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sale on Banksy art posted:No one ever goes to Shikoku but it is samurai as hell and I’m pretty sure no Chinese has ever set foot there. Sorry, sprint airlines and jet star fly cheap flights from shanghai to takamatsu. And you get hipsters who happen to be mainlanders going to the art islands
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Feb 23, 2019 17:00
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What's up Japan thread! My partner and I are visiting for 10 days in May, and I'm so drat excited. I've got some questions, hopefully they're not dumb tourist questions(they are, they totally are). Sorry for the bigass effortpost, but here we go. Our itinerary is as follows: 5/7: land in Tokyo in the evening, hopefully find an onsen to relax at, get some food and depending on how tired/jetlagged we are explore wherever the gently caress our hotel is located. 5/14: take shinkansen to Osaka pretty early, explore 5/16: take shinkansen to Kyoto pretty early, explore 5/18: take shinkansen back to Tokyo pretty early, chill until our flight at approximately 6pm It's not the optimal schedule, but we're meeting my partner's sister in Osaka and she's hanging with us into Kyoto, so to accommodate that we kind of rearranged our Kyoto/Osaka dates. I know it's not a lot of time in Osaka/Kyoto, but I think we'll be able to do plenty. Plus that leaves more to explore the next time we visit! ...which will be in god knows how long cause med school kind of takes up a lot of time, who knew? So I have some pretty basic questions, I guess. The first, is the JR Pass, is it 7 days down to the hour you activate it? Like if we activate it at 9am on 5/11, would it expire at 9am on 5/18? Since we're not going to activate it immediately when we land in Tokyo, from what I've read the Suica pass(or whatever the other one is, can't remember the name) is our best bet for public transit in/around the Tokyo area. Can you still ride the shinkansen with the Suica pass? I think doing that would still save us money rather than buying the 14 day JR pass and eating a few extra days, but maybe I'm wrong? We're interested in trying to stay in a pod hotel as well, cause gently caress it why not. I've only been browsing available options through the Chase Sapphire Rewards page since we're using up all our points there, but are there any pod hotels that have like, couples pods? I don't think it's a big deal if not, just wondering. I think we're just going to miss the peak cherry blossom season in the areas we're in, is that correct? Is there anywhere we could travel via shinkansen that we could see some pretty trees, preferably just like a day trip? Any tattoo-friendly onsens in the Tokyo area that anybody recommends? I have enough that it's impossible to cover them up, and I've looked at this site briefly and these seem like pretty cool spots? I've only skimmed bits of this topic but I want to read a bunch more so I can get more of a feel for different prefectures/etiquette/whatever, but I think I remember Toyoko and Dormy Inns being relatively cheap and decent hotels in Tokyo, is that still true? I've got our places booked in Osaka/Kyoto so I'm just trying to lock down Tokyo. We're also thinking of doing a bit of shopping while we're there, how much of a pain would it be to purchase a small suitcase or something similar to fill with stuff then mail back to the US? Kind of in the same vein, when we're flying out of Haneda back to the states, is security/customs a huge pain? It's been a decade since I've traveled outside of the US(jesus that's unpleasant to type, I need to travel more) so I am very unfamiliar with, well, pretty much everything at this point, ha! I'm also visiting a friend and colleague of mine, where she's going to give me a tour of her laboratory and then we're going to go out to dinner. I was thinking a gift would be nice, is there anything traditional that's recommended? That's all the questions I can think of at the moment, but of course recommendations for any and all activities are welcome! Hopefully we won't be too annoying as tourists, only slightly annoying. Thanks in advance!
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Feb 23, 2019 17:25
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youcallthatatwist posted:When exactly are you coming? And what kind of stuff are you guys interested in, Tokyo is full of stuff to do Landing 26th evening in Tokyo staying until March 5th before going to Kyoto, then leaving Kyoto going back to Tokyo on the 12th. Food is nice, so are museums and some light anime weebing. My brother is into dj stuff, I'm a total japan anime weeb but I like visiting historical places and museums besides anime poo poo. Have the first week in Tokyo decently planned but would happily take recs on food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Kyoto is a little less planned but definitely planning a day trip to Osaka for universal studios. Can only visit so many shrines or temples in Kyoto before we get bored. Just any must see places or must do things would be nice to squeeze in. Also weather isn't freezing cold or humdily hot this time of year around 5-15 C?
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Feb 23, 2019 18:51
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Nanigans posted:Gotta be honest that I’m a little worried about “the mainlanders” now. Keep in mind most of us posting either have lived in Asia and are annoyed by bad tourists, or in my case I lived in China and going to Japan was my brief yearly escape from the Glorious PRC's 5000 Years of Culture so any time I ran into mainlanders I was especially annoyed. It's not like a bunch of buzzcuts are going to hold you down and spit on you until you say actually China invented high speed rail or something. The tour groups are the ones that really ruin everything and they have a limited range. If you see an exasperated 30 something Chinese person holding a flag, go the other direction. Younger Chinese traveling alone or with friends are usually fine other than the ones I was shouting at loving up temples in Angkor. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Feb 23, 2019 |
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Feb 23, 2019 20:21
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FWIW, I didn't observe any noticeably Asian people acting out during my (short) time in the Tokyo area, even though I went to all these places where badly-behaved mainlanders are supposed to be. Maybe the guy who tried to run the Buddhist medallion scam on me was a mainlander, but I honestly can't tell if an Asian person is Chinese or Japanese or any other ethnicity just by looking at them. I'm not even knowledgeable enough to be a proper bigot!
