This is our first trip to Japan…. We are lost and worried
 

Hi Guys

We (my wife and me) are going to Japan on the 15th Oct to 24th Oct but don’t know where to go and where to stay.

Touchdown Tokyo on 16th early morning and going back on 24th Oct, we are plan to start from Osaka, …….. and Tokyo, appreciate if anyone here could propose place of interest mainly on Shopping and Local food etc and also where to stay.

Appreciate your assistant

PS: This is our first trip to Japan…. We are lost and worried.

Best regards,

hmm
 

I wish I knew how to help you heh heh. But I've never been

I've wanted to go for a while. I know a couple classmates of mine have done a good study abroad program. I'm thinking of doing the same thing eventually..

What's your reason in going?

would it be just a travel experience?

:)

What are you interested in? For shopping there is Ginza and Roppongi in Tokyo and Umeda and Shinsaibashi/Namba in Osaka.

Definitely buy yourself a good guidebook (I like Lonely Planet Japan myself) and take it with you. Read up on areas that sound interesting to you.

I'd recommend spending most of your time in the Kansai area, seeing Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Koya-san, Himeji, etc. For food and shopping in Osaka, visit the Dotunburi area. Just look at the plastic food in the window, and pick a place that catches your eye... don't worry, I almost never had really bad food in Japan, even at tiny local places. So relax and explore!

I'm afraid I can't help much with Osaka, but I'm very familiar with Tokyo. The most convenient hotel in Tokyo in regards to price and convenience would be the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. You can find them online, and navigate their site in English. The hotel is located next to Shinagawa station, which is a main hub in Tokyo.

Shinagawa station lies on the Yamanote train line, which runs in a circle through the metro area. This line will take you to most points were seeing on your visit. You should visit Ueno (famous for it's parks, zoo, and museums), Akihabara station, home of "electric city", home of anime and all the new gizmos currently in vogue in Japan, Tokyo Station, which is convenient to Ginza and the Imperial Palace. At Tokyo Station you can take the Ginza or Asakusa line subways to Asakusa, which is probably the best place in Tokyo for tourists to shop for souvenirs and experience different kinds of food.

Continuing on the Yamanote line will take you through places like Meguro (which has many antique shops), Shibuya (probably the most famous place in Tokyo), and Harajuku (home to the cosplayers and youth fashion, but also next to Omotesando Hills, where you'll find more expensive, high-end stores).

If you get lost, you are never far from a Koban (police box). Police officers will be happy to give you directions to wherever you need to go. You'll also find traffic maps located throughout the city which will show you exactly where you are, and give you an idea of what's in the area.

Good luck, and have fun.

Bascially both of us need to clear our leave and we never been to Japan before and we guess it would be interesting for us too.

This sums up my time in Tokyo -- take note!

Hi, first, I think you need to figure out where to stay. Its better if you stay close to the city, for OSaka, I gues it will be either clse to the Osaka/Umeda station or the Namba station. I use Japanhotel.net myself, but others on this forum have had negative experieince with it, so its up to you who you want to go with. Here is there site:

JapanHotel.net Japanese Business Hotels, Ryokans, Minshukus, Guest Houses, Hot Springs and other accommodation

Which airport will you be landing in? The next thing is to figure out how to get yourself to the hotel from the airport. JR Hyperdia is a good tool to do the search:

Enter the station name

Then, there will be your itinerary, which you can get a lot of info on attractions (Do specify what you want to see) from board members, but Japan Guide is also a good starting place:

Osaka Travel Guide

Osaka Info is also a good place for info: OSAKA-INFO - Osaka Visitor's Guide

Wiht a 8 days itinerary, you probably want to drop by surrounding cities as well, Himeji, Kobe, Nara and Kyoto will be good choices. Himeji and Kobe can be a day trip from Osaka. I didn't find Kobe interesting, so I say that will be half a day. Osaka is nice and all, but I don't see it lasting you more than 3 days. You can probably spend the rest of your time around Kyoto and Nara

With 8 days, it is rather difficult to cover both Osaka and Tokyo, I mean it can be done, but you will be doing a lot of "run and glance"

My recommendation will be either do 4 days tokyo, 2 days Kyoto, 2 days Osaka/Nara, or the above mentioned itinerary:

Himeji 1 day
Kobe 1/2 day
Osaka 2.5 days
Nara 1 day
Kyoto 3 days

Have fun

Even if it is your first time in Japan, see if you can stay at some of the ryokan that have Englsih speaking staff rather than the "typical anywhere hotel" kind of places. I think it would be a much better experience.

You want to embrace Japan.... not isloate yourself from it. A lot of the western style hotels are not much different from staying at a big hotel in any major city in the world.

Invest time in planning; it will be well worth it. Get more than one guidebook and read up. Then plan your basic itinerary..... but don't lock yourself in too tight.

There is a basic rule when visiting Japan: If a car door is opened for you, get in. If a food is put in front of you, try it. If you folloow that..... you'll likely have a GREAT time and one that will be much better than what you plan.

I'm writing this from Asakusa... about to head back to the US after two months here in Japan.

best,

................john