Travel Part 2 + A Special Guest!
June 11th, 2009
Hey everyone! Sorry for not posting an episode for so long!
We got such a great response on our last video, we decided to make back to back episodes on travel! In this episode, we cover some of our personal tips for finding good deals on airfare, discuss more on places to stay, and each reveal our favorite season to visit Japan.
BONUS!! In this episode we welcome our first guest to Happy Hour Japan, Rob!
Kevin
Great job guys! ^_^ Nice to see a guest on the show (Hi Rob!).. Yeah I figured you guys are pretty busy with Japanese Accelerator that’s why you haven’t released this episode. Anyway I’m glad it’s here now. Till next episode
Off topic thing to share, but did you know it rained “tadpoles” in JApan recently? Weeeeiird! ^_^
Here’s where I got the news:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5491846/Sky-rains-tadpoles-over-Japan.html
Ok have a great week!
@Aileen
Thanks for commenting and for the link to that article. Needless to say, I’ve never heard of anything like that before! Strange stuff!
Great episode again. I’ve been tuning into HHJ for a while now, mainly through iTunes. Great stuff. Keep it up!
Fellas, any chance of a show highlighting the different types of hotels, and the kind of accommodations a westerner may find peculiar. I am very interested in lesser expensive accommodations for a week or so, and don’t want to blow all my money on expensive hotels.
By the way, thanks for the heads up that $2k is enough to stay there for a week, as it helps me plan a budget. Keep up the great videos. Was disappointed that the podcast version of the last one failed at the end (at least on my iPhone), but glad the version on this site played all the way through.
DJ
Hard to breathe in Mangakissa… That’s true. It’s hard to sleep comfortably! Karaoke box is better, I think, but we can hardly find vacant room on late time on weekend because everybody think same and gathering to Karaoke!! Especially, in Tokyo.
FYI:
A friend of mine told me, two men is OK, 3 people are OK, just one guy is also OK for Japanese **** Hotel that you guys mentioned in the middle. lol
I have stayed by myself while I was in business trip to Osaka beacuse of cheap. hahaha-
Thanks for nice episode!
Hey guys,
kanpai. I’ve just been sitting here since 3am reading and watching all your blog posts and i’ve gotta say I’m really enjoying this and I think you’re doing a terrific job with your videos.
Just a quick question. I’m thinking of going to Japan next year but I’m not 100% sure due to not knowing much of the language. Do you think 1 year studying Japanese is enough to get the basics for going across? I know you said visiting Japan is the best way of learning it but I don’t really want to go in not knowing anything.
Thanks in advance and thanks again for the blogs.
Iain
@Ryan
Cool, thanks for visiting our blog and leaving a comment! It’s always nice to see new faces on the site
@DJ
Great tip. We’ll try to put something together for an upcoming episode! And thanks for letting us know about the podcast failing at the end. Any one else running into the same problem?
@Keisuke from Chiba
And good point about Karaoke–they do get very crowded at night. I’ve stayed over night in Karaoke boxes a few times and it isn’t very comfortable either, especially with your neighbors singing all night long!
Very true! I definitely can’t promise a restful night at a manga kissa…but it’s certainly better than roaming the streets until morning
Thanks for the clarification on L Hotels! I stand corrected
@Iain
Welcome and thanks for stopping by! Glad to hear you’re enjoying our videos
To answer your question, it really depends on your personality. I know people who have traveled to Japan knowing nothing about the language or culture and still had a great time. I’ve also run into people who visit the country and get frustrated by the fact that they can’t communicate with people as well as they imagined.
I can say, however, that if you stay in one of the big cities (ie: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, etc…) you’ll probably be fine. All the major signs and train stations are in both Japanese and English, and typically the Japanese are very friendly if you ask for help. Just don’t expect everyone to speak English. And don’t be offended if people ignore you–some people might shy away from you simply because they are embarrassed to speak English or can’t understand you. After a few tries you should be able to find someone who can understand enough English to help you out.
If you focus on studying conversational Japanese and learn a little bit about the culture (so that you don’t commit any faux pas), that should be enough to comfortably travel to the country.
If you haven’t done so already, I’d recommend you check out our Japanese Quickstart video series. It’s *free* and contains some great practical Japanese language and culture basics!
Hope this helps!
Looks like Kevin forgot to put the link to the free course. For anyone that’s interested in learning basic Japanese, you can get our free Japanese Quickstart Course here: http://www.ispeakjapanese.net/japanese-quickstart/overview
Enjoy!
