Japanese food is great! Even if you don't know what something is, try it anyway, it'll probably be very tasty. There are lots of reasonably priced restaurants with models of all their food outside, so you've at least got something to point to. Convenience stores often sell fresh bento (cold boxed lunches) and hot cooked food too. Don't be like Justin and only eat what you're used to.

How to navigate Kyoto: it's worth walking as much as possible, to see the back streets, but to get all the way across the city (or when your feet are about to drop off) you'll want a bus. Get an English map from the tourist office at the base of the Kyoto Tower; most leave from the stops at the train station. You get on at the back, taking a ticket if you're going out of town and pay at the front on your way out - that's a change machine near the driver, put your notes in and give the driver the coins that come out.

How to navigate Tokyo: trains are the way to go here, unfortunately the lines are owned by various different companies which can make the fares very confusing. It doesn't matter if you buy the wrong ticket at first, you can pay transfer fees as you go. The JR Yamanote circle line is probably the most useful. If your hotel doesn't give you an English subway map, get one at a tourist office.

Long distance trains: the Shinkansen and Limited Express are very fast and comfortable - but also very expensive, at about twice the cost of a stopping train to the same destination. My advice is to always buy the cheaper ticket (from the machines), if you end up getting on a more expensive train you'll just be asked to pay the difference.

Missing the Internet? In Kyoto, go to the International Centre on the 9th floor of Kyoto Station - go up the big escalators to the right. There's a fairly small fee. In Tokyo, you can use the Net for free at a smart cafe on the north-west corner of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry building, near Nijubashimae station. Queue up for the laptops near the window. There's a tourist office nearby too in the curvy conference centre a couple of blocks east.

Learn to read the phonetic scripts, Katakana and Hiragana. Then you'll be able to read English words and station names, even if you don't understand the chinese-style Kanji - you need to know about 2000 of those to be considered literate enough to read a newspaper.

Carry an umbrella. The weather was mostly very nice in October, but on the few occasions it did rain - it really rained. The rainfall on spec is 3 times that of Britain, but it tends to come all in one go rather than British-style constant drizzle. Spring and Autumn are supposed to be the best times for traveling.

Enjoy yourself!

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