Japan

[23 Daves]

The wife and I are off to Japan in the autumn - we've booked our plane tickets and three weeks off work, but we're still at the planning stages of what we're going to see and do.

I realise this is only going to apply to a handful of CaB members who have actually been, but does anyone have any ideas about what we could visit and see while we're there? Not necessarily the obvious things we're likely to find in a bog-standard travel guide, but the lesser-explored areas too.

Advice on cheap accommodation would be really helpful too, as I think we're going to need it.

Thanks in advance - no jokes about the New Romantic band in the tags section please.

[Danger Man]

Can we do Big In Japan jokes?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I'm relying on Danger Man to supply the post-ironic racism to supplement a great deal of knowledge and experience.

Personally mate I've never been to Japan so I'm going to do the decent thing and absolutely fucking do one right now. See yer.

[23 Daves]

Can we do Big In Japan jokes?

Yes, but you're only allowed one each.

[Danger Man]

Thanks.

You'll probably get a lot of advice. Some good, some bad.

'Don't bother with Tokyo' is the worst advice I have ever read (on a similar thread a few years ago)

Can this thread go one better?

[BlodwynPig]

We're planning sometime in the future.

I just want to explore "Murakami" country (e.g. Hokkaido) and the records stores and Prog Rock museum.

[Thomas]

Personally mate I've never been to Japan so I'm going to do the decent thing and absolutely fucking do one right now. See yer.

If you do one to Japan you can contribute to this thread as soon as you get back.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Japan will only let one CaBber in at a time (a bit like some ladies) and right now that one is Kishi The Bad Lampshade.

[thraxx]

Go and visit the legendary 'Mr Udo'.  I know that 23 daves will know what this mean.

[biggytitbo]

I think this is Nev's opportunity to tell that Razzle story about the Japanese girl again.

[Goldentony]

There's an arcade in Kawasaki that's made to look like Kowloon Walled City if you like the sound of that sort of thing -

http://randomwire.com/kowloon-walled-city-rebuilt-in-japan/

I don't know if it's actually ay good so it could be a load of old shit for all I know but it looks like fun, like if Thorpe Park had a bit of a playground made to look like TECHNOIR from Terminator

[23 Daves]

Prog Rock museum.

Hang on a minute, you can't just skim past something like that. Does such a thing exist? Really? I'm all ears.

[Urinal Cake]

You can wallow about in your hotel until you meet Bill Murray. Then you can make fun of how the  Japanese speak English and do other things you can do in most cities around the world but with Bill Murray.

[Danger Man]

Hang on a minute, you can't just skim past something like that. Does such a thing exist? Really? I'm all ears.

Prog Rock WAX museum

[greenman]

We're planning sometime in the future.

I just want to explore "Murakami" country (e.g. Hokkaido) and the records stores and Prog Rock museum.

Visiting some of the bootleg shops could be an expensive holiday.

[mrfridge]

Me and the missus went for a week a few months back. Here's a few tips that I can think of off the top of my head:

- If you're getting the bullet train book your tickets in advance. There's some convoluted system whereby foreign tourists get a discount but you need book it before you get there.
- Everything's fucking expensive. For accommodation we used AirBnB in Tokyo and a Hostel in Kyoto. There were both far cheaper than hotels.
- Assuming you've got an iPhone or some such thing get an app that tells you how to best use the labyrinthine underground system. You just put in your current position and destination and it tells you the quickest/cheapest route. Costs a couple of quid but was well worth it. Can't remember what it was called sorry.
- Don't go out of your way to see the Dog statue in Shibuya. It's just a statue of a dog.
- Do wear sunglasses so the missus can't see you eyeing up the ridiculously hot Japanese girls wearing knee high socks and tiny skirts. Seriously, it's superb.
- Consider visiting some of the shops where you can pay by the hour to stroke Kittens/Puppies. Just so you can tell your friends you've done this.
- Be prepared not to have any idea what you're ordering in restaurants. There's very rarely english menus and most people speak no English whatsoever.
- Kyoto is beautiful, smaller and quieter than Tokyo. If you go, hire a bike for a day and just cycle between the temples.