Thanks for that dudes. That link is perfect for what i’m looking for.
Keep up the good work!
ケビンのタイプは何ですか。結婚していますか。ありがとうございます
@Kurisutaru
コメントありがとう！実は・・・今年結婚しま～す！
Domo Arigatoo, that was awesome. My Japanese G/F really enjoyed it also, she said it is very informative. I so cannot wait to go to Japan. Thanks again guys keep up the great work.
wow, Kevin-san Omedetou-gozaimasu!
Hey guys,
Great episode as always! I’d like to hear more about the weather & seasons.
I was wondering what kind of differences there are between Japan Town in San Fransisco and Japan?
Like shopping and restaurant wise…
@Graeme
Cool,thanks for the comment and glad to hear that our videos are helpful.
@Keisuke
ありがとうございます！
@Lea
I’ll bring this up with Aaron and try to work it into an upcoming episode!
Thanks for the input
@Kellie
I’ve only been to Japan Town once….and it was a long time ago so I may not be the best person to ask about this, but I recall it being nothing like Japan. From what I remember, Japan Town had elements that were reminiscent of Japan but was a far cry from what you’d actually experience in Japan.
Has anyone been to Japan Town recently who can shed more light on this?
Hey guys,
My name’s Daniel, and I’m moving to Japan in November. I have a current situation where I have to go job hunting on the 25th, and I’m looking at about a 250-300 dollar budget for hotels and maybe a small bite to eat here and there. I was curious if you knew of any places in Tokyo, more specifically on the outskirts (chiba, noda, or fujiyosida on the other side) that hide cheap places to live. I’ve been there before but it was with friends, so I’m not sure about hotels. I can live out of the family marts, but yeah…
I’d appreciate any help, because I’m not so sure how this is gonna go down, but it needs to. It’s my only window for a Visa.
Thanks for the episodes guys, they’re a nostalgic reminder of what I get to go enjoy again and they’re very informative about what I don’t know. So thanks again.
Cheers,
Daniel
@Daniel Singer
Hi Daniel,
How long are you planning to be in Japan? Depending on the length of your stay, you’ll have different options available to you. You can definitely find some cheaper hotels outside of the city. When I go to Tokyo, I typically stay near the Tokyo/Chiba border. I like this part of town since it’s relatively cheap and has great access to the city.
If you can read Japanese, I would recommend checking out jalan.net. It’s a great resource for finding hotels.
Another thing you might want to look into are “weekly mansions.” These are apartment/hotel rooms that are typically cheaper than normal hotels.
Hope this helps!
Love the podcasts. They bring back good memories of my trip to Japan. 5 weeks, 10 cities, and I only made 2 reservations before I left the States. Autumn is great in Japan in general, but especially for Kyoto… but it’s hard to get a hotel in late October there.
Welcome Inn was my friend. (Especially their tourist center at Kyoto Station. They can pull cheap rooms out of thin air.) So was Comfort Inn, oddly enough. They have hotels in the major cities all over Japan, and the 10% AAA discount still works. Weird. I mostly paid 4000-5500 yen a night, depending on where I was staying. I threw that all out of the window when I stayed in Shinjuku, though. (Gotta live it up sometimes.) Nara, too, come to think of it. The hotel in Nara had a deluxe sento/spa in the basement, though, so it was worth it for one night.
The best piece of advice I can give to anyone going to Japan if you plan on seeing a lot of cities: one bag. And make it a carry-on. Send the omiyage back by 船便. (Or buy smaller omiyage.)
@Daniel Singer
One of the people on the boards I frequent likes Yoshida house. It’s in the western outskirts, but not too far. (I think it’s about 20-30 minutes from Ikebukuro.) It’s a Japanese-style hotel that’s in the 50,000 yen/month range. (2,200 yen/day.) Shared toilet, pay shower, coin laundry. Futons, tatami, etc. Not a western-style hotel.
http://www.yoshidahouse.net/en/rooms.html
Aww man, I wanted to watch this video again because I wanted to know the airlines y’all mentioned in this episode but the video doesn’t work!! Do you think you can give me the names of the airlines y’all mentioned please??
I have the same problem too in my podcast. At the part where rob was talking about his favorite holiday in Japan. It was cut right after he said the end year celebration. I think it was at the 8th min of the video.