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Good Listener posted:Trip is getting closer so getting excited. Thinking of looking into potential museums in the Tokyo area, are there any cool ones you might recommend? Maybe something like..that feels must see to you all? Tokyo National Museum is a world class museum worth going to if you're in to art and artifact collections. Also, people like to knock on Osaka castle but you have to view it as a museum with a castle facade. As a castle it does "suck" since it's not really a castle but it is a top notch museum. Zettace fucked around with this message at 18:12 on May 6, 2024 |
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May 6, 2024 18:09
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| # ? May 27, 2024 21:38 |
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Matsumoto castle is cool and Matsumoto is theoretically day trippable from Tokyo if you got started early, though I'd just stay overnight since Matsumoto is good. It's also one of the few remaining that survived the Meiji "no castles anymore" edict, it's not a modern reconstruction.
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May 6, 2024 18:24
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Thanks for the suggestions~ Odawara and Atami are actually on the way to Numazu so I could maybe hit them up on our way to there or while we're in the city for a few days. Appreciate it as always.
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May 6, 2024 19:20
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Don't visit Japan in July unless you want to learn to hate the country, that was my experience when I went over in the middle of summer
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May 6, 2024 19:45
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Toxic Mental posted:Don't visit Japan in July unless you want to learn to hate the country, that was my experience when I went over in the middle of summer I wish I could visit any other time but my roomie coming with me is a teacher so it's the only time. Maybe I'll just have to make a solo trip one day.
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May 6, 2024 19:48
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KingKapalone posted:We went to Japan for the first time in the fall and due to good timing, we're thinking about going back already in probably end of June, early July. Hokkaido in general and Sapporo in particular should be bearable in July - somewhere along the lines of 62-75F while Fukuoka and Kyushu in general would be rather warm at 77-88F. Pick the former if you must go during those months.
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May 6, 2024 19:58
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Thanks, that seems like a good decision criteria. Sounds like it's harder to get around there and we'd want to rent a car? Is it common to go to Tokyo first, fly up to Hokkaido, and then I assume have to get back to Tokyo before flying back to the US?
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May 6, 2024 21:37
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Unless you're just hanging around Sapporo or maybe the area between Sapporo and Hakodate, you'll probably want a car yeah. The rest of the island is pretty sparse on transit. It's doable if you really don't want a car, but you'd need to actually look up train schedules and make plans unlike you do in the denser parts of the country. The Sapporo airport doesn't have any flights to North America, you'll go via Tokyo. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 21:50 on May 6, 2024 |
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May 6, 2024 21:47
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Odawara is also a museum in castle shape. It's gorgeous from the outside but the inside is completely modern because it was built in 1960. The samurai vibe in the castle grounds is excellent. Himeji castle is the top choice. Okayama castle is modernized with authentic elements. Matsuyama Castle is all wood and narrow stairs in the best way.
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May 6, 2024 23:35
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KingKapalone posted:Thanks, that seems like a good decision criteria. Sounds like it's harder to get around there and we'd want to rent a car? Yeah, Hokkaido you'd want a car for. It's also a very popular destination among motorcyclists in the summer if you guys ride. Apex Moto down in Yamanashi can hook you up with affordable rentals or can buy one for you and sell it on consignment if that's your preference. 8 days is a pretty good amount of time for Hokkaido; if you've got space in your baggage you might bring some camping gear and take advantage of that (recycle shop may have some stuff but it'll be hit of miss). Honestly summer in the rest of Japan is not that bad if you dress appropriately, and take advantage of the ubiquitous convenience stores and vending machines for cold drinks (Coolish is life). Especially if you have a car, you can drive around blasting that AC and not be at the mercy of local trains/buses/places of business.
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May 6, 2024 23:59
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peanut posted:Odawara is also a museum in castle shape. It's gorgeous from the outside but the inside is completely modern because it was built in 1960. The samurai vibe in the castle grounds is excellent. if Odawara is a castle-shaped museum (at least on proper grounds), then Atami's is like a highway service station shaped like a castle. I wasn't super impressed when we stopped by there. Nagoya is another castle-shaped museum, it's rebuilt but alright. I think Hiroshima is similar too. Himeiji is the World Heritage Site for a reason. I want to see Matsuyama and Kumamoto at some point too.
