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Summer Program in Japan 
Practical Information:
Tour - You'll be carrying your own luggage between stations and hotels, up and down stairs, across curbs and street grates, and storing it in small Japanese lockers or just holding onto it as you stand in a street car or train when no seats are available. You make your own problems when you bring oversized and overweight luggage. Don't make yourself a camel. Check out the luggage racks in the photo to the right on a Shinkansen car. You have to lift your luggage up and down as well as get it to fit. Click on the photo for a link to a Shinkansen info page, then take a look at the interior views keeping in mind luggage size.
Shinkansen Interior

Traveler's Checks - Bring your money in this form. Credit cards are only good for purchases in some stores. ATMs that can dispense cash for VISA cards are few and far between. Only one bank ATM in ALL of Kumamoto Prefecture gives cash advances (Y20,000 limit) to foreign credit cards (Kumamoto Station).

However, POST OFFICE ATMs now help out (see below). You CANNOT buy traveler's checks with a credit card in Japan yet. In general, Sumitomo Banks will accept US credit cards for cash. If you bring traveler's checks already in JPY (yen) denominations, you'll still have to go to a bank to cash them. Checks are only for banks. Upscale hotels will occasionally offer cashing services for about the same as bank rates. Unfortunately, we don't stay at these hotels.
Click here for VISA ATMs in Japan that take foreign credit cards for cash advance locator.

Post Office Credit Cards Getting a cash advance using credit cards issued outside Japan is sometimes a major problem. Since June 30, 2000, most of the Post Office ATMs will now work with foreign credit cards. ATMs which can handle these credit cards have stickers (quite small ) showing all sorts of credit card marks like the picture to the left. To get to the right screen, press "English" - "others" - and "corporation" and you'll see "cash advance" and other services. Post offices now also cash travelers checks, but usually only at the Main or Central PO for a town or city. You may have to guide the clerk through the "check" manual to point out your variety so they can compare the "official" picture against your check. For any type of credit card you need a PIN number. Be sure to get it before you leave.

Beginning 11 July 2007 ATMs at 11,700 7-Eleven convenience stores all over Japan will accept foreign-issued bank cards. Cards with VISA/PLUS, MasterCard/Cirrus and American Express logos on them will all be accepted to withdraw yen from the machines. Language options for the ATM screen and receipts will include English, Korean, Chinese, and Portuguese. According to Seven Bank President, Mr. Takashi Anzai, the ATMs are located in 7-Eleven convenience stores and Ito Yokado general stores in 31 Prefectures. This is great news for business and leisure travellers, as it will make getting money so much easier anywhere in Japan! Currently only foreign banks, such as Citibank, and Post Office ATMs accept non-Japanese bank cards.

More 7-11 Info.

Other ATMs in Japan that accept foreign issued ATM cards
- Citibank branches in major cities. For example, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto.
- A useful option for travelers all over Japan, including the countryside, is Yucho, Japan's postal savings bank. 26,000 Post Office ATM's, located throughout Japan, take foreign-issued ATM cards and have English menus.
-Note that ATM's outside major cities in Japan are usually not 24-hour and may shut down at night.

Nippon no RyoriDiet - Eating is half the fun of travelling in Japan. It is possible to eat differently for an entire month. It's not all sushi, tempura, or sukiyaki.
Check out the 'culture' section of Lonely Planet for food descriptions. And the food is better on home turf because it's so much fresher right from the sea.

Despite what you hear, Japan is a carnivorous country: there is usually some sort of meat in whatever you eat. Also, Buddhism doesn't consider seafood as "meat", and in the past, even whale meat was considered seafood. Japanese "vegetarians" consider fish OK. Most stocks for the noodle soups (soba, udon, and ramen) as well as vegetable tempura are either fish, pork, or beef-based. Dairy products other than milk and yogurt are few. There are some bland cheeses to suit the Japanese taste. Fresh fruits are expensive. Come with an open mind and eat what the Japanese eat. There are KFCs and MacDonalds in most major cities when you can't adapt (you have to like lots of mayonnaise). Check out the Tokyo Cuisine Link.

Vegetarians should start with a check of Mark Edward's experience about being Vegetarian in Japan. Vegetarians that can eat fish, Japanese vegetarian style, will have no problem. If one eats eggs and dairy, food can become monotonous but there will be food. If eggs and dairy are not possible, choices on the road are very few other than some breads and white rice as grocery stores are usually only accessible by car, and convenience stores only offer mainstream food (egg sandwiches being the closest offered). Vegetarian restaurants are very few in Japan, and usually found in temple areas (Arashiyama, Kyoto) or in places with a large foreign clientele (Tokyo-Osaka), with meals starting at $35 for lunch. Indian restaurants also offer vegetarian, but again, it's very expensive. If you can get the ingredients yourself (not in a restaurant), tofu, miso, or natto can be made into a dish. In a restaurant or in a prepared dish, tofu usually has dried bonito (fish) flakes on top, and miso soup can have kamaboko (fish paste) and dashi, a fish stock that is used in almost all Japanese food (even vegetarian, because fish broth is OK for Japanese vegetarians). For info on vegetarians in Japan, check out the Tokyo Vegetarian Guide. It's in English as most vegetarians in Japan are foreigners.

Average restaurant cost of breakfast 500 yen, lunch 800 yen, dinner 800 - 1,500 yen. Everyone takes care of their own meals on the 2-week rail trip. Convenience and grocery stores will lower the cost over restaurant meals. Your instructor finds many meals here - usually about 500 yen for ready-made obento or pan combinations. In Yatsushiro, meals are provided with the homestay except for lunch.
Youth Hostels - Many youth hostels in Japan require membership. Where we can, we find inexpensive ryokan or business hotels to stay in as these won't have the mongen (curfews) and games that many Japanese YH have. However, some cities such as Tokyo only have hostels as the economical place to stay, and we have to use them. If y ou will need to get a membership card, you will be informed ahead of time, as we don't always use hostels.

 


Hostelling International
National Administrative Offices
PO Box 37673
Washington, DC 20077-4258
202-783-6161

 

 

Tokyo International
Youth Hostel, Iidabashi

 Iidabashi, Tokyo YH
eKit - Youth Hostel Travel Vault for all your numbers (passport, traveler's checks, tickets) on a secure server. Other services if you have the hardware.
Culture Shock - Most students enrolled in a Study Abroad program experience to some degree culture shock. This is a common psychological reaction to leaving one's home to live in a different country. Even though this is only a 5-6 week program, people often experience some of the following.
  • There are 4 stages that most people live through:
  • the excitement stage, where everything new is surprising and interesting
  • the complaining stage, where a person becomes irritable, tiring of the new and different, wishing to return to what is familiar and comfortable
  • the adjustment stage, where the new is no longer overwhelming and the old is no longer necessary.
  • the reentry stage when students return home to their own culture they may be shocked to find the old familiar ways have their own limitations. Their friends and family are not so interested in and understanding of their recent adventures.