Those of you who've been to Japan.

If you had only 5 days to spend in the country where would you go?
What would you do?

This will be a 2 person trip so no seedy suggestions

Do you need to know the language to any extent or is English fine?

you will see shoes there thay look just like dr. scholl's. do NOT, under any circumstances, purchase them and wear them on the street. they are toilet shoes.

likewise, the shoes you switch into to when you go to the can? leave them at the door, do NOT wear them out and about.

if some kindly soul offers to 'treat' you to kujira no sen, be warned - tasty though it might be it is whale penis.

drive on the LEFT hand side, not the right.

if you take the bus, pay when you get off. not before

XxAxX said:

Do the Rallys Burger joints there have a drive through, or do you have to park the car and wait to be served?

Imago said:

my friend flew in to Tokyo, knew no japanese, ended up spending the night at the airport because he couldn't make himself understood at all

You don't need Japanese for some things - many unattractive Chinese women will offer you 'Wankee Massagee' on the streets of Tokyo.

PopeLeo said:

what?!?

ZombieKitten said:

Yeah, that happens quite a bit - and a whole lot more. Well, in the seedy areas I've frequented anyway

I've been there 5 times - good friends live over there. A bit of Japanese is useful but you can get by without it if you don't stray off the beaten path too much.

PopeLeo is right. you don't need English in Tokyo at all, although you might be confused by public transport if you're an American.

Same goes for Kyoto, which is an absolute must if you are into the whole 'old Japan' thing. (Buddhist temples, shrines, samurai, geisha, etc.)

i would strongly recommend Hiroshima, but it's 5 hours away from Tokyo by bullet train.

all Japanese are forced to learn English, but most of them are pretty bad at speaking it. good luck!
[Edited 7/29/09 6:56am]

Shinjuku is pretty cool. if you have suitcases, be sure to have a map to get out of the subway station.

And be sure to take a crap at the airport. i'm sure you'll have fun playing with the settings on the bidet.

Check your orgnotes....there´s some advice for you. And tell me when you are coming over here again.

KoolEaze said:

Thanks!

Imma try to make it over there later this year if possible!






...and to the rest of some of your comments

Five days...I would say avoid Tokyo unless you have the loot to spend.

Why only 5 days? I have been in and out of Japan for 7 years now and still can't get enough.

ZombieKitten said:

It's true, mostly where ever there are a collection of foreigners you can find them.

actionthisday said:

The person I'm going with only has only 5 days and has to get back to Bangkok for a meeting. He has 3 weeks of holiday days to burn but only if the trip is delayed, which it's looking like it might be. So, we may be looking at a 10 or 12 day trip instead.

Either way, any suggestions would be great.

XxAxX said:

I'm not sure why but I don't see Imago turning down FREE WHALE PENIS... has he said he's vegan? Is FWP considered a RAW food??? SO many questions...

Imago said:

Are you looking for historial stuff or a party?

There is a region called Kinki where there are number of places of interest. Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Nara and Himeji are all in this particular district so if you are limited by time and money I would go there and avoid Tokyo. Kyoto itself and Himeji castle are a 'must-see'.

You can buy a three day train pass for the region which becomes active from the moment of purchase.

Japan is expensive, particularly if you are american.

The people are very friendly and often come up to help you if you see that you are lost.

Hostels are very nice and I particularly recommend the hostels in Kyoto and Osaka which are both clean, efficient and relatively cheap. About $20 dollars per person, per night.

I include photos of where I went here...

http://www.facebook.com/a...fe5ec84dfe

Anything else you would like to know just ask.

JDInteractive said:

awesome pics man... awesome!

JDInteractive said:

How did you take those spontaneous looking pictures like the ones in the subway train ? I mean, did you ask those people before you took those pictures or did you just do it without asking ? I would be too worried that I might upset them by just taking a pic without asking first, but then again, those are the best pictures and once you ask for permission they immediately look staged.
So, what´s your advice for taking random looking pictures of people?
Just go and "click" or do you ask first, especially in a polite country like Japan where people might find it rude when I take a pic without asking first.


By the way, those photos look great.

Are you still in South Korea right now?

I'm so jealous. I want to see the world.

whistle said:

KoolEaze said:

Normally, I would (as I think you should) ask. Sometimes, as was the case when I was in Peru and Bolivia, locals in traditional clothing will allow you to take a photo of them for a small fee. In the case of the geisha, we (my friend and I) just took the photo as they are pretty much used to it. She didn't seem to mind anyway.

I am in my second year in South Korea now, yes.

And get some sleep shades, the sun rises too damn early over there.






[Edited 8/1/09 17:06pm]

in five days? see tokyo. it's huge and it's cool. i'd definitely take the train from tokyo to kyoto for two days of that, though. the city of kyoto is absolutely packed with temples and shrines. it's a visual feast no matter where you go, and has a great train system, plus buses.

you could take the shinkansen from tokyo station to kyoto, or go the long way by local train, stopping at villages along the coast. which is actually kinda neat.

stay at a ryokan, if you can afford to, and go on a big long walking tour of kyoto. stop in at any of the many coffe shops and tea houses don't miss ryoanji
and the heian shrine

Imago said:

no, it's the 'Sacred Cow Burger' that has the drive through. I think Rallys only has walk-up windows

Thanks all.
Kyoto is a must I see.

I've got a CD on learning Japanese that might help.
The trip is being delayed
But that means we'll have possible 10 to 12 days to play instead.

Thanks all.