I should finally be purchasing the tickets this weekend sometime, feels sorta bizarre. Essentially, my friend and I are leaving for Japan on July 15th or so, and staying until August 31st or so.
We have little in the way of set plans, although we do know we want to be in Okayama in early August to visit our host families, and I want to be in Tokyo towards the later part of August to go to my cousin’s post-wedding party thing.
We envision a fair amount of walking and probably hitchiking, with maybe a bus or train here and there when necessary.
As for food and lodge, my funds are limited so I’m envisioning sleeping on park benches and wooded areas and eating lots of onigiri from convenience stores. Probably some vitamins too so I don’t end up getting scurvy.
I’m sure there are a few people out there who, after hearing the above, are pretty sure that my going is a Bad Idea and will probably end up poorly. However, the whole trip is quite intentionally non-planned-out, since the idea was that we wanted to experience what Japan could be like rather than simply observe it.
Still sounds stupid? Well, to tell the truth, there are particular bits that worry me, but I think this is probably the best way to simply explore Japan and myself. What else can you expect from a 19 year old kid? (Which reminds me, I’m gonna be spending my birthday in Japan o_O)
I guess what I’m really wondering is whether anyone has any suggestions as to what I might do while I’m in Japan. Suggestions on how to hitchike successfully, how to get around, and how to survive in general are appreciated. While I probably will have to sleep on park benches more than just a few times, I would appreciate it if anyone had any advice as to other cheap places to stay for a night.
Given the size of the board, I’m sure there are people who’ve embarked upon these kinds of ventures before, do any of you have advice to give me?
Any advice, helpful hints, suggestions and the such are very much appreciated.
There are many places in the world where it’s fun to hitchhike around on the cheap and sleep on park benches, but Japan would be way down on my list of such places. I was picked up and questioned at length by the police once for hitchhiking in Japan. (I hadn’t intended to hitchhike; it was a mountain-climbing experience gone awry, and I found myself on a highway far from the nearest town.)
Never slept on a park bench in Japan, but I did sleep on the fire escape of my building once, in the rain. (I had lost my key.) I was awakened by a security guard waving a flashlight in my face, telling me to move on. I managed to explain to him what the deal was, and he let me stay there, but I’d be uncomfortable with sleeping in public as a regular thing.
Not to discourage you or anything, but there isn’t much in Japan that’s cheap. Sorry for posting with no real answers to your questions–I’m sure some posters with more up-to-date knowledge will be along. (I lived there ten years ago.) Any chance your cousin could move the party to Thailand? Anyway, have a great trip. It sounds to me like it will be a memorable one.
Second, the whole sleeping on park benches is not a good idea. You’ll be likely to end up with either police and/or homeless guys on your case, and neither will be much fun.
The country, on the whole, isn’t structured for people with no money. Even though the cost of living has gone down in the past few years, it’s still pretty high.
Hitch-hiking isn’t something people do much around here.
I’d reconsider the whole “not planned” to some extent. Things always end up costing more money when you don’t plan. Sure, you don’t have to plan everything down to the last yen, to the last hour, but unless you have unlimited funds, you should have a realistic idea of how you’ll be spending your money.
First–you really should get a JR pass. It lets you have unlimited travel on the shinkansen for only a few hundred bucks, which is easily the best travel bargain in Japan. You can base yourself in Kyoto and then travel up and down the country on daytrips.
Second, Japan is not a society that you can bum around in. Sleeping in parks is an extremely bad idea in any country, but more so in Japan. You can find inexpensive hostels for around $20 bucks a night.
I used to buy into that tourist vs. “traveler” nonsense until i realized that any foreigner visiting another country is necessarily a tourist. Travelling like a bum without money is in its way as insulating from the experience of a country as staying only in top-end Western hotels is because poverty prevents you form visiting teahouses, going to temples (all temples and shrines in Japan charge admission), eating at teppanyaki bars and sushi-yas.
Japan is most decidedly not a bumming around friendly society. Both hitchhiking and sleeping on park benches in Japan are likely to lead to an up-close encounter with the local constabulary.
A few tidbits about the law and enforcement of in Japan: the cops don’t think stuff’s funny. They are not likely to feel very indulgent toward an indigent foreigner. Should you be charged with any offense in Japan, your odds of being convicted are somewhere around 95%. The foreigner’s prison is not somewhere you want to go for any length of time.
