How easy is it going around all of Japan with how intricate their train system is? Always seems like when people go there they hit all the spots and in anime it doesn't seem like a big deal to travel halfway across the country as it would be in the US.

I spent a lot of time just wandering around in Akihabara and checking out the various shops and buying figurines.

>>108056
If you make it up to Sendai, the Dai Kannon is one of the coolest things I saw in Japan; it's a huge statue but also kind of like a museum on the inside with stairs that you can walk up near the top of it and look out some windows for a great view of the area.

>>108057
Japan is smaller than California, and the bullet trains run to the major cities, so it's a lot faster to get around to see the various parts of the country. Also most of the big tourist areas are on this belt between Osaka and Tokyo.

Akiba was fairly disappointing; like some oldhead otaku seem to comment the place seems just too aware of itself.
There's a nice brewery there however with some comfy seating by the Kanda river.

You're going during the rainy season if you didn't already know. Laundry may be tough depending on where you are staying, some still just use clothes hangers to dry, although there should be laundromats abundant. Make sure to have an umbrella always around.

In Kyoto what really stood out to me was Ginkakuji. Worth a tour, and go early.

The best of Japan is just taking the trains and roaming in nature; fresh air mountains and the calming seas are always close by.

>>108057
Be prepared to make some mistakes and end up paying extra on the train for it. The RR staff are very accommodating. Get a PASMO or SUICA at the airport or a konbini, and load it up. Way easier than fiddling with cash.

Please bring me back lots of Utawarerumono merchandise as I will never go myself

>>108065
they dont allow kuon merchandise on the flight back because it means the plane cant take off

>>108059
I don't know if I'll be able to make it that far north. Maybe on my next trip I'll head that way.

>>108063
That sounds cool, I like breweries. I might check it out. I did buy a new rain jacket and umbrella for this trip because of the time I'd be going.

My biggest fear is my limited Japanese language skills and that I won't be able to communicate properly or find my way around.

>>108294
if you're in dire straits, you can always use google translate

>>108065
A good majority of the merchandise you can buy in Japan you can find on the internet too.

>>108302
I've ranted about this here before because sadly it isn't when it comes to Utawarerumono stuff. Aquaplus hates the idea of making money.
(Starting here >>>106868)
But anyway, OP, you should buy lots of cool stuff. It's nice to have memories of places, but I think having physical reminders is really neat

- Be prepared to walk a lot.
- Akihabara is a tourist trap, worth visiting to see what it's like and for the atmosphere and all that, but don't expect to get particularly good deals on merch (quite the opposite, really), or even to find a lot of stuff you couldn't find elsewhere. For similar places with better prices and far less tourists: Nipponbashi in Osaka, Nakano Broadway.
- Definitely listen to what >>108063 said and get an IC card. Suica, Icoca, Manaca, whatever - they're all interchangeable. If you still have money left in your card when you're about to leave Japan, you can use it as a payment method in convenience stores and other shops, so don't worry about charging it too much and not being able to use it all.
- Speaking of public transportation, trains are usually punctual, so I recommend downloading an app like Yahoo! 乗換案内 or similar, which will tell you exactly when your train will leave/arrive, deliver real time updates about delays, explain how to change trains, etc.
- Your mileage may vary, but when I traveled Japan with a few relatives they were complaining that it was hard to get around with English and I basically had to do everything for them, so do what >>108295 said.

>>108450
I wish someone had told me about Nakano Broadway before I went to Tokyo. And while I did enjoy Akiba, it felt a bit awkward to see gaijin families walking around in otaku shops.
If I ever go to Japan again, I am definitely checking out Nipponbashi. And I want to try out takoyaki and okonomiyaki too while I'm there.

>>108294
this was like 15 years ago, but my experience was that in the main touristy areas of Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka most places you go people will try to speak English to you if you're white. The McDonalds all have an English version of the menu that they will whip out and show you.

If you get out of the touristy areas they really appreciate if you can speak at least basic Japanese.

