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Vaccine can't come fast enough. Thankfully my next trip was planned to be for late 2021 anyway, but I wonder if the Olympics getting pushed to 2021 will do anything to hotel prices and general price hikes. Was chatting with my wife about traveling again once this is all over and she said she loved Europe and other places in the U.S. we've visited, but nothing beats the sense of security in Japan. Not having to worry about pickpocketing or someone trying to steal your passport or general fuckery is great.
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May 31, 2020 15:24
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As long as you're not going around the time of the Olympics, I doubt it will make a huge impact. A bunch of places having to close because of domestic and foreign tourism being largely dead is likely a bigger issue. No idea what capacity and competition will look like in late 2021.
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May 31, 2020 18:23
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Thanks for the road tips. Seems like common sense, but definitely great to know the no-turn-on-red stuff. Hopefully it’s easy enough to follow the flow of traffic so riding the wrong way doesn’t phase me too much but I guess we’ll see. If my last post is “hey guys i rented a bike here i go lol” and never post again then at least we’ll know. Posted this before, I’m sure, but I’m having a blast doing some virtual sightseeing using Wander on my Oculus Quest. Just kind of bumming around Tokyo doing the regular white people thing of being amazed at the “tranquillity and serenity” of random 7/11 street corners. “Wow! You can really FEEL the spirituality of these gentle people!!!” It’s like I’m there.
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Jun 1, 2020 18:42
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just find a quiet area to get your sea...road...legs for like 5 minutes and you'll probably be fine.
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Jun 1, 2020 21:45
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Right on red is an almost uniquely American affectation; it got put in place during the 1970s oil crunches and we forgot to repeal it. In general I find that I don’t have problems when I’m in a drive on the left place because I’m hyper vigilant while there. It’s when I get back home afterwards that I’m more likely to not pay attention and let a half-overwritten reflex get me into trouble. If you’re not sure move slowly and deliberately; while it may annoy other drivers it’s never illegal.
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Jun 1, 2020 22:32
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I’d trade right on red for lane splitting in a heartbeat.
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Jun 2, 2020 00:13
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Phone posted:I’d trade right on red for lane splitting in a heartbeat. Oh yeah. Lane split to your heart’s desire in Japan. Only real tricks with driving on the left are the turn signal (from left hand to right, it’s on the “outside” generally) and manual shifting if you’re rowing your own, left hand versus right. But that’s it, most everything becomes second nature inside an hour. Japan is opening international travel for some business purposes soon, but not sure the timeframe for “normal” tourism. And yes if the Olympics happen next year, the hotels will be bad and packed and overpriced for the Olympic Games and the Paralympics both. But good news! Those should be happening in July and August, aka sweaty season. So not exactly the time to visit.
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Jun 2, 2020 04:02
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id drive in the countryside in japan but honestly driving in tokyo sounds like an extremely stressful nightmare. what freaks me out about it is that there are virtually no public parking places so you can't just stop somewhere and get your bearings, you have to go with the flow of cars. i know people just park on the roadside with their blinkers but that in itself feels risky, and then there's the cyclists and kids and old people running around ive always wanted to rent a camper car and drive through hokkaido though, that seems like itd be cool. sapporo also seems like it might be less intimidating to drive through because it's just a grid so it's easy to retrace your steps if you miss your turn
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Jun 2, 2020 14:46
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Yeah, driving in Tokyo sucks rear end and it should be outlawed imo.
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Jun 2, 2020 14:51
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Oh yeah absolutely ZERO interest riding Tokyo. In 2018 I was talked into doing that Mario Kart poo poo the locals all hate and it was stressful as all get out. I'm not even sure why I would ride in Tokyo given that I can get anywhere I want in less time by public transit than I would by driving and getting lost.
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Jun 2, 2020 15:08
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Martytoof posted:Oh yeah absolutely ZERO interest riding Tokyo. In 2018 I was talked into doing that Mario Kart poo poo the locals all hate and it was stressful as all get out. but you'd miss out on the joy of having to find a parking spot near Popular Drinking and Eating District and accidentally getting one in a lot that's 1000 yen per 20 minutes without a daily cap!  driving main roads is whatever, the narrow-rear end elevated highway does my blood pressure in. but then again I've driven a light-duty truck (note: not a kei, like one that would deliver to 7-11) down tight alleys in Tokyo so I can at least do that kind of nonsense.
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Jun 2, 2020 15:13
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Man that is WORLDS away from the fun coastal cruising I want to do in Okinawa 
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Jun 2, 2020 15:22
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Stringent posted:Yeah, driving in Tokyo sucks rear end and it should be outlawed imo. ive said this before i think but tokyo should seriously be a mostly car-free city, just have everybody take the subway and install proper bike infrastructure and especially roundabouts. leave the roads for the white pickup delivery guys with bandanas only since they probably are doing something important but just phase out all of the passenger car traffic ward by ward. itd be way faster for most commuters, especially if they have e-bikes and especially if some especially steep places are bridged with bike overpasses
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Jun 2, 2020 18:45
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peanut posted:Blue Hearts and yankee poo poo like Yokohama Ginbae, forever. Thanks for mentioning Yokohama Ginbae, btw. I don't think it's quite what I was looking for, but I found this video and it's pretty fun  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgaaTX1muiY Also, I think the drummer might have the same or similar electric drumset as I do  B'z seems pretty good so far, though it will take me a while to go through their rather extensive library. Loudness was cool with that American vocalist on Soldier of Fortune. BB2K posted:P model and the solo stuff by their front man hirasawa susumu rules I must admit, I could not get into this stuff. It felt to me as if an alternate reality Tangerine Dream had been Japanese and far more out there and confusing than they are. A unique experience, to be sure.
