Chance Of A Lifetime, TOKYO, JAPAN HERE I COME!!

General General Discussion
1

Greetings Comrad’s…

Yes I am still in the elusive hunt for my own “HOLY GRAIL”, i.e. my 1st AR… was actually on the verge of ordering my BCM, but as chance would have it… a different opportunity “has” arose…

life has a funny way of flipping things on ya…

went from the KNOW NOTHING of the subject of AR’s read:quality guns, WINK, layed off for over a year, broke as a JOKE, recently married, scrappin pennies just to get by… BUT NEVER GIVING UP HOPE, applying to dozens and dozens of jobs every week AFTER week, to basically my current standpoint…

I leave for TOkyo, Japan tomorrow, probably be out there for like 2-3 weeks… no real plans… just living it up to the max… and the realization of a lifelong obsession(only matched by my love of FINE WEAPONRY)

I will probably catch some serious HEAT for this next statement and I’ll be the first to admit, I deserve it and then some…

Obviously I’m going to lose my job…i.e. the recent job that I landed that allowed for this glorious trip and the same job that has in the 90 days that I held it… boosted my original budget for my AR project, by 3 times…

BUT in the free spirt and nature that allowed this great country to be built… I say F*dge IT, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!! right?

anyways to the point of this whole post…

My plan is to FREESTYLE the entire trip, i.e. no real plans or options…

but at the same time, NEVER HAVING done something like this… I was looking for some ideas and suggestions…

i.e. what to do, what to eat, places to go…

I’m sure some of you here… i.e my peers and mentors here… I’m sure have traveled outside of the good OL’. USA

So have at it gentleman…

SEND ME YOUR EXPERIENCES and TIPS and ADVISE on how to MAXIMIZE this once in a lifetime opportunity!!

let me know!!

thanks in advance!

with much RESPECT!!

peace

oNe

p.s. YOU BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR I WILL ORDER MY BCM COMPLETE the 2nd I get back!! and also OBVIOUSLY begin the job hunt anew!

2

Stay home and learn some responsibility.

Tokyo is great fun. I was there in Sept for a couple of days and 2 weeks in Japan. Not my first time. Tokyo is not going anywhere. Stay home and wait for your dream trip when you can really afford it and have some vacation time saved up.

I am not trying to be a dick. Just a voice of reason.

3

Ill be the voice of stupidity…buy a rail pass and start from one end of Japan and rampage your way to the other end. They sell bottle rockets and beer 24hrs a day!

4

Im with eguns. How will giving up your job to go on a 3 week long vacation help your situation any? IMO this would be a very irresponsible thing to do given your current situation. Stay home, keep your job/be glad you have a job.

5

Rail pass is a good idea if you are traveling throughout Japan. Only problem is that it is too late. You have to buy them before you get there. As he is leaving almost immediately there is no time.

  • eat where the Japanese eat, not the tourist restaurants. Tokyo is very expensive but if you eat at the local places it is not bad.

  • if you are staying in the Tokyo area see if there is some sort of transit pass you can get. Will save you money I think.

  • understand how the transit system works. You buy a ticket for the distance you are going and stick it in the machine at the entrance when you enter and again when you leave. If you did not pay enough when you bought the ticket you will have problems leaving. However, they have ticket price make-up machines by all the exits. Stick you ticket in there before you exit and it will let you add-on if you need to.

  • IN the Tokyo area there are multiple companies running transit so make sure you buy your ticket for the correct company you want to ride the subway/train for. It sounds confusing but really isn’t as long as you know the issue exists.

  • go to this site: http://www.nanika.net/metro/ and if you have any of the smartphones or PDAs listed, download the software and install it. And then install all the cities you will be visiting in Japan. MetrO is an awesome piece of software useful for navigating on the transit systems of most cities worldwide. It does not have actual schedules but you can put in your start and stop points and it will tell you how to get to point B from point A including what subways/trains to take, where to get off, etc. First time I was in Tokyo, in 2000, I was by myself, I don’t speak Japanese, and I had no clue but I had this MetrO software on my Palm. And it really helped me know how to get around and find my way around. Also, most stations have the station names written in Kanji (the chinese type characters), hiragana (phonetic japanese characters), and in roman (english) characters. So you can easily figure out what station you are going to etc. Lots of the maps on the walls of the subway or other transit are not always written in roman letters or you have to look around to find one that is.

