Japan for Visarun
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Tommy
26 December 2016 | Japan, Kyoto
So as I wrote in my last blog about Visa runs about 2 months ago I used to go to Hong Kong most of my trips, However this has now changed to a new number 1 destination, namely Japan.
Next to being much bigger than Hong Kong it’s also a lot more laid back.
Even Tokyo, with all it’s lights and high tech advertisements still has a much more relaxed atmosphere than Hong Kong.
Maybe it's because they don't offer you Lolexes the moment you get of the bus.
Japan is not just simply awesome, it's awesome for a reason.
First off is the food! The food in Japan is, in my opinion, on a whole different level from most restaurants in Asia.
I know that’s a pretty big claim to make, so I’ll do my best to convince you of why I think so.
I’m sure many countries or cities have a few good restaurants where you can have excellent quality food, not even necessarily for a very high price.
However, Japan has just a different set of values when it comes to restaurants.
First of, when you enter the restaurant you are greeted by the entire staff. This is not always in the most personal matter, but still it’s a lot better than not getting any attention from anybody as a lot of other places do. The great Japanese customer service does not stop there.
Every place I go to the waiters and chefs are super friendly and very diligent at their job. It’s like they all take pride in their job and this really makes a difference taste and overall quality.
It’s difficult for me to remember a place where I was not treated very politely and had very good quality food. Even when I am not able to understand what people are saying and have no idea what’s written in the menu, I find a way to order something that turns out to be delicious each and every time.
Next to that the prices, compared to similar Dutch restaurants are very low! On average I spend about 900 Yen or 8 Euro for my a Ramen Noodle soup or 1500 Yen/ 15 euro for some sushi. This is enough for me to be more than satisfied but I do tend to go to cheaper places and eat less than the average person.
It’s like the overall quality of every shop is higher while the prices are lower. I can’t imagine what would happen if I actually spend more money on a more luxurious restaurant.
Besides the food and restaurant experiences there is also a very unique politeness of the Japanese, no matter where I go, people always try their best to help me out.
If they don't know how to help me, they will try and find somebody else to translate or find directions for me.
Transportation is a bit complicated at the beginning because most Japanese cities have a free market for the public transportation companies so there is a lot of checking in and checking out at different subway companies and buses but after a while you get the hang of it and if you buy a digital card that is accepted by all the companies, everything becomes even easier.
On my last trip we used an app to tell us which bus and or train we should take and it cost us about 900 Yen (8 Euro) from Osaka to Nara or Kyoto which is about an hour by train/bus. Next to being easy to use, trains have always been on time and all forms of transportation with exception of 1 bus (out of about 100 transportation vehicles) have been squeaky clean.
Besides the good food and transportation there are plenty of places to visit do high end shopping, or tax free bargaining. Japan has a lot of medication, gadget, creams, candy and other unique offers to buy and it’s mostly reasonably priced! Next to that they hire staff that speaks English, Chinese and/ or Korean!
Finally are the amazing temples, museums, castles and what not. Not only does Japan have a rich history with many battles, religions and wealth, it also preserved or renovated a lot of that history for everybody to see and visit.
Especially my trips to Kyoto, that has more than 10 Unesco world heritage sites, was done short by only staying there for a total of 8 days and I was still not able to visit everything at all!
By now I’ve visited OSaka, Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara and Okinawa and each time I land in Japan I feel like I’m in a different and better world and each time I leave I wish I could have stayed longer, and maybe wish I would have bought less souvenirs ;)
Last time I went was about a month ago and My parents joined me on my trip.
It was a very unique experience for them as well, though the higher prices and sometimes unique politeness was not always experienced as pleasant.
Has any of you ever been to Japan? What do you think? Where did you go? And do you recognise any of my experiences? Let me know!
Next to being much bigger than Hong Kong it’s also a lot more laid back.
Even Tokyo, with all it’s lights and high tech advertisements still has a much more relaxed atmosphere than Hong Kong.
Maybe it's because they don't offer you Lolexes the moment you get of the bus.
Japan is not just simply awesome, it's awesome for a reason.
First off is the food! The food in Japan is, in my opinion, on a whole different level from most restaurants in Asia.
I know that’s a pretty big claim to make, so I’ll do my best to convince you of why I think so.
I’m sure many countries or cities have a few good restaurants where you can have excellent quality food, not even necessarily for a very high price.
However, Japan has just a different set of values when it comes to restaurants.
First of, when you enter the restaurant you are greeted by the entire staff. This is not always in the most personal matter, but still it’s a lot better than not getting any attention from anybody as a lot of other places do. The great Japanese customer service does not stop there.
Every place I go to the waiters and chefs are super friendly and very diligent at their job. It’s like they all take pride in their job and this really makes a difference taste and overall quality.
It’s difficult for me to remember a place where I was not treated very politely and had very good quality food. Even when I am not able to understand what people are saying and have no idea what’s written in the menu, I find a way to order something that turns out to be delicious each and every time.
Next to that the prices, compared to similar Dutch restaurants are very low! On average I spend about 900 Yen or 8 Euro for my a Ramen Noodle soup or 1500 Yen/ 15 euro for some sushi. This is enough for me to be more than satisfied but I do tend to go to cheaper places and eat less than the average person.
It’s like the overall quality of every shop is higher while the prices are lower. I can’t imagine what would happen if I actually spend more money on a more luxurious restaurant.
Besides the food and restaurant experiences there is also a very unique politeness of the Japanese, no matter where I go, people always try their best to help me out.
If they don't know how to help me, they will try and find somebody else to translate or find directions for me.
Transportation is a bit complicated at the beginning because most Japanese cities have a free market for the public transportation companies so there is a lot of checking in and checking out at different subway companies and buses but after a while you get the hang of it and if you buy a digital card that is accepted by all the companies, everything becomes even easier.
On my last trip we used an app to tell us which bus and or train we should take and it cost us about 900 Yen (8 Euro) from Osaka to Nara or Kyoto which is about an hour by train/bus. Next to being easy to use, trains have always been on time and all forms of transportation with exception of 1 bus (out of about 100 transportation vehicles) have been squeaky clean.
Besides the good food and transportation there are plenty of places to visit do high end shopping, or tax free bargaining. Japan has a lot of medication, gadget, creams, candy and other unique offers to buy and it’s mostly reasonably priced! Next to that they hire staff that speaks English, Chinese and/ or Korean!
Finally are the amazing temples, museums, castles and what not. Not only does Japan have a rich history with many battles, religions and wealth, it also preserved or renovated a lot of that history for everybody to see and visit.
Especially my trips to Kyoto, that has more than 10 Unesco world heritage sites, was done short by only staying there for a total of 8 days and I was still not able to visit everything at all!
By now I’ve visited OSaka, Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara and Okinawa and each time I land in Japan I feel like I’m in a different and better world and each time I leave I wish I could have stayed longer, and maybe wish I would have bought less souvenirs ;)
Last time I went was about a month ago and My parents joined me on my trip.
It was a very unique experience for them as well, though the higher prices and sometimes unique politeness was not always experienced as pleasant.
Has any of you ever been to Japan? What do you think? Where did you go? And do you recognise any of my experiences? Let me know!
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26 December 2016 - 18:23
Joke Leenstra:
Hai Tommy
Bedankt voor je interessante reisverslag! Heb het met plezier gelezen, heel informatief. Je ziet heel veel van de wereld. Gaaf hoor! Geniet maar lekker.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
