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Question for any goons that are familiar with Nagoya. I am here for the next four nights and really was hoping to catch the Euro2012 championship game. It is local time 3am...er, tonight. Anyone know any good places to catch this? I know being middle of the night Sunday night probably isn't ideal, but I thought I would go ahead and ask.
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Jul 1, 2012 09:45
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Dmoz posted:Travel options are basically: DO NOT under any circumstances take this option. It is an incredibly long, painfully boring ride with no redeeming features whatsoever. Whatever money you save over taking the Skyliner will be promptly blown on alcohol to help you forget the experience once you reach the airport. It's not that the train is lower quality or it's always packed or anything like that -- just that it is kinda slow, stops all the loving time (of course, being an all-stops train) and there is no sense of making progress. I did it once, with my wife so I even had company, and it was utter poo poo. The next time I took the Skyliner and wondered if we'd broken the space-time continuum to get there or something, it passed so quickly.
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Jul 2, 2012 02:48
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Question about clothes shopping in Tokyo - I'm looking for a place to buy a (hopefully cheap) hoodie or other insulating garment before a Mt. Fuji climb. My current knowledge of mainstream clothing stores in Japan is limited to UNIQLO, and there's one of those in Kinshicho (I'm currently staying close-by in Ryogoku), but I was wondering if there might be a chain with lower prices I might be unaware of. Thanks for any help you can give!
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Jul 2, 2012 05:24
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zgrowler2 posted:Question about clothes shopping in Tokyo - I'm looking for a place to buy a (hopefully cheap) hoodie or other insulating garment before a Mt. Fuji climb. My current knowledge of mainstream clothing stores in Japan is limited to UNIQLO, and there's one of those in Kinshicho (I'm currently staying close-by in Ryogoku), but I was wondering if there might be a chain with lower prices I might be unaware of. Thanks for any help you can give! You're not likely to find a better combination of quality and price than Uniqlo unless you happen on something cheap second-hand, from what I've seen. Though I'm not sure what Uniqlo has in the way of warm stuff, especially now that summer has started.
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Jul 2, 2012 05:50
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goldboilermark posted:Question for any goons that are familiar with Nagoya. I am here for the next four nights and really was hoping to catch the Euro2012 championship game. It is local time 3am...er, tonight. Anyone know any good places to catch this? I know being middle of the night Sunday night probably isn't ideal, but I thought I would go ahead and ask. Check out Shooters in Fushimi, The Hub in Sakae or literally any sports bar in the city. I wouldn't worry about the day either, I was in shooters on Thursday and they were going to be showing the Germany/Italy (I think) match later on.
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Jul 2, 2012 06:19
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Dmoz posted:The Suica+N'EX pass is fantastic for getting to your hotel, not so great for returning to the airport. The Keisei line sounds like it could work, any ideas where I can find (English) information about it? Also you mentioned getting your bags there - are bags going to be a problem? On the clothing thing a few people keep mentioning Uniqlo - are they particularly cheap in Japan (i.e. cheaper than London)? I also keep hearing about good second-hand/'vintage' stores in Japan - anyone care to advise me on some good ones, ideally in Tokyo, even more ideally in Shinjuku?
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Jul 2, 2012 09:16
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Also, if any Tokyo goons (or anywhere fairly close train-wise to Saitama) were free some weekend, and wanted to meet up and have lunch or something, let me know. I would definitely be interested in meeting Japan goons and talking about stuff. Ditto for Kansai, though I won't be there until September.
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Jul 2, 2012 10:35
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Weatherman posted:DO NOT under any circumstances take this option. It is an incredibly long, painfully boring ride with no redeeming features whatsoever. Whatever money you save over taking the Skyliner will be promptly blown on alcohol to help you forget the experience once you reach the airport. I fell for this once, and it wasn't fun at all. Imagine a neverending train to nowhere, and all you can see is just rice paddies and obaasan and Ojisan farmers... We actually cheered when we hit the city.
