Japanuary 2023 - another belated trip report

[Seat0B]

Saturday 18 Feb 2023 - Tokyo

Enjoyed the hotel buffet breakfast again, and then waved Seat Friend off as she ventured out on her own for the day. She has relatives who have just moved to Tokyo and is visiting with them today. We are joining them all for dinner tonight.

Mr Seat 0A and I had a leisurely morning calling the family back home and then planned the rest of the day in the shops. Bought a JR line day pass for ¥760 and headed out to Harajuku. This station has been extended and renovated extensively, so was not really recognisable from previous visits. it has very cool urban art in the tunnels, but was very crowded with the usual Saturday vibe. Many girls in cosplay outfits. Spent some time and money in Uniqlo where I got an awesome T shirt with the Hokusai wave on it for ¥3300 (about $35).



Randomly encountered a group of school girls in traditional dress doing a large painted calligraphy and art on a banner on the floor whilst dancing to traditional music. It was gorgeous - gentle but deliberate choreographed movements to highlight the beauty of the brushwork. The finished product was then held up and proudly displayed to the audience. I asked the teacher to explain a little about it in my simplistic Japanese. She called over a senior student who expressed delight in my interest and then explained it all in absolutely perfect English. Most of the students performing were in middle school and around 12 years of age. The banner was the words of a famous Japanese poem "Come Spring" and the art work was designed by the students to highlight the text. Just a lovely fortuitous moment to spontaneously appreciate local culture.

Next stop was the huge Daiso, and it did not disappoint! Our haul for the day from all the shops we visited:

• phone charging cords ¥300, ¥500
• cute shopping bags ¥150-300
• socks 3 pairs for ¥1000
• apple watch charger ¥700
• heaps of cute items for Seat Granddaughter, all ¥110 each - hair clips, coin purse, kid's chopsticks, stickers
• 4 pack chopsticks with cute motifs ¥220
• 20 pack of coloured masks ¥220
• travel bottles for cosmetics ¥110
• handbag organisers ¥330

We had so much stuff we had to drop it back to the hotel before dinner. Quick turnaround and off to Champagne and Gyoza in Ebisu for dinner. This was a cute little izakaya style place that was true to name. A specialised menu focused on .... champagne and gyoza. We enjoyed a few bottles of Pommery and traditional gyoza as well as some more modern fusion ones (eg sriracha, blue cheese, etc) and some good company with Seat Friend's relatives.



Train home was typically weekend crowded, but that's all part of the experience. This was a really fun day, although it was very warm at 14⁰. No wonder the locals were starting to think about the coming of spring.

 

[Seat0B]

Sunday 19 Feb 2023 - Tokyo

Today was forecast to be 19⁰ and clear, so we planned to view Tokyo today from the Tokyo Tower or the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, or more likely, both - one in the daytime and one at night. However, that is not what happened...

We set off to walk to the Tokyo Tower that was about 15-20 mins from our hotel. When we arrived, it was exactly as per the weather forecast, and there was a MASSIVE line for tower entry, so we spent a few minutes taking photos, and watching guests arriving at the tower precincts for a very traditional wedding.



By the time we had done this, the cloud had moved in, and we decided there was no point in going up the tower.



We moved seamlessly to Plan B, which was to take the Toei line subway to Shinjuku, where we mixed it with the Sunday crowds and hoped that the weather would clear up enough to go up the Metropolitan Government Building. Spoiler alert, this was not to be, so we just had to force ourselves into more shopping, which was a bit of fun given the heat (it was by now 20⁰) and the crowds. Mr Seat 0A went off to a sporting good store, and then rested with a coffee, while Seat Friend and I did our bit for the Japanese economy . This included buying a bucnh of very cheap alcohol at the local Don Quixote to bring home instead of overpriced duty free - we got 2 x 750ml Canadian Club, 1 x 750ml Johnny Walker Red and 1 x 720ml Choya Umeshu for the grand sum of ¥7400 (about $80). We looked up and duty free on arrival for a Johnny walker red 1.25l was $49, adn the Umeshu (out of stock) was $39 so we got a bargain for sure

Finally, as it was getting dark, we stopped and squeezed into a Starbucks for a cold drink (it was a really hot day for Japan in winter), and fitted into the local vibe by sitting around a fair bit after finishing our drinks until it was properly dark and properly crowded because Seat Friend wanted that experience.

Oh I forgot to mention that we stopped for lunch together somewhere in all that - Chinese this time with rice paper rolls, a small selection of dim sum dumplings, a small green salad and all you can drink peach oolong tea - quite good value at ¥1300 ea.

Then we headed to Shibuya to see the scramble crossing. We had a good time there making multiple crossings and trying to take videos and photos, but it is hard to do justice to the scene at street level, and we did not have the stomach for braving the Starbuck's vantage point at that time on a Sunday evening. Also saw the hachiko statue of the loyal dog who waited there every night for years for its master to return from work, not understanding that the master had suffered a fatal heart attack at work and would not be returning.