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Feb 23, 2019 21:07
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Yeah my concern is the crush of tour groups arriving on tour buses and not the normal tourists of any stripe. When I was in Tokyo around the same time-frame last year there wasn't any huge crowds at any of the touristy areas I visited but I also wasn't afraid to stomp around in the rain and that might have been a factor. How much of that crushing tourism hits Hyogo Pref/Himeji? The castle and Mount Shosha being the biggest draws and I have read Kinosaki is a really chill onsen town with not much else going on there (which seems incredibly ideal to me). Basically I'm looking for a place to kill a couple days. EDIT: went ahead and booked 2 nights at a Kinosaki ryokan. Blackchamber fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Feb 24, 2019 |
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Feb 23, 2019 21:58
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Shikoku 88 temples and Koya-san are full of French people, lol.
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Feb 23, 2019 23:24
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peanut posted:Shikoku 88 temples and Koya-san are full of French people, lol. European mainlanders
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Feb 24, 2019 01:34
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Johnny Truant posted:What's up Japan thread! My partner and I are visiting for 10 days in May, and I'm so drat excited. I've got some questions, hopefully they're not dumb tourist questions(they are, they totally are).
As for recommendations?
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Feb 24, 2019 02:32
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Grand Fromage posted:It's not like a bunch of buzzcuts are going to hold you down and spit on you until you say actually China invented high speed rail or something. They might tho.
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Feb 24, 2019 02:58
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Johnny Truant posted:Any tattoo-friendly onsens in the Tokyo area that anybody recommends? I have enough that it's impossible to cover them up, and I've looked at this site briefly and these seem like pretty cool spots? It depends on what you are after. If you just want to take some time to chill and soak in hot water, they should be fine. But if you are after the open-air experience or a ryokan onsen, you'll need to look elsewhere. If you want the ryokan onsen experience, I liked Kashiwaya Ryokan: https://www.kashiwaya.org/e/feature.htm#onsen. I booked their packaged deal, which included bus ticket, dinner, and breakfast. And I enjoyed all of it, even the 3-hour bus rides. It was nice to just to spend time basically doing nothing after several packed days in Tokyo. Beyond that, you'll need to look for Ryokan that has a private onsen in the room. There are plenty of them, but none of them will be cheap.
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Feb 24, 2019 03:41
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Takaragawa in Gunma is fine with tattoos.
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Feb 24, 2019 04:20
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Johnny Truant posted:Any tattoo-friendly onsens in the Tokyo area that anybody recommends? I have enough that it's impossible to cover them up, and I've looked at this site briefly and these seem like pretty cool spots? This probably works more for sento than onsen, but find ~2-3 star rated bathhouses and read the reviews to see if people are complaining about the Yakuza. The closest bathhouse to me in Matsuyama had a bunch of 1 star reviews that were just complaining about criminals and tattoos, but the place was perfectly fine. Admittedly I thought people were exaggerating simply because they were allowing people in with tattoos but lol nope, bunch of dudes with sweet full-body art, and I even saw one guy with face tattoos which is apparently unheard of? Anyways it wasn't sketchy or anything, people were there with their families and kids since everyone appreciates soaking in a hot bath. Google translate works well enough if you can't read Japanese.    
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Feb 24, 2019 04:24
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+1 to the recommendation that you avoid capsule hotels. They're fine if you need them or if you're a broke college student like me,but after the initial wow factor there's nothing that fun or touristy about them.Chillyrabbit posted:Landing 26th evening in Tokyo staying until March 5th before going to Kyoto, then leaving Kyoto going back to Tokyo on the 12th. If you guys like museums, I highly recommend the national museum in Ueno park, the Edo-Tokyo museum, and the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum. All of them are great for Japanese history and art content. I've heard Nakano Broadway is good for nerdy stuff if you want to get away from Akihabara. Check out Ameyoko if you're near Ueno, it has great atmosphere for lunch or dinner and a lot of options.
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Feb 24, 2019 05:46
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Coxswain Balls posted:This probably works more for sento than onsen, but find ~2-3 star rated bathhouses and read the reviews to see if people are complaining about the Yakuza. The closest bathhouse to me in Matsuyama had a bunch of 1 star reviews that were just complaining about criminals and tattoos, but the place was perfectly fine. Admittedly I thought people were exaggerating simply because they were allowing people in with tattoos but lol nope, bunch of dudes with sweet full-body art, and I even saw one guy with face tattoos which is apparently unheard of? Anyways it wasn't sketchy or anything, people were there with their families and kids since everyone appreciates soaking in a hot bath. Sento in general are cool with tattoos a lot. Some maybe don’t allow but straight up the majority insofar am I’m aware are explicitly cool with it, and even others probably won’t say poo poo. This site let’s you search by sento that allow tattoos and there’s at least 150 in Tokyo, so you’re not gonna have trouble finding. https://sauna-ikitai.com/search?prefecture%5B%5D=tokyo&conditions%5B%5D=rule%23allow_tattoo&ordering=ikitai_counts_desc
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Feb 24, 2019 05:57
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youcallthatatwist posted:Check out Ameyoko if you're near Ueno, it has great atmosphere for lunch or dinner and a lot of options. I appreciate a good troll, but this is bordering on violence.
