Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Recommendations for Japan Travel

kalzumeus.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 308 posts

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#151

Post by firemanx »

ianpenney wrote: post #146

I’ve been 18 times and I had a good chuckle at this story and the comments. All largely inaccurate. Especially the bits about APA and Kyoto. Y’all reek of FOMO and exoticism. Chill. Just go with it. You’ll be fine. Live your normal life, just in a different place. You can gaijin smash through anything if you’re a jerk. If you’re not, I’m sure you’ll find a way to be less shitty as a tourist and someone will appreciat…

I visited Japan for the first time a month ago, and basically followed this advice. Got lost in Tokyo. Well as lost as you can be considering Apple or Google Maps and SUICA are pretty much universal wherever I went. And cash.

Didn’t speak the language, didn’t try to make people speak English - asked for the Japanese menu and used Google translate to figure it out.

Kyoto was incredible.

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#152

Post by kaybe »

rjh29 wrote: post #39
Razengan wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a reference to American obesity or something else..?

No, more that American hotels are a lot larger than European ones (I'm from the UK) and I assumed (with no real evidence) that Americans carry more luggage. Although it is true that Japan is a bit of a struggle if you are overweight or especially tall.

One of the best room I ever had was in Norway. It was at most 3 times as large as the queensized bed, had at least 5 different lighting options and a fantastic black-out curtain (this was needed above the Arctic circle) and tons of small storage places and hooks - and this includes a tiny bathroom. Everything you need, and super cozy.

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#153

Post by bentlegen »

mc32 wrote: post #112
jeromegv wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like a lot of gatekeeping on your part. This was the good old days when you were travelling but now that other people travel, they are the worst because they take too many selfies. Negative impact of tourism have been documented for a while. There’s just more people traveling because flights got cheaper. But new travellers aren’t worse than you were, there’s just more of us traveling and it makes our impact mor…

Doesn’t look like it. Poster differentiates tourists going in to enjoy places and people who fly in to use places as backdrops for something else. In other words the new tourists isn’t going in to enjoy a place for themselves but does it to amuse people elsewhere and couldn’t care much about actually taking in the places they visit.

He or she preferred a time when the world was less connected, and one’s ability to travel was dictated more by wealth, status, and education. Think of a time when to pull off a trip to Japan you had to use a travel agent ($) to assist you in even figuring out what hotel to go to and how to get there. You’d rely on print magazines and books to even first decide where to go, and those only had so many pages to print. Rick Steve can only write so much.

Now thanks to the internet and other technology advances, travel is more accessible (Google Maps), cheaper (flight and hotel comparison tools), and more people are doing it. You also have entire nations that are traveling now in ways they didn’t 20 years ago (e.g. China).

Yes, this all means more crowding and it is less pleasant. But social media is just one small input in all of this. The only way it returns to “how it was” is a return to a more exclusionary travel world.

(I expect someone will make a comment about hostels and backpacking. I’m not refuting there were means of travel that were more affordable and accessible. But we’re talking about mass accessibility and availability across all markets.)

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#154

Post by diceduckmonk »

tannedNerd wrote: post #150
ianpenney wrote: post #146

I’ve been 18 times and I had a good chuckle at this story and the comments. All largely inaccurate. Especially the bits about APA and Kyoto. Y’all reek of FOMO and exoticism. Chill. Just go with it. You’ll be fine. Live your normal life, just in a different place. You can gaijin smash through anything if you’re a jerk. If you’re not, I’m sure you’ll find a way to be less shitty as a tourist and someone will appreciat…

Cool so we shouldn’t try to go to Japan if we don’t speak the language is what I got from this. Aka gate keeping. You are worse than the people you are trying to admonish in the beginning of your comment.

> Aka gate keeping.

I've traveled all 47 prefectures and I had a good chuckle at OP's comment. Among locals, Roppongi has a reputation of having one of the highest concentration of trashy foreigners. Classic with main character vibes.

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#155

Post by majewsky »

Markoff wrote: post #117
jleyank wrote: post #84

To use the physics sense, we found vacationing in Japan high friction . Yeah, it was totally different than anywhere we have been on n America or Western Europe. At times, it felt like we were looking at everything on the other side of a closed window, amazing yet inaccessible. This was ‘05 or earlier, and the lack of Roman lettering outside Kyoto was hard. Outrunning English has not been a problem elsewhere, but los…

TIL people call Latin alphabet Roman lettering I always refer only to numerals as Roman, the alphabet/writing system always as Latin Btw your 2005 pre smartphone experience compared to nowadays is not relevant anymore with everyone having GPS maps and translator in hands even if no signage were changed, I sort of liked old times when you had to interact with locals, nowadays you can just stare at mobile and no need t…

The term "Latin alphabet" is correct in English, but the Japanese do indeed call it ローマ字 ("roomaji", i.e. Roman characters).