Seat Friend wanted to get an apple watch charger like the one Mr Seat 0A bought yesterday, so unfortunately () that necessitated some more shopping!!



Home on very crowded trains and up to the 14F lounge for "dinner" comprising snacks and alcohol, and then a few board games. My feet are really aching today - a combination of the heat, a lot of walking and a lot of standing around. And of course, I'm tired again. mr Seat 0A has been pretty sensible today, sitting a lot of the shopping excursions out, and resting his foot. It is getting better, but it's still very sore and swollen. He's still strapping the toes together with the self adhesive bandages - they are great.

 

[Seat0B]

Monday 20 Feb 2023 - Tokyo

Today Seat Friend and I met up with her relative and caught a mix of JR Yamanote line (Tamachi to Kanda) the underground transfer to the Ginza line (subway) to Tawaramchi to visit Kitchen Street (Kappabashi Dōgyu). Fare was a total of ¥325 and transit time about 45 mins.



Kitchen Street is a retail area that specialises in selling kitchen wares, and is a place I visit every time I'm in Tokyo if I can to get interesting little pieces to supplement my collection of Japanese plates, serving dishes, cutlery, chef's knives etc. It has a really cute streetscape. I won't detail all the ins and outs (and there were many!) as we meandered 4 blocks down one side of the street and then back again over more than 4 hours .

As you may have guessed, this was not to Mr Seat 0A's taste, so he cheerfully headed off to Akihabara, the electronics area, and everyone was happy .

I bought my usual array of items. Some cute Japanese small serving dishes for ¥100-300 per item; coloured anodised aluminium ice cream spoons (guaranteed to cut through hard ice cream, and I've tested them at home, and they certainly do!) for ¥380 ea; some brushed chrome cheese knives and sugar spoons for ¥350 ea, a couple of long sushi serving platters ¥1000 ea; some tiny wasabi/ginger plates ¥80 ea and a few other things that I forget now. Here's a photo of some of my items.



Seat friend was eqipping her newly acquired camper van and was thrilled at the selection of household items in smaller, more modest sizes to suit Japanese homes, that also would work really well for her in the camper van.

By the time we finished, it was well after late lunch, and given that there are few real food options on Kitchen Street (weird, right!), we decided to head back to Ueno station and have lunch/dinner/whatever you want to call it at the place we ate on our "bonus day" in Tokyo when we first arrived. However, finding it again was an adventure, as anyone who has visited a large city JR station can attest . We got hopelessly lost in the subterranean shops at Ueno because I did not realise that these were stacked 3 levels deep! We mistakenly entered the Shinkansen area, and had to throw ourselves on the mercy of the gate attendant to recredit the fare charged to our Suica cards - I found "chigaimashita, sumimasen" a very helpful phrase. In classic Japanese indirect syle, that could variously mean "I made a mistake, sorry" or "excuse me, a mistake has been made (by someone)" or some other general expression of confusion, error and regret. Anyway, they cheerfully and efficiently reversed the transactions for us all. We eventually found our way to the restaurant by going outside to street level, getting our bearings, walking to the correct entry above ground, and up one floor, and hey presto, we found it.

Food was still delicious and remained value at between ¥1100-1300 per person depending on selection. I had the most delicious, melt in your mouth pork tonkatsu (on the left of the photo) that I have ever eaten - or maybe I was just starving - regardless, it was memorable.



After eating, we just chilled out and rested for a bit, chatting and enjoying the whole vibe. We eventually made our way back trhough afternoon/evening peak crowds, and unfortunately arrived back at the hotel 5 minutes after drinks went off in the lounge. Not to worry, Mr Seat 0A had given it a good nudge for us, and we were not that hungry having only just eaten "lunch" so just had a few snacks and compared tales of the day, showed our purchases and called it a great day.

Tomorrow is our last day, with a late evening flight home from Haneda, so I started a bit of packing, quickly lost interest, and decided that was a job for tomorrow morning.

edit to add a photo I forgot and remove the one I accidentally posted twice!

 

[rbjhan]

I went to that kitchen street once, really liked the plastic food samples but damn they are expensive!

 

[Seat0B]

I went to that kitchen street once, really liked the plastic food samples but damn they are expensive!

I know right - I was shocked at the price. Naively I went there thinking it would make a great souvenir, and left instead with a bunch of teaspoons and small plates .

The other thing I have noticed over the years is the gradual 'gentrification' of Kitchen Street. It used to be full of authentic, old fashioned shops that just sold their particular item(s), whatever that was. On my last 2 visits (2020 and 2023), I noticed that there are more and more chain stores - still selling kitchen ware, but more mass produced items - and these are gradually pushing out the older style of shop. Inevitable, I guess and I suspect it might have been accelerated a bit in anticipation of the crowds expected for the 2020 Olympics - which of course did not eventuate.

