Tips for travelling to Japan

Didn't want to derail the Tokyo 2012 meetup thread, so thought I'd start a separate thread for this.

 

I'm thinking about taking another trip to Japan in May of this year. Since there's a Doll Party the first weekend, I'll probably try to attend it as well. I've been there eight years or so ago on a tour which was anime/pop culture centric (through Pop Japan Travel) and trying to decide whether I should go on another tour or wander around on my own. Thinking of spending about a week and a half to two weeks and would like to do maybe half and half shopping/Doll Party and touristy stuff.

 

The big plus of a tour is that I don't have to arrange things for myself and stress out about all the details and where to go. The big minus is that I know that I want to do some serious shopping and the Doll Party while I'm there which a tour package might not offer the flexibility of doing well.

 

Anyways, thought I'd throw it open and see what suggestions/advice others might have. Thanks in advance.

I've always been a fan of doing my own thing. But I'm not a super touristy type, I just like to explore on my own. As long as I have a map I'm good, but I've got a keen sense of direction. ^^;

For hotels, all I can say is that the Toyoko Inn system is awesome. Excellent rates, great service and loads of locations! I stayed in one in Shinjuku and altho the room was small, the only time I was there was to sleep and clean up. So the size was fine for me. I was in Tokyo by myself with a very TINY grasp on some of the language for 5 days and I made it thru just fine.

 

The nice thing about Tokyo and other large cities there is that almost all signs are also in English. Plus, a large amount of people speak at least enuff English to help you out if need be. But I found that pointing at stuff I needed and smiling a lot got me far.

 

Food isn't cheap no matter where you are there so allow for that. But the conbini stores are excellent for cheap food at any time of day or night. Lawsons was my fave spot to hit.

 

As for DD related places, of course hit every possible Volks store you can! The ring line of the JR train system will take you almost everywhere you need to go in Tokyo. You can hit all the major stops easily without ever worrying about getting lost. The Yamanote line is your friend!

 

Other spots are Nakano Broadway and Mandarake stores. Akihabara is of course the mecca for all things otaku but you know this. Hit up Ikebukuro too since they have fine nerd shops as well.

 

And there is no end to tourist places in Tokyo. Make sure to see the harbor area and Rainbow Bridge at night. Go to the new Sky Tree and Tokyo Tower too. Don't miss Shibuya in the day and at night, that place is insane! And Harajuku is fun to wander around on a weekend to see shoppers of all sorts.

 

If you have any other questions let me know. I'll be glad to help if I can.

 

 

Billy

I haven't contacted these guys yet, but they have a service to develop custom itinerary for you:

http://www.pacsettours.com/index.html

 

Their group tours got good reviews on figure.fm, and they are otaku-centric.

Pacset Tours seems interesting. Thanks for the link. I'll check them out.

Hi

 

I have to agree with baldylox regarding the Yamanote Line being your friend.

 

I was in Tokyo for two and a half weeks and could have kept myself occupied the entire time using just this line, my son and I used to get off at random stations and just walk about, that way we saw way more than the guide books showed you.

 

Neither of us spoke much more than hello and thank you in Japanese and we managed fine, all of the major stations are signed in English and the train onboard announcements and maps alternate between Japanese and English on the main lines, one old lady in the Local Lawsons adopted us and would help us out microwaving our food etc. I felt a bit ignorant sometimes due to my lack of communication ability but this was mostly due to the effort that the person I was trying to communicate with was putting into being polite while I tried to get over what I wanted.

 

We stayed at a hotel in Takadanobaba (Hotel Sunroute) which is not one of the trendy areas but had plenty going on virtually 24/7 as its near a couple of big universities. If you have never been to Japan before you may be amazed at what they can squeeze into what to most westerners is a very small hotel room. Could not fault the hotel, clean, reasonably priced and the staff were very friendly.

 

We had a great time and when time and finances allow I would like to go back as there was so much we did not get to see.

 

Would time it to miss the next volcanic eruption however as we were stuck in the Schipol airport in Netherlands for 6 days due to the ash cloud over Europe on our return journey.

If you've got a smartphone, you can get apps with a train network map, and some will even route you from place to place. This is really, really useful with Tokyo's subway network, which seems like it was laid out by dumping a bowl of spaghetti on a map.

If you've got a smartphone, you can get apps with a train network map, and some will even route you from place to place. This is really, really useful with Tokyo's subway network, which seems like it was laid out by dumping a bowl of spaghetti on a map.

