Japan Travelling

It is VERY expensive. But the noodle shops are pretty reasonably priced. I would highly suggest Mt Fuji and the hot springs at Nagano. If you can get over to Okinawa I recommend it. A lot of English speaking soliers. Careful on the bullet train if you are female. There are ass-grabbers all over the place. Check out http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/index.html for more great tourist type stuff.

Why not come to China for a trip?

Well, I'm NOT a female, at least the last time I checked.

And I'm nervous of the the fact that you capitalized VERY .

Well, I dig anime quite a lot, so... thats pulling me more towards the Isle.

I want to go to Tokyo as well. But for one, none of my friends have the money to go, and two, I heard Thailand is pretty awesome and cheap. That's also on my list of places.

Thailand is wonderful!!
I have been there for abt 4 times!

Awesome and cheap huh? I like the sound of that...

Have you ever told us how your Europe trip went, el+pohl?
Weren't you afraid that they all smell badly and have rude
manners?

How was it?

I was told recently by someone who works in Palo Alto, CA, that it is more expensive to live there than it is in Tokyo these days.

I have a friend who travels to Tokyo quite often. One thing - he only goes to restaurants with pictures of the food. His attempts at ordering off of pictureless menus were quite distressing (one time he got ostrich liver).

When my brother left Japan he moved to Thailand where he lives today!

My standard recommendation for anyone who travels to the far east - bring jerky. You'll thank me.

Wecome to China.
Travelling in china will satified all kinds of your needs.
The foods, the perfect scenery, the profound culture will atract you.

i love china
i could still vaguely remember how pork ribs in wuxi tasted and how the cherry blossoms at li yuan. the view is magnificent and the shopping even great. well, the only thing i did not like about china's food was that it's too oily. is there any reason why it's so oily? i really like the warm hospitality of the chinese. i was at guan qian jie in suzhou searching frantically for a nice pair of boots then i entered this lady's store selling clothes, she brought me to a shoes boutique to no avail, i found no boots that caught my eye but still i really appreciate it. trust the experts, the night view at the bund in shanghai is awesome and i've never seen anything better in asia. i love shanghai, i love china.

I cant believe you can actually remember the names...

haha! it wasnt that long ago and it's kinda in the back of my head so i just dig their names out when i think about china.

Regarding cost: It depends how long you're going to be in Japan. Accommodation and travel are going to eat up your budget pretty quickly. The shinkansen is great but costly. Try to get a rail pass prior, if you're going to be covering long distances. Food isn't a problem really. You've got noodle shops, sushi, and even 7-11's with cheap stuff. And heaps of vending machines.

If I were planning a three-week holiday, I'd be sure to hit Tokyo, Kamakura, Nikko, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Kagoshima. Okinawa is pretty expensive and remote, but I'd throw it in too, if I had the resources. Speaking of which, Hokkaido is worth a visit, all things considered.

Basically, everywhere is good fun. If you love big cities, spend more time exploring Tokyo (it's huge). Culture, Kyoto. Great scenery, the Kansai region.

Hope that helps.

And yes, traveling rocks.

Ganbatte kudasai.

Some of you may enjoy Vikram Seth's book on his travels back home to India from China in an extremely roundabout fashion, back when he was a grad student in China. Unfortunately, I don't remember the title of the book right now.

Re Japan, I'm no help, though I read bits and pieces about Japan, and a couple of long time friends are originally from Japan.

I agree with Shazzer that the Kansait region is terrific. The people there are incredible and very hospitable. Please enjoy a relaxing massage from one of the girls in your hotel (They usually offer more than a massage).

Mmm... more than a massage huh? Reminds me of my hometown...

If you're interested in relaxing, go to Ibusuki's sand onsen. It's near Kagoshima; if you're bumming around Kyushu, I recommend it. I didn't find a direct website, but this one has some good pictures towards the bottom. It's lots of fun.

Can't say I know too much about 'massages.'