 

[Seat0B]

Tuesday 21 Feb 2023 - Last day in Tokyo

Enjoyed our final Celestine breakfast. By now we all have our favourites worked out and also we know to look for the daily special fried item. Today it was tiny fried fish that did not look very appetising, so we all skipped it.

Then back to our rooms to finalise the packing. Spent a very intense 70 minutes on this and was very pleased at how efficiently we managed to fit everything into our bags. We will do a bit of re-distributing tonight at the airport when we collect our bags that we sent earlier by Black Cat. Courtesy of Apple Air Tags, we know all our bags have arrived at Haneda, which is very reassuring. Checked out and left our bags at reception, and suitably lighter, headed out to a spot of last minute....shopping and some touristing too!

First we took a trip to Tokyo station so Mr Seat 0A could take photos of the spectacular exterior, and then on to Shinjuku, where we visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. This is now connected fully to Shinjuku station indoors by long, long travellators. Our intention was to see the view from the observatory deck but.... the North Deck was closed as it is now a COVID Vaccination Centre, and the South Deck was closed for maintenance. Very disappointed. Then the lady at information suggested the "nice view and very cheap meal at staff caferteria on 32F". She explained the process, so we toddled off to the touch screens to make an application for a visitor pass (had an English language screen), which was quite straightforward. Rode up in the express lift with all the Japanese public servants. Put my ¥580 into the ticket machine and received my daily meal ticket, which I exchanged for a huge bowl of ramen replete with veggies and a small bit of pork, and a hot tea. Very good and much better than Seat Friend's selection of "iced mocha" which turned out to be brewed black coffee poured over ice. No milk, no sugar, no cream, just bitter black coffee and ice for ¥400! Mr Seat 0A got a machine made "cappuccino" for the same price. And yes there was a nice view of the city as well.





Then to the shops for Seat Friend to buy last minute earrings for her daughter, Mr Seat 0A to buy a last minute thermometer, and me to buy last minute cute teaspoons as gifts for anyone I forgot to get a gift for. We went to Starbucks for a final coffee and cinnamon scroll before starting the long journey home.

We left Starbucks 5F Milord Shinjuku at 1542 - with, in the words of a favourite family car trip song about a fox going out on the town, many a mile to go that night... First we mingled through the crowds at JR Shinjuku to the Yamanote line, back to Tamachi (7 stops, 30 min, ¥198), walked back to the hotel, collected the bags and moved in convoy to the Mita subway station that is co-located with JR Tamachi. Used the lift to descend (patting ourselves on the back for scoping it out a few days ago), and started to navigate along the labrynth of tunnels to make the platform for the train direct to Haneda airport. We did discover a few sets of unexpected concealed surprise stairs, but nothing too difficult given we had lightened our load considerably by sending the ski bags direct from the snowfields at Madarao. It was 6 stops on the Asakusa line, ¥480, and took another 30 minutes. The train was really crowded when we first boarded, no seats to be had. Then it cleared out a bit, and we nabbed seats, and then it got crowded again, so we were quite pleased to have our seats. It was very straightforward and we arrived at the terminal by 1715.

Now, the departure administration started for real.

I'll post about the airport experience and the trip home next time.

 

[Seat0B]

Tuesday 21 Feb and Wednesday 22 Feb 2023 - Haneda to Canberra

First task on arrival at the airport at about 1715 was to take my tax free purchases to the customs check so they could be placed into my checked in luggage for the trip home. The system in Japan is much more civilised and streamlined than the one I endured in Hungary leaving the EU reported in my earlier trip report. When you buy tax free items in Japan, you show your passport to the sales assistant, and they remove the tax from your bill at the point of purchase, and give you an official receipt that you have to show, along with the goods and your passport, at the airport. The goods are placed into a sealed bag, and my understanding is that they have to stay in that bag until you leave the country. However, there are a zillion people in on-line forums saying that they just use the items and do not bother at all with any of the process that the paperwork tells you to follow. I'm a bit of a goody two-shoes when it comes to customs, so I left my items in the sealed bag, and did what it said I had to do - present the items in their bag, the paperwork and my passport to customs..

On arrival, we asked at airport info for the location of the tax/customs area and the instructions seemed potentially daunting, involving finding the relevant blue sign and then using a phone to call a customs officer who would come out to check the items. But it actually worked exactly like that - found the "tax free" sign quite easily (and actually quite conveniently near-ish to the Black Cat collection area), used the phone, spoke in English to the person who answered, was asked to wait a couple of minutes, out popped an English speaking customs officer who asked for my passport, took a look, took my passport, went away and came back in 5 minutes, all correct and no further action needed. There was no queue, and he did not require to inspect my purchases. Simples!

