|
Grand Fromage posted:I loved that one where the guy was planning his entire trip in five minute increments. when you have a lamination machine, it seems like a waste to NOT plan your vacation in 5 min increments
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 23:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 12:24 |
|
|
Question Mark Mound posted:I’ll have a to-do list of stuff I wanna get done and if I don’t timetable it out well then I’ve no chance of hitting them all up in one trip. I think this is perfectly valid too, when not done to extremes where someone tries to cram two weeks’ worth of stuff they want to see into five days of travel. Not saying that’s what you do, I don’t know either way, but I think having an itinerary is perfectly valid too. I went to Japan for a Kyudo seminar and grading so I knew my time was limited and I made a list of top five things I wanted to see and do in Tokyo. Probably a day into my stay I realized I was having such a great time that I told myself I’d be back next year, at which point my “must do” stuff turned into “can do” since I knew I could always leave something fun for next time. Since then I’ve actually avoided pushing myself to do too much just to leave something fun or super touristy until next time. I didn’t do Shibuya crossing until my second trip, I still haven’t done any of the Disney parks or gone up Tokyo Tower, haven’t been to Ueno, or Ginkakuji/Kinkakuji. I plan to hit up Japan incessantly until I die or I get bored of it, so there’s plenty of time to get things done. But that’s just me. If someone wants to make a list and cross everything off, who am I to say they’re doing it wrong? Unless it’s super unrealistic, it’s just another way of enjoying themselves. some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Sep 11, 2020 |
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 23:43
|
|
|
I think the thing is we've all dealt with that person extremely stressed out by their packed vacation plans and wanted them to just fuckin chill and enjoy, if vacation is stressing you then you're doing it wrong. If you enjoy a packed trip then whatever, you do you. You're probably not complaining about it though.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 23:49
|
|
|
Sorry just to be clear, I reserve the right to tell someone they’re doing it wrong if they have a minute by minute itinerary.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 23:52
|
|
|
^^^ my sister does it in 15-minute increments and it looked ridiculous but it worked and we weren't rushed at all. I think part of why it worked for our trips that she plans is that she never makes the schedule so tightly that once you get off schedule, you can never catch back up. That's a recipe for disaster, but we might be 15-30 minutes late going from one to the next but the next item could actually be cut short by 15 minutes and then we're almost back on schedule, that sort of thing. You can all go find my giant /r/japantravel post on reddit about trip planning if you really want to see my process (you don't really) but when I go to Japan, it's for Fuji Rock so my trip planning basically starts from there. And now that I've exhausted so much of the usual stuff, I always end up going into the inaka. I usually start by planning an efficient travel route; last thing I want is to do a bunch of backtracking. Then I look along the route and see if there's 1 or 2 big major things I want to do and allocate my time to that pretty strictly (e.g. a 3-day backpack hike through the mountains isn't something to do on a whim) in terms of what day I'll be where. After that, it's just a matter of seeing what else is along the route, dividing up the days in a reasonable manner, and then get a vague idea of what I want to do each day, ranked, with the full understanding that things are just going to get cut and that's the way it is. I think the most important thing is to know what's more/less important to you and be comfortable with skipping things because that is just going to happen. totalnewbie fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Sep 11, 2020 |
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 23:56
|
|
|
My favourite thing to do when planning is to add everything I like the look of onto a Google Map and then I can see what things are close-ish together and make sense to do on the same day, rather than lose time travelling to the same area several times over on different days. Or things that I wouldn’t go out of my way to see, but since I’m in the area anyway I might as well check it out. Maps, highly recommended for travel as it turns out.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2020 00:09
|
|
|
from my first trip to japan i regret actually bothering to book hotels since i couldve just slept on public benches/in the houses of people i met
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2020 07:20
|
|
|
Shibawanko posted:from my first trip to japan i regret actually bothering to book hotels since i couldve just slept on public benches/in the houses of people i met Are you a beautiful person? Asking because I’m pretty sure no stranger would let my goony rear end crash in their house.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2020 20:13
|
|
|
i look kinda anime
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2020 01:46
|
|
|
I generally do a list of things I want to do, then figure out how to get there. If it's something that requires using public transport, I'll look at how often the buses and trains leave. Some of the tokkyuu trains for example have only a couple departures per day, so if you show up even two minutes late to the station you're potentially looking at a delay of several hours and/or a bunch more transfers and hassle. Working backwards, that means spending an extra few minutes talking to some olds or in that quaint inaka store can make or break your day. Obviously that's less of an issue when transport is more flexible though. Accommodation is booked in advance because (at least pre-corona) you usually can't just walk-in to a decent hotel or ryokan.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2020 02:56
|
|
|
Any recommendations for a 1 to 3 month data only SIM Card company? I remember a while back someone recommended Assist Solutions. I've also heard about B-Mobile as well where they have a 21 day 7 GB plan, a little on the shorter side though.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2020 21:24
|
|
|
Busy Bee posted:Any recommendations for a 1 to 3 month data only SIM Card company? I remember a while back someone recommended Assist Solutions. I've also heard about B-Mobile as well where they have a 21 day 7 GB plan, a little on the shorter side though. Are you in Japan right now? I've purchased sim cards from japan-rail-pass.com which are also b-mobile sim cards iirc but no data limits.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2020 22:11
|
|
|
i just wander around and go to every alcohol distillery or beer brewery i see
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2020 08:16
|
|
|
Brewer: *in Japanese* Sir! Sir! You can't go in there! There are no tours! No sir please put that down! Magna Kaser: Wow what a whimsical language! 
