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Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Cbear posted:

So I'm planning a trip to Japan for May 2019 and already have my tickets.

Do you mind giving some airline info? I'm actually aiming for May '19 for my partner and my trip, but we haven't bought tickets and have only begun looking.

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Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Cbear posted:

Ended up being $708 round trip

Holy fuuuuuuuuuck I gotta get on this! Thanks for the info.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




What's up Japan thread! My partner and I are visiting for 10 days in May, and I'm so drat excited. I've got some questions, hopefully they're not dumb tourist questions(they are, they totally are). Sorry for the bigass effortpost, but here we go.

Our itinerary is as follows:

5/7: land in Tokyo in the evening, hopefully find an onsen to relax at, get some food and depending on how tired/jetlagged we are explore wherever the gently caress our hotel is located.
5/14: take shinkansen to Osaka pretty early, explore
5/16: take shinkansen to Kyoto pretty early, explore
5/18: take shinkansen back to Tokyo pretty early, chill until our flight at approximately 6pm

It's not the optimal schedule, but we're meeting my partner's sister in Osaka and she's hanging with us into Kyoto, so to accommodate that we kind of rearranged our Kyoto/Osaka dates. I know it's not a lot of time in Osaka/Kyoto, but I think we'll be able to do plenty. Plus that leaves more to explore the next time we visit! ...which will be in god knows how long cause med school kind of takes up a lot of time, who knew?

So I have some pretty basic questions, I guess. The first, is the JR Pass, is it 7 days down to the hour you activate it? Like if we activate it at 9am on 5/11, would it expire at 9am on 5/18? Since we're not going to activate it immediately when we land in Tokyo, from what I've read the Suica pass(or whatever the other one is, can't remember the name) is our best bet for public transit in/around the Tokyo area. Can you still ride the shinkansen with the Suica pass? I think doing that would still save us money rather than buying the 14 day JR pass and eating a few extra days, but maybe I'm wrong?

We're interested in trying to stay in a pod hotel as well, cause gently caress it why not. I've only been browsing available options through the Chase Sapphire Rewards page since we're using up all our points there, but are there any pod hotels that have like, couples pods? I don't think it's a big deal if not, just wondering.

I think we're just going to miss the peak cherry blossom season in the areas we're in, is that correct? Is there anywhere we could travel via shinkansen that we could see some pretty trees, preferably just like a day trip?

Any tattoo-friendly onsens in the Tokyo area that anybody recommends? I have enough that it's impossible to cover them up, and I've looked at this site briefly and these seem like pretty cool spots?

I've only skimmed bits of this topic but I want to read a bunch more so I can get more of a feel for different prefectures/etiquette/whatever, but I think I remember Toyoko and Dormy Inns being relatively cheap and decent hotels in Tokyo, is that still true? I've got our places booked in Osaka/Kyoto so I'm just trying to lock down Tokyo.

We're also thinking of doing a bit of shopping while we're there, how much of a pain would it be to purchase a small suitcase or something similar to fill with stuff then mail back to the US? Kind of in the same vein, when we're flying out of Haneda back to the states, is security/customs a huge pain? It's been a decade since I've traveled outside of the US(jesus that's unpleasant to type, I need to travel more) so I am very unfamiliar with, well, pretty much everything at this point, ha!

I'm also visiting a friend and colleague of mine, where she's going to give me a tour of her laboratory and then we're going to go out to dinner. I was thinking a gift would be nice, is there anything traditional that's recommended?

That's all the questions I can think of at the moment, but of course recommendations for any and all activities are welcome! Hopefully we won't be too annoying as tourists, only slightly annoying. Thanks in advance!

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




harperdc posted:

  • Don't stay in capsule hotels, they are a bad gimmick (or for the drunk/missed-last-train set), especially your first night coming off an overseas flight. you will be exhausted and not sure what time it is at all.
  • Suica is just like the Metro card in NYC or the Oyster in London, it's a way to put a cash balance on a chip-powered card so you can just touch that instead of buying a new paper ticket every time. There are ways to use those on Shinkansen, but your best bet other than the JR pass is to go to the ticket office at a bigger station and purchase specific tickets there.
  • cherry blossoms would be done in May, but it's still spring and beautiful, you'll be fine. (The cherry blossom season is creeping earlier and earlier due to climate change)
  • Buying a new suitcase and sending it home? Should be able to arrange shipment from a Post Office before you leave. Be sure to budget for that.
  • Customs and security is an enormous pain in the rear end...in the United States. You will hate the fact that, after your 11+ hour flight from Japan, you have to take your shoes and belt off and go through security again. But in Japan, no, there's no issues. Just be sure to do the landing/departure forms.
  • If it's a friend/colleague who's Japanese, the gifts that are usually given/received are either personal (something they'd understand and appreciate) or foods/snacks from your hometown (eg chocolates from a local company, etc.) Do some research on "omiyage" and find the closest small, packaged equivalent.

