MR2 Fan
September 21st, 2014, 07:43 PM
Was posting in Rikadyn's thread but decided to start a new one.
Whew, just got back from Tokyo this morning after 12 days of awesomeness. I had been to Tokyo twice before on short stays, but wanted to have a much longer stay....and wow did it impress me. What I've learned:
1. Jet Lag Sucks....for me especially, I feel horrible for several days after I arrive usually, and everything I've tried doesn't seem to help. Therefore I didn't get as much done in the first few days as I hoped.
2. However, I had a blast and definitely want to move to Japan as soon as possible, it's just so much nicer than where I live now...I was really not looking forward to going home....even if...
3. There are earthquakes...there was a 5.6 while we (my roommate and I) were having lunch....I was freaked out only because I was drunk on some really strong sake and didn't know if I could go somewhere in case things got serious. My roommate, who was freaked out from an earthquake the last time we visited didn't seem to care this time, ironically.
4. Customer Service in Japan is just incredible...everyone makes you feel like a VIP, and unlike in the U.S., it never feels forced or that they're reading from a script that they HAVE to read because their boss says so, etc.
5. If you get motion sickness easliy, and are jet lagged, you might not like the train rides...I think I don't usually get motion sick, but with the jet lag, massive turbulence we experienced on the way to Narita airport, and the motion of the trains the first few days, I was feeling really nauseous....ginger helps.
6. Japanese TV is the most awesome, strangest damn thing ever. I was taking a picture pretty much every night and posting it to my FB account, with the caption "Meanwhile, on Japanese TV".
7. People asked why we'd spend all 12 days just in Tokyo and not go to Kyoto or Osaka, etc. Well it's expensive, I didn't want to change hotels and do luggage and all of that crap, and there's just SO MUCH to do in Tokyo, we still missed about 5 things on my list of to-do things.
8. I LOVE JAPANESE GIRLS....saw so many beautiful ones, some even smiled and waved at us, or said "hi" randomly and took photos, and my roommate and I are two average looking, overweight guys. Also, FYI, this was just on trains or at DisneySea....not in Roppongi or Kabukicho where they're trying to get us into clubs....I know the difference
9. speaking of Kabukicho...that's where the Robot Restaurant is, which you may be familiar with if you've ever seen the Anthony Bourdain show about "Tokyo Nights" on CNN. He said it is the best show he's ever seen and I'm inclined to agree...it is AWESOME!! I'm truly amazed at how much stuff they fit into the 1.5 hour show, custom made robots, props, and lots of dancing girls in skimpy outfits (but it is PG, nothing adult themed). The girls do get up very close to you though, which is great
10. BE CAREFUL, as soon as we walked out of the Robot Restaurant, a muscular black guy who sounded American (not that it matters, just saying) came up to my roommate and FORCEFULLY tried to convince us to go with him into one of the hostess bars (I'm guessing)...I just said consantly "I'm walking this way" pointing to the train station and kept moving past him. I didn't panic but was really offset by that. I KNEW there was people trying to get you into the clubs and heard its usually cute girls who just stand outside, and I KNEW there were usually large Nigerian men who can beat your funds out of you after they put drugs into your drinks in the clubs. This guy literally put his arm around my roommate first, then me.....my roommate said he was about to start something and I told him that's T a good idea since they work for Yakuza. He shut up after that.
11. Oh, I went to the emergency room too...normally I wouldn't worry about posting it, but was so impressed by it, thought I'd share. I thought I had a heart problem, long story short, I took an ambulance ride, had amazing and fast service from everyone, they did all tests had about 15 people working constantly on everything, and had a drop dead GORGEOUS Japanese nurse translating into perfect english for me who I TOTALLY would have asked out if I wasn't feeling like crap.......after x-rays, blood tests, EEG's whatever, etc. and everything....total cost for gaijin with no Japanese insurance or anything, $350 out the door. Unreal. It would have cost probably 20x that in the U.S., heck I've had an ambulance ride by itself cost me $500 before.
12. Convenience...it was sooo nice to go about 3 steps from our hotel room and have a vending machine with about 30 drink choices, or go downstairs to 7-11 and have actually EDIBLE pre-packaged food that is healthy, every day. I became addicted to Milk Tea and Onigiri. I thought about asking someone at 7-11 here in the states if they had Onigiri, but would probably get something like "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME???"
