Spending a week in Hokkaido, suggestions?

illumination on 14/06/2016 - 17:25

Hello all,

I'll be traveling in Hokkaido in July for a week (group of 4). Plan to be in Sapporo for a few days, with a few days of touring other places around the island.
I'm just after ideas/suggestions/tips.

1) SIM Card? Not a heavy data user, 500MB would even be enough. Do I even need it? My friend says you get Wi-Fi standing in the middle of the city.. which is pretty cool. I also recall seeing someone say you sometimes get a free portable Wi-Fi modem in your hotel?
2) 28 Degrees/Citibank Plus work ok over there? I recall seeing someone say a while ago that they don't really do Mastercard/Visa in Japan as much as in Western countries
3) Uber/car hire? Would you even consider, or is public transport good enough
4) Accommodation - looks really expensive to be honest. Airbnb looks way cheaper, much more affordable. Any recommendations about location, what to look out for?
5) On my way back home I might have about 5-8 hours to kill by myself. Thinking of either spending it in Sapporo/Tokyo and just walking around to see stuff. Any suggestions?
6) General advice/tips? Is it necessary to learn a bit of Japanese to appear to be more polite?
7) Oh, just remembered this - someone was telling me that because Japanese has 3 alphabets (is that right?), and one of them is Chinese based characters, you can actually use Chinese characters to ask questions and they will understand? Is this true? I'm thinking if this is the case, we could write questions on our phone in Chinese and show people to ask for help and it would make it easier for them to understand us.

Thanks guys :)

Travel

Comments

  • retiredfeline on 14/06/2016 - 17:36
    +1

    Get out of the cities to see the countryside. That's what's worth seeing in Hokkaido Some places you can get to by PT but others you need a car.

    Kanji characters don't always have the same meaning as in Chinese so be aware of that. For example the character for spa is soup in Chinese, which sort of makes sense.

    PM me and I'll send you a link to my blog of my 2010 trip. I had 2 weeks though.

    • illumination on 15/06/2016 - 16:05

      Yea I'm keen to go to the countryside and check stuff out!
      Sure, will PM you. Thanks.

  • gooddealmate on 14/06/2016 - 17:37
    +1

    Be sure to visit the Matsumura fishworks and the Tamaribuchi Manufacturing Concern. Not forgetting the Mr Sparkle soap factory in the sacred forests of Hokkaido.

    • illumination on 15/06/2016 - 16:06

      Thanks I'll look it up!

  • altomic on 14/06/2016 - 17:51
    +3

    I lived in Japan for 4 years (10 years ago)

    (1) can't assist there.
    (2) when I lived there you could go to post offices and they had ATMs with cirrus (I used my NAB card there to withdraw money). 7/11 and some other convenience stores have ATMs that take foregn cards.

    (3) in hokkaido - rent a car. it's rather large and doesn't have the infrastructure as mainland Japan. Japanese consider it a bit weird (think Tasmania). plus there are 4 of you so you (I assume adults) can take turns driving). Hokkaido is different from mainland Japan. it only became Japans 120 years ago and the signs of international settlement (mainly Russian) can be seen here and there)
    (4) airBnB. also look at ryokans (traditional japanese inns). almost like a home stay - but not really. (just search "ryokan hokkaido"). I stayed in great one in Sapporo during the ice festival - it was awesome. "old school".
    (5) just walk around. just experience it. I'd rather watch locals sweep the road or wander through a local supermarket than check out "the sights" - that's just my taste/preference.
    (6) "go-men-a-sigh" - I'm sorry. "Sue-me-ma-san" - excuse me. "could-a-sigh" - please. "dock-o" - where?. "high" = yes. "E- Air" = no.
    (7) Kanji - sort of chinese characters- some are the same.
    Hiragana - Japanese phonetic alphabet used for Japanese words.
    Katakana - Phonetic alphabet used for foreign words - eg. camera is a foreign word so the Japanese spelling uses Katakana "spelling"

    Hiragana and katakana use the same phonetic structure (a,i, u, e,o) but differentiate between domestic and foreign words. so, e.g. the sound for "ha" has both a hiragana character and a katakana character.

    interestingly - tobacco is spelt using Hiragana even though it is a foreign word. I had a japanese guy argue with me that it is a Japanese word. The power of Japan Tobacco. Yoko Ono (born and raised in Japan) is always referred to by using Katakana - they have never forgiven her for breaking up the beatles.

    I'm heading to japan at the end of june for 2 weeks. looking forward to it.

    I'd suggest you read Alan Booth's "The roads to Sata". alan walked from the northern most point of hokkaido to the southern most point of Kyushu. his writing style is sort of "grumpy" but realist. you can read through Open Library. it's an entertaining read as he understands Japan. it is 30 years old. but interesting none the less.

    • illumination on 15/06/2016 - 16:09

      2) Thanks
      3) I was told that they "now have shinkansen" implying they didn't have it before? Definitely open to hiring a car. I'll look into it.
      4) When you say homestay do you mean you're staying with other people?
      5) Yea I'm ok with that. I'll be by myself anyway haha so I think that'll be sweet.
      6) Cool. I'll look up some other common phrases too.
      7) Ah ok so it doesn't really fully work.

      I'm ok with realistic writing. Better than sugarcoating it and making stuff seem awesome just to be "polite". Sounds like a long book though.. kind of ceebs reading a long book LOL

      • altomic on 15/06/2016 - 16:19

        (3) they have extended the shinkansen line slightly into hokkaido. not far really. 95% of train travel in Hokkaido is regular train. Check this link
        (4) usually a family run inn. sort of like a large house with lots of bedrooms. and shared bathrooms. but a business. it's a traditional japanese "hotel" . different- usually tatami matting and traditional futons. definitely worth it for a more "authentic" experience.

  • bluesky on 14/06/2016 - 23:02
    +3

    Saved this OZB link(about free wifi in Japan) over 2 years ago, thinking it might come in handy. The Japan free wifi site referred to still exists. In case this is useful for you.

    • illumination on 15/06/2016 - 16:09

      Ah cool thanks for that. Looks good!

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