As for recommendations?

  • Go to places high in tourist quantity on weekdays if you can, if you want to see Akihabara it's probably better on a Tuesday than on a Saturday.
  • Prepare to walk, even in Tokyo with the train and subway system as thorough as it is. 5+ miles a day is entirely possible. Pack and dress accordingly.
  • May will be a great time to visit -- temperatures into the 70s Fahrenheit, but lower humidity. Bring light jackets, unless the forecast says it'll be cooler than that leading up to your trip.
  • Whatever you're into, Tokyo has two of them. It's an enormous city, and just a bit of searching (or asking) will lead you the right way.
  • Stay near a Yamanote Line station -- Ueno, Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shinjuku. Those are the transit hubs, and you'll have a much better time transiting through there. As well, the days you're thinking of going to Osaka/Kyoto by bullet train, the only stations heading that way in Tokyo are Tokyo and Shinagawa Station. Staying near there might be smart to help make your morning shorter!

Awesome, this is really helpful.

Do I need two Suica cards, one for each of us, or is one fine to tap for both of us? And is a JR Pass Green worth the extra $$$? I think we are planning on staying close to the Tokyo Station, as well, to keep things simple. I think we're probably going to go with just a sento instead of a traditional onsen, as those seem to be a bit of an excursion away from Tokyo and like you said, I'm sure we'll be tired from the flight. Soaking in some hot/mineral/electrified water sounds fine where ever we end up, haha. We booked ryokan inns in Osaka and Kyoto, so we've got that covered.

I think we're going to nix the capsule hotel, as well. Maybe the last night we're in Tokyo just so we can get up and catch a really early shinkansen to Osaka. Speaking of the shinkansen, is that the best way to get to the Studio Ghibli museum?

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Chillyrabbit posted:

The JR rail pass is basically for trains in-between cities, which is what the shinkansen runs between. So within Tokyo you practically can't use it for much, but going from Tokyo to Kyoto or Kyoto to Osaka works. (you can also use a suica/pasmo/whatever metro card to go between Kyoto and Osaka but its a bit more roundabout and slower I think.)

You will need 1 suica card per person as they can only calculate 1 trip at a time, since you tap in at one gate and have to tap out at another gate. (its not a flat fare rate but is based on distances and whoever runs the lines)

The Studio ghibli museum is a regular train and then a short bus ride, no shinkansen necessary. Also I presume you already prepurchased your tickets as they don't sell them at the door.

Cool beans, thanks. I'm just worried that the shinkansens will be packed(that's what https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/ says can happen in May?) so I'm still on the fence about splurging for the Green pass or not. We will have at least one large piece of luggage when going Tokyo->Osaka, possibly two, so I'm wondering if the added space is worth it, too?

Doctor Zero posted:

Yeah look into Ghibli tickets on line. You have to buy them in advance. You also have to set a date and time. Foreign sales go up 3 months before and sell out quickly. Or if you know someone in-country they can get them one month in advance at Lawson.

I haven't purchased the tickets yet, but it's on my to-do list this week! I hope I didn't wait too long and they're all sold out :ohdear: The Suica card would get me to/from the museum no problem though, correct?

Also, does anyone have travel insurance recommendations? I think we're looking into, um.. World Nomads? Seems like they have a fuckton of coverage for a decent amount.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Martytoof posted:

If you have a travel rewards credit card check to see if they have any kind of travellers insurance. My bank’s travel visa is surprisingly comprehensive.

