Nagasaki is a city in the westernmost part of Japan. It has a rich history of trade and war. Because it used to be the only port open to the outside world during the isolation period, there are a lot of foreign influences all over the city. If you have just two days to visit Nagasaki, here's a little guide based on my experience.

Most people will arrive in Nagasaki by train. If you are planning to come by train as well, check my 7 tips for train travel in Japan. The train station is the best place to start. First of all if you are staying in a hotel that is on the list on this page, do check-in first. You will receive a discount card valid for three days that will be used through out this guide.

Nagasaki is best explored by foot and using the streetcars (tramways). You can get an all day pass for 500 yen in your hotel. Single ride is 120 yen regardless the distance. I've put all points of interest described in this guide to a Google map below.

Trains are the most comfortable way of travel in Japan. Planes are faster and often cheaper but boarding takes time and airports tend to be far from the city. Buses are cheaper but they don't offer much comfort. Here are 7 tips that will help you to get the most out of the Japanese trains.

1. There's more than just Japan Railways Group

 

While JR operates the shinkansen trains and covers most of Japan, there are other companies such as Nishitetsu in the west or Keikyu in Kanto region (including Tokyo). JR Group itself consists of several companies.

It is always advisable to check which company offers the best and cheapest way to get to your destination. Unless you own JR Pass, the non-JR companies are often better (faster, cheaper and also servicing more remote areas). Which leads us to...

2. JR Pass

 

This is the best option for foreigners and non-residents who plan to use shinkansen a lot. JR Pass offers unlimited travels on JR Group trains and JR operated buses and ships for one, two or three weeks. It can be purchased only outside of Japan. The one week pass costs about the same price as a ticket to Osaka and back. If you are going to do more than this one trip, then it will save you a lot of money. I travelled all the way from Tokyo to Aomori, while visiting Fukushima and then back to Tokyo followed by trip to Kyoto on JR Pass. JR Pass includes free seat reservation.

For more information, check the official website. It lists all official resellers in all countries. There is an online service offering the JR pass and sending it by mail, but I haven't tried it, so I can't say anything about it...

3. JR Pass is not the only pass...

 

JR Group companies offer their own separate passes and some of them are really sweet deals. For example JR East (covers Tokyo) offers a 5 days pass but those 5 days don't have to be consecutive. JR West has variety of passes and so on. These passes can be purchased in Japan with a valid tourist stamp from the immigration (the sticker in your passport). You can visit all the websites of the companies from the main page of JR pass.

4. Discounted tickets are often better than the passes

 

A lot of people don't know about these tickets and that includes the Japanese. There are shops at major stations that sell discounted tickets. Not just train tickets but buses, concert tickets and so on. Usually they come from people who sell them for whatever reason. The shops also hunt for bulk discounts and then resell those tickets.

For example JR Kyushu offers special group and return tickets. They are called "juumaikippu" (literally: ten piece ticket). This ticket is available from JR on some routes (such as popular Fukuoka - Nagasaki). 10 piece ticket costs cca 25700 yen, therefore 2570 per piece. Single ticket is 4500 yen. The shop sells the ticket fora bit more than 2570 yen and makes everybody happy. If you can't find it, you can still purchase "X - mai - kippu" yourself from JR. Useful when travelling with a group!

This is how such shops look like. The first example is easy, because it says: "TICKET"

The second example is more tricky, because it says Chiketto Fukuoka only in Japanese.

5. When lost, find the place where they exchange JR Passes at the station

 

All major stations have a place that changes the vouchers for passes. Check the official website for locations. These little kiosks always have English speaking staff and they can actually make all your reservations for any kind of JR trains. There are also shorter queues!

6. Use Hyperdia

 

Japan has a route planner for public transport called Hyperdia. The website is great and it can find all trains, buses and domestic flights between two points for you. And it's in English. They also have apps, but the apps can only be purchased in USA and Japan and you have to pay for them monthly.

7. Need internet?

 

Free wireless internet is still not a standard in Japan. Because Japanese telco operators were very quick in providing Wi-Fi for their customers, there was no need for the free one. The good news is that some of the convenient stores now provide free Wi-Fi and they are located at most of the stations.

