Japan

So I'm the asshole that booked a trip to Tokyo a few months before all this N. Korean escalation. If it's still standing I'll be there in November. 

Can anyone here recommend things to do in the area? Just know that I'm a very cheap man and the thrills don't necessarily have to be legal.

  On 9/21/2017 at 3:04 AM, takeshi said:

So I'm the asshole that booked a trip to Tokyo

  On 9/21/2017 at 3:04 AM, takeshi said:

I'm a very cheap man

Does not compute

Some pro tips in here tho

  On 9/21/2017 at 3:04 AM, takeshi said:

Just know that I'm a very cheap man and the thrills don't necessarily have to be legal.

good luck with that. japan is not only expensive, but if whatever "non legal" activities you wish to take advantage of cost serious money. shinjuku is pretty fun- i'd recommend hitting the area (maybe with a couple of packed luncheons)

Just wait a few days dude...there's a crazy orange overlord out there who's trying to wipe this area off the map lol.

Tokyo? It's been nearly a decade for me. In Odaiba there's the Fuji TV museum, and there's a giant Gundam there too now I think. Dunno if the Statue of Liberty replica is still there or not.

Akihabara is the famous electronics district, so you'll probably find loads of TVs, games, toys, and shit. And Asakusa has the Kaminari-mon (Thunder Gate), which you've probably seen on postcards or travel mags somewhere.

I don't think I've been to Harajuku, but that's where all the teens and twenty-somethings hang out in cosplay. Least I think they still do.

  On 9/21/2017 at 4:10 AM, Nebraska said:

 

  On 9/21/2017 at 3:04 AM, takeshi said:

Just know that I'm a very cheap man and the thrills don't necessarily have to be legal.

good luck with that. japan is not only expensive, but if whatever "non legal" activities you wish to take advantage of cost serious money. shinjuku is pretty fun- i'd recommend hitting the area (maybe with a couple of packed luncheons)

Have fun! Went in 1998 as a kid. Mt. Fuji, Disneyland, and wandered around a little bit near the Minato area. Would love to go there again as well as revisit Okinawa.

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deathmatch in hell is a pretty funny bar. it's in shinjuku. 

Just get peace 7 to meet you.

I had a lot of fun at the Sega arcade in Akihabara. I saw a guy playing video strip poker.

https://en.compathy.net/magazine/2016/07/09/the-10-best-japanese-arcades-in-tokyo/

Akiba is full of sad guys getting their freak on at maid cafes. There are some good hobby shops though. The electronics aspect is there but it's changed for the worse over the years.

Go to Shinjuku for fun. The HUB there is good if you're looking for a quick pull.

Harajuku is good for lookin at all the cosplay/freak fashion show on the weekends.

The eastern side of Tokyo is very cool as well, Ueno has a great park. There are a shit-ton of small museums that you can check out (though the English descriptions of exhibits are sometimes sparse).

The Ghibli museum is worth the time as well.

ikebukuro was pretty chill

After you've been to akihabara, sweated it out with flabby white nerds and crazy high pitched japanese street girls in zany outfits, smoky pachinko parlours while a million screens blare at you with a neverending flow of garbage, you could....

...buy a sixpack of nodogoshi and a couple of bento boxes, take a train out of tokyo in a random direction and go for a walkabout, you'll stumble upon temples among the trees and bamboos, you might even come across a huntsman spider or two (they can jump and roll, bite you, but they're nice little fellas and not poisenous) 

spend a day or a half, relaxing onsen style and immerse yourself in lovely sulphurous waters of varying temperatures.

eat at as many different places as you can, soups soups soups of all kinds

if you're very lucky you may see a tanuki, or even some wild boars playing in the rice fields. If you do get near any wild boars, remember not to feed them, it causes them to become accustomed to humans and they start venturing into villages and towns to scavenge. but still, they're so cute and funny looking. 

The studio Ghibli museum is very quaint, and small. Go early as the place quickly gets packed. (you also need to buy tickets online a month or so in advance, you cannot buy tickets at the door)

I'm most likely going to Japan for two weeks this spring, first a week or so in Tokyo and one week chilling out in some rural seaside town eating good foods, preferably with a nice beach and some hiking to be done in lush nature nearby. Put tips for the last bit please.

You need to go to at least one bath house, stay a night at a capsule hotel (cheap, also usually have a bath), eat at Yoshinoya (good and cheap) and if you have the time visit a smaller town/ rural area for some perspective of the big cities.

  On 9/21/2017 at 3:51 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

 

 

 

Das me.

  On 9/21/2017 at 4:10 AM, Nebraska said:

ood luck with that. japan is not only expensive, but if whatever "non legal" activities you wish to take advantage of cost serious money. shinjuku is pretty fun- i'd recommend hitting the area (maybe with a couple of packed luncheons)

 

Sorry. Sometimes... I forget this isn't the old WATMM i.e. an open air drug market. I was only half serious about non-legal activities having fun. If it means anything now I have zero interest in getting my face melted off while I'm there.

  On 9/21/2017 at 6:18 AM, zaphod said:

deathmatch in hell is a pretty funny bar. it's in shinjuku. 

Added to the list. I want to feel like I'm in a William Gibson novel.

  On 9/21/2017 at 11:19 PM, chenGOD said:

Akiba is full of sad guys getting their freak on at maid cafes. There are some good hobby shops though. The electronics aspect is there but it's changed for the worse over the years.

Go to Shinjuku for fun. The HUB there is good if you're looking for a quick pull.

Harajuku is good for lookin at all the cosplay/freak fashion show on the weekends.

The eastern side of Tokyo is very cool as well, Ueno has a great park. There are a shit-ton of small museums that you can check out (though the English descriptions of exhibits are sometimes sparse).

The Ghibli museum is worth the time as well.

