Japan Trip

[Leirith]

Hey Hyper! I'm planning a trip to Japan this year (Oct 27-Nov 12), and I'd like to pick your brains for all the awesome stuff that I must check out, gaming-related or otherwise. I have a little over two weeks, so go crazy!

[Vindik8or]

Go to Whisper Alley and tell us if you come back gay.

[Ashmaran]

When are you going? Tokyo Game show is usually late September/October.

[Lazlow]

Bronze incoming in 3, 2....

[JC Henderson]

Hiredman should step in I believe he is on his way to at the end of the year.

[Leirith]

I'm going Oct 27-Nov 12.

[IRS]

Dress real pretty, go to whisper alley and ask a Nigerian for a job.

[dinopoke]

Akihabara is gaming central I believe.

[Cerebral]

Go to an Onsen/Sento if you can. They're not gay unless you pop a boner.

[[m]averick]

Don't Japanese porn stars have sex with dogs? You should try and attend a filming. It'll only take an afternoon.

[Ali G]

No idea where you're going to be going, so I'll just list some things that I found good when I was there in June/July.

Tokyo:

- Shibuya or Shinjuku would be great places to start, you'll definitely get an idea of the scale of Tokyo in either one.

- Shibuya and Harajuku are brilliant places for shopping.

- Akihabara...well, to be honest, I found it boring and was only there for about 45 minutes. Unless you're actually looking to buy anything, or are really into anime/manga, it's not that special. I guess it was funny to see the maid cafes etc. in real life, though.

- Asakusa is a more traditional part of Tokyo, Senso-ji is definitely worth going to - it's crowded, but interesting to look at. And a good place to buy souvenirs.

- Tokyo Tower is also good if you want to get an idea of the sheer size of Tokyo. I was there during the day (and unfortunately it was cloudy, so we couldn't see much), but I reckon it'd be amazing at night.

- I'm not sure how interested you'd be in DisneyLand/DisneySea, but despite my scepticism I found the day I spent at DisneySea to be quite fun. Just try not to go on the weekend/during the Japanese holidays, because if you do you'll have to deal with massive crowds and up to 3 hour waits on rides.


Kyoto:

Kyoto as a city on the whole isn't that great - I just felt that it was old and somewhat rundown in comparison to Tokyo. But definitely don't let that put you off - the temples and shrines are what you'd be coming here for, and it's worth it for sure.

- Kinkaku-ji, also known as the Golden Pavilion, is fantastic. The gardens are really nice, and the Pavilion itself, which is covered in gold leaf, looks amazing.

- Kiyomizu-dera is another must see. It's situated atop a hill in eastern Kyoto, and gives a great view of the city. The walk up is a brilliant experience too, there's heaps of stores, mostly selling traditional kind of souvenirs.

- I didn't go to Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion), because at the time I was there it was being renovated and you couldn't see much of it. I don't know that'll still be going when you're there, but it might be worth a trip anyway because my girlfriend has told me that the grounds are wonderful. By the way, unlike the Golden Pavilion, this one isn't covered in anything.

- Ryuan-ji is pretty well known for its stone garden - do a search for it and you might realise that you've seen photos of it before. Like a lot of other places in Kyoto, the grounds are nice.

- Gion is a part of Kyoto that has been kept in the kind of traditional style Japanese cities used to be in. When I was there it was raining so we didn't walk through much of it, but I have read and heard that it's nice in the evening (and apparently you can often see geishas on their way somewhere around that time of day).


That's about all I can think of for now. I'd strongly recommend going to an onsen as well, like Cerebral has said. I was kind of nervous when I went there but it was fine, nothing to be worried about at all. Just make sure you read up on the correct etiquette before you go.

[Xanafalgue]

Go to Whisper Alley and tell us if you come back gay.

What is Whisper Alley? Sounds like something some priests would name a saucy nun's vagina.