There's probably tonnes more I've forgotten but I'll pop back if I think of anything else.

I'm ridiculously jealous by the way, it was fucking great over there!

[popcorn]

I lived in Tokyo for a little while, and have visited since.

You will get radically different opinions from everyone who's ever been there. But a while ago a friend of mine wanted to visit so I sent him some advice. I make no guarantees about any of it, there are thousands of probably amazing things to see and do in Japan that I've never done, but I can cautiously suggest that if you follow in my footsteps you will probably have a really, really lovely time.

Some of what I say doesn't apply to the OP (eg the stuff about booking flights) but I thought I'd include it in case anyone else is planning on going.

Flights
I used Skyscanner to monitor flight deals over a few weeks. If you're savvy you should be able to get a return ticket for £500-ish. Prices seem to drop a few months in advance, then get more expensive again as they approach the date. That is, if you book now it may actually be more expensive than if you book two months before... but if you find a good deal, obviously snap it up.

KLM are supposed to be reliably decent. No complaints from when I used them. Virgin is particularly good if you can get a good deal but it's usually more expensive.

Obviously a direct flight is preferable, but changing isn't as horrible as I thought it'd be. Most flights change at Paris or Amsterdam. You shouldn't need to have to stay overnight anywhere – our downtime was like an hour or something both ways between flights.

The airports that serve Tokyo are Narita and Haneda. Haneda is closer and probably slightly better if you can get it, but most flights go to Narita. Both are pretty painless to get to Tokyo from – there are direct trains, so don't sweat it.

Time of year
Spring is nice. Apart from the odd downpour, the weather is beautifully warm and breezy – so much better than summer, when it's incredibly hot and humid. But avoid Golden Week, the public holiday in the first week of May. Not a good time to travel.

The sakura (cherry blossom) typically arrives in March and hangs around for a week or two, but it depends on the area. A lot of people obsess over trying to time their trip with the sakura, but that's a fool's errand. It's unpredictable, and you'll have a great time either way. If you go sometime in spring, you're bound to see at least a bit of it around the place if you travel around.

Here's a photo I took of a hillside outside Kyoto in summer 2011: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/284347_10150719370580268_4973252_n.jpg

For comparison, here's a photo I took in the same spot in spring this year: https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/922758_10152730225460268_107757367_n.jpg

But you can go any time of year and have a great time. It's just that summer is really hot and humid and not as pretty.

Accommodation
Last time I was in Japan, we used AirBnB and rented short-stay apartments in Osaka and Tokyo. Pretty good value for money, and gives you a taste for what it's actually like to live in Japan.

In Tokyo, aim to stay somewhere near Shinjuku, Shibuya or Harajuku and you'll be right in the centre of things.

If you're planning on visiting a few different places, then renting an apartment in each location is a hassle. Instead, you could either stay in hostels (Japan has lots of good ones), or stay in one place and use your rail pass to make daytrips.

There are a few hostels in Kyoto that are supposed to be really good, but I haven't tried them. Use hostels.com and go with whatever's highest-rated. But the earlier you can book, the sooner, because the good places fill up.

If I were to stay in Kyoto again now, I'd try a capsule hotel. We stayed in a capsule hotel in Tokyo for two nights before we moved on to Osaka, and it was novel and pretty convenient, but not exactly luxurious – pretty weird, on the whole, for a lot of reasons... not quite as futuristic as we were hoping. I'm glad we did it though. But there's a capsule hotel in Kyoto that's supposed to be some kind of futuristic conceptual design miracle. I've never been, but I bet it's great. If you're going with a different-gender friend, bear in mind you'll have to sleep on different floors. No snuggling.

Trains
If you want to see some of the country beyond Tokyo, I recommend getting a rail pass for the shinkansen (bullet train): http://www.japanrailpass.net/

You can get them for one week or two weeks or whatever you want, and they're good value for money. They also mean you don't have to panic about missing trains. We missed a train once and thought we might have blown it, imagining we'd have to book for the next day or something, but we were able to just jump on the next one 20 minutes later at no cost.