I just checked my Chase Sapphire Rewards travel benefits and while it's pretty comprehensive I don't believe it includes medical insurance, other than their accidental death/dismemberment policy, so I think we may still purchase a basic travel insurance for medical fees.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




zmcnulty posted:

Tips for dealing with crowded shinkansen! I've been on a lot over the years. Some of these are a bit more dog-eat-dog than non-assholes can stomach:
-Do not be afraid to sit on the floor
-The more crowded the train is, the less likely it is that the conductor will come and check tickets. As a result, there may be free seats in the reserved cars that are free for the taking until the actual ticket holder gets on the train. You'll need to get up when they get on, but on the other hand, you can at least sit until that happens
-Do not hesitate to sit on the floor if it's really crowded, unless you're in the way of the bathroom, people will not be traveling between the cars anyway. If they need the bathroom they can step around you
-If you want to try and grab a non-reserved seat at the train's point of origin, do not wait in line for a non-reserved seat. Instead, as soon as you are allowed on, cut in front of people waiting for a reserved car. Then rush to the non-reserved car
-Huge lines at the ticket gates do not matter. If you have some kind of rail pass, you can't use the ticket gates anyway. Push your way through the crowd to find the station staff. Chances are he/she will be way too busy to check anything, so keep on pushing through (obviously, if you get stopped, show your pass)

In any case, if your shinkansen is anything more than like 2 days after the end of golden week, it won't be crowded at all

Awesome! We fly out 5/7 and land in Haneda in the afternoon on 5/8, so we should be just missing Golden Week.

peanut posted:

Green car is kinda ridiculous unless you're a visiting celebrity. Standing on the smoking car of the shinkansen is a rite of adulthood, plz enjoy.

lol, good to know! No Green pass, it is. I just don't want to be that tourist who fucks up whatever thing can go wrong with the shinkansen by purchasing the wrong ticket or having too many bags or something equally stupid on my part. Now I'm just worried that the Studio Ghibli museum tickets have sold out :ohdear: Gonna buy those fuckers first thing tonight after work!

Fake edit: Oh quick other question, is the best way to get from Haneda airport into Tokyo a train that goes to like, right outside of Tokyo? I need a refresher on the transit stuff since I looked it all up first, for some dumb reason :doh:

Johnny Truant fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Mar 18, 2019

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




LimburgLimbo posted:

Haneda’s already in Tokyo (unlike Narita) so you can just take the monorail to Hamamatsucho station which gets you to the Yamanote (the big green circular JR line which goes to basically the major destinations in the city).

Ah yeah, monorail, that's what I meant! Thank you.

Sorry for the dumb touristy questions, another one incoming: we're not activating our JR Pass until the afternoon/evening of the 11th, so our initial transit from the airport then around Tokyo will be mostly with the Suica pass. Is the Yamanote line able to be paid by the Suica pass, or will we need to purchase like, a Hamamatsucho->Tokyo Station single shinkansen pass? Additionally, are the JR passes expiration down to the minute? It'd be nice if we could just activate it the morning of the 11th and then not worry about getting back to Haneda by like 5pm or whenever, but I want to make sure that I don't gently caress us over by activating it for the wrong date/time.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




totalnewbie posted:

You can pay for any normal train by suica. This includes the monorail. Yamanote is not a shinkansen train, nor is the monorail.

Jr pass is by day.

Most excellent! I was worried about timing the JR pass so we could make our flight, but if it's just by day that simplifies so many things.

I think your username is more appropriate for me in this instance :negative:

Is Fuji only accessible via the shinkansen? We have approximately 6 days in Tokyo, I'm wondering if we should try to fit it in. Is there anything we should absolutely avoid or absolutely go to? We're going to do the Robot Battle to be super touristy in Tokyo, but any other must see/do/avoids are always welcome.

Edit: Huh, so it seems that Studio Ghibli's main online sales company jtb... doesn't sell individual tickets as of this year. :argh: Guess I've gotta purchase them through.. Lawson? Just a month in advance :shrug:

Johnny Truant fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Mar 19, 2019

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Chillyrabbit posted:

I really liked Ginza Steak in Ginza, Tokyo.

Had the lunch menu, they serve 2 unique wagyu dishes, a potato soup, then its all you can eat of wagyu beef cooked right in front of you.











Holy gently caress that looks amazing! Mind if I ask what the price is? My partner and I want to splurge for at least one nice meal, and this could be it.

