Going to Japan
 

Well I am going to Japan next week with my wife for two weeks for vacation and visiting my brother in law and his wife who are there in the Air Force.

Who has been? What should we see? We will be down in Tokyo the last 3-4 days of our trip during Golden Week I hear that is something to see as well.

We are going to an Indy race while we are there, and we are doing a trip around Tokyo in a cessna as well.

Since alot of you seem to be world travellers where should we go and what should we see?

Daikoku parking facility, or the various rest stops around the Wangan 8 highway, or the C1 inner or outer loop highway at around 1 am. That's if you love cars, of course :thumbsup

My brother in law does that drafting or whatever its called where they basically go around the track sideways. He goes up into the mountains somewhere and thats where they race.

Man, your going to have one hell of a time there :thumbsup I want to go one day

Japan is great - just make sure you take enough money with you and some of your credit cards...-> very expencive

The good thing is we are staying with my brother in law so we dont have expensive hotel rooms or anything. Actually the hotel we are staying at in downtown tokyo is a military hotel and the rooms are only like $40 a night and its supposed to be pretty nice.

We are definitely looking forward to it, so far things dont seem too bad, as far as prices, I think the advantage is the military connection, he gets things cheaper :)

Andy

i really want to go...very badly. I have always wanted to go to China too. I am thinking of aiming for the olympics and doing a bit of a Pacific tour. Though, I would happily go before hand.

http://www.xsitespinner.com/chipan.jpg

YARGH! I loved the country, but the people be fruity fruits. YARGH! they couldn't speak English! I stabbed a bunch with me Samurai sword. Thankfully Theo found some girls to wax me mast.


AHOY! Me Squidly Squids!

Have fun !! And remember to take plenty of pic's to post up on here :thumbsup

have fun.....

on the plus side you could make a killing in the sushi buisness

Go to Shibuya to see the most busy intersection in the world ( over a million people a day cross there ) and for Great shopping..

Got to Shinjuku then to Kabuki-Cho - that is where it will be real fun, it is the sex industry capital for Japan.. fun to sit and watch the Yakuza controlling the young guys in nice suits all wanting to be a Yakuza some day and all of them trying to get every girl they see to work for them.. I sat and had a beer and watched this for hours!

Akihabera - this is the Tech zone of Tokyo, and has a one mile strip 4 blocks wide of all electronics!

Something more traditional. go walk around the Emperors palace down town, it is Cherry Blossom season, just simply stunning!

Jim? Is that you, hon? If so, I'd love to chat. Let me know if you're going to Montreal.

I lived in Japan for five years and travel their frequently. It's a blast.

Japan is beautiful during cherry blossom season, although I have to warn you that traveling around during Golden Week can be a bitch. Most of the country is on vacation and on the move - crowded trains and sidewalks like you wouldn't believe.

You're lucky that you already have relatives living there, since they should be able to guide you to the tourista areas as well as to less traveled interesting places.

A great value is to buy a Japan Rail Pass and then to hop on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to some of Japan's other large cities. Personally, as a visitor, I found Kyoto (and nearby Nara) to be the most beautiful city.

The temples and other sights there are magnificent. If you are mostly going to be in the Tokyo area, then the Asakusa (Sensoji) and Kamakura temples are good photo op destinations.

Sunday afternoon in Harajuku is pretty fun - you can check out the Meiji shrine, but don't miss the thousands of kids hanging in the park either if you want to get a glimpse of modern Japanese fashion stylistas.

As others mentioned Shibuya (as well as Roppongi) are great fashion and shopping areas, while Akihabara is the place to go for everthing electronic, and yes, Shinjuku is the main sex emporium area for tourists (finding a live sex show is not hard).

You mentioned an Indy race (more likely an F1 race), that should be cool. If it is at Fuji Highlands, then you may be able to experience a hot springs bath while you are there too.

Japan is a very safe place to visit for foreigners. It is mostly American friendly as well - many people speak some English, and most train stations, etc have signs in Romanji (English characters).

There is tons of good info on the net, or you should be able to get a good guide book from your local bookstore.

Finally, take lots of money. Japan is a very expensive country to travel in. You can cut corners here and there, but since you are only going to be there a short time and will likely want to absorb as much as you can, it may get expensive.

Well, have fun and take lots of pictures/video (the Cessna trip should be pretty amazing). Be sure to share your experiences when you return.

ADG Webmaster

Thanks for all the info, yeah we are taking a good chunk of change with us, and I know my brother in law has a lot of stuff planned and I wont even begin to know what/where we are going. I know we are staying downtown during Golden Week and was told you can walk pretty much to everything fun around there.

They also mentioned taking the bullet train out of town and such. Being they are like 1 1/2 hrs I believe from what I will call downtown tokyo we wont be there the whole time, but we plan on checking out many bars, restaurants, temples etc.

I am not a big race fan but i hear its a distance from the Air Force Base there, at least a couple hours. Sports are always fun live no matter if you are into them or not, i don't dislike racing but just never watch it.

I went and bought a book with a map published in 2004 that was all about Tokyo and has restaurant info, site seeing info, shopping info etc.They have lived there for 5 years going on 6 so I am sure they know quite a bit (his wife has lived there for like 10 years).

We are really pumped and will definitely share pictures, only thing we are not looking forward to is the 13+ hr flight to get there and back :)

Andy

Dude, you're everywhere.

Something I do when I'm planning a visit to a different time zone is to start sleeping in the other time zone a few days before traveling. This enables me to shake off the effects quicker and enjoy my trip more.

The same with your flight over there. If staying awake to watch the inflight movies, or have the crappy airlines food is going to mess up your travel clock, pack your own food, bring a sleep mask, earplugs, and zone out (too bad for the other passengers that I snore like a lumberjack).

http://home.student.uu.se/jojo3301/N...lane_sleep.jpg

ADG Webmaster

Trying to get thru the subway without speaking japanese or being able to read it is a big mistake!! MAKE SURE U GO WITH SOMEONE WHO KNOWS AND SPEAKS THE LANGUAGE

Practically all subways have station signs in English, plus there is a graphical map in every car. Additionally, they make an announcement of what station you are at with every stop. It's not that hard.

http://www.urbanresidue.com/subway/Image19.jpg

ADG Webmaster

Expect tolose some weight.

im in Korea right now..down about 8 pounds...feels great


whats up with fish on a stick

good luck!

The Japanese sure know their cars. :thumbsup

Have a nice Trip!!! :thumbsup

Have a safe trip. :)

Man I wanna head to Japan... have fun

This is one cool pic Chio. :1orglaugh

I hope you guys have a great time...That's on my list of places to see... :thumbsup

Japan's awesome! Go to Osaka if you get the chance. The people are awesome. Also: Hanagai, baby!!!!!!! blocks and blocks of little 'huts' with women for sale and Yakusa in big American cars. Plus, rarely any gaijin. It was one of the few places I was told was unsafe to go by local Japanese, so of course I went...

I will be there with my wife so I wont be visiting any places with women for sale :)

Thanks for all the info so far though I am jotting this all down and giving it to my brother in law who, since he lives there, can tell me what is doable and what isnt with the travelling. He has to lug us around to all these places :)

http://www.twinring.jp/english/event...pan/index.html

That is the race we are going to in Japan, at Twin Motegi raceway.

Have a great trip!

Thanks we leave in like 3 days! Can't wait, charging up the camcorder batteries and getting the digicam ready :)

enjoy your vacation there buddy.