Japan: Accommodation

Ok finally I'm going to start on the series of posts I'd promised about Japan. First up accommodation.

There are a number of different types of accommodation styles in Japan. Depending on your price range I’d suggest a mix of all. First a little disclaimer for anyone who hasn’t been to Japan before. Space is at a premium in Japan so typically everything is very small and packed together. This is particularly evident with hotel rooms. Don’t expect the room to be much bigger than your double bed. You’ll have enough space to shove your suitcase in a corner and that’s about it. Often I’ve participated in a new sport I call 'creative furniture stacking' just to recover one square metre of floor space.

Hostel/Businessman hotel: There are a bunch of generic western style hostels in Japan. They are super clean so don’t be worried about walking into a flea infested, blood stained septic tank like you would expect in other countries. I've previously used Khaosan in Tokyo & Kyoto. There is also a style of accommodation best described as a Businessman Hotel. Japanese people work very hard, often long hours, 6 days a week. To avoid wasting lots of time travelling, some Businessmen stay in the city during the week only returning home on weekends. These Businessman hotels are somewhere between a hostel and cheap hotel. Rooms are private but often you’ll have shared bathroom facilities. Most of these hotels will have a western shower facilities but some may only have a shared Japanese bath. These hotels are fairly cheap and are my choice for the majority of my time in Japan. I particularly love hanging out in the lounges and meeting random people from all over the world. Depending on the hotel you can choose between a western bed or traditional Japanese style (futon bed on tatami mats). I'll write another post soon on my favourite hotel 'Hotel Raizan South'. Rough Cost: Single $20-30 per night, Double $40-50 

Cheap Hotel Chain: There are about a billion normal hotels in Japan. The familiar western brands will be rather expensive though. I’d suggest looking at the cheaper Japanese chains like Super Hotel and Toyoko Inn. These chains have locations everywhere. The rooms tend to be identical in each location, sometimes leaving you to wonder just exactly which town you’ve woken up in. They are very clean with private bathrooms but are very small. The price is pretty good as well. I’ve used these before when travelling around. The drawbacks are the 4pm check in time and they also like you to be out of your room between 10am and 4pm for ‘cleaning’. These hotels are good choices but you no doubt will miss out on meeting some awesome people that you’d typically meet in a hostel or businessman hotel. TIP: If you plan on staying more than a few nights at Toyoko Inn's book via their website and join their club. Rough Cost: Double $75 per night

Guesthouse/Ryokan: The other style I’d recommend trying for at least a few nights is a traditional Japanese guesthouse or Ryokan. These will be beautiful old traditional style buildings with typically Japanese style rooms (futons on tatami mats). The better ones may even have an outdoor onsen or beautiful indoor Japanese bath. Often the price will include a massive cooked Japanese breakfast or dinner. In places like Koyasan you can even stay in a Buddhist monastery Ryokan (definitely an experience I’d recommend). If you go to Japan you have to stay in a Ryokan for a few nights. Rough Cost: $50 – 150 each per night

Japan series + Osaka vs Tokyo

In Palau and probably other small island nations there is a term called ‘off island’. Simply it refers to when you are not on the island and are away travelling somewhere. While island life can be pretty awesome, it does however come a number of frustrations (regular readers will be well aware of my complaints). So sometimes it all gets a bit much and you just want to be back in a big functioning city again, with all those luxuries like that amazing new invention called the internet and a wide variety of (non-rotting) food & drink.

Kimonos in a traditional street in Kyoto

After arriving in June last year Amanda & I are yet to go off-island. Most ex-pats here think we are long overdue and the general consensus is that a trip away is needed every 6 months to maintain your sanity. Therefore a few weeks ago we booked (yet another) trip to Japan!

This will be our 4th trip to the land of the rising sun. We both love Japan and conveniently it's one of the places you can fly direct to from Palau. We are super looking forward to being in a big metropolitan city again (primarily Osaka) and can't wait to eat, drink, internet and go to some Sumo & Baseball games.

Takoyaki & Sapporo!

For a few years now I’ve often been asked by friends about my recommendations in Japan. So I've fairly regularly been sending around long email with a pile of suggestions about what to do, see, eat, drink and where to stay in Japan. Mostly this has centred around the Kansai region of Osaka, Kyoto & Nara as those are the places I know and like the best. With the advent of this blog (and the fact that people are actually reading it) I thought I should make my suggestions a little more accessible to the masses. So stay tuned for a series of posts about all things Kansai/Japan starting late March.

So first up I want to discuss the debate between Osaka and Tokyo:

A random street in Shinsekai, Osaka

If you know me you’ll no doubt be very aware of how much I love Osaka. In my travels I’ve noticed that some cities just click with you while others don’t. It may be pure luck that I’ve been in certain places at certain times or luckily had someone show me around. Either way, Osaka is one of my favourite cities in the world and here is why I think you should go to Osaka and not Tokyo.

