welcome to japan One of the biggest perks during my 1.5 year stay in Japan has been all the people who have come down to visit me. The list includes long-lost yoda clan members, boo's from highschool, my big totoro from unionville, "buddy pledged" lu, the shelby ville and hami town gang, the taiwanese sisters.. and the list would keep growing with Miche joining me in April as a part of her trip back to the big C, and yoda honey coming down again in the summer "i'll go visit you in japan" used to be empty salutations but now that we're all starting to make money and being able to afford it (well, it's still not cheap!) it's become reality in many cases. often times it's part of an asia-wide-trip or a quick stop-over, but I'm really thankful that my friends have made the time and effort to contact me and make arrangements to meet up with me. i've been getting lots of practise showing ppl around Osaka and Kyoto so hopefully i'll be a decent tour guide the next time YOU come down. love you all. see you in japan here are some guides to the money factor to help you plan your trip to japan: ♥ flight from t.o. to osaka (or tokyo) => $1,000 to $2,000 depending on season. hi-season would be July, August, December. ♥ accomodation => hotel/night: Hilton $150, Business hotels $80, Capsule hotel $50, Hostel $30 viable alternatives: Love hotel $70 to $100 for two (keep in mind the main purpose of these hotels is just as the name says it - LOVE hotel. Once you're in, you're locked in until you pay the fee and ready to leave), all-night karaoke room $15 (for the ppl who can sleep through any kind of noise. but you'll be kicked out at 6 am), man-kitsu $15 for the night (comic book lounges where often time you get your own private booth, complete with t.v., computer. a lot of places have showers too) ♥ meals => $5 to $50 per meal. you could get a decent meal for $5 to $10. Eating out at your normal Denny's type restaurant (called fami-resu) might even be cheaper than canada because tip isn't needed and taxes (5%) are included. A pasta meal would prob. be about $13. But dining out at all-you-can drink and eat places would be about $50 and fancy restaurants could have sky rocketing prices. However, keep in mind that the portions in Japan are much much smaller than that of Canada! ♥ transportation => this is probably what gets ppl the most. travelling from Osaka to Tokyo by bullet train would be $150 one way. travelling within the city could get pricy too. you could easily spend $20 just by riding the subway within the city if you didn't get a one day pass. i.e. if your 7 day itinerary included tokyo -> Kyoto -> Osaka -> Hiroshima -> Tokyo, transportation costs alone would be close to $500 - but fear not little chickies! there are ways to get around it. if you were to get an all-you-can-ride JR pass, a seven day pass would be $300 and you can travel all around Japan and ride on certain bullet trains too. a 14 day pass is $450. for further detail visit: http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en001.html ♥ goods => buying stuff could be very expensive. a little handkerchief would be about $10. Boo's and I had fun playing the price-is-right at a dept. store. Lou and I guessed the straw-hat was approx. $150. Mel noticed the hat was chained down so guessed $300. Turned out to be $800. Just when I thought i was starting to get a hang of this country.. if you don't plan on buying lots of things, it shouldn't be a problem. think of these as general guide lines. i've noticed that there are huge ranges in prices so if you plan your trip well enough, you should be able to save quite a bit. if you need more details, feel free to contact me at any time! | 