The bullet trains are a fucking miracle.

Tokyo
You could spend months in Tokyo and never run out of things to do. I know, because that's what I did in 2011. It's enormous, much bigger than London, and pretty much the most fun place in the world as far as I can tell. And I've been to Vegas. And Disneyworld. And YOUR MUM'S HOUSE

Shinjuku is the centre of everything. Home to Shinjuku station, the world's biggest and busiest train station, and feels more like an airport than a station. There are arcades, lots of good places to eat, shopping malls, and skyscrapers with bars on every floor. I recommend going to the bar in the Park Hyatt hotel and watching the sunset. (It's the hotel from Lost in Translation.)

Shibuya is another major central area. Huge shopping district with lots of restaurants. Also home to the famous "scramble" crossing, with Times Square-style giant video screens. It's nice to go to Starbucks and watch the crowds.

Akihabara is the otaku (geek) district. It's where every crazy Japanese thing you've ever heard of comes from. All the weird shit— it's here, focused in one area. There are video game arcades towering into the sky and shops selling fucked up comics and porn and there's anime shit everywhere. It's certainly spectacular, but you might find it disturbing... it's a sensory overload of horrendous hyperactive perverted shit. Gives me a headache. Mandarake is a good comics shop to check out, and for games stuff, I recommend Super Potato. If you're REALLY brave, you could go to a maid café... but my friend Tom still has nightmares.

Harajuku is probably my favourite bit of Tokyo. (I used to live there!) It's where all the teen fashion is, so lots of teenagers milling around being kawaii and hip and whatever; when you see those photos of Japanese street fashion, it's always in Harajuku. The main shopping street (Takeshita Street) is always packed, and there are some nice cafes in the quieter backstreets. You can also go to Yoyogi Park and see the Meiji shrine. There's such a lovely vibe around this area, lots of art and coffee and sunshine. It's also deeply kitsch and naff, but I like that.

If you want to see temples, Asakusa has 'em... but personally speaking, I find it kind of dull and over-touristy.

The Tsukiji fish market is pretty cool. It's where Tokyo gets its fish, and Tokyo eats a lot of fish— so a massive fucking operation, and quite a spectacle. You'll have to get there for something like 4am, so it might be a good first destination if the jet lag wakes you up early. You can also have the freshest sushi in the world for breakfast.

I highly recommend going to the Ghibli museum if you're at all into film or animation. Studio Ghibli is the company that did Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. The museum is in an absolutely beautiful building in the middle of a park, and it's so beautifully designed, and filled with so many beautiful things... it's basically just very, very beautiful, and only costs 1000 yen (about £6). The café there is also worth queuing for. You'll need to book tickets in a few weeks in advance; they have a UK dealer who will post them to you, so just give them a call. But don't leave it too late.

Drinking and night life
I'm not a big drinker, but the drinking culture in Tokyo is fantastic, my favourite in the world, and the Japanese are very friendly (at least once they've had a few drinks). In fact, if I were to encourage you to do one thing in Tokyo above all others, it would be to go to bars and clubs and just try hanging out with people. Lots of Japanese are eager to try out their English, and will probably strike up conversation themselves. If you can hook up with some locals, the whole city changes completely. You'll have the time of your fucking life. I guarantee it. Just attach yourself to some bunch of people and stay up until 6am.

The Golden Gai in Shinjuku is an amazing area to go drinking. It's this maze of dozens of tiny bars. A lot of them are themed around rock and roll or horror movies and that sort of thing. My favourite bar was Albatross, but I never managed to try most of them.

Another good Shinjuku area is 小便横丁, which means "Piss Alley". That should give you a clue as to its formidable reputation for drinking. Very Blade Runner.

If you're into clubbing, Womb in Shibuya is apparently one of the greatest clubs in the world, but I've never been. I think it's a little expensive.

The music scene is fucking awesome. Japanese music venues are called "live houses". Google to find lots of great suggestions. I recommend the Ruby Room in Shibuya. It has bands every night, and a pretty notorious open mic night every Wednesday (I think), which tends to turn up all sorts of weird and wonderful shit. The regular crowd there is great— half Japanese, half western, great mix of languages and cultures.

