Australians been to Japan

Hi,any aussie been to japan lately,want to know about getting cash from ATM,and accommodation.........Thanks Carol

Carol,

ATMs - if you have an Australian Credit Card with cash advance facility (Visa/Mastercard) or an Australian bank savings account with Cirrus/Maestro affiliation (eg: Commonwealth Bank) then you can use ATMs at Citibank and at the Postal Savings Bank. Citibank ATMs are restricted to the big cities (refer http://www.citibank.com/locations/). The Postal Savings bank ATMs can be found at most Post Offices around Japan, however make sure you remember your PIN as a number (some banks in Australia allow you to remember your PIN as a word, however the Postal Savings Bank ATMs do not have letters on the keys). Refer http://www.yu-cho.japanpost.jp/e_a0000000/aa200000.htm
As for accomodation..... what info are you after?

thank you for your reply hardya,my husband and i will be in Japan for 3 weeks in April,just need a hotel for 3 nights in Tokyo (not 5 star)

I stayed at the Washington in Shinjuku; Tokyo, a couple of months ago and was very happy with it. It's within walking distance (including underground access) from Shinjuku Station. The was a convenience store inside the Hotel so you can get food & drinks at good prices instead of using the mini bar. I think it was a "Family Mart"

thanks for your input steve,did you have to book in advance,or when you arrived,also how much was it.........Thanks

Accomodation - if you are after something budget but still reasonably comfortable and clean (a bit small though), why not try one of the Business Hotels. Toyoko Inn is a chain of these reasonably proced hotels. I have stayed at a few of these in other cities and near Haneda Airport in Tokyo. I reckon the "Ikebukuro Kita-guchi 1" branch looks to be ina convenient place, in Ikebukuro (on the main Yamanote train "loop" line, many department stores there).

I've stayed at another (older) business hotel in Ikebukuro, the Hotel Grand City (http://www.grand-city.gr.jp/E/Top.asp). Nothing fancy, rooms small, but it's all you need if you are out most of the day sightseeing etc.

If you want to stay in the Roppongi nightlife area, I recommend "the b roppongi" (formerly Hotel Baden Roppongi), though I noted their prices have gone up a lot. Very convenient location near the subway and Roppongi crossing. Refer: http://www.ishinhotels.com/theb-roppongi/en/stay.html

There are many many options for accommodation though, try checking out some of these websites:

http://www.japanhotel.net/
http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/en/index.html
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/PS/
http://www.knt.co.jp/kokusai/top.htm
http://www.nta.co.jp/english/index.htm

Also, Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) in Melbourne can arrange pre-paid hotels from Australia. Try calling them directly rather than going through an agent (seems quicker and they have some idea about the hotels). Go to http://www.japantravel.com.au then click on "JTB Hotels" link, then "Tokyo" for current pricing.

Whoops, I forgot to add the link to Toyoko Inn chain of hotels:

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/e_hotel/

thanks hardya,the JTB Hotels is a great site

Stayed at Art Hotel Omori for a few nights earlier this year. It was about 8' walk from Omori station quite close to Shinagawa and just one easy change of train coming in from the airport. Cost was around A$224 a double which included a full buffet breakfast. Booked it through Jalpak.
Be vey wary of booking through JTB, we have been quoted some outrageous prices by them in the past.
My wife and I have been to Japan twice and have stayed in all manner of establishments over five weeks of travelling around. Our preference ( value for money ) is Toyoko Inns but you really need to book before you leave here. We always treat ourselves to a few nights up the scale, thus Art Hotel which is probably three star but really very good and we look for specials at five star like the Hilton at which we stayed in Otaru in February for Y15000 per night room only.
What part of Australia are you in ? I would be happy to make contact by email or even talk by phone.
We are in Melbourne.
Some pics of our trips are at
http://gallery17228.fotopic.net/

Thanks for the info,Rod,my email is cabbage@treko.net.au,i will be away for a week,no access to a computer

What is the best deal for Australians using mobile phones ringing home from Japan?

Hi Glen. I have lived in Japan and I called Australia( home) atleast once a week. I used phone cards.
They come in various sorts. There is another way and that is too get international roaming on your Japanese mobile phone but i found this to be quite expensive so I think phone cards are the go. I am goin back in July this year to work so I will do the same thing again. But call from a public phone. Its cheap.
Also I had my parents send me over a few Telstra cards which i used at night as it is was a cheaper rate.
Hope this helps

A lot of banks are not familiar with money transfer so be prepared to wait a while. The best card to take is a Master Card Debit card which can be topped up by a phone call from home.

