First post so first of all, Hello all! and now onto business...
After about 4 years of contemplating and building up sky miles on my credit card it came down to this winter at the mark of my turning 26 (17th of Jan) that I will finally make it to japan.
Language wise, I can speak a bare minimal of yes/no hi/bye and general directions which is usually enough to get one by in most places in the modern world and being originally from india and moving to the U.S. and having to deal with culture shock I'm used to it and also the fact that its a city like Tokyo I'm not too worried about it.
What I am concerned with is the time I have and finding a decent place. I'm leaving from New York City on the 8th of January and will be arriving at Narita airport on the 9th and plan on staying in Japan until the 20th of January before heading home to start grad school, which of course means this is a fairly budgeted trip.
I'm looking for some decent hotel recommendations. I've found one or two places, but haven't been too thrilled with the prices compared to their locations and quality. Seems my price range of ($50 to $65 a night) is a bit too low which being a New York city resident is understandable. So if anyone has any good recommendations please let me know. I could probably spring for a little more per night for a nice place, but not a lot more.
Secondly, things to do. I've been so busy with the last semester and with trying to find an apartment that other than booking a ticket I haven't really had much time (this post being made at 3:30 at night being evidence of the fact) to plan out anything. I plan on staying in Tokyo at the moment, but would also like to see other interesting points as well. To my luck the Tokyo Auto Salon is on the weekend that I arrive so that should fill up a day or two at least.
Another point of concern is the amount of cash to have on hand upon arrival, other than credit cards of course. Basically how much to have for cab fare to the hotel or anything else of the sort.
I actually do have an acquaintance that is from japan and is actually back home at the moment, but doesn't reside in Tokyo and I don't know how much I can really depend on him. I should have probably stuck my head in one of these forums a few weeks ago when I made my reservation to try and find some people to hang with or something.
So if anyone in my age bracket, or not currently resides there and would like to hang out and see the sights that would help a great deal as well as I'm traveling alone. I'm a fairly outgoing and easy going guy and enjoy a pretty wide array of hobbies like drifting,films,photography,history,art,music I could probably buy you some lunch/dinner as payment as well.
I've waited for this trip for a while and would like to make the most of it so any help in any of the mentioned fields would be appreciated, so thanks for taking the time to read it.