  • If you have a world compatible cellphone (basically AT&T or T-Mobile or other GSM provider with a 3G compatible phone in the 2100 WCDMA band), TURN OFF YOUR DATA CAPABILITY before you get there. Roaming data is terribly expensive. Also, do not use your cellphone unless you have to. Even to call inside Japan. You are roaming for voice while there too and it is $2-$3 more or less per minute.

  • be respectful or the Japanese and their land, culture, food, etc. You are an ambassador of the United States while there.

  • useful words (ignore my spelling, I am not up on spelling japanese words)

arigato-gaizamasu (pronounced arigato-gozymus) – thank you very much

my mind is drawing a blank. I don’t speak Japanese but my wife is from Japan so we go every other year and I have figured out a bunch of useful words but it is 11:30pm and I have a ton to do tonight so I can leave bright and early to start my trip to SHOT… Sorry, if I can think of more useful phrases I will post them.

6

I’m with both of these guys. To risk losing your current job for 3 weeks of fun is not worth it. Why not plan a vacation later to Tokyo using vacation time?

Also Tokyo is very very expensive. Especially if you want to go out and live it up. Doesn’t sound like you have tons of money to just blow if you are just getting back on your feet.

However, it sounds like you leave for Tokyo tomorrow so I would say figure out the train system when you get there. Taking cabs everywhere is expensive. Also, if you are trying to save on food there’s lots of little “fast food” places and ramen places that are cheap and good. Are you just staying in Tokyo or traveling to other parts of Japan? Good luck.

7

Comrads…

The dice HAS already been cast!!

TODAY is/was MY last day… left the company on good terms,even had my managers regional VP in on the exit “interview” but alas even his kind words fell on deaf ears… as he so elegantly put it…

“son, your a stubborn, hardheaded young’UN!!”

I leave in less then 24 hours!!

NOT having a job when I come back, just means we won’t be able to go to the movies once a month like we starting doing when I landed this gig… BUT trust me, we won’t be starving tho we may have to live check to check, but it just means we won’t be spending outside of our means for a while… i.e. no unneccessary “extra” fun stuff… but my/our family will be ok!

Thanks for your input tho…

I’m exploring the rail pass option now, thanks for that tip! seems like a no brainer, just hope I can order it in time!

keep em coming feller’s…

plane leaves in less then 24 hours!!

oNe

oNe

8

you don’t have time for the rail pass (japan rail pass). You need at least a few days to get one expressed to you. You should have asked this question a few weeks ago at the earliest.

Don’t be late for the airport. Last trip we got held up and were later than we should have been and got stuck in a line that pushed us past the last checkin time for our flight to LA (connecting to Seoul connecting to Osaka). Luckily we had an understanding checkin guy who got us rebooked with ZERO charge and only one stopover in Honolulu and we ended up in Osaka 20 min earlier than we would have…

9

Go to Japan. Enjoy it.

10

+1

Ramen in japan is not like Ramen in the US. Ramen in Japan is awesome.

らめん

is ramen in hiragana and you will see signs or paper lanterns outside the little shops and they will say that on it.

Also, they have lots of little places that sell just one kind of food

tonkatsu (cutlets usually pork)
ramen
udon
onkonomiyaki (people call them japanese pancakes but they are really different – not my cup of tea but some people like them)
etc

There are also family style restaurants that are not expensive as well as kurukuru sushi places – the ones with the belt where the sushi goes around and you grab what you want – that are not that expensive. When you pay they count your plates. Some of these places are very good.

Don’t eat at your hotel.

Go to a grocery store and buy your food there. You can get drinks for 1/2 the price as at the machine, you can get sashimi and sushi premade for cheap prices, and also fresh food, ice cream bars, and all sorts of things. Chips, whatever. Much cheaper at the grocery store.

Expect to need cash lots of the time though more and more places accept credit cards, usually visa and mastercard, though I do pretty well with my AMEX as well. However, most grocery stores are cash only.

If you are changing a lot of money at once you usually get a better rate with travelers checks though the fee may be higher. You usually come out ahead if you change say $500 or more using checks and smaller amounts in bills. Actual numbers depends on the exchange rate, which bank or exchange place you use, etc.

