This will be a fun read for all japan-tripperz. Brought to you by APetGuppy, NOT Mr Leo hahahah. A deeper guide into Japan than on your itinerary/briefing paper...

!Basic Facts of JAPAN!

We're all tech-savvvvy individuals with the constant need for electrical plugs. Japan as all of us know does not use our kinda plugs. So this is what Japanese plugs look like. Coz just telling you is never enough. =D


Japan 3 pin Japan 2 pin ADAPTOR(IMPORTANT)



!Temperature!


Temperature will depend on where we are. All digits are in degrees celsius.


OSAKA ------------> 15 - 22
HIROSHIMA-------> 7 - 17
KOBE---------------> Same an Osaka...
KYOTO-------------> 4 - 17

!PRICES!

SHOPPING is what we must do. We all know that stuff in Japan is expensive, but HOW expensive most don't know.

First of all, SGD$1 = ¥79 (Conversion rate based on currency prices 3rd Nov 2007)

Well, since our meals are covered, I don't have to talk much about eating. Just to let you know, a cheap meal would cost around ¥500 - ¥1000? An average restaurant meal would cost ¥1000 - ¥3000? FOR ONE PERSON.

Btw you can get a haircut there from QB house for ¥1000... SGD13...

PHONE PRICES.

You can buy phonecards from kiosks or vending machines over there. And use them at public phones, which are enabled for international calls. Their public phones aren't as ugly and run-down as those in Singapore don't worry.

To use your handphone in Japan, you first need a 3G handset.
Well, most of us don't have 3G phones. You can rent 3G handsets from your operator

E.G FOR M1 SUBSCRIBERS,

Rental Period
Charges
1st – 5th week
$20 per week
6th – 11th week
$50 per week
Loss of phone / Late return after 11th week
$500 plus any rental charges incurred
Loss or damage of manual or adaptor
$20

Loss or damage of charger or battery

$100
Other subscribers go call your operator...
Thats just for your phone...

Most plans come with auto roaming...With a 3G set you can auto roam and use +65 and immediately call BUT BUT BUT, IT IS DEVASTATINGLY EXPENSIVE. DON'T TRY SMSING OR CALLING USING ROAMING...


I would suggest going over there, and buy a prepaid card. BUT watch out. There are two kinds of prepaid cards. One for overseas and another for within the country.
BUY THE RIGHT ONE.

After buying an overseas prepaid calling card, which works much like a SG one, slot the sim card which comes with the prepaid card into your phone, call some random number and you have calling credit! However you gotta use their sim card...The cost I won't go deeper into coz at the most we'll be making like 30 second calls...
!CLOTHES!

Are also very expensive. If you wanna buy super branded stuff be prepared to spend like ¥20k for 1 piece? Normal clothing which we not so rich people would buy would range around ¥3k - ¥9k a piece? Rarely goes below ¥4k..

Wow that was a whole lot about $$$$$$$$$$$$$. Lets move on.

JUST IN CASE we do visit a public bath, follow these steps to stay alive.

1) Take off all your clothes in the changing room and place them into a basket together with your bath towel. Coin lockers for valuables are often available.
2) Japanese hot springs are enjoyed naked. Swimming suits are not allowed in most places. However, it is the custom to bring a small towel into the bathing area, with which you can enhance your privacy while outside of the water. Once you enter the bath, keep the towel out of the water.
3) Before entering the bath, rinse your body with water from either a tap or the bath using a washbowl provided in the bathing area. Just rinsing your body is usually sufficient unless you are excessively dirty, in which case you want to use soap.
4) Enter the bath and soak for a while. Note that the bath water can be very hot (typical temperatures are 40 to 44 degrees). If it feels too hot, try to enter very slowly and move as little as possible.
5) After soaking for a while, get out of the bath and wash your body with soap at a water tap, while sitting on a stool. Soap and shampoo are provided in some baths. Like in private Japanese bathrooms, make sure that no soap gets into the bath water. Tidy up your space after you finished cleaning your body.
6) Re-enter the bath and soak some more.
7) After you finished soaking, do not rinse your body with tap water, for the minerals to have full effect on your body.
Source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2292_how.html

OK LETS MOVE ON TO THE SERIOUS STUFF.

