defan752 - 05/28/2017
Hey Mamue, sorry to bother you, but I'll be in Japan in July and was wondering if you could provide some tips from when you stayed there? Like places to go, things to watch out for, saving money, where to stay and live, etc? I'd really appreciate it and it would be a huge help, thanks!
Mamue - 05/28/2017
Eh, sure. Will look into my notes when I get some free time. In which areas do  you plan to stay / travel, or completely free choice? And for how many days / weeks?
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Likely around Tokyo area, and surrounding cities. Nowhere as far as Hokkaido probably. Trip length is temporarily undetermined but maximum of 2 weeks I believe.
Mamue - 05/28/2017
Alright. I unfortunately have never been on Hokkaido either, since the reactor incidents we chose not to move towards north too much.

We've been in Tokyo, Takayama, Gifu,  Nara, Kyoto and all the rest westwards and south to Okinawa. I'll try to find what we did on our trip from Tokyo to Kyoto for now
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Thanks a lot!!
Mamue - 05/28/2017
I still need to translate them / ask Yuki for the complete sheet, but here's an "overview" of what we did xD
2011
Japan.ods
26.42 KB
2014
Reiseplan_1.xlsx
21.51 KB
If you're able to, try to get the Japan Rail Pass. It's really worth it if you are going to visit several cities in two weeks
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Okay, thanks!
lol I can't open the first file on my phone
Damn you guys spent nearly a month there?
Mamue - 05/28/2017
well, it is an OpenOfficie calc sheet, with several sheets. which format are you able to open on your phone? xls? xlsx? pdf?
4 weeks, yes
defan752 - 05/28/2017
All of the above except for OpenOffice
Mamue - 05/28/2017
give me a sec
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Did you get pocket wifi or anything? lol I'm trying to think of how much money that would cost
Mamue - 05/28/2017
2011
Japan2011.xlsx
39.10 KB
we didn't have that, we used open Wi-Fi's in Youth Hostel's and restaurants xD(edited)
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Haha
Well, I can certainly tell you that without wifi you don't have the freedom to get lost
LOL
Mamue - 05/28/2017
well, all our plans were on Yuki's iPod, and he is Japanese.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Unfortunately I am not Japanese but I will likely be meeting up with someone who can speak the language
Mamue - 05/28/2017
he had all maps as PDFs or jpgs on his phone. for example, from the train station to the youth hostel was one iamge on his iPod(edited)
we started to plan this one year ahead, after all
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Indeed?
I see
I have about one month to plan everything
Mamue - 05/28/2017
we knew we'd fly in August, and started to discuss what we want to do sometime in November the year before
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Regarding a youth hostel... I'm not exactly traveling solo. I'll be meeting up with my family, who will then leave me in Japan, and then I'll meet up with other people
So I'm not sure that's an option
Mamue - 05/28/2017
why not?
defan752 - 05/28/2017
At least I think that's how it's going to work
Mamue - 05/28/2017
do they live in regions where no youth hostels are? xD
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Well, if I do a hostel I might have to be alone
Mamue - 05/28/2017
ah ok
well, for us this was the easiest and cheapest option
defan752 - 05/28/2017
How does it work?
Mamue - 05/28/2017
We booked in advance, thus we went to the person in charge, said our names, we had booked, paid, and got our keys. If you booked breakfast / dinner, you got a food mark.
when you leave, you give the key back, and that's it.
thus in your case, you'll probably go to the desk, ask whether rooms are free, and if, you pay and get your key.
Since you're alone, you'll probably be mixed with other guests, but that's not much of a bother there. We met quite funny and interesting people
For example, Yuki and i met the exact same person in the exact same youth hostel in 2014 after having met him there in 2011. That was hilarious. The owner of the youth hostel even made a photo and somehow got that into the local newspaper xd(edited)
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Ah, huh. Cool!
Do you have an estimate of the total expenses per person
For the entire trip
Mamue - 05/28/2017
for the 4 weeks, i've spent 2700€, flights included I think(edited)
we also had plane flights to Okinawa and back. It seems we planned our route well, 2700 for the stuff we did is not really expensive(edited)
found them. Yuki had tons of such pictures on his iPod, so we didn't need mobile internet access xD

defan752 - 05/28/2017
I'm not such an expert LOL
That's really good for almost a month
It was purely for tourism?
Mamue - 05/28/2017
German efficiency and japanese knowledge combined :wink:

