Tokyo

[Faustus]

Apologies for yet another travel thread on the GF, but did a search and couldn't find one.

 

Japan- Tokyo, in particular- is a place I've always wanted to go to, but it's been a bit of a pipe dream for the last couple of years because of cost, taking time off etc. Anyway, I've been doing a little bit of research lately and, touch wood, it's looking like it might be doable around September a few weeks before I go back to uni to start my PhD. Been having a look at flights (which are more reasonable than I imagined) and hotels, and, like I said, it's looking like it might be a go-er, touch wood.

 

Any of the good people off here ever been to Tokyo? If so, I'd really appreciate hearing about past experiences as well as tips on good locations to stay, getting around, things to do and see, bars and clubs etc. As it'll probably be September-ish and a new f**tball season will have kicked off, I'd also like recommendations for places where I'll be able to watch a certain team we all have a vested interest in!

 

Also, I know Japan has always traditionally been quite expensive but I've heard a couple of things that that's actually changed now and it's not too bad now. Any truth in this, or am I best getting selling blood and semen?

[bri]

and a kidney

[Unrighteous]

It's outrageously expensive.

 

Especially Tokyo. You're literally going to have to be prepared to spend a lot of time finding cheap meals and that isn't going to include most of the traditional japanese fare. You'll be eating fried pork cutlets that come with raw, chopped, cabbage, and rice... or Ramen or bowls of white rice with some boiled beef(or pork) and boiled onion. Expect to pay around 5 quid for the ultra-cheap meals, and closer to 7-8 pounds for most cheap meals. You can also eat ready made meals from 7-11/Family Mart/Circle-K that they'll heat up in the microwave for you, if you want, and that'll still cost a few quid if you're really skint.

 

You're going to want to 'pregame' drinking outside the bar/club/whatever, as well, because it's going to cost a bomb to get in to a nightclub, and the drinks, likewise, cost a bomb. You'll also have to be dressed to the nines.

 

Osaka is cheaper, and the people are more fun, IMO

 

 

That said? Japan is f'ing ace. It'll blow your mind.

 

Definitely try to stay in the Shibuya area if you're planning on going out in Tokyo, because the metro stops at midnight and a taxi to anywhere that isn't really close will cost you well more than you're paying for your hostel (or hotel or about a third of your flight price) for the night.

 

For Tokyo, I highly recommend finding a good hostel, as the Japanese are the most 'forward' people when it comes to talking to strangers.

 

The only bar in Tokyo that I highly recommend (It has my penis' stamp of approval) is the gas-panic pub in Roppongi. It was pretty 'hook up' oriented, and also determined to get you shit faced. (Unless they've changed the rule... You need to have a fresh drink at all times or you need to leave. This includes the Japanese girls.)

 

I can't recommend a place to stay in Tokyo, because I made the error (twice) of staying too far away from the 'nightlife' area. I tried to make my own fun around my hostel, but I ended up just crashing for a few hours in a Roppongi area Love Hotel (yeah, I had company), after going out, until the trains started up again.

 

Honestly, crashing at a Love Hotel for a few hours is a pretty good way to make up the hours between leaving the club and getting back to your place. It'll be about a third of the price of a taxi. Seriously, a night taxi in Tokyo is THAT FREAKING BAD.

[RJ Fan club]

I went in about this time five years ago. Hotels and ale pricey, but found the food okay, but restaurant stuff expensive.

 

But then it was 200 yen to the pound then. Last time I looked it was 120 ish, so significantly more expensive now.

 

Think in 6 nights, hotels, food, ale etc, probably went through about a grand. Flights were lumped in with visiting my brother in Australia, so they weren't too bad.

[Scott_M]

My mates went to Tokyo in 2005 for a certain event.

 

Anyway, one night they are bored and stumble upon a whore house.

 

The go in and get led into a room each by the lasses.

 

One idiot doesn't have any cash on him and asks to pay using his credit card. He is assured the name of the place on his statement won't come up with anything suspect - long story but his Mrs bankrolled up watching us all over the country and Europe for a couple of seasons, included paying the credit card bill.

 

So anyway, he opts for a hand job with lotion (the lotion burnt apparently) and pays for it on his credit card and thinks nothing else of it.

 

That's until he's back in Blighty and the credit card bill came and he had to try and explain how he'd spent £110 in Bangkok Sex Palace.

[heavyrotation]

Hey mate,

Lived in Tokyo for three years and have been back on and off since leaving. What kind of things are you looking to do there?

 

The best place to watch footy is footnik just around the back of Ebisu station. Normally some good lads in there and a Japanese LFC fanclub which are a good laugh.

 

It can be expensive depending on what you do but if you are on a budget you can easily feed yourself at supermarkets and convience marts as unrighteous says. A full box of sushi will only set you back about 4 pounds and should fill you up. Also yakitori (chicken on skewers) and gyudon (beef on rice) are nice cheap eats. Beer is pretty expensive so maybe stick to haposhu which is like beer but avoids the tax that has to be paid on beer...