Quick question about Mt. Fuji: is it an entire day-long trip? My tattoo appointment got pushed back one day, so I'm thinking maybe the day after we arrive of planning a Mt. Fuji day. Our hotel is pretty close to Tokyo Station, APA Hotel Nihombashi-Bakurocho Ekimae, and Google Maps says there's the 東42甲東京駅八重洲口行 and then the Bus東京~河口湖・山中湖河口湖駅行 that takes us to Mt. Fuji station, is that the best way to get there? Or should I go peep Hyperpedia to see a better train route? Alternatively, we could wait until after the tattoo appointment when we have our JR pass activated, if that makes a big difference.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Chillyrabbit posted:

I didn't actually pay for it, my brother did but their online menu says the Lunch trial course is 5800 Yen. So I would assume its around that price.

They also have a dinner course which starts at 9800 yen and goes up from there.

Online menu

:doh: I didn't even see that they had the menu online. That's really reasonably priced, I think I'm going to set up a reservation.

LimburgLimbo posted:

If you’re fit you can climb Mt. Fuji in a day as well but try not to die

zmcnulty posted:

Uhh that poster is coming in May right? That's way before the season starts, climbing off-season without extensive preparation and experience is very likely to result in death

Should(?) be able to catch a bus up to the 5th station though, but I guess going further up than that would be pretty tough

Haha wow this escalated quickly! We are definitely not climbing Mt. Fuji, we have an explicit "no dying" policy on this trip. Next time though I'll see about wiggling my way out of that clause..

zmcnulty posted:

If you want to see Mt Fuji closer, the question becomes, how close? For example you can get awesome views of Fuji while sitting in an onsen in Izu. Or do you want to see it from across one of the Fuji Five Lakes, or do you actually want to go to the 5th station and be on Mt Fuji, etc.

This is a good question, I honestly am not sure how close is good! It looks like, from a cursory search, if we do decide to Mt. Fuji it up I think the Fuji Five Lakes you mentioned would be good? They have bike rentals around there, is that a kind of scenic thing to do? We're taking the shinkansen from Tokyo->Osaka so hopefully we can get a nice far-off view of Fuji there.

Basically my partner and I are just trying to do a bit of outdoorsy type stuff, nothing super intense like a full day long hike or anything. We're going to the Iwatayama monkey park/mountain for sure, which my friend said was a fun hike?

mactheknife posted:

why imagine anything when you could just die instead

:hmmyes:

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




zmcnulty posted:

Yep that's a very scenic thing to do, and around Fuji is mostly flat so not even a strenuous bike ride. Just keep in mind that if it's cloudy you won't be able to see much of Fuji at all, so your "cycle around a lake at the base of Mt Fuji" could easily become "cycle around a lake"

Yeah that's everything I've read, ha. I think we're scrapping the Fuji plan just so we don't eat an entire day of Tokyo. Homie who went semi-recently highly recommended a tour of it, but a quick search showed it was anywhere from 10 to 15+ hours and that's gonna be a no from me, dog.

Here's a stupid question: is Google Maps pretty accurate with the best ways to get around Japan, outside of the shinkansen? For example, our first night in we're going to check in to our hotel then take a quick jaunt to a tattoo-friendly sento over in Shinjuku. Google Maps gives this route via the Shinjuku Line. Just wanna make sure it's not missing something important or anything.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




harperdc posted:

Google Maps is good, but you'll still get lost if you're not watching what building / floor some locations are in. It should say in the address but for some places (especially shops inside malls or around train stations) it can get a touch confusing.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up! If we can get to the general building location I'm not going to be too salty about figuring out what floor we're going to, so long as we don't plan to go to Shinjuku and end up in Nara, haha.

Followup question! Can you load the Suica cards online, or is it only with cash? And if so, are the kiosks to refill them only in certain areas?

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




harperdc posted:

You purchase the Suica cards (JR) or Pasmo (Tokyo Metro and other private lines) at the actual train station from the ticket machine the first time, and you charge the card (insert cash and apply to the card) at the same machines later on when you need to add value. There’s usually a bank of three-five machines just outside any station, and there’s usually at least one machine just inside the gates if you need to add cash to make it out (not enough on the card to pay).

Excellent. We already have our Suica cards through the website we purchased the JR pass from, and that sounds almost identical to the transit kiosks here in the states so I think after the initial visit to one we'll be good.