You should do karaoke if you get the chance, but it's not half as fun if you're not with some Japanese people. So make some Japanese friends!

Food
If you're a vegetarian, you're going to have a tough time in Japan. You're probably best off sticking to snacks and instant noodles and that kind of thing.

Otherwise, you're in for a treat, especially if you're prepared to take risks. I'd like to recommend some restaurants specifically, but sadly I don't know many of their names, only their locations... but you can't go too far wrong with ramen restaurants, especially if they're busy!

Other places to visit outside Tokyo
Mt Fuji is about an hour away via bullet train. I've never been.

Kyoto is a popular destination. It's two or three hours from Tokyo on the bullet train. If you want to see amazing temples and gardens and so on, this is where to do it.

If you only have one day in Kyoto, go to Arashiyama. It's on the edge of the city and blends into the forested hills. It's absolutely beautiful. Very touristy, but actually not annoying. Lots of nice cafes and restaurants and little shops too. I recommend you take the tram around town while you're there, because it's a lovely way to travel.

There's also a boat ride you can take from outside Kyoto into Arashiyama. You get the train out of Kyoto (maybe 30 mins or so) and then it takes a couple of hours down a river through the hills. A nice thing to do if you fancy such nonsense.

Nara is 30 minutes from Kyoto on the train and worth a daytrip to see the world's biggest Buddha statue and hang out in the park with lots of aggressively friendly deer.

Hiroshima's pretty close to Kyoto too. They dropped a bomb there once, maybe you've heard of it. I didn't get a lot of time there, but the memorial park is beautiful, and the atom bomb museum is amazing and very moving (and only costs about 20p!). You could also take the ferry from Hiroshima to Miyajima, which is apparently a very pretty island, but I've never been. My friend Mariko from Hiroshima recommends the restaurants 五右衛門（Goemon) and Hasshou!

Language
Most people in Tokyo in Kyoto speak at least a bit of English, and most important signs are in English and Japanese. A lot of people will be happy to practice their English on you. You can generally get by just pointing to things.

Outside major cities, people don't speak English.

Wherever you are, if you can learn a few simple words, it will smooth things over a lot:

·         Konichiwa = good day (note: not 'hello'. You can only say this in the middle of the day unless you want to seem like a totally baka gaijin)
·         Ohio = good morning
·         Konbanwa = good evening
·         <thing> kuda sai = please give me <thing>, eg coffee, noodles, hand grenade, whatever
·         Sumimasen = sorry/excuse me
·         Arigatou = thanks

The Japanese counting system is ridiculously complex (it's not as simple as ichi-ni-san etc) so I suggest you don't bother and use fingers and pointing instead.

In conclusion
Go to Japan! If you only have a week, I recommend spending it all in Tokyo, or perhaps spending a night or two in Kyoto. If you go for two weeks, stay in Tokyo for a week and then in Kyoto for another week, using a rail pass to take day trips to Hiroshima and Nara... or just spend it all in Tokyo.

[thraxx]

Don't listen to these so called 'worldly wise' hipsters and their so called personal experiences.

One doesn't need to do to Japan to know that the Japanese are a cruel and cold race, and they their slits go the other way.

Two general rules:  if you eat meat in Japan, you're eating dog.  If you buy something, then you're being ripped off.

[popcorn]

That is true though yes.

[Blue Jam]

Odaiba. It's a man-made island and the only part of Tokyo which looks exactly as we're led to believe all of Tokyo is like. It's like walking around in Blade Runner.

It's got this:


It's got this 35-ton gundam:



This robot walking round the Miraikan:



(disclaimer: the President of the United States of America is not guaranteed to be there)

This pet shop where you can play with the doggies and where at any given time several of the doggies are sausage doggies:



This frankly disorientating Venetian-style mall- and yes, that is a painted sky on the ceiling:



One of these:



And this:



...which has a big wildflower meadow behind it where you can often see cosplayers walking round dressed as fairies or Ultraman:



...and a couple of artificial beaches nearby:


Oh yes, and you'll have to take the Yurikamome monorail (monorail, monorail) to get there which is worth doing by itself. It goes over this:



Here it is at night:



Charlie Brooker wrote and article mentioning Odaiba here, but this doesn't even beging to describe how weird it is. Enjoy.

