RFI: Tokyo

[Chance]

Wife and I, along with father and step-mother, are planning a trip to Tokyo towards the end of May 2020. Airline reservations begin opening up about eleven months in advance of when you actually want to book your flight, so we're starting our concrete planning now.

Wife and I are geeks, so we're planning on indulging our inner nerds a bit. She's a big anime fan, and I'm particularly interested in checking out some classic arcade/gaming institutions. Father is a history buff (his father was part of the occupation after the war) and step-mother is a foodie. We all have an interest in Japanese culture (some more than others...) and would like to visit a few museums.

The trip will last between a week and two weeks. We have a handful of definite want-to-dos, but are open to any and all recommendations from folks that have experience in the city. Also, pointers to good resources for English-speaking visitors (books, shows, et cetera) would also be welcome.

Suggestions?

[shootist26]

just went last year with my college friends. We did 6 days in Tokyo and 4 in Kyoto. If I were to go again, I'd probably do 4-5 days in Tokyo, and 5-6 days in Kyoto (and surrounding).

I'd be happy to send you my Google MyMaps of Tokyo and Kyoto if you want via email. I marked out most of the sites we went to and some good restaurants, all organized geographically (important!). We had an enormous list of recommendations from other friends who went. I'll dig around and post it up here if I can find it

[RoyGBiv]

http://money.com/money/5172923/anthony-boudain-tokyo-tips/

I can vouch for the Izakayas and a Ryokan, although you'll need to take the fast train to get to a Ryokan from Tokyo.

Bourdain visited "Robot Restaurant" in one of his episodes. My buddy went there a few months ago, said it was an "absolutely-don't-miss", but, he's a retired fighter pilot with the (twisted) sense of humor that goes with that job. YMMV.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asSFKZ1UEf0

[TGS]

The Imperial Hotel has the best breakfast buffet at any hotel in the world. It is truly amazing.

I've had better French food in Tokyo than Paris.

Their customer service is overly aggressive, driven by their cultural standards that everything has to be perfect, down to the guy who sweeps the sidewalk.....he will sweep that fucking sidewalk with the utmost passion or end up as a suicide in the forests near Mt Fuji. Apologetic politeness even when you haven't done anything wrong will go a long way. Metric shit tons of human trafficking. Lots of places worth eating at (standing room steak bars, ramen, etc) are cash only.

Don't eat and walk, and don't cross streets unless the crossing sign indicates.....even if there's zero traffic. These sorts of things will get you some serious hate.

The only museum I visited was the Metropolitan Police Museum, which is okay but small. Again, very dedicated people, but having lived/worked in one of America's violent cities where shootings happened in front of my house, it was funny (in a weird way) to see a society where seemingly petty crimes will be chased down to the ends of the earth using resources that we can barely dedicate to murders.

[UNM1136]

When you leave the US, have a few hundred dollars each available. When we left there was a shortage of first class passengers, and the airline was offering to upgrade us from coach to to first class for $200 at the gate. Might be the only opportunity I will ever have to fly first class, and I frequently kick myself for not taking it. But we were on a budget and at the beginning of our trip and spent 13 hours in cattle car class.

Kinda cool walking into a 7-11 and seeing a small steam table with a tentacle hanging out where the hot dog roller should be.

When we were there our room came with a bicycle rental. Nice way to get around when you aren't train bound.

I was going to suggest dollar cost averaging your conversion to yen. Setting aside a specific amount a month to convert and converting so you flatten out the swings of the currency market. Another tactic would be to set aside a specific amount of money and when there is a bump in the currency market to buy. I just looked up the current conversion and 111 yen to the dollar ain't bad, but it ain't great. Over the last year there seems to have only been a 6 yen swing to the dollar, so it might not be worth it. The last time I was there we got 136/dollar when we arrived and as we left two weeks later it was almost 139/dollar.

Couldn't take my asthma inhaler nor a blade that locked...

Went to a couple of museums, trained in the Tokyo Budokan. I highly recommend at least walking through Akihabara, and if you have time the multi story toy stores. 15 years ago there was a little Ramen joint under the Akihabara rail station that served, hands down the best Ramen (Kim chi ramen, even) and gyoza that we had while we were there.

