The Nippon Express

[Mongoose]

Ten years ago, Mrs M and I first came to Japan and loved the place. We did an organised small group tour through Inside Japan, who I can't recommend highly enough. A decade later and my stepson has moved there for a year, so we thought we'd pop over and see some more.

I thought a thread might be useful. British tourists seem to say away from Japan as it has a reputation for being a. Expensive and b. Difficult to navigate. Neither could be further from the truth and with the Yen running at over 200 to the pound, now is a great time to experience it.

The flight via Doha was a killer, 7 hours, 2 hour layover, 10 hours to Tokyo.

First two nights were spent trying to overcome the jetlag and my circadian rythmns which were all over the place. Dinner was at a tiny diner and cost under s tenner for three dishes with rice and three bowls of miso soup (A bit of an ordering misunderstanding!). One of the dishes was fantastic, but turned out to be beef intestine













Some of the clothing ( Costumes?!) are bizarre or a tad risque by Western standards.......


It's incredibly safe to walk around, with very little crime. As a society, respect is given, accepted and expected. There's little graffiti, virtually no litter and subway trips cost under a pound per journey.

 

[Mongoose]

Day three and we moved on to Osaka by Shinkansen, the bullet train. Feck it's quick! The journey was around £70 each. After an emotional reunion (Mrs M hasn't seen her lad for 6 months now) we went for a wander. We booked an apartment in the city for £70 per night and found ourselves on the 10th floor.....more of that later......








You can't beat a Macha Mr Whippy.....

........but only if you've eaten all your dinner. The conveyer belt sushi chains are fantastic and each dish is around £2-3 pounds. A ramen bowl comes in at £2.75. All 3 of us were stuffed as we left, just £15 poorer.


We were woken rather rudely the following morning by both of our phones going berserk. Both were flashing disaster warnings and opening the balcony doors, we could hear sirens going off and announcements in Japanese booming across the city. Turned out it was an annual drill.......with no warning.

After changing underwear, we descended ten floors and went walkabout......


He view from the Hitachi tower at 108 metres is amazing. Thees a slide down from 60 metres or so and you could hear the screams of those using it for some distance.

 

[Barnoe]

Funny this thread should come up
I think Japan is like marmite, you either love it hate it.

3 mates of mine who have all been mates since school have decided to have a holiday for all our 60th birthdays.
So that's 4 couples including us, they created a Facebook group and all decided on Japan for 3 weeks.

One problem I'm not on Facebook, so only knew about it once they decided.

I told them a few days ago i wont be going as i really don't like the look of Japan.
i watched some Youtube video and that confirmed it for me.

So they are all going without me
which is fine i am going doing Route 66 with the wife instead.

 

[Mongoose]

At this point, we were contemplating a few days in Seoul or Taipei, just a 2 hour flight away costing £200, but couldn't face another airport and more fancying about. Instead, we booked a hire car for 8 days and decided on a road trip. The hire car came in at £20 per day for a rather large Nissan. Side note, I now really, really want a Toyota Vellfire when I get home.

On to Nara, via a huge lake and the skiing centre of Japan.


En route, we stopped at a bike clothing store. New mesh jacket for £40 anyone? Prices are around 50% of the UK . The Dianese store we popped into was really good value too, around 20% cheaper.


We booked a stunning traditional Japanese house for £40 per night. Nara is famous for it's temples and deer that roam the streets. There's a lot of them and they like their food, getting rather aggressive if you don't offer them anything you happen to be carrying.




The Nissan is huge inside, but surprisingly good on fuel. Given it's around 80p per litre here, just another bonus


By 3.I was all templed out, but hungry....

Maybe not. Sushi again I think....

Order on the little iPad and minutes later, round it comes.....

23 dishes later......I make that around £22.50.

 

[leadfarmer]

British tourists seem to say away from Japan as it has a reputation for being a. Expensive and b. Difficult to navigate. Neither could be further from the truth

Couldn’t agree more

We were there in January, absolutely loved it, we’ll be going back for certain

The train system is fantastic and easy to use, we were a bit off season so had no problem booking Shinkansen on the day when going between cities

With Google Maps you can find the easiest route for buses and trains in town or out of town

Google Translate is miraculous for menus, street signs etc, we even spent an evening in a restaurant chatting with a deaf and dumb Japanese couple, a wonderful experience

Don’t bother with the tourist Suica card, just get the normal one

 

[SBD]

Haven’t been for around 9 years, but absolutely bloody loved it.

