Going to Japan for Spring Break, have some questions

[Dresh]

In a most shocking turn of events my mother and I were looking for a place to go over spring break. She noticed that airfare over to Japan was very cheap during that time and went ahead and bought some non-refundable tickets for us. We'll be there for about 10 days, and since the only bit of Japanese she knows is さようなら, most of the language stuff shall be left to me.

So I feel I should ask about how to use the bus, train, and subway systems in Japan. In case my locations are important, we shall be arriving in Tokyo and staying for a few days, then going to Kyoto for a few days and then Nara. When in Nara we shall set aside a couple days to visit the Iga Ninja Museum and Himeji Castle, but not stay at those places.

Also what kanji and grammatical structures should I know? I believe I am capable of ordering in restaurants, but what about confirming stays in hotels and the like?

General questions:

-Do any museums in the aformentioned locations have any genuine Masamune or Muramasa swords on display?

-We want to stay at at least one traditional style hotel, are there any good ones in Kyoto?

-Is the Iga Ninja Museum worth visiting?

-Just any general advice?

Thanks much in advance for any help provided.

[Vengro]

If you ride the trains long enough, you'll start to recognize and pick up the kanji for the stations where you stop at the most. However, they also use hiragana a lot of the time, so even if you can't read the kanji, you won't be totally at a loss. Plus, they tend to repeat a lot of the things in English when you're actually on the train, especially in the bigger city areas (for example, they'll say first in Japanese "this is nantoka. the next stop is nantoka" before repeating it in English.) If you ever run into any problems, talk to the guy sitting next to where you insert your train tickets into the machine, and he'll be happy to help you, if not a little terrified as well.

The trains are a bit less confusing to use than the subway, although not impossible. The buses I only rode twice, and both times with people who kind of knew what they were doing. I can't offer advice in that arena because I'm still not entirely sure of the bus system. A lot of places are in walking distance from each other anyways, and if not that, there's usually a train or subway that goes in that direction.

If you're going to be in the bigger cities, again, you won't have to worry so much about being totally fluent in Japanese. If you make a good try at it, the people at the desk will help you out with the rest. If you're nice and polite, they'll return the favor to you...with a lot more patience thrown in for good measure. Don't forget: when you leave the hotel, you leave your room key at the front desk. Don't take it out with you. As for the restaurants, even if you forget the most basic lessons of Japanese, there will always be the plastic representations of the food to point to. ;)

Suggestions:
-If you see a Mos Burger, I would reccomend stopping in. They were one of the best burger places I found while in Japan.
-Same goes for Mister Donut.
-The Shinjuku station off of the Yamanote line is slightly confusing, but if you can manage to get out the right exit, check out the department stores. There's a ton of Marui One's all in a row, with one in particular dedicated solely to men's fashions. Lots of restaurants, lots of shopping, lots of people.
-Shibuya has one of the biggest Starbucks I've ever visited, a really nice record/book store, and the Hachiko exit with the dog statue. Apparently, there's a shop in the same area that sells different varieties of melon pan, but I was never able to find it.
-Unless you're into fashion, there's not much else to see in the Harajuku area, besides the Meiji shrine, which is worth visiting at least once.
-In Kyoto, don't go to Shinimamiya unless you have to.
-Nanba Station was my home away from home. The station itself is interesting to walk through, they sell really amazing crepe, and it's just a hop, skip and jump away from Amerika Mura. There is a mall with a coffee shop at the bottom called Tony's that serves great drinks and is run by a guy who speaks English. If you're into music, there's also a great music store in that same area that sells CDs for the cheapest I found while in Japan.
-Don't skip out on visiting the Osaka Aquarium.
-I believe near Nanba station, there is this building where you go to the top floors and it's decorated to resemble Osaka from before the war. It's worth at least one visit, and the floor shows are entertaining. There's also a small store at the bottom of the building that sells all manners of Glico goods.
-Definitly don't forget to visit the deer and the giant Buddha in Nara. You can feed the deer crackers, and then you can eat their poop. ...In chocolate form. It's called shika fun, it comes in different varieties, and all of them are tasty, although some are tastier than others.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Unfortunatly, when I stayed in Shinimamiya for Golden Week, the friend I was vacationing with didn't really want to do anything besides play Sims on her computer, so I was left to my own...which meant I spent a lot of time at Nanba Station doing absolutely nothing.

I almost forgot. If you're ever at a loss for how to say something in Japanese, try sounding out the English word in a more Japanese way. 9 times out of 10, the person you're asking will understand. (This is especially effective if you forget the word you're struggling with is already Japanese, like me asking how to say "katana" in Japanese. :B )

[MNJetter]

re: traditional Japanese hotel

When I was in Kyoto, we stayed at the Matsubaya Inn. It's a little ryokan less than a ten-minute walk from Kyoto station, and it's only about $40 (4200 yen) per person for a night, which is amazing for a hotel of any sort within that proximity of the station.

Only hitch, since it's so cheap, you won't get some of the "stereotypical" ryokan features, like free breakfast, built-in onsen, or ping-pong tables. But you can buy breakfast separately from the innkeeper, or there are three convenience stores, a grocery store, and a couple of restaurants between the inn and Kyoto station (not to mention a city block's worth of restaurants in the station itself). There is a bath, so you'll have to find your onsen elsewhere, but it's clean. And who wants to stay in the hotel and play ping-pong when they're in the middle of Japan's most interesting city? Seriously.

