Travelling alone in Japan...

Grace wrote:
I just came back from 2 weeks in Japan and I travelled alone from
Kyoto-Tokyo-Nikko-Hakone-Hiroshima-Miyajima-Oita-Beppu-Kyoto. I
only remembered that I was alone only at the end of my trip
I just couple days came back from Japan. Did similar route over there and can say the same - you don't feel alone. I stayed in hostels where you can meet the same people as you, in sightseeing places also you can meet interesting people. It was fun each day spend time with different people.

Konnichiwa!
I always travel alone and I almost always never get bored, I have travelled along Europe and a little bit of Asia, travelling alone has many great advantages, u r totally free to do whatever u want whenever u want and whatever wild wacky adventure comes on the way u can take it! The only thing is to be talkative and smile all the time, u'll be suprized with how many friends u gonna make!
I'm from Greece and this Summer I will be visiting Japan also, alone of course, I will stay for 2 months and travel trou 26 cities :)
Wish u all the best and Im sure its going to be one of the best trips of ur life (looking forward to mine:)
PLUR and smile :)
-dia*

I'm about to travel japan for three weeks, alone. I'm now hearing stories about the lack of english (or my lack of japanese) going to make my trip really difficult. I 'was' planning on hitting most of the big cities as well as some small towns. Should I be skipping the small towns? Anyone else going to be travelling there during June?

Vince you will have no problems with English even in small places.Buy yourself a little Japanese phrase book.If they can not understand you write it down.I am train buff and go to small towns and I have never had a problem.

Hey,

I am Joshua from Singapore. Does most Japanese speak english? Is it ok if I can't read or speak Japanese language?

Japanese receive quite a bit a of formal English instruction in school (unless they are really old people), but few have much practice with English conversation, nor feel very confident using it. In heavily touristed areas, English is common, but a phrase book is helpful enough otherwise.

You will find a surprising amount of English spattered about most signs in Japan (sometimes excessively, and sometimes illogically even).

If you are going to be in Japan for a long stay, get out beyond Tokyo; there is much more to see.

I remember myself asking in this forum the same question a few month ago. I travel Japan for 2 weeks alone and even I don't speak a word of Japanese, and you can feel a bit lost at some times, it was a fantastic experience, I like it so much that I'm back in a few months. At first i was scare and almost go on a organice trip with a guide group, I'm so glad I didn't! as everybody else it's telling you it's the savest place to travel alone, and in Tokyo everything it's in english, and even people do not speak much , they are helfull and you'll have no problem. But let me just tell you a few of the things, not so good about it, just to give you a bit of prespective. It's million things to do during the day,and most time you wont have eny energy left, but at nihtg time, I finded a bit triky to go out alone to bars and clubs, as the tipical aproches are from other occidental ( japoness are shy) guys trying to chat you up and assuming if you are there alone you are looking for company... so ether you are alone or put up with them, so I avoid the night life there when I was alone.I'm 36, so going out with australian in their 20s, tipical people inhostels, was not something I wanted to do, so for me that was the bigest problem, I finded difficult to make conversation with japanesse because they feel shy to speak english, so it's not like other more friendly places to mate locals. Of course all depends in your personality but I travel alone many other times and i did find that the linguaje barrier here was more a problem tham other places. If you can meet up with someone there, as some people has ofered here, it would be great, and it's easy to meet other people when you are already in a group than alone.
If you do not care much for clubing, then do not worry. I did go out with a few friends I meet by email before I went there, so thats somthing I'll recomend. You can use this web to get to meet some peole that leave there and make some frinds. Good luck and enjoy your trip.

Even if you learn a language in school, if you don't keep it up you lose it. I think Japanese people may know the meaning of individual words, but they have some problems with full sentences.

I found it easier to try asking in English first, and if that didn't work, I used a Japanese phrasebook as a backup.