zxcvar wrote:
> Greetings! I may go to Japan in October 2007 for two weeks vacation
> trip. I am a senior citizen and retired. I am 68 years old. I speak
> only English. Shall I go on an escorted tour or travel alone? Will
> language be a problem if I travel alone? How did you (the fellow
> members of this newsgroup who have traveled to Japan from US) travel?
> Please give your opinion. With thanks.
I would strongly recommend that you travel alone. What is most
interesting about Japan is the people, places, and culture rather than
any specific "sights", and an organized tour where you are taken from
sight to sight and hardly get to encounter Japanese people at all or
see much of contemporary Japanese life would miss a lot of the most
rewarding experiences.
Language is not that much of an issue if you are mostly visiting the
major cities and tourist spots. You can definitely get by on English
in Tokyo and Kyoto. You might want to carry an index card which has
the Japanese address of your hotels and the English pronunciation of
the Japanese words for left, right, stop, please, thank you, where is,
how much.
I lived in Japan for 2 1/2 years, and didn't speak any Japanese when I
went over there. I had no problem either in the city of Tokyo or
traveling around the area.
You might want to look into a Japan rail pass, which can be a great
value if you plan on visiting more than just Tokyo and Kyoto.
|