 

Again it depends on what you want to do but I would disagree with unrighteous about going out in Roppongi as it is really seedy and full of Americans and is the only place I have witnessed street fighting in Japan. But if you are up for a bit of fun and hook up action I'm sure you can find it in Roppongi. Just down the road is Roppongi hills which is worth a visit.

 

If you are thinking about travelling about Japan I would look into getting a JR rail pass which will allow to use JR trains for a set amount of time depending on how long you will be there. Osaka definitely has more character that Tokyo and the people are warmer. Tokyo is more like London and Osaka a bit like Liverpool. However if you are just staying in Tokyo I wouldn't get a JR rail pass as there are so many other rail lines that you can use rather than JR that would be cheaper than getting a pass.

 

Regarding staying anywhere love hotels are a good option because you can get hammered and just check in for the night rather than a whole day. Get into a capsule hotel as well which are cheap but like you are in a coffin in the close proximity of lots of other men listening to the high pitch squeals of Japanese girls getting banged on the TVs in their boxes. Whatever floats your boat.

 

Let me know if you want to see cultural stuff, where you are going and how long you are there and I'll try and help you out some more.

[Unrighteous]

I was saying Roppongi simply for the Japanese birds that dig westerners there... Shibuya was pretty ace, but hard to approach the women there, as they tended to be too damn shy.

 

I didn't really find any good drinking areas near Central Tokyo-ish as I had no idea where to go, and surprisingly, the Japanese that I asked were no freaking help.

[Faustus]

Hi lads, thanks for great replies. A lot of useful stuff.

 

Basically, my original plan was to go to Tokyo for around 12 days at the start of September but hearing about Osaka has made me want to have a go at that, so I've been thinking about extending the trip to a fortnight and do a bit of travelling round and possibly taking in Kyoto and Nagoya as well.

 

The reason why I originally settled on 12 days in Tokyo was because of the distance really. It's obviously not the kind of place you do for a long weekend and I wanted to try to give myself as long as possible over there, so I was thinking that if it took me two days (worst case scenario) to get over the jet lag, I'd at least have ten to take everything in. Thinking about it though, I'm not sure if I'd go stir crazy in the one city for that long!

 

Heavyrotation and Unrighteous- thanks for all the info. Obviously Japan's a big country, but any idea how long it would take to get from Tokyo to Osaka by rail? That railpass thing sounds great and just had a little look on their website and a seven day one sounds ideal so I could spend the bulk of my time in Tokyo and then explore elsewhere for a couple of days before returning back to catch my flight.

 

Anyway, the trip itself is still up in there but, like I said, I'm hopeful of getting over there, barring any big bills coming at me out of the blue. I've got Glasto at the end of June, so I'll probably look at booking something either just before or just after then.

 

Oh, Heavyrotation- no fucking chance I could stand one of those capsule hotels! Seen the things on the telly and they look fucking grim. I think I'd spend the night freaking out!

[Unrighteous]

Honestly, unless you're going a bunch of different places? I don't think the rail pass is really worth it.

 

Osaka and Kyoto are, literally, right next to each other. Kyoto is really a must see. It's what you imagine when you think Japanese culture.

 

Check the prices on single tickets, because it's really expensive for the rail pass.

 

If you plump for the Shinkansen it'll get you from Tokyo to Osaka in two and a half hours.

[co1-lfc]

Been a few years since I posted, mixture of reasons, I've actually been close to replying to a couple of threads of late, that dating thread with the kid hammering PoF has been a cracker, anyhow, I also did Tokyo in December 2005, stayed in Roppongi Hills, ticked off Japan in my International ladies list after visiting Gas Panic like the poster above, had a friend who used our credit card in a Russian lap dancing club which was then maxed by the kind patrons of the dump by the time we got to Los Angeles on the next leg of our world 'tour', on top of this I was arrested and detained until a Japanese copper who had been an exchange student at Liverpool John Moores University not only verified I wasn't French to the supposedly English speaking 'Terp, he also verified my claims that the thieving taxi drivier who took me on a tour of Tokyo after I jumped in for a quick 500 mtr trip from Gas Panic to my hotel and, after trying to charge me a sadistic amount of Yen, took me to an alley and locked the cab whilst he went to get his mates, deserved his windows booting through as I made my escape, it was harder explaining why I ran from the police who saw some of what had happened and were now giving me full chase, weapons drawn (which I hadn't seen, just had explained to me by him) up to the point I ran across some motorway/city link only to end up running straight in to a police car which bonneted me out cold, anyway, this LJMU copper listened to mine and the cabbie's story the next morning, luckily for me the daft cunt cabbie hadn't reset his fare meter so they fined him and frogmarched me to my hotel to get a copy of my passport and make me promise I'd leave the next day on my scheduled flight to LAX, haha, excellent times!!

 

But besides me being a drunken idiot, I loved the place, the sights, the women, the boozers. To be fair this thread was about advice and I've forgotten most of the helpful info but in Roppongi you're near the banking district, find out which bars are popular with western workers as they've a tendency to go straight in them with cash bonuses as soon as there bell rings and throw shitloads behind the bar funding our habits! Oh, and I obviously vouch for Gas Panic, they love us Gai-Jin!!

