Anyone been to Japan?

[serious14]

Was there in February for the Roos game - ignore Clarky81's ramblings - if you're on the morning flight out of Sydney, you're at the Gold Coast for just under 2 hours, and if you can't sit still and read a book for that time then you've something wrong with you.

The aircraft you'll be on is an Airbus A340, configured into 2-4-2 seating, with about 175% the leg room of a domestic flight (it doesn't sound like much, but for what you're paying, it will do nicely).  Pre-order the comfort kit when you book the flight, that way you'll get a blanket and a nice little inflatable pillow.

When you land at Narita, you've got a few options for getting into town - the best one is entirely dependent on where you're staying, but trust me when I say DO NOT TAKE A TAXI.  They equate to about $9 a kilometre, and even when they are not moving the meter ticks over.  There's enough train options to get you to where you want to go.

The following are must do's:

Shibuya Crossing and the surrounding shops
Harajuku on a Sunday
Shinjuku Station at any time of day - utter madness - and the area's nightlife
Akihibara, for the tech. gear about 3 years ahead of our time
The national park surrounding Mt. Fuji
The fish markets

What tyler said about the JR Pass is entirely correct as well.  If you're travelling around Japan proper, get it ahead of time because you CANNOT buy it in the country.  If you're just sticking to Tokyo and Yokohama, then you're fine with tickets on the day.

Anything else you want to know, just ask.  ;D

P.S.  Avoid Sake, that shit is naaaaaaaaaaasty. 

 

[mariners4ever]

The following are must do's:

Shibuya Crossing and the surrounding shops
Harajuku on a Sunday
Shinjuku Station at any time of day - utter madness - and the area's nightlife
Akihibara, for the tech. gear about 3 years ahead of our time
The national park surrounding Mt. Fuji
The fish markets

thanks for the info serious, what do you mean by the tech, can you buy it or do you mean the tech that they use ??? if i wanna go to mt fuji, would you reccomend going on a tour ???

 

[serious14]

By tech. I mean "they have devices that are years ahead of what we use" - and yes, you can buy it.  Not sure if it would work here though, but it's good to see what the Daily Telegraph will be calling "fresh and innovative" in 3 years time.

For Fuji, it's entirely up to you.  You can get a JR train to Odawara, then hop on the mountain railway train to Hakone-Tozan.  From there you've got a few options - walking, cable car, vernicular railway.  The cable car that ends up near the hot springs and sulfur mines of Sounzan is where I got all those photo's of a clouded Fuji and the snow that dropped whilst I was there.  Once you're done up top, you just get the cable car down to the lake, then get a bus back to Odawara station and the subsequent train back to Tokyo.  You can comfortably do all that (and a side trip to Kamakura if that interests you) in a day if you leave Tokyo around 7am.

There are also direct buses that run from Shinjuku Station to the Fuji National Park area.  As I understand it, these get you a lot closer to the mountain proper, although I don't think it's open for climbing when you are there.  Trust me though, seeing it is more than enough, it is _huge_.

 

[mariners4ever]

By tech. I mean "they have devices that are years ahead of what we use" - and yes, you can buy it.  Not sure if it would work here though, but it's good to see what the Daily Telegraph will be calling "fresh and innovative" in 3 years time.

For Fuji, it's entirely up to you. 

thanks, would it be cheap ??? will be looking to do a tour for mt fujin as it also includes a bullet train ride back

 

[serious14]

Depends what sort of tech. you're after - 'older model' (to them anyway, some of them still don't exist here) phones are cheap because it's a very East Asian thing to have the latest model of everything, so a lot of them sell "last year's model" so they can have this years one, and to counteract this a lot of places make last year's model ludicrously cheap.

MP3 players are beyond stupidly cheap.  As is anything resembling a computer part or any sort of car accessory.

 

[mariners4ever]

Depends what sort of tech. you're after - 'older model' (to them anyway, some of them still don't exist here) phones are cheap because it's a very East Asian thing to have the latest model of everything, so a lot of them sell "last year's model" so they can have this years one, and to counteract this a lot of places make last year's model ludicrously cheap.

MP3 players are beyond stupidly cheap.  As is anything resembling a computer part or any sort of car accessory.

thanks, but would they work over here

 

[Honkee]

Thanks for the info Serious.

Hopefully a can catch an acl game while im over there, I know its a very slim chance and it will only be Adelaide or Melbourne playing, but hey, I will support an Aussie team whenever I get the chance.

Thanks again people

 

[MattSimon]

When will you be taking porn orders Honkee?