Travel Japan Cheap

How to Enjoy a Public Bath (Sento) or Hot Spring in Japan

traveljapan — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 14:31:41 PDT

One of the greatest things about traveling to Japan is the way baths are enjoyed. Aside from the awesomeness that is the bath in a person’s home, sometimes people enjoy a trip out to a public bath, or if they are lucky enough to live within a few hours of an onsen or hot spring, they may do that.

It’s also an wonderful thing to do with kids in Japan. If you are traveling in Japan with kids, I think a public bath or hot spring should be at the top of the list of things to do. Relaxing and floating in the water (kids also tend to get a bit more tolerance with how they play in the bath), even hanging out on a beach chair wrapped in a towel, kids will love the whole experience.

The first bit of trepidation people feel about the bath is being completely naked in front of a whole lot of strangers. Please let me alleviate your fears…

You can carry around a small hand towel with which to cover the good parts. For guys, this can be enough for you to cover what you want to cover. Most women don’t really bother to cover themselves, but if you want to you can use the hand towel to cover a good bit of real estate.
Once you are in the water, you are fine, and that’s where you’ll be spending most of your time.
The baths are NOT coed so it’s not so different from walking around in a locker room.
There are plenty of body types in Japan so no matter what shape you are in, there’s no reason to be shy.

People are generally tolerant of each other and make space so unless you are at an excessively crowded bath, you should have a little space to spread out. People tend to respect the fact that people are there to relax and rejuvenate so they tend not to bother you. On the other hand, it’s also a good place to strike up a subdued conversation with someone who seems willing to talk if you want to practice your Japanese.

Before I get to the bullet list below of things to do to make sure you are doing it right and with good manners, I’ll tell my own bad manner story.

I blame Japanese tv for the few mistakes I made during my first trip to a public bath in Japan. On tv, for obvious reasons, the people in the bath stay covered at all times. Even when they get into the water, they tend to keep a strategically placed towel in the water with them. Although I knew about washing first, and not “swimming” around in the bath, I didn’t know about the towel.

While my friends watched in horror I brought, not only the tiny hand towel that people carry with them to cover themselves while walking around, but a regular towel to cover myself in the bath like the people on tv. Not properly interpreting the shocked faces of my friends, I proceded to shape the towel in the water into various water animals and make the towel “swim” around in the water.

Then finally, one friend looked at me, and in restrained, polite Japanese said, “You are not supposed to put towels in the water.” I said, “Oh,” took the towels out of the water and began to relax.

My friend explained that there are little threads from the towel, dust, or other things could end up floating around in the water. (That’s not to say you won’t occasionally see naturally occurring hairs floating in the bath, so be forewarned.)

Anyway, here’s what you can do to fit the Japanese culture of the bath and have a good time…

Part 1: The reception area and locker room.

Before you go in, you will probably pay and get a key for a locker in the locker room. The key will probably be on one of those bracelets common at gyms.
If you don’t have towels with you, you may want to get one. Some places offer them for free, some places have a nominal fee, and some places even have towel set vending machines.
In the locker room, you will change into a robe or your birthday suit depending on the set up. If it’s a robe, there will be a little basket you can put your robe into when you get into the bath area. If this is where you get naked, you’ll just want to grab your smaller towel to bring with you into the bath.
Make sure your locker is locked and get ready to head in.
A lot of places say “No Tattoos”, but what they are really doing is reserving the right to try and kick out any yakuza or (more recently) young people trying to make trouble. For the most part, there won’t be a problem if you have a little tattoo somewhere. In the better safe than troubled department, you can always try to tape it up or cover it somehow if you want to. If a place is a little too strict about this, you can always find one that isn’t.

Part 2: Showering before entering the public bath.

There will be showers on the periphery, some sites say that you can just splash yourself before getting in, and I’ve seen some people do that, but manners say the proper thing to do is a nice shower with soap and water.
Most showers will have two kinds of faucets… one that will pour water out into a bowl you can use to splash over yourself, the other will be a shower. The bowl is surprisingly pleasant to use so don’t let yourself fixate on the shower. It’s about relaxation and experience.
There will also be liquid body soap and shampoo that might be shared with the person next to you. Some places will even provide a bar of soap to use for people who don’t like the body soap.
There may be stand up showers, but there may not be. The most common type of shower in hot springs and public baths are the sit down ones. In this case there will be a plastic seat with a hole in the middle to sit on while washing. It is pretty easy to get clean sitting down.
Be prepared for a scary bathroom. I’ve been in a few places with nice bathrooms, but with the amount of water being dripped and people going in and out, the floor will be wet so don’t hesitate to utilize the lesser of two evils – by this I mean the multipurpose sandals that are probably there.
If possible, use the bathroom in the reception area before and after… I say “if possible” because once you relax in the bath you may want to make a trip.
Do I need to mention that you should use the bathroom instead of the shower, or, God forbid, the bath?
Be sure to get all the soap off you before heading to the bath.