Shop around for accommodations. We were staying at what amounted to a student hostel for about 4400 yen a night, plus electricity was tabulated onto your bill at the end of your stay. We were there because Sensei was a cheapskate. One of the guys we were training with was staying at the Kasukabe Hilton for 5500 yen per night, clean sheets each day, and no meter reading upon checkout. That hotel was about an hour from the airport by bullet train, but, our hostel was also an hour or so away by tbullet train and only about 15 minutes away from the Hilton by regular commuter train.

When trying to figure out the trains, ask the guys in the brown uniforms. They are the train drivers and will sit you just behind them so that they can tell you where to get off the train. Super helpful and polite.

Also, don't tip. Doing a good job is reward enough in that culture. I have seen diner waitresses chase friends down the street to return the money left on the table. They wanted to return the customer's "forgotten" change.

Gotta run, will post more when I think of it.

pat

[Chance]

If I were to go again, I'd probably do 4-5 days in Tokyo, and 5-6 days in Kyoto (and surrounding).


Why would you have spent more time in Kyoto?


Bourdain visited "Robot Restaurant" in one of his episodes.

We saw that episode for the first time last week. It's on the list.

[BigD]

When you leave the US, have a few hundred dollars each available. When we left there was a shortage of first class passengers, and the airline was offering to upgrade us from coach to to first class for $200 at the gate. Might be the only opportunity I will ever have to fly first class, and I frequently kick myself for not taking it. But we were on a budget and at the beginning of our trip and spent 13 hours in cattle car class.


I got upgraded to first class on JAL in a 747 and business class on the way back. Kinda novel to be in the nose with no cockpit in front of you.

I was the only Westerner in First. Flight attendants handed out pajamas and all the Japanese dutifully went it the bathroom and changed into them. I felt that was weird and didn't, but looking back I wish I had just so I could say I did.

This was long ago so no idea if JAL still does that.

[RoyGBiv]

We saw that episode for the first time last week. It's on the list.
FYI... My buddy said that the approach to the venue is kinda sketchy. Through some other business, down a hallway, maybe down into a "basement", IIRC. Other than a brief feeling that he was cattle being led to slaughter, he thoroughly enjoyed it. :eek:

[shootist26]

Why would you have spent more time in Kyoto?


Just personal preference. I live in Boston and spend a lot of time in NYC, so Tokyo is another mega-metropolis(albeit on a much larger level). Kyoto was completely untouched during WW2 and has a ton of traditional japanese architecture, Zen and Buddhist temples and gardens. These are thousands of years old and very unique. Tokyo is all new. It's VERY easy to get to Kyoto from Tokyo. The Shinkansen bullet train does round trips extremely frequently, is extremely reliable, and will take you from city center to city center in a couple of hours.

Here are a few locations I really enjoyed in Kyoto:
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
Tenryuji Temple
Okochi Sanso Garden
Ryōan-ji Temple

Tomisen Sushi...very good mom & pop style sushi place. Real hole in the wall with great food
Musoshin Ramen...gahhh this was so f-ing good. Spicy curry broth with ramen noodles and fried chicken thigh on top was amazing
cafe la siesta 8bit edition...tiny little bar featuring retro Nintento, SNES, Sega, and other games. Literally holds about 10 people, everybody else was a local who was friends with the owner. Fun little place to grab a drink and play some old ass video games

[UNM1136]

Sushi...

Most sushi joints that are affordable have no better sushi or sashimi than I have had in central NM, and are lesser than the best sushi I have ever had, which was in Las Vegas NV. But it is cheaper. Sushi that would cost $40-50 in the States is about half the cost . The hot green tea dispensers in the bar are cool.

Really good sushi is going to cost, and lobster sashimi, where the lobster is killed in front of you is on my bucket list. I have been told that even 10 minutes after being killed changes the flavor dramatically.

IIRC Japan for the last couple of decades has imported fish for higher end sushi joints because of pollution in territorial and traditional waters.

