First trip to Japan, please help x__x

awesome! take lots of pictures!

how come my post appeared right away, when for figure posts i waited a whole day to be on the main @_@

for me its totally opposite. i found the food to be more cheap than i thought (and delicious also in pretty good amount), maybe base on where u go. i only stay for a week pretty much spend like around $600. bought some toys and lots of food. if u r going to japan if u know someone or u can ask go get a JR pass, which make it easier for u to travel along the JR line. there r LOTS of stuff to see in japan so plan wisely i pretty much spend 3/4 of my money in Tokyo and when i end up in Osaka there r more stuff to see. so......................be wise

You could always try a hostel instead of a hotel. It's cheaper, but of course it's a shared bathroom and you're in close corners with other people. xP

You should consider getting this
http://www.tokyorealtime.com/

Wonder Festival is in July! It's usually the last Sunday of July, which would make it the 31st this year. I'd wait for confirmation after the winter one though, as they may move it backwards to the 24th. It'll be my first WonFes too :D

It should be lots of fun! Summer should have some festivals also which are filled with games and yummy foods.

Try taking a look at this place. http://www.sakura-hotel-ikebukuro.com/index.php They have both hotels and hostels around Tokyo. I've stayed at the Ikebukuro branch before and I will again in a couple weeks. It's around $75 USD a night for a single. And they have a book a week for cheaper special. You can also look at Ryokans. http://www.ryokan.or.jp/index_en.html Basically family run spots with a more traditional japanese housing feel. I've stayed at one in Tokyo near the Gotanda station which was around $50 USD a night. Its basically a tatami room with a futon laid out for you each night.

I've found the food to be mostly cheaper than here in NYC. At least when it comes to what I would call casual foods. High end restaurants will be expensive no matter where you go. But you can eat ramen and other noodles, for around 500-800 Yen, set lunch boxes are around 700-1000 Yen. I ate a ton of sushi at kaiten spots (conveyor belt sushi) for around 1500 Yen each time and got a TON of food. There's a chain of places called Ramen Jiro, the normal bowls of ramen are HUGE. You WILL be full for around 700 Yen. I ate a normal bowl and I was practically waddling like a penguin out of there because I was way too full.

If you plan to travel to a lot of places, get a JRPass. It's like an unlimited train pass for 7 or 14 days. It's expensive but it can really pay for itself if you take a lot of trains. Do some research into that. The high speed train to and from Kyoto might just about pay for the price of the pass itself. I usually get that and visit 4 - 6 cities per trip.

I'd recommend looking into visiting the Ghibli museum.

Also, Summer in Japan can get really hot and humid. Just be prepared for that.

I posted up a bunch of stuff from when I was planning my 2009 trip:
http://www.figure.fm/post/en/8558/Planning+A+Japan+Trip.html
One very important map that I discovered last year:
http://mappery.com/map-of/akiahabara-Map
Don't worry about food, It's not that expensive unless you go to the places in the tourist guides. All sorts of wonderful places. Great ramen place in Akihabara. The crepe place is good too.

If you want a really cheap hostel K's House are about 3400 yen (about £26) per night for smaller rooms (twin, double etc.) and cheaper if you stay in the larger, 8-person rooms. I stayed at the one in Kyoto last spring when I backpacked around a bit with some friends while I was at university there. It's bare minimum, but it was comfortable enough for a few days. The one in Tokyo isn't far by train from Akihabara, and the one in Kyoto is about ten minutes walk from Kyoto station and Kyoto Tower.

July is a good choice as the heat can get unbearable in August and the rainy season should be over within the first half of July. Make sure you have plenty of change for vending machines because when you're walking about in the sun you're inevitably going to want a bottle of chilled water from the machines after a while (around 120 yen per bottle in most cities, more if you're in an isolated tourist spot). You can use 1000 yen notes as well, but it's easier to have change.

Seconding the rec. to go to Wonder Festival if you can. I went twice while I lived there and it was a great experience. Loads to see even if you're not a garage-kit builder, and you get a look at a lot of new announcements from the professional companies too. Just make sure you have ID with your DOB, as some of the stalls are in an age-restricted area (and many of the ones with ecchi kits also have non-ecchi kits at the same table). You can pick up the guidebooks which grant you entrance for 2000 yen either at places like Toranoana in advance, or outside the venue on the day (if you're going early and queuing for limited goods get it in advance).