[Queenie]

Right. If you plan on going to mount fuji, head to Fuji-Q highland. It's pretty much an amusement park. Got a massive rollercoaster there. Quite fun.

I recommend you bring a phrasebook or someone that reads japanese. Or at least learn the subway before you go there, something or other. It's confusing.

As said before, Akihabara is your stop for gaming/manga/people dressed in maid outfits area. Most of these people in maid outfits are advertising maid cafe's or something or other. I didn't get a chance to ask, but they were handing out flyers for something!

I'm heading there late december, but does anyone know what it's like around the new year? bad/good?

Now I'm thinking that while I'm there I'd like to see a couple concerts. That'd be awesome.

[Ali G]

Also, just a tip, if it's at all possible, try to learn katakana before you go there. It will make your life so much easier - a huge deal of the signage in major cities is written in katakana, which usually means it's a word borrowed from English. Having said that, road signs and signs in train stations are often written in English as well.

[texta]

I've been told that the Hiroshima memorial is definitely worth visiting.

[Citizen Erased]

Ive always wanted to go to japan, but since i dont have much travel experience, I'm planning to go to the UK first then japan later.

[Cian]

Woo, I'm going in February!

Anyone know of decent/cheap accomodation in Tokyo (central)?

[IRS]

averick;1101654']Don't Japanese porn stars have sex with dogs? You should try and attend a filming. It'll only take an afternoon.

There's a series called Mad (or something similar) where the same 2 dogs star in AT LEAST 40-50 pornos.

God damn dogs have ****ed more women than I ever will

[Ryan Hayward]

Check out a typical japanese car park. I shit you not, most of them are like this.

8plkhJM4Qwo

[Bronze]

Bronze incoming in 3, 2....

Eh, can't be bothered.

Just look at my photo albums (http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/buronzu/Kyoto%20Nara%20Osaka%202009/?start=all) and I'll tell you how to get to those places if you're interested. That particular album is what I got up to last week.

[Serenity]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Japlish_in_Haian_Gardens_Kyoto%2C_Japan.jpg

[Bronze]

You'd be surprised how often you see signs like that over here. They're everywhere.

At first you laugh, and the next time you smile, and then you just ignore them altogether.

[Xanafalgue]

Eh, can't be bothered.

Just look at my photo albums (http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/buronzu/Kyoto%20Nara%20Osaka%202009/?start=all) and I'll tell you how to get to those places if you're interested. That particular album is what I got up to last week.

Cool pics. Who is the brunette? :D

[Bronze]

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/buronzu/Kyoto%20Nara%20Osaka%202009/IMG_1223.jpg?t=1250425128

Her?

She's a good friend. I met her in Melbourne last year. She lives in Osaka, and goes to university in Kobe. We decided to meet up when I was exploring Osaka, and we went to Universal Studios for the day. Was pretty awesome.

[Xanafalgue]

The GUY.

[Bronze]

Oh. You didn't see that photo. :p

>_>

<_<

[Xanafalgue]

Nice piece :D

[Cian]

Why do you guys need an umbrella? It looks like summer...

[Bronze]

That's precisely why we needed an umbrella.

Summer in Japan starts off with 梅雨 (Tsuyu) which is the rainy season. For pretty much the entire month of June, it rained every day. Not refreshing cool rain, mind you. The humidity and heat are high, so the rain that falls is warm and... ugh. It's like someone taking a piss on you from the heavens. This kind of rain lessens as summer goes on, but still hangs around for the duration of the season.

That, combined with a typhoon moving toward Osaka that had just dumped 500mm of rain on my apartment here in Shikoku meant we went prepared. ;)

[Bronze]

Hell yeah! I went on it twice, one after the other.

Loved the part where Spidey jumps onto the ride, and the whole thing jolts as if he'd just landed on it. And then the 3D glasses making it look like he's actually there, right in front of you... very cool.

The part at the end of the ride was brilliant too. It was genuinely terrifying. You feel like you're going to die. Great stuff!