5 things I learned in five days in Japan

I write this article from Kyoto, where I arrived yesterday from Tokyo. It goes without saying that I am traveling to Japan. It is the first time I visit this country, and as you can imagine, I think a real daring attempt to summarize in 'only 5' things I've learned in the days that I've been here, since there are many more, but still affected by the jet lag, I do titanic effort to summarize.

1. Orientate in Japan: OK, I'm biased. My fatal sense of direction makes it able to lose even in my own home (and do not live in Buckingham Palace), but is that what Japan or Tokyo, that was my first city to visit, has It has been too severe test. Test, of course, I failed. First, language, obviously everything is in Japanese, and although more and more English translations, its very complete metro network with impossible names and 200 outputs for each station find it does not help and that is when you walk into a space-time loop insurmountable. Orientate in Tokyo is really difficult, so a trick, take the routes stored in Google Maps on your smartphone.

2. They do not speak English, a country able to be understood by a calligraphy as beautiful as impossible not speak English. Let us not worth much more than enough, but at least we have spent years trying with varying degrees of success. While in the end manage to make you understand-and this really I have no idea how to explain but it is up tierno-, I only found people who speak English in hotels and a restaurant where the speaker the eye is the chef who is cooking you, because here the chefs cook in front of you and only for you. What did you think?

3. It is not an expensive country: in fact, it is not expensive. Speaking of hospitality perhaps the price to skyrocket a bit more (a 4-star Tokyo will not fall from 160 € / night, such as the Park Hotel, one of two where I was staying), but within lunch or dinner, for example, can be better than good dinner for € 20 per person (sushi, ramen, gyoza, etc.). Get ready to burn Visa (Visa what is said and now you will see why) in both beauty products (which vice with creams, masks, makeup and other) and clothing (in Uniqlo can buy 100% cashmere sweaters 20 €. Little word).
4. ladakh festival 2016

4. Best Cash: Japan, technological mecca, is a country that prefers to pay cash rather than by credit card, but then be able to open a hotel staffed by robots. In hotels and fancy restaurants like Kyubei wonderful restaurant (tasting menu from 100 € without drinks) will have no problem, but to get around the city (including a big city like Tokyo), better bring cash because on especially in the restaurants on the street do not allow debit cards. Nor, and this is something that surprised me just landed at the airport ticket office to buy train tickets to the city center.