 

 

That's really cool! The regular train system was well laid out in my opinion but that subway setup.... I fear it. I never had to use the subway tho so I did fine without it.

 

Another thing in case you don't know... I have a Blackberry with Verizon and I wanted it to be able to work while over there in case of emergency. I had to make sure my phone had a SIM card in it before leaving and then tell Verizon I was going there so it would operate. All my email and texting functions worked just fine and without any extra fees. But when I actually TALKED on my phone... oh man. At over two bucks a minute, it was STUPID expensive! So unless you have some type of international calling setup already, don't talk on your cell, it hurts your wallet.

 

 

Billy

When I hit the ground at Tokyo last year, I had done some research on how to get from the Airport to Hotel and what direction to go in to get to Akiba.

 

I hate doing tours and do prefer to do things on my own, so I can eat, drink and stay out late without being tied down.

 

A map came in handy many of times, as I prefer to see things on foot and many of may favourite pics of my trips feature the back/side streets.

 

My return in Nov/Dec this year will see me use the train/subway more as i need to get to the other areas I missed.

 

Even staying only 15 mins walk from Akiba, I still managed to miss Mandrake, so this will be one of the places that I'll hit this time.

 

Whatever you plan to do, you'll find the time will go by quickly, as I did and this is why I am returning again this year.

Has anyone been to the Dollce shop in akiba? They have some cute wigs on their site!

http://doll.shop-pro.jp/?mode=f3

 

Seems they are also stocking custom animetic eyes if you check the blog. Just curious if anyone had experience with them :3

If you are catching trains get one of those cards with the penguin on. Yu can top it up at a machine and just swipe at each end. No need trying to ask a fare.

If you like to eat local food try to find the small restaurants with the machine out front. You choose what you want like a vending machine and it kicks out tickets. Then go take a seat and they will get it to you. Very easy if you worry about language.

Lost count of the number of trips I made there and lived there for a while once.

I am so envious you get to go, Kymaera.

 

Sandrine, your mention of language barrier and restaurants reminded me of a little thing I learned in my Japanese class. To order a dish or drink without something, its "(undesired thing) nuki", often plus "desu" to keep it polite. So to get sushi without wasabi, it's "wasabi nuki desu". "No ice" would be "kori nuki desu".

 

/random trivia time

I went with Pacset Tours that jadepixel recommended (thanks!) and will be there May 2-9 and going to DP27!

 

Here's what I gave them to use to generate my schedule:

 

Wed, May 2:

- Arrive in Narita airport

- Get to hotel, check in, dinner, etc.

- Tokyo Tower trip in evening.

 

Thurs, May 3:

- Spend day sight-seeing

- Visit Meiji Jingu

- Visit Asakusa district and see Senso-ji Temple

- Visit Imperial Palace and garden

- In evening, I'd like to take a cruise around Tokyo on the Himiko ship from this line: http://www.suijobus.co.jp/

ship: http://www.suijobus.co.jp/ship/himiko.html

- It stops in Odaiba, so have to see the life-sized Gundam while I'm there.

The page only lists other times, so not 100% sure that it runs in the evening, but I've heard that it does. If not, I can move this earlier in the day.

 

Fri, May 4:

- Visit Ghibli Museum in the morning

- Wander around Nakano in the afternoon and Shibuya in the evening

 

Sat, May 5:

- Visit Akihabara. I'll easily spend the day (and probably most of my life savings) there.

 

Sun, May 6:

- Volks Doll Party 27.

 

Mon, May 7/Tues, May 8:

Basically a version of days 8&9 of your animated spring tour.

http://www.pacsettours.com/animateditinerary.html

 

Wed, May 9:

Head back to Narita and catch a flight back.

That service is awesome, wow.

 

Any tips on visiting the Volks stores? I know that the International site has a list of all the stores but I had a hard time Google mapping it all to get a scale of what it would be like just to do a "Volks Japan Tour" sort of thing, haha. It just seems like it'd be a lot of fun to do an all over trip and make sure to hit up every Volks on the way. I remember a thread on Resinality did discuss how to find the shops (what they looked like and where they are next to landmarks) and also noted the service they received there. I was most interested in the notes the OP did on there about which stores had staff that could speak English to help international patrons. The information is old though, so I was wondering if anyone here could recall how easy it would be to visit Volks and make purchases while there.

