Tokyo

[Eomer]

Keep with the recent theme of posting about future travels and asking about things to do, I'm taking off for about 12 days in Japan next week. Most of the trip is a scheduled "tour", basically we're heading to Nagano and Hakuba to ski. However I get in a couple days before that starts, and will be staying probably at the Shinjuku Washington hotel. Please offer your suggestions for things to do in those couple spare days, and any general travel tips I should know about Japan.

[Dumar]

what types of things do you want? you want to hit up the clubs or explore japan's very old history?

for the club scene, roppongi is the busiest. but it's full of foreigners. shibuya is the youngest. shinjuku is the sleazest. go play around in aoyama/omotesando bars and clubs; those are the best, generally speaking. for general fun things outside of clubs, odaiba is a great place to visit and has many cool stuff/views of tokyo. akihabara (electric town) is where all the games and electronics are, so hit it up once at least (where i got my neo geo). if you watch anime, a trip to tokyo tower might be worth it. i would really recommend a trip to yokohama bay. it's one of my favorite places all throughout japan. the bay and motomachi-chuukagai (china town) are really great places.

for option2, make sure you visit kokyo (emperor's palace); you can't go in, but it's right in the middle of tokyo and the surrounding area is quite beautiful. kamakura is a great start. kotokuin (one of japan's giant buddhas) can be found here. kenchoji is a great mountain temple that you climb up to, as well. lots of things to do here if that's what you want. nikko is fairly close to tokyo and also a great place. hakone is where jpnse take their vacations and has onsen (hot spring). if you wanna go far outside of tokyo, it's not really worth it unless you like option2. if so, i can provide more.

ps, japan is a truly amazing place; you won't wanna leave.

[Heylel Teomim]

Avoid Nigerians at all costs. They'll be on every street corner in the bar districts looking for tourists to con into strip clubs and hostess bars. They're very tenacious, just don't talk to them at all.

Other than that, you'll be safe wherever you go. I got drunk and slept on the street in the "red light" district of Kabukicho with my wallet, passport, etc. and woke up safe and sound. Go in any bar with a crowd, order the biggest beer you can, and watch as every local around you stares in amazement. What they order for the table are about the size of a big beer in the U.S., and for some reason it freaks them out to see one person drinking out of a huge glass.

Expect every Japanese man you meet you ask you if you like Japanese girls. They think it's hilarious. Also, picking up a local girl is stupidly easy. They'll come in places in packs, and the weakest get picked off quickly. It's like being on safari for pussy. Just avoid the bars where the Navy guys go, they're drunk and aggressive, and get territorial when they see tourists.

Tokyo is awesome and I so wish I could afford to go back and visit again. It's really the coolest city I've ever visited.

[Eduardo]

Ski trip to Japan? I'm absolutely jealous.

My only problem is that I wouldn't ever leave, since I love the Japanese women.

Also Zen. In fact I would probably travel far north and find a woman and a shack to live in. Yup.

[Heylel Teomim]

Originally Posted by Eduardo

My only problem is that I wouldn't ever leave, since I love the Japanese women.

God yes. Kyoto had by far the hottest women of any town I've ever seen. It was so bad that you literally stopped caring. There's no reason to turn your head and stare when another smoking hot girl is walking around the corner in two seconds. Only problem is they have fairly poor dental hygeine and for some there's uh... there's a hair issue.

When I was there, the big trend started by some pop idol was for girls to dress in white linen shirts, denim short shorts, and wear black stocking with heels. *Every* fashionable girl was dressed in some variation of that. I walked around with a hard on for a solid day after the plane landed.

[Ian808]

Originally Posted by Heylel Teomim

When I was there, the big trend started by some pop idol was for girls to dress in white linen shirts, denim short shorts, and wear black stocking with heels. *Every* fashionable girl was dressed in some variation of that. I walked around with a hard on for a solid day after the plane landed.

pics.

[Heylel Teomim]

Wish I had some. As camera happy as the Japanese are they sorta frown on you taking pictures randomly of hot women walking down the street :/

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by Heylel Teomim

God yes. Kyoto had by far the hottest women of any town I've ever seen. It was so bad that you literally stopped caring. There's no reason to turn your head and stare when another smoking hot girl is walking around the corner in two seconds. Only problem is they have fairly poor dental hygeine and for some there's uh... there's a hair issue.

When I was there, the big trend started by some pop idol was for girls to dress in white linen shirts, denim short shorts, and wear black stocking with heels. *Every* fashionable girl was dressed in some variation of that. I walked around with a hard on for a solid day after the plane landed.

This is very true. There are hot chicks walking/biking around on every street. I had to tell myself to stop turning my head to check out chicks because it was starting to hurt my neck.

