|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 10:17:30 GMT
Thank ye, but it's all sorted now. We didn't get our preferred seats, but at least we have seats. Thoroughly hyped. Just have to hope that my boy Takakeisho makes it to at least Day 11 now. If I go all the way to Japan and don't see the Battle Hamster do his thing, I'm going to be plenty pissed. Did you enjoy it? I went on Monday of the tournament..I enjoyed it but sadly I was only there 90 mins as got there later than I wanted and then I had the train to catch to Kyoto. I did however on the Sunday accidentally stumble across some amateur event in hanzomon next to a shrine which was even better as I was pretty much ring side. Again I was maybe only there half an hour as I had tickets for team labs across town. Sums up my trip really, only really fully chilled on the last couple of days as had so much to see and do!!! |
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 10:48:42 GMT
Just got out of the third straight day, actually! Had an absolute blast. Everything I’d hoped it would be and more. I have so. Much. Sumo. Merch. It’s insane.
We did the reverse trip. Kyoto then Osaka then Tokyo. Flying back on Tuesday and already getting the pre post holiday blues.
How was the rest of your trip?
|
|
|
|
Post by rhaegyr on May 26, 2023 10:51:02 GMT
As someone who's always wanted to go to Japan and is starting to plan a trip - do either of you mind me asking how much the trip has cost you roughly, all in?
I'm only going for a week and I've no idea on budget yet!
|
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 10:59:46 GMT
It’s a pricey place. Trains and the metro really rack up the costs, and if you’re not careful restaurants can go wild on prices too. But as with anything, you can plan around a budget and make it work.  The further off the beaten track you are, and the further from the big metropolii the cheaper it gets. We’ve deliberately not counted the pennies on this one, so our outgoings are insane, as the last couple of times we were here we penny pinched a bit and missed out on some cool stuff. So: it depends what you want from the trip. |
|
Vortex
Full Member
Harvey Weinstein's Tattered Penis
is apparently a mangina.
Posts: 5,390
|
Post by Vortex on May 26, 2023 11:10:00 GMT
TIL: Phattso is minted.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 11:13:37 GMT
No kids and a thriving smuggling ring. Simples.
|
|
|
|
Post by rhaegyr on May 26, 2023 11:13:55 GMT
It’s a pricey place. Trains and the metro really rack up the costs, and if you’re not careful restaurants can go wild on prices too. But as with anything, you can plan around a budget and make it work. The further off the beaten track you are, and the further from the big metropolii the cheaper it gets. We’ve deliberately not counted the pennies on this one, so our outgoings are insane, as the last couple of times we were here we penny pinched a bit and missed out on some cool stuff. So: it depends what you want from the trip. Thanks for the explanation - better start pricing it up in detail! |
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 11:19:41 GMT
To get you started, Tokyo to Kyoto on the Shinkansen ia about £70 a head, and that’s a relatively quick journey. Metro rides are anywhere from £1-£3 and most journeys you’ll make will be at least one change. Hotels can be had for £100 a night in places you’d want to be, and less for places you’ll need to commute from to get to places you’d wanna see. Meals can be anywhere from £5 a head for some Family Mart / 7Eleven convenience store fodder, and the sky is the limit from there. A fun meal in a decent izakaya could be maybe £15 a head depending on how much variety you want. If you go for speciality things (like chanko-nabe, which is what the sumo dudes eat) I managed to rack up £60 a head which was a fucking shock let me tell you. Rule of thumb: some random place in the middle of fucking nowhere is likely to serve you better Japanese food than you’ve ever had in your life. You can’t go too wrong (usual caveats of avoiding the super touristy bits). |
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 11:20:26 GMT
Flights were a bit over £1000 with b.a. with a bit of date fiddling. Metro is dirt cheap in Tokyo. £3.50 per day for unlimited rides or around £1.20 per trip if you buy as you go. Alcohol is a little cheaper but similar to the UK unless you go off the beaten track then it's much cheaper. I found a few places that seemed.yo be mostly young Japanese people and each drink was about £2 and the food was real cheap but still yummy. Food is again similar to UK. Eating out is cheaper but the corner stores are about the same as a Tesco express. Taxis are a little cheaper but certainly not cheap. Two of us were spending between £100-200 per day on everything we were doing but that was me drinking 8 evenings in a row. . |