Next task was to claim all our bags back from Black Cat. Small problem, we had 4 bags (all with airtags) but the hotel had only sent photos of three of the lodgement dockets by mistake. Even though we had 4 photos, the hotel had sent two photos of one of the dockets, so we were one short. It wasn't a big problem, the attendant just said "chotto matte kudasai" (please wait a moment) and asked for a passport. We were not sure whose bag was likned to the missing photo, so gave over my passport and Seat Friend's. After about 5 minutes, they came back, with all the bags and handed them over. Not sure how they squared it away, but it was no problem for us.

Nowwe were in a position to use the nearby scales to confirm that we met the baggage rules - no item over 32kg, and individual baggage allowances of 56kg for Mr Seat 0A (LTG) and Seat Friend (SG) and 60kg for me (WP). All good so we did not even need to redistribute anything - we had been a bit anxious about our ski bag which was quite heavy with 2 pairs of skis and poles, 2 pairs of ski boots, and a bunch of ski clothing, so that was a win. Loaded up onto trolleys and wheeled over to F check in at about 1800. There was no queue at F check in and a VERY long queue at economy check in, so I felt very lucky to have that privilege. All sorted very quickly and efficiently, and we were soon on our way to the lounges with boarding passes all the way to CBR. Tried hard to get an extra pass for Seat Friend into F Lounge, but no luck, so she headed off to Sakura Lounge.

A short wait at immigration and security, and then into the JAL F Lounge, which I would say is a victim of COVID and not nearly as good as it was on our last visit. I'm hoping that these issues have gone away by now, given that my report is running almost a year behind. Anyway, the F Lounge experience was underwhelming. You had to select a table and stay there for the duration of your visit. You placed yourself in the shower queue by scanning a QR code linked to your selected table number. You could not select a preferred time for a shower, it was on a "next available" basis. When you get to the head of the virtual line for the shower, you receive a message to go to reception on your phone and they give you the key to your cubicle. But of course, you have no idea when that message will come, and the reception staff don't know either... So we waited 45 minutes and the list still showed 4 people in front of us (which is what it was when we joined the virtual queue) so as it was now 1915, we decided to order dinner. This was also done by QR code linked to the table and you had to order everything you wanted in a single order down to a pat of butter for your bread roll and milk/sugar to go with your tea. There was only a very limited menu available. I remember this lounge from pre-COVID as a cornucopia of delicious morsels for self service, plus chef prepared sushi and other dishes made to order while you watched. Well, not any more. There was literally nothing to eat that was not ordered from the QR code menu. No snacks, nuts, chips, cheese, fruit cake, desserts, biscuits, chocolates, fruit - nothing. Asked at reception and was given a couple of packets of nuts and a sugar cookie. Even the wine was dispensed by a machine, although you could free pour sake and a few spirits and use a machine for mixers.




Very sad compared to its former glory. Yes, I know this is a first world problem, just making my observations. Of course, you also do not know how long the food will take to arrive, and there is no one around that you can ask. So yes, as you have guessed, dear reader, as soon as Mr Seat 0A received his meal at 1935 (20 mins after order), his shower buzzer went off - he had not had even a single mouthful. Min went off 5 minutes later, by which time I had speedily devoured my meal in expectation of my call up. Not the pleasant experience I was hoping for, and not a patch on QF First Lounge in Sydney or EK First in Dubai. The shower though was lovely, and worth the wait. It's so delightful to be able to wash off the grime of the day before boarding the flight.

Boarding was promptly called as scheduled at 2120 for a 2200 departure. I lke the cocoon like space of the business cabin on a Qantas A 330 and find the bed comfy enough to sleep, so having (sort of) eaten in the Lounge, I planned to go to sleep as soon as possible after takeoff. Enjoyed a glass of bubbles, and felt a bit sad to be leaving after such a great trip, but also happy to be getting home to see my mum, the girls and Seat Granddaughter.



In the end, I decided to eat dinner after the poor and minimalist showing in the lounge and then slept through until woken for breakfast shortly before SYD.

Immigration, bags, oversize bags and customs all very straightforward and then into the melee of domestic transfer. Boy was it busy when we arrived! When we arrived, the line was a bit outside the double doors entry to domestic transfer area, but within minutes it had extended all the way back inside the international terminal. No idea why it was so busy but there were quite a few stressed people worrying about their connections. We were calm with adequate time to make our connections. Back trhough secuirty, with yet another set of rules about laptops and shoes. Gosh I wish they would bloody well standardise this. Lucked into a seat on the transfer bus after some wait for it to arrive. On the way over in the bus, we saw a bag with a ?surfboard (paging @HirafuHeartAttack ) literally blown off the little wagon being chuffed along the road with all the luggage on it. Luckily the driver was aware of the incident and stopped to collect it, but it threw new light on how wine packed (quite well wrapped and padded) in Seat Son's ski bag a few trips back may have met its downfall. Time for a coffee and snack in Dom J Lounge before heading to gate 19 for the ignominy of a Dash-8 service home. Talk about from sublime to ridiculous! Anyway, it beat walking!