Eating out in Japan is much cheaper than the UK if you know where to look, even in Tokyo. If you like rice balls etc. you can easily get lunch on the go from any convenience store for about 500 yen (but don't each too much combini food or you'll get fed up with it really quickly) and as long as you avoid the more expensive restaurants you can get a decent meal for under 1000 yen.

Most of your money will end up going on public transport and buying stuff (I used to make a monthly trip to Akiba when my scholarship came in and I could easily spend 15,000 yen in a trip, and that was with the knowledge I could just come back next month).

Buy passes for transport wherever possible. The rail systems in Tokyo (and also Kyoto, though the buses are best for the tourist spots within the city itself) are really convenient for getting around. Many cities (including Kyoto) do day passes for buses or underground systems for 500 yen, which is worth it if you're hopping from place to place.

I'm planning to be there the two weeks centered around July 19th. (If things don't become derailed before then) Maybe we can meet up? ^_^

Oh cool me and my friends are also planning to go this summer but we are planning on going on the month of June for about 2-3 weeks we haven't decided. I can't really suggest anything since I haven't gone either but I will say have fun and take lots of pictures^^.

I hope you will make a worthwhile trip to Japan.
7 Reasons Why Japanese Trains Are Different http://muza-chan.net/japan/index.php/blog/japanese-trains
Rin's Easy Guide to Japan: Taking the Trains Part 1 http://www.figure.fm/post/en/13528/
HOWTO Plan a Trip to Akiba « WAWAWA 忘れ物 http://wawawawasuremono.com/2010/03/10/howto-plan-a-trip-to-akiba/

if ur on a budget dont buy the JR rail pass unless speed is important (JR 7 day pass is like 28K yen) for 11K yen u can get the Seishun 18 Kippu pass which lets u travel from tokyo to kyoto in 9 hours by normal rail compared to 3 hours by Hikari Shinkansen. the Seishun 18 Kippu pass can be used any day u want for 5 times before 12am that day and u can devide the pass. example, the pass is valid for 5 useage per for as many people u want, u and 4 friends can only 1 pass for a single day or u and 1 friend can use 2 useage from tokyo to kyoto and 2 more useage to get back to tokyo and u still have 1 useage left. getting from tokyo to kyoto and back would end up costing u 4500yen or 2250yen per a trip that normally cost 10000yen by shinkansen.

i would do a stop over in other cities along the way and stay the night there. its a waste of money to use the JR pass within tokyo as it works out 28000yen devided by 7 = 4000yen. u wont even use 2000 yen in tokyo per a day. as u arrive at narita airport go buy a tokyo subway 2 day pass for 800yen if i remember. use the subway to get around tokyo, that works out at 400yen per a day but u have to use tokyo metro subay lines and not the private lines but that wont stop u getting around.

i wont stay in a hotel, for that little bit more money stay in a hotel for 24hours private bathroom, electricity and most important of all INTERNET connection!!! no matter how much u plan once ur there using the internet u can find locations, place of interest, google maps/earth, price and timetable of train lines etc.

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/

use this site to find train/subway timetable and price etc

Seishun 18 Kippu: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2362.html

http://mitsumeau.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/guide-to-travelling-to-japan-part-1/

Still finishing up my guide, but here's part 1 of it. Hope it helps you out a bit.

Went to Japan last year, stayed around £20 per night at asakusabashi (which is 1 stop away from Akiba on the JR line, u cant go wrong), its close to most tourist attractions and I'd suggest saying round there.

1. Get a Suica card, just like the London underground card, its in english to buy and to top up from a machine, simplez.
2. Funny enough, food is cheap, breakfast 300yen max (£2) at Yoshinoya NOMNOMNOM, lunch ramen max at 600yen (£4) and dinner I normally eat at the top of the yodabashi camera and around 1000yen (£6-7), please note I'm a human blackhole and thats enough for me.
2. Travel cost around 120yen single, so not too much
3. Shopping for luxury goods in Japan is expensive as hell, save up!

