sometimes i feel like i am the only person who hasn't been to japan yet -_- If i won the lottery… - Feed Post by Jadore_Violet
sometimes i feel like i am the only person who hasn't been to japan yet -_- If i won the lottery I'd drop everything and go that instant.
posted by Jadore_Violet
Comments 13
Are you a student? If you're actually working, save up and come. It can be done on as little as $3,000 or less, depending on your budget. Gets cheaper all the time (outside of flight costs).
You're from the UK too, same like mog86uk. He just came to Japan for the first time few months ago. Maybe you can talk to him about his experience. :)
http://japaneseclass.jp/forum/thread/1293
I was thinking about commenting on this already.
The grand total I spent on my 28 day holiday in Japan was probably about £3,000 (so like $5,000). That was for: British Airways flights, travel insurance, 10GB mobile internet data router rental, 21-day country-wide JR rail pass, cheap accomodation, food, other travel expenses, even renting a car for 24 hours ...everything. I could have spent a bit less, such as much cheaper airline, less ridiculous amount of mobile data; maybe could have got the total cost of the trip down to £2,500.
And I had never been abroad, never been on a plane, never used hotels/hostels, virtually never used trains,... first time for tonnes of other things you might think I should have done by my age (29). I only got my first ever passport a few months before going... Despite all those crazy factors I still went to Japan ON MY OWN, without using any travel agencies, tours, or even pre-booking accomodation past the first few nights, lol.
But I get what you mean about winning the lottery. With winning the lottery you don't have to worry about other restrictions such as job, family (kids?), and anything else. You'd be able to just drop everything and go. It may not be as simple for you as my situation was -- single, living at home, no dependants,... Sometimes there's more to it than just saving up the money for you yourself to go.
I hope you get the chance to experience Japan sometime soon. ^^
If you didn't booked your accomodation in advance, then did you searched online while staying in Japan or how did you get your accomodation there?
And thanks for your post btw xD- I realised when I re-read my post that my phrase "pre-booking accomodation" could be misleading, so I wanted to clarify what I meant anyway.
By "pre-booking" I mean as in booking the accomodation in advance before my trip. In fact, I did pre-book accomodation for my first 7 nights in Japan, which I booked only a few days before I went. I also pre-booked accomodation for my final night in Japan (capsule hotel within the airport itself), to make sure I didn't screw up getting on my return flight, which I booked only the day before I went.
For the remaining 20 nights of my trip I booked some of the places during in the morning or early afternoon of the same day that I needed to arrive at that accomodation. However, I tried to aim to get the booking done during the night before, so that I wouldn't waste my day searching for accomodation. But there are times when you are on the train or eating when can get this done during the day too.
So I don't mean I just turned up at the doors of hotels/hostels and asked if they had any rooms. I don't advise this at all. Except one night I forgot to book a place until around 9pm, which is near impossible to search for places as too late for final check-in. So I ended up staying at a manga cafe, which is a good place to just turn up if you get desperate for somewhere to sleep. Oh, and on the night I hired the car I slept in the car, at a car park on top of a mountain. :P
As for how I booked accomodation, as someone who had never used hotels/hostels before... For this I used a couple of Apps on my Android phone: "Skyscanner Hotels" and "Booking.com Hotel Reservations". I made an account on both these apps, and mainly used the Skyscanner one to do the searches, and used the Booking.com one for instantly reserving nearly all the places I stayed. With just using these two apps, I not only survived but found it pretty easy to find good cheap accomodation (£13~£25 a night). I strongly recommend hostels in Japan, which give a great chance to interract with down-to-earth friendly Japanese people. ^^ 
Sometimes I also feel like I'm the only person who hasn't been to Japan as well, I mean I love Japan so intensely, I've been studying Japanese for 7 years, and I've also been obsessed with it for 7 years. Lottery would be great for you and me both ^_^ Sometimes it feels like life is so unfair right? But as someone who really wants to go to Japan, Never Give Up. Every day I'm working towards my goal. If I had the money I still couldn't go, I don't have a Visa or a passport, so in the meantime I'm looking into what I have to do, make a list of places you want to go to in Japan, you can also get lost for part of the trip but I reckon it would be great to have a plan for part of your trip. Set goals to get you there. If its money to get you there, and you have a job, maybe put aside 100$ extra each week. Eventually it will save up, or when your shopping buy a cheaper packet of noodles.
As for myself I hope that hearing what I'm doing will help you feel more confident and enthusiastic about getting where your going. But I don't have a job, I just turned 18 and I have decided I want to permanently live in Japan, but I want to study in Australia because the education system is more affordable and I can find what I want to study easlier, I can do an exchange program in Japan as a student in Two years, with minimal costs, I can pay back my university once I earn the money, I could even get a scholarship for my uni and plus I can get financial support. Also if I really have to I could apply for a working visa I think in Japan when I'm a student as long as its only 20 hours a week if the school allows it. So whatever your doing, however hard your situation is don't give up. You will get to Japan. It might take some time. It make take some hard effort. Some blood sweat and tears. It'll be worth it though. I love Japan. I think you do too. So do your best, and don't give up just yet.
Thanks for all the support and info :)
While I am working and single/no kids. I do have my rent and bills. I am putting money aside but I don't make much to begin with.
I too have little travel experience. I just got my first ever passport last year (I'm 23 now) I decided for my first ever solo plane trip I would go to Paris for a few days as sort of a practice.
Cheaper then Japan I thought and not so far so if I get in trouble or mess up It would be less scary/devastating.
If I won the lottery I could drop everything but I could also take someone with me while as it stands I'm the only person I know personally with a valid passport let alone money for holidays.
I am going to travel there and do WOOFING if you don't mind working while you are there it seems like a great way to go for cheep. I will be there for about three months this april or may. WOOFING is working with organic farmers. You work about 6 days a week 6 hours a day they give you food and lodging. I haven't done it yet tho so I dont know what really to expect besides that. I am planning on spending around 2,500USD for the trip for 3 months. Here is Japans website if you are interested: http://www.wwoofjapan.com/main/index.php?lang=en- Thanks HontoNyaa san. that sounds like a great way to do it ^-^
- What do you mean by WOOFING? Its kind of confusing me? It makes me think of a dog barking, like going wan wan?
- AHHH, I just had a look at your post HontoNyaa, after you go, can you make a post it looks really interesting ^_^ I think that would work for a lot of people! Good Luck Jadore :D
I need help, how did you learn Hiragana and Katakana. Through memorizing them. And how did you learn Kanji! Plz ありがとうございます
I've been to Japan for 3 months because of business trip last June and I just wasted my time there going to clubs every Friday and playing Dota during weekends. I was so lazy I didn't even got to visit Mt. Fuji -_-
Walking long distances everyday and segregating trash was kind of troublesome I think though.
もったいないんだろう？笑
