How to travel to Japan on your own

These photos and a short story may be useful primarily to those who have never been to Tokyo, but who probably want to go there.

At travel agencies, you can buy a visa without buying a tour. Tours are usually very expensive, and you cannot apply for a visa yourself if you do not have guarantors in Japan.

Flights Aeroflot Moscow-Tokyo are quite cheap and convenient. 9 hours of flight - and you are in Tokyo. At Narita Airport (Tokyo), you need to do two important things:
- rent a pocket Wi-Fi router
- remove the yen.

Japan has a different payment system, and you can withdraw money from Visa cards only at the airport or in stores of the 7/11 chain. It is very likely that in tourist places and in a hotel you can pay by card, but it is better to have cash with you.

A foreigner cannot buy a SIM card, and the Internet is needed without roaming. Therefore, renting a router is a great solution.

It used to go with paper cards. And now, Google Map is perfect for even walking routes in Tokyo.

Still need a program on the Tokyo Metro Map phone to get directions and transfers. By the way, during rush hours, by Moscow standards, the Tokyo subway is empty. There are no traffic jams on the roads either. This is a huge plus for the city, which is home to more than 30 million.

On the first day, I just walked the streets, awesome with the feeling that I was in Japan.

Google translate may also be useful. Point to hieroglyphs, the program takes photos and translates.

Actually, it came in handy on the first day. All the walls of the cafe were hung with beautiful posters with hieroglyphs, I clicked them and translated.

One hid: "16: 00-17: 00. Happy hour. When you buy one bottle of Kirin beer, the second is free." He pointed at the poster, got 2 bottles. By the way, “Kirin” and “Asahi” are excellent beer.

On the first day I wanted to go to a restaurant to try real Japanese sushi.

Contrary to stereotypes, I want to say that in Japan, sushi is not on every corner.

Enjoy the taste of sashimi and sushi with sake!

Sake is not Japanese vodka, as you thought, but rice wine - 15 degrees.

The next day they returned to Roppongi to look at Tokyo from the observation deck. Photographing this spider at the entrance to the Roppongi Hills, I did not notice a tribander in the background.
I saw only when I was processing the photo. Radio amateurs will understand me.

53 floor. Closed observation deck. There are still tables by the window, where you can just sit and drink tea. Romantic!

And you can climb the roof and take a picture from there.

Rikugien Garden is one of Tokyo's most beautiful landscape gardens.

To get around the park you need at least an hour. And you can enjoy the beauty there forever.

It’s convenient to travel around Tokyo by metro. It’s better to buy a rechargeable PASMO plastic card.

If you have to travel a lot during the day, it may turn out to be cheaper to buy the Daily Open Pass.

Unlike the Moscow metro, distance is charged here.

You can still move on a water tram, but this is more likely from a curious, but not from a practical point of view. Passing on such a tram, we leave in a non-tourist area.

Cafe. We sit down at the table. Actually, the most part here is occupied by the kitchen and only around a few tables for visitors. We are looking with a look who will take the order. But it was not there. The order here must be done independently.

There is such a soulless iron apparatus. You have to choose a dish, deposit money, receive a check and give it to the cook. Here. Order!

The guy who hosts there certainly helped.

From the side of the street there is a showcase where all the dishes are represented by plastic dummies. I must say that these models look so realistic that they are difficult to distinguish from the original.

And the food in Japan is very tasty. All. Highly. Tasty.

Now you can and spectacles. Theater "Kabuki-Dza".

We approach, look, a crowd of people, well, we are lucky, it’s just the beginning of the performance. But the security guard who met the distinguished guests said that this was some kind of closed event.

And the theater season begins in May. See the poster.

We look. All roles are played by men. Well in May, so in May. So next time.

By the way, about something, ask someone in English. Before the trip I read on the forum that it is better to ask women 30-50 years old. Well, he laughed and forgot. What would be invented.

One morning, I went to Tsukiji Fish Market. 6 a.m. I get out of the subway, look around. I don’t know where to go. I ask one man - he does not know. I ask another - he does not speak English.

I look is such a woman. I ask. And he speaks English and knows where the market is. Moreover, she found herself along the way and she agreed to accompany me. Something chirped all the way.

And once I stand, I examine the map. Fit woman.
- Where are you going?
- To the Yasukuni Shrine.
…
Yasukuni Temple is a famous place in Tokyo. Here they worship the souls of soldiers who died for Japan.

You can smoke here only in Gazen-Wagen. For nefig.

By the way, in Japan there are no ballot boxes. That is, there are no ballot boxes at all. Bring your garbage home, then throw it away. This is probably why the streets are clean.

Ueno Park is one of Tokyo's most famous and visited parks.

Today is Friday, but the day is full of people.

In principle, I so imagined electronic displays on interplanetary spaceports. Therefore, it was not difficult for us to buy a ticket in the machine and find the platform from which the necessary train leaves.

30 minutes by train and we are in Yokohama!

We only have one day, so we decided to look at the Minato Mirai area and, if there is time, have dinner somewhere in Chinatown.

You can walk from Yokohama Train Station to Minato Mirai.

Minato Mirai means "Port of the Future". Here is the observation deck on the Landmark Tower and an amusement park. Sunday, sunny morning, Japan. All. For a good mood, nothing more is needed!

Amusement park (Yokohama Cosmo World).

The number of attractions per square meter is amazing.

For entertainment, even the roof of the shopping center is intended.

Visiting different cities, I always enjoy visiting parks.

Better small ones. Those where there are no tourists. Where families go on weekends. By the way people relax, we can judge its culture.

This is Harborside Park (Rinkai Park). Located near the port of Yokohama (Yokohama Harbor) in Tokyo Bay. The 860-meter suspension bridge is one of the longest bridges in the world.

And we, meanwhile, are heading to the 69th floor of the Landmark Tower. To the observation deck Sky Garden.

The fastest elevator in Japan has a top speed of 750 meters per minute. The speedometer is installed in the elevator car above the doors. 40 seconds and we are at an altitude of 273 meters.

360 degree view to all 4 cardinal points.

We are located above helipads located on the roofs of skyscrapers.

I took a glass of beer and sat at a table overlooking Fuji.

The sunset came, the outlines of the mountain became clearer. The distance to it is now about 100 kilometers, maybe a little less.

It would be unforgettable to meet the dawn in the Land of the Rising Sun on top of Fuji. But, this must be done in July-August. The rest of the time the peak is covered with a large layer of snow.