JapanSugoi

If you want to travel to Tokyo this summer and are on a budget, check out this report from Japanese TV show Tokyo Eye (NHK) on cheap Japanese hotels and guest houses in Tokyo.  The video report covers “Sanya” in North Asakusa (close to otaku capital Akihabara) and well-known to backpackers around the world for its affordable accommodations.  

There are more than 170  cheap hotels in the area that traditionally cater to the day laborers who stay in them. In recent years Sanya has focused on international backpacker customers with hotels and hostels catering to the super budget traveler.

Host Jean Snow tours various accommodations which feature western and Japanese style rooms  and interviews various customers.  Prices start as low as 2,500 Yen a night. Just don’t expect big rooms, much privacy, meals and other “hotel” luxuries.

Dorm Hostel　EBISUYA & HOTEIYA
http://www.spocom.net/
Backpakers hotel NEW KOYO
http://www.newkoyo.jp

Velotaxis are pollution free pedicabs developed in Germany 12 years ago but are now used around the world including Japan.   The cabs are equipped with an electric motor to climb a slope and with an average speed of 11 kph they can carry two adult and one child passengers in city centers, tourist areas and vehicle free districts.

In Japan, the Ecological-Cities Promoting Association, a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization (NPO) operates Velotaxi Japan and trialled them in Kyoto in spring 2002.  Since then, it has spread to 24 cities in 22 prefectures including Tokyo (mainly around the trendy Omotesando and Minami-Aoyama area).

Though fares are relatively cheap - starting from about 300 Yen, the taxis supplement their income by displaying ads. Velotaxis are a nice, environmentally friendly way of getting around if you are not in a rush to get somewhere.

Velotaxi Japan Videos

When visiting the shopping mall complex in Canal City, Hataka (the old name of Fukuoka), make sure you stop by a unique water fountain called the Space Printer.   Built by the folks at Koei Acquatec it drops water to the ground from hundreds of well timed nozzles that are controlled with amazing precision by computers  The water creates shapes like stars, moons, dolphins and Japanese characters (spelling out Canal City) during a lights show on the way down.

The fountain also has the ability to invert the display, creating a solid wall of water and removing the required droplets to form pre-set images. This is a clever innovation over your standard shoot water up in the air water fountains.

If water fountains are not your thing, Canal City has lots of restaurants, movie theaters and specialty Pokemon, Hello Kitty (Sanrio), Ultraman, My neighbor Totoro shops.

Besides learning some elementary Japanese, before going to Japan you’d also better learn how to use chopsticks if you want to eat some delicious food.  Japanese don’t expect gaijin to be chopsticks masters but it does help impress your cute Japanese girlfriend.  You may already have a set of hashi at home but to make practice more fun, you can consider buying some “Manner Beans for Chopsticks Practice”. The chick faced yellow beans come in a set of 40 with 20 male beans and 20 female beans.

The beans have 4 different shapes and are very slippery (especially the triangle ones). Each set also includes a lime green bowl, lime green chopsticks and a pouch for your beans.  See how fast you can get all the beans into the bowl. Cost for this fun game is 2000 Yen.

Traveling to Japan and need to know the main greetings quickly? Here are some simple and useful Japanese expressions to learn when visiting Japan.

Here’s a youtube video which can teach you these useful phrases in 10 minutes -Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, Goodbye, Good night, Thank You, Excuse Me or I’m Sorry, No (not at all), I’ll go and come back, Please go and come back, I’m home, Welcome back, Bon Appetite, Thank you for the meal, Hello, nice to meet you.

Practice with a Japanese friend first before you try it in Japan.

If you’re traveling to Japan, Toki no Sumika resort in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture is one the nicest onsens (hot springs) to visit. It’s only about 1 hour 45 minutes from Tokyo by train.  This winter, the resort has lit up a tunnel that contains some 3.2 million light bulbs  generated purely by solar power.

Tokyo’s world famous Tsukiji fish market will resume admitting tourists today after a month long lockout following complaints from workers at the market about disruptive behavior of foreign tourists .

About 90 percent of visitors to the 5:30 a.m morning tuna auctions are foreign tourists and as many as 500 people a day have visited to see the auctions.   This time round there will be security guards and flyers distributed in  English, Chinese, Korean and Russian that stipulates a bans on flash photography and touching the tuna.

Don’t be lonely on Valentines Day.. Find a nice Japanese girl here!