Again delighted when all our bags arrived in good order, into an Uber for Mr Seat 0A with a bag or 2, off to the coffee shop for me with oversized ski bag to wait for his return with a suitable car. We were home at our house at 1530 - just under 24 hours since we left Starbucks in Shinjuku.

I though I would sleep well after all of that, but found myself totally awake at 0200 and it took me a few days to readjust to local time.

And that's the end of the trip report. Thanks for travelling with me.

Next time I will post about my COVID and general observations on this trip.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

What a fantastic report! Maybe you're a little more seasoned than me but I did think the JAL F lounge at Narita was quite good in January (especially compared with the zoo that was the Sakura Lounge), though I've had a lot more experience since then. Excited to check out the Haneda F lounge in Feb now!

And yes unfortunately Surfboards do tend to get tossed around by baggage handlers... I've seen countless horror stories regarding damage done (inclduding to our own boards in the Maldives).

I hope your recovery is going well!

 

[Seat0B]

For those who have been wondering, when we arrived home, Mr Seat 0A was still having trouble with his foot, so with a bit of gentle persuasion by moi, he headed off for an xray. No surprise a broken toe (4th toe) and also 4th metatarsal. A few weeks in a moon boot seriously reduced his pain and increased his mobility (paging @Flyfrequently) and he is fine now. In fact he was fine by the Australian winter and managed to cram his foot into his ski boots for a few good days before my health became the focus of the family.

And on that note, I am recovering well, if slowly from my point of view. All in line with the expectations of the doctors, just not in line with my expectations. When they told me at least 3 months and maybe 6 to recover, I did not really believe/accept that, but turns out they were right! Who knew...

 

[RooFlyer]

Lovely report, and great to hear of recovery. Great use of downtime!

 

[Seat0B]

Some COVID observations from my trip

The Japanese government apparently lacks the power to pass a mask mandate, but social pressure and expectation was sufficiently strong that there was exceptionally high compliance with the government's requests that people should wear a mask indoors. The government had by January 2023 relaxed its request for people to wear a mask outdoors, but we saw little evidence that Japanese people were venturing outdoors without a mask - just a few younger people in the bigger cities, usually posing for photos and videos in their traditional outfits. The only other people I saw not wearing a mask indoors or outdoors on this trip were bogan Aussie tourists, usually in their 20s or 30s. It was quite embarrassing.

For skiing, there was no mask wearing on the slopes or on chairlifts - people just sensibly wore their neck warmers or balaclavas or whatever as a bit of a barrier there. In gondola style lifts it was about 50:50 with masks v neck warmers. When skiers/boarders came indoors for coffee or food, there was again very high compliance with fitting a mask and wearing that whilst walking around, or sitting at tables not actively eating.

Hand sanitising was still a very big deal, with many shops and restaurants requiring hand sanitising as a condition of entry. If you were too slow or didn't do it (maybe because you had just sanitised in the last 3 shops in the row), they would politely but firmly escort you to the sanitiser and wait while you used it. Some places were also asking for a temperature reading before admitting you, but you would have to question the accuracy of some of the thermometers given I had a series of quite low readings including 35.5⁰ and 35.2⁰ (close to the hypothermia level).

Masks were in ready supply, and very cheap compared to the cost in Australia where I paid between $20-$25 for a pack of 50 surgical style masks in plain blue. In Japan, you could get fancy design, different colours, patterned etc masks in a pack of 20 for ¥330 (less than $4). We simply don't have that level of choice here. Japanese children also wear masks from a very early age. They make really cute patterned masks for kids and we saw many little children certainly no older than 3 years old happily going about their day wearing a mask - and wearing it properly too, covering both mouth and nose. School children from 5 up had a mask as part of their uniform, often with a school crest or similar on the mask. A lot of Australians could learn from this

The Japanese government decreed just as we were leaving for home that masks would no longer be recommended indoors from 12 March 2023, unless it is impossible to maintain social distance like on public transport, where wearing is still encouraged. But based on what we saw, it will probably be quite a while before masks become a thing to wear only when sick. Most trains (except the Shinkansen of course) had windows locked open to improve ventilation, making for some quite brisk train trips.

After a month of these precautions, it was such a shock to arrive back in Sydney and find all the airport officials and airline staff maskless and the airport thronged with maskless passengers milling about and getting all up in my grille. Took me a few days to adjust back to the Aussie view of normal for February 2023.

A very clear benefit of wearing a mask most of the time was that I did not get sick at all whilst in Japan. On every other trip we have taken, we have both ended up with some variant of a winter cold and on one occasion it was definitely the flu. So given that I now know that my immune system was beginning to tank quite considerably as a result of the then undiagnosed leukaemia, it seems like masks and hand hygiene really protected me from winter bugs. I think I will just opt to wear a mask more frequently on future trips.

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks very much for the interesting TR. For someone who was starting to feel the early stages of your illness you still really got a lot done. Good to see that your recovery is proceeding steadily if not as fast as desired.

