Les H

Ok off to Japan on business for a week on Sunday, never been before but I understand the culture and customs can be a bit different to our own, anybody got any first hand experience.

Les H

fatherpierre

Don't mention the war

mega_stream

Bring back as many Scooby bits as you can carry

davyboy

When you are offered a business card they will pass it to you with both hands. Just take it without looking and put it in your top pocket.

roadtrip

take a translator with you....hardly anyone speaks English, except for the words "David Beckam" "Michael Owen" and "Engrrrand"

brilliant place, the people are very friendly and will always try to help you . . . if only I could have understood a word they were saying

Electronic stuff is dirt cheap over there, dont know about scooby stuff... tried but failed to find anything

One last thing DONT fly economy, business (which I guess you'll be using) or first class is the way to fly

Have a great time


[Edited by roadtrip - 11/22/2002 12:13:19 AM]

barge

culture shock.

make sure you have the address of your hotel written down so you can give it to the cab driver at the air port, they make not speak to you in english but a lot of them understand, they just dont feel comfortable or confident in responding in english, which is fair enough.

get a good street / place guid, about £10 from a good bookshop before you go

letdown

You need to know one word 'Roppongi' ..head there and you'll never want to come back.

Great place....dont get a cab from the airport as it will cost bundles and takes up to 2 hours..get the train its easy. Electronics are not cheaper here.....more up to date but defo not cheaper..and you need to be careful what you buy as they have 110v\NTSC..etc..etc. Oh and instruction manuals in Jap !!

Mail me if you need any specifics

scrappydoo

Dont show the soles of your feet cos will they find it an insult and its rude not to slerp when eating or drinking.

Have a laugh.

clarence

Be sure to slurp when u eat noodles, showing ur appreciation.
Things to get in terms of electronics are md walkmans or digital cameras, the manuals are in Jap but they have a few pages in Eng (talking abt the key features).
If u have time, visit the Toyota showroom in Ikebukuro (free brochures), or the showroom complex called 'Megaweb' in Tokyo Bay (brochures are not free there). The Nissan showrooms in Ginza & the Honda showroom near Aoyama are worth visiting.
If u want parts, try to visit those Super Autobacs shops, but they are mostly out of ttown.

JoeyDeacon

Hardly anyone speaks English or at least they pretend not to. Very friendly people, we were walking the streets of Tokyo at 2 in the morning holding a map and a guy in a suit just came over to us and after I pointed to where we wanted to go on the map he pointed us in the right diffection. If that sort of thing happened in London you would expect to get imminently mugged. Strangely enough in all the McDonalds we went into people speak perfect english. As a general rule of thumb the older a person is the less likely they are to speak any English. Also because you are english you are seen as a bit of a novelty out there, we went to Segaworld in Tokyo in the youngsters who worked there were obviously huge Queen fans as when we were queueing for the rides they would come over to us and rather bizarly sing Queen songs to us.

Taxi drivers won't understand what the hell you are on about when you tell them where you want to go and will rapidly get p!ssed off with you.

Definitely agree with going to Rapongi, even if it is just to see the women dressed as Japanese schoolgirls trying to entice you into the clubs.

If you are going to Tokyo travel everywhere by tube and use the machines to get your tickets as you can select english text on them. The tube is pretty cheap and very, very clean compared to the UK but once you start using normal trains it starts to get very expensive.

andrewdelvard

Do not blow your nose in public. Serious. It's considered the same as taking a dump in the street.

Luke

If you get lucky ,Girls only like it up the "Wong un"

Adam M

apparently unless they can do something to a very high standard they will not embarass themselves by trying and failing.

they will therefore sit in silence rather than attempt some english.

My friend is a teacher there, and has sat in complete silence for over an hour whilst trying to get them to talk.

he speaks the lingo now so all is well!

Alberick

Slurping the noodles is just to coold them before eating them, so since you are a foreigner, you don't need to slurp, that will be ok, since they are tolerant people.
Don't try to bow down when somebody does you'll look more silly.
Also do't be surprised when you enter a reataurant or shop and everybody starts shouting ''Irashaimaseeee'' this just means ''welcome'' and you can just ignore it (as everybody else does)

As a first time visit I would suggest you get a Japan Rail Pass, very handy to travel around as you don't need to queue up to those tocket machines (very complicated if you never seen one before)
You can also get such a rail pass for east Japan only whcih includes Tokyo, just jump on any train/Express/Shinkansen and off you go. Might seem a bit expensive at first, but believe me buying tickets for every ride will be more expensive at the end of the day.

Other than that, have fun in the most interesting & exciting place on this planet....

Contigo

Where are you going? Tokyo?

I lived there for a year and know it like the back of my hand

Go to Shinjuku's Kabuki-cho literally means theatre area and this is where you will find the seedy parts, strip clubs,hostess bars etc.

Once went into a bar there which had mirrored floors and pantyless waitresses. It took me a while to realise just why all the men were staring at the floor when ordering their "Namashibori"

Must see's include:-

Akihabara - Electrical shopping district full of cut price camera stores,pc shops and DVD's. You will save on average about 25% off the UK price on camera's and other goods. If you can go to BIC camera and sign up for a BIC card as you will get BIC points on purchases and will be able to blag free memory for any camera's you buy.

Senso-ji - This is one of the most famous Temple in Tokyo and is located at Asakusa. If you fancy an Onsen, visit the local Kannon onsen where you can while away those hours. Be aware that there are lots of "Yakuza" (Japanese mafia) who use the facilities.

Shibuya - Great place for general shopping and has the busiest "Kossaten" (crossing) in the World.

The Imperial Palace - Located near Hanzomon this is home to the Emperor and has some amazing gardens.

Disney Land - Relatively new located near Makuahari and surrounding Airport.

Odaiba - Built on reclaimed land, there are lots of funfairs and large screen cinema complexes to visit.

Tokyo Tower - Located in Roppongi this is the tallest building in Tokyo and quite a bit higher that the Eiffel tower.

If you do stay in Tokyo, I recommend that you go to Yokohama. It is roughly a 30 minute train journey away and offers some intersting sights. Chinatown is well worth a visit. Get there on the Toyoko line from Shibuya station.

If you like a quiet drink then DO NOT go to Roppongi. If you don't like Seedy places DO NOT go to Roppongi.

Other than that all you will need to learn are these few words and phrases.

Arrigatou Gozaimus - Thankyou Very much
Sumimasen - Excuse me/Sorry

Watashi no namae wa Les desu - My name is Les



Enjoy mate

Les H

WOW! Interesting stuff indeed,Due to a horrendous shcedule I have a horrible feeling I will come home having seen very little

I'm going to Nagoya and will not be seeing Tokyo unfortunately

Thanks for the info guys

Davyboy.... Thanks for the tip about the business card, will have to remember that one '-)


Les H

Tintin 2

You learn some thing new every day dont you. I'm sure saying hello is easier than writing it in Japenease though. Japan is one of those places i'd love to visit but the culture difference i find a little scary. Enjoy your trip.