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 11:22:43 GMT
Oh yeah - flights! Mine was £1200 direct: Heathrow to Tokyo Heneda (and then a local flight to Osaka).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 11:24:54 GMT
Just got out of the third straight day, actually! Had an absolute blast. Everything I’d hoped it would be and more. I have so. Much. Sumo. Merch. It’s insane. We did the reverse trip. Kyoto then Osaka then Tokyo. Flying back on Tuesday and already getting the pre post holiday blues. How was the rest of your trip? Haha that's too much sumo for me. I definitely would have liked a few more hours there in the stadium but I think then I'd have my fill. Yeah the trip was good thanks. My partner was ill for 3 days so I went out on my own. Was a little lonely and boring Vs having company but I ended up in various weird places like a j-pop night club where I was the only tourist. Oh and found this lush chicken place on an obscure 8th floor. I trying to do lots of random things like maid cafe, the dodgy sex shops in Akihabara, dog cafe, j pop clubs, tiny bars etc. Not sure if you went but universal studios in Osaka was great. Kyoto to my surprise I didn't like at all. Yes it was beautiful but it was packed full of Americans. I was trying to do things where it was mostly locals. Oh and I went to my first osen? (The naked spas). |
|
|
|
Post by rhaegyr on May 26, 2023 11:25:18 GMT
My biggest worry in Japan is the food - I'm not the biggest fan or rice or fish (and not from a lack of trying)! Can't use chopsticks for the life of me either.
Again, thanks for the extra detail - fairly certain I'll be getting the JR Rail Pass as I want to see as much as possible (doubt I'll be going back any time soon) and this seems highly recommended.
Did you go to any theme parks? Akihabra? I really want to see some sumo wrestling after reading about your experiences too!
|
|
|
|
Post by rhaegyr on May 26, 2023 11:28:37 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 11:29:23 GMT
Universal osaka was excellent..Akihabara was great, spend nearly a full day there exploring it's madness.
There are loads of food options. Honestly there are 10x the food places than London, New York etc. It's madness. So you have everything you want. Asian, ramen, pizza, burgers and they love their fried chicken out there.
|
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 11:34:21 GMT
I found Tokyo way better than Osaka and Kyoto. Tokyo was everything I hoped it would be then I was a little disappointed with the other two after coming straight from Tokyo. Easily my favourite district was Shibuya, such an amazing area. Although I did get offered a discounted male stripper in Shinjuku at about 2am outside some interesting looking building.
Oh and the karaoke was great fun with our own
booth with unlimited drinks.
|
|
Frog
Full Member
Posts: 7,270
|
Post by Frog on May 26, 2023 12:17:53 GMT
Did you and Phattso meet up for a cheeky shag Bichii?
Have you fallen in love, can we all come to the wedding?
|
|
askew
Full Member
Posts: 6,795
Member is Online
|
Post by askew on May 26, 2023 12:21:03 GMT
Did you play much Zelda on the plane?
|
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 12:23:45 GMT
The mad thing is there was a reasonable chance we were at the sumo at the same time Monday. Not sure it would have gone down well meeting up for sex though.
Oh another thing I just remembered is how amazing the toilets are. I need me a Japanese toilet.
|
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 12:25:11 GMT
Did you play much Zelda on the plane? It arrived the day when I had already left for Heathrow  . Played and completed metroid prime instead as I had purchased that knowing it was unlikely Zelda would arrive in time. Metroid made the flights so much easier though. That 15 hours back was no joke but two great movies and metroid made it not too bad. |
|
|
|
Post by uiruki on May 26, 2023 12:32:21 GMT
On flights - prices are still massively inflated from the pandemic. You can expect something more like 600-800 in 'normal' times. My main tip is to avoid the Dubai transfers, they add way more time than you'd think to the whole process and it's already pretty damn long. If you're going BA, try and get the codeshare one out of Heathrow that's operated by JAL; it's pretty nice as these long distance flights go, and it's out of Terminal 3 which is a bit more agreeable than T5.
