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So I'm in Osaka and I'm hearing some weird voices broadcasting stuff in Japanese through a loudspeaker and I dunno whats happening. Which got me thinking... how can I know when there's weather/earthquake alarm going off.. and what do I do aside from dying horribly?
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Apr 1, 2019 08:12
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| # ? May 23, 2024 13:17 |
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Just die it’s okay
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Apr 1, 2019 10:26
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prompt posted:Just die it’s great
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Apr 1, 2019 10:50
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Archer666 posted:So I'm in Osaka and I'm hearing some weird voices broadcasting stuff in Japanese through a loudspeaker and I dunno whats happening. Which got me thinking... how can I know when there's weather/earthquake alarm going off.. and what do I do aside from dying horribly? That's probably elections stuff. Earthquake stuff will be announced from permanent loudspeakers on buildings, with a probably with a little chime jingle. Please schedule your natural disasters in advance so you can avoid tunnels and fallen bridges.
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Apr 1, 2019 12:22
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peanut posted:That's probably elections stuff. Earthquake stuff will be announced from permanent loudspeakers on buildings, with a probably with a little chime jingle. Sorry, mister Earthquake, we got saturday fully booked. Mister Typhoon is pulling another 24 hour job. Maybe we can slot you in Monday, just before Mister Tsunami makes his bih splash - Shinzo Abe, probably. Also thanks. I looked around and foumd a few dorky election posters.
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Apr 1, 2019 12:49
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I'm in the hometown of Shinzo Abe right now and there are loudspeakers about re-electing him. That and every loving TV program is currently about the Reiwa era or looking back on the heisei era.
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Apr 1, 2019 13:10
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Earthquake alerts show up on your cell phone with an earth-shattering sound. That sound cant be muted. Youll know when natural disasters are imminent, the only thing you have to find out by yourself is what to do about it
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Apr 1, 2019 13:17
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I have Google Fi so I used it during my trip, and it was fine, but not great. The service was a bit slower than I'm used to at home, which was somewhat surprising. Also, data is expensive with Fi... I usually don't use much at home, so it makes sense there, but I used more than twice as much in Japan just from constant map usage and searching for recommendations/translations (no photo syncing or videos or anything like that). So it didn't actually save much money vs. a portable wifi, and I probably could have gotten faster service elsewhere, but given the convenience I guess it all balances out.
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Apr 1, 2019 17:40
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I've been using Tabelog to plan out my next trip to Japan later on this year and have noticed fairly large discrepancies between the domestic site and foreign ones like Tripadvisor for example. I'm much more inclined to trust the Japanese sites but does this dissonance play out with Michelin stars as well? I'm not sure if it's all nihonjinron or that Westerners have differences in pleasing palates? 
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Apr 1, 2019 23:02
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Furious Lobster posted:I've been using Tabelog to plan out my next trip to Japan later on this year and have noticed fairly large discrepancies between the domestic site and foreign ones like Tripadvisor for example. I'm much more inclined to trust the Japanese sites but does this dissonance play out with Michelin stars as well? I'm not sure if it's all nihonjinron or that Westerners have differences in pleasing palates? I don’t understand. They are both 4/5 stars. Where’s the difference?
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Apr 1, 2019 23:06
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Yeah I have no idea what you're getting at with that example, but in general Tabelog reviewers are more conservative with ratings, it's not like 5 stars = good 4 stars = bad you see on other sites. From what I've been told anything over 3/5 on Tabelog is solid and 4/5 is exceptional.
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Apr 1, 2019 23:11
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Doctor Zero posted:I don’t understand. They are both 4/5 stars. Where’s the difference? Grand Fromage posted:Yeah I have no idea what you're getting at with that example, but in general Tabelog reviewers are more conservative with ratings, it's not like 5 stars = good 4 stars = bad you see on other sites. From what I've been told anything over 3/5 on Tabelog is solid and 4/5 is exceptional. 88 reviews v 1289 reviews? Just from the sheer number, that alone is somewhat striking. For contrast, the 3 one star ramen restaurants aren't equal to the top 3 ramen places on Tabelog for example. In other words, there seems to be a big difference in terms of "what is best" as decided by the Japanese side v the Western one. edit: example of Michelin v Tabelog: 
Furious Lobster fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Apr 1, 2019 |
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Apr 1, 2019 23:18
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I don't know if I'd be surprised that there are a lot more local/native language reviews of local restaurants than trip reports written by tourists. Not sure if there's a western equivalent, but I'd expect a lot more reviews of a restaurant here in Toronto by locals on a site that caters to locals over a travel site in some other language. I'm not sure if I missed the point entirely though.