There are places you can stay for not too much money, and as gobear said, the JR pass is a very good deal. Japan is a wonderful place, and I would go again in a minute, but you really do need at least minimal sleeping and transportation plans.
I have been to Japan before, and my last trip was decidedly touristy. I saw pretty much every freaking temple in Kyoto, and to be entirely frank, I don’t know that I’m going to want to spend much time again visiting as many temples and castles as we did last time.
I was exaggerating a bit in my op, I wasn’t intending on spending huge amounts of time sleeping on park benches, because that does seem like an easy way to get screwed by other people or police. Chances are a lot of time will be spent in youth hostels, since those are fairly affordable.
As for hitchiking, I’m hearing a lot from both sides, which means it’s probably not incredibly easy, but at the same time I should be fine so long as I stick to places where it’s legal.
I wasn’t really planning on getting in trouble with the police, so I don’t think that’ll be much of an issue.
In terms of spending, I’m going to have probably two to three thousand dollars for the month and a half I’ll be there. Not a whole lot, but enough to live on I believe.
Yes, I can see what you mean, but I don’t really agree. I think what it comes down to is attitude, and in a way this trip isn’t just to check out Japan but also to get out of my comfort zone and do something that I’ve never done before. I do intend to splurge on going to nice onsen and sushi bars given the opportunity; I just want to avoid going there, looking at stuff, then leaving. I want to meet more people, maybe make some friends, and of course improve my Japanese. Og knows it’ll be near impossible to go off and do this once I get a job.
You shouldn’t be intending to sleep on a park bench at all. Really. Don’t do it, it’s asking for trouble. There are youth hostels all over Japan, and you can stay in one every night.
*And as long as you can find Japanese motorists willing to pick up scruffy-looking 19-year-old foreigners. I wouldn’t bet on it.
*No one plans on getting in trouble with the police.
You really need to put a little more thought into this. Get a rail pass (they’re a great deal), get a youth hostel membership, and really think about making reservations for August now because that’s when everyone in Japan goes on vacation.
Mebbe you wouldn’t, but I think I’ll be ok. I’m getting a youth-18 ticket for those points in time at which I need to be somewhere at a certain time, but beyond that, I’m willing to try my hand at this hitchiking thing. Hitchiking seems like one of those things that a lot of people will tell you is near impossible, except for the people who actually do it.
I’m already working on getting a youth hostel membership, we’re probably going to plan to spend a fair amount of time in cities with youth hostels. I suppose I sound incredibly disorganized, but I am trying to make sure that given everything goes wrong, I’ll still have food and a place to stay.
Last time I checked you can really only get in trouble with the police if you do something illegal or incredibly stupid. Seeing as how I fully intend to avoid doing the former if I can help it and I try to avoid doing the latter in public, I think I’ll be ok.
Read much cyberpunk in your time? Might be staying in a few coffin/capsule hotels, but I don’t know. I’ll probably do it at least once simply for the experience, but chances are we’ll be spending most of our nights in youth hostels.
People seem to be getting really fixated on this park bench thing. I really, really was mostly kidding. If I ever did have to sleep out in the open, I’d probably place my first bets in wooded areas fairly far away from the city. Maybe if necessary, I’d sleep late in secluded areas in the city and make sure to wake up before most people in the city do.
My friend is probably bringing a digital video camera, a digital camera, and a laptop. Doubt he’ll post the video footage as he goes along, although he’ll probably make a short film out of it after we’re done. He likes that kind of stuff.
He may upload the pictures periodically though, so if he does, I’ll put up a thread giving the location.
Supposing I can get my hands on a laptop, I’d bring one and attempt to keep a daily journal which I’d update online whenever I could. Barring that, I may have to mooch off my friend’s laptop or settle for updating whenever I can reach a computer in the city. I do have some friends with some old, old laptops they might be throwing out, so maybe I can get my hands on some of those, -crosses fingers-.
The capsule hotel thing was interesting to have done once. I stayed in one near Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. I paid the fee (about $40.00) up front at the cashier window, then I was handed my key, boxer drawers and, a yukata and shown to the changing room, where I put my clothes in a locker and put on the hotel’s boxers and the yukata.
