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[Lilou]

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[japancake]

Hello from Tokyo
As I just got to Tokyo with a WHV, I decided to share here the few things I learnt and some of the many tips that can be useful for any backpacker in Japan…

PLANE TICKET

I truly advice Air China. I compared every companies many times and that one happens to have very low fares to Japan, especially if you book a return ticket (the date can be change).

TRANSPORATION IN TOKYO

When arriving in Tokyo airport, for the ones who stayed at least 2 or 3 weeks, get the PASSMO pass or the SUICA card at the lower level of the airport.
You will soon realise it’s very useful. It’s a magnetic card that you put money into and allows you to take every kind of metropolitan lines (in Tokyo, there are many different companies and you cannot use the same ticket). You can also shop in all of the many combini stores in the city and pay with it.
Both cards are free. There’s only a deposit of 500yens that you get back when you leave. You can put as much money as you want but considering the prices in Tokyo (especially for transportation) do not hesitate to put a lot! I guess 5 000 yen for a week seems pretty good.

ORIENTATION

If you get the chance at the airport, try to get the Tourist map of Tokyo. It’s in English and very very useful with a map of every areas in Tokyo and many information. It is very difficult to find our way in the city as there are not necessarily street names and numbers. So always carry it on with you!
If you don’t find it at the airport, you will in any tourist information center in the city.

To get out of the airport. There are two ways to get to the city.
The cheapest one is to take the Keisei line to Aoto and change there to Asakusa line. It takes around 1 hour and a half for 1000 yens.
The other solution is to take the JR line. It takes 1 hour but more expensive

MONEY AND CHANGE

I advice to take a lot of cash and change it at the airport at first. It can be tricky to find an ATM accepting VISA card especially if you arrive on week end when post offices are closed.
If you want to be sure that your VISA/MASTERCARD will work, find a Citybank office. They have ATM with English instructions, you’ll be able to get money from there.
Otherwise, all the big shops and hostels take VISA. The commission is big so change a lot at once!


ACCOMODATION

Tokyo is so big that it can be hard to know which area could be better than another.
The most important thing is to be near a strategic line of metro. The Yamanote is the best one as it goes all around the city to almost every popular area. But the closer you are to the center, the more expensive it will be.
For a short time stay, I advice the Sakura hostel in Asakusa. It’s a very friendly cheap hostel. The staff is great. It’s clean, free wifi, an excellent way to meet other backpackers. I stayed there 10 days and I had a wonderful time. It’s 10 min walk from the station, crossing two lines. Asakusa is a very traditional area, more quiet than anywhere around the city, cheaper for food and drinks.

For longer stays, at least one month, check SAKURA House. It’s a great agency that provides small rooms fr foreigners in small shared houses around the city. It’s much cheaper than hostels and also a good way to meet people as you share kitchen and bathroom. Rates go from 35 000 yen a month (that is if you share your room, otherwise you can have your own room for 50 000)
You can check their website : www.sakura-house.com

PLACES TO VISIT AND DIFFERENT AREAS

Tokyo is sooooooo big that you will walk a lot and take many many trains! To have a good idea of the city you must divide it into different areas :

1.Tokyo center. : this is the cultural heart of Tokyo with the imperal palace and many beautiful gardens. It’s great to just walk around and appreciate a bit of tradition in this huge crazy city!

• Ginza : This area can be compared to the 5th avenue in NY or the Champs Elisées in Paris. With many famous shops, and many beautiful restaurants, and art galleries, this is for the ones who have money to spend! That’s also where you can find the Sony building dedicated to the ones who want to try brand new products that aren’t even being sold yet.

• Akihabara : Electric City. It’s all in the name! Big buildings of hifi products, electronic stuff, anything you can possibly look for is in Akihabara. To be even more impressed by the atmosphere here, try to get there on week ends when the cars are forbidden to ride and the avenues are full with people and cosplay (young people who are passionate with mangas and dress up like mangas characters)

• Shinjuku : the biggest station in the world in term of number of persons coming and going every day. Shinjuku is typically what you imagine in Japan : working atmosphere daytime, full of salarymen. Crazy animated at night!
  When getting out of the station, you have two choices: the west exit is the business district : skyscraper and government offices. The East exit is shopping places, games centers and love hotels!

• Shibuya : The place to be in if you want to go out! It’s the area of fashionistas and young people crazy for clothes and excentric wearing. What is most impressive is the number of people walking on these streets! I can stay hours just looking at them, looking at this never ending activity You can also find many many clubs and bars with drunk Japanese people. They really love to party and they’re also very outgoing and this area is the best to have fun with them..

• Ikebukuro : Sunshine city --> a city in a building! There’s evertything you might need in this huge skyscraper : tons of shops, food stores, restaurant, cinema, theatre, working offices. You can also go on the top floor for a view of Tokyo in the fastest elevator!

I guess those areas are the main ones, I probably forgot a lot of them and there are many more to discover but I haven’t been here too long and since I’m concentrated on finding a job, I still haven’t been all around this gigantic city!

It's been 3 weeks now and I 'm loving it! If you're still hesitating about going or not, well... just go!





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[Lilou]

Thanks Japancake !! By the way, I love your pseudo

I wish I could go to Japan too... One day...

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