TheTechMatterAnswer: Japan Travel & Internet survival guide

You can visit the various places in Japan in two main ways: alone or accompanied by a guide.

For “alone” I mean “you and the group of people who made the journey with you”.

If you came from your country really alone then it is really a good thing that at least half the days of your stay include a travel companion.

If you are at least two people, the advice to you is to travel without any guide for at least 2 / 3 of the vacancy and the remaining 1 / 3 to choose to visit the various places with a guide.

The choice of the number of days with a guide should be evaluated carefully, considering that:

• Traveling alone you have more time to “taste” details of visited places
• Traveling with a guide we can see locations maybe difficult to find but we are distracted by the guide itself
• Is usually better to choose days to use a travel guide for visiting less known or difficult access places, and reserve instead the most famous and easily accessible places to a visit “in solitude”

It’s interesting to note that in Japan there are many volunteers that offer a free guide service to visit the sites of various towns. Typically, to get the free service is enough to make a reservation via Internet by filling a form or sending an email; also if you use the public transport services or if you go to eat when you are with the guide, you must bear transportation costs (train tickets, bus, subway, etc …) of the guide and his meals (I think that this is obvious but important to know).

Usually these people spend their days off from work to accompany the tourists and are somehow affiliated with the government of the visited location. So, to choose the days with their guidance you have to consider that is more difficult to find one available on working days.

Every major city in Japan usually has one or more associations. You can search with Google the name of the city that you have to visit followed by the phrase “free guides” to find well-known associations; alternatively, a list of organizations that provide free guides can be found in the JNTO website at this address: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/guideservice.html

Note that in many cases you can also find guides who speak your language and to have a better chance of obtaining it, is best to ask the service a few months before departure.

The alternative to free guide is to use a professional guide service.

You can find information and prices here: http://www.jfg.to/green/jfg_eng.html