There were a bunch of businessmen puffing away on cigarettes in the lounge, so I just went to my capsule. It was comfortable, with a little net on one side to hold my wallet and passport, and a small televison in the ceiling. The capsule was soundproofed, so I slept like a log until the wake up signal sounded and the room attendant came by to evict me.
Still, I prefer love hotels. For some reason, staying overnight is pretty cheap (about $50.00 bucks) where renting a room for an hour is pricey. You can always find one because they’re lit in pink or purple lights. When you walk in, there’s a display with available rooms lit up. You push a button for a particular room, its light goes out, then you turn to the cashier window, which is blacked out or in one glass to maintain the illusion of anonymity. You pay your money and get a key through a slot, then you just head to your room and crash.
For what it’s worth, I’ll say, again, that relying on hitch-hiking is a bad idea. It might work if you need to travel a few kilometres, but I wouldn’t expect people to give you a free ride on highways.
Seriously, do you really want to spend most of your time waiting by the side of a national road? Relying on hith-hiking is the best way to give up the freedom that you’re longing for! With a rail pass if you decide you’re fed up with Fukuoka and decide on a spur that you want to give Sendai a try, nothing’s keeping you. Spend the money on the pass, man!
I’d like to highly suggest you do some hiking. First, hiking doesn’t cost much if anything. Second, Japanese hikers tend to be some of the nicest, most talkative folks in the country. Seriously, hiking routes are some of the best places to meet total strangers. Thirdly, if you keep away from the more famous places you often run into cool things that are completely unexpected.
A good place to hike are former roads of feudal era. The Kumano Kodo, for instance, is great. You can actually walk most of it. The actual road path goes from regular city street, to mountain pass, to centuries-old pavement, to plain forest. Guides will list parts that are desgnated hiking areas, though you can connect either by train, sometimes by foot if you have good legs, and yes, thay may be a place to give hitch-hiking a try, but just a try though.
The concept behind the capsule hotel is that it’s cheaper if you make everything communal. The main selling point of capsule hotels isn’t the capsule, it’s the spa, baby. gobear explained the basic flow, however, once you’ve gotten your standard-issue pajamas or yukata, you then head for the baths! The best are really good onsen-level.
Once you’ve scrubbed yourself clean of a hard day’s dirt and relaxed in various waters (hot, scalding, cold, with waves, with bubbles, with electrical shocks, etc.) and the obligatory sauna, you then head for the lounge or restaurant. There you have a beer while reading a manga or watching television. A lot of places also offer massage services. By that point, you’re so completely exhausted/relaxed that when you finally crawl into your capsule you just pass out and sleep like a log.
I’ve stayed in capsules probably well over 20 times. It can be great if you’re not next to a snorer. The last time I went, a guy accross the hall was CHAINSAW LOUD. Kind of turned me off for a while.
40$ is a bit on the expensive side, though probably standard for Tokyo. For some reason, they’re a lot cheaper in Osaka. Around Amerika-mura, they go for 25-30$.
If you don’t have a Lonely Planet guide book, I’d get one of those. Lots of good tips on how to save money in there. I think what I enjoyed the most in Japan was visiting the temples and gardens in Kyoto, although it is pretty “touristy”.
The concept behind the capsule hotel is that it’s cheaper if you make everything communal. The main selling point of capsule hotels isn’t the capsule, it’s the spa, baby. gobear explained the basic flow, however, once you’ve gotten your standard-issue pajamas or yukata, you then head for the baths! The best are really good onsen-level.
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Nah, I didn’t miss the onsen, but I’m glad you mentioned it. I have to say that the Japanese baths are definitely superior to the Korean moyoktang, which were enjoyable but nowhere near as fancy as in Japan.
There are a number of people who live in Japan who are advising against this. I am another one, unless you are interested in a cultural experience with the Japanese police.
But since you seem hellbent on trying this, I am looking forward to your posting stories about what happened.
Keep in mind that travelling using the youth-18 ticket is pretty slow. You are unable to use the Tokkyuu or Shinkansen. The fastest train you can use is the Shinkaisoku, which is a regular train that skips minor stops. Unfortunately, the westernmost Shinkaisoku has its last “express” stop at Himeji. This causes major delays if you were interested in going to Hiroshima or Kyuushuu. The trip from Himeji to Kita-kyushuu using this ticket takes well over 8 hours (the trip from Himeji to Tokyo will take something like 10 hours).