Two notable examples are 7/11 (7SPOT) and FamilyMart (Famima_Wi-fi). Other konbinis are not as easy to use or are paid. You can find instructions how to connect to Famima_Wi-fi here. However the easiest way is to ask the staff. While they most likely won't speak English, here's a simple broken Japanese phrase for you: "Intaanetto oh' oshiete kudasai" which means "teach me internet please". You will have to login each time you will be using the internet, so pay attention.

Note that Starbucks, some information counters, tourist areas and hotels now also provide free wi-fi.

The end of my studies at GenkiJACS is near. I am going to finish in two weeks. It's time to summarize my experience.

I was very lucky in the beginning. I was in a class with people who had real interest in learning Japanese and challenged me every day to get better. Most of them had already some knowledge of the language which made me work really hard. The first three months were amazing. I got solid foundations in Japanese that I use every day.

After forced three weeks break I came back to school and found it extremely crowded. Most of my classmates were gone. For a few weeks new classmates were coming and going and the progress was stalled. It seemed that first two weeks we didn't do any progress at all. It got better later on, but I felt like we are not learning enough, because we didn't get as much practice.

I wanted to finish the Genki 2 textbook and I calculated that I am more than 3 weeks short. I decided to jump to a higher class in the middle of the second term. I also didn't get along with some of the new classmates. Fortunately in the higher class, all of the students had real interest in learning the language again and they were all better than me, forcing me to push myself again. The class also got smaller giving me room to breath.

Here's a list of what went well, what didn't and what I really didn't like:

 

The Good

• Teachers - Certainly the teachers and the staff. Everybody was very helpful and tried to entertain everybody. Which was not always good as covered in "The Bad".
• Progress - I made remarkable progress from having zero knowledge to being able to  communicate with Japanese people. Even though I make a lot of mistakes, I can have a conversation about daily life.
• Textbook and materials - The textbook is well organized and the extra materials and bonus grammar covered by the school proved useful.
• Location - The school is in the city center, easy to commute.
• Accommodation - Even though the apartment was really small, it offered comfortable stay for six months.

 

The Bad

• Grammar was not practiced enough - We learned new grammar, practiced it for a week and moved to a new chapter. While in the beginning this was fine, because I use the foundations every day, later I easily forgot what I learned two weeks ago. The difficult grammar is not used as often in daily conversation.
• You can join the school with any level of knowledge at any time of the year - Why was this bad? Selfish reasons only. Especially later on, there were students of various levels and from different backgrounds in the same class. Some of them got bored, while others had troubles keeping up.
• Some teachers didn't use Kanji when writing on whiteboard and wrote everything in Hiragana - therefore we didn't practice Kanji as much as we could have. Maybe this was partly caused by the point above. I kept reminding them.
• Summer holidays - The school was crowded during summer holidays. High school and university students flooded GenkiJACS. The website claims that classes are limited to a maximum of 7 students, and usually have around 4, giving you plenty of chance to practice with the teacher. During summer the usual was 6 to 7 and I have been in class with 8 students more than once. Some of the classrooms are not big enough for six people. During the two summer months, I never had enough space. The lounge was often packed and there was no room to sit.
• No windows - The classrooms have no windows, only air conditioners. The rooms were created by splitting a big room into smaller ones. Some of the rooms ended up with a huge airconditioner and they were either freezing or hot. And of course there was no fresh air.

 

Summary

I liked the school, especially the first three months. I never had so much fun learning a language from a scratch as in GenkiJACS and I believe they taught me well. However the second term was not as much fun. Some of the fun teachers teach only the Beginner 1 and I really missed them in the second term. The progress was not as smooth as before and I also didn't get along with some classmates. I don't get annoyed easily and I did get annoyed in GenkiJACS in summer more than I would like.

The decision to jump to higher class seems like a good idea now, but I spent tough three weeks studying in the new class while trying to catch up. It's over now. Two more weeks to go and I think I am going to enjoy the school again.