Fantastic place, respectful and safe. Hospitable people, brilliant food, lots to see and do.

Hiroshima is an eye opener.

As was the snake in the temple we stayed in one night.

Highly recommended.

 

[Bravo]

Ten years ago, Mrs M and I first came to Japan and loved the place. We did an organised small group tour through Inside Japan, who I can't recommend highly enough. A decade later and my stepson has moved there for a year, so we thought we'd pop over and see some more.

I thought a thread might be useful. British tourists seem to say away from Japan as it has a reputation for being a. Expensive and b. Difficult to navigate. Neither could be further from the truth and with the Yen running at over 200 to the pound, now is a great time to experience it.

The flight via Doha was a killer, 7 hours, 2 hour layover, 10 hours to Tokyo.

First two nightsView attachment 535904View attachment 535905 were spent trying to overcome the jetlag and my circadian rythmns which were all over the place. Dinner was at a tiny diner and cost under s tenner for three dishes with rice and three bowls of miso soup (A bit of an ordering misunderstanding!). One of the dishes was fantastic, but turned out to be beef intestine


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Some of the clothing ( Costumes?!) are bizarre or a tad risque by Western standards.......

View attachment 535912
It's incredibly safe to walk around, with very little crime. As a society, respect is given, accepted and expected. There's little graffiti, virtually no litter and subway trips cost under a pound per journey.

Can you bring these two home for me?

 

[Mongoose]

So, onto Kurashiki via a long motorway drive in sheeting rain. Great. Not helping my mood much was a Google maps incident last night, which took me down a tiny track with a left hand 90 degree bend. I managed to scrape the nearside bodywork on some concrete sticking out into the road. Thank god I took out insurance to cover the excess. More sushi for tea, 23 dishes for £21.

We've been to Kurashiki before and managed to get two rooms in the same hotel as last time......for £62. Result.



Came across two Japanese bikers on the service area, one of them on this Harley ( Shovel?)

Quick visit to the castle home of a 16th century Shogun. The place is built around two 25 metrre vertical beams that support the structure. The rest of the nearby city is less than 75 years old as the Yanks firebombed i during the war. Not a single bomb hit the castle.



The Japanese seem to revere both British and French names, although their use of random words on t shirts can be confusing.
"What should we call our new hotel"?
" Didn't you love that place in London with the Observatory.....what was it called"?


Never mind that, fancy the cat cafe darling? Over my still and lifeless corpse honey. I'm a dog person, hough feck knows what the Scotties have done to upset folk here....

Ramen for tea. £18 for three of us and I'm stuffed.

Just time to visit the onsen spa in our hotel before bed. Sweet Jesus, they're all bollick naked and I appear to have wandered into the regional headquarters of the Japanese micro-penis society No wonder Western men are so prized by the women over here. I wander round, hands on hips for a good ten minutes as they all deny eye contact. The concept of manscaping has also seemingly passed Japanese men by. Women here apparently still overwhelmingly sport full 70's bushes as only prostitutes wax. Curious how different the east and west still are in some cultural areas.

Interestingly, anyone with tattoos are banned from using the onsen. Whilst attitudes have changed a little in the last decade, tattoos are still somewhat taboo here, being the province mainly of the Yakuza.

I had a wander into a bike clothing place this afternoon and found a rather nice mesh jacket for £52 with full armour. I was tempted until I saw the stencil on the back:
"It is good to observe the rules of the highway". Bizarre.

I filled the car up on the way back. 30 litres of petrol.......£24.

One last observation. There are very few medium or large build dogs here and small dogs are rarely seen walking.

 

[Mongoose]

No idea what happened to the Harley pic....

 

[Burridge01]

Great info and photo's.I want to go next year for me 60th but struggle with flying.I'm off to Malta at Christmas to see how i get on with it.I'm off to wet me whistle on the "inside Japan" website, thanks.

 

[Mongoose]

Great info and photo's.I want to go next year for me 60th but struggle with flying.I'm off to Malta at Christmas to see how i get on with it.I'm off to wet me whistle on the "inside Japan" website, thanks.

We did Japan Unmasked, which was fantastic.