Also, if you want to travel north of the main Tokyo-Osaka-Kobe line that runs along the coast using this ticket, you will need to budget a whole day for travel.
Furthermore, you have only five all-you-can-ride days on this ticket, as opposed to unlimited rides on the JR Railpass. You will also have to combine bus travel with it. You’re so much better off buying the JR Railpass.
I’m going to back up what Jovan and others have been saying. Japan is generally not a violent place–that is, you are unlikely to get mugged or murdered–but the big city streets here are absolutely no place for foreign teens to be hanging out. If you are a girl and are considering this, you are nuts.
*There are cops everywhere. I have never had a bad experience with them, but you will if you are trying to camp out on a park bench.
*A well-known fact to city dwellers here, little-known to outsiders: the streets are literally filled with homeless people, most of whom are 100% crackers. They don’t normally tangle with people just walking by, but I would not want to steal a bum’s favorite bench–things could get mean.
*Oh yes–the streets are also full of hookers, pimps, and petty thugs of all varieties. Not to mention sex-starved middle-age men of divers orientations.
Do NOT, please do not try to sleep on the streets!
Now let’s talk about hitchhiking. It ain’t gonna fly. The main reason is that most major roads in Japan are toll roads with few lanes–driving is expensive and often slow. So cars are often packed with people to minimize the expense, and people aren’t going to want to give you freebies, human nature being what it is. I think very few people are going to want to give a young foreigner a life–unless they want something special from you…
Get a plan–stay in some cheap hotels and do the JR pass as someone suggested. There are also overnight busses between the major cities that can run pretty cheap.
Also the OP should keep in mind that Japanese motorists are going to be extremely hesitant about picking up a foreigner.
The JR pass is one of the best bargains around. I beat the hell out of mine (metaphorically). I flew into Narita, then stayed in Tokyo for a night, then went down to Fukuoka, then back up to Tokyo, then over to Nagoya for a day, then down to Osaka and later Kobe and Hiroshima, then back up to Tokyo
I probably got 300% value out of it.
With the exception of trains up to Hokkaido, there aren’t overnight trains, so you can’t sleep on the train (and your pass isn’t good on them)
If you’ve already seen the temples of Osaka, you could try for some of the outdoor attractions of Japan, but the time of year you’re going you will run into crowds and some very hot weather.
If you’re in shape, try climbing Mount Fuji. You will likely be in a crowd of several thousand people.
Two able-bodied 20 year old guys on this trip, so not so much worry of being raped or molested. On the other hand, if any of the hentai I’ve seen is remotely true, it’s only a good thing if I end up getting molested anyway :p.
Thing is about hitchiking, is that I’ve heard so many opposing viewpoints from many different people. Some people say it’ll be impossible, some people say I shouldn’t have too much of a problem at all. So, I figure there’s probably some middle ground, so I’m gonna try my hand at it. Now is as good a time as any I suppose, and it’s something I’ve never done before. It seems as though hitchiking isn’t illegal on the highways and near the tollbooths, as far as I’ve heard, so I don’t think I’ll be getting into trouble with the law.
I was initially considering getting a rail pass, but those are expensive as all bloody hell. I wish I could buy one while in country, but it seems like that’s not an option, so I’ll simply have to go without. I figure I should be ok with a youth-18 pass; I know they’re only for the slower modes of transportation, but it’s not as though I’ll be in any particular hurry to get to places.
My friend and I definitely want to check out Fuji-Sama, not sure exactly at what point in time, but we’re still working that kinda stuff out. We’ve got until July 15th, so we’re slowly but steadily figuring out where we have to be and when, and where else we’d like to go.
We were also intending to do a bit of simply walking around along with the hitchiking. Maybe walk around the countryside and see what Japan is like outside of the cities. I will have to look into the Kumano Kodo, sounds like it’d be a lot of fun to see that. Anyone else have any recommendations as to places that they think would be worth visiting?
Might be staying in a few coffin/capsule hotels, but I don’t know. I’ll probably do it at least once simply for the experience, but chances are we’ll be spending most of our nights in youth hostels.