Ghibli is on the list though we may not get in because gaijin-only tickets sold out online a month ago. Hopefully we can get some in a Lawsons. 

  On 9/22/2017 at 11:55 AM, AJW said:

After you've been to akihabara, sweated it out with flabby white nerds and crazy high pitched japanese street girls in zany outfits, smoky pachinko parlours while a million screens blare at you with a neverending flow of garbage, you could....

 

...buy a sixpack of nodogoshi and a couple of bento boxes, take a train out of tokyo in a random direction and go for a walkabout, you'll stumble upon temples among the trees and bamboos, you might even come across a huntsman spider or two (they can jump and roll, bite you, but they're nice little fellas and not poisenous) 

spend a day or a half, relaxing onsen style and immerse yourself in lovely sulphurous waters of varying temperatures.

eat at as many different places as you can, soups soups soups of all kinds

if you're very lucky you may see a tanuki, or even some wild boars playing in the rice fields. If you do get near any wild boars, remember not to feed them, it causes them to become accustomed to humans and they start venturing into villages and towns to scavenge. but still, they're so cute and funny looking. 

 

The studio Ghibli museum is very quaint, and small. Go early as the place quickly gets packed. (you also need to buy tickets online a month or so in advance, you cannot buy tickets at the door)

I really wish we could go outside of Tokyo too, but this is our short money trip. Those JR passes out of the city cost a grip. The furturest south we're going is Kawasaki to see some arcade that's supposed to look like Kowloon Walled City.

  On 9/22/2017 at 6:52 PM, Worlds Most Johnsson said:

You need to go to at least one bath house, stay a night at a capsule hotel (cheap, also usually have a bath), eat at Yoshinoya (good and cheap) and if you have the time visit a smaller town/ rural area for some perspective of the big cities.

I've looked into bath houses but have read they don't let in people with tattoos, to keep out Yakuza.

Thanks for the tips everyone. If anyone has any more knowledge, it would be greatly appreciated. 

Re: tats and bath houses. Some bath houses care, others don't. I stayed at one capsule, they taped over my tats before I could go in the bath house. Another place the guy looked at my tats, looked at me and was like "this fucking gaijin is no yakuza".

If anything, the cheaper places are more likely to be less flexible in their policy of no tats.

I've only been to an onsen once, in Hakodate. I remember it being gender-segregated, but that doesn't stop fully clothed maids from coming in to tidy up while you're nude.

Didn't see anybody with tats tho.

That's hot dude. The places I visited were only male attendants, one of whom caught me, literally with my pants down, in the changing rooms, pointed at my shoulder and said in a stern voice 'no tattoo!' Luckily I was on my way out. From then on I wrapped a bandage round my shoulder.

Transport wise, the trains are a bit pricey, but if you're not travelling alot you can buy a Suica card at train stations and maybe at Lawson type shops too. Pretty sure they cover all trains and buses in the Tokyo area.

If you're feeling adventurous while on the outskirts of Tokyo, you could hitchhike. I did it once on a stretch of about 70km from Hita to Fukuoka. Good, friendly people. A young couple, a single mom. One very blustery woman in a big floral dress who was in the middle of moving for her elderly father, her tiny car full of boxes and a yappy Chihuahua, drove me a short stretch out to the highway and even bought me lunch. I'm not sure whether it's friendliness or pity for some lost gaijin, but the Japanese are extremely hospitable, sometimes to the point of embarrassment.

  On 9/24/2017 at 12:29 PM, AJW said:

That's hot dude. The places I visited were only male attendants, one of whom caught me, literally with my pants down, in the changing rooms, pointed at my shoulder and said in a stern voice 'no tattoo!' Luckily I was on my way out. From then on I wrapped a bandage round my shoulder.

 

Transport wise, the trains are a bit pricey, but if you're not travelling alot you can buy a Suica card at train stations and maybe at Lawson type shops too. Pretty sure they cover all trains and buses in the Tokyo area.

 

If you're feeling adventurous while on the outskirts of Tokyo, you could hitchhike. I did it once on a stretch of about 70km from Hita to Fukuoka. Good, friendly people. A young couple, a single mom. One very blustery woman in a big floral dress who was in the middle of moving for her elderly father, her tiny car full of boxes and a yappy Chihuahua, drove me a short stretch out to the highway and even bought me lunch. I'm not sure whether it's friendliness or pity for some lost gaijin, but the Japanese are extremely hospitable, sometimes to the point of embarrassment.

Omotenashi. An important word to remember regarding Japanese culture.

Your mention of that chihuahua reminded me of hanging out in front of the JR Station in Hakodate one time when two small dogs (one was probably a chihuahua, the other might've been a pomeranian) were in a high-pitched growling standoff while their owners had them on leashes, observing in amusement. I also heard laughter. One of my fondest memories of my semester in Hakodate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcftrH50ytE

  On 9/24/2017 at 8:19 PM, xox said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcftrH50ytE

That video is a waste of 10 minutes

Here I'll sum it up for you: Yokochos are alleys often with vendors in them, usually near train stations or other obvious places. Get a friend who's Japanese. Search Google Maps.

^ lol but you're beautifully helpful, again

  On 9/24/2017 at 10:24 PM, xox said:

^ lol but you're beautifully helpful, again

I was trying to be helpful by saving everyone else 10 minutes they might've wasted watching that shit video. I summed up the relevant parts of the video to OP. So, yeah, actually I was being helpful. Thanks for noticing.

I have a friend who is getting married back where his family is from in Hokkaido- anyone got any advice for that? I really want to go, but I highly doubt I'll be able to get enough time to get away for a weekend, let alone leave the country.

Watmm knows Japan apparently

Edit- advice as to if I were to go and stay there for the wedding. He's already screwed by marrying this broad.