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2020 13:30
|
|
|
Magna Kaser posted:i just wander around and go to every alcohol distillery or beer brewery i see 
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2020 16:25
|
|
|
Magna Kaser posted:i just wander around and go to every alcohol
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2020 16:38
|
|
|
My first trip to Japan was to Fukuoka during the 2012 Olympics and I remember this very clearly because I met up with some goon (maybe one of you) and we got drinks and he was super quiet the whole time and acted like he was going through some kind of life crisis, and then we suggested to go somewhere else so went back to his place (I assumed we were gonna just shoot the poo poo and have lively conversation and watch TV since the Japanese team was doing Judo) but he just went into his room and laid down on his futon and started browsing the web, and closed his door. It was extremely weird and me and my girlfriend looked at each other like "wtf is up with this guy" and then we just kind of left without saying anything and went back to our hotel. Also, when we got to Fukuoka the phone card I had didn't work so I asked this one random American-looking guy who was walking down the street with some people if I could borrow his phone and he gave me the most horrible "you broke my glorious Nippon bubble by making me speak English to other foreigners in front of my Japanese friends" look and attitude, it was extremely palpable. This was in the drinking/bar downtown district on a Friday night. So right away I got the impression that the foreigners who live in Japan are weirdos (true and I become one too). All in all though, Fukuoka is great and definitely a nice area. Hot as balls though. AHH F/UGH fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Sep 15, 2020 |
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 01:44
|
|
|
not in japan but ngl if I
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 02:49
|
|
|
Magna Kaser posted:not in japan but ngl if I I helped a confused looking tourist lady in I think Shinjuku? Nagoya? don't remember.. station once. She was looking for the taxi stand, I pointed her at the sign, she got a little mad, told me she can see the sign, and walked the opposite way.  So I said gently caress it after that.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 02:51
|
|
|
I guess I'm some weird flip of yall. Whenever I saw confused-looking Japanese tourists on the west coast, I'd offer to help out. I still do it at Disney sometimes if there's no translators about.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 04:26
|
|
|
My favorite is when Japanese ppl walk up to me in Tokyo and ask for directions.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 04:30
|
|
|
Yeah I really wish I didn’t have to ask the dude because I hate talking to random people just as much as anyone but once I had it was clearly this extremely obvious air of having ruined his integration or something. My girlfriend noticed it too. It was like if you had accidentally asked that Debito guy who was obsessed with gaining Japanese citizenship and wore kimonos every day to borrow his phone and he responded in Japanese that he didn’t speak English or something. I always helped people who asked my questions and for directions though. One time when I was in Fujisawa trying to decipher the train board with no English, a random middle school girl walked from her family to my friend and I and in Japanese helped us get directions to Shibuya. I was pretty shocked since I had the stereotypical image in my head that the least likely person to ever help a foreigner would be a Japanese middle schooler with her family but that broke my perception. She didn’t try to practice English or anything, just straight up walked up to us and started asking us where we were going. I spoke virtually no Japanese and my friend had none. We were so lacking in language that used to refer to the ‘withdraw money’ kanji 出 at the ATM as “the strong man takes out money” since it looks kind of like a guy flexing 💪 That was cool. Afterwards my friend and I were both like “did that really happen?” AHH F/UGH fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Sep 15, 2020 |
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 04:49
|
|
|
I kinda had a moment like that in Hongcheon - two ladies puzzling over a map muttering 'doko' every other sentence. Peeked over, tapped shoulder, turned the map the right way around. To this day I'm not sure why they didn't bother looking it up on their phones.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 05:28
|
|
|
AHH F/UGH posted:It was like if you had accidentally asked that Debito guy who was obsessed with gaining Japanese citizenship and wore kimonos every day to borrow his phone and he responded in Japanese that he didn’t speak English or something. I think he actually did/does stuff like this. He yelled at a bank teller for commenting on his Japanese passport, just for saying like "Oh, that's interesting" or something like that. For some reason a lot of foreigners here have gigantic sticks up their asses about this kind of thing that I have not encountered in any other country I've ever been to.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 05:49
|
|
|
AHH F/UGH posted:My first trip to Japan was to Fukuoka during the 2012 Olympics and I remember this very clearly because I met up with some goon (maybe one of you) and we got drinks and he was super quiet the whole time and acted like he was going through some kind of life crisis, and then we suggested to go somewhere else so went back to his place (I assumed we were gonna just shoot the poo poo and have lively conversation and watch TV since the Japanese team was doing Judo) but he just went into his room and laid down on his futon and started browsing the web, and closed his door. It was extremely weird and me and my girlfriend looked at each other like "wtf is up with this guy" and then we just kind of left without saying anything and went back to our hotel. who was the goon? i don't mind speaking english at all but one thing i don't like is when japanese people fire random english phrases at me like "let's go!" or whatever (this happened to me maybe twice but still), like what do you expect me to do here? also when they assume i'm from "america"