Fukuoka is a nice place to be, but everybody said this year's weather was worse than usual. We got a lot of rain and only a couple of weeks of beach weather. It was better here in spring than it is now in summer and I am hoping for nice indian summer.

I'd choose GenkiJACS again if I could study in spring and I'd probably pay for at least one extra private lesson per week to go through last week's grammar to make up for the lack of practice.

If you study at GenkiJACS long enough, you will have to take take a big test. This test comes after finishing the first textbook, Genki 1. The test consists of a grammar, listening, interview and vocabulary part.

The grammar test is very similar to the tests the school gives you every few lessons. Most of the questions ask you to fill in a particle or write a sentence using a correct form. This part is scored with points and 70% is needed to pass.

The listening was pretty hard. It sounded easy and we all laughed at the beginning because the voice was speaking slowly and monotonously, but everybody had troubles with it. Scoring was the same as grammar.

Interview was probably the easiest part. It is performed by the examining teacher and the questions don't require any special grammar, just a very basic conversation skills. It is also scored leniently using A - F marks (I think).

Vocabulary test contains kanji as well. Multiple choice questions, pretty easy. Scored by points and same requirement as the grammar and listening.

If you don't pass the test, not much happens, but the school can put you in lower class again to go through the lessons again... I did not study for the test, but I did all my homeworks and never skipped a lesson. The only problem was the listening which I knew will be my weakness.

While living in Japan I had a chance to visit a birthday party and a concert of a Japanese musician playing on a set of rather uncommon instruments. I had a chance to try three of them and discovered a hidden talent: playing a simple wooden nose flute :)

It took me just a few seconds and I could perform simple tunes. The flute uses mount as a resonating chamber and it is somewhat similar to whistling. If you are like me not playing any instruments, give this one a try. It's really simple!

The flute I own now comes from Vietnam, but you can get it anywhere. Here's a video of me playing Happy Birthday song.

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Genki 1 by The Japan Times is a textbook that my language school GenkiJACS uses to teach Japanese to beginners. The book expects you to know hiragana while katana and kanji are not required. Genki contains a hiragana table, but you won't be able to learn anything without being proficient in hiragana. You will gradually learn katakana by using Japanese words that originated from English and the book teaches Kanji with extra vocabulary.

The book si very well organized and the school doesn't deviate much from the course set by the book. It teaches basic grammar first, but each chapter contain listening and reading parts, too. At school, the speaking excercises are done as well. There are a few things I don't like about the book, but they are just really minor nitpicks. For example once a special case of a rule was added as new grammar and later explained fully. However this style is good for people who want to learn only some parts of the language.

The intensive course covers about 1 chapter per week which feels like an ideal pace. The first book contains 12 chapters. While studying with Genki I had a feeling for very long time that I can't use any Japanese. However around chapter 8, I suddenly started to feel that I can communicate with the Japanese people. It all somehow clicked together at that time.

Genki at GenkiJACS

The school is using both Genki books, Genki 1 and Genki 2. There are also workbooks available for both the first and the second book, but we don't have them and we are using photocopies and other excercises created by the teachers. The answer key is of course available as well, if you want to spoil your study...

If you are planning to study at GenkiJACS I can highly recommend getting at least the first book and study the first 3 chapters yourself. They are very easy and it will save you 3 weeks of relatively easy topics.

While studying Japanese, one needs a nice place to rest, recharge and do homework. GenkiJACS provides accommodation as well. It is optional, but it made everything much easier for me. I picked a private apartment, because for six months study it was only 53,000 JPY per month and I needed my own space for work.

There are of course other options available and you can read about them on GenkiJACS website. From other schoolmates experience, I can say that homestay can be both good and bad. The website claims 40 mins from school on average, but you can end up an hour bus ride far as well. But of course you have the option to speak Japanese every day with the family. Note that host family is sometimes just one person.

Dorm is good for people who like to hangout with other foreigners and I would definitely pick it for shorter stay. I only know one person who stayed in shared apartment. The upside was that it was in the same building as the school. The downside - it was noisy, small and of course you have no say in who will live with you.

