Doctor Q in Japan

I hope MacRumors can manage without my bad jokes for a few weeks starting next month because...

I'm going to Japan!

Sorry for the large letters, but Mrs. Q and I are very excited about our upcoming trip. We have dreamed of going to Japan for years and at last we are going, from mid-October to early-November.

Why Japan? Because we've always liked Japanese food, Japanese festivals, Japanese technology, Japanese gardens, and Japanese design aesthetics. We even drive Japanese cars. We are looking forward to immersing ourselves in a culture that's ancient and modern at the same time, seeing the sights (city and country, famous and less well-known), making new friends, and learning about a country where history is counted in thousands of years instead of hundreds. And seeing an Apple Store or two if we get homesick.

We'll be traveling around quite a bit. The 13 cities we will visit: Hakone, Hiroshima, Iga Ueno, Kanazawa, Kurama, Kurashiki, Kyoto, Miyajima, Nara, Okayama, Osaka, Takayama, and of course Tokyo.

We have lots of details to plan, which we work on each evening. We have our reservations and JR Rail Passes, and I'm practicing reading a train schedule I got from a returning tourist, so perhaps we won't get totally lost.

I'd be glad to hear travel tips and other advice from those of you who live in or have traveled in Japan. You could say I have a "yen" for information.

Thanks for the good wishes everyone. I have two specific questions to ask.

1. If I get carried away taking photos, even though I have enough RAM to take almost a hundred a day, where might I find a store that will transfer them from a Compact Flash card to a CD for a small fee? Will Apple Stores do that? Where else?

2. What should I do to save money when phoning home now and then to say hi to the folks back home in California and ask them how many earthquakes we missed? Should I buy a pre-paid calling card here before I leave? Should I buy a phone card when I arrive? Are their other choices, e.g., plans or services to sign up for? Is there an independent website that evaluates and rates choices and brands?

Note that I won't be using iChat AV or VOIP because we aren't taking any electronics other than the camera and my electric razor. No PDA, no iBook or PowerBook, not even an iPod nano. We are intentionally packing very light to make it easiest to travel. It will feel a little odd to be offline most of the time (except when I sneak online from a computer in a hotel lobby or Apple Store), but that's part of what makes it a vacation, and I don't want to spend my time talking to my MR friends when I could be out there seeing the sights!

Abstract said:

Don't worry, I'm still here to make bad jokes.

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Now I'm worried.

Abstract said:

I'm actually very jealous. I have always wanted to go to Japan. I might go in January, which would be very very cool. Not sure though. It'll depend on the amount of ¥¥¥ I have in the bank.

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iGary said:

Man, the airfare is cheap these days, but lodging will KILL you there.

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Yes, we've noticed the prices. That's why we saved up for this trip for five years, forgoing other expensive trips, eating dog food for dinner, and rolling drunks for spare cash. We won't stay in the fanciest hotels (I hope I don't hit both elbows at once on opposite walls of our hotel rooms), and our Rail Passes will help with transportation, so we hope our budget will hold up.

abstract said:

It seems that your itinerary is a bit too full. You're only going for 2-3 weeks, and you're going to 13 cities? You won't have enough time to take it all in. I'd go to 4-5 cities, max. I'd actually go to 3 big cities and take day tours or something.

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I appreciate your advice. We knew it was impossible to see half of what we wanted to see (which might have been 20 cities), so we planned a few days each in the big cities and side trips to some of the others. If it was possible (see $ issue above), I'd stay for twice as long! Instead, all we can do is promise ourselves that this is our first trip to Japan.

Lacero said:

I'd go for the Japanese girls. I hear they are timid but can get pretty excited if prodded in the right places. I should clarify. When you poke their bellies, they spit out pachinko chips.

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I own a Pachinko machine and all the kids in the family head straight for it when they visit. It's very noisy, so I can't imagine how loud it must be in a room full of them.

Which brings up another question. Where will we be likely to find Pachinko being played? Everywhere there's nightlife? Or do we need to look for them in specific areas of specific cities, such as Shibuya in Tokyo?

mkrishnan said:

When you come back, please bring us 3.14159265 pictures of your vacation so that we can share your joy.

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It might be more like 6.023x10^23.