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Meskhenet posted:I was in Akihabara May last year and witnessed the mario karters. Funny, if you look up my older posts you’ll see me going OMG I must try it back when the thing was actually called Mari Kart. I hadn’t thought about how obnoxious and dangerous that was at the time. I had the same experience you had in front of the Kanda Dormy Inn last month. I don’t know if they could’ve looked sadder
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Jan 11, 2024 21:04
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You can play Pachinko in Yakuza as a mini game.
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Jan 11, 2024 22:34
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On the other hand driving in Japan is cool and fun! You can stop at a SA which is a rest stop (service area)... of which the largest one is two floors of insane food and gift goodness.
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Jan 12, 2024 00:43
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Zettace posted:Pachinko tips from my pachinkasu friend: In addition, above the machines are data which give information on the payout rates and last time since a jackpot hit, although any 'good' machines will likely be taken by people who queue up in the morning.
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Jan 12, 2024 05:31
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Cockmaster posted:I was mainly thinking high-tech stuff that never made it to the US, such as the Gundam pods at HEY Akihabara. And that Joypolis place looks good, thank you. What about old arcade games that didn't make it to the US? Cause if you are interested, there's a retro arcade called 1-Chome Play Land in the same building as Joypolis, up on the 4th floor.
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Jan 12, 2024 06:23
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Original_Z posted:In addition, above the machines are data which give information on the payout rates and last time since a jackpot hit, although any 'good' machines will likely be taken by people who queue up in the morning. If you really want a unique cultural experience on your trip, you could stand in the line of shame outside the pachinko parlor in the morning.
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Jan 12, 2024 07:52
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Big thanks to the goon who talked up 7-11 egg sandwiches. I finally got my hands on one today and it was the best fuckin egg sammy I've ever had.
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Jan 12, 2024 11:41
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Anyone have experience with a good spot for plum blossoms in Chubu or Kansai? I'm gonna have a 4 day weekend from Feb 22, and I was hoping to take a short trip from Nagoya.
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Jan 12, 2024 12:06
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bee posted:Big thanks to the goon who talked up 7-11 egg sandwiches. I finally got my hands on one today and it was the best fuckin egg sammy I've ever had. You think that's good, then wait until you try the egg sandwich with the teriyaki chicken in it
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Jan 13, 2024 06:16
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Ohhhh poo poo I literally saw one ten minutes ago and almost picked it up then decided to go with the OG. I'll get one before I leave for sure!
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Jan 13, 2024 07:04
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Waltzing Along posted:You can do pachinko at home: There's non-smoking pachinko, at least in Tokyo the one we walked into was smoke-free and had little ventilated prisons for smokers. Even smoke-free though, it was a depressing soulless place where I can only hope that the people sitting at the pachinko machines were actually very convincingly crafted animatronics and not actual humans. Basically everyone was putting money in the machine and cranking the balls with one hand, and then watching a movie on their cell phone in the other hand - because pachinko is so insanely loving boring that even the people playing it aren't paying attention. Somehow it was even more depressing than slot machines in the USA, probably because the people playing pachinko were often aged 20-50, and not >90 years old like slot machine users in the USA. E: It was worth walking in though to see how it was out of morbid curiosity, then walking out about 3 minutes later. I had tried going to a pachinko place on a previous trip to Japan in 2010 and it was so gross and smoke-filled that I walked out immediately. But they exist only because they are preying on people with gambling addictions -- so it's a depressing place. All 5 of us were icked out and no one tried to play. The regular arcades are fine, not really my thing but they're not depressing. Saladman fucked around with this message at 11:04 on Jan 13, 2024 |
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Jan 13, 2024 10:59
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Sounds like someone didn't walk into the medal games section of that arcade.
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Jan 13, 2024 11:49
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Saladman posted:Somehow it was even more depressing than slot machines in the USA, probably because the people playing pachinko were often aged 20-50, and not >90 years old like slot machine users in the USA. If this depresses you, don't ever go into a RSL club or the gaming rooms in Australian bars  Speaking of sad things, we saw the go karts go past in Shibuya today and if I was driving and had to look out for these idiots I'd be pissed. The random dirt bikes at home are bad enough. bee fucked around with this message at 12:01 on Jan 13, 2024 |
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Jan 13, 2024 11:59
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zmcnulty posted:Sounds like someone didn't walk into the medal games section of that arcade. Or the virtual horse racing sim area
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Jan 13, 2024 12:25
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zmcnulty posted:Sounds like someone didn't walk into the medal games section of that arcade. At least the ones I went into, people were actively engaging in the 'game', and it didn't seem any worse than seeing people in western countries play the scam carnival games. Pachinko parlors were just full on dystopian, even with the indoor smoking ban in Tokyo, like in some cyberpunk nightmare zone. Kind of briefly interesting but also voyeuristic. YMMV. bee posted:If this depresses you, don't ever go into a RSL club or the gaming rooms in Australian bars I try to avoid that kind of place, so maybe it is just as bad outside of Japan. I think the only time I've been to slots areas of casinos was a couple Indian* casinos in the US when I was like 19-21. They were depressing in that everyone using the slots was chain smoking while hooked up to oxygen tanks and with BMIs well north of 40, but seeing people at end-stage giving up on life is somewhat less depressing for me than seeing the start of the spiral at the pachinko place we went to in Tokyo this summer. There's probably some variance, I'm not exactly a connoisseur. *Or whatever the euphemism treadmill has renamed them to in the past 20 years.
