-likely
regions, on major highways, etc. Out in the countryside you will find
very few signs in English, with place-names, directions, and, most
importantly, temporary problem instructions/warnings only in Japanese.
It's really not feasible even to study a list of these in advance
without some familiarity with the language.

On the other hand, I met an English family, none of whom spoke any
Japanese, who were relying simply upon a rental car's GPS to travel
around apparently quite successfully. I never thought to ask how they
overcame the language difficulty with the device itself.....I suspect
they got someone at each stopover to program in the next destination,
then just followed the visual prompts.....prevents the best kind of
serendipitous sight-seeing then, of course!

Geoff.

In article , Maurice ON4BAM
says...

We are in the very early stages of planning a first trip to Japan next
summer. We think we'll have time to visit the part of Honshu south of
Tokyo.

Summer is not a good time to visit the area south of Tokyo - it's too
hot.

We think that the best way to get around will be by high speed train
to get from city to city. We plan to stay near major attractions so
visiting the sights can be done by foot and public transport.

That's more or less how I travelled around Japan last year.
http://www.molon.de/travelogues/Japan/2007/

However, we have some questions about the practicallity of visiting
this country unknown to us until now. How easy is it to get around for
non-Japanese speakers? Do enough Japanese people speak english?

Not too many English speakers in Japan. But that was not a problem for
me.

Would renting a car (and reading roadsigns) be feasable for more
remote areas?

If you plan to visit remote areas it should be ok. I wouldn't drive by
car in urban areas in Japan. They drive on the left side and the street
signs are in Japanese.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:19:28 +0000, Maurice ON4BAM
wrote:

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:43:22 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

In article , Maurice ON4BAM
says...

We are in the very early stages of planning a first trip to Japan next
summer. We think we'll have time to visit the part of Honshu south of
Tokyo.

Summer is not a good time to visit the area south of Tokyo - it's too
hot.

I have no choice. Our vacations are a fixed period, I can only move a
week forward or bacjkward from this fixed time.We plan a 3 week stay
(poosibly a few days more)

Be prepared also for very some high humidity. Towards the end of my
stay from March to July, the temperature was in the high 80s/low 90s
and the humidity was in the 70 - 80 per cent range (i.e. instant
perspiration upon eaving air conditioned buildings).

If it is convenient for you, I recommend that you get a bank card from
Citibank. There are several Citi branches in many of the major
Japanese locations, including the ATMs in the arrivals hall at
Narita. The cash withdrawals from Citi ATMs were "no fees"; it seems
like there was a 1-2% fee hidden in the exchange rate when I was a
"regular"customer, and no hidden fee when I was a "preferred" Citigold
customer. None of my US-issued bank cards worked at any of the
Japanese bank machines; I am told that they will work at the Post
Office machines and at the ones in the 7-11 stores.

Also, pick up the free tourist information from the racks when you
arrive at Narita. The ones I like are the orange map and booklet put
out by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the booklet on Narita
airport.

In article , Maurice ON4BAM says...

You speak Japanese? :-)

No.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

You may want to read the Japan travel info at
http://www.flexijourney.com/SouthAndEastAsia-Japan.html. If you are
interested in viewing the satellite images, just click on the Map
section, a number of Japan cities has been pre-geocoded for your
convenience.