Talk Cancer

Question:

Im planning a backpacking trip this december in japan with my girlfriend, can anyone help me out with information about where to stay, eat, and how to travel arround cheaply? Look for the book "Hiking in Japan" by Paul Hunt, Kodanansha, 1988 which has a lot of information about this and isn’t too out of date.

As you may already know, the Japan National Tourist Office (JNTO) publishes quite a lot of useful information for budget travellers, so you could try contacting  their  nearest office. JNTO should also be able to send you a map and list of youth hostels in Japan,  or you could try writing direct to Japan Youth Hostel Association (Hoken Kaikan, 1-2 Sadohara-cho, Ichigaya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162) which publishes a Handbook (price: Y580?). This is mostly in Japanese, but it has photos and if you’re determined you can work out the essentials. Jan Dodd

Response:

Im planning a backpacking trip this december in japan with my girlfriend, can anyone help me out with information about where to stay, eat, and how to travel arround cheaply? Look for the book "Hiking in Japan" by Paul Hunt, Kodanansha, 1988 which has a lot of information about this and isn’t too out of date.   Rich Hintz

I would rather suggest to check the Lonely Planet travel guide about Japan. The original poster stated that he wants to make a "backpacking trip" not necessarily a hiking trip. The mentioned book "Hiking in Japan" is very much limited to mountain hiking routes in Japan and doesn’t contain any information about cities and that like (btw., it is available in a newer edition 94 or 95, I forgot the exact year). Hope this helps   Andre — * Andre Schramm                                                * * Kyoto University, Faculty of Engineering                     * * WWW:    vader.prec.kyoto-u.ac.jp/schramm/schramm.html        *

Response:

I