Japan Backpack trip

[Stoned]

it may also depend on where u are...

some of the elderly ppl in some villages may not be so receptive to tourists wanting to take pictures, so candids may be a better idea (no flash!).

On the contary, city dwellers are more exposed to photography and will almost always obliged (unless they're rushing somewhere, which happens much of the time as well).

You may just wan to learn some key words and use broken japanese where all else fails
eg. Toire (toilet), densha (train), nanjikan (what time), doko (where), tabemono (food), nomimono (drinks), shashin (photo), tasukete (help), gomen/sumimasen (sorry, excuse me), heya (room), furo (bath), seki (seat), etc...

Because of the sheer amount of jap language stuff I watch I tend to pick up quite a lot of odd phrases and words here and there(quite a mad ottaku really). Hopefully in uni I'll be able to take a proper formal course in japanese to really pick up the language. By watching, I can only get a smattering of the grammar and syntax. Learning to write will be really great as well. Any recommended centres to learn japanese in Singapore? I am located about a 5 min walk from the Japanese school, but I don't know if they offer courses.

It's my first time visiting Japan after wanting to go there for like forever, so I'm really excited. Thanks very much for the tips, I will try to bring back some decent photographs to share with you guys.

I was on the fence about whether to bring a 100mm for discreet sniping, for instances like what you mentioned about the older village people. I think I shall bring it now, based on your advice. I shall remember the note about the flash, but typically, I rarely do use fill flash for streets and travelling. I always bring the flash but never wind up using it, I find the flash attention grabbing and when you "flash" people on the streets I think it's not very nice.

Hontoni Arigatou Gosaimasu everyone! Esp Feryl, Reiszrie and Eikin for the language and culture tips.

 

[feryl]

haha, picking up japanese isn't a one or two month endeavour, altho some schools may offer 3 month crash courses, which imo isn't a good idea. Join a real Japanese school (i think there's one in Orchard) so you can learn the language by immersing urself in the culture, that way you will end up with the context behind the language, it really works better when you understand why they say certain things. You can definitely learn Japanese in uni, i know it's offered as an elective (in NTU anyway), but you'll have to be motivated to learn on your own, pick up some language books and learn the recognition and writing of letters first. Then watch a few episodes of anime WITHOUT the subtitles and see how much you can understand. Write your own anime script and compare it with the fansubbers. Frankly, as you develop, you may realise that you are doing a better job of translating, esp for groups that translate very quickly.

On a sidenote i'll be heading to japan too this month till early dec.
tokyo - nagasaki - hiroshima - kochi - osaka - kyoto - takayama. hope to see snow this time

 

[ReiszRie]

haha, picking up japanese isn't a one or two month endeavour, altho some schools may offer 3 month crash courses, which imo isn't a good idea. Join a real Japanese school (i think there's one in Orchard) so you can learn the language by immersing urself in the culture, that way you will end up with the context behind the language, it really works better when you understand why they say certain things. You can definitely learn Japanese in uni, i know it's offered as an elective (in NTU anyway), but you'll have to be motivated to learn on your own, pick up some language books and learn the recognition and writing of letters first. Then watch a few episodes of anime WITHOUT the subtitles and see how much you can understand. Write your own anime script and compare it with the fansubbers. Frankly, as you develop, you may realise that you are doing a better job of translating, esp for groups that translate very quickly.

On a sidenote i'll be heading to japan too this month till early dec.
tokyo - nagasaki - hiroshima - kochi - osaka - kyoto - takayama. hope to see snow this time

maybe we should start a thread or something in regards to Csers travelling to Japan this coming Dec

and if time allows, we could even meet up in a foreign land =) sounds cool to me for sure hah

 

[Stoned]

haha, picking up japanese isn't a one or two month endeavour, altho some schools may offer 3 month crash courses, which imo isn't a good idea. Join a real Japanese school (i think there's one in Orchard) so you can learn the language by immersing urself in the culture, that way you will end up with the context behind the language, it really works better when you understand why they say certain things. You can definitely learn Japanese in uni, i know it's offered as an elective (in NTU anyway), but you'll have to be motivated to learn on your own, pick up some language books and learn the recognition and writing of letters first. Then watch a few episodes of anime WITHOUT the subtitles and see how much you can understand. Write your own anime script and compare it with the fansubbers. Frankly, as you develop, you may realise that you are doing a better job of translating, esp for groups that translate very quickly.

On a sidenote i'll be heading to japan too this month till early dec.
tokyo - nagasaki - hiroshima - kochi - osaka - kyoto - takayama. hope to see snow this time

I'll probably be studying Journalism in NTU, so that's great news to hear. I can understand about a quarter of raw anime at the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to speak and write the language fluently by the end of uni.

Reiszrie --> That would be tough! How would you even meet up? In SG I can hardly meet up without my cell phone nowadays, let alone japan.

 

[chinaik]

Try this phrase when they talk to u in a whole chain of words.... "Nihongo Wakarimasen" ...means "Japanese I dun understand.."

