We're going to Japan!

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I told @stepee I'm make this thread to help him out some for his trip next spring. We're going Oct 7-29. Flying to Osaka and spending 6 nights there, then 2 weeks in Tokyo. While in Osaka, we'll be doing day trips to Hiroshima and Kyoto, also Nara Park. We've got tickets for Universal Studios in Osaka.

 

Early this morning, we reserved our spots for the Kirby Cafe in Tokyo. I'm sure stepee will be interested in going there. The things to note is that reservations for the following month become available on the 10th the month prior at 1800 Japan time. Which meant we had to be ready to reserve at 0400 this morning. The entire month was reserved in under 6 minutes, so you have to be ready to book at soon at the time hits. The site was smooth and we didn't encounter any issues. Only possible hang up is you have to give  your name in Katakana, so have that done beforehand. Husband basically had all the needed info on a notepad and he just copy/pasted into the fields real quick.

 

We aren't paying for lodging, which made the decision to stay 3 weeks easy. Going with 2 of his best friends, one of whom retired from AirBnB earlier this year and had a ton of credits to use as part of his benefits package. Both places we're staying look nice. Can't wait to try out the Kotatsu.

 

Anyway, I'll update this thread as a go along, but I figured it'd get it started for now. I seriously cannot wait. It's going to be my biggest vacation ever and my first international trip. I'm counting down the days!

[Biggie]

Imagine all the video game stuff you’ll purchase there. Have fun!

[stepee]

Good call on the Kirby cafe reservation! 

[Nokra]

Your first international trip? That's surprising to me, but I'm excited for you! What a great first choice!

[CastlevaniaNut18]

36 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Imagine all the video game stuff you’ll purchase there. Have fun!

Oh, my god, I’m gonna bring back so much Kirby shit alone. 

12 minutes ago, stepee said:

Good call on the Kirby cafe reservation! 

Yeah, they don’t do walk-ins, so if you don’t get that reservation in, no dice. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

10 minutes ago, Nokra said:

Your first international trip? That's surprising to me, but I'm excited for you! What a great first choice!

I’d actually planned for the UK to be my first international trip, but Covid screwed with our timeline. But we’re doing that next year. 
 

I never saw any big US cities as a kid, aside from Memphis and Atlanta. So I spent the last several years catching up on a lot of that. 

[Biggie]

I’ve never really wanted to travel anywhere. But I have always wanted to visit Japan. It’s the one exception. Post pictures!

[CastlevaniaNut18]

11 minutes ago, Biggie said:

I’ve never really wanted to travel anywhere. But I have always wanted to visit Japan. It’s the one exception. Post pictures!

Definitely will.

[TUFKAK]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

Imagine all the video game stuff you’ll purchase there. Have fun!

I spent like a grand in Super Potato in Akihabara.

 

@CastlevaniaNut18 learn from me, take a big backpack, I had to carry way too much shit in my arms.

[ThreePi]

If you need any advice or suggestions feel free to ask! Japan has been my yearly vacation since 2014 (minus the covid years) and last visited back in March for the World Baseball Classic.

[TUFKAK]

10 minutes ago, ThreePi said:

If you need any advice or suggestions feel free to ask! Japan has been my yearly vacation since 2014 (minus the covid years) and last visited back in March for the World Baseball Classic.

Back me up and tell her to go to a fish market! I only went to Nishiki but I spent hours there.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

1 hour ago, TUFKAK said:

I spent like a grand in Super Potato in Akihabara.

 

@CastlevaniaNut18 learn from me, take a big backpack, I had to carry way too much shit in my arms.

I got myself a nice backpack, should be plenty for each day at least. 

26 minutes ago, ThreePi said:

If you need any advice or suggestions feel free to ask! Japan has been my yearly vacation since 2014 (minus the covid years) and last visited back in March for the World Baseball Classic.

I’ll take any food recs. We’re staying here in Tokyo, dunno if you’re at all familiar with that area. 

Access Denied

WWW.AIRBNB.COM

 

[ThreePi]

12 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

Back me up and tell her to go to a fish market! I only went to Nishiki but I spent hours there.

 

I went to Tsukiji when it was still around and got to sample some tuna scraped straight off the bone of a fresh fish. Though it was during the middle of the day, so I didn't get to see the auctions and a lot of the vendors in the inner market had closed up. This year I did swing by Toyosu, but only to the restaurant area for a quick bite because I had tickets for the FFX Kabuki show at a nearby theater.

[ThreePi]

2 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

I got myself a nice backpack, should be plenty for each day at least. 

I’ll take any food recs. We’re staying here in Tokyo, dunno if you’re at all familiar with that area. 