only for tourism? what exactly do you mean?
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Not for business or anything
Mamue - 05/28/2017
no, not at all
we only went for tourism. Visited lots of shrines and temples, visited festivals, hiked on mountains, swam and dove in the Okinawian sea, stayed in youth hostels, took the chance to participate in a buddhism meditation, visited ancient villages, made our own chopsticks, went crazy eating Udon, made our own Udon, went shopping, went to Onsen several times. The thing we didn't get to do was hiking on a volcano :sweat_smile:(edited)
and stood several hours in line for sushi.. :D
Takayama was a nice town to visit, it's historic city is beautiful, nicknamed little Kyoto. Unfortunately we had no chance to hike on Mt. Kamikouchi there, but had the chance to attend a festival with firework performances on the river. you'll recognize a lot of the city as places that appeared in Hyouka. The youth hostel was a temple, and the old man running it was one funny dude. Food was excellent as well. We visited Shirakawa-go, an historic village, which was more interesting than I thought it would be (well, with 4 people doing stupid stuff, almost anything will be funny xd).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Villages_of_Shirakawa-g%C5%8D_and_Gokayama.
We also visited the "hida-museum village* (飛驒の里 Hida no sato), where we carved our chopsticks not far from.
We then made a detour to Gujo and attended the festival Gujo-o-dori, not sure if there is anything else interesting there.(edited)
In Kyoto, of course we visited Kyomizudera, Ginkakuji, Kinkakuji, Fujimi-Inari-Taisha, Sanjusan-gendo, Yasaka-no-To,  as well as  a festival called Daimonji-yaki. http://thekyotoproject.org/english/daimonji-yaki/
We also visited Heianjingu. Of course, Nijo Castle isn't allowed to miss here(edited)
defan752 - 05/28/2017
I'm reading all of this, thanks. Just outside rn so I can't respond, sorry!
Trip sounds amazing
Mamue - 05/28/2017
no worries, probably better this way so I can detect typos :D
it was, it definitely was
defan752 - 05/28/2017
I think it's always better when you get to go with friends tbh
Going with family can be lame
Mamue - 05/28/2017
if we go again, should I call you and ask if you want to come along? :smile:
defan752 - 05/28/2017
I'd do it!
LOL
Mamue - 05/28/2017
http://www.hida.jp/english/activities/area-attractions/san-machi-old-streets Sanmachi, the old city core of Takayama
Mamue - 05/28/2017
In Tokyo we visited the Imperial Palace and garden. Many other spots were chosen randomly. We met with his friends from his japanese school and used an app to roll a dice, and that amount of stations we travelled via the Yamanote line. Yuki had plans for every station on the line hidden from us, so we went there completely blank. For example, we ended up visiting the Pokemon Center in Okachimachi, took a stroll through Akihabara, went shopping in Ikebukkuro for our parents and friends, and said hello to Yuki's grandparents (they live in Shinamachi in Ikebukkuro, and Yuki deposited tons of manga he bought earlier at the mall there..xD).
We also went to an amusement park called Fuji-Q-Highland. https://www.fujiq.jp/en/attraction/
If you plan to travel farther than Kyoto, just hit me up and I will tell you some mroe spots we went to.
defan752 - 05/28/2017
I think you guys were really lucky to have Yuki LOL
Mamue - 05/28/2017
oh, we definitely were. He's currently studyiing abroad (in Japan, where lese lol), making a "dual master". 1.5 years at Technical university Munich, and 1.5 years at an university in Tokyo, giving him to master degrees in Physics, an european and a japanese one. Iirc, we were in the same class since 8th grade (probably second year of middle school?).(edited)
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Jesus, wow
So he is Japanese-German? Or something?
Mamue - 05/28/2017
His parents moved to Germany when he was 1 year old, hired by Audi. He grew up bilingual, visiting a japanese school every saturday in munich.
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Can he speak English
Mamue - 05/28/2017
sure
and was the best of us in Latin class :sweat_smile:
he even took Chinese classes in university....
he only had chinese for one or two semester though
defan752 - 05/28/2017
Damn, impressive
If you're serious about meeting up though I'd love to meet you guys someday LOL
Mamue - 05/28/2017
i can try to bring him to Discord if you want to talk to him :sweat_smile:

Sure, will do!
well, only two out of us 4 are that invested in anime/manga/ln (Yuki and me), but Patrick and Alex watched a few shows too(edited)
maybe in two or three years it may happen again. We definitely want to go again(edited)
defan752 - 05/28/2017
I'm actually trying to study abroad in Japan someday
Mamue - 05/28/2017
the next tour of us 4 is a week at Lake Garda this year, we didn#t manage to coordinate our holidays for a further trip abroad
Taka does study in Japan, iirc?
defan752 - 05/28/2017
So I'm trying to go as many times as possible LOL
Yup, she does, but I don't know what program and for how long, or what she's studying