My apartment is quite small, but it has everything I need. It came with everything including TV, wi-fi, table, chair, bed, fridge, fully equipped kitchenette and also washing machine, hair dryer, iron and vacuum cleaner. It is a wooden floor type apartment with a bed and a tiny Japanese style bathroom. You can see the main room on the picture.

It is however not 5-10 mins walk from the school as the website claims, but rather a 40 mins brisk walk. There's also no direct bus nor subway and I ended up buying a bike. It takes me about 15 minutes to reach the school with it. At first it looked like a nuisance, but in the end I am glad I was forced to buy the bike. Fukuoka is very bicycle friendly.

The location itself is very nice though. Quiet at night but has plenty of bars, restaurants and services nearby. It's only about 2 mins from subway and bus station. There's a konbini (7/11) at the bus stop and a post office and a big gym are also nearby. A bit further, but still just 10 mins walk is a 24h supermarket with better prices than the konbini.

Because I like running, I am quite happy with the 2km distance to the great runners friendly park Ohori koen.

I met the agent who takes are of the apartment when I came to Fukuoka and in about 10 minutes I was already living in my new home. He also takes care of all the bills and I must say I am very happy in this place now.

If you plan a trip to Japan and your itinerary says Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, you are missing a lot of beautiful places that are well worth visiting. Here's a list of my six favourite places I have visited and are missed by majority of tourists and travellers alike.

When I first read throught the whole GenkiJACS page, I really liked two things: The instant estimate that was quite close to the final price and the chat with GenkiJACS representative. I had all the information I needed before I even asked them for the final price.

I wanted to go to Fukuoka because it seemed like a nice city. It has a small beach and the weather is nice, if you don't mind a short rainy period and hot summer. Fukuoka's rainy period looks like Central European spring, but it's a bit warmer. And since I spent 4 years in Malaysia, hot&humid is what I am used to as well. The city is just the right size to have everything and not feel crowded at the same time.
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People are a bit friendlier here and not as busy as in other Japanese big cities. There are also a lot of families with young children. If you've only visited Tokyo or Osaka with a trip to Kyoto, you will be very surprised.

The school is located in a nice district, close to the centre. If you arrive at the school during a lesson, it will feel quiet. Which happened to me when I went to take the orientation test. But during the breaks, you realize how busy the school actually is...

At the entrance there's a shoe rack and you have to change to slippers. Just by looking at the number of shoes gives you a good idea how many students study there. The receptionists are very friendly and if you came for the first time, they will help you get around.

GenkiJACS has a big lounge and it's gonna be the first room you'll see. You can eat there and socialize with the other students. Since you can't eat in classrooms, so this room gets full during lunch break :) It's easy to start conversation with other students, because most of them have similar interests... And they all study Japanese :)

The classrooms are small, designed for a maximum of 6 students. It happened to me that we had 7 students in the classroom, but some of the original classmates left after a few weeks and our class has only 4 people now. It's an ideal number where everyone gets time to speak. And it was actually fine to have more people in the class in the beginning, because there wasn't much talking. I've become a good friend with my classmates in the first few days and it always felt sad when classmates finished their studies and left...

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It's been now ten weeks since I joined the school. It's the first half of my study with GenkiJACS and I am going to resume studying after a three weeks holiday that I really need right now :) But I can say that afte 10 weeks studying Japanese I am able to communicate with locals when I initiate the conversation and it feels great!

Mt. Aso or Aso-san (阿蘇山) is one of the largest volcanoes in the world and it is the largest active in Japan. It's located in Kumamoto prefecture on the Kyushu island and it's one of the biggest attractions of Kyushu.

Mt. Aso is more an area than just a mountain. What is usually called Mt. Aso now consists of five major peaks. Mt. Naka or Naka-dake in Japanese is the currently active one. I was lucky to be taken to Mt. Aso by friends by a car, which looked like by far the easiest way. There is a parking lot just next to the main crater. Bus tours usually end at the base of a cable car which is used to get to the volcanic rim. It is closed when the volcanic activity raises.

My first visit to Japan happened in 2007. I was a student back themequipped with only a very bad digital 2MPix camera and I did not know much about travelling. It was my first big trip on my own.