Access Denied

WWW.AIRBNB.COM

 

 

I would typically stay in Bunkyo, near the Tokyo Dome which is south of your Airbnb, don't think I've ever really went further north than Ueno. Food recs are tough because there are more restaurants in Japan than seems to logically make sense. It's kind of an analysis paralysis issue, but a good rule of thumb is just find the restaurants that have a line forming outside of them.

[Keyser_Soze]

I've never been so I don't have much to add. Hope you have a good time.

 

I would like to go some day.

[Fizzzzle]

Japan is somewhere everyone should visit at least once, I'm glad you're getting the opportunity.

[best3444]

I have always wanted to see Tokyo. I'll never have money to go on vacation lol

[Slug]

You get to go to Monster Hunter park!  Kick ass!

[Biggie]

Will you be dressing up in cos-play?

[CastlevaniaNut18]

8 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Will you be dressing up in cos-play?

Hell, nah. 
 

Got a Kirby shirt imma wear to the cafe, tho. 

[gamer.tv]

17 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

I’d actually planned for the UK to be my first international trip, but Covid screwed with our timeline. But we’re doing that next year. 
 

I never saw any big US cities as a kid, aside from Memphis and Atlanta. So I spent the last several years catching up on a lot of that. 

Sure you know what you’re doing RE: UK, but if you’ve got any questions, happy to help 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

8 hours ago, gamer.tv said:

Sure you know what you’re doing RE: UK, but if you’ve got any questions, happy to help 

I’ll start planning that out after Japan, but I was thinking next fall. Is that a decent time to go concerning the weather? I wanted to get England, Wales and Scotland in during a two week trip. 

[ThreePi]

I should probably mention this. If you intend to go to the Ghibli Museum you need to buy tickets now. Not this weekend, not in a couple days, but right now. It's not a very big place, so there's limited entry every day. Tickets go on sale on the 10th the month before (so tickets for Oct went on sale two days ago) and frequently sell out. Looking at l-tike, all the weekends in October are sold out already.

[Fizzzzle]

On 9/10/2023 at 5:25 PM, ThreePi said:

 

I went to Tsukiji when it was still around and got to sample some tuna scraped straight off the bone of a fresh fish. Though it was during the middle of the day, so I didn't get to see the auctions and a lot of the vendors in the inner market had closed up. This year I did swing by Toyosu, but only to the restaurant area for a quick bite because I had tickets for the FFX Kabuki show at a nearby theater.

I went to Tsukiji once. We meant to go really early in the morning when they still have all the good shit but we got way too drunk the night before and didn't get there until like 9am

 

Pretty much my life story the entire time I lived in Japan, tbh... "Meant to do that, but got drunk..."

[Keyser_Soze]

You'll have to go back in March so you can see the Nintendo Museum

 

[TwinIon]

My wife and I spent 3 weeks in Japan over the summer and had a really great time. I threw up some of my photos if anyone's interested. (I've only just put the site together so the domains are a little messy at the moment, but it should work)

 

We spent a week in Tokyo, before heading south, stopping by Kamakura and Mt. Fuji before spending another week in Kyoto. We only spent a day in Osaka, so I don't have a ton of insight there. We circled back to Tokyo by going up to Kanazawa and taking the Alpine-Takayama-Matsumoto Pass before flying all the way up to the northern part of Hokkaido to see some wildlife for the last week.

 

It was a wonderful trip and a beautiful country. I have some random thoughts that may or may not apply. If you want to see the royal palace, I heard it's not much, but it's not open every day, so check beforehand if you want to go inside. We went up a few of the view points and I think the Shibuya Sky was probably the best, and that's an area with a lot to check out around it. Golden Gai is a unique spot, but it's become a real tourist trap. The bartenders we talked to said it wasn't long ago that their business was 10% tourists and 90% locals, and now it's flipped. It's still worth checking out if you want to experience it. I definitely enjoyed the day trip to Kamakura from Tokyo. Nice temples, big Buddah, and I liked seeing all the black kites, even if the locals see them as a nuisance.

 

We made pretty good use of the rail pass, though even with our constant use I think it was close to not being worth it. It also was a mild pain to use at times since the visitor rail pass doesn't scan like normal tickets, so we often had to show it to someone to get through. If you have a bunch of luggage and are taking a Shinkansen (bullet train) it's very worthwhile to book a seat in the reserved section, even though you don't have to (no extra charge). Getting around via trains was easy with Google Maps, but it wasn't cheap by any means. I think we spent a similar amount getting around Japan by rail as we did renting a car and paying for gas in Europe (Italy, Switzerland, Germany).

