This was me being stupid as Kojima

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kO7B4Hc6Sko

a guide to travel in Japan

OK now you know some Japanese and a little bit of a background to the history.

I guess I should suggest a few things to do and planing a trip to Japan.

OK so you have planned your trip or decided to come to Japan, you maybe asking yourself when is the best time to come to Japan.
Well let me give you some pointers about nice times in Japan and small things about Japan.

I am going to start with getting money

The Yen is the currency of Japan. Japan has 4 types of bill. these are (10,000 yen, 5,000 yen, 2000, yen this is very hard to find so if you do you might want to keep it, and a 1,000 yen. there are also coins these come in 500 yen, yen, 50 yen, 10 yen 5 yen and last but not least 1 yen.)

I would recommend bringing currency with you as its quite hard to find a ATM that will take a foreigner ATM card, However, I would recommend if you are in big cities using a credit card to pay for things such as hotels and restaurant bills but remember to always carry cash as some places do not take cards. Japan is very much a cash society.

There are a few places where you can change money the best place is the Airport most of you will come in from Narita International airport so if you did not change money before hand this is a good time.

Other than that if you are in Tokyo then you can try Roppongi hills, Akihabra just outside of Yodabashi Camera there is a travelex however the rates are very bad there. Some post offices but they mainly will only change US$

http://www.theblackship.com/forum/bl...tms-japan.html
go to
www.xe.com for uptodate exchange rates.


deciding when to come to Japan, Japan is nice as it really does have 4 seasons.

these seasons are
Spring months are March, April, and May. Summer months are June, July, and August. Autumn months are September, October, and November. Winter months are December, January, and February. Summer is hot and humid in general. During the winter, it snows a lot on the Sea of Japan side, and it is dry on the Pacific Ocean side.


I would recommend coming to Japan around March to May its not cold or too hot
Also there are many festivals from the Japanese Plum Festival to the Sakura bloom and festivals
click here to find out more about festivals in Japan Coming soon.
there is a very popular holiday called golden week so its very busy so maybe you might want to avoid this too if you don't like crowds.


Summer

The summers are really hot and humid in Japan and it rains allot the rainy season in Japan starts from the Begining of jun and lasts until the end of July.
I would avoid this season however, this might be a nice time to visit northern japan, Hokkaido has no rainy season.

Autumn
September to November

This maybe another good time I would say just as good as Spring, this is the festival time of year its again not too hot but not cold so a must.
Click here for a list of festivals coming soon


Winter
December to February

Winter in Japan is very cold However Tokyo is not too bad this is a good time to go to the northern parts of Japan like Akita, Iwate, Hokkaido. Skiing or Snowboarding.
Click here for some skiing info and also on xmas and new years in Japan.
I will just say a few words about Xmas and new years in Japan
Christmas is celebrated on the 24th the day before than in the west Xmas cake is made of cream and has strawberries on the top, Japanese have Chicken instead of Turkey and allot of people go to KFC for Xmas dinner.

New years
This holiday is more like Xmas in the west and starts from the 28th of December to the 29th of Jan and is very busy, however, most tend to go back to work of the 5th of Jan. The Japanese tend to have parties in the house on New years eve and eat a special type of noodle at midnight they also have a special new years cake made of sticky rice, there are always about 8 to 10 people die from eating this a year. They also go to the shrine and watch the first sun rise of the year this is very important.

I would avoid this time of year.

Getting to Japan

from the USA
www.jalpak.com/

From the UK
www.Japancentre.com

short guides click here

Basic Japaese

Here is a guide to basic Japanese, Everyday things you might want to know to get by on your visit to Japan.

Yes = Hai
No = iie
OK = Oke
goodbye = sayonara

Hello = Konnichiwa
Oh the ohone = moshi moshi
good morning = ohayo gozaimasu
good evening = Komban wa

Please = onegai shimasu
yes please = hai onegaishimasu
thank you arigato
thank you very much = honto ni arigato gozamau
no thank you = ie kek-ko desu

do you speak english = eigo o hanasemasuka
i dont speak japanese = nihongo wa hanasemasen

desu pronounced des same as masu