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Feb 24, 2019 06:17
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In my month in Japan it is a beautiful country and places but seriously I don't know why anyone goes to Osaka other than making people look awkwardly at claims Osaka is the food capital of Japan. God it's boring.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:08
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Lid posted:In my month in Japan it is a beautiful country and places but seriously I don't know why anyone goes to Osaka other than making people look awkwardly at claims Osaka is the food capital of Japan. God it's boring. 
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Feb 24, 2019 10:10
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osaka is good and i'd take it over tokyo every time i will not back down
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Feb 24, 2019 10:26
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Osaka is only good for its metro to Kyoto and all the great restaurants in japan are in Tokyo. The Osaka aquarium is good but that’s about it.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:29
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Lid posted:In my month in Japan it is a beautiful country and places but seriously I don't know why anyone goes to Osaka other than making people look awkwardly at claims Osaka is the food capital of Japan. God it's boring. I skipped Osaka to chill in Kyoto longer. Currently in Tokyo and would be bored if I didn't play Go. EDIT: I guess my point is that Kyoto rocks.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:29
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i think tokyo is loving dull and i do my best to spend as little time there as possible. i wish people i knew lived elsewhere. kyoto does rule i'll fight anyone who says otherwise
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Feb 24, 2019 10:31
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mikeycp posted:i think tokyo is loving dull and i do my best to spend as little time there as possible. i wish people i knew lived elsewhere. Tokyo isn't dull and you've just adopted a dumb position because you think it makes you sound, iunno something?
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Feb 24, 2019 10:34
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captkirk posted:I skipped Osaka to chill in Kyoto longer. Currently in Tokyo and would be bored if I didn't play Go. you wanna hang out? i'm bored.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:35
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Stringent posted:Tokyo isn't dull and you've just adopted a dumb position because you think it makes you sound, iunno something? nah. it's the least fun place i've been in japan. too big city. people way less friendly than in other places.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:38
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mikeycp posted:nah. it's the least fun place i've been in japan. too big city. people way less friendly than in other places. Well yeah, I can kinda see that. More of a you have to know where to go place I guess.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:40
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like i've enjoyed places i've gone specifically to within tokyo, but as a place to just Be In it's extremely not for me.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:42
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mikeycp posted:like i've enjoyed places i've gone specifically to within tokyo, but as a place to just Be In it's extremely not for me. Yeah, the miasma of stress is real.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:49
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yeah that's probably it. osaka just feels lighter. i dunno it's largely a vibe thing for me. i'd take inaka over either.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:54
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Stringent posted:you wanna hang out? i'm bored. If you're serious sure. I'm fixing to head back to Asakusa from Nagahara.
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Feb 24, 2019 10:57
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captkirk posted:If you're serious sure. I'm fixing to head back to Asakusa from Nagahara. I'm serious but I'm not leaving Shinjuku.
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Feb 24, 2019 11:05
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Takadanobaba is where I usually go if that works?
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Feb 24, 2019 11:08
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I can hop on the Yamanote the other way and go to Shinjuku instead.
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Feb 24, 2019 11:10
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captkirk posted:I can hop on the Yamanote the other way and go to Shinjuku instead. Ok, get off at Takadanobaba, what time?
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Feb 24, 2019 11:12
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Stringent posted:Ok, get off at Takadanobaba, what time? Train estimates 16 minutes. So about 7:30.
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Feb 24, 2019 11:15
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Even Yokohama feels less stressful than Tokyo, and when I lived in Tokyo it was very obvious. But yeah, saying Tokyo sucks because you like then inaka is fair.
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Feb 24, 2019 11:18
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captkirk posted:Train estimates 16 minutes. So about 7:30. Alright I'm the white guy with a beard and a blue shirt.
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Feb 24, 2019 11:19
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Stringent posted:Alright I'm the white guy with a beard and a blue shirt. I'm the white dude in a red flannel and a sad excuse for a beard.
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Feb 24, 2019 11:21
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i'll be back in Tokyo as of the 28th if ppl wanna hang out +1 to takadanobaba being a good spot
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Feb 24, 2019 12:13
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| # ? Jun 1, 2024 05:26 |
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captkirk posted:I skipped Osaka to chill in Kyoto longer. Currently in Tokyo and would be bored if I didn't play Go. Spent nine days in Kyoto and it was wonderfu with the two best meals of the trip therel. Had phenomenal yakitori here: https://bluelapisroad.wordpress.com...2337117;-japan/ Sumiyakisosaitoriya Hitomi And a degustation at Hafuu. http://hafuu.com/eng_store_honten.html
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Feb 24, 2019 13:12
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