Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The only foreign phones that reliably work in
Japan are some
3G models
- contact your mobile
phone service provider before leaving your home
country to check on the current situation. If your
phone isn't compatible with Japan's transmission
technology, the solution for short-term visitors is
to
rent
a Japan-compatible mobile phone (buying
a prepaid phone in Japan generally requires you
to show proof of local residency). Phones can be
rented at the airport, in Tokyo or online. Options
include
GoMobile
(
W
gomobile.co.jp), who will
deliver your phone to a nominated address in
Japan such as your hotel, and
PuPuRu
(
W
www
.pupuru.com/en) who also rent out data cards for
internet access on your laptop anywhere. Other
mobile phone operators include the predominant
DoCoMo
(
W
www.nttdocomo.co.jp), and
Softbank
(
W
softbank.jp/en), both of which have rental
booths at Narita Airport (3G handsets should work
with either of these networks).
Tourist information
Other than the resources below,
Goodwill Guides
(
W
www2.ocn.ne.jp/~sgg/index_e.html) can provide
English-language information. These
volunteers
offer their services free - although you're expected
to pay for their transport, entry tickets and any meals
you have together. Their language abilities vary, but
they do provide a great opportunity to learn more
about Japanese culture and to visit local restaurants,
shops and so forth with a Japanese-speaker. You can
contact members through the JNTO and Asakusa
information o
ces.
TOURIST INFORMATION RESOURCES
Asakusa Culture and Sightseeing Centre
T
03 3842 5566. Near
Asaka station. Daily 9.30am-8pm.
Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)
W
jnto.go.jp.
Maintains a number of overseas of
ces - see the website for a full list of
locations. JNTO's main Tokyo o
ce (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 9am-noon;
T
03 3201 3331) is on the tenth floor of Tokyo Kōtsū Kaikan, immediately
east of Yūrakuchō station. There are multilingual staff here, a Welcome Inn
desk for booking accommodation across Japan and a notice board with
some information on upcoming events. There are tourist information kiosks
in the arrivals halls at Narita Airport and Haneda Airport.
Odakyū Sightseeing Service Center
T
03 5321 7887,
W
www.odakyu.jp. At ground level on the west side of Shinjuku
station. Daily 8am-6pm.
Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau
W
tcvb.or.jp. O
cial
source of tourist information.
Tokyo Metropolitan Government
W
tourism.metro.tokyo.jp.
O
cial source.
Tokyo Tourist Information Centre
1F Tokyo Metropolitan
Government No. 1 Building, 2-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku
T
03 5321 3077;
Tochō-mae station. The city's best tourist information centre (TIC). Daily
9.30am-6.30pm.
Phoning abroad from Japan
The main companies in Japan offering
inter-
national phone calls
are KDDI (
T
001), Softbank
Telecom (
T
0041), Cable & Wireless IDC (
T
0061)
and NTT (
T
0033). If you want to call abroad from
Japan from any type of phone, choose a company
(there's little difference between them all as far as
rates are concerned) and dial the relevant access
code, then the country code (UK
T
44; Ireland
T
353; US and Canada
T
01; Australia
T
61; New
Zealand
T
64; South Africa
T
27), then the area
code minus the initial zero, then the number. For
operator assistance for overseas calls, dial
T
0051.
You can make international operator-assisted calls
by calling
T
0051 via KDDI.
Phoning Japan from abroad
To
call Japan
from abroad, dial your international
access code (UK and Ireland
T
00; US
T
011;
Canada
T
011; Australia
T
0011; New Zealand
T
00;
South Africa
T
09), plus the country code
T
81,
then the area code minus the initial zero, then
the number.
Travellers with disabilities
Disability has always been something of an uncom-
fortable topic in Japan, with disabled people
generally hidden from public view. In recent years,
however, there has been a certain shift in public
opinion, particularly in the wake of the bestseller
No One's Perfect
by Ototake Hirotada, the upbeat,
forthright autobiography of a 23-year-old student
born without arms or legs.
The government is spearheading a drive to
provide more accessible hotels and other facilities
(referred to as “barrier-free” in Japan). All train and
subway
stations
now have an extra-wide manned
ticket gate and an increasing number have escal-
ators or lifts. Some
trains
, such as the Narita
Time
Tokyo is nine hours ahead of Greenwich Mean
Time, fourteen hours ahead of New York, seventeen
hours ahead of Los Angeles and two hours behind
Sydney. There is no daylight-saving, so during
British Summer Time, for example, the difference
drops to eight hours.
