Finally Off To Japan!

[NYTSKY]

Ok its been a wish of mine for a while to go to Japan.And finally things are in motion to making this wish come true.

Firstly i need to learn a bit of Japanese.

What is the best way to do this?

CDs,internet,tapes in the car,lessons?

And how long will it take to grasp the basics of understanding what people are saying?

Im going for two weeks,would 5k+airfare be enough? I know its one of the most expensive places in the world to visit?

any info is much appreciated,and sorry if this has been asked a million times before.

CHEERS

Edited February 9, 2007 by NYTSKY

[dani3l]

id think 5k would be enough depending where u stay. Theres a place called kikushi hotel, maybe 15 min walk from narita train station . Maybe 20 min drive from the airport. Where i stayed for a few days. Payed bout 9000 per night. (less than 100 bucks) and it was a decent size 2 bed room. Decent place and alot of foreigners there. Couple of bars and pubs around the backstreets and small roads where pommies and yanks go and get pised everynight haha. Definetely worht checking out

ENjoy your holiday

[Beer Baron]

no offence but don't stay in narita. it's like going to sydney for the first time and staying at mascot airport hilton.

stay somewhere nice in tokyo. Narita is more than an hour away from tokyo.

$5K for two weeks will be ok. If that's going to pay for your accomodation as well (and you want somewhere nice) then I'd budget about $2-$2.5K for accomodation which leaves you $1500 a week for everything else.

you don't really need to learn japanese to enjoy your time in tokyo. but it's a good idea if you are into it. my advice is go somewhere for lessons. books, tapes etc are ok, but you wont learn all that fast. and it's very hard to pick up pronunciation etc by yourself as there is no one to correct you when you make mistakes a basica understanding I think you could gain in about 2 or 3 months of 3 hours of lessons a week.

have a look through the japan section. there is heaps of info on people going to japan, especially tokyo.

[NYTSKY]

Thanks for the info.Ive been to many other places around the world(luckily) but this by far is the hardest to plan.Mainly because there are a whole lot more places i want to see.Tracks,tuning shops,car museums,that electric city everyone talks about and my favourite TOKYO AUTO SALON.Which gives you a hint as to when i am going.

[dani3l]

electric town is a MUST. that was f*n awesome. Incase you didnt know its the last stop on the tsukuba express line. Called akihabara station. Make sure you BRING money. Your gonna wanna buy everything damn electric thing they have haha

have fun dude

[akeenan]

be sure to check out the maid cafes if your in akihabara. Also akihabara isnt always the cheapest for electronic goods. but it is a great place to go on a trip to Japan

[Beer Baron]

yes, if you want to buy electric goods like mp3 players, or cameras best off going to yodabashi in shinjuku (there's a couple there actually). Plus they will beat any price you've seen elsewhere and have good service, and english speaking staff. Akihabara is a cool place to see, but a bit of a tourist trap as far as shopping goes. but they do have lots of shops that sell all the crazy japanese mens toys like the maid cafe dolls etc. don't worry about the tsukuba express to get there. yamanote line stops there and chuo sobu line stop there. the JR lines are much easier to use than the private lines in tokyo.