TheTechMatterAnswer: Japan Travel & Internet survival guide

The answer to this question is among the most difficult because of:

1.  It is often unclear what you would like to see

2.  It is difficult to know whether a particular choice will be appreciated.

The problem 1 can be addressed by a paper made touristic guide that can help in choosing and using websites that display photos or assessments of users with a report about the features of different places.

In the case of a paper book I can recommend the guide “National Geographic Traveler Japan“ that is full of photographs that can give you a quick idea of the locations.

For websites, here is an essential list:

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/ – Japan National Tourist Organization. It is a must to see: also used alone could serve to organize an entire trip.

http://www.japan-guide.com/ – It is a site that contains information about various locations in Japan, how to get there, and an indicative assessment of its quality (however, often will do not coincide with your opinion, so beware before to select a place to visit!)

http://www.mustlovejapan.com/ a very impressive excellent website with videos of best places of Japan. It is an important and well organized resource.

http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/travel/traveltojapan.html – Another site containing information on Japan’s most famous locations.

http://www.jcastle.info/ a website wich contains a complete guide about Japanese castles

If you already have an idea about what kind of things you would like to see but do not know where to find them in Japan, often a Google search gives you the answer (if you can not find it, you can freely ask me here).

If you do not have any ideas, you could follow the same route that other people have taken. For example, you can follow the same as we undertaken, or read http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/ about stories of others who have visited Japan.

Knowing whether your choice is right or not is almost impossible, but you can help your fortune by looking at good photos that you find on the sites described above, and reading the opinions of other travelers.

Initially it is good to choose a fairly high number of places to visit, which subsequently will be removed, depending on the time available, the choice of hotels, transportation available and the route you intend to follow for your trip.