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I'm not sure if Gunkanjima is worth such a trip, it looks cool but I've heard the tours there are so restricted and short that it's probably not worth traveling to the other side of Japan just to visit it. You'd probably be better off just doing some urbex on your own.
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Jan 29, 2016 04:27
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Shibawanko posted:Just cycle on the left side of the road and stare down anyone dumb enough to come from the other direction. Most roads are too narrow to accommodate bikers and cars, it's stressful and dangerous for both parties involved. Roads that are big enough to accommodate bikers are guaranteed to have cars parked on the side of the road, forcing people to dangerously weave in and out of traffic. Bike lanes, when they do exist, are useless because they're just scattered at random and disappear after a few blocks, and are usually too narrow to use safely. Oh, and people just walk in the lanes anyway since it's just a painted part of the sidewalk, usually a part that also runs through bus stops, electricity poles, and trees.. It's a miracle that the cycling culture survives in spite of how bike-unfriendly Tokyo is and that there aren't more fatalities. Unfortunately, most of the PSAs and news reports are directed at cyclists and how dangerous they are. If they really wanted to make a difference, they'd make the PSAs tell people to not walk in the bike lanes and their "safety week" campaigns would focus on stopping and educating people walking in the lanes and aggressively ticketing cars who are parked on the side of the roads. Or, just invest in some actual cycling infrastructure.
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Mar 22, 2016 12:01
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photomikey posted:Going to Japan for 7 nights in late March. Probably 3-4 nights in Tokyo and the remaining 3-4 nights in Kyoto/Osaka. It is me (40/m), my wife (37/f), and my daughter (7/f). The Ginza Mercure is a pretty good hotel, near several stations including Tokyo which will be useful for your further travels. Fairly reasonably priced too.
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Dec 30, 2016 13:16
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Moon Slayer posted:Looks like I'll be coming to Japan at the end of May to work in Kanazawa! Looks like a neat little city, but does anyone know anything about the area? I used to live there, it's very livable with a nice city center and more or less anything is accessible by bicycle.
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Mar 30, 2017 13:40
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jooky posted:What's the scoop on buying third-party (reseller) concert tickets in Japan? Looking to get three tickets to a show that appears to be sold out, but I would love to go if I can make it. Are there reliable third-party sellers a la StubHub (heh) for Japan? Tsutaya O-East is the venue, if that matters. Although I'm unsure how common this is, be aware that some concerts will actually check the name on the ticket with some sort of photo ID to discourage scalping and won't let you in if the name differs. Not sure if there's even a way to research whether or not they'll do this, but be aware that the risk is there.
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Apr 9, 2017 02:27
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Why is everyone so excited about the Wendy's-FK restaurants? They barely resemble Wendy's anymore, the menu is super limited and they don't even have frosties! Most of the "unusual" items are probably from the First Kitchen menu. The pretzel buns are good I guess but I thought that the old non-FK restaurants were far superior.
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Apr 17, 2017 12:22
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peanut posted:I recently saw a news blip about old school candy arcade games museum in an Itabashi, Tokyo shopping area, enjoy Yeah, this place is pretty impressive, large selection of those old mechanical-style machines.
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Jun 11, 2017 08:44
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orenronen posted:All combini (and most supermarket) yogurt, greek or otherwise, is terrible. Seriously, yogurt is the one thing I ate in large amounts back home and completely dropped in Japan. Where are you from? American yogurt is so loaded up with sugar and other poo poo that you might as well just be eating ice cream.
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Jul 2, 2017 04:08
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BioTech posted:Wondering about this too. Going in about 2 weeks and I found some calendar that says it is a quiet day, but the 2+ hour waiting line complaints are everywhere on Tripadvisor. Fuji-Q is almost impressive at how poorly it is run. You'll see a line that would be 30 minutes at a normal theme park have a queue time of 2 hours minimum. It's just so poorly run, they'll send cars out without trying to fill out single seats, and the boarding and unboarding takes an unnecessarily long time since you have to wait for the people to disembark, take the stuff from the storage lockers, leave the platform, then see the next group put their stuff in the lockers, and then be put in. It's absurd, and from what I remember they only run one car at a time. Even on weekdays during non-busy seasons you'd better be prepared to pay for fastpass tickets or you'll never be able to ride everything you want to. It's a real shame because the rides are fantastic, I'm really amazed that management seems to have no interest in improving the queue system.
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Apr 13, 2018 15:06
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Ikebukuro is just one big square, you can easily get wherever you want, worst case scenario is that you have to go from one corner to the opposite one, but it’s not a confusing walk at all. Not like Shinjuku where is you take the wrong gate and it’s literally impossible to get back inside and get to another entrance. Ended up at the southeast exit but was supposed to be at the west? Good luck!
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Jun 14, 2018 15:02
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peanut posted:Oh yeah please bring your atm card and take out cash, don't expect to use a credit card anywhere but hotels. Cash is good and fun. I'm not sure how true this is anymore, over the past few years I've tried to go all in on credit cards to take advantage of rewards and was surprised at how easy it is now. I think the whole "you can't survive without cash" is an outdated tip. For sure smaller local stores will be cash only, but more or less all chains and mid-sized restaurants seem to have credit card support these days. You should still definitely carry a decent amount of cash though!
