Japan

[great_badir]

I've never been, but that photo has just given me a 'nam flashback.  Euuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

Wasn't that museum struggling a year/18 months ago?  I seem to remember seeing something on BBC news about it.

[checkoutgirl]

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.

You've got to go to piss alley man. Even I want to go to piss alley now and I'm too poor to even think about going to Japan.

[Head Gardener]

Mr fridge was pretty spot on with his comments, I went to Tokyo about 5 years ago and found it
ridiculously expensive, though I did buy a really nice T-shirt for about £70. There were some amazing record
shops too, one store I went into had a huge section devoted to Guided By Voices which I found quite impressive.
Hardly anyone seemed to speak English (to me) and most signs were all in Japanese, even in McDonalds and
I went to see a movie and it cost £25 for a ticket, but at least it was in English with Jap subtitles.
There were a lot of dodgy porn shops in the Shibuya district I stayed in, and my hotel room was no bigger than
my bathroom at home, still it was quite an experience but I did nothing cultural just walk, eat and spend money.

looks like Larry David & Dave Greenfield (Stranglers keyboard player)

[popcorn]

Tokyo isn't as expensive as it used to be. When I lived there it wasn't much worse than London (not saying much) and it's got cheaper since thanks to the exchange rate.

[greenman]

Not exactly off the beaten path but Nikko national park has always been top of my list should I ever visit Japan.

[Don_Preston]

Is that meant to be Peron or Irmler next to Zappi? If it's the latter, who it resembles slightly more so, the museum deserve to go under with that attention to detail!


Daves, if you do go to Japan, for christ sake, do mind out for Emperor Guillotine!

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

When my mates and I crossed over the Rainbow Bridge[nb]not intended as a euphemism[/nb] at night, we were approached by a kindly Japanese lady who guaged our ethnicity, rifled through the pamphlets she carried and presented us with English Language literature to dissuade suicide.

Is there a problem with groups of vindictive, depressed tourists travelling to Tokyo to keep the suicide figures high?

[greenman]

When my mates and I crossed over the Rainbow Bridge[nb]not intended as a euphemism[/nb] at night, we were approached by a kindly Japanese lady who guaged our ethnicity, rifled through the pamphlets she carried and presented us with English Language literature to dissuade suicide.

Is there a problem with groups of vindictive, depressed tourists travelling to Tokyo to keep the suicide figures high?

Low rent English teachers who aren't as attractive to Japanese girls as they imaged they might be?

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

- 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.

You can use Hyperdia, which has an English language option and is free. No app though, you just have to use your phone to get onto the site.

[Benevolent Despot]

By virtue of not having been to Japan or closely following things there I don't know whether this is an overexposed tourist place or a hidden gem.

Regardless, I present a recent internet finding of Tokyo's "The Robot Restaurant" http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2014/07/japan-robot-restaurant-totally-over-top.html

Feast your eyes upon the unholy sight of an orgy of chrome and neon and gaudiness, peppered with girls in not much clothes.

I suppose it serves food as well.

[falafel]

There is an awesome outdoor gallery / park in Hakone with a great collection of stuff by really famous folk (including picasso). I loved Hakone, though i suppose it was a bit touristy.

Nikko was quite cool too.

[Blue Jam]

By virtue of not having been to Japan or closely following things there I don't know whether this is an overexposed tourist place or a hidden gem.

Regardless, I present a recent internet finding of Tokyo's "The Robot Restaurant" http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2014/07/japan-robot-restaurant-totally-over-top.html

Alas, it is an overexposed tourist place- the owners must spend a fortune marketing it as it's highlighted in all the guides, such as the English language Time Out guides/maps you can pick up for free in big stations like Shibuya (I'd recommend picking a few up) and every night the Robot Restaurant truck, with two battle fembots on the back, gets driven round Shibuya with its lights flashing and its music blaring. The restaurant itself costs ¥5,000 to enter, and for that you get a seat at the show plus a fairly bog-standard bento box to snack on. A friend of mine out there went and said it was actually pretty good fun so you may want to try it anyway, but I can think of lots of better things to spend your ¥5,000 on.

The Ninja restaurant, Ninja Akasaka, is apparently gimmicky but still a lot of fun, but I never got round to going...

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.

Don't do this... get a Pasmo card from one of the machines at any station. Put in ¥2,000 and a card will pop out with ¥1,500 of credit on it- the missing ¥500 is the deposit for the card, which is presumably to discourage people from wastefully buying a new one every time they leave theirs at home. You can claim the ¥500 back later, along with any remaining credit, at any Metro station office before you leave Japan.

The Pasmo card is like an Oyster card which actually works all the time, and using one is far less stressful than looking up the fare on the fare table (if you can find it) and then hoping you've bought the right ticket. I think the Suica card is a similar thing with a picture of a penguin on it but I never had one of those.

[Noodle Lizard]

For some reason, I've been reading a lot about Japanese laws lately.  What I've learned?  Child porn was legal until a couple of months ago and possession of even a tiny amount of weed will get you deported if you're very lucky.

Those crazy Japaniards.

[buntyman]

So what did you end up doing in Japan then 23 Daves?
I've been reading through this thread as I'm heading off to Japan on Friday and will be staying with friends about an hour's train ride north of Tokyo for about 11 days.

I meant to get a bit more organised with looking up things to do but I've been either busy or lazy recently. I've been before but the last time I went, I arrived the day of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown which was all rather inconvenient for planning a holiday around.

My friends will be able to take me places and do stuff during the next couple of weekends but I think I'll probably have to entertain myself Mon-Fri next week while they're at work. I've budgeted about 135000 yen (£800) to last me out but I'm aware that things can vary in price quite significantly from being comparable to London prices to being completely extortionate. I'll probably limit myself to day trips over the week so that I don't have to fork out on hotels (unless there's somewhere I really ought to go) and I hoping daily train tickets will work out cheaper than the £200 shinkansen rail pass that you can get. Would be keen on some advice there for day trips from Tokyo (although I'd imagine I'll do at least a couple of days just in Tokyo).

I'm a bit of a wimp when i'm travelling about on my own and would be good to know of some good activities to do that don't require too much in the way of complex transport arrangements or an ability to decipher Japanese writing. I've also been looking into renting a phone while I'm there as I've heard that mobile phones from the UK either don't work there or are stupidly expensive. Anyone know if this is a good option: http://www.softbank-rental.jp/e/ It still looks pretty expensive for using data and I have become quite reliant on by phone and google maps recently so would appreciate advice on that.

Hopefully I'll fit in a good mix of drinking, eating, seeing some sport, music and general Japanese madness

[23 Daves]

Steady on, I haven't gone yet! I'll be jetting off soon, though.

[buntyman]

See you there then! Maybe you can give me the gist of this thread when we meet up to save me memorising it