Tokyo

[Deus Divini]

Those pics are so pimp, and the kastu makes me hungry lol...
And yeah she's a little hottie. One of the most amazing human beings I've ever met on top of being "the one that got away"

[earthfell]

My favorite thing to do (well, every high school students favorite thing) was purikura. Little photo booths that let you draw crap. I have a whole container filled with these... don't even want to think about how much money I spent, lol. My friend Tim (the blonde) and I would just hang out at the arcade and total strangers from other schools would ask us to make some purikura. I think we made most of our friends that way.

[Lenas]

Almost wish this was in screenshots so we could demand japskanks. Oh well.

[Eomer]

Thanks for all the info guys, this will come in very handy.

[Heylel Teomim]

Originally Posted by Eomer

Thanks for all the info guys, this will come in very handy.

Last thing. Do *not* go clothes shopping or anything else, the prices are beyond outrageous. There's no such thing as an off brand in Japan, it's all designer labels and costs a fortune. It's part of why they have such an epidemic of young girls acting as escorts, they have to afford those Prada bags somehow.

[Bizanich]

How handicapped accessible is the place?

[Heylel Teomim]

Originally Posted by Bizanich

How handicapped accessible is the place?

Very, actually. They have pretty strict accessibility laws. I work for a disability research center, so things tend to stand out to me. Mostly I saw accommodations for visual impairments, especially in the subways. Generally speaking, however, people are so polite that you never have trouble finding help even if its not immediately obvious.

This only applies in the cities by the way. Once you're in the countryside, you step back in time about 80 years.

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by Heylel Teomim

Last thing. Do *not* go clothes shopping or anything else, the prices are beyond outrageous. There's no such thing as an off brand in Japan, it's all designer labels and costs a fortune. It's part of why they have such an epidemic of young girls acting as escorts, they have to afford those Prada bags somehow.

Uniqlo!

[Bizanich]

Originally Posted by Heylel Teomim

Very, actually. They have pretty strict accessibility laws. I work for a disability research center, so things tend to stand out to me. Mostly I saw accommodations for visual impairments, especially in the subways. Generally speaking, however, people are so polite that you never have trouble finding help even if its not immediately obvious.

This only applies in the cities by the way. Once you're in the countryside, you step back in time about 80 years.

What about for big, Canadian made power chairs? .
Assuming the airline doesn't destroy it, anyways....

Thanks btw.

[Heylel Teomim]

Originally Posted by Bizanich

What about for big, Canadian made power chairs? .
Assuming the airline doesn't destroy it, anyways....

Thanks btw.

Those might cause slightly more of a problem. Not every building has an elevator (in fact escalators are far more common), and corridors are frequently quite narrow to save space. When planning your trip, I would make sure your travel adviser knows what your accommodation needs are so that they can book you in places that will have enough space.

Just getting around the street should be simple. Sidewalks are wide, curb cuts are plentiful, and there's an obvious method behind the madness of traffic.

[Adam12]

Originally Posted by Heylel Teomim

Those might cause slightly more of a problem. Not every building has an elevator (in fact escalators are far more common), and corridors are frequently quite narrow to save space. When planning your trip, I would make sure your travel adviser knows what your accommodation needs are so that they can book you in places that will have enough space.

Just getting around the street should be simple. Sidewalks are wide, curb cuts are plentiful, and there's an obvious method behind the madness of traffic.

Travel advisor?! Seriously though, as a solo traveller who has been to quite a few places, but never Asia, I am interested in how to hook up with someone over there. Most of you seem to reccommend guides, how do you find one?

My fear is that the culture over there is so completely different from the West that I would have a hard time on my own. Or am I wrong here?

[Heylel Teomim]

Originally Posted by Adam12

Travel advisor?! Seriously though, as a solo traveller who has been to quite a few places, but never Asia, I am interested in how to hook up with someone over there. Most of you seem to reccommend guides, how do you find one?

My fear is that the culture over there is so completely different from the West that I would have a hard time on my own. Or am I wrong here?

It depends how you're traveling. When I went, I was with two college buddies so we always had some familiar company. Also, we were staying in hostels, which are just inherently social places. We met some really great people in every city who were travelers like us, and we tended to group up when venturing into the city.

If you're alone, you need to be that much friendlier to make up the deficit. Yes, you will absolutely need to meet some locals who can show you around. We lucked out in that one of my friends knew a girl from Japan from his days at FSU. She put us in touch with her cousin who lived in Kamakura, a bit south of Tokyo. We took a day trip out to meet up with her and some her friends, which turned into perhaps the best part of our entire trip. It helps that the girl was hot, and so was her friend, but they also ended up just being cool people. They each spoke a little english, but not a ton so it was sortof a fun little game communicating. They took us around Kamakura and we visited a bunch of little shrines etc.

Later that night, this guy one of em knew named Tatsuya met up with us and we went into the city. Tatsuya was the coolest damn motherfucker we met in all of Japan. He barely spoke english, but tried really hard and was funny as shit. They led us around the bar district and took us to eat at an okonomiyaki restaurant. If you've never had it, try it while you're there. They call it Japanese pizza, but it's nothing at all like it. It's basically a pancake made out of lightly battered cabbage, then fried. Then you top it with pretty much anything you want, and I mean literally anything. It sounds strange, but its fucking delicious.

Tatsuya insisted on paying for the entire meal, which was about 15000 yen. Then he and the girls took us to a tiny ass hole in the wall local hangout. This place was smaller than my apartment, and was on the 4 & 1/2 floor of an unmarked building. Yes, the 4 & 1/2 floor. No, I don't know how that works either. We sat at one of the two (!) tables in the joint smoking a hookah and drinking all night. They had never heard of jager bombs before, so we did several rounds of them and were wired all night.

Somehow the conversation turns to sex, and the girls start in about all the wierd little sex stuff in Japan and how they don't really understand it, but it's just something they accept. By now Tatsuya is absolutely hammered like only an asian can get, and starts loudly proclaiming his love for asian massage parlors called "pink salons". Both girls stare at him like he grew a third eye while we're cracking up. He suddenly remembers that he's married, and changes his tune to something along the lines of 'uh, I used to go all the time, but no more I married. But you go while you in Japan!".

Best fucking night ever.

[Dumar]

if you're going in one of those, i would highly advise taking someone with you. friend, tour guide (you can hire on net), anybody. people will help you no problem, but with the streets being the way they are and so crowded, your first time there you will have serious problems getting around. pics inc.

[Dumar]

i have bazillion pics so hard to choose which to post. here's a few of the ones i look at time and again to bring back so many memories. there's no place in the world like japan, no place.

asakusa

[Dumar]

asakusa (cont) and kokyo (emp's palace)