In order to explore around the rural areas of Japan a little easier, we booked a campervan through Japan Campers for 2 weeks. Continue reading “Campervan Day 1 – Getting Out Of Tokyo”
Campervan Day 1 – Getting Out Of Tokyo
Ginza 300 Bar – A Cheap Way To Drink in Tokyo
Looking for a way to have a cheap night out, but still get your fill of drinks and/or food?
In Ginza, one of Tokyo’s central upmarket suburbs, there is a bar called “300 Bar“. There’s no cover charge, and every drink and food item is just 300 Yen (plus tax). Continue reading “Ginza 300 Bar – A Cheap Way To Drink in Tokyo”
Rakugo and Art in Ueno – Japanese Comedy and the Tokyo National Museum
Today we headed out to Ueno to watch a Rakugo performance being held at the Tokyo National Museum. Rakugo is a comedic style of Japanese storytelling performed in a kneeling position on stage using only a fan and hand towel as props.
We were lucky enough to come across an English speaking performance and as a bonus, it was also free (including entry to the National Museum which is normally 620 Yen per person).
Continue reading “Rakugo and Art in Ueno – Japanese Comedy and the Tokyo National Museum”
Our day around Jimbocho
We slept in until about 10:00am after being out late drinking at the Ginza 300 bar the previous night.
I was trying to recover over a giant bowl of cereal when I received a message from a HelloTalk friend saying that he was in Tokyo and wanted to meet up. He decided we should go to Jimbocho (Jinbōchō) to look at some books and outdoors shops as I mentioned that we’ve been looking for winter gloves to buy for our potential Mt. Fuji climb. Continue reading “Our day around Jimbocho”
Honmon-ji Shrine and Rengetsu Cafe – Exploring Around Ikegami
We took the day to explore by foot around our surrounding area in Ikegami.
One of the big sights around Ikegami is apparently the Ikegami Honmon-ji Shrine (池上本門寺), so we decided to check it out.
The place seemed nearly deserted, but a sign at the front let us know we were in the right spot. Continue reading “Honmon-ji Shrine and Rengetsu Cafe – Exploring Around Ikegami”
Beer in Japan – Part 1: Convenience Stores
Where I come from the basic Japanese beers are available – Asahi Super Dry, Sapporo Premium Lager and Kirin Megumi. All of these a decent for what they are so I’ve been looking forward to try the other beers that come out of these main three breweries and any local craft beer that I can find too.
There are craft beer places scattered around certain areas if you look for them and plenty of local pub / Izakaya joints too.
My first stop however has been my local convenience store which has a decent selection of local beers and Whiskies from the major breweries/distilleries at great prices. I figured I’d start off with the major brewers and work my way into the local craft beer scene later.
Continue reading “Beer in Japan – Part 1: Convenience Stores”
Missed Our SIM Card Delivery! How To Schedule a Redelivery in Japan
The doorbell rang.
We looked at each other in fear, before running to switch off the music we were playing and switching as fast as possible into silent, “no one is home” mode.
In our defence the ‘house rules’ for the AirBnB said not to answer the door to anyone!
We also found it hard to believe that it could be the SIM Card we had ordered just yesterday and were under the impression would arrive within the week.
So we didn’t answer, despite multiple door knocking and door bell rings.
Finally the party in question gave up and left, but not before we heard the rustling of something stuffed into the door letterbox slot. Continue reading “Missed Our SIM Card Delivery! How To Schedule a Redelivery in Japan”
How We Got Our Data SIM in Japan
Since we were in Shinjuku and already heading to check out the area, we thought we’d inquire at the Tourist Information Center about getting a SIM Card.
We showed them that we wanted to sign up with IIJmio, and the staff pointed us in the right direction and were even kind enough to call the BIC Camera Shinjuku West store to confirm that we could in fact purchase the SIM card we were after from there. Continue reading “How We Got Our Data SIM in Japan”
First post!
Yep, this is our first post. Nothing special here.
We’ve setup this blog as a knowledge dump and diary of sorts for our travels over Japan.
We realised that some regular day to day tasks work differently here so decided to keep track of them in hopes that we could save others the trouble.
As we figure things out for the first time and struggle through these daily activities we’ll dump them in a post for all to find and maybe answer some questions along the way.