Let me just clarify that Tokyo is awesome, it’s in Japan so of course it’s awesome. However it is HUGE and very spread out, it honestly appears to never end. Osaka is also a big city but not of the size of Tokyo, it also is extremely well located. Osaka is surrounded by awesome places to visit like Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Koyasan. And these are on local trains, not the super fast and expensive Shinkansen (bullet trains). 

Sunrise from my favourite hotel in Osaka (hotel Raizan South)

Japanese people are some of the most polite and friendly I’ve met but people from Tokyo seem to have very busy lives. They’ll never be rude to you and will help you out if you are lost but in Osaka people seem to want to know all about you, where you are from, why you are in Japan etc. I’ve had lots of great conversations with random people in Osaka that I haven’t really had in Tokyo.

Also one of the best points is that Osaka is Japan’s kitchen. There is a saying that goes something like this: People from Tokyo spend all their money on clothes and kimonos, while people from Osaka spend all their money on food. With that said Osaka sounds like the place to be for me! I’ve had good food all over Japan but Osaka definitely takes the cake ;)

One of the many beautiful shrines in Koyasan

One more thing about Osaka, I believe it’s cheaper. Whilst I haven’t kept track of every single yen I’ve spent, the times I’ve been in Tokyo I seem to be more out of pocket than I am in Osaka.

If you are travelling to Japan and have the time by all means see Tokyo, it’s pretty incredible. However if you are short on time I’d recommend Osaka if only for its central location to Kyoto, Nara, Kobe & Koyasan.

If you'd like to view some more photos from my previous trips to Japan they are located here: 
        Japan 1 - May 2011          Japan 2 - May 2012           Japan 3 - November 2012

Japanese wedding at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Osaka

 Also I would love to hear any comments my readers have about Osaka v Tokyo. Don't be shy.

Love watching Sumo, great sport!

Official Japan Flashback Day!

I hear-by decree that the 21st of May each year will be "Official Japan Flashback Day"! For some time now I've been having regular flashbacks to any of my three trips to Japan. I had another one this morning, flashing back to hanging out in Osaka, drinking boss coffee (or Asahi Dry Black!), eating kombini chicken karaage and just watching the world go by. It was so realistic that I felt if I could just concentrate a little bit harder I'd go through some sort of portal and I'd suddenly be right there back in Hotel Raizan South, Osaka. Maybe with the addition of one of those movie special effects where the air seems to wobble and shimmer as I port between Brisbane and Osaka.

Guess who this is...

The past two years running I've spend almost all of May in Japan with the 21st of May 2011 spent checking out various parts of Tokyo with my mates Al & Shinsuke before drinking some big talking Polish guy under the table at nomihodai (all you can drink). After a brief stop so I could play silly buggers in a kids playground (hey i was drunk!), we proceeded to the laundromat do our overdue washing before we left for Hiroshima the next day. Unfortunately for him, old Polish mate passed out in the laundromat and in my drunken state I decided we needed to adorn his head with a pair of girls underwear. Despite it being late at night and the laundromat being completely empty the universe did indeed provide! The very first washing machine I opened had a full load of clean washing sitting there all lonesome without an owner in sight. On the very top of the pile was a pair of female underwear sitting right there, just waiting to become the new stylish hat of a passed out, drunk Polish man. The rest of the night is rather blurry (well actually all of the night it is rather blurry) but I recall doing my best Henry Rollins impersonation while wearing only a small pair of gym shorts, then I recall being kicked by the manager who wanted to lock up. The best bit of the whole night was that somehow we managed to account for every item of clothing. We leave none behind!

About the best photo I took of a cloudy Fuji-San

...And just because you probably think I'm a bogan Aussie drunkard after that story I'll tell you about the 21st of May 2012 now. It was a polar opposite day to the year before but just as memorable. For my second trip to Japan I tagged out my mate Al and tagged in my (future) wife Amanda. We caught up with Shinsuke again who kindly drove us out to spend an amazing day around Fuji-san (Mt Fuji). Fuji-san is a very beautiful mountain and I can see why it is held in such reverence in Japanese culture. It really is quite incredible to behold up close and has a very serene shrine at the base of the mountain.We spend many hours slowly wandering around the shrine and watching the clouds roll over the top of Fuji-San from an opposite hill. We finished the day having a couple of beers and eating some Tebasaki (Nagoya specialty deep fried chicken wings). There were no repeats of the 'all you can drink' craziness, the panties wearing Polish man nor the drunken Henry Rollins impersonations this time around.

So this brings us to today the 21st of May 2013 - The first annual Official Japan Flashback Day! The best I could do today was to drag my mate Ben down to the local Sushi Train for some overpriced but passable Sushi. While the company was still good, being in Brisbane and not in Japan was a little disappointing. I think a trip back to Japan (Osaka in particular) will be high on the cards if Amanda & I need a break from the laid back, small town, tropical island lifestyle of Palau.