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Jul 2, 2012 11:18
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My girlfriend and I are going to Fukuoka for 3 days in late July. I know Ned lives there and a few other people live in Nagasaki and Oita. We're wondering what things people would recommend seeing on Kyushu. What we want to do: -Check out the beach near Fukuoka tower. Will it be ungodly packed with people? -Hit up a real Izakaya at least once -See at least one impressive shrine, temple or castle -Peruse a night market or two for food and souvenirs. -Check out any festivals going on. Will the Yamakasa festival race be going on in late July, or will it be too late? We will be staying near Hakata Station. Is Canal City a cool place to check out, or just another shopping mall? I'm not scared of just walking around and seeing the daily life, but I want to see at least one touristy thing every day I'm there.
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Jul 2, 2012 16:32
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Cameron posted:My girlfriend and I are going to Fukuoka for 3 days in late July. I know Ned lives there and a few other people live in Nagasaki and Oita. We're wondering what things people would recommend seeing on Kyushu. Beach near Fukuoka tower is not very crowded. It's not very exciting either. Tiny waves and not many amenities. Don't go to an Izakaya, go to a Yatai. Come out with us on Thursday if possible and you can meet a bunch of locals. Otherwise I can take you to Mami-chan which is just a great experience and quite cheap. Dazaifu is probably where you want to go. There are some other shrines/temples but that seems to be the touristy one. It is a bit of a train ride. Ignore the castle grounds. They are very boring. If you take a trip to Kokura you can see the castle there but it is 40 minutes from Hakata. It is another major city that doesn't get much tourism so it is good to check it out and contrast it to Fukuoka. Not really any night markets to speak of. We just have Yatais selling food and drinks where you chill out and talk to other customers. Yamakasa ends on the 15th I do believe. Canal city is fine. There is a Ramen stadium inside. It's kind of touristy but not terrible and there is a shrine relatively close to it. Oh yeah, check out this place called Ninoni for happy hour. It is every day between 5-6:30. 125 yen for a serving of 7 Gyoza and 225 yen Kirin beer. Best deal in town by far. Fukuoka isn't really known as a tourism spot. Most people who visit here come for food and shopping.
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Jul 2, 2012 17:19
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I believe we'll be arriving on the 28th and leaving the night of the 30th. We're not big drinkers really, but we're up for a beer or two and some good food, of course. I think on our second day we want to look at the shrines and temples and stuff at Dazaifu, so we're not scared of a little train ride. For me it's a sort of "Do I want to live in Japan after I leave Korea" type of trip, and for my girlfriend (who is Korean) it's a "learn to not hate Japan" trip. I will be restraining many, many Takeshima/Dokdo/Liancourt Rocks jokes in my head during our stay there. The beach seems nice to me, because here we only have Haeundae beach in Busan, which is a famously overcrowded trash heap, covered in dog poo poo and soju glass. A walk along the fresh beach air will be enjoyable after escaping Seoul's smog, but we're pretty chillaxed people, and just having a drink sitting in the sand sounds good to me. I know Fukuoka isn't exaclty a hotspot like the Tokyo met area, but we'll save that for next summer. I think part of the reason we're not hitting up Tokyo right off the bat is because we want to baby step everything. Trying to deal with the language, culture shock and touristy stuff might be too much for our first time.
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Jul 2, 2012 18:00
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If your gf is Korean she should like it here. I can probably introduce you to quite a few Korean folks who are really happy living here and have a bunch of Japanese friends. We're closest to Korea geographically and have a lot of people going back and forth and people here are pretty apolitical. If you come up with a list of foods you want to try while you are here I can probably put together a list of places to check out and accompany you if you are worried about language issues. This town is relatively compact and it's not a big deal for me to walk 15 minutes to meet up with you somewhere. Just remember there is a lot more animosity towards Japan from Koreans than from Japanese towards Korea. All of the Japanese people you will encounter here will have a positive image of Korea. They love visiting Korea and eating the food and watching the TV shows. It's the old angry people who you won't encounter that might have a bad image of Korea and Koreans. The grandfather of my best friend growing up was responsible for making the Liancourt Rocks Japanese territory. So you can tell your girlfriend she can slap me in order to take out some national rage on behalf of her people and their forsaken rocks.