Part 3 – In the bathing area

Don’t waste any energy worrying about being naked in public – enjoy the bath!
Don’t jump in… (obvious?)
Don’t bring your towel in with you, you can leave it on the ledge near by.
Explore all the baths they have to offer – different places will have different types of baths, different temperatures, different types of additives or minerals… I’ve even been in ones with small electric currents. If you are lucky enough to go to a place like Osaka Spa World, you will have a full day’s worth of different types of baths, swimming pools, and even water slides to enjoy.
Don’t dunk your head under the water. (Some people in Japan will definitely do this, but it’s not really good manners.)
Don’t swim, although a little floating and moving is OK… as with much of Japanese culture – the trick is simple – don’t make waves.
When think you’ve had enough, lay out on one of the chairs or somewhere near the bath… you might find yourself wanting to soak again. Also, though I don’t know much about this, I’ve heard it’s good for the skin to open and close the pores with hot and water.
Try the cold bath as well. Though more invigorating than relaxing, a lot of folks enjoy mixing in a little of the cold bath with the hot spring when it’s available.
Some places also have saunas that complement the cold and hot baths well.

Part 4 – Back in the locker room

Some onsen hot springs and public baths have nice lounging areas in the locker rooms. After a hot relaxing bath, it’s a great place to play with a cell phone or relax while waiting for everyone to finish up.
There will often be hair dryers and some simple toiletries in the locker room area to tidy up before heading out.
People will be in various stages of undress here as well with people “air drying”, and others in business suits ready to go back to work.
There are a lot of beverages to enjoy to replace any loss of hydration, often beer, green tea, water, or sports drinks hit the spot. I recommend milk. (I once stayed at a hot spring resort in Hokkaido and loved coming out of the bath to a nice cold bottle of fresh Hokkaido milk).
There may be a little restaurant in the public bath serving soba, udon, ramen, curry and rice, or other Japanese cafeteria staples. Although you may come out of the bath hungry and relaxed… you can probably get better food at a family restaurant or might I recommend Coco Ichibanya Curry for something fast, hot, inexpensive, and delicious?

I hope this encourages visitors to Japan to go and take the plunge. Other things to know are that if you go to some resorts you can have a hot spring bath right in your room which is great. Some places also schedule times for people to have a bath to themselves.

A lot of times a public bath can be useful if staying at a campground which doesn’t have showers as well. The local public bath is the default option in these cases.

Have fun then, with this inexpensive and very Japanese experience!

New Google Streetview 360 Degree View of the Inside of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial

traveljapan — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:43:12 PDT

One of the greatesst places to visit in Japan is Hiroshima. There are beautiful sites, natural places to hike, historical monuments and museums, and great regional foods. One of Hiroshima’s greatest attractions is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, called the “Genbaku Dome” in Japanese.

Beginning August 6th, 2011 in Japan which is the evening of August 5th in the United States, Google Streetview has made available a 360 degree streetview inside.

It’s not easy to find, so please take a look at the entrance here:

View Larger Map

If you go to the site above, you’ll be at Google Streetview’s entrance to the Memorial. At the bottom there should be three directional arrows to follow. The one pointing straight ahead will take you into the memorial itself and from there you can explore the historic building preserved in the condition it was in since the bomb exploded at that time.

The Google Streetview view of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial is also amazing because it allows visitors to “walk” through places that actual visitors can only view from afar. It gives viewers the chance to actually be in the rooms and areas that have been left untouched for so long.

Lastly, here is an embed of one of the views I was able to see from inside:

View Larger Map

The Obon Holiday 2011 – Traveling in Japan in the Summer

traveljapan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:50:02 PDT

The O-bon or Bon Festival in Japan is definitely something summer travelers to Japan want to have marked on their calendars. There are both good things about being in Japan, but also some things to be aware of if traveling around this time of year.

Some things to be aware of:

Many people in Japan go back to their hometowns or visit family during the O-bon season so some of the people you want to see in Japan may not be available.
Traffic in Japan, as well as public transportation can be backed up during this time… the news in Japan usually reports what days will be the heaviest. Traffic can be the heaviest leaving the Tokyo area at the beginning of the holiday and returning to the area at the end. This year the busiest days are expected to be August 12thand 13th, and for return trips, August 15th and 16th, but please expect all trains and major highways to be backed for the week. (If they are not too bad where you’re going, be pleasantly surprised and then watch the news to know just how pleasantly surprised you should be!)
Things may be a bit more expensive, though this is just based on my experience and this may or may not be the case. I know that things definitely feel more expensive.