I just got back from my second trip to Japan a few days ago, in my personal experience I really did not like Kyoto. Overcrowded with tourists, pain to get anywhere because the public transportation sucks, and the famous temples arent close to eachother so you have to pick and choose. Not to say its not worth going as some of the temples I went to were absolutely beautiful, but I ultimately felt I could have used my time better. Kyoto highlight is some relatively famous temple I passed on my way back from that famous high up wood one that had a very ornate gold set up on the inside that amazed me, that and randomly coming across the Tamako market market and the exact spot on the river from the first scene of Tatami Galaxy (which are right next to eachother)

If you want to really get a taste of what Japan is actually like with a focus on seeing very Japanese looking buildings/going to temples and shrines I would recommend checking out the Shikoku henro and finding some places to go along those lines, I recently did a couple days of hiking in Kagawa and the nature was beautiful, the temples ranged from being very cool to downright mystic, and because I was hiking it wearing a white shirt (pilgrims have a specific white shirt sort of thing they usually wear but a normal white shirt is fine) I had a guy pull over while I was hiking and give me a multiple mile ride from near the top of a mountain to the temple I was going to in the city. Another notable encounter was at the entrance to the hike up to the temple at a different mountain I had an old lady call out to me and give me free tea and snacks along with letting me sit on her front porch for a bit. As >>108471 said these people really appreciated the fact that I can speak decent enough Japanese and the fact that I could opened up 'real' Japan to me instead of getting the surface level that comes with not being able to properly talk to most people, even just trying is better than retreating to English. Doing the actual trail can be alot, but even the cities I stayed in while hiking were a very different experience than the big touristy ones and the temples in the cities are still great.
If you want to do Fuji you should check if you are going in the right time of year, while you are in that area I would recommend a ryokan in Numazu, even if you arent into love live its a neat place to stay and really close to Fuji.

I didnt find Akiba as disappointing as others but I think part of it is going in acknowledging that all the world knows about it and itll forever be tainted by idiot foreigners who treat Japan like a zoo, there are still good places within it and its still alot of fun to walk around stores once you get a good idea of where everything is but it is always annoying to be sitting there playing kantai collection and seeing some normo white couple in gaudy clothes gawking at people just trying to game. I have had positive experience with westerners in Akiba though, this most recent time I ran into a guy in a maid cafe who said the building was the first one he had went to 7 years ago when he first went to Japan, the place has changed since then but the building was also where I went to my first maid cafe the first time I went to Japan last December. Maid cafes are very fun if you can speak enough Japanese. Animate's outside of Tokyo are pretty fun to go to, the Hiroshima one was surprisingly big and funnily enough right next to the atomic bomb peace park.

Other thing is there is only one channel that consistently plays anime and its usually only from 10pm-1ish but its very worth planning around doing. Havent been watching the show but watched yuri is my job from my japanese style box hotel in Tokyo that was just big enough for the futon.

Favorite thing is hard to say but if I had to choose something I'll go with being very drunk in a maid cafe/girls bar sort of thing with a friend who was also in Japan, listening to drunk salarymen do an intentionally terrible job of singing gundam songs in karaoke, playing uno with the girl behind the counter and some old guy who was actually really good at english. Yashima-Ji and Yakuri-Ji are also a great experience. They are both on top of mountains right next to eachother, from Yashima-ji you can see all of Takamatsu, Okayama prefecture on the other side of the water, and from the other side of the mountain the Yashima-Ji mountain. You walk straight down Mt Yashima to a small ruralish town by the water then back up to a temple with a very strong spiritual feeling to it.

Oh and one last thing, DO NOT go to shibuya, shinjuku, or harujuku. Just dont, they suck. The area is only worth going to for Meiji Jingu, the one park garden of words is set in (which I sadly didnt have time for this trip), and Harajuku gamers (only worth going to if you like love live)

>>108595
>but I think part of it is going in acknowledging that all the world knows about it and itll forever be tainted by idiot foreigners who treat Japan like a zoo

For what its worth, westerners are a tiny fraction of visitors and to the Japanese at least are considered benign compared to other Asians.

I hope you enjoyed your trip!

>>108595
Sounds pretty exhausting, I like to just laze about when I'm abroad.