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Jun 2, 2020 19:06
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Shibawanko posted:ive said this before i think but tokyo should seriously be a mostly car-free city, just have everybody take the subway and install proper bike infrastructure and especially roundabouts. leave the roads for the white pickup delivery guys with bandanas only since they probably are doing something important but just phase out all of the passenger car traffic ward by ward. itd be way faster for most commuters, especially if they have e-bikes and especially if some especially steep places are bridged with bike overpasses do it for all big cities, honestly. the other exception being select roads people can use to drive out of the city.
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Jun 2, 2020 19:24
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mikeycp posted:do it for all big cities, honestly. the other exception being select roads people can use to drive out of the city. one big problem in tokyo is also that cars can just use residential neighborhoods as shortcuts to where they want to go. there are plenty of main roads but lovely taxis especially like to drive at high speed through tiny streets where people live. thisd be pretty easy to solve by just putting car barriers on the roads leading into the neighborhoods so the taxis are forced onto the bigger roads. unfortunately japan, like the US, has an unhealthy idea about the role of cars on the road
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Jun 3, 2020 07:53
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Shibawanko posted:ive said this before i think but tokyo should seriously be a mostly car-free city, just have everybody take the subway and install proper bike infrastructure and especially roundabouts. leave the roads for the white pickup delivery guys with bandanas only since they probably are doing something important but just phase out all of the passenger car traffic ward by ward. itd be way faster for most commuters, especially if they have e-bikes and especially if some especially steep places are bridged with bike overpasses But then how can you both show off that you’ve got a 外車* in front of your house, and also that your house is in Setagaya now that they have their own plate? *1.6 L VW Polo or something similar that gets massively marked up costs of ownership because ~glorious 外国~ You hit the nail on the head though, Japan is almost as car-focused as the US, major companies and a huge industry that both supports a lot of jobs, still does a lot of exporting, and has incentives built in to get people to keep buying every 7-8 years.
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Jun 3, 2020 07:58
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unrelated, but i think this is something i'd really like to do when i get back there and go into tourist mode: http://www.unmissablejapan.com/industry/kojo-yakei the factories outside tokyo and in chiba always looked really cool to me from a distance, i didnt know there were actual tours. japan has these huge industrial areas that aren't like anything ive seen in europe and id love to go on a tour of one
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Jun 3, 2020 10:01
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Anyone have any good YouTube channels that I can share to my friend who is learning Japanese?
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Jun 3, 2020 11:00
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Tokyo goon and city mouse and I drive, sometimes. Parking in Tokyo sucks, don't go somewhere unless you have a plan on where to park, etc, and this city should be non-car focused. I seldom rive in the city, but when I do driving though driving in Tokyo is loads less stressful than driving in most areas of Kanagawa. Roads and traffic make sense in Tokyo, everything is busy but it has a steady flow. Kanagawa and specifically Sagamihara is a Mad Max realm of the recommended gps route (or sometimes really the only route) consists of cutting through narrow neighborhood streets, suicide market roads packed with pedestrians and bicyclists who don't give a gently caress, blind corners and needing to cut across several lanes of steady traffic to make a turn. I have never had any issues in downtown Tokyo but holy gently caress have I had some white knuckle close calls driving through portions of Kanagawa.
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Jun 3, 2020 11:10
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Busy Bee posted:Anyone have any good YouTube channels that I can share to my friend who is learning Japanese? Ask here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3438030
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Jun 3, 2020 13:09
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Busy Bee posted:Anyone have any good YouTube channels that I can share to my friend who is learning Japanese? let me tell you about vtubers....
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Jun 4, 2020 03:51
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Martytoof posted:In 2018 I was talked into doing that Mario Kart poo poo the locals all hate and it was stressful as all get out. For anyone who is going to Tokyo in the future and has heard of this, please don't loving do it. Not only do you look like a massive weeb to the Tokyoites who don't even know what being a weeb means, it's insanely loud and fucks with the traffic. I get it, it's your life and how dare you try to stop someone else from having fun, but for real you look like a complete dork and it's loving lame and annoying as poo poo.