The best thing about being in Japan during the Obon holidays are the festivals held to celebrate the holiday. Both large scale and small scale festivals tend to be held, and in the days leading up to some of the festivals, visitors can be treated to Obondori or Bon-dori practices in local parks.

If you are someone that likes traveling and getting to know people, it could be a great experience to get out into the big rush and start talking to people who seem open to it. How many stories could an ethnographer collect during the course of a 3 hour ride on a packed train? How about as a chance to practice your language skills with a captive audience?

Summer is a somewhat expensive, but very good time to travel in Japan. There are plenty of festivals, fireworks to be found, people tend to be out and about more, and even busy people may travel a bit. It is hot and humid, so please feel free to check my older post about packing for Japan in Summer for some ideas about what to bring.

Tsukiji Fish Market (Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market) Open to Tourists Again

traveljapan — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:27:56 PDT

After the Tohoku Earthquake, the Tsukiji Fish Market, a great place to see where your sushi and other foods get their start, and to gain a great appreciation for the way a fish auction works in Japan, was closed to tourists out of concerns for their safety.

The market has banned visits from tourists in the past, including a ban on foreign tourists following some high profile incidences of dangerous or unruly behavior by non-Japanese tourists hijacking forklifts, public drunkenness, or other things that could have caused injury to them or workers at the auction. It is currently open to all visitors, but the number is limited to 120 (two groups of 60 each) on a first come first serve basis.

The Tsukiji Fish Market Tuna Auction is open to tourists from 5am to 6:15am, the two groups are divided by time – the first group of 60 gets to tour between from 5:25 to 5:50, and the second tour from 5:50 to 6:15. Visitors can register at 5am on the 1st floor of the “Fish Information Center” near the Kachidoki Bridge entrance.

Note that they ask visitors not to bring babies, strollers, or small children. I advise you to look over the other Tsukiji Fish Market Rules before visiting.

Also note that the market is closed on Sundays and some Wednesdays so you may want to call ahead or avoid these dates.

It is easily accessible by public transportation at Tsukiji Shijo station on the Oedo line if coming from Shinjuku, or Tsukiji station after transferring to the Hibiya line (from most other train lines such as the Marunouchi).

If you do go, please enjoy watching that giant tuna being cut up with a band saw, because that’s what it’s all about!

Travel to the New Osaka Station

traveljapan — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:42:58 PDT

If you haven’t been to the new and definitely improved Japan Rail Osaka Station, a Japanese blogger has taken photos of some of the more interesting parts of the station, as well as some breathtaking shots from some of the higher points there.

Fans of trains, trains stations, architecture, and Japan will enjoy these greatly… Some of the photos I like are the photos from the upper floors showing the open architecture, and the photos of all the people taking photos up there.

It’s really a place to experience and a vast improvement over the old station (which wasn’t even that bad in its own right).

Here is a link to the post, the writing is in Japanese, but the photos speak for themselves: “The New Osaka Station Looks Like Its Out of a Video Game“.

Top 10 Reasons to Visit McDonald’s in Japan

traveljapan — Sun, 15 May 2011 22:57:06 PDT

If there is ONE place my friends who have visited Japan did not want to go when visiting Japan, it’s McDonald’s. Although I’m not a great fan of McDonald’s food, and too much of it tends to make me feel pretty bad, there are several reasons to go to McDonald’s in Japan.

It occurred to me to write this post after hearing that McDonald’s in the U.S. was looking at renovating its shops to make them look and feel nicer to be in. McDonald’s restaurants in Japan tend to have that kind of welcoming, easy to sit and stay a while kind of atmosphere. In fact, the two places I did most of my studying of the Japanese language were McDonald’s and Mister Donut. I’ll discuss the wonders of Mister Donut another time.

Now, let’s break it down into a short list:

10. Keitai Coupons – if you have a cell phone in Japan, you can sign up for extremely good deals just by using your cell phone. Then, all you have to do is show the cashier the image of the coupon on your phone and you are good to go. Coupons like this make a good value for a quick lunch even better.

9. Population cross-section – On a given trip to McDonald’s you can see everyone from Moms and babies to businessmen and women to high school kids to old people.

8. Non-Japanese speaking friendly – If you are visiting the country and just need a quick, relatively familiar bite to eat, it’s not hard to find some golden arches to settle under for a spell.