The Japan Rail Pass used to be a terrific value option if you were going to use the Shinkansen at all as it cost pretty much the same as a return from Tokyo to Kyoto for a one week pass, but it's getting a 70% (!!!!) price rise from October. If you're travelling enough to justify it, though, it's still worth it as there are ordinarily no discounts at all on that line and the Rail Pass lets you reserve seats online if you buy it direct. You then pick up the reservations at special machines which hardly anyone uses - saved me a 30-plus minute queue in Sendai once which was the difference between catching a train and waiting an hour plus as it was a Saturday morning and absolutely jam packed.
|
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 12:39:36 GMT
I didn't get the rail pass and it was cheaper not to..I did Tokyo - kyoto- Osaka - Tokyo and worked out cheaper..and the big thing was that if I didn't have the rail pass I could jump on the fast train that ran every 10-15 mins. The pass means you have to catch one of the two slower trains and they were every 30-45 mins. Worth it though if doing even more trips than I did. Oh and buying as I went like a local meant I could pre book seats with ease on the Japanese website and apart from that I only used the metro which isn't on the jr pass.
|
|
|
|
Post by uiruki on May 26, 2023 13:35:59 GMT
Yeah, if it’s the same or slightly less for Nozomi that’s definitely the better move, especially if you’re not on the JR lines in Tokyo. They’re going to allow Rail Pass people on those trains as it gets more expensive so in that sense it might make that make more sense - you’ll need to move around much further to justify that though, to the point where you might want to look at flying instead.
On the food comment - in Tokyo in particular, don’t worry too much, especially in chains. People will do as much as they can to try and accommodate you and help you if you’re unsure. There are way more English language menus than there used to be (or at least people offer them to me more) and many places let you order from a little tablet thing.
Overall it’s much easier to be in Japan than it used to be; the only thing that hasn’t improved massively is getting your phone online. You can get eSIMs of unclear origin now but I’m still using a rental pocket WiFi device.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 13:37:16 GMT
Having done Tokyo to death I was really happy to get out to Kyoto and Osaka. Both were amazing in their own way, but in some places you just had to know how to avoid the tourists. We had some local knowledge for assistance, so picked days and times to do some of the bigger sights before the hordes descended. Agreed that when a place is rammed with your groups chasing a flag it’s not much fun. Having now done the country from top to toe, I think Okinawa has the best vibes overall for me, Hokkaido a close second. Tokyo is amazing, but it’s also very full on and on visit number four now I definitely didn’t need to replay the greatest hits. Still spent an evening in Akiba obvs. I’m not a monster. |
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 13:40:34 GMT
uiruki the eSIM is indeed a game changer. Got 3GB for a fiver and it has done me for Google Maps and Lens.
|
|
|
|
Post by uiruki on May 26, 2023 13:48:16 GMT
On my last trip I got one and it was China Mobile, complete with China IP address, weirdly slow access, everything defaulting to Hong Kong as a location and I couldn’t log into half the games I play on my phone as that country’s IP banned! Had to rely on hotel WiFi until I could get a portable rental device sent over.
|
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on May 26, 2023 13:49:31 GMT
I spent an obscene amount of time using Google maps but it makes everything so so easy including when putting in the next district and it just shows you every train, which platform which stop which exit or entrance to take etc.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 13:52:10 GMT
Suica or Passmo in my Apple Wallet also made the metro lines ten times simpler than the last time I was here (2015). Even better than that? All the arcade machines let me pay with tappy tappy. Much as I missed dropping 100 yen coins, it very much felt like the future that I could tappy my phone to get my obligatory 1cc on a three screen Darius. |
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on May 26, 2023 13:53:12 GMT
1cc = 1 credit capitulation
|
|
Bongo Heracles
Junior Member
Technically illegal to ride on public land
Posts: 4,621
|
Post by Bongo Heracles on May 26, 2023 13:57:01 GMT
My biggest worry in Japan is the food - I'm not the biggest fan or rice or fish (and not from a lack of trying)! Not ideal. I went with a vegatarian who just gave up in one place and ordered 'just rice' and it came with bits of shrimp in it. We also went to a karaoke bar that turned out the night we went wasnt actually doing karaoke but it was women-shitting-on-a-plastic-sheet-and-rolling-around-in-it night. Its an interesting place. |
|
. Played and completed metroid prime instead as I had purchased that knowing it was unlikely Zelda would arrive in time. Metroid made the flights so much easier though. That 15 hours back was no joke but two great movies and metroid made it not too bad. 
