I lived in Nakano-Ku in Tokyo for two years. If you stay within the JR Yamanote train Line circle of Tokyo, it will be a little bit more costly. However, you can stay at pretty much any budget within that circle. http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/subwaymap/index.html The good places for the "Wow" factor are the usual suspects like Shinjuku and Shibuya. Akihabara is a probably one of the best towns on the planet despite the largest sex shop with full size school girl sex dolls in the window. :S The train system is fantastic and is by far the best way to get around and it easy to understand. Most stations are close walking distance to all of the major towns and changing lines isn't too bad either. Most Japanese people will try to speak English to you and even more so if you say you are actually English as they have some hang up over America for some reason? At night, Tokyo is as brilliant if not better than the day. No self respecting westerner would leave out a trip to Roppongi for a good drinking session. Before you go, read up on the places you would like to visit because in most cases, an actual town will be where you get to see exactly what you want. Like Akihabara is the "Electronic town", Ochanimizu is the "Musical town" etc. There is a town for everything. I lived in Nakano-Ku which had huge shopping precinct for all things Manga, books, toys and games. I'll think of some more and send over the links
I understand one of Tokyo's shopping malls ("Diver City" in Odaiba) features a full-size Gundam, together with Gundam-themed cafe & store.
If you see tentacles run the other way. Unless that is your thing. If you see a giant lizard fighting a giant moth don't worry, it is totally normal. Learn all the curse words, they will be useful.
Except you have to buy a new ticket every time for the exact amount, which is a PITA. This is true, very lively, much to do! Maybe I need to be taken to Akihabara by a local, because I went twice and it was crap. Hugely touristy, overpriced, fully of seedy men. I couldn't find anything particularly 'niche' or exciting that's for sure.
I felt the same about Akihabara, to be honest. If you're into technology and gadgets then maybe it's a fun touristy thing because of the size of the place, but from a shopping perspective I didn't really see any great values (and I'm not in the market for a toilet that fully integrates with my home electronics). Ars Technica wrote about it a while back. You can read their opinion and decide if it's something of interest.
Have to say I'm envious would love to visit Tokyo and some of the historical sites and learn more about the countries history and traditions that you don't see on tv, maybe visit the YAESU MUSEN factory to see how my radio is put together. Visit a couple of my Japanese friends I have never met but spoken too many times over my years as an amateur radio enthusiast, A month most likely wouldn't be enough
@supermonkey: I will have to check out the fish market then - getting up early isn't a problem for me! @Bindi: Cool, will plan accordingly and make sure I pack a dictionary/phrase book. Androgeny eh? I'll be careful Ending Credits: Honda sounds good as well - although I want to see traditional Japan, as an engineer I'm also very interested in seeing the state of the art Japan has to offer. They are world leaders in robotics after all. DLDeadbolt: Ghibli museum would be a place I'd like to visit. I'm a minor fan of anime so it would be interesting to see the origins of Spirited Away and such. I'll book in advance as Bindi recommends. @Snips: Thanks for all that. Any more advice you can think of is always welcome. I've noticed that overseas the English are well liked (I hark from Hampshire originally so my accent is particularly Jane Austen). @IanW: How can I resist getting my picture taken with a Gundam? @DXR_13KE: Wouldn't bat an eyelid! In fact I'll be surprised if I don't see it! @G0UDG: I'm starting to think I may need three weeks...
I reckon that however long you're there, you still won't see everything that you want, so just take as long as you can And let us know when you've sorted your itinerary! Personally, the likes of Akihabara doesn't appeal. I'd love to see some of the less urban parts of Japan - I reckon that would be fascinating. Also, a big thank you to rainbowbridge for his abusive PM. Sorry if you didn't like my post, but your PM was not cool, man.
If you stick to the JR line network you can buy a card for 5000 or 10000 yen that you can top up if needed and you don't need a ticket every time. You can get to most places using that network but if you really need to go off that network it will only be for few stops so won't be too expensive. Ginza is a good place for high end shopping. Akihabara is good if you go off the main street but even then it's not that special. Any of the main towns can get you better sights and still the same shopping experience. Stick to Shibuya and the generic cross roads every tv/movie show as Tokyo all of the time. You will see some very weird sights that are considered the norm in Japan. Grown drunk men pissing in the curb for one and a very unhealthy obsession with school girl rape scene porn another. However, going to see The Prodigy at Tokyo Disney has to be one of the best weird moments I had while I was there. The two just don't go together.
Onsen - hot spring. Get the outdoor one too. Yes, it's summer, but still. No Japanese trip is complete without an overnight visit to a nice onsen. (weird) Cafe - like maid ones, or cat... whatever. There's even game-centric cafe, like Resident Evil cafe, or Gundam cafe... Even if you don't enjoy it, just take a few pictures for memories. Speaking of Gundam... visit the Bandai museum OR Nintendo museum. Or whatever museum of famous stuff coming out of Japan And sushi. Go watch "Jiro: Dreams of Sushi" to start your appetite.
I wouldn't be too concerned, WWIII will start soon and everything will be radioactive. Besides, anything cooked with radiation cooks slower so it locks in both the moisture and freshness. I thought everyone knew that.
I was there in June, though spent a good chunk of time in Sapporo on Hokkaido visiting friends. Sapporo isn't as tourist friendly as Tokyo with little English, but is more traditionally Japanese. The hills surrounding the city are volcanic, and traditional vacation destinations for them, where they flock in droves to the Onsens (public baths using the volcanic spring water). Spent a bit of time in Tokyo too, plenty of tourist destinations. We arrived just after the end of the 'wet season'. It was hot but bearably so. Carry a lot of change for the millions of vending machines. Theres a smaller Gundam near Akihabara, near the station. Akihabara is the seediest area we went though, there were definitely prostitutes there... I would recommend only going in the daytime. If you're in a hotel be prepared to eat some pretty odd things without knowing what they are. Octopus balls are the weirdest I tried, and looked identical to other non fishy things, and once opened a rice cooker to find a massive fish head... Don't just eat sushi though, they have other awesome foods. Don't worry about the Fukishima radiation, we met up with a few folk who were doing aid work on the edge of the exclusion zone and they reported no radiation problems.
Neither are that exclusive to Japan tbh. Most E-Asia has similar things, just it's not as 'commercial'.
reference given no official media are covering the topic. latest news from the ground (or the sea at coast and in islands) in British Columbia, field investigation by boat has show all the Mussels are gone, locals queried the investigator on his field investigation and he offered them gas to the site and his boat and all kit if they could show him any Mussels any where, they shut up.. some 9000 species of life against the shore line and amongst the thousands of islands, all gone. normally when driving up and down the coast line, window screens will be completely filled with dead insets, no insets were present last year, this year is being looked out for again. Several people dependant on the sea for their livehoods around BC are starting to ask what is going on. Scientists say, some thing is going on, ummm not sure what it is. around 1460000 tons or more (could be double or triple no one knows due to the water flow under the plant) of extremely radioactive water from the japan site has nothing to do with it vs hyper sensitive sea life Scientists? Star fish all gone or melted, Serious issue worth at the very least open and transparent investigation review and non bias raw data from every collection point of merit along the west coast of us. next 5 to 10 years the cancer rates along the west coasts of US is going look extremely escalating. One of the worst issues to face man, origin site of the material is un reachable, cores are melted 75 or more feet under the ground in the path of water out to sea. Whole world could work on the issue.
His posts normally straddle the blurred line between reality and nonsense tbh. I find it endearing most of the time, but it can be a bit confuddling sometimes. I thought that was a viral thing?
