Stone Buddhas in Nikko
This week’s “Guest Nomad” is Anna Ikeda. Anna is a mostly Pole, married to a mostly Japanese, currently residing with her husband and two cats mostly in Japan, where she does a little bit of this and a little bit of that while preparing for her next journey. She blogs about her travels at Budget Trouble (yeah, she’s mostly broke, most of the time).
It always surprises me how many people dream of visiting Japan, yet due to certain misconceptions about the country, are afraid to get on the plane.
So, let’s debunk the top three reasons why you might be hesitant to visit the Land of the Rising Sun.
1. I don’t speak a word of Japanese. Can I get by using only English?
This seems to be the number one concern people have when thinking about a trip to Japan. True, most natives don’t speak English. Even if they can read it and vaguely, sort of, kinda, maybe understand what is being said (if it’s being said clearly and very slowly), they won’t speak it. Yet, surprisingly, if you stick to the well-trodden tourist drag of Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Hiroshima or Nagasaki, you shouldn’t experience any major language problems. There will always be someone who can, if not speak, then at the very least utter some English words. Tourist information and hotel staff normally can (or, in theory – should be able to) communicate in English.
When eating out, more and more restaurants offer menus with English translations. Granted, they’re sometimes quite bizarre, but you can more or less figure out what to expect on your plate. And when all else fails, there are plastic models of food to point at when making your selection.
Nervous about going to the bank to exchange money? Pull out your debit card instead and head to the nearest post office. Japan Post Bank ATMs accept foreign cards (not all ATMs in this country do) and provide English language step-by-step instructions.
So yes, it is entirely possible to have a great vacation in Japan without speaking a word of Japanese.
Kyoto, Japan
2. But Japan is so expensive! Everybody says so, especially now, with the yen being so strong.
Well, everybody is wrong. Transportation will be your biggest expense, but that can kept in check by purchasing the very handy Japan Rail Pass before you leave your home country.
Accommodation? Yes, that can be pricey, especially if all you know and read about are the ridiculously posh and swanky 5-star hotels (and somehow, travel mags would make you believe such hotels were the only option available, especially in Tokyo).
If you’re worried about budget and at the same time want to see how average people in Japan live, I have one word for you – couch-surfing. There are couch-surfers of all ages, shapes and sizes in just about every place in Japan you can think of. And the best part? Most, if not all of them, speak some sort of English.
Food? Here, you don’t need to worry about prices. Food is cheap (the Matsuya fast food chain just reduced the price of their meat-and-rice bowl to 280 yen, about US $3.15 at today’s exchange rate), plentiful and yummy.
3. And speaking of food, what am I going to eat there? I hate raw fish!
Then maybe you shouldn’t go? Just kidding. To most foreigners the ubiquitous sushi and sashimi are indeed synonymous with Japanese cuisine, but you can spend your entire life in this country and never even taste a piece of raw fish. There is everything here, from McDonald’s to KFC to Yoshinoya to Michelin star-rated restaurants so fancy you’d have to mortgage your house to be able to afford to eat in one of them. For a closer look at Japanese food in all its varied glory, read this blog post.
See? Japan is not as scary as some people would make you believe. You can have a good time here speaking only English, it’s not a budget breaker, and there’s plenty to eat even if you can’t stomach raw fish.
So, what are you waiting for?
