The Japan Trip Resource Thread!

[EJG1980]

Everyone's going for longer than me! But at least I'm going I'll treat this year as a test trip, then hopefully I can go for longer next year and see more than just Tokyo.

[Ben-K]

The whole street music thing sounds brilliant. How do you find out when people are playing, or is it just luck, like busking? Does it happen during the day or at night?

If I'm only heading over for two weeks would you say it'd be worth spending a night in Osaka at some point, or would the travelling be too much for such a short visit?

[Zanza]

The street music in Japan is ace, usualy the groups are all really good bands who are just looking to get some exposure and sell afew cd's. It is abit like busking, but without any money being given to the performers, they all do it for free. In Osaka you can catch quite afew acts outside the Osaka Castle Station (can't remember the name of it), not quite sure where you can find them in Tokyo, but I would guess Harajuku. I'm sure someone else can shead some light on other locations too.

Osaka is an amazing city, I prefer it to Tokyo (Den Den Town > Akihabara), it would be well worth spending a night or two in Osaka, plus you would get to ride the bullet train \o/. It takes about 2 hours to get there depending on which bullet train you take, costing about ?100-150 (return) depending on where you get the tickets from. Although if you do plan on going to the Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe) it would be a shame to miss out on Kyoto, which I would say is a hell of a more interesting sight than Osaka (which you may find not too dissimilar to Tokyo). The bullet train atually stops at Kyotos main station, and if you wanted to then go to Osaka, a train from Kyoto to Osaka takes about 30 minuites.

[smallvillex]

Fellas, keep the info coming...

[mementoman]

On my first trip to Japan (back in Oct 2003) we came out of Osaka station and could hear some good music coming from somewhere. We eventually realised it was coming form the overpass and a band called ' Back Biter' were setup and playing on the overpass above our heads. There were various other bands and singers all set up on the streets around here - I think it was a Friday night.

I also would definitely recommend a trip to Osaka - the Yodobashi Umeda store is a site to behold (about 200 varities of everything they sell!) although the fairly recently opened one in Akihabara is pretty similar. The Electric Town in Osaka is also probably better than Aki in my opinion too - definitely for older (NES, SNES etc) stuff.

If you plan to travel around a Japan Rail Pass is the thing to go for - it's only around ?150 for a 1 week pass on all JR trains so pays for itself nearly if all you make is a return trip from Tokyo to Kyoto/Osaka.

Only 6 months until I go back and this time I will be checking out the TGS

[smallvillex]

..how many people are going to be at the TGS?

[EJG1980]

Thousands! I hear it's a pretty big event

Sorry, couldn't resist the opportunity to make a crap joke

[smallvillex]

Let me rephrase that....

How many people from the forum are going to TGS

Sorry fellas...

[dave heats]

Its all about Osaka fella's. If youre in Japan for more than 2 weeks come here. You wont regret it. Osaka people are a thousand times friendlier than their tokyo-ite counterparts, and also alot more outspoken! Getting here is a bit of a pain if youre on a schedule i guess. But im here for another 6months+ so i cant comment. I must admit, i didnt realise how expensive the bullet train was until i bought the ticket. admittedly i bought the most expensive 'nozomi' express ticket but still...?80 one way..
But yeah, i love it here. tokyo can be an extremely alienating place at times (see some of my posts back earlier in this thread.). osaka is the complete opposite. happiest and most social people you could hope to meet in japan, with cheaper prices and slightly less crowded trains (sometimes >_<).
theres one bad thing about osaka though...a complete lack of decent parks. theyre all over the place in tokyo.

[smallvillex]

What's the gaming scene like in Osaka? As long as there as shops for me to buy buy buy....i'll be on my way...

[EJG1980]

I'll have to check out Osaka if I get another chance to go to Japan in 2007. I think I might be pushing it trying to fit in a day trip to Osaka when I'm only gonna have four and a half days for doing stuff this year And two of those are going on the TGS!

[Darwock]

It's all relative Dave, I had an experience I wouldn't want to repeat when I went to Osaka (covered earlier in the thread, but I was basically stranded in the city at night with no cash).

It was nothing to do with the people there but I saw some frrrrreaky things that made Tokyo seem like a very homely & reassuring place in comparison. Started with some drunk guy smashing a sign outside of a club and getting hauled down some alley by two heavies, never to return. I saw a girl coming out of a place handcuffed to a male... escort... this guy was dressed in some kind of one-piece body suit and had like a baby hat on his head, there were loads of scary guys in basketball gear hanging around with what looked like caucasian prostitutes from the eastern bloc, coming and going constantly. Very unusual.

[dave heats]

dude...theres a place called 'den den town' (its actually an area called nipponbashi but w/e). its insane (its where im gonna look for your hardware/games ). arcades are everywhere. its just like tokyo's gaming scene i guess. shame i dont play games much these days :'(

[smallvillex]

I've heard of that place. If i come i'd want to spend at least two weeks in Japan. I want to see the sights as well as go to every video games shop i can find...

[Darwock]

dude...theres a place called 'den den town'

Yeah I know I was there, but there's more to these cities than shopping districts. The above weirdness was all witnessed in Amemura by the way.