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Jun 16, 2018 11:34
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Grand Fromage posted:You'll be used to crowds but train stations in Japan have absolutely awful, infuriating signage and you'll get lost a lot, especially if you end up in a ninth circle of hell station like Ikebukuro. Just be prepared for this and take it in stride. People often complain about Ikebukuro station but I do not understand why, it's literally just a giant square with the JR station in the middle and you walk along the outside edges to get where you want to go, you can access any exit or line from that edge. The only annoying thing is if you have to go to the other side you have to walk alongside the outside of the JR section but it's just time consuming and not complicated. Compared to other larger stations it's very logical. Ueno, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tokyo etc. have exits which cannot be accessed depending on how you exit a platform and no easy way to get to them once you leave the gates. Original_Z fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Jan 20, 2019 |
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Jan 20, 2019 03:51
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Kabukicho seems to have a large selection of extravagant love hotels.
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Feb 25, 2019 14:05
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Archer666 posted:Also, why is Takarazuka merch so goddamn expensive? I was at the Grand Theater yesterday (holy gently caress, it looked amazing and the size of it too) and the Quatre had blu rays for like 10k yen a piece. Are they printed on gold? Or the crushed dreams of girls who never got into Takarazuka Music School? For niche things like that Japanese companies prefer to just price gouge the fans instead of hoping that a lower price will attract more customers. Similar to how anime blurays are also quite expensive and hold very little content.
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Apr 6, 2019 13:33
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Nanigans posted:I have Sprint, phone doesn’t even have a sim card port. Doesn't Sprint automatically connect with Softbank in Japan without any extra fees?
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Aug 18, 2019 04:34
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It seems like you'll get automatic data for free, and the $5 is if you actually want to make calls in addition to that.
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Aug 19, 2019 13:20
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How does it compare to Rocco's?
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Nov 19, 2019 12:47
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peanut posted:[job spam] My friend has been looking for direct hire ALT positions so I showed this to him and he emailed her. Apparently it's a part-time job that pays hourly (barely minimum wage), is only for 3 months, and they want someone local to the area. Good luck with that!
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Sep 18, 2020 05:44
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There are plenty of good burger places in the Tokyo area, this list is probably a pretty decent starting point: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tokyo/comments/cbddke/best_burgers_of_the_greater_tokyo_area_any/ Personally I'm a fan of JS Burgers Cafe and Martini Burger. For fish and chips Malin's in Roppongi is probably the best I've found.
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Dec 13, 2020 02:38
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Pollyanna posted:The government should poo poo or get off the pot with the guided tour restriction. They’re getting the worst of both worlds right now - no experienced and familiar tourists, no expat family visits, no immigrant labor, no independent or cultural event business, few corporate business travelers, yes rando American and British dopes on leashes making loud noise and stuffing trains at commute hours. The guided tours are probably exactly what Japan wants, rich people who go on tour groups to nice hotels and probably do a lot of shopping. They do a lot more for the economy than an experienced traveler who knows cheap places to stay and eat.
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Jul 24, 2022 10:11
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Japanese service is like a boomer's dream come true. Staff have to be polite and pretend to be friendly because Japanese customers expect that high level of service and even just saying something using incorrect formality phrases might set the wrong customer off and then they have to deeply apologize and endure a rough talkdown by an abusive manager. All without having to worry about tipping! If you read online reviews of places here by Japanese people, almost every negative review is about the service and not about the quality of the product itself, and often it's a very petty complaint.
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Mar 27, 2023 06:16
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Wonton posted:I agree with what saladman is saying, but I like to add one major difference about life in japan cities versus North America/Australias - japan is a lot less car depended and a lot easier (albeit still not cheap) getting around. The post ww2 suburbia with cul de sacs and lawn, is so expensive and excessive to maintain and you need to drive 15-25 minutes for each trip is crazy. Hey nice spacious bathrooms and space to spend the panedmic though! This is more of a bias of tourists only visiting the major cities like Tokyo and Osaka and not needing a car and assuming the whole country must be like that. It'd be like someone visiting NY or Boston and saying the public transit is great in the United States and of course you don't need a car! Once you leave the major cities, you may find yourself wanting a car very quickly and will have a very, very reduced quality of life without one.
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Jul 11, 2023 09:37
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Grand Fromage posted:My last trip I decided Hakata is far and away the worst station in the country. I was trapped in there for so long I stopped for lunch to regroup. Distant second is Ikebukuro, then Shinjuku. Nagoya didn't strike me as particularly bad but I may not have fully experienced it. What's bad about Ikebukuro? It's just a giant square with the station gates in the middle. As long as you follow the signage you'll end up where you want to go, and if you do go out of the wrong gate you can get anywhere you need while staying inside, worst case scenario you're on the other side of the square and have to walk around it. Compared to other stations where the wrong exit sends you in a completely different area and will require you to go outside and navigate the streets to your intended exit, it's very easy.
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Sep 11, 2023 02:37
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harperdc posted:Yeah, this is my rough understanding as well. Not going to happen unless the BOJ raise interest rates which they're adamant about not wanting to do. Doesn't make as much sense to stock up on yen when you can get significantly higher interest rates in other currencies.
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Oct 19, 2023 01:26
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Zettace posted:Pachinko tips from my pachinkasu friend: In addition, above the machines are data which give information on the payout rates and last time since a jackpot hit, although any 'good' machines will likely be taken by people who queue up in the morning.
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Jan 12, 2024 05:31
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Teriyaki Koinku posted:Is American Express really universal in Japan though? I saw some reservation pages that didn't have it listed, but pretty much everyone had Mastercard and Visa listed. Very common, I main an AMEX and 99% of transactions are fine with it, only very rarely will a store not support it. Both AMEX and Diners run on the JCB network here.
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Apr 18, 2024 08:52
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