Welcome to Gaia! ::

One piece of advice: stick to the cities. They likes foreigners there.

Either that, or they see you as the scum of the earth and something that needs to be rooted out of their country, for the sake of the pure blooded Japanese

My most recent trip to Japan was last year for a bit more than a month to visit family and tour. I had gone the year before, too.
Hm, random tips off the top of my head (to be updated more in the future smile )

Something foreigners (especially if you 'look japanese') is that if you're going to be spouting off in Japanese, prepare to listen to a response back in Japanese, sometimes more complex than your comprehension.
I am Japanese and my family is from/still lives there, but I'm not entirely fluent by a long shot, especially with written literature.
My advice: if you have an opportunity to use English and you're not proficient with Japanese, go to English first - this saved my friend several times because he couldn't speak any Japanese, and if I wasn't there to translate, he couldn't ask for any directions, help, etc, so using English before trying to stumble through Japanese was a lot easier.

You don't have to leave gratuity in restaurants -- it's usually included as part of your bill.

Adding on to Akihabara, I would spend just a day or two there, it's not worth planning an entire trip around. I was really excited to go there, but in reality it was actually kind of really weird...A lot of the places are pretty interesting to go visit in Tokyo, but you have to be careful. Also, Tokyo is a lot more expensive than other cities, so if you're planning a trip to go to a different city like Osaka, do your souvenir buying there, unless you specifically want something that says "Tokyo" on it.
You can get some nice electronics there (ask for "American models") unless you can read Japanese. Don't purchase game systems unless it's a handheld, like a DS Lite, or PSP, because other ones which require being hooked up to a TV do not work with North American TVs. The voltage requirement is similar to the American one, so no transformer is really necessary, in Japan it's just a little less.

If you're trying to budget for food (it's not really that ridiculously priced, honestly), you can purchase bentos for reduced price close to closing time at major department stores, stations, etc. They try to get rid of it ASAP, so you can get a great deal for half the price nearly or less.
Also in Japan, "Viking" = Buffet. That's usually more expensive, around 60 USD per person depending on where you're going, but I've seen a lot around this price. If you are a fruit person, eat fruit at your breakfasts at your hotel, because fruit is expensive unless it's Japanese grown, and even then it's more than you would pay at home.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head, but I'll add more as I remember/have time. smile

i feel ya I plan on living in japan when i get older. I'm black/mexican so im going to stick out. if we see each other we could be friends

Is it true that almost 95% of Japanese people are skinny? I know that what they eat is healthier than American restaurants, but I'm hoping to visit someday and to be blunt, I'm more than a little overweight. xd

Is it okay to tour cities without a translator friend if the only Japanese you speak is "arigato" and "gomen nasai"?

Oh wow, thank you! That reassures me very much. The only basis of Japanese culture I've had are the dramas my roommate like to watch and well, they're not really the norm, aren't they? sweatdrop

i am going there with in 5 years...... biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin

Ok, here is my question for the people that have been to/ lived in Japan. I'm planing on becoming a citizen of Japan to teach English, anyone know how the job opportunities for teaching are? Is English a language that is in demand to be taught?