h a l f b a k e r yVeni, vedi, fish velocipede
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Well, I ain't there now. But you can try finding any plastic figures in Akihabara more expensive than 23,000 Yen ($285), that was the most expensive one I could I find. Strangely, I didn't buy it. |
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Sounds fun.
Given the category are we free to assume that astral projection participation will be welcome? |
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Erm, you do know the next Kanto megaquake is forecast for the next couple of months? |
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On the upside, go harass the hotel staff to tell you where the indoors gold fishing place is (I think Sangenjaya) go to Ueno park and feed the crows (but the locals won't be too happy) do Akihabara on Sunday afternoons at 2-3pm, that's when the six lane road Chuo-dori gets closed to traffic, take a ride over to the old Japan street on Odaiba island and you can take a pic of antiques such as..a black and white TV. |
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Japan masterclass involves actually ordering what you wanted in Yoshinoya (Matsuya?), outside there's the pics of the food with the kanji, but inside you don't pay the staff, there's a machine inside, you put in the cash and it prints out a ticket..... but it has no pictures just the kanji..not getting lost in Shinjuku station, also not opening or closing the doors on taxi's as they are automatic, and if you break it it ain't going to be cheap. Trying to find anywhere there isn't a soft drinks machine or a 7-11, and not getting on the wrong shinkansen.. |
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For me, what I was most surprised it was the fare adjustment machine. In London, you get somewhere with the wrong ticket it's like a hanging offence and you get fined. In Japan if you get on the train, go somewhere, you have the wrong ticket, go to the machine by the ticket barrier and you just pay the excess. Admittedly it's doesn't refund excess paid.. |
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Oh and if you're coming in from Narita by Skyliner, hang around by the train when you get to Kesei Ueno. The staff do a tidy up and then hit a button and all the seats turn around to face the right way.. |
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Thanks for all that... Just finding my feet on the second
day. |
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Please tell the local population to brace themselves
for the arrival of Maxwew Bucharran-San in about
four months. They may wish to lay in some extra
provisions. |
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[xen]- I've been accessing .5b from my iPad (original flavor)
for over a year with no problems, but my wife's iPad2 has a
security doohickey that caused the problem you're
describing until we set it to accept data from bookmarked
sites. Try that, maybe? |
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Yep, shite turns up a lot, including the Shitamachi museum, which wasn't that bad, so I think they should find a more upbeat name. It's pronounced shi/teh . I used to walk past the Shitaya police station often, straight face..keep the straight face... |
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You can go hit the 7-11 of any post office atm for money as they are connected to the outside world banking system and work in English. |
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Hot tips involve finding a way from A->B without having to change trains in central Tokyo as some interchanges involve 350 metre hikes in subterranean passages, and after you've been walking for (what feels like) about 10 minutes you then get taunted by the sign saying "300 metres to....". |
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The most useful Japanese to me was "sumimasen (excuse me) and "sumimasen ***** dokko des ka?" which is "excuse me, where is ****?" |
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I did once get completely fazed by my female co-worker saying "I am binbo"..it just means "I don't have much cash on me", or one very unlikely one would be "teabag", try and stress the final g, as "t-back" is g-string in Japanese slang...it did cause a few interesting moments for me back in January... |
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Conbinis (like 7-11, Lawsons etc) are cool as they all seem to have a loo in them, public toilets being a bit thin on the ground sometimes. Buy something in there if you want to be nice. |
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Maybe carry around a card from the hotel you're staying in, then if you get completely lost and knackered then just hail a taxi, it's a lot better than just wandering around... |
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Oh, and by repute Kabukicho in Shinjuku has some rip-off girly bars, it's not aimed at tourists, as we all have less money than most of the locals, but I'm guessing that'd be one to avoid. |
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and if you want some cheap accom in Tokyo, there's the Minami-Senju lot, or my more recent find the New Park Ueno in Ueno. |
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There's quite a few hotels/guesthouses in Minami-Senju, best known are the Hotel New Koyo and the Hotel Azuma. They are all about 2 minutes of each other and pretty easy to get a room for 3000 yen or less. The rooms are small and basic, there's no ensuites, and no meals, but they are all clean, tidy have and have kitchen areas with kettle/toaster/microwave. They have English speaking staff and can give good tourist information, certainly the New Koyo has. If you want prettier the Hotel Hikari is nearby and it's a new build, also about 3000 yen. |
