Recommendations
Under construction...
Links
and Resources
General
Information
The
Quirky Japan Homepage (English)
http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~edjacob/index.html
Real life information about everything from current trends to tourist traps
worth avoiding, written by someone who is living there. This is one of my
favorite sites.
The
Japan FAQ
(English)
http://thejapanfaq.cjb.net/
Interesting traveling or living in Japan information page by someone who has
done it. Read through or just scroll down to the links at the bottom. Good site.
Japan
National Tourists Organization (several
languages)
http://www.jnto.go.jp/
The usual tourist stuff, but mixed in is information that even a budget
traveler can use. Especially useful is the page on discount rail passes.
Transportation
JR
Japan Rail Pass (several languages)
http://www.japanrailpass.net/
Japan Rail’s official page aimed at travelers. Lots of very useful
information.
Zone 81
(English)
http://www.zone81.com/arch_sections/trains
A lot of good information links to Japanese train route maps.
JTB
USA (English, Japanese)
http://www.jtbusa.com/enhome/
You pretty much have to go through these people to get tickets to the Ghibli
Museum...
Sankei
Travel of Americas
This is whom we bought our airline tickets through. The price they gave us was
over $100 less than the lowest we could get through AAA.
Lodging
Yadoya
Guesthouse (English, Japanese)
http://www.worldgroupjapan.com/yadoyahome.htm
This is where we stayed. Not glamorous by any means, but inexpensive and
livable. There were both native Japanese and foreigners living there. If you
call the number on the site, the person answering can speak English.
Backpacker’s
Hotel New Koyo Tokyo (English,
Japanese)
http://www.newkoyo.jp/index.html
I’ve heard good things about this place from other people who have stayed
there.
Japan
Youth Hostels (English,
Japanese, Korean)
http://www.jyh.or.jp/
Part of the International Youth Hostels system
Other Guest Houses (untried yet, but sound good)
Apple
House (English, Japanese, Korean)
http://www.applehouse.ne.jp/english/applehouse.html
J&F Plaza Co, Ltd.
(English, Japanese)
http://jafnet.co.jp/plaza/contentse/e_top.htm
Bamboo
House (English)
http://www.bamboo-house.com/
Low Cost Hotels (also untried, but sound good)
Kurumi
Weekly Mansion (English, Japanese)
http://www.tmb.co.jp/~kurumi/eigo.html
Juyoh
Hotel
http://www.cozyhouse.net/cozyhouse.html
Hotel
Raizan Minamiken (English,
Japanese)
http://www.raizan.com/hyoushi_e.html
Hotel
Chuo (English, Japanese, Chinese,
Korean)
http://www.hotel-chuo.com/index_e.html
Entertainment
Studio
Ghibli Museum and Inokashira Park (English, Japanese)
http://www.city.mitaka.tokyo.jp/english/index.html
Shinagawa
Aquarium
(Japanese)
http://www.aquarium.gr.jp/home.html
Recommended
Books
Tokyo
City Atlas, A Bilingual Guide (revised edition)
ISBN: 4770028091, Kodansha
Of all the books I took to Japan, this is the one I used the most. It’s well
written and easy to use. One thing that impressed me most was that the maps
include all the district and neighborhood names and numbers, and even the block
numbers... valuable information, since most streets do not have names.
The
Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary
ISBN: 4-7700-2855-5, Kodansha
This dictionary is easy to use and fairly comprehensive, yet small enough to fit
into your backpack or purse.