No.140994
What the fuck is wrong with you, you don't buy JC period, that's kimo, fricking' kimo freak.
No.140996
my most embarrassing moment in japan was trying to enter a train whose doors i thought would open up upon hitting me like they do here (they did not)
i only barely managed to get in and almost lost my backpack, and an old couple looked at me shocked that someone would do something as stupid as that
besides that, don't cross the street with a red light, don't take pics of geishas, don't litter, at a lot of restaurants you have to dispose of your own stuff, and generally do shizukally as
>>140995 said
there's a metric fuckshitbuttloadton of signs telling you what you can and can't do and if you can read them they're easy to follow
you should be already practicing your spoken japanese as well, try finding a tutor for that
No.141006
>>140995DO NOT shower!!!! They will smell your fear and weakness, assert DOMINANCE with your gaijin stink!
No.141008
If you're being serious then you just don't carry around american flags. As a foreigner they expect that you are a guest and should have the manners of one
No.141011
>>141009better to carry a memento mori
as tkmz said,
>猫は精神病の隠喩、犬は安息の隠喩で魚は死の隠喩です。 No.141012
>>141009I'm not sure if a One-Piece shirt would fly or not, because I wouldn't find it strange if a tourist was wearing a breaking bad shirt, but I would find it weird if they had a new star-wars shirt or something like Marvel
No.141013
>>141012you dont want to be accepted, you WANT to be FEARED
No.141014
Avoid visiting areas that are compromised by normals. Unfortunately this means the Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto-Hiro
shima path; being easily accessible via train tends to attract them, especially Shibuya Crossing and Kabukicho. I would recommend renting a car if you're able to do so and traveling outside of the shinkansen trap. My fondest memory of my last trip was driving from Tottori city to Izumo Taisha, stopping along the way whenever I saw something interesting - this photo was taken from
https://www.mukibanda.jp/ facing west.
As for etiquette, simply displaying more (cultural) awareness than other people will go a long way. If you have any language skill that's already a huge start, then just be polite and respectful; display spatial awareness, etc. Have DeepL on your phone ready to use if the need arises but try to avoid using it unless necessary. Pretty much any information about specific practises you can find online but it's best to find them on English language Japanese websites rather than "Top 10 Things To See in Japan The Mysterious Land Of Anime, Ninjas and Robots".
In terms of general dress, don't wear cargo shorts and avoid carrying a backpack wherever possible, or anything else that screams that you're a tourist. If you're going in summer try to wear linen and be prepared for it to be blazing hot.
>>141009I assume this is sature but I did this with some subculture clothing and recieved some compliments for it. They act as a if you know you know thing where a very specific type of imagery carries meaning that a random graphic tshirt doesn't.
No.141028
>>141015I can't comment too much on Hokkaido I'm sorry. I've only visited once and only went to Sapporo, Otaru and Kushiro. You seem to have chosen a good spread however, including some locations I was looking at prior to my trip. Noboribetsu may be worth stopping at, but if you're choked for time it's no issue. Keep in mind that dropping a car at a different location than you collected it from will cost more but the convenience can sometimes be unavoidable. One issue I've found with traveling to Japan is that although the country is enormous, you always want more time in each place. I've also heard that Eastern Hokkaido is very interesting, with stunning landscapes and immense biodiversity, but it's quite difficult to access if you don't have a car.
>>141025Does this count?
No.141029
>>141028Since it's also a summer trip I opted for the thought that the East is probably boring if there's no fall leaves or snow.
Though, I have a goal of taking pictures of some Ainu stuff and there are some nice museums to the East.
Not sure exactly where I'll stop, but it's a 7 day segment on the island. I think there's a lot of nice things along those lines I chose. I'm also going to take the Hokodate shinkansen into Tokyo for some other stuff.
No.141035
>>141029I don't think you'll be disappointed anywhere you go. Have a good time. 7 days is probably okay, if you were trying to do the whole island in 7 it would probably be a bit much. There's a small Ainu museum in the central city that I enjoyed visiting, but the better ones are further out.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5qVDDDkeM3gyyqDZ8 No.141061
>>141048Wear that gif on your shirt to show:
A. you have good taste in anime
B. you have good taste in girls
C. you have good taste in human body
D. you have good taste in love interests
No.141115
>>141009>>141048remember to wear 2d tshirt AND carry backpacks
it's mandatory to fit into japanese culture
No.141128
Uhhhh.. do I need a special license to drive a car in Japan
Some websites are talking about me needing a certificate that applies to a certain Geneva convention that recognizes my ability to drive?
Also do i need insurance...
No.141129
>>141119it's a chain
i went to one in osaka and they didn't have any i was looking for, it looks like figgy stores mostly stock what's recent and popular
>>141128you do need some paperwork for that, yes
we were told that when we saw go karts passing by, it's a requirement even for that
No.141131
>>141129Apparently it's a kind of standard thing yo have an international license.
I thought they could just do a lookup by calling the respective governments or getting access to their data
No.141132
im from australia, when i went to america last year i got an international driver's license which is good for some years
not that anyone ever checked that i had it even when i hired my rental car
No.141133
I see... Well I'll apply to get one. It's probably not required for reservations, but picking it up maybe...
Currently i could save like 80$ by reserving it for the 8th because for some reason it costs more 2 days later even if I request the same end date
No.141134
It doesn't make sense!!! Why is the rental timeline and location that works worst for me the cheapest!!