I was most interested in the notes the OP did on there about which stores had staff that could speak English to help international patrons. The information is old though, so I was wondering if anyone here could recall how easy it would be to visit Volks and make purchases while there.

 

 

When I went there in 2010, EVERY Volks store I went to had at least one person on staff who spoke *some* English. And in Akihabara, the guy there was VERY good with it. So no worries about the language barrier in a Volks store really.

 

This was actually true wherever I went in Japan, especially the Tokyo area. I speak VERY little Japanese and I really didn't even need that. I got by for 4 days and 5 nights in downtown Tokyo all alone. People there were super friendly and happy to try and help me with anything I wanted.

 

I actually got tossed out of a pachinko parlor for taking pics and no words were exchanged at all between me and the worker there. I took 4 pics and then a small man about 5 feet tall walked up to me smiling. He bowed and then threw up both arms in front of his chest in a big "X" mark. Then he pointed to my camera and smiled again. I bowed back to him, turned off the camera and smiled back. He bowed again and then pointed to the door using both hands where I came in. That was the most polite way I've EVER been asked to leave an establishment in my life. LOL

 

 

Billy

Well, that's a huge relief then! Thank you so much for the information.

 

Also, that story is adorable, haha. :3

Another "off the beaten path" place to visit is is Dolk - http://dolk.jp/?mode=f2

 

There's actually 2 shops - Dolk, and Dolk+ (plus); one on top of the other. The entrance to Dolk+ is on the other side of the building (just around the corner).

 

They carry stuff from Leeke, DollHeart, RosenLied and random accessories from other vendors and the DD sized stuff is clearly marked. There's a large area for photos in the Dolk+ shop.

Mandarake and Traders. I swear these stores are worth visiting, no matter where you find them. Since a lot of their stuff is things people traded in, you don't know what sorts of stuff you'll find.

 

I'm not sure how much time kymaera will have to look thoroughly in a lot of stores, since that schedule sounds VERY full. When I went to Japan in 2010, I dedicated an entire day to Akiba ALONE, and I ended up having to go back. Even if you think there aren't many stores there, trust me. A lot of them are multiple floors and can take quite a while to look through. However, your tastes in stuff can potentially make it easier. I'm interested in a LOT of Japanese pop culture stuff (figures, plushies, CDs, video games, manga, etc) so there was an overwhelming amount to look through. If you're only looking for dolls, it'll be way easier.

 

Something else useful to tell you is that many stores in the Tokyo area actually take credit cards nowadays. I'm not talking restaurants here (most of them are cash only), but stores that sell goods you want. Just look for credit card logos near the door or near the register. Make sure to tell your bank about your trip if you plan to use your credit card though, so the fraud department won't lock down your credit card when it's just you legitly buying goodies!

I should have posted some updates here after my trip! Never too late I guess ^_^;

 

Agree that Mandarake is awesome - I got great stuff in Akiba, Nakano and Shibuya Mandarakes. The one in Ikebukuro doesn't carry dolls but that store and the general area are FULL of delights for nerdy girls. Seriously, warmed my heart to see so many ladies drooling over video games and toys

 

Volks was a bit of a let-down, I was there between Dollpa and AE so there weren't any of the new dolls on display. The stock available was similar to what's on the Japanese site, plus some eyes and outfits from small outfits (think hand-made). Second-hand shopping like Mandarake was better for DD. The Volks stores are fun to see though, upscale compared to other hobby shops, and the posh Harajuku shop is gorgeous *__*

 

Credit cards were accepted most places, including DollK. However, sometimes they'll ask a confusing question about financing and the number of charges to make. The correct answer is 'one' - as in a single charge on the CC.

 

Eating out was easier than expected - the large department stores in Shinjuku had a floor or two at top with good restaurants, most of which had picture menus, english menus, and/or the plastic food models outside. These are better than food-court quality- they're $10-20 sit-down meals, all types of cuisines, and delicious :q

 

Oh, and before travelling I got a credit card which doesn't have foreign transaction fees. My usual CC charges a 3% fee plus bad exchange rate, so the new one was a big money saver!

Agree that Mandarake is awesome - I got great stuff in Akiba, Nakano and Shibuya Mandarakes. The one in Ikebukuro doesn't carry dolls but that store and the general area are FULL of delights for nerdy girls.

 

Yeah... I stay clear of the Ikebukuro Mandarke for that reason

But I always pop by the Dollyteria inside Closet Child for some nice doll finds ^__^"