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Apr 1, 2019 23:29
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Furious Lobster posted:88 reviews v 1289 reviews? Just from the sheer number, that alone is somewhat striking. Everyone in Japan uses Tabelog, are you really surprised there are a lot more reviews by locals in Tokyo than by tourists on TripAdvisor? I would use Tabelog if you're comfortable navigating it, generally. Though honestly I just message Stringent with what I'm looking for and go wherever he tells me and I haven't been let down yet.
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Apr 1, 2019 23:32
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Martytoof posted:I don't know if I'd be surprised that there are a lot more local/native language reviews of local restaurants than trip reports written by tourists. Not sure if there's a western equivalent, but I'd expect a lot more reviews of a restaurant here in Toronto by locals on a site that caters to locals over a travel site in some other language. I think my point is why there a discrepancy between what the foreign, ie Western, world has deemed as the best restaurants and those that the local have put on top. Moreover, in light of this, given a tourists’ limited time should one go with local or foreign advice?
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Apr 1, 2019 23:33
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1. Trip Advisor will be all tourists. 2. You're overthinking. Just do what's easy and in a convenient location. 3. Michelin stars are completely different from public user reviews. peanut fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Apr 1, 2019 |
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Apr 1, 2019 23:34
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Martytoof posted:I don't know if I'd be surprised that there are a lot more local/native language reviews of local restaurants than trip reports written by tourists. Not sure if there's a western equivalent, but I'd expect a lot more reviews of a restaurant here in Toronto by locals on a site that caters to locals over a travel site in some other language. Grand Fromage posted:Everyone in Japan uses Tabelog, are you really surprised there are a lot more reviews by locals in Tokyo than by tourists on TripAdvisor? I would use Tabelog if you're comfortable navigating it, generally. So this should be surprising right?  Edit: btw this is the #1 ranked restaurant on tripadvisor for tokyo; it doesn't even register on tabelog basically peanut posted:1. Trip Advisor will be all tourists. Is it better to trust Michelin Stars from public user reviews in the case of Japan? I'm honestly asking for user experiences as to whether they've had better meals from Michelin v. Tripadvisor v. Tabelog, etc. Furious Lobster fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Apr 1, 2019 |
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Apr 1, 2019 23:38
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Are you really asking if random tourists are a better judge of Japanese food than Japanese people? Edit: as noted Michelin stars are different. If they’re starred they’re probably at least quite good but it’s not like lack of a Star means they’re not, and there are definitely some non starred restaurants that will be better than some starred restaurants. LimburgLimbo fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Apr 1, 2019 |
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Apr 1, 2019 23:47
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Furious Lobster posted:So this should be surprising right? Not particularly. It's probably in Lonely Planet or something. Kaiseki also isn't really a Tokyo thing or an everyday thing, I'd imagine most Japanese only eat it in Kyoto or at fancy ryokan vacations.
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Apr 1, 2019 23:48
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LimburgLimbo posted:Are you really asking if random tourists are a better judge of Japanese food than Japanese people? Not really, I'm more wondering if professional food critics that are foreigners are a better judge of Japanese food than Japanese people and whether people here have had such personal experiences that help give weight to one side or another. I'm just throwing the Tripadvisor site in there since it's regular people v regular people.
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Apr 1, 2019 23:49
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Tourists will be more likely to give higher marks to a place that better caters to their needs (i.e. has an English menu and/or the staff speaks English). If you have similar needs, then yes, the tourist advice should be more useful.
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Apr 1, 2019 23:57
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Grand Fromage posted:Not particularly. It's probably in Lonely Planet or something. Kaiseki also isn't really a Tokyo thing or an everyday thing, I'd imagine most Japanese only eat it in Kyoto or at fancy ryokan vacations. 
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Apr 1, 2019 23:58
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You've obviously made up your own mind about it so do whatever you want, dude. Nobody cares.
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Apr 2, 2019 00:00
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Grand Fromage posted:You've obviously made up your own mind about it so do whatever you want, dude. Nobody cares. If I had, I wouldn't be asking; I was hoping someone who's a local to Tokyo and has perhaps had experiences with foreign web sites v local reviews to provide input.
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Apr 2, 2019 00:05
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How do you find your palate in relation to what native Japanese like? Have you had a chance to evaluate that? Because real Japanese is different than American Japanese, as you would expect. If you find that you like things like natto, ume, tsukemono (the little pickled veggies) etc then go with the local reviews. The best restaurants I’ve even been to in Japan are either little local places that friends brought me that I never would have found by looking on the web, or things that I’ve just randomly walked into because I was hungry and it looked interesting. But then my palate tends to like the real stuff better. On that note I recommend leaving some room to explore and wing it rather than mapping everything out ahead of time.
