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I had friends who went in mid to late October and it was still too hot for them, but they're fat Americans so take that for what you will
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Jun 17, 2022 02:04
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Grand Fromage posted:October and November seem like extremely good Japan months and I have never been because of work. Would like to go while I'm funemployed. If you can be there for Halloween it's a great time. Speaking of that. I am in the preliminary planning stages to do just that. Assuming it is open, of course. And I can get some things tied up on my end.
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Jun 17, 2022 02:36
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Waltzing Along posted:If you can be there for Halloween it's a great time. Flip over some cop cars in Shibuya.
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Jun 17, 2022 02:58
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Waltzing Along posted:If you can be there for Halloween it's a great time. i hope you get long covid (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jun 17, 2022 03:02
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Stringent posted:i hope you get long covid What is wrong with you?
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Jun 17, 2022 03:21
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I always choose to fly in/out of HND even if it’s a little more expensive because I can’t be assed to do NRT again. Being super jetlagged always makes the monorail ride seem more fun than it actually is, and I always associate that loopy and hazy monorail ride with the awesome feeling of realization that I’m finally back in Japan. E: Oh huh I just remembered I have to decide whether I want to bother with trying to get the drug form for my concerta prescription, or just do an ADHD drug free holiday. Anyone gone through this? Is it a huge hassle? I’m googling that methylphenidate under 2g is permissible, and mine is 54mg so I could easily bring in enough for my 21 day trip, but the thought of going to prison for some miscommunication makes me want to look into the yakkan shoumei anyway. Have a long time to figure this out at least. some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Jun 17, 2022 |
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Jun 17, 2022 03:21
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some kinda jackal posted:I always choose to fly in/out of HND even if it’s a little more expensive because I can’t be assed to do NRT again. Google Yakkan Shoumei.
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Jun 17, 2022 04:08
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some kinda jackal posted:I always choose to fly in/out of HND even if it’s a little more expensive because I can’t be assed to do NRT again. One of the guys I went with in February 2020 did the yakkan shoumei for his adhd meds and it turned around in about two days over email. It was about a two minute inspection on arrival at the airport. Do the form so you don't have to worry about either coming off your meds and then going back on them or getting hassled on the way in.
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Jun 17, 2022 04:37
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Mister Chief posted:Google Yakkan Shoumei. You are allowed up to a one month supply of, "Deadly poison." Very reasonable of them.
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Jun 17, 2022 04:41
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Get the yakkan shomei and resell your drugs to me, tia
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Jun 17, 2022 05:52
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Not getting the Narita hate tbh. Our ritual is arrive at Narita pretty late, smash a couple of strong zeros/highballs and a bowl of ramen then crash out in the tiny APA then get on with Tokyo or whatever the next morning. Maybe it's just the association with it being the beginning of a great holiday.
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Jun 17, 2022 09:13
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AHH F/UGH posted:I had friends who went in mid to late October and it was still too hot for them, but they're fat Americans so take that for what you will
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Jun 17, 2022 11:21
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isn't ireland also like, cool and rainy year round compared to anywhere in east asia
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Jun 17, 2022 13:47
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When I first moved to Tokyo and I got to Narita I had to sleep overnight there and cracked a Strong Zero from the conbini Umeboshi Strong Zero is probably one of the most disgusting things I've ever tasted in my life
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Jun 17, 2022 18:50
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Last time I was there I did Narita because I got some great seats on a flight. I also took both the Skyliner and N'EX to and from the airport because I'm a minor train nerd and it was fun to try out both. They're honestly both equally good IMO, the main reason to choose one over the other (if you don't have the JR Rail Pass) is convenience. I was staying in Ryogoku the first few nights, so Skyliner ending at Ueno station worked well for that. At the end of the trip I was in Ōtsuka, so catching the N'EX at Ikebukuro worked well for that, especially because I had some time to kill anyway and relaxing on a comfortable train was great.
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Jun 18, 2022 07:06
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So, for a first trip, is Shinjuku the place to stay? Probably be in Tokyo 10-14 days, and I have no intention of renting a car or anything, so my plan was to stay somewhere within walking distance of Shinjuku station, and use that as a hub to get to other areas of Tokyo. Is it about as easy to get to Shinjuku from Narita and Haneda? It's, like, a 12-hour flight, so an extra 45 minutes on a train doesn't really bother me, if that's all it comes down to.