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Jan 13, 2024 15:08
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.Z. posted:What about old arcade games that didn't make it to the US? Cause if you are interested, there's a retro arcade called 1-Chome Play Land in the same building as Joypolis, up on the 4th floor. A quick internet search shows that "old arcade games" includes a number of ancient screenless mechanical games. Interesting, thank you.
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Jan 13, 2024 20:07
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zmcnulty posted:Sounds like someone didn't walk into the medal games section of that arcade. Oh yes! The medal games will be in the arcade at any decent shopping mall. There will also be pachinko machines set to super low-input so you can get your mindless blingbling in a safe environment for cheap and with McD nearby. My kids like the medal games. Gatcha Mambo JR is the obvious favorite at our local Aeon Mall but there are some new ones that have massive screens and some user interaction.
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Jan 14, 2024 00:48
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teddust posted:Anyone have experience with a good spot for plum blossoms in Chubu or Kansai? I'm gonna have a 4 day weekend from Feb 22, and I was hoping to take a short trip from Nagoya. Mito but that's ibaraki..
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Jan 14, 2024 23:21
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https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/f2e9368e89086aff73a71c6fb082bea45f3c4f7b Man shot at Starbucks at Aeon Kawanoe, Shikokuchuo, Ehime (3-4 shots to the chest, he died) My first thought was, Kawanoe has a Starbucks??! My friend who lives closer: Getting announcements about it. “Stay inside for safety” My wife says the victim is a well known yakuza and maybe not the first time he’s been shot? 😮
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Jan 14, 2024 23:37
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totalnewbie posted:Mito but that's ibaraki..
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Jan 15, 2024 06:45
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If you end up going to a Pachinko hall, please wear ear protection. or noise-canceling headphones.
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Jan 15, 2024 09:13
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peanut posted:My first thought was, Kawanoe has a Starbucks??!
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Jan 15, 2024 10:01
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It may be time for me to take a day trip to Fukuoka and go vintage shopping.
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Jan 15, 2024 11:50
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I think I'm gonna hit up Chen Kenichi's spicy mapo tofu chain in Kiba during a day trip to Odaiba. They seem pretty close by train or even car and seems like it'd be a fun thing to try out.
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Jan 15, 2024 15:10
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I'm planning a trip in September and I'm a little undecided about my itinerary. Would love some advice. I'll be spending 20 nights and plan to travel from Tokyo to Hiroshima. My plan so far: 3 nights in Tokyo 3 nights in Takayama 5 nights in Osaka 2 nights in Kinosaki 3 nights in Tottori 4 nights in Hiroshima I want to catch the sumo tournament in Tokyo. Check out Takayama and the surrounding areas. Stay in Osaka as a base and also go to Himeji, Kyoto and maybe Nara. Relax in Kinosaki Onsen. Explore the coast of Tottori. And then finish off in Hiroshima. Sumo, a small Onsen town and Hiroshima are my musts. And I want to stay at least 2 nights in any one place. What I'm not so sure about is Takayama and if I should cut down on the amount of nights in Osaka and Hiroshima to add another stop. Maybe there's some really cool places along this route I don't know about. I love just walking around and taking in nature and other sights, so I won't get bored no matter what I do. And will it be too difficult to get around Tottori without a car?
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Jan 16, 2024 11:55
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QuasiQuack posted:I'm planning a trip in September and I'm a little undecided about my itinerary. Would love some advice. I would take days away from Takayama - that’s going to require going from Tokyo to Nagoya by Shinkansen, and checking Google Maps it’s almost 5 hours going that way at the fastest. That’s a lot of travel, even for this long of a trip. Sumo September tournament runs from September 8-22. Only having three days in Tokyo makes it trying to thread the eye of a needle, especially if one of those days is your arrival day. (Also: jet lag). Have you been to Japan/Tokyo before? That’s a brief time in Tokyo. quote:And I want to stay at least 2 nights in any one place. Why? Especially places like onsen aren’t necessarily meant to be long vacation stops (certainly at least the ones driving distance from Tokyo tend to be overnight stay focused). Is Kinosaki the one in Hyogo? Why stay there two days after being based in Osaka? Why Tottori? Why not Kyushu at all? Where are you flying out of home?
