Discussion
Well I am sure it will be an adventure, I used to work in F1 and Suzuka was always fun even if sometimes it was due to bizarre reasons the language barrier created, trying to get the bill after a meal once resulted in the owner thinking we were trying to hire his waitress for "additional services", even stranger was he had no objection but we needed to pay more !! I can tell you the international use of sign language got very eye opening....
Back on topic. Suzuka is a relatively tiny place so finding a hotel which is not already booked out by the teams is unlikely, my friend who had a Japanese speaking girlfriend stayed in Nagoya and got a train in from there each day. Nagoya is also more tourist friendly for eating out.
Probably best to look here for more info with it being such a specialist event to attend.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/groups/going-to-the-jap...
Back on topic. Suzuka is a relatively tiny place so finding a hotel which is not already booked out by the teams is unlikely, my friend who had a Japanese speaking girlfriend stayed in Nagoya and got a train in from there each day. Nagoya is also more tourist friendly for eating out.
Probably best to look here for more info with it being such a specialist event to attend.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/groups/going-to-the-jap...
Hello.
I have been to Suzuka, and whilst I did go in a group with one Japanese friend I am confident that you will be fine over there - it isn't the moon.
It is a fantastic track, and was the best F1 experience I have had so far. If you have never been to Japan then that is an even greater bonus. I posted the below in the link given above, however let me paste it here to save you some time. All I would say is if you do go you will not regret it and it will be a memory for life.
>>>>
I too was lucky enough to get to the Japanese Grand Prix this year (2013). My own observations and ideas which might help anyone in the future.
1) Firstly if you are considering going to Suzuka for the race, do it if at all possible. The track is right up there with Spa and the people attending are just wonderful – enthusiastic, friendly and helpful. They are not quote'crazy' as Sky and the BBC always seem to portray. In fact the Sky camera crew were at the gate as people were coming in trying to whip them up into the frenzy you see in their coverage, so many assume that is how the place is.
You will not regret making the effort to go and it is no more difficult than any other race to get to once in the country and even though people don't always speak English they will know where you are heading and will do their best to help you get to your destination if you are lost.
2) Stay in Nagoya and book the hotel a few months earlier (i.e. January or February) – you can always cancel if your trip falls through. The city is very lively of an evening. We stayed in Hotel Trusty – very friendly and just a short taxi ride from the train station. Don't stay in just because you can't read all the signs - many people in this forum appear to have done just that and then think the city isn't up to much. They could not be more wrong.
3) Get a Japan Rail Pass before you go to Japan (it has to be bought outside Japan) – £180 may seem a lot but considering that the journey from Tokyo to Nagoya is much of that cost it becomes clear that it is something of an investment as wondrous as the Shinkansen bullet train is, it is a pretty penny. It covers all your journey right up to the circuit which itself is about 45 minutes from Nagoya and one stop after Suzuka itself. We didn’t feel the need to prebook a seat to the circuit and started queuing at 8am for the 8.37am train – we got on. Even if you did book seats, if the train is packed by the time you get on it you will have trouble finding them, and are you going to want to kick an elderly Japanese woman out of your seat if you find she is sat in it? You'll be stood on the train for about 45 minutes. Note the train station for the track is SUZUKA CIRCUIT INO - Not Suzuka.
4) Friday allows you access to any stand, so we had a look around the more expensive seats. We were on 130R for the race and those tickets were only £88 for the whole weekend - let me say that again - THE WHOLE WEEKEND!. Having sat around the circuit I would say C is a great spot as previously mentioned but the Q stand gives you an amazing view of most of the track and indeed you must be able to see the cars for a good 30 seconds or so in total from that spot. 130R did not disappoint for the price, but there was no screen - see point 5. Worth highlighting that whilst I have occasionally seen comment of General Admission tickets here, this is not the case - the whole track is seated. We bought through Book F1 who were very helpful.
5) No radio commentary in English but take your ipad or smartphone and rent one of the mobile WiFi units they have in Japan (I rented from Global Advanced Communications – https://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/pocketwifi.html – who deliver it to your hotel, in Tokyo for example, and you just pop it in the post afterwards in the prepaid envelope they give you - total is about £30 for the week). If you install a VPN such as Tunnelbear on your device you can listen to five live and even get Sky and BBC video coverage live with very little delay. The signal worked fine even with 90,000 race fans checking their emails every minute.
6) If it’s your thing you could rent a car (you need an international driving licence) and drive to the circuit. Quite a lot of parking available and you can go on Friday and reserve a spot in a field 5 minutes from the circuit for the remaining days. Traffic was not bad at 9.30am on race day. I would not really recommend it if you are new to Japan - but it is not out the question as you are not driving big city.