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Jun 18, 2022 17:40
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What are you planning on seeing during those 10-14 days? Where are you planning on going? IME, I stayed at the Dormy in Ueno Okachimachi and didn’t have any trouble getting around. It’s not a fancy hotel in the middle of the fancy city, but it was homey and chill.
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Jun 18, 2022 18:04
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Anywhere near a Yamanote line station is fine. I've stayed in Ueno, Ikebukuro, and Ryugoku. Ikebukuro was probably the best other than the fact that you have to steel yourself to using Ikebukuro station. I would personally not book a hotel that required me to go through Shinjuku station all the time.
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Jun 18, 2022 18:09
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Yeah Shinjuku station is a mess. Ueno is good.
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Jun 18, 2022 18:39
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Pollyanna posted:What are you planning on seeing during those 10-14 days? Where are you planning on going? Ghibli Museum, Mitaka Teamlab Borderless/Planets Saitama Railway Museum Saitama - Hikawa Shrine Saitama - Omiya Bonsai Art Museum/Village Saitama - Prefectural Museum Tokyo National Museum Odaiba Distillery Day Akhibara Imperial Palace I like history a lot, one of the friends I'm going with really likes infrastructure stuff (trains, dams, that sort of thing). We all like food & drinking, definitely going to do at least a couple of nice meals, and a lot of street food, for sure trying fugu.
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Jun 18, 2022 18:52
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Ham Equity posted:Mostly basic bitch tourist stuff, I think; when we were initially planning for a few less days, I had the following listed: If any of you are rather good at Japanese (for the sake of safety in emergencies, I imagine) they might still be doing tours in those huge underground rainwater drainage systems around Tokyo for your infrastructure happy friend.
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Jun 18, 2022 19:02
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Bofast posted:If any of you are rather good at Japanese (for the sake of safety in emergencies, I imagine) they might still be doing tours in those huge underground rainwater drainage systems around Tokyo for your infrastructure happy friend. One of us is, but not the infrastructure-happy one. That sounds really cool, though.
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Jun 18, 2022 19:11
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With that much Saitama you may want to look at Ikebukuro, some/most of the Saitama lines go through there. I've never checked prices but I would also expect hotels in Shinjuku to be more expensive than elsewhere. But really as long as you're on the Yamanote you're good.
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Jun 18, 2022 19:31
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Grand Fromage posted:With that much Saitama you may want to look at Ikebukuro, some/most of the Saitama lines go through there. I've never checked prices but I would also expect hotels in Shinjuku to be more expensive than elsewhere. I'll check out Ueno.
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Jun 18, 2022 19:37
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If you find yourself making a spreadsheet at any time you’re vacationing wrong
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Jun 18, 2022 19:44
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History Comes Inside! posted:If you find yourself making a spreadsheet at any time you’re vacationing wrong I don't want to deal with getting up in the morning and trying to figure out what we want to do on a particular day, especially if there are things to do (like the Ghibli Museum or Imperial Palace) that have to be scheduled ahead of time. It's not, like, iron-clad "we cannot deviate." It's just a "here's what we have planned for this day assuming we don't stumble across something else we want to do."
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Jun 18, 2022 19:46
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History Comes Inside! posted:If you find yourself making a spreadsheet at any time you’re vacationing wrong Nah. It's a convenient way to organize travel/hotels if you're going to a bunch of different places. I list out where I'm going, what trains I'm taking to get there, and the hotel I've booked. I usually also list things I'm interested in seeing/eating at each place but I don't make any strict plans of what to do day to day. That's traveling alone though. If I were going with a group I'd make firmer plans so we don't spend every day sitting around for an hour trying to figure out what to do and getting frustrated.
