Curious Customs: Tips for Visiting Japan, Part 2

Advantages: A great adventure
Disadvantages: Leave that handkerchief at home!

...Welcome to the second part of my top ten tips for visitors to Japan. As this follows on from Part 1 (surprisingly enough), I'll be kicking off with number 6. By the way, in case you haven't read Part 1 I'll just mention that gaijin is Japanese for foreigner. <6> ◄Eating in Japan► Japan is home to one of the one of the world's great cuisines and the Japanese are passionate about food; indeed it is a bigger topic of conversation in Japan than the weather is in Britain. Japanese food is a huge subject and as I'm only offering a few tips for travellers here I can only scratch the surface. I should perhaps mention that my Japanese friends have persuaded me to try just about every weird and wonderful culinary concoction imaginable and I've never suffered any ill effects. Often the things I could barely bring myself to put in...

Mitsudan 22.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Customs (Japan)

Konnichiwa! Tips for Visiting Japan Part 3

Advantages: Successful communication feels like an achievement
Disadvantages: It pays to invest some time and effort

... <10> Communication Welcome to the third and final part of my top ten tips for visitors to Japan. Having looked last time at the potential pitfalls for gaijin (foreigners) in blowing their noses and taking a bath amongst other hazards, this time I'm dealing with the biggest minefield of the lot - the all-important business of communication. So here is tip number 10. The Devil's Language? The brick wall up against which most foreign visitors come in Japan when trying to communicate is of course the Japanese language itself. It's said that in the sixteenth century the missionary St Francis Xavier, on discovering the difficulty westerners had in deciphering a single word spoken or written by the Japanese people, concluded that Japanese had been devised by the devil to prevent Christian missionaries from doing their good...

Mitsudan 25.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of General: Japan

Japan delivered to your door

Advantages: All things Japanese for the discerning British shopper
Disadvantages: In store labelling/signage isn't the best

...*Japan is now apparently in the centre of London!* Japan Centre is a series of businesses based in London Piccadilly, with the stated aim of having Japan 'delivered to your door'. It's an absolutely wonderful idea for a diverse range of people: from someone looking to take their first tentative steps towards trying sushi, or for crazed Japanophiles who can't cope without a weekly supply of edamame, sake and good quality sushi rice. All under one roof you can find a retail store, a popular website for ordering Japanese goods, a restaurant, sushi classes, Japanese recipes (in English), a user forum and a bilingual recruitment agency. Much as I love Japanese cuisine I can't speak more than ten words of Japanese, so this review will focus on the retail and online stores and some of the added extras offered on their site (www...

edinburgher 14.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Japan Centre

Kyoto, the OLD capital of Japan.

Advantages: Cheap area, gorgeous attractions and temples, good for short visits!
Disadvantages: Limited activity so best for -5 day visits.

...I visited Japan at the end of this July, and have only just returned. I must say it was the holiday of a lifetime. Flights cost £900 each via British Airways. We visited Kyoto for 3 days. We got there via Shinkansen from Tokyo, and stayed at the New Miyako hotel, just over the road from Kyoto station. Kyoto was absolutely gorgeous and very easy to navigate around. You can get just about anywhere you want to from Kyoto Station. There are buses, subway trains etc. 220 yen is all you need for a bus ride to anywhere along the Kyoto bus lines. That works out at around £1. You just hop on the bus and pay when you get off. We visited Toei movie land which was a bit of a dissapointment. www.eigamura30.com. Looking at brochures we expected amazing movie scenes etc but it left a lot to be desired. A lot of it was shut off, and most...

Jellypigs 18.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Kyoto (Japan)

Recommended places to visit in Japan

Advantages: Great places to visit, many things to do, new technologies
Disadvantages: some things are pricey especially the latest technologies, jet lag

...I visited Japan last summer with a friend and we spent about a month there. We visited the following cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima and Kyoto. ~Tokyo~ Tokyo is a lot like London. It's made up of a number of very distinct villages - each with their own character and often populated with a variety of characters - some of whom may only come out at night - and are not necessarily vampires! Most of the main areas in Tokyo are stops on the Yamanote Line - Tokyo's equivalent of the Circle Line (only more efficient!). Getting a day ticket to go round this line doesn't turn you into a train spotter. It is an ideal way to get your bearings and it provides a reasonable overview of the City. The streets of Tokyo are laid out in a grid pattern similar to those of New York and other larger cities. At first sight, each street not only looked...

rambo 01.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of General: Japan

Easy travel in Japan!