You can start planning your train trips at this website

http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi?JP_MODE=0

It helped me the draft out my train schedules for my trip last month. Its in English too

 

[eikin]

On a sidenote i'll be heading to japan too this month till early dec.
tokyo - nagasaki - hiroshima - kochi - osaka - kyoto - takayama. hope to see snow this time

you'll see snow on higher mountains, otherwise it's still autumn in the areas you listed. go for red leaves instead

 

[feryl]

you'll see snow on higher mountains, otherwise it's still autumn in the areas you listed. go for red leaves instead

eh. I tried for koyo last year in early to mid november but when I was there, the japanese told me that koyo starts fading towards the 2nd week of november, so i only saw sparse redness at Kamakura and some of the mountain trails. This time round i planned my trip 2 weeks later, hoping to see a different scenery

 

[eikin]

eh. I tried for koyo last year in early to mid november but when I was there, the japanese told me that koyo starts fading towards the 2nd week of november, so i only saw sparse redness at Kamakura and some of the mountain trails. This time round i planned my trip 2 weeks later, hoping to see a different scenery

koyo is 2-3 weeks late this year :bsmilie:

koyo information here http://sp.weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/leisure/momiji/

 

[feryl]

koyo is 2-3 weeks late this year :bsmilie:

koyo information here http://sp.weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/leisure/momiji/

haha, my timing is all wrong again. oh well, when given lemons, we make lemonade

 

[wmelon]

Looks like I'll be too early for koyo too :cry:

 

[kettobase]

i actually called taka,....they say my friend does not qualify. But he just went jap for less than 1 month, but he got a one year work visa.

I was think, can i use my passport to buy 2 tix,....then in Jap, exchange 2 tix using my passport......then i pass 1 to my friend, presuming that there is no checks on the train etc.........

its super ex for him to get tix in Japan and there is no tix that gives unlimited rides i guess. So in visiting all cities we planned to,....he gotta buys all tixs separately...which is ridiculous given he is not local (jap) but is a Singaporean who wants to visit Japan.

 

[feryl]

i actually called taka,....they say my friend does not qualify. But he just went jap for less than 1 month, but he got a one year work visa.

I was think, can i use my passport to buy 2 tix,....then in Jap, exchange 2 tix using my passport......then i pass 1 to my friend, presuming that there is no checks on the train etc.........

its super ex for him to get tix in Japan and there is no tix that gives unlimited rides i guess. So in visiting all cities we planned to,....he gotta buys all tixs separately...which is ridiculous given he is not local (jap) but is a Singaporean who wants to visit Japan.

sorry dude, 1 passport, 1 Jpass. their rationale is that once u get work visa, you're earning japanese money, so u're not entitled to tourist discounts. There's the seishun 18 pass but it's only valid on normal JR trains, not the shinkansen or the ltd express.
but u're right abt the frequency of checking at the station itself. After you validate the pass at the JR counter, usually the person at the gates don't really check carefully for name, etc.
I've actually heard of ang mo who buy 7 day pass and try to use it longer than that. just don't get caught.

 

[ReiszRie]

yeap, 1 tix 1 passport

don't waste money trying cause it is non-refundable ^^

i once used the 7 day JR pass for over 10 days as i've entirely forgotton about it xD but luckily i didnt got caught ^^

 

[feryl]

yeap, 1 tix 1 passport

don't waste money trying cause it is non-refundable ^^

i once used the 7 day JR pass for over 10 days as i've entirely forgotton about it xD but luckily i didnt got caught ^^

what i heard is that the japanese staff rarely check foreigners because they don't wan a situation where they don't understand ur language and end up having to gesture and call for assistance.

like i was on the way to shizuoka once and a conductor was checking ppl's tickets. when he reached where i was sitting, i asked 'Do you want my ticket?' He literally froze, nodded an apologetic 'No!' and walked away really quickly.

 

[anttz]

Takayama is really recommended but it's quite out of the way. The Gassho houses in Shirakawago (2hrs from Takayama, assuming snow doesn't swallow the roads) are one of the more frequently featured pictures on Japanese media (along with Mt Fuji and Kyoto temples).

Yeah. Japan Alps region highly recommended. If you are going to Takayama you must go to Shirakawago and Kamikochi. But do note Kamikochi is close during winter. I would recommend staying at Rickshaw Inn if you go to Takayama.

 

[ReiszRie]

Yeah. Japan Alps region highly recommended. If you are going to Takayama you must go to Shirakawago and Kamikochi. But do note Kamikochi is close during winter. I would recommend staying at Rickshaw Inn if you go to Takayama.

winter isn't the best of time to visit the Japan Alps as there will be none of the amazing alpine flora during the harsh winter.

 

[feryl]

Yeah. Japan Alps region highly recommended. If you are going to Takayama you must go to Shirakawago and Kamikochi. But do note Kamikochi is close during winter. I would recommend staying at Rickshaw Inn if you go to Takayama.

I actually don't recommend staying in Rickshaw inn primarily because it's like a tourist hideout. For more genuinely Japanese experience, it'd be better to stay in a real ryokan or a japanese minshuku. Sure, they may not understand what you say, but isn't the atmosphere part of being in Japan?

2 places i recommend,
Minshuku Kuwataniya - http://www.kuwataniya.com/kannai/kannai.htm
10 mins from station, cheap and comes with free bicycles.

Ryokan Seiryu - http://www.ryokan-seiryu.co.jp
Currently there's a promotion - 5000yen for breakfast only. Ends in March 07. Best value for money in Takayama.