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Oh thank God there's a unified pass for most of it, that's a relief. Thanks for clarifying! It sounds like Hakone could be the most complicated place to get to, but there is a direct route: - Get to Shinjuku Station - Don't take the Yamanote Line (unless I want a transfer) - Instead, take the Odakyu Romancecar all the way to Hakone Yumoto Station - This is not part of Pasmo or Suica; I'd need to buy a roundtrip ticket at Shinjuku Station The timetable is here, and I gotta figure out how the gently caress to read this since I'd like Hakone to be a day trip. So, I need to figure out how early I can go there and when I need to be heading back.
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Jun 30, 2023 14:47
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| # ? May 26, 2024 00:20 |
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so more detail: Shinjuku Station is home to like five different train companies' lines. So if you've ridden the train to Shinjuku and going from the JR lines to the Metro lines, or to the Odakyu Line, you're exiting the payment gate of JR and then walking to the entry of that other line (eg Odakyu to get to Hakone). So in the case of taking the good ol' Romancecar down for the Hakone trip, you'd go to the ticket panels there and I believe there are still Hakone Day Passes from Odakyu that include train fare plus some other sights to see in the cost of your ticket (and I don't think that Day Pass is much more expensive than the train fare/seat fare by itself). surf rock posted:Oh thank God there's a unified pass for most of it, that's a relief. Thanks for clarifying! It sounds like Hakone could be the most complicated place to get to, but there is a direct route: Using the Shinjuku outbound side as an example, you want to find the train times that go from Shinjuku (001, top of the 'blue' section) to Hakone-Yumoto (7211, bottom of blue section). Looks like the earliest direct express Romancecar on weekdays departs Shinjuku at 7:37 am, and arrives at Hakone-Yumoto at 9:22 am. Going the other direction, the last direct train on a weekday departs Hakone-Yumoto at 7:50 pm and arrives back at Shinjuku at 9:26 pm. Note that there are other slower non-express trains that should also get you there (and be covered by the day pass ticket) but the express is the express for good reason, try to avoid the locals if only because they take a ton of time.
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Jun 30, 2023 15:19
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Question Mark Mound posted:For the transit card, you can also get a digital one rather than a physical card for Apple Pay / Google Pay if you’re like me and want to carry as little stuff as possible. Just tap your phone onto the pad on the turnstile and on you go. I found myself unable to load any money onto an Apple Wallet Pasmo card with my US credit card. Did some reading and that seems to be a recurring thing but there wasn't that much talk about it. Are you loading the account with a non-Japanese credit card? Is there a trick to it?
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Jun 30, 2023 21:46
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A lot of vendors in Japan have issues with credit cards issued by banks in other countries or just flat out refuse to accept them as payment.
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Jul 1, 2023 01:29
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On my last trip I was just topping up the mobile Suica using Apple Pay tied to my UK payment card. Though it seems like it’s not always so reliable based on here and other reports (and was it visa or Mastercard that just didn’t work at all for a long time?) so I may have gotten lucky.
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Jul 1, 2023 09:18
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It may have been Visa and is ongoing; both of the cards I have are Visas and neither would work for me. (Though, Surf Rock, don't worry regardless because worst case is that you put some money into a ticket machine and refill your card that way. It's still easy!)
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Jul 1, 2023 10:35
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Midjack posted:A lot of vendors in Japan have issues with credit cards issued by banks in other countries or just flat out refuse to accept them as payment. There are still plenty of cash only places, but this last trip I'd say the majority of places I went accepted credit cards and my international one was no problem. I was surprised how much it's changed since last time I was there. The only time I couldn't use my card at a place that theoretically accepted them was getting shinkansen tickets from the ticket machines. Had to go the counter.
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Jul 1, 2023 16:31
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surf rock posted:For folks who are knowledgeable about Japan's public transit system, though, I wanted to check first: is Google leading me astray with any of these? Like, are any of these bullshit directions? From what I can tell, these different transit options should be categorized as: You're thinking too hard about inner tokyo transportation. Just get an IC Pass and call it a day.
