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Waygeek
Joined: 15 Jun 2013
Posts: 30
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 Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 3:43 pm Post subject: Fellow ELT heading your way in July. |
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Hi; I'm heading to Tokyo at the end of July for a weeks vacation and I have a few questions. I'm looking for ways to make it a pretty reasonably priced trip. I've had a look around the forum and found some sound advice from the likes of tokyocheapo etc. My first concern is the Tokyo subway system; I heard that it's pretty expensive to navigate because different companies own different lines etc. Is there any form of card that I could buy for the week that allows me to just traverse the Subway for a flat fee?
My second question; I'm in Korea so the Won is obviously much weaker than the Yen; is now a good time to convert some cash to Yen or should I wait till closer to the time? |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:37 am Post subject: Re: Fellow ELT heading your way in July. |
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| Waygeek wrote: |
| I heard that it's pretty expensive to navigate because different companies own different lines etc. Is there any form of card that I could buy for the week that allows me to just traverse the Subway for a flat fee? |
Nothing that's likely to make sense for you.
Plan your route on Jorudan, and check the map for alternative stations near your destination.
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| My second question; I'm in Korea so the Won is obviously much weaker than the Yen; is now a good time to convert some cash to Yen or should I wait till closer to the time? |
Wait until closer to the time. Your biggest risk isn't currency fluctuations. Your biggest risk is that you buy Yen, and then later find that you don't need them because you have to change your travel plans.
As it happens, all the pundits are predicting that the yen is going down the tubes. Their predictions aren't much use to you, because they can't tell you when the fly's going to hit the windscreen, but it may make you feel a little more comfortable about waiting. |
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Waygeek
Joined: 15 Jun 2013
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 6:28 am Post subject: |
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Hmm ok, surprised they don't have something like that for tourists.
What apps would people recommend for a stay in Japan? I'm on Android. |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 7:00 am Post subject: |
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| Waygeek wrote: |
| Hmm ok, surprised they don't have something like that for tourists. |
I think there is, but it's for travelling across the national rail network, not Tokyo.
| Waygeek wrote: |
| What apps would people recommend for a stay in Japan? I'm on Android. |
Kabuto is a pretty good free dictionary.
You'll have a much better time if you can learn to recognise the katakana and a few basic kanji before you arrive, and there are lots of apps to drill you on these. I use a drill app called obenkyo, but it might be a little too "fully featured" for your needs, if you see what I mean.
Kanji is the Chinese writing system. If you can learn to recognise the numbers (1-10 一二三四五六七八九十 100 百 1000 千 10000 万)and the symbols for yen (円), enter (入), exit (出), gate / mouth (口), north (北), south (南), east (東), west (西), man (男), woman (女), station (駅), forbidden (禁止), beware (注意) and so on, that will make your life easier.
The katakana is the writing system used for writing loan words. If you can read katakana, you can understand the many, many uses of English loanwords. For example, the word for "bus" in Japanese is basu, but they write it as "バス", so you won't recognise it unless you learn the katakana. |
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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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Waygeek
Joined: 15 Jun 2013
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:19 am Post subject: |
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| Pitarou wrote: |
| Waygeek wrote: |
| Hmm ok, surprised they don't have something like that for tourists. |
I think there is, but it's for travelling across the national rail network, not Tokyo.
| Waygeek wrote: |
| What apps would people recommend for a stay in Japan? I'm on Android. |
Kabuto is a pretty good free dictionary.
You'll have a much better time if you can learn to recognise the katakana and a few basic kanji before you arrive, and there are lots of apps to drill you on these. I use a drill app called obenkyo, but it might be a little too "fully featured" for your needs, if you see what I mean.
Kanji is the Chinese writing system. If you can learn to recognise the numbers (1-10 一二三四五六七八九十 100 百 1000 千 10000 万)and the symbols for yen (円), enter (入), exit (出), gate / mouth (口), north (北), south (南), east (東), west (西), man (男), woman (女), station (駅), forbidden (禁止), beware (注意) and so on, that will make your life easier.
The katakana is the writing system used for writing loan words. If you can read katakana, you can understand the many, many uses of English loanwords. For example, the word for "bus" in Japanese is basu, but they write it as "バス", so you won't recognise it unless you learn the katakana. |
I'm more looking at navigation apps etc... anything like that?
Thanks for the recommendations on tickets guys, I'll look into that.
I've heard about that cheap tourist ticket you can get for unlimited travel in Japan, but will only be visiting Tokyo this go round. Am I still eligible to buy it if I've been to Japan before? Can I only get it one time? |
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kah5217
Joined: 29 Sep 2012
Posts: 270
Location: Ibaraki
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:59 am Post subject: |
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If you're only visiting Tokyo, the Tokyo Metro day pass is your best bet. Now if you were going to be here long term, you'd just get a pasmo and not have to deal with the hassle of the varying ticket machines.  |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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Here's what it says on TokyoLiz's Japan guide link:
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| A whole variety of day passes is available for the Tokyo area, however, most of them are overpriced and/or not very practical because they do not cover all of Tokyo's train and subway lines. Consequently, single tickets or prepaid cards usually come cheaper, especially if you plan your city sightseeing in a geographically wise way. |
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Waygeek
Joined: 15 Jun 2013
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 5:30 am Post subject: |
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| kah5217 wrote: |
| If you're only visiting Tokyo, the Tokyo Metro day pass is your best bet. Now if you were going to be here long term, you'd just get a pasmo and not have to deal with the hassle of the varying ticket machines. |
So just buy a few of those? How much are they? I wonder if you can buy a book of them... |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:57 am Post subject: |
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Do you mean the day pass or the Pasmo? Pasmo isn't a ticket, it's a pre-pay card, like the Oyster card in London. You pay Y500 for the card (technically a deposit, but the fee for getting the deposit back is Y210), then load cash onto it. I don't think they save much money, but they are a LOT more convenient.
If you are coming to Tokyo via Narita, you can buy a special ticket at the airport called a N'EX & Suica (Suica is the same as Pasmo, it's just a different brand name). It's Y5,500 and you get a return ticket for the Narita Express to/from Tokyo, and a Suica card with Y1,500 pre-loaded onto it.
It's a very good deal, and you can only buy it at Narita airport JR rail station. There is something similar for the monorail at Haneda, but it isn't such good value.
Day pass info is here
http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/1day/index.html |
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kah5217
Joined: 29 Sep 2012
Posts: 270
Location: Ibaraki
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 9:05 am Post subject: |
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Pasmo/suica/all those other IC cards are like a bus pass, except that you can reload it when you use it up. The card actually lasts up to ten years (I still had mine from 3 years ago, and it worked just fine when I came back).
It might not be a bad idea for you to get one. You'll definitely use up the 1,500 initial load, and you can think of the 500 as cost for a cool souvenir. You can have your name printed on it at the time of purchase. |
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Waygeek
Joined: 15 Jun 2013
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:33 am Post subject: |
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| Cheers will definitely get one of those cards then! |
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Waygeek
Joined: 15 Jun 2013
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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Ended up getting one of those cards and its been a great deal cheers guys!  Where to get the return train to Narita though? Any JR station? What time do they start? I got an 8AM flight tempted to just spend the night before in Narita Airport... |
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Rooster.
Joined: 13 Mar 2012
Posts: 247
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kah5217
Joined: 29 Sep 2012
Posts: 270
Location: Ibaraki
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| Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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Walk to the nearest train or metro station, and type it's name into the from box on the following site. Type "Narita" into the to box and pick your terminal. The site will then tell you all routes there and prices.
http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ |
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