7) You can take food in if you wish but there are plenty of wonderful things to eat with very little in the way of queues compared to Silverstone. Beer, wine and champagne is all well priced. Do go on the Ferris wheel – barely any queue, and it is free for ticket holders as is the Autopia theme park 5 minutes next door. I never queued more than 5 minutes for anything. Take cash with you.
8) Every evening they open up the main grandstands to all at about 5pm or so. You can sit opposite the pits on Friday and Saturday evening and on the Sunday they replay the race on the big screens. The track is also open to walk around. Don’t rush off – stay until about 8pm and let the train queues die away - all the food is still on sale and the bars are open. If you do get to the station and there is a large queue go to the wonderful Chinese restaurant and bar up the stairs to the right of the road by the train station, before the bridge. It will be full of race staff and we even saw Kobayashi there on the Friday.
9) Dress up in F1 kit…if you don’t you will be one of the, say, six people who have not done so! Also take a small towel – everyone has one to keep your neck from burning in the sun and to dry you off in the rain. You can buy them on track in different team colours.
10) Don’t go straight back to Tokyo on the Monday…use that rail pass and go to Kyoto even if its just for one day. It’s entirely different to Tokyo and is beautiful.
Gambatte, as they say.
I have been to Suzuka, and whilst I did go in a group with one Japanese friend I am confident that you will be fine over there - it isn't the moon.
It is a fantastic track, and was the best F1 experience I have had so far. If you have never been to Japan then that is an even greater bonus. I posted the below in the link given above, however let me paste it here to save you some time. All I would say is if you do go you will not regret it and it will be a memory for life.
>>>>
I too was lucky enough to get to the Japanese Grand Prix this year (2013). My own observations and ideas which might help anyone in the future.
1) Firstly if you are considering going to Suzuka for the race, do it if at all possible. The track is right up there with Spa and the people attending are just wonderful – enthusiastic, friendly and helpful. They are not quote'crazy' as Sky and the BBC always seem to portray. In fact the Sky camera crew were at the gate as people were coming in trying to whip them up into the frenzy you see in their coverage, so many assume that is how the place is.
You will not regret making the effort to go and it is no more difficult than any other race to get to once in the country and even though people don't always speak English they will know where you are heading and will do their best to help you get to your destination if you are lost.
2) Stay in Nagoya and book the hotel a few months earlier (i.e. January or February) – you can always cancel if your trip falls through. The city is very lively of an evening. We stayed in Hotel Trusty – very friendly and just a short taxi ride from the train station. Don't stay in just because you can't read all the signs - many people in this forum appear to have done just that and then think the city isn't up to much. They could not be more wrong.
3) Get a Japan Rail Pass before you go to Japan (it has to be bought outside Japan) – £180 may seem a lot but considering that the journey from Tokyo to Nagoya is much of that cost it becomes clear that it is something of an investment as wondrous as the Shinkansen bullet train is, it is a pretty penny. It covers all your journey right up to the circuit which itself is about 45 minutes from Nagoya and one stop after Suzuka itself. We didn’t feel the need to prebook a seat to the circuit and started queuing at 8am for the 8.37am train – we got on. Even if you did book seats, if the train is packed by the time you get on it you will have trouble finding them, and are you going to want to kick an elderly Japanese woman out of your seat if you find she is sat in it? You'll be stood on the train for about 45 minutes. Note the train station for the track is SUZUKA CIRCUIT INO - Not Suzuka.
4) Friday allows you access to any stand, so we had a look around the more expensive seats. We were on 130R for the race and those tickets were only £88 for the whole weekend - let me say that again - THE WHOLE WEEKEND!. Having sat around the circuit I would say C is a great spot as previously mentioned but the Q stand gives you an amazing view of most of the track and indeed you must be able to see the cars for a good 30 seconds or so in total from that spot. 130R did not disappoint for the price, but there was no screen - see point 5. Worth highlighting that whilst I have occasionally seen comment of General Admission tickets here, this is not the case - the whole track is seated. We bought through Book F1 who were very helpful.
5) No radio commentary in English but take your ipad or smartphone and rent one of the mobile WiFi units they have in Japan (I rented from Global Advanced Communications – https://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/pocketwifi.html – who deliver it to your hotel, in Tokyo for example, and you just pop it in the post afterwards in the prepaid envelope they give you - total is about £30 for the week). If you install a VPN such as Tunnelbear on your device you can listen to five live and even get Sky and BBC video coverage live with very little delay. The signal worked fine even with 90,000 race fans checking their emails every minute.
