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| Pollyanna 1462th Post
 
Red Carpet Executive Member
    
    
    
    
|  "Re(2):Another gaijin touching down in Asia" , posted Sun 9 Oct 05:48
Goddamn Akihabara!
Well, ask yourself this: Am I an uncurable geek?
If the answer is yes, then by all means, spend three days in Akihabara, because that is your Shangri-la, you pathetic, dirty nerd.
Otherwise, I would say (unless you live there, go there all the time, or are Iggy) you can't go wrong in Tokyo. Well...I guess lots of things could go wrong in Roppongi. Will you be there on a Sunday? I always recommend Yoyogi Park on a Sunday. It's next to a nice temple, too.
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| Maese Spt
28th Post
Rare Customer
| "things to do in Edo" , posted Sun 9 Oct 06:51
quote:
Goddamn Akihabara!
Well, ask yourself this: Am I an uncurable geek?
If the answer is yes, then by all means, spend three days in Akihabara, because that is your Shangri-la, you pathetic, dirty nerd.
I couldn´t agree more. If your real interest on Japan is otaku culture (i.e., if you are a nerd who only cares about anime, manga and videogames and doesn´t give a damn about culture, traditional arts, history and such), Akihabara is paradise on earth. You could explore its streets for weeks and yet you would discover new places and unexpected items every now and then.
But if you also want to know a bit about the country, well, I guess Tokyo can be a great place with a lot of thing to do and to view. You can get a glimpse of the multiple faces of the actual Japan by only visiting Tokyo, if you know where to search.
A walk around Shinjuku´s skyscrapers is a must. Ueno park and its surrounding area is very nice too. It has museums, promenades, edokko people and some temples and shrines, including the little known Tokugawa Toshogu, where you can see Ieyasu´s famous golden armour, the haori he wore on Sekigahara and stuff like that. A charming visit, indeed. And if you´re visiting Tokyo in a weekend, Harajuku and Yoyogi park deserve a look too. Perhaps you could try out the Imperial Palace gardens as well, the wiew of the old Edo castle walls is most impressive.
And, when night falls, the whole city changes, so every place offers a noteworthy view. Small shopping districts such as Okachimachi become specially charming.
But in my opinion Iggy has a point too: the best thing of Tokyo is that is very near to other much more interesting places such as Nikko or Kamakura. Actually, if I had to spend only 3 days in Japan, I would go to Kyoto instead. Then again, what do I know, I´m a jidaimono geek after all.
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months"
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| Iggy 7326th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
     
| "Re(4):Another gaijin touching down in Asia" , posted Sun 9 Oct 07:04
Maese Spt is right : I forgot Kamakura was near. Wait, I don't remember : is it THAT near ?
Oh well. At least Kamakura has my scolar-nerd seal of approval ; a few elements of decent History remain there.
The other problems being : how much do you know about Japanese History ? I know I was in Kyôto when I didn't know what a bakufu was, and all those temples just looked the same to me, and I got bored pretty quickly (while now I would be all "OMG this where Kenreimon In Ukyô no Daibu retired thiz is teh best place ever WTF OMG"). So if you don't know much, maybe the Yasukuni Jinja can be right what you're looking for (and it's in Tôkyô).
Another point : how many times have you been in Japan ? If it's your first time, then simply walking around in Tôkyô can be enough (Yoyogi and so on). After all, it's still Tôkyô, not Nagoya.
quote:
Good lord, I thought we had had enough "get to know you" posts here for people to have sorted out all the gender confusions.
Oh, come on.
Remember you are on a gay review site, and if there's a thing gay reviewers enjoy even more than gay reviews, it's knowing if the person they are talking to is do-able, even if the person is 8 hours of plane away.
ねんがんの ７０００をてにいれたぞ！
そう かんけいないね
=> 殺してでもうばいとる
ゆずってくれ たのむ！！
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| EternalNewbie
198th Post
Regular Customer
| "Re(7):Another gaijin touching down in Asia" , posted Sun 9 Oct 10:23
Well, Akihabara is kinda fun, but I don't see spending a whole 3 days around there. Is it just me, or has Akihabara gone down in quaility the past few years? Other places I would say.... Harajuku is fun for crepes and really crazy fashion. Ueno is also pretty nice. Personally, I also like Ikebukuro, but maybe that is because that is where I always stay whenever I'm not bummin' at friends' places over there. Basically, Pollyanna's last post sums it up nicely. Asakusa is good if you want to buy "cultural" gifts for anyone you know that likes the classical side of Japan. The subway system isn't that scary, especially when compared to the subways of like New York. Now that's sketchy! Kamakura isn't that far away also, so you might want to check that out. Yokohama has some entertaining mini-theme park stuff going down there as well as a kinda board walkish feel to some parts of it. Roppongi is the place for gaijin night clubs if you are into the night club seen. So, the morale of this story is, you got lots of places to see, don't limit yourself to Akihabara. You freakin' Akibake!
EternalNewbie:
The Einherjar Hachitoushi -- The 8 Warriors of the Ragnarok Plan
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| Grahf 420th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(1):Another gaijin touching down in Asia" , posted Wed 12 Oct 15:57
Waah! I know I'm too late, but I just got back from Thailand myself. If you're able to check the bbs while you're there, remember this about Bangkok: do not trust the Tuk-tuk drivers. They're fun to use and really cheap for shorter distances, but they will (like almost everyone else in Thailand) try to screw you over. Only use them if you know exactly where you want to go, and don't let them take you anywhere else. Don't take their "tours" either. If you let them, they will just take you to a bunch of shops and bars where they receive some kind of commision for bringing confused foreigners. Also, be sure you have some sort of guidebook or something that will tell you when the temples and stuff close. People will often tell you that some attraction is closed already to get you to go somewhere else.
By the way, where are you going in Thailand? I was just in Bangkok and Pattaya. Bangkok is very cool, and if you're going there, be sure to see a Muay Thai match -- it's quite an experience. Pattaya is probably the most sinful place on earth, and crashing jet skis is a big hassle. Still lots of fun.
Oh, and I second just about everything people said about Tokyo.
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