[biggytitbo]

- Consider visiting some of the shops where you can pay by the hour to stroke Kittens/Puppies. Just so you can tell your friends you've done this.

Wha?!

[popcorn]

So the "Japan is crazy!!" stuff begins...

They're called cat cafes (or the cat ones are). They're really underwhelming. They're like pet shops but you have to buy a crap coffee or whatever. Then you get to have a go on some cats.

[biggytitbo]

So the "Japan is crazy!!" stuff begins...

They're called cat cafes (or the cat ones are). They're really underwhelming. They're like pet shops but you have to buy a crap coffee or whatever. Then you get to have a go on some cats.

Bollocks, I thought I'd invented this idea.

[23 Daves]

So the "Japan is crazy!!" stuff begins...

They're called cat cafes (or the cat ones are). They're really underwhelming. They're like pet shops but you have to buy a crap coffee or whatever. Then you get to have a go on some cats.

It's not even unique to Japan. My wife claims to have found a service in London online where you can meet friendly dogs and cats in your area for an hourly fee. She keeps going on about it, so I'm sure she'd love one of those petting cafes while we're on holiday.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice so far, everyone. It's been genuinely illuminating. I'm trying to narrow my list down to a few key things, but if anything more and more things are just being dumped on to it.

[Blue Jam]

Cat cafes are rubbish, the cats just sleep all day. There are a few dog cafes around- there's the Dog Dept. cafe in the Solamachi which doesn't have any resident dogs but does welcome them as customers with a dog menu and dog meals served in dog bowls, and it's a fun place where you can get a coffee and watch the amusing dog customers for a while, which tend to include Akitas and sausage dogs being pushed around in little prams.

As touristy and pricy as it is I have to recommend the Sky Tree for being so bloody huge and having such amazing views from the top deck. It's worth the pain in the arse which is the process of buying tickets (if you don't have a debit card issued in Japan you need to go to the ticket office in person- and go early), and the wait in the Solamachi, the slightly nightmarish mall built around the Sky Tree which isn't quite big enough for all the people who want to visit the Sky Tree. Still, go for it- it looks frighteningly huge up close and your ears actually pop in the lifts on the way up.

[dr beat]

Agreed with all of the above but just one thing to say for now - I would avoid Roppongi.  Roppongi Hills ok, but Roppongi 'proper' is just awful. 

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

Come to Nagoya. It's the Birmingham of Japan.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Nevermind the cat cafes

http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/50-amazing-photos-from-cat-heaven-island-in-japan#3k1xyf

or if you prefer bunnies

http://www.treehugger.com/travel/japans-rabbit-island-might-be-cutest-place-earth.html

[Noodle Lizard]

If you have even the slightest inclination towards truly bizarre metal, highly recommend checking out a Maximum The Hormone or Dir en grey show.  They usually tour almost constantly at home.

MtH:  http://youtu.be/2YV6IJLoBv4?t=2m30s (ignore the beginning)
DeG:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Jn5Ui3gh4

Likely not a great thing to bring a missus to, though (even though they both have huge female followings).

[monkfromhavana]

Been 10 years since I lived there, so my advice is pretty out-of-date.

Is the fighting man still around in Shibuya?

I found travelling around pretty simple, if you want to keep costs down just by the cheapest ticket then jump the gate at the other end.

TBH I lived in Tokyo for 5 years, but never really did too much of the sightseeing stuff (temples, sumo aside). Everyone gets excited about Akihabara because of all the shops selling hi-tech gadgets, but you quickly realise that all the shops are selling the same shit. I honestly believe that the best thing to do is go to one of the hubs (Shibuya etc) and just wander around and explore for yourself. Go into shops, look at shit, it's all good.