I did experience a culture shock when I first arrived to Japan, but I experienced another one when I came back. Japan is really different from any other country. The language barrier can be a problem, but everything else works so smoothly in Japan, I got used to it quickly and then I missed all the little things back in Europe.

In Japan everything is convenient (especially if you understand Japanese) and people who offer any kind of service are always trying to do their best to give the best service possible. Sometimes I was surprised how they already expected what I wanted. Even with zero Japanese I was still able to get around just fine.

During my first visit I got my share of a good food, history&culture and weird Japan. One of the weirdest experiences was a visit to a parasitology museum in Meguro, Tokyo which I happily revisited during my other visits as well.

Boryeong Mud Festival that takes place every summer in Korea is definitely worth a visit. The mud in the region is said to have healing properties. And it's true, because having fun is good for you and you will have a lot of fun there. The next festival is happening between 18th July 2014 and 27th July 2014.

Boryeong (보령시) is a city on the west coast of Korea. The festival is located in Daecheon (대천동), which is a small township near the city center. Getting to Boryeong is very easy, there's a train from Seoul all the way there (Yongsan station, approx two and half hours).

When you get to Boryeong, you need to take a bus to Daecheon. It stops at the train station. Remember to say: "Beach-e", when you want to go to the beach. That's how you pronounce beach in Korea ;)

I visited the festival in 2011 and it was simply awesome. Everything was mud and mud is fun. Mud slides, pools, showers. There were plenty of games that will hep you make friends very quickly. Some of the games ended up in a mud lynch.I quickly learned that the most important thing when you lose is to cover you ears!

I've been to the festival twice the same year. Both days were equally fun. Most of the visitors were young Koreans and travellers. Some other travellers a I met said it was not as much fun during the weekend. I guess it gets a bit crowded (with sexy people though :)). I also made a lot of new friends, even though there were some funny misunderstandings between us, because they did not really speak English and I of course speak zero Korean. One moment totally cracked me up, when one of the guys offered me to go on a slide with his girlfriend by saying: "Do you want to enjoy with her?"

Here's some more info about the festival:

• http://www.mudfestival.or.kr/english/festival/festival1.php
• http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=697135
• http://www.boryeongmudfestival.com/

The cost of travelling can be divided into four groups: transportation, accommodation, food and other expenses. I've been always able to cut the cost of my travels to minimum by paying nothing for accommodation and it is certainly possible to save on the other three as well.

Free accommodation?

While people usually try to save by going to cheaper hotel or hostel, it's possible to pay absolutely nothing. Today I received my new couchsurfing.org (CS) postcard. CS is one of the social network and its target audience are travellers. There's more than just CS in the same category, but I have been using CS the longest. The oldest is probably hospitalityclub.org and one of the newest ones is bewelcome.org.

 The postcard is just a proof that I live where I claim to live ;)

In all these networks you are able to find friends that will host you at their homes. By visiting meetings and being a good guest and host yourself, you become more trustworthy, increasing your chances of finding a host or friends.

Living a place instead of just visiting

People all around the world like to meet travellers and show them around (for many reasons... :)). I've seen the world from a different perspective. I like to travel to a destination and live there instead of being just a tourist. And the traveller social networks certainly enable me to do so. When I am lucky the locals invite me to their homes and their lives and that's more valuable to me than just sightseeing. They say that the best things in life are free. I don't agree, because nothing is really free. The saying should read: "The best things in life can't be bought." and I'd agree with that one. Travelling on tight budget gave me more than I could ever buy.

I have always loved Japan and I sometimes wonder myself how could have I spent so much time there without knowing any Japanese and how did I manage to find such great friends with a huge language barrier. I must have been very lucky.

You've probably read or heard about Japanese bathing culture. Everything is true. You enter the hot bath naked and there can be other naked people as well. But most guides won't tell you one secret - you can actually bath all by yourself or with your partner (or anyone you wish ;)).

Taxi is one of the most convenient ways of getting around in Malaysia and especially in Kuala Lumpur. There are public transport options, but they don't cover the whole city and can be unreliable.