Shopping:
1. Yodobashi Camera's Akiba, good price electronics, fantastic gundam section *VERY CHEAP*
2. Gamers/Animate, offical goods, expensive but worth it
3. Mandarake, uber second hand shop selling anime related goods
4. K-books (the building opposites Gamers, can't miss it when you walk out of the JR station) and the whole building is gem for goods

Events/places to go:
1. Wonfes, July, never been can't tell u much
2. Comiket, around August, need a squard of friends to buy loots
3. Lucky Star shrine+school+konata's house, in Saitama prefecture also seen in Initial D forth Stage ^^

Just really covering Akiba, thers Nakano Boardway near shinjuku but similar shops.

I've been 4 times to Japan and am going again in April so here are my tips:
1. Cheapest place I've stayed is Aizuya Inn. Get a private room pretty cheap and everything is clean and staff is very nice and helpful: http://www.aizuya-inn.com/ For Kyoto, Hotel Gimmond is the place to stay. Look them up on Google.
2. Food can be cheap or expensive but quality will remain high. Good examples are ramen shops, tempura chains, beef bowl chains conveyor belt sushi and convenience stores. You will see these as you walk around town.
3. Get a Suica card for the trains. Basically its a debit card you add money to at train stations and it lets you get on trains easily and subtracts the right fare automatically. Here is a vid showing where to get it at the airport: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3K6NLBxiYA The JR Rail pass is all but useless in Kyoto where everything is buses but you can buy all day passes for 500yen each.
4. Shopping is about Akiba and Nakano Broadway. Enough said unless you want to visit all the famous Japanese department stores(I recommend you do even if you don't plan to buy much)in which case hit the Ginza area near Tokyo Station. Lots of fun to see.
5. Maps and guide books are critical and the best guide I've seen is by Lonely Planet. They have one for Tokyo and one for Kyoto. There is a Japan one but stick to the smaller guides. Has info on sites including hours, days closed and which trains to take. Maps in book are great but you want another map source and I recommend Streetwise Maps: http://www.streetwisemaps.com/city-map/tokyo-map.html Bought mine at Barnes and Noble and it really helps especially with trains.

I have a ton of advise for you! :)

I went to Japan back in March of 2009 and it was a blast. I did it on a whim too -- I had a little planning. :) I bought my ticket, 7-day JR Pass, and 2 nights at the Asukusa hotel ($80/night) from a local travel agency. I also stayed at my friend's place in Mito so that helped offset the costs too. I mainly hung around Tokyo and saw the city and did two days shopping in Akiba. I also got the Tokyo Subway Guidebook for subway and JR maps.

Since, by happenstance, I was in Asukusa, I visited Sensoji temple while they were having some kind of festival. I did the tourist-y thing and went up Tokyo Tower, went to the Imperial Gardens, walked around Shinjuku, and visited other local shrines. Also, in Mito I got to check out a Plum Blossom festival and eat takoyaki for the first time.

For ramen all my friends recommended Ippudo Ramen. I think there are branches all over Japan but I went to the one in Ebisu. Honestly, I loved all the ramen I ate there, even the ramen at the airport.

Definitely check out the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. You can buy the ticket from a kiosk at Lawsons. If you can't speak the language, the staff (and really the people everywhere) are super-friendly and helpful. I can't speak Japanese so I had to either write down what I wanted or try to sound it out as best I could. I think I took the Shinjuku line out to Mitaka and by the station there's a catbus that'll take you down to the museum. It's actually a mansion sized house sitting in a local park. I loved it.

As for trains, you don't have to think about the time tables for the most part unless you're out till past midnight. As soon as I walked up to a platform the train was there within a minute. I got a Suica card for the local Tokyo subway and put 2000 yen on it every 2 days or so. You can use it for buses too (like the Ghibli bus).

The first night you get there, you'll probably wake up super early the next day since you'll be jet lagged. You can check out the Tsukiji fish market since the fishermen come in around 3 am and you can see the catch of the day. I don't know if there are official tours anymore, but you can walk around the market. I went around 6 and it was still pretty cool to see what they had brought in. I hear around 3:30am there are auctions for the tuna.

