Introduction to Japan / Trivia
12.07.2020
Why Japan?
When my 30th birthday was around everyone was pressuring me what I wanted to do and if I was doing a party. So I decided to go abroad.
I was always interested in the Japanese culture, so I decided to find out, what I could do in Japan. It was clear pretty soon, it was perfect for my birthday in April. If I was lucky, I should be in time to see the cherry blossoms.
Now while I’m interested in the culture, I won’t be giving many tips. There are tons of website about the cultural rules and honestly it’s not something I specialise in. I just try to read up front and adjust. So if they were a face mask when sick, I will do the same. I remove my shoes indoors and so on.
The cherry blossoms
Now seeing the cherry blossoms is not too hard, if your flexible the cherry blossoms are not only a few weeks. The first blossoms are in January in Okinawa and the last in May in Hokkaido.
There are also quite a few lists, where the best place is to see cherry blossoms.
I loved Himeji Castle, but also the philosopher’s path.
Japan has many offers for foreigners that are very useful.
There sometimes is a discount for foreigners, if you rent a car. Strangely the advertisement for the car company I used was only on the original website. So you had to go to the Japanese website and click on the English advertisement.
The Japan Rail (JR) Pass for 7, 14 or 21 days is a good hassle way to travel. You got unlimited access to trains, some busses and a ferry (Miyajima ferry) of the JR Line. If you want to take a few train rides, you should definitely check it out. There are some restrictions though like you can’t use the two fastest Shinkansen Nozomi and Mizuho. Also there are some trains with only reserved seats, while there is no reservation fee, you need a free seat. I was once told I couldn’t take a train the full way because there wasn’t any free space.
Therefore I was supposed to take one train earlier for the first part of the journey and then change trains, when a seat was available midway through the journey. I missed the first train, so I smuggled myself in the second rain, even though I did not have a reservation for the whole trip. No really the only check-point was for the Shinkansen platforms and as I had a valid ticket (my JR Pass), I was allowed through. I was not the only one that was standing between two compartments and when I was controlled, the ticket inspector didn’t say anything. Then again I had a valid ticket (just not the free reservation) and he might not have wanted to have a discussion in English. I’m not proud of it, but it was the last train, so I think it is forgivable.
Another thing you should think about is to use a pasmo/suica card. It is a cash card that you can use in the bus, vending machines and also in some convenience shops. You can also use it for trains.
Paying by cash in the bus:
When you get into a bus you generally enter through the rear door and have to get a numbered ticket that shows when you entered the bus. The fare depends on your number and is shown on the display, if you are uncertain asks the driver. The money is put with the numbered ticket in a clear box near the driver. If you need change there is a change machine to help you. However I think it only exchanges up to 1000 yen.
Using an IC (pasmo/suica) card
The alternative is to put the pasmo/suica card against the blue plate with “IC” on it when you board and leave the bus. The fare is calculated automatically. If it is a standard fare you use it only once. As I didn’t use buses in the metropolitan area, I always had a distance based fare.
Punctuality, service and profitable:
The trains, buses and so on I used were very punctual.
Some things didn’t seem very profitable, but it is indeed a good thing for tourists. For example I took a cruise and was the only passenger. I was expecting them to tell me, that there weren’t enough passengers and they had to cancel. This would have meant that I would have to wait an hour for my next cruise. However to they actually did the cruise with one passenger. When I got off the boat, I got a few strange looks, but well sometimes getting up early has its strong points.
There are also some offers for sightseeing that are not profitable. I think it is supposed to get more tourists to some spots. For example there are Taxis according to a timetable with a big discount (800 yen instead of 3500) to Kitayamazaki Coast.
I got the impression that the Japanese people want to show other people their beautiful country. Now, I was generally looking at nature, where there are fewer tourists, so you might not get that behaviour in tourist hot spots.
All the Japanese People I met were very helpful and the staff generally walked the extra mile. Now you expect customer service, but that after your flight was cancelled, they return you the money in cash, make a reservation for an alternative transport, help you get a bus ticket and put you on the bus is not what you expect. Or let me be honest: it’s not what you can expect. Still this is exactly what happened.
Also the rental car firm gave me a steep discount when I arrived later as intended, because I could not use the car as long as I had rented it for. In every other country it would be bad luck, after all I did not call and they couldn’t use the car for anything else either.
Be careful with tips as Japanese people don’t have a tipping culture. The internet said it can even be seen as rude. You can however make gifts. If you have a Japanese host or tour guide, you want to give something to you can use small tokens (like a typically sweets or souvenirs from your home country). However if you go with food first find out if you can import it to Japan.
The language:
I was fascinated how well I got along in Japan. I generally understood the announcements in trains - I don’t mean the words but the destinations. I also was capable to pronounce them in a way that might not have been perfect, but where recognisable by Japanese people. I have been in English speaking Countries, where that wasn’t the case.
I think is the trip is to split the words in syllables - for Example Jo-do-ga-ha-ma beach or Ki-ta-ya-ma-za-ki Coast. Even if they don’t understand beach or coast, they will still understand you.
Otherwise I only knew a few words: Arigato (Thank you), Gomen (sorry), Sakura (Cherry Blossums), Onegai (Please), Hai (yes) and Iie (no) – not very helpful, if you don’t understand the questions...
The food:
First of all it is delicious. There are a lot of tasty noodle soups – I just say Ramen. The best beef I ever had I ate in Kyoto.
I guess it is best to be open and try lots of food. Even if the card is not in English there are often plastic replica of the dishes, so you have an idea what you get.
On a personal note - Japan is a land of many firsts for me:
Rental Car
Japan was the first time I rented a rental car, even though I had to drive on the left side. Well I managed quite well, after nearly crashing on the way out of the rental car parking lot. You should really look at the right and left side of the road. Luckily Japanese People are used to the idiotic foreigners, so except for some honking nothing happened. It would have been very embarrassing walking back to the rental car office and explaining that I didn’t make it off the parking lot.
Especially as I rented the car on an island with very low traffic and it pretty much looked like I waited for the only car to crash into. Probably would not have helped my case.
Well beginners problems, afterwards driving worked okay. Parking was a bit of a challenge, but I’m not that god at parking in general, so don’t worry about it.
Also at the rental car website there is a video how to change the language setting in the navigation system. Well I never got to try it the employees always did it for me. They even put in the address of my hotel and explained me how to use it and what buttons to press, when I wanted to return to the rental car parking lot. Great service!
Snorkelling
Japan was also the first time since I was a kid, I went snorkelling. I didn’t get along with my snorkel and swallowed a lot of seawater, but I was immediately hooked. No really the corals and underwater world had me fascinating and wanting for more.
Posted by Steffi Kay 08:32 Archived in Japan Comments (0)