Is there a currency exchange in the airport that isn't running crazy exchange rates? I'm just hoping to get off the plane and exchange some money real quick so we can have a relaxing night of getting over any possible jetlag.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Thanks for all the directions knowledge. I have an Android and my partner an iPhone, so we'll make sure to reference both when trying to get anywhere.

If most sento accept tattoos I'll definitely look at places closer to our hotel, Mannenyu was just on a list of tattoo-friendly bathhouses. It also looks really cool, too! But if anyone has recs closer to our hotel(APA Hotel Nihombashi-Ekimae), I'm open and appreciative!

I'm going to have to look at our ATM fees again. Those ATM fees are on top of whatever our banks charge, so I want to make sure we're not eating a 20¥ charge on every 100 we pull out or something. I had the poor timing of just closing my Wells Fargo account, cause gently caress them, but I should've waited till after our trip I think. Ah, well.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




BB2K posted:

this, its extremely easy to do once you get into the habit

if you ever have more than 4 1, 10 or 100en coins, you have failed

Can't wait to fail so, so hard at this.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Pollyanna posted:

Can you pick up a Suica anywhere or is it like Boston where the only place you can get it is a lovely underground station that smells like piss?

I got mine from Japan Rail Pass.

peanut posted:

Lord I assure you Tokyo's transportation system is less pissy and lovely than Boston

Yeah there's few places that can probably top the shitfest that is the T in Boston :negative:

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Do most 7/11s accept Suica? Or like, what generally does or doesn't?

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




From a minute ago, but if there an easy way to search for sento in the Tokyo area? Somebody mentioned there probably being one closer to my hotel, but I can't seem to search for them properly, haha.

Searching Google maps for 'onsen' and 'bathhouse' only bring up businesses with that in their name, not like the restaurant search function where it shows you all of them in the area you're viewing.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




arisu posted:

poo poo my Japan trip's still almost 7 months out and I'm already daydreaming all day at work instead of working.

Yeah I've been doing this for about the same length of time, even moreso now that all the necessary details(flights, hotels, transport) are locked down. No more worrying about where we'll sleep, and now I can just think of cool poo poo to do :bubblewoop:

LimburgLimbo posted:

My bad, that was me; was on mobile and going to point you to specific ones once I got to a computer but forgot.

a bunch of cool sento info

No worries, I appreciate the followup! I think we still may make the trek to Mannenyu Onsen over in Shinjuku because it has more baths/amenities than the sento you linked to. Wish we could make it to an actual onsen with a nice view or something, but guess that'll have to be saved for next trip..

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Pollyanna posted:

Wait...do your wallets not have a coin pocket?

Your wallet does...?

The Great Autismo! posted:

if you actually got through all these God-damned nerds talking about coin pockets (JFC), here's my trip report for yakushima.

Okay, but how's their coin purse scene?

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Cbear posted:

Best way to get Studio Ghibili Museum tickets. Looking for May. Is there a brokerage site or an easy way to get them?

Gotta purchase them through Lawson, the jtb or whatever website stopped offering them. May tickets go on sale April 10th.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




TheEye posted:

How to buy Ghibli Museum tickets online from Lawson, based on my experience in February (warning, it's a complete shitshow):

Jesus gently caress. This sounds incredibly painful. At least I'll be at work when I do it so I'll be getting paid...?

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




ntan1 posted:

google fi

mikeycp posted:

this is what i do and it's basically flawless

Excellent, one less thing I have to worry about :bubblewoop:

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Archer666 posted:

Welp, she's decided to waste 2000 bucks and the Tokyo part of our vacation and is going back next week...

So.... any goon (who wont shank me in a dark alley) in Tokyo feels like going to Disney World and Sea with me 2 weeks from now?

Hahaha wow, this was a funny series of posts. Oh well, good to get wet blankets out of your life sooner rather than later!

Unrelated: my partner and I were wondering that, since buying a Studio Ghibli ticket through Lawson's website sounds only slightly better than torture, are there any Japan goons who would be willing to purchase a pair of them for me, and then ship them to us? You'll obviously be compensated for the effort!

Slightly related to that: if any Japan goons wanna meet up for a night of shenanigans while we're in Tokyo(5/8-5/14) we should figure something out!