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Jul 2, 2012 18:41
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I just got a confirmation email about flight and hotel bookings for a trip to Japan in early August. I'll be going for 12 days for volunteer relief in Ishinomaki, cleaning up after the earthquake and making gardens and stuff like that, but I also spend the first 3 days (2 half days one full day) in Shibuya before I head out to Ishinomaki. I'm not sure how much free time I get in Shibuya but I'd really like to make the most of it as it's the closest my trip gets to a 'holiday'. I'm staying at Shibuya Tokyu Inn. Google maps shows this is close to a lot of really cool stuff but as I said, I have a feeling time may be limited so could anyone recommend some must-see Shibuya sights? E: i should probably specify this - I'm really interested in the japanese fashion scene so I'd love to do some shopping around Shibuya, but I'm well aware that $100-$200 tee shirts is actually a thing with a lot of Japanese clothing labels, is there an 'affordable' shopping area? That also brings me to my next question: Photography. I'll be carrying a reasonably large camera+lens around with me most of the time and I was curious as to how people might react to that. I know it's a large/busy city so I should have free reign on street photography right? Or is it more polite to actually ask someone for a photo if I want a shot of their weird outfit? Also how will I go with indoor photography? I've heard stories of people getting in trouble for shooting inside stores etc. even if they aren't explicitly signed for no photos. I'm also really concerned about communicating with Japanese people, or really just dealing with them in general. I have this feeling that I'm a little too aware of just how negative the reaction to westerners can be sometimes, like I'll be really aware of anyone I deal with in Japan looking down their nose at the gaijin. I'm especially worried about how the people in Ishinomaki will receive me and my group of workers, I mean, the people we will be working with have lost their homes and family and I have no idea what to expect. Or maybe I'm making this up in my head, I've never been there after all! I'd just like to be able to practice some of my Japanese here and there and I'm unsure of how much patience/respect people will have for a novice speaker of the language. I do have a tonne of language questions, too, but I think I'll save them for the language thread. All I'll ask here is: Should I be communicating with everyone in polite form? So much so that I probably won't use plain form Japanese at all whilst I'm there? Dick Danger fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Jul 2, 2012 |
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Jul 2, 2012 23:40
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Dick Danger posted:I'm also really concerned about communicating with Japanese people Japanese people go out of their way to make a good impression on guests. And you'll have trouble figuring out the slights (if any) you may receive unless your Japanese is quite good and you are well-versed in Japanese culture and society, so I wouldn't worry about their perceptions of foreigners anyways. You're only here for 12 days, might as well make the best of it! I'd probably ask for permission to photograph people but you should have zero problems rolling around with a gigantic camera. Shooting inside stores is going to be like shooting inside stores back home - they probably won't stand for that sort of stuff. As for should you use the polite form or not, probably yes? You don't actually know any of these people, apparently, so custom would dictate you use the polite form. Is it totally necessary? No. They'll probably be amazed you can speak the language at all since the entire country thinks that Japanese is some kind of secret language foreigners can never learn to command at a respectable level. Just take it all in stride, and don't worry about it. Nobody (unless they're massive dicks) will call you out for not using polite forms anyways.