 

We were told that "Fuji-san is a shy mountain," so unless you hang out in the area for a few days there's a good chance you won't get a clear view. We only scheduled one day and got lucky, but I'm sure it also depends on time of year.

 

If you're in Osaka and only making day trips to Kyoto, there are a lot of options for temples and things to see. One that I'll call out is the "moss temple" because it requires a reservation. You have to send them a post card to get one, which we had our hotel in the area do for us. They only let in a small group of visitors at a time and then you have to do some silent calligraphy and then you're allowed to walk around the grounds. It's a very zen experience if that's what you're looking for. I also enjoyed walking up the mountain to see the monkeys but was left unimpressed by the bamboo forest. I also didn't care as much for the shrine with all the arches, and you have to be there really early (or late) to get a good photo without a ton of people, which I didn't feel motivated for. We easily could have spent more time in Kanazawa, which felt like a slightly more relaxed Kyoto, but it's a long way from Osaka for a day trip.

 

We stayed at a few ryokan and onsen hotels and they vary wildly, so do plenty research when booking. Our first hotel in Tokyo was an ultra-modern ryokan that was amazing. The Hoshinoya brand hotels were really great if you're splurging on hotels. Very cool blend of classic and contemporary Japan. We booked one hotel in Hokkaido that didn't have a shower in the room, because everyone just uses the onsen (hot spring). We didn't realize that until we were there, so that was a bit of a surprise. On the bright side, we got to see the biggest owl in the world, which made me quite happy.

 

My wife is gluten intolerant, which was quite a hassle in Japan. I'll spare details unless someone is interested, but if you're traveling with anyone that has a similar dietary restriction, you need to do a lot of planning on where to eat.

 

We made a reservation to eat at the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo to have that "Lost in Translation" experience, and it was good, but really pricey. It also felt very much like New York, in the decor, service, and the food (this is quite purposeful, but still worth mentioning). We watched the movie right after and it's amazing how little has changed. The interior looks exactly like it did in the movie.

 

If it's raining, don't bother with buying a good umbrella. Our hotels usually provided one, but when they didn't or we were traveling, we'd just buy a clear one for 300 yen or so at any random shop. They're all the same, people mix them up all the time, and they're everywhere.

 

I'll look up our notes and find some specific Tokyo food recommendations, though I think it's hard to go wrong.

 

Hope all the travelers have a great trip!

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Can anyone give me a good answer to this? I have a few people who are requesting I bring back some sake for them. I know you can bring back alcohol, but I'm a bit lost as to how much and if  you have to pay taxes on it when you get back to the states, etc.

[Jason]

3 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Can anyone give me a good answer to this? I have a few people who are requesting I bring back some sake for them. I know you can bring back alcohol, but I'm a bit lost as to how much and if  you have to pay taxes on it when you get back to the states, etc.

 

Just declare it when you're coming back into the US. The alcohol import duties are very low for beer and wine (it's a good bit higher liquor or fortified wine), low enough that they probably won't even make you pay it on something like a dozen bottles of wine or beer. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Just now, Jason said:

 

Just declare it when you're coming back into the US. The alcohol import duties are very low for beer and wine (it's a good bit higher liquor or fortified wine), low enough that they probably won't even make you pay it on a dozen bottles of wine or beer. 

Wait, does sake count as a wine or liquor?

[Jason]

Just now, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Wait, does sake count as a wine or liquor?

 

Should count as wine. 

[TUFKAK]

3 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Can anyone give me a good answer to this? I have a few people who are requesting I bring back some sake for them. I know you can bring back alcohol, but I'm a bit lost as to how much and if  you have to pay taxes on it when you get back to the states, etc.

I’ve brought back 10 bottles and have never had to declare.

[Jason]

1 minute ago, TUFKAK said:

I’ve brought back 10 bottles and have never had to declare.

 

You're supposed to declare for anything over a liter, but like I said they probably won't bother making you pay if it's not liquor or fortified wine. 

[Fizzzzle]

Just don't declare it, banking on the fact that there's a 99.9% chance they won't search your shit. If they do and bust you, just say "whoops, my bad," and it won't be that bad.

 

#shittylifeprotips

[Keyser_Soze]

13 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

Just don't declare it, banking on the fact that there's a 99.9% chance they won't search your shit. If they do and bust you, just say "whoops, my bad," and it won't be that bad.

 

#shittylifeprotips

 

#LifeInPrison

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Left my dog at my parents' yesterday. That was pretty crushing. I went to leave and she was all hyped up, wanting to hop in the truck and my mom had to hold her back. I wanted to cry. But my dad said she's doing well today. Hopefully she adjusts okay. They love her and she's gonna get even more spoiled there.

 

 

Ready for tomorrow! Wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight.