Hello,

I am lucky enough to have tickets to attend this years Japanese Gp at Suzuka, but am sadly not blessed with the organisational skills such a logistical challenge would entail (and I'm from the UK, meaning travel, local knowledge etc are at a minimum btw)! Do any forum members have any experience/advice on how to seek accommodation near the track - I'm prepared to camp if all else fails, but knowing the propensity to rain at that time of the year there, this does fill me with at least some trepidation. Furthermore, I am not a little concerned that the linguistic and cultural challenges presented to a non-japanese person may hinder my progress!

Any advice/recommendations warmly received,

Kind regards,

J

Apologies, a disturbance in the force has caused me to lose track of this message after I inadvertently placed it on the in the wrong forum, please use this thread instead: (this message has since moved threads)

Apologies for my intense stupidity, etc.

EDIT: previous link removed. Please continue this thread. Furthermore, please refrain from tedious "n00b" remarks about my lack of knowledge re: the mechanics of this form, they are not funny, interesting or, most importantly, helpful.

Kind Regards,

J

Nagoya is the closest big city to Suzuka.
I would imagine many of the hotels are already booked but try the Hilton
You can take a 'Nozomi' (stopping train) near the track
You will still have to walk a good 2 miles or so.

I would suggest getting off your lazy ass and book tickets now as trains fill up fast on race weekend.

Your other option is a taxi.. beaucoup ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥

Jp

PS...pay no attention whatsoever to internet wankers like Dudley
There ARE good folks on here.. if you look between the cracks.

from what i hear there is a fast train from Nagoya, direct to the track.
will know more in a couple of days, as maybe staying at hotel nagoya myself.
travelling in Japan last was 14 years ago for me, but even then it was very easy, all train stations and messages inside fast trains (e.g. next station) were all written in english as well as script.
maybe there as well for the first time in 14 years, and am not worried at all. will let you know more as i find out more in the next couple of days

When I went in 1998 we camped at the circuit but I wouldn't recommend it as we had to camp on the golf driving range and there was bloody hard ground underfoot!
The nightlife at the circuit was non-existant as well!

Thanks guys, it appears as if i've got to get organizing pretty quickly!

Shortcut to: http://www.formula1.com/race/destination_guide/768.html

This is a link to some hints on travelling to the track for you.

we are unable to go now, so good luck.

would like to re-open this thread to be current for this year's race - 2009.

does anyone know of the closest hotels to the track.

In line with the previous post, I would recommend Nagoya and take the train. Japan Rail has a good English language site - use the Hyperdia search http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi and it will give you the travel options. Suzukacircuitino is the destination station to use. It's around 1500 Yen each way, and the trains do run on time!

I'm lucky in that I live in Nagoya, but hotels are plentyful with all of the usual suspects within 20 minutes walk of the central station (Hilton, Kanko, Crown and Hamilton are 20 minutes walk, with the Marriot and Hyatt next to the station). The subway is a piece of cake to use and that opens up Kanayama (Ana Grand and Cypress Garden) and Sakae (many). Every other car seems to be a taxi and from Sakae or Kanayama I reckon it's about 1500 Yen to get to the Station, subway will be about 230 Yen.

Anyhow I have my ticket and will be out and about Friday/Saturday evenings if anyone wants a tour of Nagoya's watering holes I'm hoping that there will be some "faces" about so a bit of celeb spotting might be possible - Nagoya really is the nearest big city with any kind of nightlife!

It's not cheap here by the way - a beer will set you back around a fiver for local brews and more for imported. Spirits are not so bad.

Send me a message if you want anymore info.

JC

thanks for that John,
mind you i didn't check the thread before we got there, only now that i'm hom.
all was good.
we went out on friday via Shiroko station and shuttle bus
and then sat/sun got the 8.11 F1 flyer to the circuit station and then the walk.
it was great. we stayed at the sofitel cypress, so easy walking distance to the station.
lots of good food around too.

Solid info John - thanks for sharing! Kathe, glad it all came together for you guys!

Nice to see this thread reawaken. As you can probably tell we left our organisation very late - but we had friends in Japan who helped us out - hotel rooms were so scarce in Nagoya by the time we booked we had to do the friday night in a terrible hotel, which was at least centrally located (can't recall the name, sorry) then the Saturday night in a traditional Ryokan, like wise a few minutes form the station. This was the only room we could find in the whole of Ngoya for the Saturday at such late notice (about a month before the race) - there were 5 of us sharing a room, and we also had a full traditional banquet - all pretty reasonably priced, too. I think it was this place:

http://www.rurubu.com/dom_hotel/detail.asp...CA04&ken=23

Two words of warning though, one, be at the train station early, certainly on the Sunday - we go there around 5:30 am, but the queues were so large we didn't even get on a train until 6:30 am. Secondly, the locals seem to go up there on the thursday and put down a marker for themselves for the whole weekend - so you might miss out on a good location to watch from (depends on if you've got GA, or a better ticket, obviously). Getting back from the track was a cinch - we saw the race, got the train back to Nagoya, and then the Shinkansen back to Tokyo well in time for a reasonable bed time!

Enjoy!