7. New menu – There is always a rotating special meal or sandwich on the menu that might be such perennials as the “tsukimi burger” which has fried egg on the burger or even the Japan McDonald’s “Big America Series”. There are a lot of specials.. the current one being the MEGAMAC!!!!! (starting May 13, 2011). See the picture to the right.

6. Plenty of them are open 24 hours – If you’ve ever missed the last train of the night, or just wanted someplace bright and relaxing to get a bite or spend a few hours, McDonald’s is a fine option.

5. Great drink options – Aside from the normal Coca-cola, you can also get Ginger Ale, coffee, cafe au lait, Coca-cola Zero, Earl Grey Iced Tea, Sokembi-cha (a nice natural green tea made from a blend of tea types), Fanta Grape, Qoo White Grape (a non-carbonated flavored drink), Lipton tea with lemon or milk.

4. Unique breakfast menu – Including a hot dog with scrambled eggs on it (yes, wieners or sausages are sometimes served with breakfast here), McGriddles, a salad McMuffin, and … yes, the counterpart to the Megamac, the Megamuffin (pictured below), the breakfast menu is quite interesting.

3. Cheap and quick snacks – With quick cheap snacks such as the Shaka-shaka chicken series (boneless fried chicken with various flavors), other chicken dishes, ice cream, sundaes, bacon-potato pies, and salads, you can stop in and relax for a while for just a few hundred yen.

2. Cool Japanese Happy Meal Toys – They often have uniquely Japanese happy meal toys, for example the next set will include Kamen Rider and Okashi no Kuni toys. (See below)… and for the record, it’s referred to as a Happy “Set” in Japan… (in fact wherever you’d say meal in the U.S. you’d use say set here in McDonalds).

1. Stay as long as you like. One of the appeals of restaurants like McDonald’s is that people in Japan generally feel comfortable staying for a while. If you start to feel you’ve passed your time, you can get a coffee refill or order a sundae or something from the 100 yen menu.

As for free WiFi – there is free WiFi for Yahoo BroadBand (Yahoo BB – Softbank) members. If you can find a way to join, it’s worth it to try and join for 300 yen or so a month because free WiFi is not easy to find in Japan. Free WiFi would have been number one on this list if it were true, but it’s just not the case right now.

Well, McDonald’s is a place people identify with the West, but going to a McDonald’s in Japan, also known as Makudo or Makku depending on whether you are in Kansai or Kanto, can be a great expreience for tourists. If you are traveling with kids, it could also be a great way to grab some comfort food and a respite from new things. If you want to meet people, there may be enough of a cross section and social atmosphere at some times of the day that it wouldn’t be strange to strike up a conversation with the guy or gal in the next booth over.

I think it’s worth going, it’s a quick cheap, and believe it or not very Japanese way to get a meal in Japan.

Traveling in Japan and Learning About the Ainu People

traveljapan — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:16:00 PDT

One trip that I feel is worth the money if you are in Japan for any significant amount of time is a trip to Hokkaido. Hokkaido has wonderful hot springs, food, and natural wonders (yes, wonders!).

The difficulty of a trip to Hokkaido is that everything is very spread out and it may be a good idea to just rent a car and be ready to drive long distances between attractions (enjoying soft-serve ice cream made with Hokkaido milk, cheese, and other local delicacies along the way).

A destination I would like to highly recommend is the Ainu Museum. I have been there and can attest to the beauty of the area and the educational value of the trip and performances. One performance can be seen here below of an Ainu musical performance.

The museum is within walking distance of Shiraoi Station on the Hokkaido Railway as well (if you choose not to rent a car.) To put a little perspective on distances, the museum is a little over 3 hours from Hakodate by car, and over an hour from Lake Toya and Lake Shikotsu (if you happen to be visiting one of those locations). You can also get there in about an hour and a half or so if leaving from Sapporo. I imagine most first time visitors to Hokkaido will spend at least some of their time in Sapporo so this can make for a great day or half-day trip.

Admission is currently 750 yen for adults and less for kids. That’s less than US$10. Parking is only 300 yen.

Sakura Cherry Blossoms at Night

traveljapan — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:34:44 PDT

I just read through a great article (in Japanese) that gives advice to people about how to take great pictures of the cherry blossoms at night. There is a lot of basic advice for using the white balance and experimenting with your cameras automatic settings, but the site also features some nice photos of cherry blossoms at night.

Going to the same park in the afternoon for traditional “hanami” and then again at night for “yozakura” can be a lot of fun and give viewers a whole new experience at the same place… or if you have the time and enough energy to do it, why not go in the afternoon and stay until night?

