Thinking about a trip to Japan during September school holidays.
I was wondering will it be more enjoyable doing self guided tour or joining a tour group?
Any suggestions where to start planning for the trip? It's going to be a family of four.
Visiting Japan in September/October
browser on 30/04/2016 - 22:42
Comments
Is there a cheapo site for Osaka?
I was wondering if language/communication is going to be a problem?
So it is my first trip to Japan (well, not, due to a Narita layover 15 years ago but!) I have a good friend who lived in Japan for a decade and assures me Japan is likely less difficult than anywhere else in Asia. And my experience is a little attempt on my part to try and say please, thank-you, yes and no, hello, good-bye and whatever else I can pick up in the local language gets you a long way to not being disliked as an unwelcome tourist. Consider how you look at tourists you meet in Australia, if they try and be friendly and courteous everyone loves them.
I lived their for 4 years. Not a problem. Japanese people may be shy with speaking English (not want to lose face by making mistakes). But its all good. Most young adults + children have learnt English at school. Most street signs are bilingual.
I first went to Japan in 2007 and at that time getting around Tokyo was a pain as not mainly people understood English.
went back last May and was amazed at the improvements made. Many places has English menus/signs and a lot of people could understand basic English. I think the influx of tourist has forced them to adapt a little bit.
I'm spending the whole of Oct in Japan and I don't think it will be that difficult for you to get around unless you go to some remote areas where the exposure to English is fairly low.
not sure when is sept school holiday but be aware that from sep 30- oct 10, it is the national holiday of china and there will be an influx of chinese tourist to japan so if you can, try and avoid those dates as tourist destinations will be swamped with chinese tourist.
Also, try plenty of seafood, Sept/Oct is an awesome time to eat them as they are building up fat for the winter.
hope this helps
I am planning my 3rd trip back this year, never found language to be major issue.
Sept most students are back at school from their summer vacation so its a good time to go. I'd do a mix of day tours and travelling on your own - if you are getting a JR pass then just do you own thing. Day tours start at around $120pp
Damn it, I still have not done anything about trip, too busy doing lots of not much.
Hopefully I can get my act together in the coming weeks, already promised the kids and will be bad not to follow through.
Better you plan your trip, buy JR Pass and then enjoy..I returned from Japan 3 days back and we did not use any private tour operators. We did all planning day trips before i left and then enjoyed..I also used AIRBNB for accomodation.
Thanks, what's the credit card situation? I've heard they don't accept foreign cards?
Most of the time I had cash. Twice I used my citibank debit card at resturant and also used it to withdraw money from Japan post atm.
i had no issues with using a CBA mastercard in March at any of the restaurants we ate at in tokyo
Just got back from 8 nights in Tokyo staying in an AirBNB in Harajuku, first time I've visited in summer time. The rail system in Tokyo is amazing, safe and easy to use. We had a Suica card and just used that for convenience. Day trips we just did self guided easy as and cheaper. In Tokyo the smaller places usually only take cash so have plenty on you but the bigger shops restaraunts took cards. Have fun, I will be back to Japan again soon.
Doing the same. https://tokyocheapo.com/ is very good.
We got cheap Jetstar flights. Looking at AirBNB for a place to stay. Currently tossing up whether 9 days in Tokyo, but long daytrips on the railpass is better or trying to spend a couple of nights in Kyoto and maybe somewhere else.
Looks like no shortage of great cheap food and entertainment options, just need to sort the comparatively costly accommodation and transport.