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Mobile phone(s) Many of Japan’s ski areas are covered by one or more mobile-phone networks, and these are a great way to keep in touch with others in your party. You can easily rent mobile phones in Japan (Click here).

Before you start your skiing day, it’s also useful to grab a bunch of ¥1000 notes and ¥500 and ¥1000 coins, as many of the rest houses on the mountain have vending machines.

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CAN YOU SAY SKI IN JAPANESE?

That’s right: it’s ‘ski’ (alright, it’s pronounced more like ‘sukee’). But the point is, communication won’t be much of a problem on your Japan ski trip. Tackling the language barrier has never been easier: most resorts employ a number of English-speaking foreigners on working-holiday visas. They work the lifts and in the cafeterias, and often find work in the hotels or ryokan that are most popular with foreign guests. All major signs and maps are translated into English, and provided you have some experience at large resorts back home, you’ll find the layout and organisation of Japanese resorts to be pretty intuitive. The information counter at the base of the mountain always has helpful and polite staff available to answer questions.

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Tokyo

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HISTORY

ORIENTATION

INFORMATION

DANGERS & ANNOYANCES

SIGHTS

ACTIVITIES

WALKING TOUR

COURSES

TOKYO FOR CHILDREN

TOURS

FESTIVALS & EVENTS

SLEEPING

EATING

DRINKING

ENTERTAINMENT

SHOPPING

GETTING THERE & AWAY

GETTING AROUND

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You know Tokyo – perhaps from the illustrated pages of Akira, or the films of Akira Kurosawa. Maybe your personal style is informed by Harajuku street fashion or the classic avant-garde of Comme des Garçons; maybe your musical taste runs to BoA or the Zazen Boys. Or maybe you only know it in passing, from images of pulsing pedestrian traffic across Shibuya Crossing, stereotypes of buttoned-up businessmen or a clip of an incomprehensibly wacky Japanese game show. This is a city where a macaque can work as a waiter and unconventional individuals find freedom in the anonymity of the city – the Japanese aphorism, the nail that stands up gets hammered down doesn’t necessarily apply in Tokyo.

Tokyo’s bubbling nabe (pot) of creativity is a rich, long-simmering brew resulting from the mix of age-old Japanese traditions, a modern uberurban society and novel international ingredients. Likewise, its cuisine, popular culture and psyche are curious blends of old Japan and twists of modern tastes. It’s a city torn between the rigidity of rules and etiquette, and the flux of reinvention and fusion – all of which create a flavour that is heady with subtle, fleeting nuances of the recognisable and the totally foreign. The city’s massive scale alone means a stunning abundance of idiosyncratic experiences.

So how well can you get to know Tokyo?

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HIGHLIGHTS

Stroll the grounds of Meiji-jingū, Tokyo’s most impressive Shintō shrine

Snapshots of goth Lolitas at Jingū-bashi, who pose and preen for your photographic pleasure

Take in high art and low culture in Roppongi

Dodge flying fish on the floor of Tsukiji Fish Market and feast on early-morning sushi

Attend the seasonal spectacle of sumō at Ryōgoku Kokugikan for salt-slinging, belly-slapping and solemn ritual

See how the Edo-half lived at the wonderful Edo-Tokyo Museum

TELEPHONE CODE: 03

POPULATION: 12.56 MILLION

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HISTORY

Tokyo is something of a miracle, a city that rose from the ashes of WWII to become one of the world’s leading economic centres.

Tokyo was formerly known as Edo (literally ‘Gate of the River’), so named for its location at the mouth of Sumida-gawa. The city first became significant in 1603, when Tokugawa Ieyasu established his shōgunate (military government) there. Edo grew into a city from which the Tokugawa clan governed the whole of Japan. By the late 18th century it had become the most populous city in the world. When the authority of the emperor was