I think we're missing you, Pollyanna, by like a week? Boston goon meetup in Japan just wasn't meant to be... :sigh:

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Doctor Zero posted:

Went to Ghibli yesterday and I have to say all the hassle was ... yeah worth it. Assuming you love Ghibli that is. If you’re only mildly interested it probably wouldn’t be but my me and my wife and her friend really lived it. It was crowded sure but since they limit the tickets it wasn’t obscenely so. And the weather was gorgeous.
Also haha we very nearly went in that bird cafe too.


We’re leaving Tokyo next week so missing you by a couple days but wow you guys are from Boston too? We should have a Boston goon meet when we’re all back.

Fuuuuuuck, well if no goons do me a favour(:wink:) looks like I'll slog through Lawson's website with that effortpost printed out next to me, ha.

But yeah, Pollyanna and I are both from Boston! We should def meet up. Do you pay in the LAN topic? We shitpost all day long, come join in our sufferingslibations.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




harperdc posted:

I don’t know what part of the Japanese process made it look any easier or any less of a pain in the rear end of a lottery for people in Japan to get Ghibli tickets. I know people who have tried for three or four months in a row and kept striking out. It’s really difficult and only might get better when the theme park opens up.

Oh I thought you could purchase them at a physical location, and that made it easier. :shrug:

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




d0s posted:

there were a ton of strange videos on the entertainment screens about how to not make a fool of yourself and/or get arrested in japan and I spent like 3 hours watching them all

Go on...

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Archer666 posted:

Nah, she's leaving on Friday. And of course, she's too scared to travel alone to the airport so I'm going to guide her all the way to the security checkpoint of KIX at 7 in the goddamn morning because I'm a goddamn good friend and goddamn next time I need to pick better people to travel with. :tif:

are you loving kidding

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Archer666 posted:

I really goddamn loving wish.

A few days ago we were at the aquarium Kaiykukan and she wanted to go to back to Tennouji afterwards, while I wanted to hit up Umeda. But because she saw that the Osaka loop line had some technical troubles and she'd had to take a different route than the opposite of how we got there, she nearly broke out in tears when I said that I wouldn't guide her back through an alternate route because she's got a cellphone and google loving maps. She only calmed down when I relented and guided her back through the Osaka Metro back to Tennouji. Which still is, I swear to god, a loving cake walk. So I had to can my Umeda plans for the day to hold the hand of a 24 year old woman.

She's a sweet girl, but goddamn I did not expect to have taken a woman-child with me on this vacation.

Yeah, uh, :sever: from her and let her get her rear end to the airport on her own, :wtc:

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




As soon as she starts making her babby issues your problem is when you sever, gently caress that noise.

I'm angry for you, drat.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Sorry to interrupt terrible travel companion thread with a real Japan question! Are certain prefectures better at certain times? Like, Ikebukuro. I have my tattoo appointment there at noon, is it a cool area to hang out in beforehand, or should we save exploring it for the afternoon? Probably a stupid question but :shrug:

And secondly, I was hoping for a clarification about Ginza Steak's menu. On the page under every meal option it says "* Steak addition free" but then at the top of the dinner entrees it also says "(Further charge for extra steak.)" Am I missing something here? Or is it a further charge for the different types of meat that don't have the first asterisk bit?

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




caberham posted:

I went to ginza steak

You choose which course you want, some have abalone some don’t.

You have to go through all the appetizers before you can have your ALL YOU CAN EAT STEAK. And for me I had a course of 2 different choices. If you want more you must finish your portion, can’t eat 2 cuts at the same time.

Instead of having a decent dinner conversation and slowly going through the steaks, gently caress the place up and just go through those steaks as fast as you can. I only got 3 portions total which is kind of weak, could totally gone for 5 or 6

Ahh word, thanks!

totalnewbie posted:

Ikkebukuro is not a prefecture (Japanese equivalent of American state) but just an area/suburb of Tokyo, if you will.

Anyway, you should be fine in the morning, as long as you're not thinking of going out at like, 7 AM before a lot of places even open.

Whoops, thanks for the correction on nomenclature. I figured that yeah, unless we were on the extremes of the day like balls early/late, any place that we're exploring would be solid.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




I've only really ever traveled what friends sans authority figures once, but it was still a time.

