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Teriyaki Koinku posted:Changing topics: what are some absolutely top-tier restaurants in Tokyo that every foodie should go to? Also, are there any Japanese food terms I should keep an ear or eye out for? I find that term so weird but that's just me. I don't think that term is used that way in Japan at all, or am I wrong about that (except when talking about foreigners asking for it, I guess)? Not a dig at you, just something that's always bothered me about the way people refer to those meals. Aaaaaanyway the reason is because you're going to be going to a grown-up restaurant. Like, that's an extremely weird thing to do (or I think so, anyway) if you just go into any random izakaya and ask whomever to order for you. You might ask for a recommendation but to just say, "Serve us whatever!".. And even if you do, then oh boy, here comes your fried potato and hokke. How exciting. Instead, you're going to a restaurant with a proper chef who designs their own tasting menu where it changes regularly and the place only seats 6 at the counter and all their ingredients are freshly delivered from *wherever* and they've got sous chefs in the back and blah blah so yeah, that's going to be expensive.
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Feb 22, 2024 01:49
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Teriyaki Koinku posted:Changing topics: what are some absolutely top-tier restaurants in Tokyo that every foodie should go to? Also, are there any Japanese food terms I should keep an ear or eye out for? Tokyo has 263 Michelin star restaurants.
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Feb 22, 2024 01:50
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Mister Chief posted:Tokyo has 263 Michelin star restaurants. Yes, but WHICH ONE? out of curiosity i just checked the michelin guide online and there's 12 3-stars, 33 2-stars, and 137 1-stars.
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Feb 22, 2024 01:51
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Go to all 12 3-stars. Obviously. Just walk in and demand a table.
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Feb 22, 2024 01:58
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totalnewbie posted:Yes, but WHICH ONE? Yes.
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Feb 22, 2024 02:01
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Walking into Matsuya and asking the staff to set the ticket machine to RANDOM mode
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Feb 22, 2024 02:02
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Omakase takoyaki stand.
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Feb 22, 2024 02:13
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Charles 2 of Spain posted:Walking into Matsuya and asking the staff to set the ticket machine to RANDOM mode Put 5000 yen into the machine, close your eyes and slam your open palms onto the buttons
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Feb 22, 2024 02:21
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Fugu courses near Shimbashi, can also order a la carte https://maps.app.goo.gl/S5doWfBd4gpi1erA6
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Feb 22, 2024 03:28
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Charles 2 of Spain posted:Walking into Matsuya and asking the staff to set the ticket machine to RANDOM mode That’s seriously not a bad idea.
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Feb 22, 2024 05:38
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saizeriya omakase
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Feb 22, 2024 06:20
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The fancy restaurant I go to in Tokyo books out super fast and as a person who goes there frequently I have to email in my reservation prior to when their reservation book opens up to the public. There are people at the restaurant who will book their next visit after they finish their meal.
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Feb 22, 2024 07:17
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Anyone been to Nagasaki Bio Park before? It looks interesting but quite a pain to get to (3 hours on a city bus round trip).
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Feb 22, 2024 07:38
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Virtue posted:Anyone been to Nagasaki Bio Park before? It looks interesting but quite a pain to get to (3 hours on a city bus round trip). It seems cool (I lived not far before but never got out to it), but yeah, it’s a hike that you’d be best renting a car for. Outside of Nagasaki City and the corridor the trains run on, a lot of that part of Kyushu is heavily car reliant.
