So it's been a strange torrid few months.
I got laid off in Dec but with a VERY generious severance package.
With that much money in my bank account staring at me I have decided it's time to hit Japan.
Going for 3 weeks in March/April.
I'll posting pics and will try and find some sisters stuff if it's there.
Plan is to use Tokyo as a home base and bullet train to Kyoto, Nara, Yokohama, Osaka spending a day or more here and there.
JAPAN !
- weebleswobble
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Sounds great!
‎"We will wear some very loud shirts. We will wear some very wrong trousers."
- Obviousman
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Excellent idea! I'm kind of considering going there for a holiday too, mostly Tokyo and see where you can get from there... I'd love to photograph there, Japan pictures always fascinate me, something very special about them, but wonder if one can survive with English and perhaps a tourist-Japanese booklet or so? The cost's quite something too I suppose? Spotted affordable flights to Tokyo these days, but when you get there it all really starts I guess...
Either way, do keep us posted, I'm mucho interested
Either way, do keep us posted, I'm mucho interested
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second that emotionweebleswobble wrote:Sounds great!
Goths have feelings too
- Silver_Owl
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A good friend of mine lived there for 6 months. He didn't speak any Japanese before arrival. If you want any advice - I can always ask.Obviousman wrote:Excellent idea! I'm kind of considering going there for a holiday too, mostly Tokyo and see where you can get from there... I'd love to photograph there, Japan pictures always fascinate me, something very special about them, but wonder if one can survive with English and perhaps a tourist-Japanese booklet or so? The cost's quite something too I suppose? Spotted affordable flights to Tokyo these days, but when you get there it all really starts I guess...
Either way, do keep us posted, I'm mucho interested
We forgive as we forget
As the day is long.
As the day is long.
My sister also lived in Tokyo for about 2 years.Hom_Corleone wrote:A good friend of mine lived there for 6 months. He didn't speak any Japanese before arrival. If you want any advice - I can always ask.Obviousman wrote:Excellent idea! I'm kind of considering going there for a holiday too, mostly Tokyo and see where you can get from there... I'd love to photograph there, Japan pictures always fascinate me, something very special about them, but wonder if one can survive with English and perhaps a tourist-Japanese booklet or so? The cost's quite something too I suppose? Spotted affordable flights to Tokyo these days, but when you get there it all really starts I guess...
Either way, do keep us posted, I'm mucho interested
- Obviousman
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Not bad! Whenever I decide on going there, I'll be in touch with both of you (I'd only go for a week or so - perhaps slightly more, but not much - if I would though)Big Si wrote:My sister also lived in Tokyo for about 2 years.Hom_Corleone wrote:A good friend of mine lived there for 6 months. He didn't speak any Japanese before arrival. If you want any advice - I can always ask.Obviousman wrote:Excellent idea! I'm kind of considering going there for a holiday too, mostly Tokyo and see where you can get from there... I'd love to photograph there, Japan pictures always fascinate me, something very special about them, but wonder if one can survive with English and perhaps a tourist-Japanese booklet or so? The cost's quite something too I suppose? Spotted affordable flights to Tokyo these days, but when you get there it all really starts I guess...
Either way, do keep us posted, I'm mucho interested
You've gotta go for a few weeks General. One week defo ain't enough. My dad used to go visit her for 3 weeks at a time, and he said he wished he'd had even more time as there was so much to do and go see, not just in tokyo but all over the country. You lose a few days because of the jet lagObviousman wrote:Not bad! Whenever I decide on going there, I'll be in touch with both of you (I'd only go for a week or so - perhaps slightly more, but not much - if I would though)Big Si wrote:My sister also lived in Tokyo for about 2 years.Hom_Corleone wrote: A good friend of mine lived there for 6 months. He didn't speak any Japanese before arrival. If you want any advice - I can always ask.
- Obviousman
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Hmm, I'll wait a couple of years then and do something else this summer, can't get that much time off as far as I know
How about Beirut?Obviousman wrote:Hmm, I'll wait a couple of years then and do something else this summer...
As for Japan, my boss lived there for a couple of years and loved it, as did one of our ESOL tutors. I don't think either of them spoke any Japapnese when they moved there, and I'm not sure if they speak any now. It's a place I'd love to visit, but it would need more time and money than I have. There's definitely an upside to large severence packages
RIP Dale: 1994 - 2009
I have some basic Japanese but I'm no where near fluent or conversational.
Have some friends based there whom I've been talking to. A week would be a waste. The bullet trains make travel short Tokyo to Osaka it like 3 hours
It ain't cheap by a long shot
Flight : $1350
Hotel : $2000+ you can do this for cheaper but I'm getting a little old for the hostels
JT Rail Pass: $800, this lets you ride the shinkasen (bullet train) for 21 days unlimited. Sounds pricey but the average trip will cost $190 one way so it's worth it. This is all in CDN dollars.
To be honest I am a little spooked, think about signs with no roman characters at all, maps are pretty much usless as there are no real addresses 99% of the time the number on the building is the date when it was made.
It's also largely cash based vs credit card.
Having red hair and freckles means I'm sticking out even larger then then average person and then there's the whole issue with tattoos. Mine's covered by a shirt but it means no public baths or onsen (hot springs) for me as tattoos are forbidden. Keeps the Yakuza out.
Have some friends based there whom I've been talking to. A week would be a waste. The bullet trains make travel short Tokyo to Osaka it like 3 hours
It ain't cheap by a long shot
Flight : $1350
Hotel : $2000+ you can do this for cheaper but I'm getting a little old for the hostels
JT Rail Pass: $800, this lets you ride the shinkasen (bullet train) for 21 days unlimited. Sounds pricey but the average trip will cost $190 one way so it's worth it. This is all in CDN dollars.
To be honest I am a little spooked, think about signs with no roman characters at all, maps are pretty much usless as there are no real addresses 99% of the time the number on the building is the date when it was made.
It's also largely cash based vs credit card.
Having red hair and freckles means I'm sticking out even larger then then average person and then there's the whole issue with tattoos. Mine's covered by a shirt but it means no public baths or onsen (hot springs) for me as tattoos are forbidden. Keeps the Yakuza out.
End of line.
Already seen it, I suspect that that's the way I'm going to be feelingOzpat wrote:You might wanna watch "Lost In Translation".
That hotel is over priced for what it offers though
If you owned a Dreamcast and played Shenmue I'm going to Dobuita for a pilgrimage. It's a little south of Yokohama about 90 mins from Tokyo
End of line.
- Silver_Owl
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If you got to meet Scarlett Johanson it would all be worthwhile.spot778 wrote:Already seen it, I suspect that that's the way I'm going to be feelingOzpat wrote:You might wanna watch "Lost In Translation".
That hotel is over priced for what it offers though
If you owned a Dreamcast and played Shenmue I'm going to Dobuita for a pilgrimage. It's a little south of Yokohama about 90 mins from Tokyo
We forgive as we forget
As the day is long.
As the day is long.
- Silver_Owl
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Personally, I'd get over it if she wasn't.spot778 wrote:Only if she's a sisters fan
We forgive as we forget
As the day is long.
As the day is long.
- Ozpat
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Oh yes; I agree so much!Hom_Corleone wrote:If you got to meet Scarlett Johanson it would all be worthwhile.spot778 wrote:Already seen it, I suspect that that's the way I'm going to be feelingOzpat wrote:You might wanna watch "Lost In Translation".
That hotel is over priced for what it offers though
If you owned a Dreamcast and played Shenmue I'm going to Dobuita for a pilgrimage. It's a little south of Yokohama about 90 mins from Tokyo
"as we walk on the floodland"
bon voyage.
i quite envy 'coz Japan is one of the few place on earth that i want to see, badly. anyhow, thanks for the photos in advance.
i quite envy 'coz Japan is one of the few place on earth that i want to see, badly. anyhow, thanks for the photos in advance.
- nodubmanshouts
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Good luck!
I've been to Japan many times - first few times I hardly spoke the lingo, and its not really a problem - most map signs do have roman characters in the bigger cities, and there's always somebody around to help. But do prepared to have some restaurants politely refuse to serve you if you can't speak Japanese.
BIG TIP: Take a visa debit card to get cash. You can get cash at any post office ATM (but normally not other ATMs).
Have fun!
I've been to Japan many times - first few times I hardly spoke the lingo, and its not really a problem - most map signs do have roman characters in the bigger cities, and there's always somebody around to help. But do prepared to have some restaurants politely refuse to serve you if you can't speak Japanese.
BIG TIP: Take a visa debit card to get cash. You can get cash at any post office ATM (but normally not other ATMs).
Have fun!
- markfiend
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I see what you did therepaint it black wrote:second that emotionweebleswobble wrote:Sounds great!
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
—Bertrand Russell
—Bertrand Russell