All inclusive resort in Jamaica, originally supposed to be four of us. Two backed out last minute, whatever. Another friend jumped in at the last minute, cool, the not the merrier!

Well the third guy was bit quite in the know about what an all inclusive Jamaican really would be, and he had never smoked weed before. He got a crash course in those few days, but we had a blast. Chilled with New Zealanders who were close to our age, everybody else was older since the resort was kinda geared towards that demographic.

I think the only dumb thing that happened to us was getting slightly fleeced at an open air market. I smoked hash with a vendor who then convinced me to buy a pipe he engraved a girl's name on that I was interested in at the time, and last-minute friend somehow agreed to get initial-friend's hair braided and beaded, then refused to pay, so initial-friend was out $50. Worth it for great stories!

EDIT: lmfao I absolutely did not think about the Studio Ghibli tickets going on sale at 10:00AM... in Japan Standard Time :doh:

Oh well, guess I don't need to worry about that, ha!

Johnny Truant fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Apr 10, 2019

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Question Mark Mound posted:

On our first big trip together we set a rule of "If you want to do a thing, go do it. You're not allowed to complain if nobody else joins you, and nobody else can complain that you went off and did your own thing away from the group." Thankfully, we've all stuck to that rule pretty well and have done a fair bit of group and solo stuff.

That's a great rule.

Unrelated to bad traveling buddies question part deux: my partner and I are looking around for fancy dinners, I think we want to not do Ginza Steak and maybe something else. What're goons thoughts on Tokyo Kappo Terunari? Looks pretty nice for the price range, and tabelog seems to favour it. Not 5/5 or anything, but it looks and sounds dope?

We were looking at a Michelin starred tapas gastrocookery thing, but the price was very :negative: so, drat. Next time, when my partner is making that sweet sweet doctor money, I guess!

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




My partner has been a pescatarian for like, 6+ years but is giving it up during our trip.

Tonkatsu overload here we come.

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




highme posted:

Before my first trip the only meat I ate was poultry & fish. I decided I wasn't going to restrict myself in Japan and don't regret it at all. I remembered that pork is loving delicious and that I don't really care for beef.

Ha, that's almost the exact same conclusion my partner has come to. She's started eating meat a little before the trip just to make sure her stomach doesn't feel weird during the actual trip, and almost every time she's had beef she's been like, "huh, this is just like... boring?" :shrug:

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Johnny Truant posted:

Unrelated to bad traveling buddies question part deux: my partner and I are looking around for fancy dinners, I think we want to not do Ginza Steak and maybe something else. What're goons thoughts on Tokyo Kappo Terunari? Looks pretty nice for the price range, and tabelog seems to favour it. Not 5/5 or anything, but it looks and sounds dope?

We were looking at a Michelin starred tapas gastrocookery thing, but the price was very :negative: so, drat. Next time, when my partner is making that sweet sweet doctor money, I guess!

This got skipped over, wondering if anybody has thoughts on it!

It's going to be my partner and I's 3rd anniversary while we're in Japan, so I'm trying to find us one fancier spot for a romantic evening. If anybody else has suggestions, can be any food type(I mean let's stick with Japanese cuisine), I would be incredibly happy!

EDIT: Damnit, forgot to ask about Narikura. Is it really like a "wait multiple hours" kind of busy? It's kind of close to the onsen we're going to, would we be able to get dinner beforehand at this spot or would it already be in the "we've had 400 people waiting" kind of situation?

Johnny Truant fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Apr 11, 2019

Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




Stringent posted:

They only serve a set number of people per day, so yeah you gotta line up. The way we did it iirc was we lined up outside the shop around 9am on a weekday. By about 10am we were up to the shop and they took our name. Then we lined up again and waited until 10:30am when they started seating people.

So yeah it's a line up and wait place, but holy poo poo it was worth it. Best meat I've ever had in my life.

Ahhh okay, looks like that's a no go for our first night, then! It's funny cause this restaurant was already in my saved places from earlier, but I don't remember who told me about it.

Anything else that's a must go to restaurant in Shinjuku? Not sure if we'll get back there after our onsen trip.

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Johnny Truant
Jul 22, 2008




sale on Banksy art posted:

I can't find my old post to quote myself, so pretend I quoted the 2 or 3 times I said to walk around with $10,000 in your pocket. It's a life experience.

Username makes this post :discourse:

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