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Jul 3, 2012 01:13
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Jeremys Iron posted:Thanks for this! Going by this website (which I assume is the legit one?) http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/ it seems like there is some discount for getting a return as it's 5,500 yen but 3,500 one-way. You're right, there is a round-trip discount - but whilst 1500Y is worth it for the way there, it's probably not worth 2000Y on the way back, unless you really hate changing at stations, and Nippori's really not bad. 2600Y will get you to the airport a good 40mins faster with the Skyliners. Your best bet for timetable information is a combination of the english Keisei line page (much improved from where they didn't even mention the existence of Sky Access trains...) and JR page, which you've already found, along with Hyperdia (http://www.hyperdia.com)
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Jul 7, 2012 08:42
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Dick Danger posted:I'm not sure how much free time I get in Shibuya but I'd really like to make the most of it as it's the closest my trip gets to a 'holiday'. I'm staying at Shibuya Tokyu Inn. Google maps shows this is close to a lot of really cool stuff but as I said, I have a feeling time may be limited so could anyone recommend some must-see Shibuya sights? E: i should probably specify this - I'm really interested in the japanese fashion scene so I'd love to do some shopping around Shibuya, but I'm well aware that $100-$200 tee shirts is actually a thing with a lot of Japanese clothing labels, is there an 'affordable' shopping area? Harajuku and Shibuya generally are good for shopping. As for cheap, er, not as far as I'm aware, except perhaps for the 390Yen shop in Harajuku, but that's still pretty much tat most of the time. Sights: a new one is the bar on the 11th floor of Hikarie - go between 2.30 and 5 and ask to sit outside. A beer is 600Y with no table charge, and it's a pretty cool view. Close to Shibuya: the roppongi hills museum and Tokyo City View is pretty drat cool. Also check out department store foodhalls (in Shibuya alone there's Tokyo FoodShow, the Seibu one and Hikarie at least) - they're pretty amazing.
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Jul 7, 2012 08:46
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Ned, can you show me and my girlfriend that Mami-chan thing around on Saturday or Sunday? We will arrive at about 7:00PM to Kyushu on the 28th. I also forgot, we wanna have some Okonomiyaki while we're there too. Recommendations would be helpful!
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Jul 8, 2012 11:29
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Cameron posted:Ned, can you show me and my girlfriend that Mami-chan thing around on Saturday or Sunday? We will arrive at about 7:00PM to Kyushu on the 28th. I also forgot, we wanna have some Okonomiyaki while we're there too. Recommendations would be helpful! Yeah, I'll take you out that weekend. As far as Okonomiyaki is concerned there aren't a lot of choices but I know a few places. Unfortunately it is more of an Osaka thing than a Kyushu thing so we'll probably end up at a branch of an Osaka-based chain instead of a local place.
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Jul 8, 2012 12:37
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Cool, good times. We're big fans of Fugetsu, even if it is the McDonalds of Okonomiyaki. I take it you can speak Japanese at a decent clip? My girlfriend knows all the katakana and hiragana, and some Kanji as well. She studied in high school for 4 years, but she's far from fluent, so I'm hoping the hotel people either speak English of Korean well enough to make it work. I know it's not Tokyo so English will be pretty hard to find in some places.
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Jul 8, 2012 13:40
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Cameron posted:Cool, good times. We're big fans of Fugetsu, even if it is the McDonalds of Okonomiyaki. I take it you can speak Japanese at a decent clip? My girlfriend knows all the katakana and hiragana, and some Kanji as well. She studied in high school for 4 years, but she's far from fluent, so I'm hoping the hotel people either speak English of Korean well enough to make it work. I know it's not Tokyo so English will be pretty hard to find in some places. Yeah, my Japanese is more than enough to handle any issues you might run into. I'm thinking we go here for Okonomiyaki - http://www.chibo.com/
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Jul 8, 2012 14:41
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That place looks awesome and my pocketbook is crying just looking at it. Can't wait.
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Jul 8, 2012 15:19
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Ned posted:Yeah, my Japanese is more than enough to handle any issues you might run into. I'm thinking we go here for Okonomiyaki - http://www.chibo.com/ Is that a decent place? (It looks good!) Because it looks like there will be one not too far from my apartment.