 

[grantmac]

Brilliant...brought back so many memories of our trip last year....Dotonburi in Osaka is just bonkers....!
Shinkansen...and my favourite food Yakitori....
Going back next year to the north this time.
...and 100% bang on...the yen is very weak so its paradise for us at the mo.
Japan is absolutely fantastic!

 

[Mongoose]

We've moved on from Kurashiki to the North coast. First stop was a hotel on a beach facing the Sea of Japan. Like many British seaside resorts, it was a little shabby out of season. The hotel had a fantastic onsen though and we found a great little Vietnamese restaurant hidden in a back street nearby.

Every Japanese hotel outside big cities has had one of these.....

The cart or display shelf has razors, toothbrushes, sweets, toothpaste, flannels, slippers etc all free. Our hotel this time also had this....


Looking like a cabinet from Grace Brothers, three sides were stacked with traditional Japanese pyjamas for women, children and men in 3 sizes.. Choose your own to wear during the stay. Large would fit a sumo........or the average Tosser.


The Vietnamese was the dearest meal we've had so far at a whopping £28 for three of us.

 

[Arsey]

Funny this thread should come up
I think Japan is like marmite, you either love it hate it.

3 mates of mine who have all been mates since school have decided to have a holiday for all our 60th birthdays.
So that's 4 couples including us, they created a Facebook group and all decided on Japan for 3 weeks.

One problem I'm not on Facebook, so only knew about it once they decided.

I told them a few days ago i wont be going as i really don't like the look of Japan.
i watched some Youtube video and that confirmed it for me.

So they are all going without me
which is fine i am going doing Route 66 with the wife instead.

Japan is a fantastic country with virtually no crime as mentioned above and the people are so polite and friendly . What is it about the country that you don’t like just from looking at YouTube ?

 

[Mongoose]

Just how long do you think the freebies would last in the UK?!

Japan is an industrial nation, but on a scale that is hard to comprehend. Every town and village has manufacturing plants adjacent or central. Think Birmingham in the 50's. It's not pretty, but it's productive. Function beats form here in urban areas at least.

The electrics are above ground as they're easier to repair after earthquakes, which are frequent. Down the centre of most pavements runs a yellow tiled channel under which the rest of services are run. In cities, this also carries the electrics. Saves them digging up the whole footpath each time. Simple, but effective.

Given that Japan is ....was...... the epicentre of motorcycle manufacturing, there's a decided lack of bikes on the road. Travelling for three hours through the national park, I saw two Harleys. Outside the cities, I've seen very few.


I was this week old,when I found out that in Google translate, if you activate the camera and point it at a sign, it translates it there and then. It has been invaluable for menus and signposts


I do love my morning coffee. Every town has a choice of convenience stores, usually, 7/11, Lawson's and Family Value. The FV coffee is excellent and around £2 for a large cup. It's much better than the other two, so worth finding one. You buy the cup at the counter and then use the machine near the door. 7/11 has cash machines that take Western credit and debit cards. We've used a Wise card for his trip, which has worked when our other cards haven't.

Onto the coastal town of Ine, famous in Japan for is fisherman's cottages on stilts. The village is situated on a stunning series of bays. It was raining today unfortunately, but beautiful nonetheless



The boat trip around the bay was only a fiver, but unfortunately it's advertised to Japanese tourists as a trip to feed the seagulls. 20 of them stood on the top deck holding up cheese puffs, which meant that for 30 minutes we were dive bombed constantly. I was rather annoyed. I was more annoyed that none of them were shat on.

 

[Barnoe]

Japan is a fantastic country with virtually no crime as mentioned above and the people are so polite and friendly . What is it about the country that you don’t like just from looking at YouTube ?

Eating crossleggged on the floor
Sleeping on the floor
Chopsticks
bowing all the time and etiquette
The food
It looks over crowded
the long flight

I would enjoy maybe a few days for a nosey, but its not my idea of a main holiday for 2-3 week. I get that other people like it for all the reasons i don't, but i would be out of my comfort zone.

 

[Arsey]

Eating crossleggged on the floor
Sleeping on the floor
Chopsticks
bowing all the time and etiquette
The food
It looks over crowded
the long flight

I would enjoy maybe a few days for a nosey, but its not my idea of a main holiday for 2-3 week. I get that other people like it for all the reasons i don't, but i would be out of my comfort zone.

Fair enough .
But I think you get the wrong idea just by watching YouTube etc .
I’ve been going to Japan for thirty years .

