Notes from Japan Travel Culture Bookclub Meet

We had great participation at the Japan Travel and Culture meetup last Saturday at Woodlands Regional Library in Singapore.

Fashion, traditions and street style in Japan

Popular fashion blogger Stephie, talked about traditions, Japanese labels & Vintage stores, Street Style Hunting and Shoes.

Japanese food: Preparing Natto

Masahiro showed us how to eat Natto with rice, spring onions and other garnishing.

Participants enjoying preparing Natto.

High Tech toilets in Japan

Chishiho introduced us to the world of high-tech Japanese toilets. She talked the evolution of these gizmos over time, the features they offer, how to use them and what are the future developments.

Inexpensive travel in Japan

Need more ideas here, Please post on the comments if you have questions and ideas and I will add it to this post with attribution.

Accommodation

A traditional guesthouse or Ryokan

Temple stays tend to be the most inexpensive. Check out Templelodging.com for more on Temple stays in Japan.

Ryokans are a good way of experiencing traditional Japanese house. Though they might not be that inexpensive. Mishuku (bed and breakfast type places) are more affordable.

Online booking for traditional guesthouses and inns(Ryokans), Bed and Breakfast places in Japan.

Onmark Productions has another excellent page that aggregates low cost accommodations in Japan.

Wikipedia Page on Ryokans and Minshuju(Cheaper version of Ryokan)

Travel Guides

Wikitravel has excellent and up to date travel guide to Japan

Tokyo City Travel Guide (Detailed information on each districts)

Amateur Traveler Podcast – Tokyo Episode

Tokyotopia, A website with lots of travel information about Tokyo

Transport

Trains are such a wonderful way of traveling in Japan, one of the idea to save money is to take a train to a smaller town and stay there. If you are going to be in Japan for a week and more and want to see more than Tokyo, get a Japan Rail Pass .

You can travel for free on JR group railways, buses, and ferry boats(except Tokyo Metro and high end Bullet trains). See this page for validity conditions of Japan Rail Pass

Food

You can affordable food at the street-side restaurants.

Nice, dane. lets eat it.

If you are really on a budget, buy onigiri (riceball wrapped in seaweed) and tea from a convenience store or vending machine.

There are many ticket restaurants that serve affordable snacks.

Learning Japanese Language

Practical Japanese Phrases for Traveling : Learn Practical Japanese Phrases for Traveling

Book Recommendation: Urawaza, Secret everyday Tricks and Tips from Japan

We also talked about Lisa Katayama’s book Urawaza that compiles Japanese household tricks and techniques that are passed around by word of mouth. One of the ideas is to make scratched CD work by scrubbing the surface with toothpaste and rinsing with water.

Singapore National Library has this book. Check the database for where you can find it.

Here is a video demonstrating one of the Urawaza trick – getting pen marks off your hand.

Also checkout YouTube for more Urawaza videos

Thanks

Thanks to the participants for their active support. Woodlands Regional Library offered the excellent venue and thanks to Peter Chan (from NLB) for helping us put together the event. Thanks to the presenters Chishiho, Masahiro and Stephie. Amy and Mariko, thanks for helping out during the activities. We will return in January with another meetup on Taiwan.