AFAIK Suica is only for JR lines (or rather, you need to have at least one JR line on the route). So whichever one you get depends on what trains you'll be taking. I usually take a bus from Narita but I recall taking a train there on my way home last time. I can't remember which one though :(
Softbank has the most common prepaid phones, and you can get the cards at the conbini (though I don't think you'll need one for that length of time). 300 yen for unlimited texting! It's not a smartphone but it does the job. Unfortunately wifi is still basically nonexistent. :( There's no getting around that. I feel like I heard something about phone rentals in Akihabara, but I never go there so I could be wrong. @_@
I would be happy to let you stay if I had any space whatsoever. D: I found this list of cheap places that look decent, but I can't vouch for any of them personally.
WOW this was not at all helpful alksahf orz. I'm sorry. Hopefully someone else is better informed!
It looks like Suica/Pasmo are pretty interchangeable at this point, so I'll see whatever one is a better deal. How much did the bus from Narita cost you?
Hmmm, the phone looks to be the most difficult part of planning. I'll keep searching! I will be spending most of my time in Akihabara, so maybe I'll find a good deal.
No worries! Will you be in town in June? I'd love to meet up. :D And that list is awesome - just what I'm looking for. Thank you!
Yeah! It depends on your area but I think you'll probably end up going with Suica? JR seems to be the company of choice for travelers. Then again I am biased against the subway. >.> I belieeeeve I took the limo bus (this one) and it was around 3000 yen.
Yeah. Hopefully you can find something! Internet of some kind would be even better, but I'm sure you don't want to spend your trip going from McDonald's, to Starbucks, to McDonald's, to Starbucks... XD
I'll be close! I'm in the process of moving to Kanagawa and starting work, but I might be able to make it out. :D That would be great! And no problem, hopefully they're pretty decent places :3
When I was there in 2012 I spent the first couple months with only a Pasmo. Didn't have any issues in Kanagawa and the Tokyo area. I got a Suica when I travelled away from Kanto, and it was helpful there because you can use it in place of a bunch of other JR cards in other areas. (It keeps expanding as far as I know, though, so by now it might be use-Suica-in-place-of-private-cards-that-would-accept-local-JR-cards? Not sure to what degree Pasmo is accepted outside of Kanto. Possibly it might be just as usable as a Suica but I'm not sure.) Now I'm using a Suica full-time. I live in Kanagawa and use non-JR train lines primarily (along with Kanachu buses), and have never had any issues. If it were me I'd probably get a Suica "just in case" but realistically speaking I doubt you'll have issues with either in the Tokyo area. Besides any places that might not take either (that I can't recall off the top of my head so they're few and far-between, imo
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Suica works basically all over Japan now, so I'd go with that as the better bet. If you're guaranteed to stay within Tokyo, then Pasmo is probably okay? At this point, they're probably nearly exchangeable, and you can use both for electronic payments, as well. Personally I'd go with Suica
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I read something a while back about Japan finally starting to get on that whole free wi-fi thing, and a search found this (and I remember finding a 'free wi-fi for international tourists' spot in Sendai last month, so they do actually exist? XD)! Not sure how good the service is, but probably worth a try for free.
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AFAIK Suica is only for JR lines (or rather, you need to have at least one JR line on the route). So whichever one you get depends on what trains you'll be taking. I usually take a bus from Narita but I recall taking a train there on my way home last time. I can't remember which one though :(
Softbank has the most common prepaid phones, and you can get the cards at the conbini (though I don't think you'll need one for that length of time). 300 yen for unlimited texting! It's not a smartphone but it does the job. Unfortunately wifi is still basically nonexistent. :( There's no getting around that. I feel like I heard something about phone rentals in Akihabara, but I never go there so I could be wrong. @_@
I would be happy to let you stay if I had any space whatsoever. D: I found this list of cheap places that look decent, but I can't vouch for any of them personally.
WOW this was not at all helpful alksahf orz. I'm sorry. Hopefully someone else is better informed!
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Hmmm, the phone looks to be the most difficult part of planning. I'll keep searching! I will be spending most of my time in Akihabara, so maybe I'll find a good deal.
No worries! Will you be in town in June? I'd love to meet up. :D And that list is awesome - just what I'm looking for. Thank you!
Reply
Yeah. Hopefully you can find something! Internet of some kind would be even better, but I'm sure you don't want to spend your trip going from McDonald's, to Starbucks, to McDonald's, to Starbucks... XD
I'll be close! I'm in the process of moving to Kanagawa and starting work, but I might be able to make it out. :D That would be great! And no problem, hopefully they're pretty decent places :3
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