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Feb 22, 2024 08:47
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Virtue posted:Anyone been to Nagasaki Bio Park before? It looks interesting but quite a pain to get to (3 hours on a city bus round trip). You might try looking around to see if you can find any military or military-adjacent people from Sasebo who might be interested in a day trip. Long shot but maybe better than a 3 hour bus? Actually, looks like there's a shuttle bus from Huis Ten Bosch Station. 45 minutes one way, though you need to make a reservation. https://www.biopark.co.jp/info/access/ totalnewbie fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Feb 22, 2024 |
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Feb 22, 2024 08:56
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Planning a trip in september, Original plan was fly to tokyo, stay over night, shinkansen to Okayama the next day and then spend 2 weeks working back to tokyo. But i see its $300 (at least) cheaper to jump on the same flight, but have a 1:40 layover in HND and fly to Osaka. Is that long enough? What happens if there are delays and we miss? (plan is do fly all JAL, and through theit own website. or maybe expedia)
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Feb 22, 2024 09:00
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Grand Fromage posted:Yep. I've run into them in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia, Italy. They're all over the parts of the MENA areas that get tourists too, like Luxor and Marrakech and Fez and even to some extent the tourist-created shithole towns like Ayia Napa and Port el Kantaoui. I didn't notice any pushy ones at Kabukicho, but did notice quite a few of them standing around outside, including among the first female touts I've seen in my entire life. totalnewbie posted:After one of the old tokyo goonmeets, one of the tourist goons wanted to go to a hostess bar [...] a few days after, there was a massive post from another goon who came to the goonmeet as a tourist about being scammed for 2k+ I think it was because even though he said he was going back to the hotel, I guess he got tempted by one of the touts and welp. Good to know that there was a part of the forum where the "goon" stereotype actually perfectly applied IRL. I had a friend who was scammed similar to that in Rome, also for about $1k. He was travelling by himself before my wedding, an attractive girl chatted him up and invited him to a bar and he's like... a 4/10? he's not ugly but certainly not even close to attractive enough to have hot girls invite him to a bar randomly on the street, he went, and then she ordered 2x$500 bottles of prosecco. I'm not sure if the girl was obviously a tout and he was just a completely clueless tourist, or whether the played it more discretely.
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Feb 22, 2024 09:10
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Meskhenet posted:But i see its $300 (at least) cheaper to jump on the same flight, but have a 1:40 layover in HND and fly to Osaka. It should be enough time, you can re-check your bags immediately at the International Arrivals area, and take the shuttle bus to the domestic terminal without your big bags (please don't take your big bags on the shuttle bus!) JAL will take care of you if you're flying JAL→JAL, especially if you book direct. You might even be able to fly direct into Okayama.
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Feb 22, 2024 09:34
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totalnewbie posted:You might try looking around to see if you can find any military or military-adjacent people from Sasebo who might be interested in a day trip. Long shot but maybe better than a 3 hour bus? If you’re coming from Nagasaki city, that would then turn into a ~2 hour trip each way, because getting from Nagasaki Station to HTB is about an hour minimum. So it depends on the rest of the trip.
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Feb 22, 2024 11:49
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Virtue posted:Anyone been to Nagasaki Bio Park before? It looks interesting but quite a pain to get to (3 hours on a city bus round trip). I visited November 2022. The bus sucks, but if you get an early one and get there near open, you can finish the zoo and get back to Nagasaki in the early afternoon. The capybara, squirrel monkeys, and maras were really friendly and getting to be that close to them was super cool. If you want to see Nagasaki it's with an extra day to see the biopark.
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Feb 22, 2024 12:46
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Meskhenet posted:Planning a trip in september, When we flew ANA and there was a delay they just got us onto the next flight which was in less than an hour. They apologized profusely even though we weren’t angry at all and just kept saying daijobu, daijobu. Anyway, September is still typhoon season, so maybe wait ‘til November if you can.
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Feb 22, 2024 14:15
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Is there a district in Osaka that sells old Walkmans/Hi Fi stuff?
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Feb 22, 2024 18:25
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Den Den Town would be the first place to look.
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Feb 22, 2024 18:52
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Alan_Shore posted:Is there a district in Osaka that sells old Walkmans/Hi Fi stuff? Check youtube videos in the last few months where they walk through stores and look in the background for products you're looking for. That's how I found a cool camera shop
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Feb 22, 2024 19:15
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How are USJ crowds compared to the Tokyo Disney parks? I’ve been to both of those and didn’t find them bad at all.