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Apr 2, 2019 00:05
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You could go by TripAdvisor or Tabelog or both, whether you get a better meal by following one or another will always depend on which specific places you're comparing. Though I guess if you go by TripAdvisor you'll probably get an English menu. I personally used both and was happy with every meal. Neither of your examples is all that surprising. The ramen place is in an inconvenient location for most tourists but if it got a 4 on Tabelog it's clearly excellent. The kaiseki place seems to cater more to tourists and Japanese people aren't going to eat meals like that very frequently, but based on the rating it'll probably be great also. Keep in mind that Tabelog is much harsher star-wise than any other review site you'll find. There are probably a ton of restaurants with 5 stars on TripAdvisor and 3.5-4 stars on Tabelog.
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Apr 2, 2019 00:09
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You seem to be extremely fixated on TripAdvisor but it’s by definition almost entirely people who don’t really know Japanese food. This is not a hard concept. If you’re really looking for the best of what locals think is good the use websites used by the locals. The only local living people even looking at TripAdvisor are probably by and large the dumbest of expats. I’m reallly doubting if you’re actually enough of a foodie for it to matter though if you’re seriously asking if TripAdvisor is as good an indicator for food as other ratings. You should stick to the highly rated conbini fried chicken the entire trip imo
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Apr 2, 2019 00:12
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TheEye posted:You could go by TripAdvisor or Tabelog or both, whether you get a better meal by following one or another will always depend on which specific places you're comparing. Though I guess if you go by TripAdvisor you'll probably get an English menu. I personally used both and was happy with every meal. Thanks, I appreciate it. Have you seen any surprises between the two sites' reviews in terms of what the expectation was v. the experience? Also, have you been disappointed/validated with Michelin star eating in Tokyo? LimburgLimbo posted:You seem to be extremely fixated on TripAdvisor but it’s by definition almost entirely people who don’t really know Japanese food. This is not a hard concept. If you’re really looking for the best of what locals think is good the use websites used by the locals. The only local living people even looking at TripAdvisor are probably by and large the dumbest of expats. You've seem to missed the Michelin v Tabelog example I posted earlier but thanks for the Japanese fried chicken review.
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Apr 2, 2019 00:14
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Apologies for the doublepost. With Michelin v Tabelog there seems to be another large difference as well. The former only has two matching sites on Tabelog -- Saito & Quintessence(unsurprisingly a French restaurant) -- but the rest of the lists don't really come close to achieving agreement. If one narrows the categories, then two more restaurants appear but there is still a large gap between the two.
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Apr 2, 2019 00:30
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Furious Lobster posted:Thanks, I appreciate it. Have you seen any surprises between the two sites' reviews in terms of what the expectation was v. the experience? Also, have you been disappointed/validated with Michelin star eating in Tokyo? To be clear, I used both on my recent trip that I just returned from. I don't live in Tokyo and didn't have a chance to visit any Michelin-starred places during my week there. Since I don't speak or read Japanese, I found reviews on English sites to be helpful in finding options. But cross-referencing Tabelog is not a bad idea regardless, I typically used it to try to narrow down options to those with 3.5+ stars. But I wasn't always that picky every day, sometimes you have a tiring touristy day and just want to eat something, so it's not like I heavily researched every single meal. I only had high-end meals in Hakone and Kyoto, so I almost always went for mid-range places, and they lived up to my moderate expectations every time. edit: It seems like you expect there to be general agreement on the list of absolute best restaurants in Tokyo. No one's gonna completely agree on that. Do the top restaurants on Yelp mirror Michelin? I doubt it. If you want really high-end food every day, pick what sounds most appealing from the top of either site and you're not gonna be disappointed. runawayturtles fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Apr 2, 2019 |
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Apr 2, 2019 00:34
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Hello I am going to Japan during the famous sakura season and am looking for recommendations on food in TOKYO. Can you give recommendations on the best most places that the locals like? I would like food like sushi that specifically is well reviewed by the locals. Thank You.
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Apr 2, 2019 01:05
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ntan1 posted:Hello I am going to Japan during the famous sakura season and am looking for recommendations on food in TOKYO. Have you heard of the famous GOORUDEN GAI*? It is a famous night spot with very high reviews on TripAdvisor. Sushi is a dinner food so night spots are the best for it; I had some of the best California rolls of my life in GOORUDEN GAI. *Translators note: GOORUDEN GAI is Japanese for Yellow Town, because so many drunks piss on the street that it's said the water runs yellow there.