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Jun 18, 2022 19:50
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Pro-tip to add to the usefulness of dorks who like spreadsheets like me. Add a bunch of pins to Google My Maps of stuff you kinda sorta want to do but wouldn’t go out of your way for it. So many “huh, that’s neat” things that I got to see that I otherwise would’ve completely ignored on a trip just because they happened to be very close to a “must do” item so was worth the visit while I’m in the area.Jerry Manderbilt posted:isn't ireland also like, cool and rainy year round compared to anywhere in east asia
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Jun 18, 2022 19:55
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A pin map is super useful too, yeah. Planning and research are fine. You just don't want to be that dork who has a full daily schedule planned out in 15 minute segments.
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Jun 18, 2022 19:57
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I don't know how people can super plan a vacation. It just seems dreadful. Vacationing can be tiring and somedays I wake up and don't want to do anything. It's nice to just say, "I'll go to Disney tomorrow." or "I just feel like walking around today, I think I'll check out Minoo Falls." Rigid plans are just asking for trouble. Oh no, I didn't make it to Odaiba this trip. Guess I'll have to come back!
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Jun 18, 2022 20:27
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Waltzing Along posted:I don't know how people can super plan a vacation. It just seems dreadful. Vacationing can be tiring and somedays I wake up and don't want to do anything. It's nice to just say, "I'll go to Disney tomorrow." or "I just feel like walking around today, I think I'll check out Minoo Falls." Rigid plans are just asking for trouble. Yeah, I also don't like trying to cram like a million things into one day. Most of the days I did not plan enough to fully fill the day, so we'd have time to chill or check out other things in the area we discovered. Having a very rough itinerary saves a bunch of frustration in the mornings, and also makes sure if there are things people really want to see, they get to see them (the Imperial Palace was a big deal for me, Akhibara for one of the people I'm traveling with).
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Jun 18, 2022 20:31
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Yeah outside of things that I absolutely have to schedule in advance like tattoo appointments or ticketed events I just turn up in places and do whatever. Life is way easier.
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Jun 18, 2022 20:33
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Nice thing about Akhihabara is you can go any time up till 8pm, I think. It's kinda better at night, anyway. Fewer people wandering around, but looks nicer. I think it is 8pm that things start closing there. Also, I think on Sundays they close the street to traffic.
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Jun 18, 2022 20:34
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Next time I go to japan the only list I want to bring is a list of foods I want to eat.
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Jun 18, 2022 20:38
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Sometimes you do poo poo on holiday that is happening at a fixed time and it’s good to have a rough schedule that means you won’t miss it! Personally, I’m way less stressed if there’s obsessive detailed planning but I don’t force that on other people, just when travelling by myself.
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Jun 18, 2022 22:19
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I like to look everything up before I go on vacation both as a way of channeling my excitement about the trip and to prevent missing out on stuff for reasons like "closed on Mondays". Then when I'm actually travelling I do like 20% of the stuff I researched and don't have to think too hard about any of it.
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Jun 19, 2022 00:18
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Pollyanna posted:Yeah Shinjuku station is a mess. Ueno is good. Well, Ueno is also a mess, in like the sense that it's a dirty dump. But yes, it's not as confusing and fucky as Shinjuku. Shinjuku is figuratively garbage, Ueno is literally garbage.
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Jun 19, 2022 00:30
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If you have trains to catch and scheduled stuff, one of the more important things is the time it takes you to get from your hotel room to the train platform. It can be geographically close but a drat hassle depending on what station you're talking about. You can be staying "in Shinjuku" for example but it can easily take like 30 minutes to get to the Oedo line platform or whatever if you're staying in Shinjuku 3-chome and don't know where you're going. Hell, the issue with Shinjuku station for many is that it can still take 30 minutes even if you think you know where you're going.
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Jun 19, 2022 00:47
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Planning your trip is good and all you need to do is have 1-2 big things planned out for the day and maybe a couple of minor things nearby to those things. This way you get to more efficiently plan out your required travel so you don't have to spend extra time backtracking and more time doing stuff. Obviously playing your trip to the hour is dumb but no one is suggesting that.
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Jun 19, 2022 01:34
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AHH F/UGH posted:Well, Ueno is also a mess, in like the sense that it's a dirty dump. But yes, it's not as confusing and fucky as Shinjuku. What? What’s wrong with Ueno?
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Jun 19, 2022 01:38
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