Who best to book with

[Darth Tater]

Thank you Antony for advice. I think with this being our first visit I will use the hotel as a base. We will just travel to Disney and if we choose to go to Osaka or Kyoto we will do day trips and make the most of the JR pass😉.
I did have a look at the hotel you mentioned and it looks nice but,I couldn’t get a price for next year.

The planning is a lot different to Florida which is what we have been used to for the last 30 years.

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by Darth Tater

Thank you Antony for advice. I think with this being our first visit I will use the hotel as a base. We will just travel to Disney and if we choose to go to Osaka or Kyoto we will do day trips and make the most of the JR pass😉.
I did have a look at the hotel you mentioned and it looks nice but,I couldn’t get a price for next year.

The planning is a lot different to Florida which is what we have been used to for the last 30 years.

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That is what we did for our trip - picked a base in Tokyo after Disney days, and we worked from there. So I agree with your approach.

It is very different to Florida I agree !

Do you have any concerns in general about the trip we on here could help with? I had ones about food (am from near Blackpool and fish comes in batter!) and the signs etc to get around as the characters are so different.

Another quick things….

Japanese phone SIM or portable Wi-Fi device?
We picked the Wi-Fi decide as I still wanted to get texts from home (banks if they queried purchases etc.) either way I would say need one as Google maps is a god send. Rather than pickup at airport after a long flight - we took the “risk” and had it delivered to our hotel near Disney. As the trip from airport to hotel was dead easy by bus am glad I did it that way, rather than possibly queue at the airport after a long flight.

When we go to Florida we used to spend a lot on clothes etc to bring home, new work shirts from Ralph L outlet etc. Japan is a cheaper trip for us that Florida as they do not do clothes / footwear in big Western sizes lol

[Darth Tater]

We will be looking at portable internet but never seen the Japanese SIM card so, I think what ever would be easier to use out of the two I would go for.

We do have concerns and they are the language, food and travel on the trains. I’m willing to give anything food a go to a point but not the wife. Every time I look at vlogs about travel in Japan the stations look a nightmare to navigate.

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by Darth Tater

We will be looking at portable internet but never seen the Japanese SIM card so, I think what ever would be easier to use out of the two I would go for.

We do have concerns and they are the language, food and travel on the trains. I’m willing to give anything food a go to a point but not the wife. Every time I look at vlogs about travel in Japan the stations look a nightmare to navigate.

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You wife sounds like me when it comes to the food, what her likes / dislikes?

The stations are huge but that is the benefit of having a home station. Shibuya we came out the wrong exit a lot but we learnt over a few days which was our “one” and came out of that one all the time. Might take few minutes to walk around the outside to the place we wanted to really be, but did not phase us after a day or two.

[AntonyJ]

One of my fav YouTube people to follow about Japan is thisNatasha - the lucky devil has been on quite a few times over the last few years (often 2 or 3 trips a year before pandemic) and on many of them goes all over Japan to see things. She has done many trips to Tokyo, Tokyo Disney etc and I like her style - but do not play a drinking game on when she says "amazing!" as you will be very very drunk

She travels normally with her brother or boyfriend - if with the boyfriend then they eat vegan / veggie food (sorry not made a note of which he is) as he eats that way, not sure if that is a thing for your wife.

Anyway, before I went on that 2019 trip, I had a great fear about the same things as you / your wife - language and food.

I am ashamed and proud to say that on that 2019 trip I spoke not one word of Japanese and had zero issues. Pointing, smiling, holding up fingers to say how many things we wanted etc - got us through no issue. Due the prep. for the Olympics, all signs at stations etc were in both Japanese and English. On the trains they have screens saying where you are, next station etc - in both languages. Google maps was brilliant at telling us where to go, even best place to stand on the platform for quietest carriage (a recent addition I have read about) and it never failed us. The portable wifi device we got was a godsend for this! In the main station we picked up our Rail Passes and the big stations have someone that speaks English in the booking office.

Food - as said before where I come from, fish comes in batter and that is it! There are stories in other posts here how I got "embarrassed" into trying sushi on the plane and found out it was very nice - and ate it a few times in Japan but I will only ever eat it in Japan. Also we tried a conveyer belt sushi place and (I hope will ease your wifes concerns) they have cooked items on the menu too. I had Japanese Omelette sushi (slices of the omelette on top of the rice) and that was very nice, but they do cooked things like chicken and beef burgers to eat there. Yes it is mostly fish based, but not all.