 

[drron]

Thanks for an excellent TR. You do very well in Japan obviously.
As to mask wearing by October masks were basically back to their pre pandemic levels. Though that still meant quite a few masks.

Great to hear that you are improving. All the best for the future and hope there will be many more TRs.

 

[Flyfrequently]

For those who have been wondering, when we arrived home, Mr Seat 0A was still having trouble with his foot, so with a bit of gentle persuasion by moi, he headed off for an xray. No surprise a broken toe (4th toe) and also 4th metatarsal. A few weeks in a moon boot seriously reduced his pain and increased his mobility (paging @Flyfrequently) and he is fine now. In fact he was fine by the Australian winter and managed to cram his foot into his ski boots for a few good days before my health became the focus of the family.

And on that note, I am recovering well, if slowly from my point of view. All in line with the expectations of the doctors, just not in line with my expectations. When they told me at least 3 months and maybe 6 to recover, I did not really believe/accept that, but turns out they were right! Who knew...

Have really enjoyed reading your TR @Seat0B and have learned much about Japan. Not being skiers, it hasn't really been on my radar but you have piqued my interest.

Glad Mr Seat0B soldiered on but sought advice after the event - I didn't want a diagnosis until I got home either!

Wishing you both all the best and hope you can start planning your next adventure soon

 

[Seat0B]

Have really enjoyed reading your TR @Seat0B and have learned much about Japan. Not being skiers, it hasn't really been on my radar but you have piqued my interest.

Glad Mr Seat0B soldiered on but sought advice after the event - I didn't want a diagnosis until I got home either!

Wishing you both all the best and hope you can start planning your next adventure soon

Japan is a most interesting and beautiful country, whether you ski or not. It is very different culturally, but don't let that or language put you off. And the food.....

In the main tourist centres all the signage is in English, and at the large JR stations there is usually someone with a reasonable command of English. Almost all machines such as ticket machines, ATMs etc have an English language option. The Japanese people are also polite, kind and helpful to a respectful tourist - I have often been approached by Japanese people in large stations asking in English if I am lost or need help. Hotel staff are very helpful and have assisted with enquiries ranging from "where should I eat", "how do I fill out the Black Cat form", "how do I use the bus" and "what should I see in your city". Use facebook groups, google and youtube to decide what to do/where to go, and Google maps or navitime apps to work out how to get there.

To be respectful, it's not really hard. Learn a couple of key words like sumimasen (pronounced su-me-ma-sen =I'm sorry, excuse me, forgive me, take pity on me - a very useful word for the situations you will find ypurself in), arigato (pronounced uh-ri- gah- toe = thanks) or arigato gozaimasu (thanks very much), dozo (after you), oishii (pronounced oh-ee-sheeee =delicious), kirei (pronounced ki-ray = beautiful) and people will be extremely gratified that you tried. Try to keep your voices down so as not to disturb others - so no yelling at each other across the crowded train be polite about where you use your phone, and keep the volume down. Avoid pushing and shoving in crowds - they are moving as fast as they can already. Be aware of where you stop stop, especially if there is a group of you, so that ypu don;t block other people's pathways. Keep control of your luggage and particularly avoid bumping into other people with big bags or back pack. None of this is rocket science in a densely populated country, but by observation some foreigners have difficulties with this - Australians, Americans, Italians and South Koreans were particularly noticeable for discourteous behaviour.

 

[Seat0B]