OUR FIRST PLACE OF INTERESTINGNESS IS

Miyajima(Shrine Island) 14TH NOV

BEHAVE RESPECTFULLY AND CALMLY. THESE GUYS ARE SERIOUS.

Wear socks coz you gotta take off your shoes when you walk around in a temple/shrine or whatever.

Deer and monkeys move freely around the island. Pretty animals!
Most shrines allow cameras but do watch out for signs and notices about stuff...

"Oddly enough, Miyajima is well-known for its rice scoops (杓子 shakushi), spatulaesque wooden spoons used to serve cooked rice. You can buy scoops by the truckload in any gift shop, and even gaze on the World's Largest Spatula (well over 5m long), showcased along the main shopping street.

The sheer number of souvenir shops is mind-boggling. For the most part, they all sell the same items for the same prices, although the path returning to the port from Momijidani Park features a few statuaries and art dealers with appropriately awe-inspiring prices. "

GIANT RICE SPATULA!!!!!! HAHA!


  • STUFF TO SEE
    Itsukushima Shrine     (厳島神社), [2]. Miyajima's main sight, the shrine is a large, red-lacquered complex of halls and pathways on stilts, originally so built that commoners could visit without defiling the island with their footprints. Pricing is complex, but ¥300 will get you into the temple itself, or pay ¥500 for entry plus a glimpse at the shrine's treasures. Weddings are occasionally held there, but that doesn't bar visitors, and the priest's ceremonial dance is a memorable sight. The shrine was badly damaged by a typhoon in 2004, but repairs are largely complete and it is open again.
  • The floating torii (or gate) of the shrine, standing in the bay in front of the shrine, is Miyajima's best known symbol. Note that whether the torii is "floating" or merely mired in mud depends on the tide.
  • Senjokaku (千畳閣). The name means "1000 Mat Pavilion", a fairly apt description of this gigantic wooden hall which doesn't actually contain much other than empty space. It was originally built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1587. There's also a picturesque 5-story pagoda (五重塔 Gojuto) next door, and plenty of cherry trees if you are visiting in sakura season.

Above five paragraphs and photo from: http://wikitravel.org/en/Miyajima


For the night we will stay at Chisun Hotal Hiroshima. Its quite ok by the photos. The rooms have like flat screen tele's and high speed internet is available here. Yippee for the laptop users. =P


Peace Memorial Park 15th Nov

Ok this place is good... Theres really really alot here! If you wanna spoil the surprise then please go here http://wikitravel.org/en/Hiroshima
This day will be fantastic work for your cameras. Its really alot of memorials and museums around the place. But stuff I must mention is the museum.

"This heart-wrenching museum documents the bomb and its aftermath, complete with scale models of "before" and "after", melted children's tricycles and a harrowing recreation of a post-blast Hiroshima street. The first floor describes the events leading up to the bomb and attempts to give a sense of what Hiroshima was like before the war. The second floor contains a number of displays and artifacts related to the day of the bombing. Some of these are extremely graphic, evocative and - consequently - disturbing. The rest of the museum describes the post-war struggles of the hibakusha (bomb survivors) and the state of nuclear weapons in the world today. Entry costs a token ¥50, and audio guides are available for an additional donation. Be warned: a visit here, while by all means worthwhile, will ruin your day. Allow plenty of time afterward to decompress. "

Quoted region from http://wikitravel.org/en/Hiroshima


We go to Kobe from dinner and sleeping. The B Kobe is our rest spot. Once again we have sexy flat screen tv's and high speed internet access is available. Yippee for our laptop users!


THE REST WILL BE IN THE LATER POSTS!!!!!!1