13. I LOVE JAPANESE GIRLS (sorry, had to say it again)
14. Capsule Machines- 200 - 300 yen ($2-3 USD) of awesome gifts or random stuff to keep yourself. There's hundreds featuring all kinds of randomness. My FAVORITE though was found at the Pokemon center (I know nothing about Pokemon, but my roommate is a huge fan)....I got a capsule from a capsule machine. Inside that capsule was a smaller capsule machine with CAPSULES INSIDE OF IT and a fully working mechanism. CAPCEPTION!!!
15. Here's the places visited:
Akihabara - Awesome place, some massive stores with 7+ levels of everything electronics, toys, books, appliances, everything...and there's also maid cafe's (silly, but fun), anime/manga stores everywhere. We visited twice, once to buy gifts at the end of our trip so we knew what we wanted to buy at the end.
Odaiba (or Daiba as some locals call it) - Toyota MegaWeb, full size Gundam, Sega Joypolis indoor arcade/theme park, Super AutoBacs, and many, many cool stores and other things to see...the whole island is filled with awesome stuff and is full of wide-open spaces which is nice compared to the crowds of the rest of Tokyo. We visited here twice also, just because there's SO MANY things to do.
Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea - Yes, we live in Florida and still visited the Tokyo parks, because the Tokyo ones are just much, much better. DisneySea is IMO one of the nicest places I've ever been to, whether you actually go on rides or not.
Mt. Takao- Went with my lovely friend Ayumi and some of her friends...went up the mountain in a "cable car" (really a train) and had 2 hours of unlimited beer and awesome japanese food, most of it fried
Tokyo Tower/Skytree - Two similar experiences, Tokyo Tower is much less busy now I think, but still fun and they have some nice stores with random crap to buy. They were having a "Highball garden" sponsored by Suntory whil we were there, but it was a few hours after we showed up. Skytree was VERY busy on the weekend, took us about 90 minutes just to get tickets...the whole place is huge with a lot of restaurants, ice cream places and upper end stores. Not sure if it's worth a 90 minute wait though...go on a weekday.
Robot Restaurant - in Kabukicho - Greatest show on earth...not really able to describe it...lots of lights, dancing, music, robots and sheer random hilarity.
Severak Kaiten Sushi places- Conveyor Belt sushi restaurants, once again VERY convenient, inexpensive and great sushi overall, love them.
16. Now to figure out how to get a bachelor's degree so I can officially move there and become an english teacher.
Link to 800+ pics and a few videos:
http://s660.photobucket.com/user/techno9991/library/?sort=3&page=1
Whew, just got back from Tokyo this morning after 12 days of awesomeness. I had been to Tokyo twice before on short stays, but wanted to have a much longer stay....and wow did it impress me. What I've learned:
1. Jet Lag Sucks....for me especially, I feel horrible for several days after I arrive usually, and everything I've tried doesn't seem to help. Therefore I didn't get as much done in the first few days as I hoped.
2. However, I had a blast and definitely want to move to Japan as soon as possible, it's just so much nicer than where I live now...I was really not looking forward to going home....even if...
3. There are earthquakes...there was a 5.6 while we (my roommate and I) were having lunch....I was freaked out only because I was drunk on some really strong sake and didn't know if I could go somewhere in case things got serious. My roommate, who was freaked out from an earthquake the last time we visited didn't seem to care this time, ironically.
4. Customer Service in Japan is just incredible...everyone makes you feel like a VIP, and unlike in the U.S., it never feels forced or that they're reading from a script that they HAVE to read because their boss says so, etc.
5. If you get motion sickness easliy, and are jet lagged, you might not like the train rides...I think I don't usually get motion sick, but with the jet lag, massive turbulence we experienced on the way to Narita airport, and the motion of the trains the first few days, I was feeling really nauseous....ginger helps.
6. Japanese TV is the most awesome, strangest damn thing ever. I was taking a picture pretty much every night and posting it to my FB account, with the caption "Meanwhile, on Japanese TV".
7. People asked why we'd spend all 12 days just in Tokyo and not go to Kyoto or Osaka, etc. Well it's expensive, I didn't want to change hotels and do luggage and all of that crap, and there's just SO MUCH to do in Tokyo, we still missed about 5 things on my list of to-do things.