I have never eaten cross legged sat on the floor . Have only ever slept in a proper bed . You don’t have to use chopsticks and don’t have to bow .
The food is fabulous but western stuff is also available.

It’s a long flight but I go there and back in four days so if you go for a couple of weeks you’ll soon acclimatise.

A shame to rule out a country by getting a skewed opinion off the internet.

 

[grantmac]

when we went there last year I felt the same about being out of my comfort zone...also has to do with my anxiety....Missus arranged it all . When we got there never felt so welcomed. Food, amazing, ease of getting around once you get to understand, extremely safe and efficient, language no barrier, loved it sooooo much we´re planning going back next year. I even volunteered to go ´´jump seat´´ with Capt. Sensible for a long weekend above just to buy some riding gloves in Yokohama and enjoy a Yakitori dinner...... he hasn't taken me up on that one.....
....its that great!
Working for a Japanese company and my boss is Japanese has its advantages'...eating out is normally Japanese and there are a couple of good place's in Laaahdun albeit bonkers expensive....Found a yakitori place up West which made my eyes water at the cost...reckon on 100 quid a head ....

 

[Mongoose]

Yesterday didn't go so well......

I clattered a rock on the road, battering the door of our minivan. The insurance excess was £750. It's covered by insurance.......if they pay up. It also rained in biblical fashion for a couple of hours.

Anyhow, we're back in Osaka and having a day out in Kyoto.

Took the train, which was under 3 quid each and left our rather lovely apartment (£146 for 4 nights ) and racked up 25k steps by dinner time.

First stop in Kyoto was a huge bike shop, where I could have bought half the shop. I settled on some new summer boots and a pair of summer gloves for under a hundred notes and had a sit on the new CB thou. Didn't start it, so I can't comment on the rumours of big vibes through the bars. Nice bit of kit and tiny for a litre bike. Unimpressed with the colour scheme though.

Ten years since we were last in Kyoto. Very few British voices, it's almost all Italians, Spanish and a few Yanks. Let's just say today has been very easy on the eye.





There's a sushi conveyer belt chain called Sushiro. Great food and a novel way of eating. Order via an ipad at the table and round it comes minutes later. 19 sushi plates, 3 bowls of ramen and three fried chicken plus two small desserts between 3 of us......£26. I'm stuffed, I've submitted my insurance claim and I'm off to bed. Night all.

 

[Mongoose]

Well, I've got to the end ( almost) and I write this from the Shinkansen waiting room in Osaka. It still blows my mind that HS2, built some 50 years after the train I'll be boarding shortly, is going to travel at a third of the speed. Still, the same could be said of Concorde and the aircraft I'll be travelling home on I suppose.

I did want to address a huge elephant in the room: Whilst on the north coast of Japan, we came across a small island with a museum dedicated to the Japanese soldiers who had been shipped to Siberia at the end of the war. Many never returned and those who did came back many years later after living and working in horrific conditions. I wanted to visit, but it brought back something my dad had said before I left. His uncle was taken prisoner in Singapore and was forced to work on the Burma railways. He survived, but landed back in the UK weighing under 40 kilos at over 6 feet tall. He never recovered from the psychological and physical abuse and trauma he suffered at the hands of the Japanese. Like most, he never spoke of it, but never bought a TV or a car that was Japanese. Yet, several decades later, here I am, loving the country and the people and as Mrs M and I found out yesterday, might be about to have a Japanese daughter in law. As the infamous 1960's psychology study around prisons demonstrated, brutality isn't confined to just one race, one religion or even one gender.

Aaaaaanyhow, a few tips for anyone contemplating visiting for the first time;

Buy Skechers slip ins, particularly if you're on a group tour. You take your shoes off a lot! Every house, every temple and at the threshold of every hotel room.

If like me, you're a man of a certain age with a prostate the size of a grapefruit, never fear! Public toilets are everywhere and usually immaculate.

Google translate is a godsend, few people speak English, particularly outside Tokyo. If you're a Luddite, you're gonna struggle.

Get outside the big cities if you can. Like every country, it's a different world.

ATM's are found in every 7/11 store. There's one on every second corner.

Japan is very rules driven and respectful. No queue jumping, no jay walking and no rushing. Eating in public is frowned on in some places.

It looks like we may have family here, so we'll be back. South islands next time!