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Apr 2, 2019 01:20
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It's an interesting thing actually that westerners (most of Europe/North America) tend to rate service and ease and people in east Asia tend to rate the actual food on these review sites. On Japanese and Chinese local sites like tableog and dianping you'll find lots of places that are very highly reviewed and have great food, but also may have massive queues, small tables with no room, and less-than stellar service. The same places on trip advisor or google or whatever will have English language reviews that aren't as good, and you see the converse as well. I remember one place in Kyoto goons here recommended, and both Dianping and Tableog had good reviews for it, but it had bad reviews in English on other sites for reasons like "long wait to get in", "too small to seat our party of 9 at one table", and "wait staff was hesitant to let us split the bill 5 uneven ways on different credit cards" You also end up with places that get weirdly popular among tourists that locals aren't huge fans of because it gets a feature in some show or book. Not Japan, but in Shanghai I live down the street from a small soup dumpling place that Anthony Bourdain went to once on one show and it is always a loving madhouse with numerous confused tourists, and locals just avoid it now.
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Apr 2, 2019 01:32
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Unless you’re some ultra rich celebrity I would completely ignore Michelin ratings tbqh
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Apr 2, 2019 01:36
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Magna Kaser posted:It's an interesting thing actually that westerners (most of Europe/North America) tend to rate service and ease and people in east Asia tend to rate the actual food on these review sites. Yeah, I'm used to the whole food/service rating differences and it shows up in LA with regards to Asian restaurants where Caucasians will complain about the lack of service, prompt delivery of water, and Asians talk about the food quality, etc. Doctor Zero posted:Unless you’re some ultra rich celebrity I would completely ignore Michelin ratings tbqh They're the only real "professional" food review site but I don't unabashedly follow their reviews and will take them with a grain of salt. I find it hilarious that after complaining that “the people in Los Angeles are not real foodies,” Jean-Luc Naret said. “They are not too interested in eating well.”, they're eating their words and once again returning here. No one really cares tbh but they still carry a fair amount of weight regardless.
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Apr 2, 2019 01:41
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This discrepancy in ratings is also seen in app stores and stuff like that too. Japanese people have a tendency to start at 3 and go up if something exceeds their expectations, but westerns start at 5 and go down even if minor things happen to sour the experience.
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Apr 2, 2019 01:48
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Holy smokes don’t be a Michelin star whore. It’s a different kind of dining experience. Ask stringent and or go to genkai
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Apr 2, 2019 02:10
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Snobbery aside, there are no michelin star restaurants in Japan where you are going to be crowded in and receive bad service. So in a very clear way it helps alleviate the "public reviews don't correspond to the experience you have" problem.
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Apr 2, 2019 02:33
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Magna Kaser posted:You also end up with places that get weirdly popular among tourists that locals aren't huge fans of because it gets a feature in some show or book. Not Japan, but in Shanghai I live down the street from a small soup dumpling place that Anthony Bourdain went to once on one show and it is always a loving madhouse with numerous confused tourists, and locals just avoid it now. I believe this is referred to as the Rick Steves Effect in Europe. The guy is like personally responsible for the boom in tourism at Cinque Terre in Italy. edit: there isn't a  big enough for New York Bar at the Hyatt. It wasn't even a good movie.
zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Apr 2, 2019 |
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Apr 2, 2019 02:45
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| # ? May 23, 2024 13:17 |
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Alright, here's my personal recommendation of food to eat in Tokyo. Curated and collected by meeting different goooons in Tokyo and some research, some random. I'm probably the out of town obnoxious tokyo Goon snob and I got the times visiting to prove it. https://goo.gl/maps/6PSgmeerZAJ2 Key faves - when it comes to food/ value ratio: Curry - Mouyan 1080 yen lunches all you can eat and waaaay better than tiger/coco/whatever - shout out to fashion goon Sushi - Ask stringent, he knows his poo poo but you need to reserve a month in advance. There are lots and lots to choose. For budget/value - sushi zanmai is my favourite. If you wanna be a lazy baller, go to Kyuubei. Tempura - Tsunahachi Shinjuku main branch Seafood rice Chirashi - Tsujihan Favourite Izakaya - Andy's Shin hinomoto Kakigori - Kooriya Peace - yeah there's a weirdo tokyo goon who's just endlessly fascinated by it and goes there all the time Beef - UNDECIDED Ginza steak is decent but you have to eat fast to get that value meal. I'm still not sold yet and rather dine at Ruth Chris/Lawry's/whatever international hotel affiliated US style steak houses Unagi - either unatetsu or Tamai nihonbashi CABERHAM'S SECRET PICK: Genkai in Shinjuku. Yes suggested by strigent - see a pattern? Mizutaki is kind of hard to get outside japan. HIME OF EHIME PLEASE STICK THIS. I will add pictures next
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Apr 2, 2019 04:57
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