Houseteks Guide To Tokyo

[Housetek]

np im headin back to Tokyo some time this year and i was thinking of doing lil filmed tours of places like Shibuya, harajuku, roppongi, shinjuku, mizonokuchi, yoyogi etc.


and thanks for all the great replies and emails, sorry if i take long to answer but i do answer ALL emails.

[paulman214]

ok, so il start by saying this is a phenomenal thread, gave me a lot of help..

now the intro, lol. im scottish, currently serving in iraq, and im out here until december. me and my mate booked a holdiay in tokyo from 28th dec until the 8th on jan.. not long i know. now i have a few questions as japan is a completely new world to me(hence why we booked it) and i know that i should browse the forum before posting new questions, but being in iraq dosent give me much time. thats why il post them in this thread.

firstly.. im quite gutted to read that things close down for new year!! il be checking out the temples etc, but for hogmany night, and bringing in the bells, i was looking forward to going clubbing. out of the question?? also when do the businesses go back to normal after new year?

second.. we are going to live pretty cheaply if we can get away with it, but for one night want to splash out on a hotel.. preferably one with a lot of floors, and a good view of the city.. anyone be able to help gimme some options?

third.. i was planning on getting a tattoo done, like a traditional japanese themed one.. is there anything i should know before i think about that?? will there be tattoo parlours available to just walk in and get done there and then??

ahh i had more, but i cant remember now.. as you might notice, this was a spur of the moment idea, and we both booked the flights so we couldnt back out.. so forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject, as i am keen on learning a lot about the culture before i go.. thaks hope yous can help

[Housetek]

Originally Posted by paulman214

ok, so il start by saying this is a phenomenal thread, gave me a lot of help..

now the intro, lol. im scottish, currently serving in iraq, and im out here until december. me and my mate booked a holdiay in tokyo from 28th dec until the 8th on jan.. not long i know. now i have a few questions as japan is a completely new world to me(hence why we booked it) and i know that i should browse the forum before posting new questions, but being in iraq dosent give me much time. thats why il post them in this thread.

firstly.. im quite gutted to read that things close down for new year!! il be checking out the temples etc, but for hogmany night, and bringing in the bells, i was looking forward to going clubbing. out of the question?? also when do the businesses go back to normal after new year?

second.. we are going to live pretty cheaply if we can get away with it, but for one night want to splash out on a hotel.. preferably one with a lot of floors, and a good view of the city.. anyone be able to help gimme some options?

third.. i was planning on getting a tattoo done, like a traditional japanese themed one.. is there anything i should know before i think about that?? will there be tattoo parlours available to just walk in and get done there and then??

ahh i had more, but i cant remember now.. as you might notice, this was a spur of the moment idea, and we both booked the flights so we couldnt back out.. so forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject, as i am keen on learning a lot about the culture before i go.. thaks hope yous can help

goin back to Tokyo this spring, hope to do a lil video tour with my camera.

[ChameleonSaint]

Hey housetek thanks so much for all the information - very helpful.

One thing I wanted to ask is if the phone divert thing still works.

I am heading over to Tokyo next Thursday (2nd of October) for 3 days and want to keep in touch with family back here in Australia.

I have set up a local Australian phone number with Skype (cost $24 for 3 months) and then tried to forward the number but it advised me I needed some credit. So bought $16 worth of credit and forwarded the Skype number to my mobile phone. My mobile account here is also free for incoming calls. But when I tested it I am still getting charged via Skype (it came out of my $16 credit). So I was thinking maybe they cottoned on to this and are charging for forwarding calls. Any ideas? When was the last time you tried this?

On another note I was looking at bringing a 3G mobile phone with me and then rent a SIM from Softbank. It is only 105 yen a day so very cheap for the 3 days and I can pick it up and drop it off at the airport. Can you see any issues with doing it this way?

Thanks for your time.

Saint

[Enjiriiku]

Hi.. Thanx for all you amazing insight!! Umm.. I was wondering. Do you know anything about "share housing"? Is it basically just the guest-house thing or is it something completely different.. Thanx!

Have a safe trip to Vietnam!!

[Housetek]

to my knowledge yes it still works.

Softbank still has free incomming calls.
skype now does charge a small .03 cents or somthing per minute now.

but thats like nothing compared to normal international call charges.

I recently just tried that skype forwarding trick in vietnam.

and worked like a charm.

the trick is finding a prepaid that has unlimited incomming so that skype can forward to it and you can just have numbers Go to your Skype number and forward to your prepaid and talk for nearly free.


it use to be 100% free.

but now i noticed when i put 10$ in my account after a few weeks of talking it was down to $8.63 or somthing.

still it beats paying regular charges.

[Akira3000]

Ive read this thread and thank you very much its very informative.

[KoKutan86]

Hey Tek. Dont u kno like how we can get monthlys, weeklys, day passes and so on when traveling by public transit here in maryland and other states for that matter, but to-the-point-...Does Japan have something like that going on with public trans so that way when i go i could just buy a monthly pass that i could use on subways, buses, and trains without any additional money being put out for trans...

Originally Posted by Housetek

Cheap flights

People do everything online now adays.

Expedia, orbits, travelocity, etc etc.

these places are crap.

back in the day, every one booked with travel agencies.

they actually HELP YOU with your situation and cost needs.

i strongly recommend seeing a good travel agent and asking for cheap student prices.

this part is more help to people in the US actually sorry

i go through JTB USA, they are a travel agency in New York that specializes in trips to and from Japan.

you can usually snag tickets from 700 to 1000 dollars.

Make sure you let them know your a student if you are.

How it works is it cycles thru the cheapest flights and gives you a time frame in which you can go and come back from Tokyo.


im no Expert at flights and airports and whatnot but thats just my lil tip for every one.

generally you are allowed to take 2 bags and 2 carry ons.
22kilos for each bag of luggage.

i recommend packing lightly cuz you'll most likely be bringing a lot of stuff back.

if you go over they will charge you extra.

Some tips for packing

bring your own stick deordorent... i dunno bout every one else but i hate the spray kind, and they ONLY sell those here. its annoying.

Roll your clothing, less wrinkles and saves space.

you can Generally buy all sorts of stuff like shampoo, toothpaste, brushes, and towels when you get here at any ampm or corner store.

so if you are lookin to save space, just buy that stuff when you get here.

pack the appropriate clothing for the weather

save room for goodies on the trip back

This ends this portion
if i think of any thing else ill edit it or if you would like to add somthing else please pm me

[spicytuna]

You can get a JR Rail Pass but it's obviously limited to JR lines and excludes the subway and other train lines.

BTW, lots of good info here. I rented a softbank phone at Narita during my last visit and it worked out very well. I simply used it for text messaging and asked my friends to call me to avoid the 105yen/minute charges.

Incidentally, I brought my iPhone with me as well and it automatically connected. Of course I disabled data to avoid the ridiculous charges but I ended up using my GPS twice and I had to make a few outgoing calls when the battery in my rental phone died. I'm not looking forward to those bills...

[Onyx]

Glad i happen to find this thread today. I was just looking at fares from FT. Lauderdale airport to Narita and the cheapest i could find for May-June is $1,400. Strange because when i made this trip last year, same airline, higher gas prices my round trip ticket was $890, so i'll be looking into that travel agency you listed for prices, i may actually be able to visit Taiwan and Japan in one trip as i was planing. Thanks House TEk.