It was a real shock for me. Yeah, we have japanese in Hawaii, and there's a few that are hot. But in Japan, they're a dime a dozen. I cried too, but it wasn't until I got back to Hawaii and had to face all of the uggo's. I'm serious, the quality of looks in Japan... They place a lot of value on acceptable fashion etc, and you hardly see any obese people..

I would avoid any bars or clubs if you don't have a japanese native to take you to them.

How white are you? (this is a serious question)

[Dumar]

if you're pressed for time and can only go places close to tokyo area and only have a day or two, just do the following:

kokyo, asakusa, akihabara, then from there stop at shibuya to see the famous hachiko exit (if this is your first time in japan), then just go straight down to yokoahama and china town. that's a good day and mix of old and new.

if you have more than one day, do kamakura or odaiba.

[Regime]

Originally Posted by Zarcath

How white are you? (this is a serious question)

Bai ren La Wai

[Pasteton]

Originally Posted by Heylel Teomim

God yes. Kyoto had by far the hottest women of any town I've ever seen. It was so bad that you literally stopped caring. There's no reason to turn your head and stare when another smoking hot girl is walking around the corner in two seconds. Only problem is they have fairly poor dental hygeine and for some there's uh... there's a hair issue.

When I was there, the big trend started by some pop idol was for girls to dress in white linen shirts, denim short shorts, and wear black stocking with heels. *Every* fashionable girl was dressed in some variation of that. I walked around with a hard on for a solid day after the plane landed.

its purely a matter of weight. when i was in japan i dont think i saw a single overweight woman under the age of 60. the % difference in hot girls between a country like japan and this one is probably exactly equal to the % of girls in this country that would be cute if they werent very fat.

[Eomer]

How white are you? (this is a serious question)

Extremely.

[GrobbeeTrull2.0]

Originally Posted by Regime

Bai ren La Wai

很白色老外！

[Regime]

Originally Posted by GrobbeeTrull2.0

很白色老外！

rofl

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by Eomer

Extremely.

Okay.

In general...

You should get along fine with the ladies, based purely on the fact that you're white, and from america. Speak english, don't try to butcher japanese to sound proper or to blend in. When you speak english to other japanese (most have learned some amount of english in school), be sure to compliment them on how much they know or how well they speak.

Historical tourist places (major shrines/temples, cultural places, etc) will be accommodating to you.

Historical non-tourist places will not (small shrines, dojos, "japanese only" clubs). Particularly the old timers. Most clubs in trendy parts of tokyo have signs that say no gaijin (that's you). Don't try to go into these places or anyplace near these clubs. Most of those clubs are run by yakuza, and they'll try to scam you by letting you into the filipino bars. Like I said, if you know a japanese native, they can show you the spots.


Travel

You're about 20-30 minute travel from the Meiji Shrine, I would definitely recommend going there to check it out. It's a big park/temple, lot of families, couples, good place for photography. If you're lucky, you might catch a wedding precession, when I went there were 2, and it was amazing.

You should try to get out to Akihabara (I assume you're a nerd since you post here). It's a very interesting place, you don't really buy a lot (since it's cheaper to get games and such online). But if you're into toys/figures, good place to pick them up. It's really a culture experience, it's like las vegas but for nerds.

You're sort of on the opposite side of the areas I know. Tokyo is deceivingly huge, it can take about 1-2 hours to get to the opposite side by train. Trains generally run like every 5 minutes, so don't sweat it if you miss a train. Trains stop running around 12 midnight? so be careful about getting stuck out somewhere.

Don't worry about getting lost either. Everything is labeled clearly and there are maps scattered about all over. The subway is extremely easy to figure out and super convenient. I would recommend getting a rail pass, not sure how much traveling you'll actually do. I'm not sure if that still have it but there's one

JR-EAST:Suica & N'EX

that one is a good deal from getting to/from narita and gives you a little extra for a few other stops. Local tickets generally run from 320-540ish yen.


General Advice

Be careful about spending money, you can burn through a lot quick, especially when you start using 100/500 yen coins. Because we're so used to using quarters, we don't think much of them, but you have to drill it into your head that these are $1/$5 coins.

You can get a good filling FRESH meal for cheap. There's a lot of little restaurants off the main streets.

Try not to buy too much shit from vending machines. Find a grocery store and get a 2 liter of whatever for cheap. Coca cola is pretty expensive there, and pepsi is pretty much non-existant.

Beef is really expensive. A "beef steak" may infact be a hamburger patty.

Don't be afraid to push people around on the trains or in the crosswalk. Don't be indecisive. When you're crossing a street, pick a path and stick to it. If you try to navigate around people you're in for trouble.

ALWAYS WALK ON THE RIGHT SIDE, NO MATTER WHAT DIRECTION YOU'RE GOING IN. All japanese walk on the right side of the street, this ensures there's no traffic jams. If you start walking down the left side of streets or stairs, you're going to start bumping into people.