Is this doable?
 

Because the cost of tours to Japan are quite expensive, I am thinking about booking a round-trip ticket from LAX to Tokyo on Singapore Airlines (Under $1,000 on their Airbus A380). I would then spent five days in Tokyo, get a train pass, and spend five days in another city (possible Kyoto). I would stay in hostels along the way and read a lot of travel books in the meantime. I would do this during Mid-May.

I have never been to Japan but have done a lot of traveling in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand. I have spent many nights in hostel dorm rooms and can sleep pretty good if I have my iPod and Lite Jazz music.

A nice hotel and expensive meals are not important to me. Instead, I would like to meet some really interesting people. Comments.

5 days in Tokyo would be a bit too much for me but not enough for Kyoto. On a recent round teh world trip we stayed in hostels all over the world but found that they were a bit thin on the ground in Japan 9maybe we did not look hard enough). A nice place to stay in Tokyo is http://www.andon.co.jp/ small rooms and shared bath rooms but great breakfasts and a convenient location for getting around. Good local eating places close by. we certainly met some intersting people there.

Certainly doable. Unlike Crellston, I could easily spend 5, or 20, days in Tokyo without getting antsy about leaving. The key is to find interesting neighborhoods such as Nippori/Yanaka, Asakusa, Azabu-Juban, etc, and explore on foot.

Here is a link to some Tokyo hotels/hostels that are said to be under $40/night:
http://www.japan-world.net/phpBB3/vi...php?f=2&t=3047

I much prefer to travel in Japan (and elsewhere, usually) independently. However, someone has suggested JTB Sunrise Tours (http://www.jtb-sunrisetours.jp/JTB.S...ours/FrontEnd/), and they do seem to offer some decent packages at different price points.

Think your plan is fine did it that way on my RTW years ago.

Also prefer to self-guide

except if doing adventure travel in unfamiliar or dodgy areas.

www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/japan/kyoto

one of my fav booking sites with rankings

and usually a very small amount to pay up front

for a reservation.

Thanks for your responses. I'm about ready to book the flight. (My friends are telling me I have ants in my pants) How would you recommend getting from the airport to the hostel? Are there ground transportation buses or is the subway the only way? After a long flight with wine, I'm afraid that I might have trouble finding anything.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2027.html

There are several ways to get from NRT into Tokyo. Above link explains them - it depends where your hotel/hostel is located and your budget as well.
btw, japan-guide.com is an excellent source for info about visiting Japan.
Enjoy!

It is not only doable, it is easy!

Japanese hostels tend to be pretty nice. Here is an excellent hostel booking site:

http://www.hostelworld.com/countries/japanhostels.html

My daughter used them for much of her lodging last summer in Europe, and again in Asia.

If you will only be traveling between Tokyo and Kyoto, it might not be worth the trouble to get a railpass.

Thanks again. Actually, instead of finding a different hostel each night, I thought I could get the train pass and visit someplace each morning and come back in the evening. I pack pretty light, but it is nice to be in the same location for a couple of nights.

K's House (http://kshouse.jp/) comes highly recommended. There are two hostels in Tokyo (Asakusa) and one in Kyoto.

http://kshouse.jp/index_e.html

Sydney2K's link doesn't seem to work - try mine...that looks like a cool place to stay if I were a few decades younger...

That's because for whatever reason Fodor's text renderer included the close bracket as part of the URL. Foolish renderer!

Sorry, Sydney2K, I didn't really study your link - I just clicked on it....yes, if I erase the bracket, it works fine...I'm impatient. ;-)
What's a text renderer?

I always remove the http:// and replace it with www. It seems to always work.

I stayed at a nice four star hotel in Frankfurt, Germany last summer. When I arrived, breakfast was an extra 15 Euros, Internet was an extra 12.5 Euros and Air-Conditioning was an extra 20 Euros. I had all of those things for free at the hostel in Barcelona. Hostels are a great way to meet people from around the world. Unfortunately, some people are too addicted to the Internet and are not too social.

No need to apologise Mara.

When you type your message into the reply box, any internet links will automatically be recognised as such and converted into a clickable link by the process that publishes your message online; ie., text renderer. What the Fodor text renderer did was to mistake the close bracket as part of the link.

Sakura Hostel in Ikebukuro is also well recommended. It's very busy, so there should be no shortage of interesting people to meet there! (http://www.sakura-hotel-ikebukuro.com/) <- (did you see what the renderer did? Naughty renderer!)

I saw what the software did. But I didn't understand is why the typist, who recogni{z|s}ed the software's shortcomings, did not insert a space before the closed {parenthesis|bracket}.

rizzuto, lol...
Sydney2K - when I put a link in a message here I just copy it from the other tab where I have it opened and paste - it doesn't have parentheses.....
Anyway, the Sakura Hotel looks nice as well - particularly for younger people...its private room looks similar to Toyoko Inn...

Thanks Sydney and Mara. This place looks pretty good and hopefully they would be able to tell me how to get their their other hostels--in English.


www.kshouse.jp/index_e.html