If you want contact information and stuff, send me a PM - I still have their business card, since I liked it and plan to stay there if I go back to Kyoto.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Kyoto is only 45 minutes away from Nara by train. I would recommend making it a day trip, as you can see all the major sights in a single day, and come back to Kyoto or Osaka quite easily. If the weather is good, you should see the pagoda, walk towards Todaiji through the park, then head up on the walking trail through various shrines in the hills. That's one day.

Himeji on the other hand is about 1.5 hours away from Kyoto by train, and even further from Nara. If you're going to Himeji just for the castle, you may want to consider heading to Hiroshima instead (as if you have the JR rail pass, it'll be the same cost) as Hiroshima has the A-Bomb dome, a castle of it's own, and Miyajima which is quite beautiful (although possibly still being reconstructed after the massive Typhoons last year).

You will be able to survive on English and basic Japanese as long as you aren't going out to the sticks (read: North of Tokyo).

There are hundreds of Ryokan (traditional Japanese inns) in Kyoto. You should have no trouble finding one on the internet, or asking for help to find one if you can't do it yourself over the internet. Most are good. The more expensive, generally the better, but even the cheaper ones are not bad. I recommend getting a meal in one, as it's an experience even if you likely won't like half the food there.

I have no idea about swords, ninja museums, and whatnot.

My recommendations are to stop worrying so much.

Here are some food kanji from a prior post that may help you:
Good menu things to know:
Meat: ミート -or- 肉
Chicken: チキン -or- 鶏
Beef: ビーフ -or- 牛
Pork: ポーク -or- 豚
Lamb: ラム -or- 羊
Fish: Anything containing 魚 in it.
Shrimp: エビ -or- 海老
Crap: カニ
Egg: たまご -or- 卵
Veggies: 野菜 -or- Anything containing 菜

With those, you should be able to avoid most stuff. So long as you don't go anywhere serving whale or horse. Which I doubt you will but you might.
Whale: くじら -or- 鯨
Horse: 馬刺し -or- 馬

馬力 however, despite containing the character for horse, is garlic.

Horse Power = Garlic

Damned Kanji.

Rice: 米
Brown rice: 玄米

[nice gaijin]

You might not like seafood very much, but I think you meant to say that カニ is crab ;)

[JusenkyoGuide]

I wouldn't sweat too much, you're sticking to the tourist areas so no worries there.

Usually JR is nice enough to print the tickets in English. If not, and sometimes they don't:

号 - Train Number
車 - Car
往復 – return
片道 –　one way
大人　– adult
同伴者　– companion
枚 – piece (in this case)
指定席 – reserved seat
禁煙席 – non-smoking seat
行き – bound for
帰り – return
線 –　line
自由 - Non-reserved seat car(On trains)

For the Tokyo subway system, if you go into one, they have the full maps in English around the ticket wickets somewhere. However, be careful as there's about three different companies in Tokyo, too many lines, and sometimes, just for fun, the all ward area pass decides not to work for a certian line (I'm sure there's a logical reason for this... right?). So make sure you're on the right line and at the right machine BEFORE you buy a subway ticket.

JR stations are a little less helpful. For reasons only known to JR, the ticket machines can be changed over to English, which is nice, but you go by fare, not name, and the route maps are all in kanji (at least at Shinjuku Station, which should know better). Again, if you don't buy the pass, find out the kanji of the place you want ahead of time. Or, failing that, buy the cheapest ticket and pay at the adjust fare counter at your stop.

[Pierrot le Fou]

I love crab. I apologize to the Crab-God Pisces for my horrid mistake.

[Rogue_7]

If you are into castles, I would certainly make the effort for Himeji. While reconstructed castles like Hiroshima and Osaka are pretty cool, nothing beats the real thing, imho. In other words, Himeji is fricken amazing, and certainly worth a day trip. Which is not to discourage a trip to Hiroshima, also a very cool city. Gotta hit up some of that okonomiyaki.

[EIJI]

You interested in Japanese culture, I recommend visiting Edo-Tokyo museum in Tokyo.
http://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/english/index.html

If you really want to see “Muramasa Sword”, you should visit Tokyo National Museum. It displays Muramasa, I think.
http://www.tnm.jp/en/servlet/Con?pageId=X00&processId=00

[Dresh]

Thanks very much to everyone for the help so far, it is greatly appreciated. This is the first time language responsibility has fallen into my hands for a trip to a foreign country, so I wanted to make sure I didn't muck anything up. Though I'm glad to see that it shouldn't be too terribly difficult.

Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to make it to Osaka on this trip, and I'm not sure about Hiroshima but I will speak with my mother about it. We both want to see Himeji Castle so I don't think anything can stop us from going there even if it uses up the entire day (nothing I'm not used to). I'm certain I would have stopped by the Tokyo National Museum, but I'm not sure if I'd have known of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, so thanks for the link to that Eiji.

[Pierrot le Fou]

You'll go through Osaka on your way to Himeji. And Osaka is a stone's throw from Nara and Kyoto, which I assume you'll visit...

[Dresh]

You'll go through Osaka on your way to Himeji. And Osaka is a stone's throw from Nara and Kyoto, which I assume you'll visit...

I guess I'll have to look at the map again in that case. >_> Perhaps I'll see about stopping by then.