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May 7, 2024 01:51
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Ethics_Gradient posted:Yeah, Hokkaido you'd want a car for. It's also a very popular destination among motorcyclists in the summer if you guys ride. Apex Moto down in Yamanashi can hook you up with affordable rentals or can buy one for you and sell it on consignment if that's your preference. 8 days is a pretty good amount of time for Hokkaido; if you've got space in your baggage you might bring some camping gear and take advantage of that (recycle shop may have some stuff but it'll be hit of miss). We wouldn't do the whole trip there. My sister might come with my wife and I now assuming we actually make this happen so we'd want to show her some of our favorites in Tokyo plus see more there. No motorcycles for us but I do see that hiking is popular.
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May 7, 2024 02:34
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peanut posted:Odawara is also a museum in castle shape. It's gorgeous from the outside but the inside is completely modern because it was built in 1960. The samurai vibe in the castle grounds is excellent. I actually went to Himeiji before in 2006 on my college study trip. It was cool but I died from stairs due to being WAY more out of shape than I am now.
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May 7, 2024 04:03
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Good Listener posted:I wish I could visit any other time but my roomie coming with me is a teacher so it's the only time. Maybe I'll just have to make a solo trip one day. Go at the end of July, come to Fuji Rock in the mountains - you'll need a jacket (for the evenings). Also, it is atrociously hot but meh, there's lots of ways to deal with heat. People just have no idea how to live without AC, I swear.
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May 7, 2024 05:41
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Good Listener posted:Trip is getting closer so getting excited. Thinking of looking into potential museums in the Tokyo area, are there any cool ones you might recommend? Maybe something like..that feels must see to you all? I can second the earlier suggestion of Tokyo National Museum, I basically spent an entire day there during my trip last Oct and didn't manage to see everything. The museum cafe's a pretty solid choice for lunch, and you can leave and come back on the same ticket on the same day if you want to check out the park or the other nearby museums.
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May 7, 2024 05:47
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totalnewbie posted:Go at the end of July, come to Fuji Rock in the mountains - you'll need a jacket (for the evenings). Yeah, just walk around in a speedo/bikini everywhere.
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May 7, 2024 22:38
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Waltzing Along posted:Yeah, just walk around in a speedo/bikini everywhere. Or one of those jackets with fans built in
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May 7, 2024 22:44
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So apparently there is an official Mother/Earthbound store in Japan called the Hobonichi Project and there are a few things on there I want to buy. However, it doesn’t have an option to ship to mainland China. Is there any way I could have it shipped to an address in Japan then have someone act as a middleman to get my stuff shipped to China? How would I go about arranging this?
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May 8, 2024 03:23
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Teriyaki Koinku posted:So apparently there is an official Mother/Earthbound store in Japan called the Hobonichi Project and there are a few things on there I want to buy. Google Japan shipping proxy.
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May 8, 2024 03:32
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This might be a dumb question but can anyone here verify the Tokyo Kirby cafe reservations open at 6pm Tokyo time? I know you can't do it until the month before your arrival but I wanna make sure so I can secure a spot.
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May 9, 2024 16:40
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Yes, 10th at 18:00. Good luck! https://kirbycafe-reserve.com/guest/tokyo/ ご予約につきましては、毎月10日18:00に翌月のお席の受付を開始いたします。
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May 9, 2024 22:52
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Haha thank you. It's wild the English version of the site does NOT specify that. "Reservations will be accepted for the following month from the 10th of every month."
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May 9, 2024 23:00
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Himeji castle best castle.
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May 9, 2024 23:20
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I really enjoyed Himeji castle and the extra 50 yen for the combined ticket to Koko-en garden next door is easily worth it, absolutely gorgeous garden with different thematic "rooms" and some huge koi. My knee definitely did not enjoy all the stairs up and down Himeji though - especially after summiting Fushimi Inari Taisha the day before!
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May 10, 2024 17:40
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Hey, I’m in Japan now, and I’m having trouble with IC cards. I was able to add a Suica card onto my iPhone wallet before I left, and was able to add 1,000 yen before I left and then another 5,000 at Haneda airport. So it was looking good, and I started using it a bunch. But then I started to get low on it, and now when I try to add more money it rejects the payment. In fact, looking at true previous two payments that went through, they show up on my phone as “pending”. I tried the PASMO and ICOCA cards too and they won’t accept my payment either. I guess I should just go and get one of those tourist physical IC cards, but I’d rather not. Anyone got any advice? I’m fairly sure my actual debit card (Mastercard) is working fine, as I bought a Shinkansen ticket with it yesterday.