Akiba doesn't seem to open till around 11 am. I know cause I went there around 9 am and I was stuck walking up and down the street for two hours while shops were still closed. You can literally buy anything there if you can find it. Shops and buildings all seem to mesh into one another. It's a great place to get lost. Plus if you walk up each of those 8 story buildings you're bound to lose some weight. I think over the trip I lost about 10 pounds just walking everywhere. I borrowed a pedometer and noticed that it was about 15000 steps some days.

Some other tidbits you should do before your trip: tell your bank/credit card companies that you're going abroad so you don't suddenly find yourself without the use of your debit/credit cards. You can use ATMs there with your bank card. There's a small surcharge, but it's not that bad. Don't exchange at the airport. When I went to Japan, the exchange rate was 90 yen to 1 dollar. The airport exchange was about 73 yen to a dollar. :P If you need an umbrella you can buy one from any convenient store for 300 yen -- I needed one since the first night in Tokyo it was snowing. The umbrellas were so nice I took one home. There are no paper towels in public restrooms, buy or bring a hand towel. Bring a coin purse. You'll have a boatload of change. Also, when you buy stuff, as in anything, let them bag it and tape it closed -- that's something they do. I made the mistake of refusing a bag at Lawsons and the employee seemed somewhat heartbroken.

My friends usually bring a second suitcase for toys/figures. I bought figmas in Akiba and stuffed animals at Ghibli. I discarded the boxes and managed to shove everything into my suitcase. I didn't think to bring a second one with me. I packed light as well. Keep that in mind, as you will be walking a lot and you'll have to haul all your crap onto and off of trains and through stations and city streets. One of those 4-wheeled luggage bags was a life saver.

For a nice hotel in Kyoto, I would recommend http://www.capsule-ryokan-kyoto.com/

If your planning to return to Japan (or an easy way to move freely while in Tokyo) is to get a Suica Card. You can make it for 2'000Y (500Y for the card, 1'500Y worth of travel if I remember correctly)in any station, but only on one machine. With it, you can use any of the transportation in Tokyo (at least, seems to work in Osaka also).

As your staying two weeks, planning a week for Kyoto is a minimum I think and getting a 7-Days JR Pass before going to Japan is a good thing. With it, you can take the shinkansen to Kyoto and from Kyoto get to Osaka or Kobe.

If your planning to go to Osaka, the visit of the castle is really interesting (~500Y entry fee ). And going to the Osaka Aquarium is quite fun (~1'000Y entry fee). If you want a nice view, near the Osaka Station, you can get to the Ueda Sky Building terrace (~400Y entry fee).

If your a Gundam fan, on the way between Kyoto and Tokyo, you can stop at Shizuoka and take the local train to get to Higashi Shizuoka Station. There you'll find the RX78 scale 1/1.

If you want to do the Ghibli Museum, know that they are closed on monday. To get ticket to it, you can buy them in any Lawson.

Here is a unusual tip. Not every bathroom in Japan offers a way for you to dry your hands (ie paper towers or air blowers). Take along a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer and use it instead of washing your hands when these situations arise. Also, plan ahead as much as possible and give yourself plenty of time for shopping.

Food can be real cheap or expensive, just walk around and see what they offer. Not speaking Japanese, just go in a restaurant and you'll still manage to get your food ^^

As someone already mentioned, plan ahead. Know what you want to see or do. Don't waste time when you're in Japan. If it is possible try combining different locations that are close together to see more.

Public transport is quite easy to follow as soon as you understand how it works. Dependng on your time and places, JR pass might be usefull if you travel from Tokyo to somewhere else. If you stay in Tokyo, it is better to get a Suica card. I think it is already mentioned above how this works.

When it comes to places to stay... can't give much comments. I think it depends where you want to stay. You might need to reconsider the area where you are staying and the places you want to visit. Using public transport with short distance is cheaper than long distance, might save some money. Assuming you don't have JR pass.

If you see something you want to buy, buy it at once, especially when you know not coming back. If you leave, you have hard time finding the shop back.