[heavyrotation]

heya mate, sorry for the late reply just come back from Sicily.

 

Yea, as unrighteous says the JR pass depends on how much travel you planning on doing. If you just stayin in Tokyo don't get it but if you going to Osaka bear in mind that a one way shinkansen (bullet train) ticket will cost you 87 quid, so for a round trip you looking at 174. So if you planning on goin down to Osaka then the JR pass is prolly worth it as you can use it on the Yamanote line in Tokyo to get around the main sections of Tokyo as well.

 

Kyoto is close to Osaka and has a lot of nice cultural places like kiyomizu-dera and kinkakuji but it is tourist central and can be too crowded to really enjoy at times so I enjoyed Nara more which has just as much cultural value but is a bit more chilled. Different strokes fo different folks though eh.

 

You don't fancy sleeping in a coffin sized box surrounded by salarymen fapping away to censored porn!? You freak! haha don't blame you, not one of the best experiences in Japan!

 

Keep having a look for yourself about what you wanna do but let me know if you got any questions about anything in particular. I was more into the culture, nature and food than going to clubs and bangin strange. Then again if you can't speak Japanese gaspanic and heartland just outside Roppongi Hills can be easy places to pick up as the gals there are just lookin for gaijinn. Heartland also has its own heartland beer a good European style lager. Let me know if you got any questions.

[Unrighteous]

I went to Nara, as well. It's also right next to Kyoto/Osaka. It's fucking ace, but sleepy as hell.

 

I stayed at this guesthouse that was all traditional Japanese. It was a real experience. Rice paper doors and the likes...

 

The only other guests were a really cool German guy (who had a deformed arm, which FREAKED OUT the Old guy who ran the Guest House... and he simply ran away from the guy constantly like he had oozing sores everywhere), and this REALLY old Japanese guy who was cycling the entire length of the country. The old guy's English sucked, but bless him he kept trying to talk to us.

 

All in all? Good place. Found some outrageously delicious Udon and Japanese curry in Nara, for a reasonable amount, and that was a heaven-sent... as I was eating pork cutlets and Ramen for the entire length of time that I was in Japan.

 

There was only one bar that I found in Nara ...I'm sure there are more, but it was like a Sports Pub, and it had no one else in it... except the semi-cute Japanese girl who was working there... I tried to shag her but failed miserably as she just blushed and ran away when I talked to her about anything other than "Biru".

 

... The best part of Nara is watching all the Japanese kids buy the 'deer cookies' and getting absolutely mobbed. They usually scream, throw the cookies in the air, and run away. It's a great way to spend an afternoon... The German guy and I were bored, so we grabbed a bunch of ale and pissed ourselves watching it for a few hours.

[Section_31]

Had some adventures you Lance, were you working your way around or just traveling?

[Nightcat]

Imo Japan is the country with the most beautiful women. Osaka and Kyoto are really nice, you should go there if you can.

 

I went to Nara, as well. It's also right next to The old guy's English sucked, but bless him he kept trying to talk to us.

I bet your Japanese is ace. ha.

[Nightcat]

I've been doing a little bit of research lately and, touch wood, it's looking like it might be doable around September a few weeks before I go back to uni to start my PhD.

Oh I just saw that! wait wait wait wait....

 

You could try to find a way to spend a semester there. As a PhD candidate you might be able to teach as well. They pay well, enough to survive. Also, there are some scholarships for doctorate students and post-doctorate researchers you could apply for. For teaching I don't think you need to learn any Japanese, but if you are interested in research then depending on the subject you'd probably need to speak the language.

[Unrighteous]

Had some adventures you Lance, were you working your way around or just traveling?

 

Just traveling, really.

[Unrighteous]

I bet your Japanese is ace. ha.

 

Why would my Japanese be ace? I live in a Chinese speaking country. I can speak some rough Japanese, as the language is pretty easy.

 

My Chinese is ace, mind.... so... er... yeah

[Nightcat]

Why would my Japanese be ace? I live in a Chinese speaking country. I can speak some rough Japanese, as the language is pretty easy.

 

My Chinese is ace, mind.... so... er... yeah

 

I'm looking for a specific job in far east, as a "pussy taster. If you hear anything pm me. Part-time is fine.

[Unrighteous]

Girls in this part of world (Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea) often don't like having their pussies eaten.

 

Seriously.

 

I've had girls try to pull me back up their body by my head saying, "NONO NOT THAT DONT LIKE!"

[VladimirIlyich]

Girls in this part of world (Japan' date=' Taiwan, China, Korea) often don't like having their pussies eaten.

 

Seriously.

 

I've had girls try to pull me back up their body by my head saying, "NONO NOT THAT DONT LIKE!"[/quote']

 

Thats because it tastes like Chow Mein (according to Simon.)

[TheHowieLama]

From the Stuff that Won't Be Happening we have the Tokyo Olympics:

 

Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympics committee overseeing the upcoming games, resigned Friday amid an outcry over sexist comments he made about women talking too much at board meetings.