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Japan - what you should know

CNN's Richard Quest

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- CNN's Richard Quest offers some tips and travel advice for fellow business travellers to Japan.

Keeping in touch

CDMA and GSM mobile phones don't work here. Nor do western issued Blackberry's. However European 3G phones do work here and if you are thinking of upgrading back home, this might be the time to do it. Skype is a suitable alternative for calls from your hotel.

Advice
Mobile phones can be rented very reasonably from the airport at a rate of around US$10 and $2 per day with calls reasonably priced.

Getting around

Airport to town
From Narita Airport to Tokyo will cost around 21000 yen in a taxi (around $200) but the trip can be done very reasonably and comfortably by Airport Limousine Coach (allow at least one hour). One service does the rounds of the main hotels, the other takes you to the City Airport Bus Terminal and costs around 3000 yen ($26). From there you can get a taxi to your hotel

Advice
When you land go to the Airport Information Office and get them to write down the name and address of your hotel in Japanese, to give to the taxi driver at the bus terminal.

Around town
Taxis' flat fare is 660 yen (around $5.50) but takes you quite a long way. The subway is easy to use out of rush hour; the stations are all marked in English and are numbered. However, get your hotel to write the destination address in Japanese, so you can always show it to someone for help.

Money

ATMs don't accept most western cash cards, including Cirrus and Maestro, nor foreign issued Visa or MasterCards. The same is true for ATMs in convenience stores. However, they can be used at the Post Office. Locate your nearest post office to your hotel.

Advice
This is one country where I would still strongly recommend changing some money before your arrive and bringing travellers cheques for emergency.

Top tip

Hot coffee can be bought in a sealed bottle from just about every convenience store on every corner - it is quick, tasty and cheap (around $1).

Have your say

What other advice would you give first-time business travellers to Japan? Send you comments to businesstraveller@cnn.com and we will publish them, below.

I think the Japanese have the right ingredients for healthy cities -- giving them dynamic purpose and access privileged through good quality public transportation. We were fortunate to rent a Japanese cell phone -- surprised to learn that our Verizon Wireless International phone (Samsung A790) works everywhere in the world except Japan. Fortunately, we learned this one week prior to our trip which left enough time for Verizon to send me a phone. The phone actually came from Vodafone, not Verizon and cost $2.49 per minute, plus $5.00 per day rental. Food in Japan was good, but we noticed that you do not make any attempts to specialize the menu -- no special orders. If it is not on the menu, they are reticent about serving it. Language was a problem too. Our Japanese guidebooks gave us some basic language and phrases, but on the whole, people in Japan do not speak English. As a result, most of our communication was performed in gestures. Ordering food was based on pointing at pictures or plastic models of the meal.
Amy and Jeffrey Stevens, New York, USA

The reason that Tokyo tops business cost of living surveys is because they assume that you are a high-powered executive living in a vast luxury apartment (where you wear your shoes inside) with children attending a top international school, a maid and a driver to take you and your wife to the theatre twice a week and Michiba's in Ginza for lunch. At the other end of the scale I've seen plenty of business meetings conducted in Doutor Coffee. I travel to Japan every year to visit the in-laws. 2006 was the first time we could use our Australian mobile phones, as they are on the Vodafone 3G (UMTS) network. (Worked fine in Singapore, too.) As for ATM, I've had no problems, though in Kobe there have been international ATMs for quite some time. Yes, Citibank Japan is different to Citibank elsewhere, though it was my wife who experienced the wrong end of it when we moved to Australia. By the same token, Australian banks that operate in Japan can't seem to replace a card without you traveling to an branch in Australia to pick it up.
Bradley, Canberra, Australia

Having lived in Japan for three years on assignment with my American company, it took me longer to learn what you quickly learned in days - that indeed, Japan is quite different from other places! The key I soon discovered, is to "accept" rather than to "question." Once you do, you will notice simple things like ATM's emblazoned with CITIBANK or VISA on them and on their glass booths. These ATM's DO accept CIRRUS, STAR, and other international network cards. These machines are in every arrival hall of every international airport in Japan - usually beside the machines for the local Japanese banks. These glass booths are also found in every shopping center, even in obscure shopping streets or Dori, and in Japan's smaller cities. But you have to know what you are looking for and that is the mystery behind Japan. There is a system for everything in Japan and so long as you know how the system works, all is fine. The key is to seek to understand the system as quickly as possible and all will be well. You remember the song "Turning Japanese"? There is some truth to that and as I have learned, "thinking Japanese" when in Japan goes a long way towards unlocking some of that mystery. Travel is a continuous discovery and travel in Japan highlights that more than any place else I have been.
Tom, Cincinnati, USA

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Western business travellers may find Japan challenging, but some preparation will make life much easier.