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Jul 8, 2012 15:24
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I realize that this makes me sound like a Japanophile but Japanese Tempura makes us look so bad. There was a mom and pop style Japanese restaurant in Charleston called "Little Tokyo" that had mushroom tempura that was perfectly crispy on the outside and popped like a water-balloon of savory, mushroomy juices the second you applied pressure. I don't understand it. I went for the Hamachi Kama, but those mushrooms were always the best part of the meal. Never had anything anywhere else fried that compared.
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Jul 8, 2012 15:28
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Business of Ferrets posted:Is that a decent place? (It looks good!) Because it looks like there will be one not too far from my apartment. It's ok. I went there once but thought it was slightly expensive. Okonomiyaki shouldn't be too pricey but I don't eat it enough to know a good local place that is consistently better than a chain place like that. In the part of town where I usually hang out I only know one other place that is an Okonomiyaki place and it is kind of a hole in the wall. I used to eat it a lot more often when I lived in Kansai but it's just not that popular here. I do prefer Yakisoba to Okonomiyaki though. But I still don't eat Yakisoba that often here.
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Jul 8, 2012 16:23
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I'm currently in Nishi-Akashi for the month, spending time with my fiance. I was here last winter and it was balls-freezingly cold, and now its so humid that I feel like I'm in a sauna. I just got back from a trip to Kyoto which was fun, did a lot of shopping in the Cube and lunch/arcading at Teramachi street. Any goons in the Kansai area? I'm ~okay~ at Japanese but I know enough to get places. I'm afraid I don't know of any really good places to eat around here, but I'm close enough to Sannomiya/Kobe that we can find something.
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Jul 10, 2012 01:20
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I'm in Kobe until the end of the month. You should try the Brazillian churrasco place: http://tabelog.com/hyogo/A2801/A280102/28001020/ Since I'm on a student budget, most of the good places I know to eat are good because they're cheap and tasty. I'm not big on expensive food anyway, especially expensive Japanese food. If you want more recommendations for cheap places, though, I have a few.
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Jul 10, 2012 13:15
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Hey folks! Fixing to move to Japan for a few years. Specifically Yokosuka, Kanagawa ... I'm sure You know/can guess why. I've been interested in Japanese culture for awhile but have had issues cracking the language barrier in my head. I speak native English and German + a chunk of Italian already so learning Japanese causes me to think in a mix of 4 languages and nothing new sticks. Do you guys (and gals) have any ideas regrading interactive web sites or something where I can learn Japanese like a toddler? Which I have one of anyways who will be starting school there.. I have about 8 months until I hit Japan and I'd like to be able to at least get myself to where i need to go, order food and be polite to the locals. I was told to not try to out-polite the Locals as they'll always win but I also don't want to reinforce the bakka gaijin stereotype/ expectation. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Jul 10, 2012 22:31
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Thanks for the tips Dmoz and Sheep. I was going to make a post about wanting to hang with tokyo goons before I leave for Ishinomaki, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing in Tokyo. I have a feeling it'll be nothing but meeting and planning for Ishinoamki which is a bummer, I really want to explore Shibuya  I just realised there's a pachinko joint across the road from my hotel, too. I've always had this crazy fascination with pachinko and I'm dying to give it a go - is there anything I should know here? I'm only a second year Japanese student so I'm not really sure how much of the language barrier I'm able to climb yet.
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Jul 11, 2012 12:23
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Dick Danger posted:I just realised there's a pachinko joint across the road from my hotel, too. I've always had this crazy fascination with pachinko and I'm dying to give it a go - is there anything I should know here? I'm only a second year Japanese student so I'm not really sure how much of the language barrier I'm able to climb yet. Make sure it is 1 yen pachinko or your money will disappear very quickly. If you want the beginner pachinko experience pick 海の物語 - it's a staple of Pachinko places and not very complex.
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Jul 11, 2012 12:35
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Ghostwalker posted:Hey folks! I presume that you're in the US military? I believe in some cases you can get Rosetta Stone software for free, though that may only apply to the Marine Corps.