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#156

Post by valenterry »

Legogris wrote: post #38
bigDinosaur wrote: post #2

Going off the beaten path always amuses me a bit as advice (what happens when everyone decides to do that?) but it's also quite true that you can often be literally tens of metres away from the most touristic locations with barely any tourists actually around you in most places (exceptions include cities that have become theme parks like Venice).

For sure. Slight tangent from OP: > Is climbing Mt. Fuji worth it? > Yes, though it is very on the beaten path, and you can infer some things from that about what the human experience of a Fuji trip will be like. As for the hiking trail and the major mountain stations, this is very true. On the other hand - it really is very concentrated and the vast majority of tourists will just head straight to the hotspots. Case…

> Do come to Fuji, even off-season there's a lot more around here to see and experience than that hike itself and locals are still very much in want of business.

Please do tell!

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#157

Post by rippercushions »

throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #118
impendia wrote: post #58

Having lived in Japan for two years, what I'd add to this is to spend a lot of time walking, if physically able. For example, in my opinion the best way to explore Tokyo is to simply leave your hotel in the morning, wander around all day, and stop anywhere and everywhere that looks interesting. The excellent mass transit system means that it won't be a problem to get back. In more rural parts of Japan, there are sign…

Tokyo is absurdly gigantic, I would not suggest randomly walking it. Also the subway system can be challenging, and the staff don't speak English, so if you get stuck they likely won't be able to help. Another random thing about the train system: there are women-only cars. I didn't realize this until I had already boarded and (as a man) I was absolutely mortified.

You really can't "get stuck" though. Carry a phone with Google Maps and get a Pasmo/Suica fare card, and it's easy to get back to your hotel from anywhere at all in the city.

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#158

Post by ValentineC »

ehnto wrote: post #33
rjh29 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well there are basically 10 places in Tokyo everyone goes to, and maybe they go to Kyoto or Osaka too. That leaves... the entire rest of the country. I've travelled around most of Japan and the majority of time I see zero foreigners. Seriously just pick a random city from Japan Guide or go to an onsen. Visit Kyushu, it's beautiful and nobody seems to travel there because it's too far away :P

Truly. Even if you want to land in Tokyo (since lots of flight deals take you there or Osaka). Grab the Rail Pass before you fly in, then take the bullet train to any number of cities. You'll enjoy relatively low-cost travel thanks to the rail pass, and you'll get to see a bunch of cities that aren't as popular.

> Grab the Rail Pass before you fly in

This doesn't seem to be a must now that JR themselves is selling it online (though at a slightly higher price):

https://japanrailpass.net/en/purchase.html

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#159

Post by ianpenney »

tannedNerd wrote: post #150
ianpenney wrote: post #146

I’ve been 18 times and I had a good chuckle at this story and the comments. All largely inaccurate. Especially the bits about APA and Kyoto. Y’all reek of FOMO and exoticism. Chill. Just go with it. You’ll be fine. Live your normal life, just in a different place. You can gaijin smash through anything if you’re a jerk. If you’re not, I’m sure you’ll find a way to be less shitty as a tourist and someone will appreciat…

Cool so we shouldn’t try to go to Japan if we don’t speak the language is what I got from this. Aka gate keeping. You are worse than the people you are trying to admonish in the beginning of your comment.

Learning to say the following in the language of the land will get you further than 99% of tourists.

Hello

Please

Thank you

Excuse me

I’m sorry

Most notably - speaking Catalan instead of Spanish in Barcelona will endear you to locals in a way you wouldn’t believe.

You do you, though. I had to google the hiragana for that phrase. I can’t read Japanese worth a damn.

Re: Recommendations for Japan Travel

#160

Post by OJFord »

ehnto wrote: post #45

This is somewhat adjacent for which I apologize, but being a Japan Fan of the travelling variety I have noticed a trend on HN toward Japan related articles. My understanding is HN has no user-specific algorithmic feed changes, so is this just a natural increase in interest toward Japan in general I'm seeing since the borders opened up? Most of the articles aren't even travel related, just about Japanese culture or pe…

I wouldn't say it's recent, I've long noticed that about HN. I learnt recently that there's a long history of Japanese influence on/immigration to San Francisco; so I think it's largely a symptom of SF-skew, and that influence rubbing off on others of course.
Post reply on HN