A few more observations and some hints

• My three month burst of effort on the Fluent U app really paid dividends in an improved vocabulary and strongly improved ability to read hiragana and katakana and some kanji. Definitely boosted my fluency and confidence to try talking in Japanese and to read menus and other predictable signage like at the stations for platforms, delays etc.
• The JR Green Car was actually quite a lot nicer than the standard cars on the shinkansen, and way less crowded. We have always used the standard before, but upgraded this time to celebrate Seat Friend's retirement (an easy gift for us to give her) and because there were now three of us with big bags we thought the extra space, both physical space and fewer passengers, would be useful in case we were not able to book "large luggage seats". Don't panic about luggage restrictions. Large luggage reservations are only required on the busy Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka runs, all others do not require this reservation, you just turn up and use whatever space is free. Further, "large luggage" is very large indeed. My standard check in bag (68cm) met the requirements to NOT require a luggage reservation. My main concern was being able to lift it high enough to place on the overhead rack given it weighed between 17-20kg, and that's quite an overhead lift! Large luggage reservations are free if you do it before boarding the train, and apparently ¥1000 per piece for storage in the guard's car if you do not make the reservation. We had no trouble getting "large luggage reservation" for any of our trips, but had we not managed this, the extra space between seats in the green car would have made it a total non-event to keep our bags at our feet.
• JR pass was not as good value given that it is only available as 7/14/21 consecutive days even if you use a regional pass. The whole of Japan JR pass has always been like that, but some of the regional passes offered by JR East (covered the snow area and Tokyo and surrounds) or JR West, or JR Hokkaido used to be really good value beause they were 7 days of use within a 14 day period or similar, which really allowed better use by tourists like us who prefer to stay a couple of days at each place rather than move every day. Plus, given the huge increase in the cost of all JR passes taking effect in late December this year, the JR pass looks like it has priced itself out of the market. Which might possibly have been their intention?
• I love riding on the shikansen - the whole experience including the platform experience (watch the performative arrival and departure safety checks), the snacks, the buying and eating of ekiben, the atmosphere onboard (Japanese people often quite festive, kick back and have a couple of drinks) and the views. I think I would like to do a holiday entirely based on taking a lot of shinkansen trips - but I would have to prune my luggage a fair bit to do this .
• Japan is beautiful and I'm sure it must be especially gorgeous in the autumn when all the leaves turn. I would love to see that, but I will struggle to give up skiing to visit at another time of the year. Perhaps I need to do both?
• Two weeks' skiing was way better than one, but still not enough time to make me say "I don't want to ski any more". Maybe next time I will ski for longer.
• Google Maps is very reliable for working out train routes - it even tells you platform, approximate car placement on the platform, and which exit to use - which comes in very handy at some of the bigger stations which may have 12 or more exits!
• Cash v credit. The first time we went to Japan 2010, credit cards were virtually useless - everything was undertaken with a wad of cash in your hands. Things have changed, quite a bit, but Japan is definitely nowhere near a cashless society, and not as cash free as Australia by a long shot. We did not find anywhere that was card only (like many places are here now), but there were plenty of things that were cash only - street foods, many smaller restaurants, entry fees to parks, gardens, onsens, museums and temples etc. In department stores, you could pay by card, and also in large chain hotels, although cash was perfectly accepted including in those hotels with the automatic checkout machines. Public transport (eg buses) was also pretty much cash only, although you could use your IC card (Suica, Passmo etc) if you had one. You could not use your credit card though. JR train tickets were available from machines that took cash or IC card, but again not credit card.
• We did not have trouble getting IC (Suica) cards, but there is now a shortage of these cards in Japan due to chip manufacturing issues and the ONLY IC cards now available are tourist cards (only last a short time eg 28 days, balance not refundable and some other limitations) which you can only get at the airports or sometimes at Tokyo JR centre. So be aware if you want to use this card. Also be aware that if you add your IC card to your apple wallet, the physical card will no longer work. I honestly don't know why tourists get so fascinated with IC cards - they are a payment method only and do not offer any significant discount (eg we got 3 yen = 3 cents off the full ticketed fare per ride) and you have to keep finding a machine and topping up. We topped up with cash as we had it, and people on-line report various issues trying to use foreign credit cards to top up IC cards when the original credit has been used. For example that Visa cards don't work, only Mastercard, and some banks nothing seems to work. People are getting caught out, so I'd advise keeping some cash if you want to go this way. You can use cash or the IC card (but not usually a credit card) at some vending machines. You can use the IC card at some convenience stores (konbini) to pay, but not usually a credit card, although some did accept an EFT transaction on my fee free debit card - I mainly just paid with cash. You can use whatevr IC card you have, wherever you bought it, anywhere in Japan (more or less- some exceptions are reported on line, but we did not experience this).
• What we did instead was look into the various day passes or longer that are sold in every city, including some of the smaller ones as I reported in my TR (eg Kanazawa, Matsumoto). These are often outstanding value as they DO provide significant discounts as they are a capped fee for all the trips you want in the specified time period. These can be bought from JR offices, ticket machines at the station or bus stops, tourist information offices, bus transit authority offices etc - you guessed it, using cash. Do the maths to see if you will make enough trips to warrant the cost, and if not you can either use an IC card as discussed above, or buy single trip or return trip tickets from a ticket machine with an English screen. Finally, again, it's not sheep stations here with the passes being between ¥500 (Matsumoto) and ¥860 (Tokyo) so roughly $5.50-$10 per person per day for all ypu can ride. Honestly, don't sweat the small stuff.
• Food is excellent everywhere and so so so so cheap. We routinely paid ¥1000-¥1300 ($10-$15)for an excellent meal of miso soup, rice, pickles and a main dish like ramen, udon, gyoza, fried chicken (kara age), pork tonkatsu (schnitzel), yakitori (skewers), kare (Japanese curry), okonmiyaki (a cabbage omelette with various veg and meat fillings - totally delicious) etc. The same food was between $25 and $30 here in Canberra when we got back home, so it is half price there. You can pay more for specialty meals for dinner in the ¥2,000-¥2,500 range and get things like teriyaki, teppanyaki, shabu shabu etc, or of course you can go all out for expensive meals.
• Alcohol is also very very cheap.
• Coffee on the other hand is not comparably cheap (although it's cheaper than in the Middle East ) and getting good Australian style coffee may take a bit of googling. It's worth the trouble.
• Luggage forwarding services are a godsend if you travel like we do - 2 holidays in one. It is so amazing to get rid of our skis, equipment and clothing when we finish skiing and not have to lug it all around Japan with us. It's affordable ¥2,000 - ¥2500 per bag depending on size and weight. You need to allow 2 days to be sure that it will get there, so it won't work out if you are going straight from the snow to the airport, or if you have a string of 1 night stays on your trip. They will mind it happily at the airport for 14 days, and we once stretched that to 16 days without any difficulties. We have used this service 4 times now and have not ahd any problems with it at all.
• If you travel by train, consider staying at hotels near stations to minimise your transit times and luggage handling. These are often called "eki mae" in their name (means in front of the station) or sometimes eki chikai (near the station) - but eki chikai is further away than eki mae.