Advantages: easy to use, use as many time as you want during valid day
Disadvantages: limited location to exchange voucher

...Traveling in Japan is quite costly. So having a Japan Rail (JR) Pass is an excellent way for the foreigners to see Japan. However, you want to evaluate your situation before purchasing the JR pass as if you do not use it, there will be about 20% service fee for unused ticket refund or not getting full value for the money. Confusing? It could be... but it is fairly simple. JR pass: (quick overview) 1* pre-purchased Exchange Order (voucher) outside Japan for the foreign travelers on temporary visitor status (include nationals living in foreign country) 2* JR Pass allows you to travel free on any "Japan Railways" trains (but NOT private rail lines) including well famous Bullet Train (Shinkansen - Hikari and Kodama, NOT Nozomi). Also some JR bus systems. 3* 2 types of pass: GREEN and ORDINARY. Green is more costly than Ordinary...

mckey 21.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Japan Rail Pass

IBC Japan

Advantages: Excellent service, loads for pictures and honest infomation on cars.
Disadvantages: Some cars can be expensive.

...pictures as you want, an honest inspection with an homest report. Plus the service is amazing with 24/7 chat/phone/skype/e-mail. if you cant get in contact to voice a concern you must be a techonlogy virgin! If you want a car form Japan then IBC is perfect for buying your own personal car and also the auction offers dealers the best prices if you know enough about the cars you want to sell. I would highly reccomend IBC. check it out www.ibcjapan.co.jp...

importmad 03.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of IBC Japan Car Exporter

An introduction to bizarre Japan

Advantages: Despite things being bizarre they're strangely enjoyable
Disadvantages: Everyone else thinks you're weird for liking them

...Okay I have a theory. ALL JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE INSANE. I`m yet to be proven wrong. One advantage of this is though that they do create some of the most bizarre and wonderful things. So lets forget about the temples and castle these are the things you`ll really remember about Japan. 1.VENDING MACHINES Not bizarre in themselves but they are actually every where, millions of them. Most sell just drinks and cigarettes, some sell alcohol(now be honest would that work in Britain, can you imagine how many drunken 12 year olds there would be lying about on the streets). They get slowly more unusual and bizarre, newspapers, pot plants, fast food. The most bizarre are the legendary vending machines that sell used school girls knickers, having not seen one I can`t guarentee that they still exist. Strangely though I haven`t found a single one...

randymutley 29.06.2004 · Read review
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Review of General: Japan

At last, the real Japan

Advantages: A better style
Disadvantages: Still not there

...In the early part of their career, Japan had struggled to find a suitable style and had never found a sympathetic enough production ear. With Quiet Life, their 1978 album, that all changed. This was their first album produced by ex Roxy Music man John Punter, and on it Japan finally found their true setting (and discovered a talented saxophonist in bassist Mick Karn). Unfortunately the Punter association was too much for certain critics who had already noted the Bryan Ferry influences in David Sylvian?s singing style and the band got some accusations of ripping off Roxy. However, Quiet Life was unlike anything that Roxy had ever produced and even included a version of the Velvet Underground?s All Tomoorrow?s Parties. They were still, therefore, not critically rated, but they were starting to build a committed and major...

dave27 09.10.2000 · Read review
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Review of Quiet Life (Plus) - Japan

A year in Japan

Advantages: A great way to experience a different culture, the best way to learn Japanese
Disadvantages: Can be quite isolating if you go on your own, Japan is expensive

...I spent my GAP year teaching English in a High School in Japan (4 years ago now, how did that happen?!). At least that was the idea. Being straight out of High School myself I had more of a role as a language assistant in other teachers' classes, joined the school swimming club and went to some ordinary classes as well (to improve my Japanese and get to know other students too) and didn't do much teaching on my own (I probably could have if I'd wanted to, but one thing I quickly discovered was that I had no idea how to teach a class of 40 students English). This quite a long opinion, so you might want to skip to the summary at the end :-) Starting at the beginning of my stay: I arranged this through my school in England, which had an exchange program with a school in Japan (Makuhari High School in Chiba-ken, near Tokyo). So that...

outonalimb 25.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Gap Year in Japan