8. I LOVE JAPANESE GIRLS....saw so many beautiful ones, some even smiled and waved at us, or said "hi" randomly and took photos, and my roommate and I are two average looking, overweight guys. Also, FYI, this was just on trains or at DisneySea....not in Roppongi or Kabukicho where they're trying to get us into clubs....I know the difference
9. speaking of Kabukicho...that's where the Robot Restaurant is, which you may be familiar with if you've ever seen the Anthony Bourdain show about "Tokyo Nights" on CNN. He said it is the best show he's ever seen and I'm inclined to agree...it is AWESOME!! I'm truly amazed at how much stuff they fit into the 1.5 hour show, custom made robots, props, and lots of dancing girls in skimpy outfits (but it is PG, nothing adult themed). The girls do get up very close to you though, which is great
10. BE CAREFUL, as soon as we walked out of the Robot Restaurant, a muscular black guy who sounded American (not that it matters, just saying) came up to my roommate and FORCEFULLY tried to convince us to go with him into one of the hostess bars (I'm guessing)...I just said consantly "I'm walking this way" pointing to the train station and kept moving past him. I didn't panic but was really offset by that. I KNEW there was people trying to get you into the clubs and heard its usually cute girls who just stand outside, and I KNEW there were usually large Nigerian men who can beat your funds out of you after they put drugs into your drinks in the clubs. This guy literally put his arm around my roommate first, then me.....my roommate said he was about to start something and I told him that's T a good idea since they work for Yakuza. He shut up after that.
11. Oh, I went to the emergency room too...normally I wouldn't worry about posting it, but was so impressed by it, thought I'd share. I thought I had a heart problem, long story short, I took an ambulance ride, had amazing and fast service from everyone, they did all tests had about 15 people working constantly on everything, and had a drop dead GORGEOUS Japanese nurse translating into perfect english for me who I TOTALLY would have asked out if I wasn't feeling like crap.......after x-rays, blood tests, EEG's whatever, etc. and everything....total cost for gaijin with no Japanese insurance or anything, $350 out the door. Unreal. It would have cost probably 20x that in the U.S., heck I've had an ambulance ride by itself cost me $500 before.
12. Convenience...it was sooo nice to go about 3 steps from our hotel room and have a vending machine with about 30 drink choices, or go downstairs to 7-11 and have actually EDIBLE pre-packaged food that is healthy, every day. I became addicted to Milk Tea and Onigiri. I thought about asking someone at 7-11 here in the states if they had Onigiri, but would probably get something like "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME???"
13. I LOVE JAPANESE GIRLS (sorry, had to say it again)
14. Capsule Machines- 200 - 300 yen ($2-3 USD) of awesome gifts or random stuff to keep yourself. There's hundreds featuring all kinds of randomness. My FAVORITE though was found at the Pokemon center (I know nothing about Pokemon, but my roommate is a huge fan)....I got a capsule from a capsule machine. Inside that capsule was a smaller capsule machine with CAPSULES INSIDE OF IT and a fully working mechanism. CAPCEPTION!!!
15. Here's the places visited:
Akihabara - Awesome place, some massive stores with 7+ levels of everything electronics, toys, books, appliances, everything...and there's also maid cafe's (silly, but fun), anime/manga stores everywhere. We visited twice, once to buy gifts at the end of our trip so we knew what we wanted to buy at the end.
Odaiba (or Daiba as some locals call it) - Toyota MegaWeb, full size Gundam, Sega Joypolis indoor arcade/theme park, Super AutoBacs, and many, many cool stores and other things to see...the whole island is filled with awesome stuff and is full of wide-open spaces which is nice compared to the crowds of the rest of Tokyo. We visited here twice also, just because there's SO MANY things to do.
Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea - Yes, we live in Florida and still visited the Tokyo parks, because the Tokyo ones are just much, much better. DisneySea is IMO one of the nicest places I've ever been to, whether you actually go on rides or not.
Mt. Takao- Went with my lovely friend Ayumi and some of her friends...went up the mountain in a "cable car" (really a train) and had 2 hours of unlimited beer and awesome japanese food, most of it fried
Tokyo Tower/Skytree - Two similar experiences, Tokyo Tower is much less busy now I think, but still fun and they have some nice stores with random crap to buy. They were having a "Highball garden" sponsored by Suntory whil we were there, but it was a few hours after we showed up. Skytree was VERY busy on the weekend, took us about 90 minutes just to get tickets...the whole place is huge with a lot of restaurants, ice cream places and upper end stores. Not sure if it's worth a 90 minute wait though...go on a weekday.
Robot Restaurant - in Kabukicho - Greatest show on earth...not really able to describe it...lots of lights, dancing, music, robots and sheer random hilarity.
Severak Kaiten Sushi places- Conveyor Belt sushi restaurants, once again VERY convenient, inexpensive and great sushi overall, love them.
16. Now to figure out how to get a bachelor's degree so I can officially move there and become an english teacher.
Link to 800+ pics and a few videos:
http://s660.photobucket.com/user/techno9991/library/?sort=3&page=1