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Jul 1, 2023 19:17
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Ended up booking a room at Hotel Century Southern Tower! Such a relief to have all my flights and lodging settled. I've been working through my itinerary, which is a lot more fun. For the more event-based days: - I just learned that there's an actual sumo tournament happening at Ryōgoku Kokugikan while I'm there! I was going to go to a sumo morning practice, but I feel like I should pivot. (EDIT: wait, I was looking at this site and I realized it's probably not the official site; I think it's this one and I've gotta wait until August 10 for this too) - I'm planning to go to a Yakult Swallows game, but tickets aren't on sale for that yet. - I was hoping to do a pro wrestling show, but it doesn't look like any of the September events have been scheduled yet for the various companies so I gotta wait and see there. - I was also hoping to see a one-act kabuki show, but I think September events for those also haven't been scheduled yet, and it seems like the service that provides English captioning isn't active at the moment either, so that seems unlikely at the moment. ntan1 posted:Just get an IC Pass and call it a day. Yup, others explained it surf rock fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Jul 2, 2023 |
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Jul 2, 2023 00:48
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Wow, nice hotels in Nagoya are ludicrously cheap! I’m only there for one night so I’m torn on “get a fairly normal hotel for basically nothing” or “get a needlessly nice hotel by my standards for the cost of a super budget place anywhere else in the world”
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Jul 2, 2023 11:12
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surf rock posted:- I just learned that there's an actual sumo tournament happening at Ryōgoku Kokugikan while I'm there! I was going to go to a sumo morning practice, but I feel like I should pivot. (EDIT: wait, I was looking at this site and I realized it's probably not the official site; I think it's this one and I've gotta wait until August 10 for this too) This is what you're looking for: https://www.sumo.or.jp/EnTicket/year_schedule/ Swallows tix shouldn't be hard to get, but I can recommend seeing a game at any of the Tokyo area stadiums. The Swallows stadium is charming and kind of minor league feeling (and also possibly going away soon); Tokyo Dome is more in line with an MLB stadium and also loud.
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Jul 2, 2023 12:54
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Question Mark Mound posted:Wow, nice hotels in Nagoya are ludicrously cheap! I’m only there for one night so I’m torn on “get a fairly normal hotel for basically nothing” or “get a needlessly nice hotel by my standards for the cost of a super budget place anywhere else in the world” Are you just hitting up Ghibli Park or do you have other plans as well. I live in Nagoya so I can give you the low down or recommendations if you are looking for something.
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Jul 3, 2023 08:47
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teddust posted:Are you just hitting up Ghibli Park or do you have other plans as well. I live in Nagoya so I can give you the low down or recommendations if you are looking for something. Recommendations are always welcome, thanks! We’re at the Ghibli park specifically for my partner’s birthday (so long as we can get tickets of course) but anything fun/romantic that can be done in the evening would be awesome.
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Jul 3, 2023 08:58
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I found Ghibli Park underwhelming and crowded. The Toyota museum nearby was cool though.
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Jul 3, 2023 11:36
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If your dates work for when Tokugawaen has night viewing it's really beautiful: https://www.tokugawaen.aichi.jp/event/index.html . A lot of the cool stuff to do at night depends on when you are visiting.
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Jul 3, 2023 12:44
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Busy Bee posted:I found Ghibli Park underwhelming and crowded. The Toyota museum nearby was cool though. teddust posted:If your dates work for when Tokugawaen has night viewing it's really beautiful: https://www.tokugawaen.aichi.jp/event/index.html . A lot of the cool stuff to do at night depends on when you are visiting.
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Jul 4, 2023 07:45
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Any suggestions on where to find Pokémon cards in Tokyo?
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Jul 4, 2023 21:31
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socketwrencher posted:Any suggestions on where to find Pokémon cards in Tokyo? There are a lot of card shops near Akihabara, mainly along the street on the west side that goes up to Suehirocho station.
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Jul 4, 2023 23:08
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https://nijigennomori.com/en/ Dragon Quest, Naruto, Godzilla, Crayon Shinchan theme park (each area is ticketed separately). We've only done the DQ area. It was nice and chill, like golfing for nerds.
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Jul 4, 2023 23:44
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socketwrencher posted:Any suggestions on where to find Pokémon cards in Tokyo? Many of the Book-Off stores I’ve been to recently are adding CCG/Pokémon areas, if you’re looking for something specific. Otherwise the toy floor of electronics or department stores (Bic Camera, Yodobashi, Yamada; AEON, Ito-Yokado, etc) have new packs.
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Jul 4, 2023 23:56
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Also any of the Weeb poo poo areas like Nakano Broadway have tons of card stores. I dunno about Pokemon in particular, I didn't look in them since I'm not a cards guy, but there were a lot of places dedicated to just selling cards.
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Jul 5, 2023 00:05
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Weeb poo poo.