I almost always order sashimi over sushi, 'cause as good as sushi is it is nearly half empty carb filler, by weight. If rice is your thing, go with the sushi, but I prefer the fish.

Speaking of which, because Sensei was a cheapskate we ate 1-2 meals out a day, and prepared food in the Guest House the other two meals. No one on this side of the ocean would argue that brown rice is healthier, but going to a rice store had the proprietor arguing with Sensei, because she was not smart enough to buy rice, as evidenced by asking for brown, or unpolished rice. He refused to sell to her because the rice she was asking for was not fit for human consumption, it was fit only for animal fodder.

Italian food in Noda/Otogai ain't recognizably Italian, but it was filling, reasonably tasty, and cheap, as well as the only place open at 2200 after a few hours of training while we wrote our notes out. Rice Doria was basically rice mixed with cheese sauce on a plate and covered in a meaty tomato sauce.

Also, at a very nice restaurant where we enjoyed a five course prix-fre menu I was introduced to genmai tea. It is considered a lower quality tea in Japanese markets, because toasted rice is used to stretch the green tea. But the flavor can be wonderful and complex. So much so I tasted a dozen or so types, found one I liked, and bought a bunch to bring back home. Apparently Customs didn't care about the tea in my bag, versus the bunch of grapes from the airline's box lunch that Sensei dropped into her carry on at the end of the flight that a Customs beagle zeroed in on.

pat

[UNM1136]

Also, hit a 7-11 for a tuna sandwich. You will get (for something like ¥300-500) get a bit of tuna salad, rolled in rice, and wrapped in nori. To keep the nori from getting soggy it is wrapped in a very complex cellophane wrapper that keeps the nori out of contact with the rice. Following the unwrapping instructions essentially allows you to wrap the nori around the rice without touching the food until the very last step. Very cool, and worth doing once or twice. I don't recall the kanji to look for, but it is a small triangular wad of rice with plastic protected nori wrapped around it.

pat

[shootist26]

Random List of Tokyo sights that we either went to or friends recommended to us

Yurakucho - restaurant district - more casual area for dining (mostly in the stall format)
Tsukiji Fish Market - apparently moved to different location?
Imperial Palace/Marunouchi - nice architecture and extensive gardens
National Film Archive of Japan - Japanese film museum (Kurosawa exhibit, etc)
Akihabara - district famous for extensive electronics stores, maid cafes (creepy), nerd culture. Go to the biggest electronics store and kill a few hours
Super Potato - famous retro video game store. I played Virtual Boy for the first time there. Store is tiny and jam packed
Hitachino Brewing Lab - Japanese craft beer place
Asakusa District - feel of old Tokyo with shops and Sensoji Temple (oldest in Tokyo)
Tokyo National Museum
Joypolis - massive SEGA video game arcade / amusement park, kind of a long train ride to get to. It's on an island in the middle of the bay kind of isolated from downtown Tokyo
National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (home to ASIMO robot)
Roppongi district - night life and bar district
Ebisu district - has food stalls. if you're in the are, it could be good to eat there!
Shinjuku - drinking bar district. Check out piss alley and eat as one of the Izakayas. Kujira Entertainment and Robot Restaurant located here.
Tokyo Metropolitan Government building - Free admission to viewing deck, get a nice view of Tokyo
Public Garden (Shinjuku Gyoen) - Nicely decorated in the Japanese Style
Shibuya - very famous and crazy street crossing
Harujuku - it's the young teen district. Go see Takeshita-dori street. There will be a lot of people dressed up.
Meiji Shrine - Japanese shrine, definitely spend some time exploring the extensive gardens
Studio Ghibli museum - any anime fan should definitely go here. Reservations ARE REQUIRED. NO WALK INs. Place gets booked FAST and you should definitely reserve several months before your trip.

Day trip recommendations:
Battleship Mikasa - she fought in the Russo-japanese war of 1905. Last surviving pre-dreadnaught warship in the world. Located at Yokosuka Navy Base (about 1 hr south of Tokyo). Need to take the train there.
Nikko - Shrine and National Park offering scenic, mountainous landscapes, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, wild monkeys and hiking trails
Hakone - very sceneic
Fuji Five Lakes

[UNM1136]

Japan is a huge cash economy. You can use cards some places, but your card may charge a surcharge for using it. I cannot remember anything that we wanted or needed that cash did not suffice. Cash is king.