OK, I think my trip is finally over.

Feel free to comment or DM me if you have any questions for me. And thanks for all the kind wishes and for following along on this belated ride.

 

[drron]

A great summary of Japanese tourism. Their hospitality hasn’t changed since our first visit in 1981. That visit prompted me to go back to University where I did 2 years of Japanese. Never a good speaker but a photographic memory meant I could read a lot of Kanji. That really helped me. The locals always expressed surprise at that.
For some years I was able to pay back by helping Japanese tourists in Australia. And on a couple of occasions being able to help when they had health problems.

Sadly though with declining use and memory my Japanese has gone back to being basic now. Still enough to gain the respect of locals.

 

[Seat0B]

A great summary of Japanese tourism. Their hospitality hasn’t changed since our first visit in 1981. That visit prompted me to go back to University where I did 2 years of Japanese. Never a good speaker but a photographic memory meant I could read a lot of Kanji. That really helped me. The locals always expressed surprise at that.
For some years I was able to pay back by helping Japanese tourists in Australia. And on a couple of occasions being able to help when they had health problems.

Sadly though with declining use and memory my Japanese has gone back to being basic now. Still enough to gain the respect of locals.

Pretty much my experience too - I did 2 years at uni in 1981-82 and was quite good at the end of that - but then did nothing with it. Now I know that I will keep going back, it has been worth my while to take it up again, and I quite enjoy the FluentU app - they subtitle various clips (Youtube, advertisements, TV shows etc) in full mixed kana with hiragana underneath that and then finally English. You can stop and replay over and over until you understand what is being said - they even have a "slow the speech down" button. You can click on any kanji you don't understand and it gives the pronunciation, the hiragana and some example sentences. Then after you do that, they have repetition drills that you do until you get them right - and even then it cycles them back to you at unpredictable intervals until the app is convinced you have learnt it! It's working for me - I have been on a 10 minutes a day thing for 5 months now and I can really see the benefits of regular practice.

I am hoping that this has not been in vain as my blood work seems to be improving, and I just might make it on the next trip at the end of January after all....

 

[Flyfrequently]

Japan is a most interesting and beautiful country, whether you ski or not. It is very different culturally, but don't let that or language put you off. And the food.....

In the main tourist centres all the signage is in English, and at the large JR stations there is usually someone with a reasonable command of English. Almost all machines such as ticket machines, ATMs etc have an English language option. The Japanese people are also polite, kind and helpful to a respectful tourist - I have often been approached by Japanese people in large stations asking in English if I am lost or need help. Hotel staff are very helpful and have assisted with enquiries ranging from "where should I eat", "how do I fill out the Black Cat form", "how do I use the bus" and "what should I see in your city". Use facebook groups, google and youtube to decide what to do/where to go, and Google maps or navitime apps to work out how to get there.

To be respectful, it's not really hard. Learn a couple of key words like sumimasen (pronounced su-me-ma-sen =I'm sorry, excuse me, forgive me, take pity on me - a very useful word for the situations you will find ypurself in), arigato (pronounced uh-ri- gah- toe = thanks) or arigato gozaimasu (thanks very much), dozo (after you), oishii (pronounced oh-ee-sheeee =delicious), kirei (pronounced ki-ray = beautiful) and people will be extremely gratified that you tried. Try to keep your voices down so as not to disturb others - so no yelling at each other across the crowded train be polite about where you use your phone, and keep the volume down. Avoid pushing and shoving in crowds - they are moving as fast as they can already. Be aware of where you stop stop, especially if there is a group of you, so that ypu don;t block other people's pathways. Keep control of your luggage and particularly avoid bumping into other people with big bags or back pack. None of this is rocket science in a densely populated country, but by observation some foreigners have difficulties with this - Australians, Americans, Italians and South Koreans were particularly noticeable for discourteous behaviour.

Thanks for that information and your insight @Seat0B.
The more one travels, the more one notices behaviours of others are, as you say, discourteous (not rocket science to be respectful)

Surfer Flyfrequently's best friend in primary school was Japanese, sadly they lost touch in their teen years.
Will start doing some research and anything that involves food will sway Mr Flyfrequently

 

[VPS]

Finally catching up on some AFF after a busy few weeks. Thanks for the TR and hope your health continues to improve