Also, thisNatasha went to a Japanese BBQ eatery for a meal, that is on our list for our next trip, where you cook your own food on the BBQ built into the table. They are a chain with a few places around Tokyo. This video has her visiting it, at the 12 minute mark:



As the menu is in both English and Japanese, that was a big boon for me too

There are of course the Western chains to eat at (McDonalds, KFC, Pizza places etc) but even with my "boring" palette, we only ate at one of them once on the entire trip - McD when we got back late from Kyoto day trip and it was just there when we got off the train

Finally, the secret to all Japanese food "issues" the combini (convenience) stores like Family Mart, 7-11, Lawsons . There are soooooo many of these all over the place (some streets appear to have every 200 yards!) but the quality of the food they sell is amazing. For example they sell the most amazing egg sandwiches - they are just the best! I had a prawn salad from one of them that was both a master display in packaging, and made me wonder why I bother recycling when it had so many bits of plastic to it! There was plastic tabs you pulled out that kept the wet layers (lettuce etc) from the dry layers - and they only came together when you pulled the plastic out and mixed them - worked so well. They also sell hot food behind the counter (the fried chicken is legendary!). Famous for their quality and range and rightly so - the one inside the Hilton Tokyo Bay (at Disney) fed me very nicely thank you.

[Darth Tater]

WOW Thank you very much for all the information. My wife has the same taste as yourself when it comes to fish, battered and with chips. I’m sure when we are there my wife will make the effort to try different things 🤞

I have watched thisNatasha and love her vlogs in-fact it was her vlogs that confirmed to me that I needed to go. There are other vloggers that I watch like Chris abroad,Abroad in Japan, Sharmeleon, Paolo from TOKYO and Rion Ishida.

Lawsons,Family Mart and 7-11 will be getting a visit at some point in the trip. We wanted to get different foods and take them back to our room to try and, video our reaction 😂

You have given me lot to get on with I just need to push the button and book it.

[AntonyJ]

WOW Thank you very much for all the information. My wife has the same taste as yourself when it comes to fish, battered and with chips. I’m sure when we are there my wife will make the effort to try different things 🤞
Nothing wrong with a well made fish and chips
Tokyo Disney and Japan in general, were such a special trip for me that I have become a bit of a bore in telling folks about it - will tell anyone and anyone how great it is - just see how many posts have done here!
My main issue before our trip was the food - i have said this elsewhere but I have a phobia of vomiting / throwing up and take lengths to avoid it. Things that increase the perceived risk (seafood, alcohol being but two) I avoid. On the 2019 trip I thought had avoided the fish things on the plane by booking the Western menu, only to find out I have picked but one of several courses. The stewardess was friendly when got on, turned out she had worked at Epcot in the Japanese pavilion / told here we would be in Tokyo Disney within 3 hours of getting off plane - we became flight buddies! When she came with the food ashe would not leave me until I ate it, so had no chance to pop the fish things into a napkin and hide - but had to try - and they were very nice and ate the lot.

I have watched thisNatasha and love her vlogs in-fact it was her vlogs that confirmed to me that I needed to go. There are other vloggers that I watch like Chris abroad,Abroad in Japan, Sharmeleon, Paolo from TOKYO and Rion Ishida.
thisNatasha was the same for me! Made it look like I should take the "risk" and try it and am very grateful to her. It is just a pity she has not really come back on her social channels really yet. I know and watch most of the others too (Sharmeleon is a new one to me) and Rion is a gentle soul, who I worry about being in the nasty world we live in. Also I struggle to hear what he is saying now, as he keeps his mask on a lot, as needed to see his lips someone to work out what he is saying. I also watch a good number of Japanese channels that are people "walking about" Tokyo Disney, areas of Tokyo, Osaka - places we plan to go to so I get an idea of what is where type of thing - my partner thinks am bonkers!
I like to keep an eye on how the expansion is going at Tokyo Disney and these videos are good for that is nothing else.
Lawsons,Family Mart and 7-11 will be getting a visit at some point in the trip. We wanted to get different foods and take them back to our room to try and, video our reaction 😂
We got an instant ramen bowl from one of them from a Michelin Star place - actually it was "inspired" by - but it tasted amazing!

You have given me lot to get on with I just need to push the button and book it.
Lets hope they reopen the boarders soon for us lot.
I think my October trip is very iffy, fingers crossed my May one goes ahead.

[AntonyJ]

We went to Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara - think the biggest PC World you have ever been in, then multiply that on 7 or 8 floors - the top floor had lots of places to eat.

One place you cooked your own food in a fryer - you picked up prawn, fish, chicken and veg on skewers, dipped in batter on your table, rolled in breadcrumbs and pop in the fryer and cook as long as you want. I cannot see it listed on the web site for the place, perhaps it has closed, but here is a video of one other branch of it I think.