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Jul 11, 2012 13:44
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Thanks Teddust! Incidentally after posting here I got off my lazy backside (figuratively speaking) and acquired Rosetta Stone and Japanese 1-3. Been pounding those lessons for the last day. You wouldn't be able to think of anything to supplement that with? How did you guys get into it? Pure immersion, sink or swim? I do own a copy of Kanji & Kana revised edition - Hadamitzky/Spahn and Colloquial Japanese by Noboru Inamoto. For those times when I am literally off my lazy backside and underway. Yes we are Squids, but until we have hardcopy orders in hand there is near zero support for prep work like this.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:17
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You want this thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3438030
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Jul 12, 2012 02:48
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oh.. man... pure sex! Many thanks Seorin!
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Jul 12, 2012 03:58
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seorin posted:I'm in Kobe until the end of the month. You should try the Brazillian churrasco place: http://tabelog.com/hyogo/A2801/A280102/28001020/ Yeah, most of the expensive food I've come across are tiny portions of octopus and occasionally steak. It's good, granted, but christ is it expensive. Sometime this weekend or next week I'll be heading to Osaka with my brother-in-law (to-be) and cousin, any idea on foodspots there?
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Jul 12, 2012 04:08
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I'm guessing you've not been here long enough to start getting the cravings for mexican food? Usually I go to Osaka for the cheap (ultimately not that great) mexican. It's on the "spendy, but reasonable" side, but I really enjoyed this yakitori place: http://tabelog.com/osaka/A2701/A270102/27001801/. It's probably the best food I've had in Osaka, but bring a smart phone or an electronic dictionary if you go because there are no pictures on the menu. You could also hit up a cheap yakiniku place: http://chifaja.com/restaurant/top.html. I always end up going to the one in Kamishinjo, which is still technically Osaka, but it's on the way to Kyoto. The food's only okay, but 2,000 yen for all you can eat meat is great. Add another thousand if you want all you can drink alcohol on top of it. There are bound to be better yakiniku places in Tsuruhashi if you want to look around on your own, though. Osaka/Kyoto are also pretty well known for good kushi katsu. On that front, Daruma is famous. I went to the one in Namba but wasn't too impressed (I prefer Kushihachi in Kyoto). I hear the one in Shinsekai is better.
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Jul 12, 2012 04:52
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seorin posted:Add another thousand if you want all you can drink alcohol on top of it. loving SOLD seorin posted:I'm guessing you've not been here long enough to start getting the cravings for mexican food? Usually I go to Osaka for the cheap (ultimately not that great) mexican. Yeah nah, where I live normally in the States I get plenty of Mexican at a pretty cheap price, and for a broke college kid, it's generally my go-to restaurant. The other places you listed though sound fantastic, I will check them out. Thanks!
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Jul 12, 2012 07:29
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seorin posted:I'm guessing you've not been here long enough to start getting the cravings for mexican food? Usually I go to Osaka for the cheap (ultimately not that great) mexican. Where is this? I'm pretty sure I'm going to be needing Mexican by the time I make my way down to Osaka in September.
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Jul 12, 2012 08:24
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I know of two places. The first, El Zocalo, is relatively cheap, but the food leaves something to be desired. It's good, and it generally fills the craving, but don't go in expecting Chipotle. The second place, in the same area, is called El Pancho. It's 2-3 times the price, but has a bit more variety and I think a little more spice to it. It tastes better than the other place, but I'm not sure it's enough better to make it really worth the price. I tend to favor El Zocalo since at least it's cheap.
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Jul 12, 2012 09:31
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Awesome, thanks. I am sure I will be putting this information to good use.
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Jul 12, 2012 13:03
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Any tips on furniture shopping in Japan? I was told by my housing agent that while Ikea is cheaper they don't do free delivery or assembly. Nitori was recommended but I'm wondering whether it will be difficult to figure out delivery time and address etc... without any Japanese. My apartment will be near Yokohama station.
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Jul 14, 2012 01:40
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