Ye Olde Japan Thread

[turbo D]

lol, I tried googling that too! Not really sure why he'd visit a demilitarized zone though. heh.

[JC]

You visit this one little South Korean village at the border. And while war is serious, the zone itself has elements of bravado hilarity.

For instance, did you know that the North Koreans blasts audio propaganda across the border? Did you know that North Korea has a mega-gigantic flag that flies on their side and is intentionally slightly bigger than the South Koreans' flag? Did you know they have a little conference room that's got a line drawn through the middle and when the South Koreans unlock the door to let the North Koreans in for discussion, the soldier who unlocks the door is held onto by his fellow soldiers so he doesn't get pulled into North Korea?

[manuel]

Did you know they have a little conference room that's got a line drawn through the middle and when the South Koreans unlock the door to let the North Koreans in for discussion, the soldier who unlocks the door is held onto by his fellow soldiers so he doesn't get pulled into North Korea?

That one I didn't know!    That's one loud WTF!! from me.

[turbo D]

Sounds quite entertaining. Just promise me that you won't let North Korea pull you through the door! I heard that in North Korea there are only 5 arcades machines (in the whole country!) or so that have been hacked to be propaganda machines!

[133MHz]

My wireless router has a DMZ . Guess I've been too much time in front of the computer .

[JC]

manuel, are you sure it'd be less expensive to get the jp rail pass than to just pay for each trip? We're planning to go to S. JP by train, but don't know how many stops, etc., we might make. Just wanted to check because the pass is $$$ and we have to get it before we leave the States.

[manuel]

You'll need to check how far you'll go by train, but I'm very much pretty damn sure you'll be cheaper with the rail pass.

It's 28300 Yen (312$) for 7 days. You stay exatly 7 days, right? That's an omen. 

A one-way train ride from Tokyo to Fukuoka on Kyushu costs you 21210Yen (234$) on the Shinkansen (you can use all Shinkansen trains except the Nozomi... doesn't matter. Hikari Railstar is better anyways  ). I think you shouldn't use the normal slow trains, because you don't want to throw away precious time I guess. The normal one way fare from Tokyo to Fukuoka would be around 14000 Yen (155$). Even then you would already be good with the rail pass, which you can use on a lot of buses, too.
I really recommend the rail pass if you plan to visit more than 2 or 3 cities or places. You surely won't regret it.

Tell me where you'd like to go in a nutshell (city or place names) and I'll check train prices for you as a special service. 
From where do you fly to Korea? I guess Osaka?

[JC]

I plan to call the Rail Pass outlets tomorrow to see what they've got to say. Sounds reasonable enough, I guess, considering the prices for those one-ways. I was under the impression that the Rail Pass wouldn't work for the express trains. I'll have to look at the site again, or just ask the peeps I call tomorrow.

We plan to stay in Tokyo for a couple of days and then head down to southern Japan. I'm sure we'll hit a few places along the route...I'd love to stop near you for an afternoon or whatever, taking you up on that offer to how us around. We don't have specific plans, just kinda making them as we go.

I fly into Narita and out of Haneda, both in Tokyo I presume, with Narita a bit more distant from the city center, from what I've read.

[manuel]

Also check the official site:

http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en001.html

The JAPAN RAIL PASS is valid for the railways, buses, and ferry boats shown in Table 1.

Railways: All JR Group Railways-Shinkansen"bullet trains" (except any reserved or non-reserved seat on "NOZOMI" trains), limited express trains, express trains, and rapid or local trains. (With some exceptions)
Buses: Local lines of JR bus companies (JR Hokkaido Bus, JR Bus Tohoku, JR Bus Kanto, JR Tokai Bus, West Japan JR Bus, Chugoku JR Bus, JR Shikoku Bus, JR Kyushu Bus) and some of JR highway bus services*.
* Sapporo-Otaru; Morioka-Hirosaki; Tokyo-Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka,Tsukuba Center; Nagoya-Kyoto, Osaka; Osaka-Tsuyama, Kasai Flower Center
Ferry: Only the JR Miyajima ferry is covered.

It would be nice if you stopped in my town. I would surely try to open up an afternoon for you. Until then my wife and son should be back to normal health, too.
I'd show you the most important temples and shrines of my town. If weather is nice and you like climbing on hills, I could also show you a very beautiful sight of the bay and the islands around.

I would only ask for an advance notice. Let's say about 2 days before you plan to visit. 

[JC]

Got the rail pass. Expensive bitches, but it should be worth it -- we'll see as we start using it. What's with that NOZOMI train?

And how's the evening of Thurs. the 5th or Fri. the 6th? I figure we'll spend a day and a half in Tokyo, shoot south, then work our way back to Tokyo. Your town easy to get to by train?

[manuel]

5th or 6th sounds nice to me.


My town is called "Onomichi".
You'd have to get off the Shinkansen in "Fukuyama" (maybe look around a bit) and then take the slow train (about 15min) to Onomichi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sany%C5%8D_Main_Line#From_Himeji_to_Itozaki

If I know the date and time I could meet you at the station.

If you're interested, pm me and I can give you my cell phone mail address and/or phone number.

[Lorfarius]

I'm staying in Tokyo for 2 weeks later this year and just wondering if Kyoto is close enough to visit for a day?

[manuel]

It takes about 2 and a half hours from Tokyo station to Kyoto station by Sinkansen.
It's possible to visit Kyoto in a day, but I recommend staying a night there. Kyoto is very nice to explore.

[nintendodork]

BUMP
When is JC coming back?  I've lost track of how long he's been in Japan

[manuel]

He left Japan on the 10th.
He'll be back in about 2 weeks from now.