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Jun 4, 2020 04:05
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Otoh the Street Kart website has the most clear and comprehensive list of international driving permit requirements, sorted by country, that I have ever found online. https://kart.st/en/license_tokyobay.html https://kart.st/en/drivers-license/ (country list)
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Jun 4, 2020 04:19
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AHH F/UGH posted:For anyone who is going to Tokyo in the future and has heard of this, please don't loving do it. Not only do you look like a massive weeb to the Tokyoites who don't even know what being a weeb means, it's insanely loud and fucks with the traffic. I get it, it's your life and how dare you try to stop someone else from having fun, but for real you look like a complete dork and it's loving lame and annoying as poo poo. OTOH this applies to plenty of other of tourist activities in Tokyo. Akihabara, cat cafes, Gundam/Ghibli, whatever the gently caress Mandrake is, robots, New York Bar, anything involving ninjas and samurai. If someone wants to weeb out in a go-kart, whatever. I personally don't think go-karting is a huge nuisance. zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Jun 4, 2020 |
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Jun 4, 2020 04:30
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zmcnulty posted:OTOH this applies to plenty of other of tourist activities in Tokyo. Akihabara, cat cafes, Gundam/Ghibli, whatever the gently caress Mandrake is, robots, New York Bar, anything involving ninjas and samurai. If someone wants to weeb out in a go-kart, whatever. I personally don't think go-karting is a huge nuisance. let me tell you about BL...
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Jun 4, 2020 05:52
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zmcnulty posted:OTOH this applies to plenty of other of tourist activities in Tokyo. Akihabara, cat cafes, Gundam/Ghibli, whatever the gently caress Mandrake is, robots, New York Bar, anything involving ninjas and samurai. If someone wants to weeb out in a go-kart, whatever. I personally don't think go-karting is a huge nuisance. Being on foot and going to shops that cater to tourists is just A Thing that Happens in touristy spots. Not just inside Tokyo or Japan, but elsewhere too. Doing so on the road in a kart that is very small with a driver who are out in the open and not necessarily paying as much attention as they would be if they were driving in their home country is at least more dangerous, even ignoring how tacky or passé it now is. A tourist from Singapore ran into a building last year, it’s hard to do that at the cat cafe.
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Jun 4, 2020 06:15
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the robot restaurant should be turned into a pachinko place or saizeriya's
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Jun 4, 2020 06:16
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AHH F/UGH posted:For anyone who is going to Tokyo in the future and has heard of this, please don't loving do it. Not only do you look like a massive weeb to the Tokyoites who don't even know what being a weeb means, it's insanely loud and fucks with the traffic. I get it, it's your life and how dare you try to stop someone else from having fun, but for real you look like a complete dork and it's loving lame and annoying as poo poo. I'm 100% on board with this. I didn't realize it was such a thing for locals at the time so I booked it at a friend's strong suggestion. And honestly, it was dumb and stressful. You can't do any actual sightseeing because you're stressed out about driving a tiny loving go-kart next to buses and trucks and poo poo. Literally the only recollection I have from that experience was stress.
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Jun 4, 2020 12:56
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if i had to make a list of don'ts for tourists i'd say: akihabara, robot restaurant, go kart thing, golden gai, anything related at all to lost in translation, i think the ghibli museum is probably dumb too but whatever
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Jun 4, 2020 13:03
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Shibawanko posted:if i had to make a list of don'ts for tourists i'd say: akihabara, robot restaurant, go kart thing, golden gai, anything related at all to lost in translation, i think the ghibli museum is probably dumb too but whatever Lol, just let them do their poo poo why do you care?
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Jun 4, 2020 14:03
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Ghibli Museum is great and I’m not even that into Ghibli.
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Jun 4, 2020 14:33
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Stringent posted:Lol, just let them do their poo poo why do you care? because it sucks and it's boring and you won't have a good time
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Jun 4, 2020 14:46
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I dunno all my friends who've been to Japan and went to robot restaurant and golden gai really enjoyed it
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Jun 4, 2020 14:51
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BB2K posted:I dunno all my friends who've been to Japan and went to robot restaurant and golden gai really enjoyed it 
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Jun 4, 2020 15:10
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my group went to Ghibli museum last year and we had a great time there thanks for reading my blog
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Jun 4, 2020 15:15
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arisu posted:my group went to Ghibli museum last year and we had a great time there thanks for reading my blog are you sure you were at the right place?
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Jun 4, 2020 15:29
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Lost in Translation did get one thing right. For relaxing times, I made it Suntory time.
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Jun 4, 2020 15:36
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Shibawanko posted:if i had to make a list of don'ts for tourists i'd say: akihabara, robot restaurant, go kart thing, golden gai, anything related at all to lost in translation, i think the ghibli museum is probably dumb too but whatever Akihabara is a decent place to look around at nerds and nerd poo poo. Just don't actually buy anything on the main street. Golden Gai is mostly a pass, unless you can find a bar where there's not a lot of other tourists. Found several places where I had very decent conversations with the natives. Personally I'd say that (if you're gay/lesbian) you can skip Shinjuku Nichome. It's mostly other tourists or foreigners and you're not really getting anything that you wouldn't be getting at home.
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Jun 4, 2020 15:40
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I can't articulate why, but I was mostly disappointed with Akihabara. I somehow expected it to be.. bigger? I mean, I can appreciate it for what it is now, but I think I went in with way too grand a preconception. There's probably like three or four good stores to visit, and then just a bunch of other stores that sell exactly the same thing for two blocks. Maybe that's it -- I felt like once I saw one store I'd seen them all, give or take.
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Jun 4, 2020 15:43
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