6) If it’s your thing you could rent a car (you need an international driving licence) and drive to the circuit. Quite a lot of parking available and you can go on Friday and reserve a spot in a field 5 minutes from the circuit for the remaining days. Traffic was not bad at 9.30am on race day. I would not really recommend it if you are new to Japan - but it is not out the question as you are not driving big city.
7) You can take food in if you wish but there are plenty of wonderful things to eat with very little in the way of queues compared to Silverstone. Beer, wine and champagne is all well priced. Do go on the Ferris wheel – barely any queue, and it is free for ticket holders as is the Autopia theme park 5 minutes next door. I never queued more than 5 minutes for anything. Take cash with you.
8) Every evening they open up the main grandstands to all at about 5pm or so. You can sit opposite the pits on Friday and Saturday evening and on the Sunday they replay the race on the big screens. The track is also open to walk around. Don’t rush off – stay until about 8pm and let the train queues die away - all the food is still on sale and the bars are open. If you do get to the station and there is a large queue go to the wonderful Chinese restaurant and bar up the stairs to the right of the road by the train station, before the bridge. It will be full of race staff and we even saw Kobayashi there on the Friday.
9) Dress up in F1 kit…if you don’t you will be one of the, say, six people who have not done so! Also take a small towel – everyone has one to keep your neck from burning in the sun and to dry you off in the rain. You can buy them on track in different team colours.
10) Don’t go straight back to Tokyo on the Monday…use that rail pass and go to Kyoto even if its just for one day. It’s entirely different to Tokyo and is beautiful.
Gambatte, as they say.
Paul has given you some absolutely fantastic advice there; heed all of it, particularly, and I can't stress this enough, get a JR pass before you head out there. You will save a fortune and being able to jump on pretty much any train (there are some limitations, though they are not prohibitive) will give you a lot of freedom in terms of trip planning. I also stayed in Nagoya (on a fairly tight budget) and chose to stay at the Hamilton Black hotel, mainly because of the F1-related name and the low price. It was fine but nothing special, a bit like Nagoya itself! I stayed in hostels everywhere else, as I was travelling solo and they're a great way to meet like-minded people to share a beer or meal with. Accomodation is expensive, but food's quite reasonable for the quality. Make sure you try okonomiyaki while you're out there, but be careful, they are seriously addictive...
As for what else to do in Japan, there's a ton of stuff to do in the area, but obviously it depends what you're into. Recent history? Hiroshima. Food? Osaka. Kyoto as mentioned is a lovely, historic city, although you might get a bit templed-out. Tokyo is fantastic - a modern capital city that hasn't fallen into the trap of being just like every other eastern capital city. I won't bore you with a list of the obvious tourist attractions as you'll be able to find those on TripAdvisor or in Lonely Planet, but you might like some of these less mainstream ones...
- Free demo of Honda's Asimo robot (Tokyo Honda plaza)
- The best aquarium I've ever visited (Osaka)
- Great theme park with some unique rides (Fuji-Q Highland)
- There's a little-known, free observation deck in Tokyo's local government offices - don't pay to go up the main tower.
- Okonomimura food plaza (Hiroshima)
- Drinking/yakitori dens behind Shinjuku station (Tokyo)
- Cat cafe (anywhere) - very bizarre experience!
- Capsule hotel (Tokyo) - try one for just a night.
You can't fail to have a good time - enjoy!
As for what else to do in Japan, there's a ton of stuff to do in the area, but obviously it depends what you're into. Recent history? Hiroshima. Food? Osaka. Kyoto as mentioned is a lovely, historic city, although you might get a bit templed-out. Tokyo is fantastic - a modern capital city that hasn't fallen into the trap of being just like every other eastern capital city. I won't bore you with a list of the obvious tourist attractions as you'll be able to find those on TripAdvisor or in Lonely Planet, but you might like some of these less mainstream ones...
- Free demo of Honda's Asimo robot (Tokyo Honda plaza)
- The best aquarium I've ever visited (Osaka)
- Great theme park with some unique rides (Fuji-Q Highland)
- There's a little-known, free observation deck in Tokyo's local government offices - don't pay to go up the main tower.
- Okonomimura food plaza (Hiroshima)
- Drinking/yakitori dens behind Shinjuku station (Tokyo)
- Cat cafe (anywhere) - very bizarre experience!
- Capsule hotel (Tokyo) - try one for just a night.
You can't fail to have a good time - enjoy!
Edited by HardtopManual on Thursday 14th January 22:58
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