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Feb 23, 2024 05:41
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Nanigans posted:How are USJ crowds compared to the Tokyo Disney parks? I’ve been to both of those and didn’t find them bad at all. No idea bu tthe lines at Tokyo Disney during new years were some of the biggest line I've ever seen in my life.
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Feb 24, 2024 00:55
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Shadowhand00 posted:No idea bu tthe lines at Tokyo Disney during new years were some of the biggest line I've ever seen in my life. lol lmao Everything I’ve heard suggests USJ is about as bad as Disney, especially for getting into Harry Potter and the Super Mario areas.
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Feb 24, 2024 01:16
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Yeah get an express pass unless you only want to do those two areas.
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Feb 24, 2024 01:48
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Definitely get the express pass with the timed entry into the Nintendo/HP areas, unless you want to stand in lines for 2-3hrs and go on 3 rides the whole day
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Feb 24, 2024 02:00
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Two quick / dumb questions... 1. Are cigars generally kosher to smoke indoors? Specifically, at a few listening bars I've gone too, cigarettes are common place of course but I was thinking a cigar would be nice this go around. 2. I want to go tour the Underground drainage thing, anyone done it? Will check if it's open next Saturday but it looks cool as hell. Online reviews say it's only in Japanese, which is a bummer (but understandable), but I kinda just want the in-person experience.
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Feb 25, 2024 01:20
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movax posted:Two quick / dumb questions... There are cigar bars in Tokyo.
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Feb 25, 2024 01:27
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Mister Chief posted:There are cigar bars in Tokyo. Any recommendations? I had a great time at Bar Track and Bar Martha (both Ebisu) in November (listening bars) which is where I wanted to go, except this time with a cigar or two vs. a pack of Lucky Strikes.
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Feb 25, 2024 01:47
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Also I accidentally used my Chase Visa to re-up my Suica (Apple Wallet) and it surprisingly went through, so maybe that's fixed / changed now? I always had to use my AMEX.
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Feb 25, 2024 01:50
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I’ve seen people light up cigars at the foreign-centric sports bars in Roppongi.
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Feb 25, 2024 01:51
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movax posted:Any recommendations? I had a great time at Bar Track and Bar Martha (both Ebisu) in November (listening bars) which is where I wanted to go, except this time with a cigar or two vs. a pack of Lucky Strikes. I do not smoke haha. I just know the exist. Looks like a place called R261 seems popular?
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Feb 25, 2024 01:53
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movax posted:2. I want to go tour the Underground drainage thing, anyone done it? Will check if it's open next Saturday but it looks cool as hell. Online reviews say it's only in Japanese, which is a bummer (but understandable), but I kinda just want the in-person experience. Ryu-Q kan is hella cool and hella deep in Saitama. I rented a car with some goons, and it was far from everything. The tour is in Japanese but the concept is simple so you can still enjoy if you read the English pamphlet.
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Feb 25, 2024 02:21
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Happy 500 pages of this nonsense.
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Feb 25, 2024 02:44
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movax posted:Any recommendations? I had a great time at Bar Track and Bar Martha (both Ebisu) in November (listening bars) which is where I wanted to go, except this time with a cigar or two vs. a pack of Lucky Strikes. Most, but not all, bars that allow smoking will also allow cigars. Just be sure to ask in advance before you light up.
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Feb 25, 2024 03:29
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The underground areas are exactly as pictured, so try to imagine yourself in something far less interesting than a cave which at least has a bunch of bugs and bats and natural elements to look at for a while and whether or not that sounds fun.
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Feb 25, 2024 05:01
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I see people looking for food recs. We had a multi course unagi meal at mejiro zorome that was so filling I couldn’t finish the last dish, but I was also getting very toasted on sake so YMMV. You can find a lot of great spots on the Michelin guide, which is where we found this one. Go very hungry
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Feb 25, 2024 09:10
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