For accommodation I have found that in Tokyo it is very comfortable to stay in family owned inns. The last that I stayed at was at Nezu Crossing and was with my son and it cost at the time about $98 Aus per night including breakfast. Bookings can be made through the JNTO even in Sydney. This one was within 150 mtres of the subway station or about 30 minutes walk to Ueno Station where you can register your Japan Rail Pass.

It is worth arriving in Japan with some yen in cash. If you'll be spending much time away from main cities cash will be much more useful than a credit card.

Anyway, I have found that changing AUD$ to Yen in Australia, even at the airport, I get a better rate than changing in Japan That's my experience, anyway.

Hi Carol et al.
Just got back from 2 weeks in Japan. ... One last thing about cash and ATMs in Japan. Do not be afraid to take out large amounts when you use ATMs (available at all Post Offices). I felt very comfortable carrying around $750 - $2000 in my wallet at all times... and more in my travel pack (around neck). It really is safe.

ps - in Tokyo I stayed at Shinjuku Park Hotel which i found pleasant, great location just 100 meters from the action in Shinjuku but remarkably in a quiet street

Hi
Stay away from traveller cheques if possible, so much time in cashing them. Cash advances from ATM at majority of Post Offices is completely safe, even when I've taken 16 students to get moneies out. If you haven't booked accommodation yet have you thought about Rykans (Japanese Inns) you can get some fairly well priced from Japanese Guesthouses japaneseguesthouses.com.
If you need to carry a mobile phone with you contact Landwide:
www.landwide.com.au
but keep an eye on your usage as it can work out expensive. Enjoy your trip. I'm running away to Japan in 3 weeks for one month (NO STUDENTS) just me. Husband and 21yr son a bigger enough to look after themselves.

I have used my AussieDebitCard. No problems whatsoever. The card can be used to withdraw
cash or to make payments anywhere
where
Cirrus or Mastercard cards are
accepted.

Hi, I think the ATM questions have been very well answered previously (postal savings ATMs are excellent, and have English option). Someone mentioned about taking some Yen, which I would agree with. If you visit a major Australia Post Branch before your trip, they will exchange Aus$-Yen with NO commission/fee, it will only cost you the equivalent Australian dollars. Last time I went to Japan a ran out of cash, with no visa card for withdrawing cash, so had to transfer Aussie dollars-Yen - the exchange rate they gave me was twenty cents lower and was a very bad deal (they gave me 60 yen - aussie dollar, when it was 85 yen - aussie dollar). So maybe take about $500 worth of Yen with you, and use postal atms.

I always use a Telstra Phone Away Home card which you can get at Telstra shops or even any supermarket (although the supermarket voucher doesn't give you any information about how to dial Aus using your card!). Basically with the Telstra PhoneAway home card, you dial the same phone number (given to you by telstra) from anywhere in Japan, and you will be directed through to an Australian computerised-operator who will connect your call. Usually $30 will give you about 10-20 mins I believe. Note though that the PhoneAway home card doesn't really work from hotel phones, so using public phones is necessary. I'm not sure if this card works with mobile phones in Japan. My friend and I looked at renting a mobile phone while in Japan but it was too expensive, so just used the Telstra card.

We stayed in the Shinjuku Kabuki-cho Toyoko-Inn which was very cheap, but hard to find, especially at night.

Have a good trip!

Hi Just returned from a 2 week trip to japan this week. I took yen with me as I had been pre warned that it was hard to find atm's and post office. I had a pretty full on schedule and only saw one post office in kyoto and one atm in tokyo, not that I needed to look. All major department stores & hotels accept mastercard. Very safe city so ok to carry cash. I stayed only 1 night in tokyo and I purchased the 2 day free disney pass from Sunrise Tours before I left australia and we stayed at the prince takanyuma, this was the most expensive hotel of my trip and I thought it would be a flash hotel as it was worth $350 aus per night dble, but it was tired and worn but clean and easy to find. Good luck on your trip you will enjoy every minute of it
aussie

Don't know when you are travelling, but if you are going after 11/7/2007, then you can get cash from 7-Elevens... refer to http://www.sevenbank.co.jp/intlcard/index2.html