If you plan ahead your local bank or credit union can get you foreign currency with some notice, and many of them do it for free as a service. Changing money at the airport will cost you a percentage, and even changing money at a bank in the 'burbs outside of Tokyo cost a percentage, although it was almost half what we paid in the airport.

Should not need to say it, but the yen is the unit of currency, and there are no fractions. I had to start thinking of them as "yennies" in relation to our pennies so my jaw didn't drop when my plane landed and I had been in three airports, two aircraft for a total of almost 16 hours in the air, and crossed the international date line and the Airport Starbucks wanted ¥550 for my hit of joe.

The second time I was there (all I can recall, really, since the first time I was born and came to the States as an infant) I was going to train martial arts,so I was training one to three times a day with different instructors, usually with a 45 minute one way bike ride across the Edo. Despite that, in 14 days we did a lot of sight seeing and money was my limiting factor. I am thinking of another trip, just as long or longer, and planning to double my budget. Stuff, even day to day grocery shopping, is really expensive there. Deals can be had, but you should plan to pay slightly more there for everything. Find a McDonalds or Starbucks menu in Japan, and if you can puzzle out similar items compare it to the same places here.

The Tokyo Budokan has the old school Japanese porcelain toilets, that my dad referred to as "the bombsight", and two of the dojo we trained in had honest to God outhouses with a similar setup. Most restaurants had western toilets. The public baths are nice, but the deep (mid thigh) tub in our room was very nice, even if I had to sit with my knees in my chest.

Learning a bit of the language is good, even if you speak poorly they appreciate the effort. Apps, computer programs, and even books help. There are lots of helpful expats running around. And the larger Japanese corporations hire native English speakers as English "teachers". The programs vary but several friends said they had several sessions a day where they just talked so the students could practice simply listening to a native English speaker. Eye contact is rude; especially staring. When so many people are crammed into so little space your personal space is nonexistent, so you avoid eye contact lest you "invade" that space.

As a whole Japanese people can be very prejudiced, and even outright racist, but they want you to think well of them so they will treat you well. "Saving face" is a real thing, and graciousness and courtesy go a long, long way.

pat

[littlejerry]

Currently in HK right now on business (and on my phone) so here are a few quick notes:

-Download Google Translate. It works great. Practice with it at home.
- You need cash for 80% of things. Check with your bank on making withdrawals while there.
- If you are leaving Tokyo look at getting a tourist JR Rail pass. You MUST purchase before landing, but it saves some cash on trains.
- There are tons of good travel guides online. Read them and decide what interests you. Tokyo is a crazy city. You could spend weeks there and not get bored.
-Hit 7-11 or Family Mart for breakfast. Don't recall the name but the rice/seaweed/salmon things are awesome with a can of coffee.
-Bring your walking shoes and pack light.

[HeavyDuty]

Japan is on my bucket list. Envious...

[RoyGBiv]

Regarding cash... I've traveled quite a bit of Asia and have found it relatively easy and cost effective to get local currency from in-country ATMs using a debit/ATM card. Getting cast off a credit card is an expensive thing and not recommended. Even if your bank charges you a 3% foreign transaction fee, it's still way less than converting usd to local at an airport currency exchange.

Check with your bank on fees. The card itself will have a network logo on it. Look up the network ATMs near where you'll be located before you go.

[Wondering Beard]

Tokyo sure seems like an interesting place: All-new World of Thighs Photography exhibition opens in Tokyo’s Harajuku neighborhood this month (https://soranews24.com/2019/04/09/all-new-world-of-thighs-photography-exhibition-opens-in-tokyos-harajuku-neighborhood-this-month/)

"guests who compose a short verse, in the style of Japan’s traditional karuta poetry card game, for a specific photograph and post it to social media will receive a commemorative post card, and Yuria will also select the best poem to receive a special “Thigh Bag” full of prizes.