A lot of older information about traveling in Japan will tell you that credit cards are hard to use here. While it’s true that a few small businesses and supermarkets work on a cash basis, most of the shops tourists visit will accept Visa and Mastercard. Credit cards other than Visa and Mastercard are mush…
Another reason it may be in your best interest to stop by a Japanese travel agency before coming to Japan is to check out domestic airfare deals. It’s kind of hard to give specifics here because the airlines often change what they offer, but you should be able to find deals for round trip domestic…
If you are going to be in Japan on March 21 and March 22, you will have the chance to not only enjoy the beginning of the Cherry Blossom Viewing Season in Japan, but also to see the “Bajo Yumikurabe”, also known as “Yabusame” when done in a religious context. That is, you will get…
Note if you are looking for 2010’s, it is here: Sakura Cherry Blossom 2010 Blooming Calendar The Japan Weather Association has finally released its forecast for the blooming of this year’s cherry blossoms, called sakura in Japanese. Also, here is a page with a detailed cherry blossom forecast in English based on the Japan Weather…
I was originally planning to write this as a comment on Mashable’s recent post called When It Comes To Search, Yahoo is Big in Japan but it got too long as I read a few of the comments (some of whom were knowledgeable others did the pop-Japanology thing and generalized the whole country as “a…
If you are willing to take it slow and take a long cheap trip on Japan Rail local lines then the seishun 18 kippu that I wrote about in a previous post should fit the bill for you. However if you live abroad and are only visiting Japan for less than 90 days, you can…
If you are coming to visit Japan, there are two ways to ride the rails cheaply, one is the Japan Rail Pass which must be bought outside of Japan and gives you free use of Japan Railways managed trains and buses. The other is the seishun 18 kippu which is used by many people in…
here are many kinds of places one can lay one’s head in Japan. If you are here on business or vacation, on a budget, and not really interested in some of the more hardcore super-cheap options (like staying in a capsule hotel, private movie viewing theater, or internet cafe), you have several options to choose…
I used to write a lot about the bad teachers in the new here in Japan. They were all shapes of wacky, evil, and embarrassing, but it got pretty depressing for me so I stopped. I think most teachers have good intentions (even if I don’t think many have been properly trained in education, teaching…
I know, I know, I love these top 10 lists that come out. Even if they don’t mean anything they sure put a little spotlight on Japan for us. This poll is especially fun because if you’ve been here going on fifteen years like some newzjapan bloggers I know, you learned Japanese watching some of…
I was talking to a friend the other day… I was very surprised that he didn’t know about some of the sites that host links to places where American tv shows are hosted. I think the biggest and most useful is SurfTheChannel. I would probably even use this site if I lived in the US…
**A little update: in 2009, Amazon began producing Kindle Wireless Reading Device (link goes to Amazon) that ship to countries outside of the United States, including Japan. One of my main reasons for wanting a Kindle in Japan (Japanese language books, full color manga) are still not offered. Also, if you live in a very…