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May 11, 2024 03:31
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Comrade Fakename posted:Hey, I’m in Japan now, and I’m having trouble with IC cards. I was able to add a Suica card onto my iPhone wallet before I left, and was able to add 1,000 yen before I left and then another 5,000 at Haneda airport. So it was looking good, and I started using it a bunch. Did you tell your bank etc. you would be in Japan?
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May 11, 2024 04:51
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Based on my experience, Bank of America doesn't have travel notifications anymore, they just let AI flag suspicious activity. If you need to unlock it you need to call their customer service, which is also automated, as an international call. They didn't let me use an ATM in Vietnam even though I booked my flight and hotel with the same account. 
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May 11, 2024 05:06
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Comrade Fakename posted:Hey, I’m in Japan now, and I’m having trouble with IC cards. I was able to add a Suica card onto my iPhone wallet before I left, and was able to add 1,000 yen before I left and then another 5,000 at Haneda airport. So it was looking good, and I started using it a bunch. If you need to recharge your card but can’t use a credit card I think you can use certain recharge machines with a contactless reader (in train stations, maybe in arcades in akiba) and 7/11 atms and just recharge with cash. There might be some weird payment processor crap that prevents you from recharging a phone card with a Mastercard debit card- for about 3 years Suica had some beef with visa and the only way you could refill mobile ic cards as a tourist was with an Amex.
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May 11, 2024 05:57
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Mister Chief posted:Did you tell your bank etc. you would be in Japan? bee burger posted:If you need to recharge your card but can’t use a credit card I think you can use certain recharge machines with a contactless reader (in train stations, maybe in arcades in akiba) and 7/11 atms and just recharge with cash.
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May 11, 2024 07:32
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Another win for physical card enjoyers. We’re back in Japan and it will never not be wild to be in a place where public transport doesn’t just vanish into loving thin air as soon as the weekend rolls around. We took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima this morning and did the peace museum which was pretty loving dark, but that’s obviously the point. Hiroshima’s street cars seem to run to some arcane and entirely unpublished timetable though? Not sure what was up and maybe Apple Maps is just out of date, but absolutely nothing was running when the schedules said it would be, to the tune of 10-15 minutes in either direction. Like we got on one trolley that went ahead and left 5 minutes before it was scheduled to, then a few stops down the line it stopped and we all just kind of sat there for 15 minutes until it was 10 minutes past the next time it was meant to hit that stop and then off we went again. What’s going on in Hiroshima?
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May 11, 2024 08:17
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I think the street cars are just overwhelmed with tourists + the usual commuters. I think you are better off using the Maple bus for in city transit to be honest.
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May 11, 2024 08:26
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If there is a major car accident for example it’s going to gently caress up street cars too.
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May 11, 2024 08:49
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History Comes Inside! posted:
We were there a couple of days ago and had a great time (aside from the bomb museum for obvious reasons). We had a really good night out at Koba bar and had a great day trip to Miyajima. We just did the Onomichi to Imabari bike ride which was great. It was a lovely day to enjoy the scenery. The only downside is that no-one has thought to set up some direct transport to take you back at the end of it.
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May 11, 2024 10:20
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History Comes Inside! posted:Apple Maps 
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May 11, 2024 15:36
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They're pretty much on par with Google, at least in populous wealthy countries like the west or Japan. And they don't splatter bigger icons with ads all over the map. I finally dumped Google maps for most purposes.
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May 11, 2024 18:54
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Yeah it’s been absolutely fine for literally everything else except the mystery street car timetable. Worked fine on our last trips too, in fact Apple Maps on my wife’s phone beat the piss out of google maps on the android handset I had for our first couple of trips, although I believe google was updated shortly after the last time we visited which fixed a bunch of the issues I was seeing like a total lack of station exit info.
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May 11, 2024 19:04
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History Comes Inside! posted:Yeah it’s been absolutely fine for literally everything else except the mystery street car timetable. I would honestly just read the streetcar delays as similar to buses - sometimes the flow of traffic just means they’re behind. Without understanding if there were any announcements onboard (and what they are), just shrug and keep going.
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May 12, 2024 00:15
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Well, for reasons that are a mystery to me, out of nowhere I am now able to add money to my iPhone Suica cards. Thank god, especially since I just found out that the only place I can get one of the tourist Welcome Suica cards is at the airport.
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May 12, 2024 05:20
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What would you all say is a good resource for some basic Japanese vocab to use on a vacation? I've studied a bit but roomie hasn't, just not sure if there's any websites or book learnings and all you might recommend to brush up a bit.
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May 12, 2024 23:53
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Get a paper travel guide from a bookstore or library
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May 13, 2024 04:38
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