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Jan 16, 2024 12:36
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harperdc posted:I would take days away from Takayama - that’s going to require going from Tokyo to Nagoya by Shinkansen, and checking Google Maps it’s almost 5 hours going that way at the fastest. That’s a lot of travel, even for this long of a trip. Good point about ticket availability, maybe another night or two in Tokyo is a good idea. I've been to Tokyo four times, which is why I want to mostly see other parts of the country. Luckily I don't get jet lag. Takayama was thrown in because I wanted a stop between Tokyo and Osaka and it seemed interesting, but it was mostly an afterthought. I don't like to have two travel days in a row, I want at least one day to fully absorb the environment where I'm at. I previously spent 4 days in Kurokawa Onsen and loved every second of it, so I want to find another small and quiet Onsen town to chill out in. The choice feel on Kinosaki because I really want to see the Tottori sand dunes. I've never seen anything like that before, and making "short" stops along the coast before getting to Hiroshima seemed appealing. I'll be flying home from Hiroshima.
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Jan 16, 2024 13:20
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QuasiQuack posted:And will it be too difficult to get around Tottori without a car? Tottori's a strong contender for the most rural prefecture in Japan - there are trains/busses but you'll probably have a better time and see more if you can hire a car.
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Jan 16, 2024 16:35
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QuasiQuack posted:And will it be too difficult to get around Tottori without a car? You can get to all the major tourist spots without a car. I mean that's true in most places.
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Jan 16, 2024 16:39
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Is Akihabara still worth the trip? The last time I went, I just ended up in a PC Cafe playing Cross Fire for 5 hours.
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Jan 16, 2024 17:16
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Are you shopping for anything specific? Depending on when you went before, it has less to see and more maid cafes. If you aren't shopping for anything, then you've seen a better versio of it in the past.
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Jan 16, 2024 17:25
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Waltzing Along posted:Are you shopping for anything specific? Depending on when you went before, it has less to see and more maid cafes. If you aren't shopping for anything, then you've seen a better versio of it in the past. That's a drat shame. I guess it's Omotesando, Harajuku, or Shinkjuku then this summer.
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Jan 16, 2024 17:29
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Ethics_Gradient posted:Tottori's a strong contender for the most rural prefecture in Japan - there are trains/busses but you'll probably have a better time and see more if you can hire a car. LyonsLions posted:You can get to all the major tourist spots without a car. I mean that's true in most places.  I don't have a license so I'm used to spending a litte more time getting places. Looking at the train coverage it seems fine to me. Reading up on Takayama a bit more it now really appeals to me, so I think I'll move some time from Osaka to Tokyo instead.
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Jan 16, 2024 22:30
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teddust posted:I ended up deciding on the Odawara plum festival, so a little outside of chubu anyway. Thanks for the suggestion, though I'll file it away for next year. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6201.html
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Jan 16, 2024 23:56
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We did Tottori in a day. Sand museum and the dunes are so close to each other and the dunes are small. We did have someone driving us around though as I was in the farm program then working for a guy running a green roof company. The food courts next to the dunes are NOT good btw. It's one of the most popular spots so there will probably be a dedicated bus line running to it regularly. In September it will be hot hot. cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Jan 17, 2024 |
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Jan 17, 2024 03:16
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cheese eats mouse posted:We did Tottori in a day. Sand museum and the dunes are so close to each other and the dunes are small. We did have someone driving us around though as I was in the farm program then working for a guy running a green roof company. The food courts next to the dunes are NOT good btw. It's one of the most popular spots so there will probably be a dedicated bus line running to it regularly. They're not good but they're also the only thing around so /shrug It's windy as gently caress at the top of the dunes so that's nice to cool down. You also get sandblasted so try not to stay up there for toooo long. Sand museum was cool though; it has a different theme every year and new exhibits so I honestly wouldn't mind swinging by every year if it were at all convenient (it's not really).
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Jan 17, 2024 08:26
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My wife is from tottori so I get to visit the sand museum almost every year and it's pretty cool. Definitely would only recommend you go to tottori if you have a lot of spare time in Japan and ideally a car, though. If you do have a car, one spot I can recommend is uomidai, a few km away from tottori city. It's a cliff that gives a scenic overlook of the coast. There's not much of anything to do nearby, but you can see the city and sand dunes off in the distance.
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Jan 17, 2024 12:08
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Speaking of food, has anyone been to that Michelin-rated sushi place in the Tokyo subway system? Or tried fugu?
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Jan 18, 2024 02:51
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Everyone here goes to Jiro's whenever we are in Tokyo. We just walk in, sit down and demand omakase except with certain exceptions.
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Jan 18, 2024 02:52
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Fugu tastes like nothing, waste of money.
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Jan 18, 2024 03:10
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