The Shinjuku New City Hotel is a pretty standard affair. The website doesn't give much away in terms of pictures but my room will look something like this:
I don't intend on spending much time in there except to rest my weary head. Instead I'll wander round Shinjuku taking pictures and breathing in the fresh smog.
Then, on the 27th I'll make the trek across to Akihabara, the stomping ground of Tokyo's Otaku, and move into this place:
That will be my home and base for three months. It's cheap at about £180(ish) a month, so that's less than £600 for three months, maths fans. That's how much I saved when Real Gap did the dirty on me so they've done me a favour really.
I'll be sharing a room with two other people. They could be anyone. I know two things. They'll be male and non-Japanese. But the whole house will be full of Gaijin - probably Canadians and Aussies mainly - so at least I'll be able to have a conversation with some people in a language I understand.
4 comments:
Hi All the best of luck on your trip. Just wanted to let you know that your visa doesn't start from when they give it to you... it begins from when you enter the country and have your passport stamped by the nice immigration officer (I asked at the embassy (^_^). Good news, no? Hey do you think it would be poss to write a nice detailed report of your time at the airport as I'll be goin through the same thing as you 5 days later- it'll be nice to know what to expect :D Thank you!
Hey Anon. If that's true about the visa then that's good news, although I'm not sure I'd be able to do the whole year as much as I'd like to.
I'm going to try to blog as much as possible so there will no doubt be some airport material. The only thing is I can't guarantee I'll be able to get to a computer within five days but keep checking back anyway. And don't forget to leave your name.
Good luck with your trip. Maybe we could go for a drink and compare notes. :)
Sorry my name's Amy. I've never done a big trip like this before so I'll be picking up tips from your blog if I can. Thanks for your message!
Hey Amy, I hope you get this before you're due to leave... I don't know who you're flying with but i flew with Swiss and this is what happened...
I made my way to Heathrow with plenty of time to spare (about 2 and a half hours), and went straight to the check in desk.. you'll see the desk related to your airline if you walk up and down... then i queued up and checked my luggage in. then i found my way to the departure lounge and straight away looked for my gate number. there are many big screens hanging up, just look for your flight number and find the right gate number, it should give you a time to be at that gate... usually about 40 mins or so before take off...
make youre way to the correct gate with plenty of time to spare and wait until you have to board the plane... fly to your connecting airport (presumin youre not going direct).
At zurich (or whatever your connecting airport is) there was no need to check in again as the baggage was already being dealt with, just go straight to the big screen to find out where you next gate is and when you have to board... then do the same again....
At Narita airport you have to follow the signs for immigration if you are non-japanese...there are plenty of signs so you sould find it easily,just follow other non japanese peeps... on the plane you are asked to fill out a little card making sure you are not a criminal and just checking a few details, give this to the desk clerk with your passport and then you will be allowed through to collect your baggage... then board te JR line to wherever in tokyo you are going... its much cheaper than a taxi.
I hope that was helpfull.. sorry its abit rushed, im on a timer... if youve got any more Qs leave them here and i'll answer them if i can get to a puter by then... good luck and email me when you get here stu@toxicsock.co.uk
-Stu
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