Here is the article I mentioned above on a well-known digital camera blog.

Tricks for taking photos of sakura at night with a compact digital camera (in Japanese)

Best Places to See Sakura Cherry Blossoms Around the Kobe Area

traveljapan — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:30:04 PDT

If you are lucky enough to be in the Kobe area for the cherry blossom season, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of places you can go. Actually, I will be writing a lot about places outside of Kobe and toward the western side of the Kansai region here because some of the best places to see sakura are just west of Kobe or found between Kobe and Osaka.

HIMEJI CASTLE

My favorite place to do hanami is Himeji castle. You can hop on JR West (Japan Rail West) or the shinkansen and head down to Himeji pretty easily. Himeji castle not only features a nice park with a beautiful view of the castle and cherry trees abounding, but visitors can go up to the castle, slip off their shoes, and head into the castle for a little trip into Japan’s past.

If you are traveling with children, there is a small zoo next to the park which is designed for toddlers and younger children… except for the howler monkeys which my kids never got used to. The zoo hosts a lot of Japan’s indigenous animals as well as the standard kiddy zoo fare.

Shops near Himeji castle also serve traditional Japanese and Kansai regional snacks and meals.

AKASHI CASTLE PARK

Akashi is a small city just west of Kobe that is famous for octopus so don’t be surprised if you see cartoon images of them everywhere. There is even a food called Akashi-yaki named after the region. Akashi-yaki is sort of the egg version of Tako-yaki. It’s dipped into a thin broth instead of with the sauce used for tako-yaki (I believe takoyaki is also called octopus-balls or samurai-balls). Akashi-yaki is definitely nice to try if you fancy octopus and egg.

Akashi, like Himeji, has a castle with a nice park around it. The park in Akashi features a lot of good spots for picnicking, and is also easily accessible by JR train and can be seen from Akashi Station. (For shinkansen users, it should be noted that Nishi-Akashi station is one stop away from Akashi Station on the regular JR line.)

SUMAURA PARK

Some Sumaura Park Sakura

Sumanoura Park is a great place for day-hikers, and people with active kids. There are lots of little playgrounds, and the park itself is up a mountain side. This is a must-see park in Kobe whether it is cherry blossom season or not. I’ve been here several times with my family and loved every time. There are ropeways (like ski lifts) you can ride to different parts of the mountain, a rotating observation tower high on the mountain from which a lot of the kansai region can be observed, and various short hiking courses.

Sakura can be found all over the mountain and there are a lot of nice places to picnic as well as a restaurant in the building with the revolving observation tower.

Sumaura Park is a 10 minute walk from JR Suma Station (Where the Suma Aquarium is located… how’s that for a day trip?), or right at the exit of the Sumaura Koen Station on the Sanyo Railway that runs from downtown Kobe to Himeji.

KOBE OJI ZOO

This may be the most popular place in Kobe city. It is Kobe’s main zoo and houses over 800 animals of over 140 species. There is an entrance fee of 600 yen for adults (over high school age, or about 15 years old) but free for kids up to 8th grade (the end of middle school in Japan).

It’s accessible by public translation at JR Nada Station, or Oji Koen Station on the Hankyu line. The Hankyu station is much closer and easy to get to.

HIOKAYAMA PARK

Another very popular park is found in Kakogawa, also located west of Kobe and between Kobe and Himeji. The park is highly rated, though this is the only place on my list that I have not actually visited personally. There is not a lot of information about the park in English, so it could be a nice adventure. Even sites in Japanese are scarce, but as I said, some Japanese travel magazines rank it quite high on lists of Kansai area cherry blossom viewing sites.

Hiokayama Park is accessible by public transportation at JR Hioka Station. It should be a 5 to 10 minute walk from there.

Anybody else with favorite cherry blossom viewing spots, please feel free to let us know in the comments. As I often say here, sometimes the best place to visit can be that tiny park down the street from the hotel that only the locals know and love.

Added a News Feed to Cheap Travel Japan Sidebar

traveljapan — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:58:50 PDT

Update: the feed I put in the sidebar isn’t working. The people below are good starts for what kind of news to follow. I have been watching the news about the nuclear plant troubles, and frankly I am concerned about all of Kanto and Tohoku.

Just wanted to point out that I added a news feed from twitter to the sidebar with tweets from Newzjapan – Japan News and Commentary, the Japan Times, and Noriyuki Shikata who has been blogging in English on behalf of the Japanese authorities during the current earthquake and tsunami crisis.

I don’t know how long I’ll keep it, but for now I hope it’s useful.