>DO NOT go to shibuya, shinjuku, or harujuku.
The kissu meetup will take place in Roppongi then!

my mum really wants to visit japan one day
might do a normo trip with her and an animanga trip for myself another time

>>108598
I lazed around the first time I went but this time I had much less time and more stuff I wanted to do. Keep in mind that the sun sets earlier in Japan than most places (because it rises much earlier) and stuff closes early so sleeping in every day isnt the best move.
I am still jetlagged and as a result of the past 2 months being full of things I have to do and stuff going on with this topping it all off my body has nothing left in it, and I start work tomorrow!

Shimokitazawa (where bocchi is set) is actually a really nice area to go to if you want a trendy part of Tokyo without subjecting yourself to tourist trap hell. Ueno seems more of a kissu meetup sort of place
>>108596
true but the westerners piss me off more and are much more visible

im actually really looking forward to going on a big date with my cute mum all around japan to admire the cherry blossoms and tea ceremonies and bullet trains and shrines and flower arrangements and mountains and school uniforms and yamato nadeshikos

>>108619
post pic of mom

>Oh and one last thing, DO NOT go to shibuya, shinjuku, or harujuku. Just dont, they suck. The area is only worth going to for Meiji Jingu
yeah would agree with this, although I got some nice leather gloves in Harajuku, as well as new sneakers.
I would also argue that even Meiji Jingu isn't a big deal especially if you aren't into monarchies or the Japanese royal family, which would be most I figure. When I went I just treated it as a park to stroll through and felt a bit like an ass and a gawker making an exhibit out of some people's sincere beliefs and reverence for royal blood. It isn't that interesting either; the grand shrine in Suwa had a massive nawa rope and a huge 7ft long sword.

>>108615
>>108619
do not take your mum to anywhere near tourist trap locations, they WILL spend tons of times shopping in duty free shops

>>108621
scared someone's going to say something kimo

Did you have any funny interactions

not sure who you are asking but as I am currently drunk off the lemon sour I brought back from my trip and I am missing Japan alot I will answer

less of an interaction in the formal sense but I had 2 funny things happen the first time I went when I went to buy doujinshi. The first was that I was in a great small very organized dedicated erohon store (that sadly I couldnt find again) and I started stacking up the doujinshi I was going to buy. I go through the loli section and grab some great picks and as a browse the stuff next to it 2 guys walk behind me jealously staring at my stack laid on the bookshelf as if they wanted to buy the stuff I had. The second was when there was a girl way to cute and normal looking to be behind a counter selling doujinshi in a basement and she had this look of genuine shock when shes going through the doujins I was buying and sees one with lolish girls on the cover and looks up to see some tall foreigner blanking staring at her (me) waiting for her to ring them up.

This was also the first time but I went to an izakaiya with a Japanese friend of mine and then guy sitting next to us starts staring at me in amazement because apparently he found me and my American voice and way of talking extremely extremely cool. I said the word split in a sentence when talking to my friend and he kept repeating it trying to imitate it to his girlfriend. After that some salaryman comes in and sits next to us and wants to practice his English so he starts asking me what I think was Japanese beer, he was very happy when I said kirin ichiban is the best beer in the world.

The more recent time I didnt really have much in the way of funny experiences but there was the time my friend really wanted to sit next to a hot girl on the subway so he sat separately from me with empty seats on both sides, someone of that description walks in and straight into sitting next to me where he would have been sitting and when I look over hes just shaking his head. Wasnt funny but when I went to the first temple to start the hike the weather was the cloudy could rain any minute but isnt type, when I got there the taxi driver asked if I had an umbrella and when I said no he went to the back of his car and gave me his.
I miss Japan.

A guy from Bic Camera asked me if it was rainy season in Norway as well and I told him that it's always rainy season where I live which he thought was funny.

I miss asia too

>>108991
nice stories anon

>>108993
must have been the accent

>>109035
No... Even the people infamous for Engrish are mocking it now...

I larped as a anime protagonist with no parents today and bought a premade bento for dinner from Lawson. There was a lot less martial combat involved in it than anime had led me to believe.

There was also Fubuki Lawson merch that I was extremely tempted to buy, but I held back. Maybe next time...

>>108452
Nakano Broadway is way more comfy too; not as much of a crowd right on you and the noise is more tolerable. Despite this, there is still great selection with a bit of everything for an earnest seeker.

Nyalra often posts some nice finds from it.
https://twitter.com/nyalra_uso