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Jul 5, 2023 00:29
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teddust posted:There are a lot of card shops near Akihabara, mainly along the street on the west side that goes up to Suehirocho station. There's at least one card shop in Akibahabara that won't sell Pokemon cards to adults though due to them buying up so many cards there's nothing left for the kids. Dunno if its just 1 or more, but probably better to do card shopping outside of Akiba.
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Jul 5, 2023 00:36
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Thanks all, much appreciated- there's a 12 year old in the group who'll be looking for Pokémon and Naruto stuff.
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Jul 5, 2023 01:34
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socketwrencher posted:Any suggestions on where to find Pokémon cards in Tokyo? https://adayofzen.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-buying-pokemon-cards-in-tokyo
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Jul 5, 2023 08:48
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There's also a Pokemon card thread https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3963503&pagenumber=15&perpage=40 They probably have some additional suggestions
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Jul 5, 2023 10:28
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Pokemon card sales have gotten a little weird lately. We had to bring IDs for our kids to buy them at the toy store at the mall.
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Jul 5, 2023 13:22
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jfc
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Jul 5, 2023 13:53
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LyonsLions posted:Pokemon card sales have gotten a little weird lately. We had to bring IDs for our kids to buy them at the toy store at the mall. What on earth? Why? Is there like a printer ink crisis? Googling it makes it even more perplexing for me; https://gamerant.com/japan-store-id-buy-pokemon-cards-snow-hazard-and-clay-burst/ Also do kids in Japan even have IDs? I don't think I had an ID until I was like 13. I'm also impressed that Pokemon cards are still that popular 20 years after they came out.
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Jul 5, 2023 19:07
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Because adults are buying all the cards for resale, to the point of there being literally none around for kids, so some stores started restricting sales to adults.
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Jul 5, 2023 19:12
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Ebay has ruined things for everyone.
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Jul 5, 2023 19:20
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Saladman posted:What on earth? Why? Is there like a printer ink crisis? Googling it makes it even more perplexing for me; I’m not aware of the finer details of the transaction because it was my husband and son who arranged it, but basically they weren’t just selling them in the store and they had to make a reservation to buy them, and then return on the designated date with both children and their IDs. Kids have insurance cards as IDs, or some kids might have My Number cards or passports.
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Jul 5, 2023 19:24
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I still have all my Pokemon TCG from the late 90s at my parents' house in my old dresser. Are you telling me I could be a pokemon MILLIONAIRE???
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Jul 6, 2023 02:38
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AHH F/UGH posted:I still have all my Pokemon TCG from the late 90s at my parents' house in my old dresser. Are you telling me I could be a pokemon MILLIONAIRE??? Well I just looked at my old magic cards and apparently my deck, if the cards were mint (they're not) is worth a few thousand. So... Even in this condition, they're a fair bit of change. So yeah. You say that but you might actually have a bunch of money in old printed pieces of paper.
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Jul 6, 2023 04:24
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AHH F/UGH posted:I still have all my Pokemon TCG from the late 90s at my parents' house in my old dresser. Are you telling me I could be a pokemon MILLIONAIRE??? If they are in mint condition then yes it could be worth a lot of money. But even brand new cards straight from the pack aren't even guaranteed to get a PSA 10 score. I also had a binder full of Pokemon cards from the 90s and I organized everything and put them into a hard sleeve recently. I created a Google Sheet and if they were all PSA 10, it would individually be worth around $200,000. But I don't have any 10's, probably more around 7 to 8 range, a few 9's and if I sold them individually I could get around $5,000 to $10,000 for it.
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Jul 6, 2023 15:11
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If people want to give me a bunch of their money in exchange for useless slips of cardstock that I haven't thought about in 25 years then I should make this my priority I pray to god my dopehead brother didn't steal them years ago or something in that case. Bless.
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Jul 6, 2023 19:58
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This article seems to click with what I know about Japan re: singing at karaoke, not being a picky eater, etc. Is this article and/or site pretty good at educating foreigners about how to melt in? https://japanintercultural.com/free-resources/articles/socializing-in-japan-handling-common-tricky-areas/
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Jul 7, 2023 17:58
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Are you going on holiday or are you moving there?
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Jul 7, 2023 21:04
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totalnewbie posted:Are you going on holiday or are you moving there? Strongly considering moving there.
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Jul 7, 2023 21:28
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olives black posted:This article seems to click with what I know about Japan re: singing at karaoke, not being a picky eater, etc. Is this article and/or site pretty good at educating foreigners about how to melt in?
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Jul 7, 2023 22:40
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