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Going a bit upmarket area-wise, the New Park Ueno and its sister hotel the Suntargas are 3 minutes away from central Ueno, so you get the Ueno park with all the museums, some small temples, the zoo, good transport links and easy ten minute hike down to Akihabara anyway (straight line, just follow the overhead Yamanote train line). You get a small and basic ensuite for 5000 to 6000 yen. |
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To be honest, you'd have to try quite pretty hard to find bad accom in Tokyo, I've never managed it yet... |
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Yoyogi Park and Shinjuku on a Sunday are
wonderful places just to wander around. Also
some trivia - before spending some time there, I
didn't realise that Seven Eleven is a Japanese
company. |
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Well, if it's yakiniku or shabu-shabu you're supposed to cook it yourself, on the mini-grill/boiler in front of you on the table. |
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Raw stuff is fine in Japan. Used to be me Sunday lunch, gyu-don (thin stewed beef on rice) then get the raw egg and mix it all together...medium tasty. |
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The one to avoid is umeboshi, pickled plum. It has exactly the sweet, salty, vinegary flavour you'd expect. Usually seen as that weird red thing on top of the rice in tray lunch from the conbini. Blurghhhh.. |
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About 15 years ago I tried to teach myself
Japanese. Now: but three phrases remain in my
brain (rebrain?). |
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Eigo ga, dakimasu ka?
(Do you speak English? - pretty useful when
learning another language) |
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Korewan nan desu ka?
(What is that? – problems then occur when they
reply, and I don't understand a word) |
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And the kicker:
Teeburu noshta niru onnanahito.
(Girl under the table - I have no idea why this
phrase is in my mind, nor why I deemed in my
teens it would be useful to learn) |
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Please forgive the spellings, I'm writing this from
memory. |
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//I'm writing this from memory. |
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The autocue not working today? |
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"nihongo wari wari chotto" = I speak very little Japanese. |
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I could give you the full set of animal noises in Japanese, if that's any help... |
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Being lightly chided by (oddly enough) the Japanese tobacco industry..see link for pics... |
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//one to avoid is umeboshi// Yes, avoid, but it's not a total disaster if you eat one. I gave one to my wife (with appropriate warnings), merely in the interest of making sure she understands when I say "no" to certain things she may decide to get at the Japanese market, there's reason. |
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Then, when I showed her the natto and said "never, never, never", she didn't argue. (Well reinforced by the little obaasan who came over to us while I was telling the wife about natto, and told my wife "If he tries to get you to eat that, just divorce him!") |
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I couldn't speak for natto, but I looked up the umeboshi and it's just the pickled plum - you may be eating things out of context, like having a spoonful of mustard and pronouncing it not fit as a food. |
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My introduction to the pickled plum was one at the center of a rice ball wrapped in seaweed - it is the little bit of spice in the boring rice. |
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Avoid avoiding umeshu though. Fabulous stuff. |
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sorry but I choose to not avoid not avoiding umeboshi, possibly? |
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For a general "how to have a meal you'd prefer not to remember in Japan" I'd go for umeboshi with anything, with lots of that tepid canned coffee from a drinks machine, the one with extra sugar and UHT milk. |
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Dessert to be any bread bun from a conbini which is bound to have really awful chocolate spread inside, or something almost but not quite like custard, the red bean (mochi? adzuki?) stuff is ok though. |
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Extra points for going to a Lawsons 100 Yen shop and |
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(A) finding the stuff (Donburi?)that looks like the beef + sauce that goes on gyu-don , but just smells like dog food, luckily I can't vouch for the similarity of taste |
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(B) one of the packets of curry that is mostly curried apples, probably
not too bad if you were expecting it... |
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BTW a good time to hit the tube or the trains is 5-6pm, as everyone's still at work, after 8 or 9pm it gets mighty crowded on lines out the suburbs. |
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PS I suppose no one has mentioned the Ikebukuro Train Cafe yet? |
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//red bean (paste, jam)// Oooh, that stuff is *sooo* good. First couple of bites, anyway. I would buy the pack of a dozen, eat two, get halfway through the third one - and completely lose my appetite for it. (Not just - meh, no more, I'm OK; rather, yuck - this tasted good a minute ago!) |
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If you get a chance at one, take it. Don't do anything which leaves you stuck with the whole pack. |
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//.....has mentioned the Ikebukuro Train Cafe// it's all
true.... And being franchised to a town near you.
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