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 07:54
|
|
|
i think i only hung out with a random western tourist once but it was a great time. it was a french guy who ran a restaurant in new caledonia and who was on a layover on his way to france. we took him to a bunch of restaurants
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 07:59
|
|
|
Stringent posted:My favorite is when Japanese ppl walk up to me in Tokyo and ask for directions. I've had old Chinese people walk past crowds of other Chinese people straight to me and ask me about directions to this or that place in heavily accented Mandarin. I don't mind giving them directions I'm just always flabbergasted they go for the white dude with the statistically lowest chance of being able to speak to/help them. totalnewbie posted:I helped a confused looking tourist lady in I think Shinjuku? Nagoya? don't remember.. station once. She was looking for the taxi stand, I pointed her at the sign, she got a little mad, told me she can see the sign, and walked the opposite way. i once had a white lady ask me for directions to some restaurant, which was quite a famous one in the area so I knew it. i told her where to go and she then asked if they did reservations and I was like "idk? probably?" and then she asked if I could call them and make reservations for her and her family lol
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 09:27
|
|
|
Shibawanko posted:who was the goon? I think it was the guy with the little anime kid with the bowl cut and big puppy dog eyes in his avatar, I don’t think he posts much
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 14:21
|
|
|
AHH F/UGH posted:One time when I was in Fujisawa trying to decipher the train board with no English, a random middle school girl walked from her family to my friend and I and in Japanese helped us get directions to Shibuya. I was pretty shocked since I had the stereotypical image in my head that the least likely person to ever help a foreigner would be a Japanese middle schooler with her family but that broke my perception. She didn’t try to practice English or anything, just straight up walked up to us and started asking us where we were going. I spoke virtually no Japanese and my friend had none. This happened to us too, my mom had a tough time figuring out the ticket machines in Hakone (I don’t really like Hakone btw) and a random middle schooler helped us out and her English was pretty good and I regained some faith in humanity that day. The kids are alright  AHH F/UGH posted:That was cool. Afterwards my friend and I were both like “did that really happen?” Oh yeah, that’s a thing too. I had a similar reaction after hanging out with a bunch of salarypeeps at a tachinomi. Stringent can back me up on how bewildered I was afterwards, I don’t normally socialize that much. Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Sep 15, 2020 |
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 14:24
|
|
|
I was approached by a bunch of nice Nigerian men around Roppongi who very concerned about me having a good time
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 14:27
|
|
|
AHH F/UGH posted:I think it was the guy with the little anime kid with the bowl cut and big puppy dog eyes in his avatar, I don’t think he posts much Lol Ned why ya gotta be weird
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 15:38
|
|
|
Magna Kaser posted:I've had old Chinese people walk past crowds of other Chinese people straight to me and ask me about directions to this or that place in heavily accented Mandarin. I don't mind giving them directions I'm just always flabbergasted they go for the white dude with the statistically lowest chance of being able to speak to/help them. Given what you get when you ask an average Chinese person for directions, I'd say they're making the smart move.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2020 16:07
|
|
|
I planned a super jampacked schedule for all over Tokyo last time I went. And then I arrived on March 1 2020 and just lol to any of that. Seeing everything empty and having the Emeraldas river cruise completely to myself and my husband was a really cool experience though.
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2020 01:47
|
|
|
Fujisawa and surrounding areas owned and I really enjoyed living there even if was for only like 6 months. I will never forget the night we went to a random izakaya and the group of salarymen at the table room next to ours opened the sliding door and we all drank a shitload of Hoppy and were merry as hell and had terrible hangovers. People there were super chill and outgoing from what I could see. If I could live anywhere in Japan in the future I'd be happy if it was that area between Enoshima and southern Tokyo.
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2020 06:43
|
|
|
inaka good
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2020 12:06
|
|
|
hoppy hangovers are the nastiest, i always get huge nakas, maybe because im a guy or because people assume i can drink a lot, but whenever i decide to go hoppy the next morning is always misery
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2020 12:09
|
|
|
Shibawanko posted:i always get huge nakas, maybe because im a guy 
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2020 12:46
|
|
|
peanut posted:inaka good
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2020 13:01
|
|
|
Speaking of Fujisawa, I really want to take a day to go out to Enoshima next time I go. Also want to ride that train where they ran out of places to put tracks so they just had it run down a public road. I think that's in Enoshima?
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2020 13:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 12:24 |
|
|
peanut posted:inaka good It depends. Sometimes the inaka is too shizuka and becomes tsumaranai
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2020 13:55
|
|