11

Sean Price, You fuckin rock! Is it responsible, no probably not. Is it kick ass? absolutely! I have no insight as to Japan as I have never been there, but I give you a big thumbs up for having the balls to forsake it all and go for it! I hope you have a great time, learn about another culture, and most of all stay safe in your travels. P.S. enjoy your BCM, and good luck with the new job hunt!:slight_smile:

12

Well, this is not the best time of the year to go to Japan. Sakura season is much nicer.

In Toyko, the war museum is interesting, but they have a slightly different slant on the pacific war.

You really need to spend more than a few weeks to truly appreciate Japan.

In regards to the Beer machines, most have a cut off time at night.

If you have any tattoos with Japanese kanji, don’t show em off too much. It is considered strange.

13

I would second this. I got weird looks for several of my tattoos on the subways in Hong Kong and Beijing. I suppose an American with dragons, oni masks, yin yang symbols, geisha masks, koi fish, and Chinese names tattooed on 'em is a little disconcerting.

14

The exchange rate sucks right now.

15

wow, seems like you’re going guns blazing to Japan! Ramen shops and ticket restaurants are the place I like best. If you like music, the train stations are a good place to see some good bands…I’ve seen better bands playing on the street in Japan than I’ve seen in bars here in Hawaii.

Now that I think of it, food at convenience stores is actually pretty good…Family Mart is my favorite!

16

I once had a former Marine on my team. He had a big tattoo of the kanji for RONIN on his chest. I asked him if he had problems in school. He gave me a strange look as if I had a penis growing out of my forehead. “No man, it means a wandering warrior who answers to nobody”.

I then explained that the kanji translates to mean “wave man” and though it was once used to describe a masterless samurai or bushi, in modern Japan it was used to describe someone who never graduates from school, but floats around to other colleges and rarely gets a degree.

:slight_smile:

17

So you know what a ticket restaurant is:

A place where you go to a vending machine like thing, see the menu, choose what you want and pay the machine for it, which gives you a ticket for that menu selection which you then give to the people at the restaurant. Sometimes the waitress will come collect it from you and sometimes you need to go up to the counter and hand it in. It is how you order and pay. They exist for all sorts of food. You just need to know how it works :wink:

If you like music, the train stations are a good place to see some good bands…I’ve seen better bands playing on the street in Japan than I’ve seen in bars here in Hawaii.

Now that I think of it, food at convenience stores is actually pretty good…Family Mart is my favorite!

Family Mart is good. AM/PM is good. Heck, they are all about the same. And they come in packs. You see a 7/11, a Circle-K, an AM/PM, a Family Mart, and they are like across the street and right down the street from one another. Then you go a few blocks and it repeats.

Convenience stores are your friend.

18

i’ve been in japan for 3 years. 2000-2003.

Food is good. The ramen shops are great. don’t worry they always have pictures in their menu.

Ramen is like 10usd. the good ones. and they’re streetside.

learn to take the subway. it’s easy. just like hongkong or anyother city with subways.

Japan ain’t cheap. specially tokyo. so… I duno if it’ll be a good experience for you. Japan is good if you’ve got money to burn. and in tokyo… money reallly burns… FAST!

for food… go to the supermarket. load up on ham and bread and drinks. don’t go to the convenience store. it’s really darn expensive. don’t worry. you don’t really need to speak japanese in the supermarket. you just bring your grocery to the counter and they’ll punch em in… just look at how much. and pay up.

useful words

domo arigato - thank you
suy masen - excuse me
gomenasai - sorry (apology)

19

Well written, sir.

M_P

20

Some useful words and phrases

arigato: thanks

domo arigato: many thanks

domo arigato gozaimase (last word pronounced gozaimas): many thanks to someone older/more respected. Kinda the most formal way to say thank you.

sumimasen: (simasen) excuse me

moshi moshi: telephone greeting

kompai: drinking toast

ohio: (pronounced like the state) good morning

konichiwa: good day

so dane (soh dahneh): I see, I get it

So jenai (soh yehnai): I don’t think so

hai: yes

ichi: 1

ni: 2

san: 3

shi: 4

go: 5

roku: 6

shichi: 7

hachi: 8

kyu: 9

jyu: 10

jyu ichi: 11

jyu: ni: 12

and so on…