No.141136
Had to cut back on driving a scenic route because don't want to spend too much on car rental. Instead going to take a train from Chitose to shinkansen
No.141138
it's not a full thumbs up because a train reservation is still 120,00 yen. And Driving from Asashikawa to Hakodate is like 690,00 yen. Because the further you go from the dropoff point the more you end up paying. I can only imagine the price if I drove from Ashikawa to Tokyo outskirts
No.141142
Thought that a weekend to Japan would be crazy expensive, but actually it's not that bad price-wise if you wanted to make a habit out of it.
https://www.zipair.net/enWas looking at what it'd cost for a standard seat to Japan from a Vancouver airport and it's about 750-ish for a round trip. Vancouver because it's cheaper than flying out of the US, but if you wanted to avoid Canadian customs you'd probably be paying extra to do so. Or if you're not near Vancouver airport. But if you're in the US where I am, which is probably as far as you can get from there without being in Florida, round trip to Vancouver is ~300-400. So about 1100-1200 for the flight.
https://parkhoteltokyo.com/rooms/single/ Then about 150 for the room for a night, 4 star too so not bad. So probably with food an everything around $1500 per weekend in total. Not that bad, really. Definitely cheaper than what I'm doing.
>>141014Thanks for the suggestion for clothing, was debating if I wanted to bring my nice cotton shirts or not but if it's going to be really humid and make them stick and they won't even be more 'normal', then I'll go and get some linen stuff. How's Hakone during the summer? I've got plans for doing a sunrise Mt Fuji climb up the Subashiri route and will be staying a night in one of the Ryokan there afterwards. Also if you've got any experience with it yourself what kind of gear and fitness would you recommend? I'm currently aiming to be in 2 mile run shape when I go for the climb, but not sure if that'll be enough for something that'll take me a good bit of hours. Also probably need some climbing practice on other mountains before that so I can get used to the altitude stuff more.
No.141143
>>141142>a weekendWhat could you possibly do in just 2 days?
No.141144
>>141143I dunno, it's what Anonymous was talking about on IRC so I wanted to check. But probably the price doesn't really change too much from a weekend to 5 days or whatever, since most of the cost is in the airplane fee.
No.141145
>>141144I'm struggling to work out how to do Sapporo in half a day after flying in, a full day and a half day train out... Did you mean to say Tokyo
No.141146
>>141145Oh, I'm not planning anything for a weekend. Anonymous was just talking about the viability of a weekend to Japan monthly so I was looking into how cheap you could get it. Could probably save on hotel expenses too by going for cheaper.
>>>/chat/261344 No.141152
>>141150Frens don't kill each other, not in broad daylight at least.
Realistically I think a /qa/ meetup would be quite awkward judging from posts I've read about various 4chan meetups.
No.141153
>>141152Speaking from experience because I have had to be in multiple scenarios where I really did not want to talk with the people around me, I always find activities better where people don't need to speak but move towards a goal
No.141161
visit cat island AND TAKE LOTS OF PICCIES
No.141184
Also I'd like to go to Oarai, but it's a little far off from downtown Tokyo to go just to see where the anime is based out of.
I think you can actually go from Tomakomai Hokkaido to Oarai via Ferry.
https://www.sunflower.co.jp/en/But Shinkansen is more imporant
Gives me a reason to do another trip eventually
No.141200
>>141161That would be cool!
But isn't it supposed to be isolated and protected or something? Maybe I'm remembering it wrong.
No.141201
>>141200that's sentinel island
No.141202
Apparently they sterilized all the cats too because the human population on the island dropped to about 2 after they ran out of fish populations
No.141203
>>141202arekusa, play komm susser tod...
No.141367
The hell did they do to the JR pass. $800 for 14 days with standard or $1100 VIP.
But individually:
A train of Tokyo to Kabukicho is $2, Kawakura 10$, Hakone $18... Like 5$ on average..
A VIP+reserved shinkansen from Hakodate-Tokyo is $317,
A VIP+Reserved train for shinchitose to hakodate is $150
A train from shinchitose to Asashikawa is $68
Like, I can budget the max cost of travel as: 585
There's no realm where this is ever affordable or convinient pricing.
No.141368
>>141367it's for rich people who don't want to think probably
No.141369
>>141368I guess. There might be a more local alternative to an RFID transportation card like we do in Montreal and probably the other high tax states. But it looks like you have to go through the ticket machines and hope they have good translations
No.141375
>>141367Sounds like some sort of super ticket thing?
Convenience and peace of mind. If there's one super ticket you can buy to ensure a safe, uneventful trip then I can see people jumping on it instead of dealing with a dozen different tickets with a dozen different points of failure in a country of strangers where there is very likely a language barrier. Vacations are luxuries after all, so removing a point of potentially mind-breaking stress is something I would personally buy if I ever found myself in such a position. Although I don't think people with that level of anxiety would travel, so who knows. Just convenience for retirees and stuff then?
No.141380
>>141375we're talking like 25k¥ vs 50k¥ though. The values I posted of 585$ were if I also included occasional VIP travel. I guess it's good to not have to use the machines though or figure that stuff out. I guess it's a cheaper alternative to having to work the ticket machines and hope they have an english language button(seems like most do)
No.141569
What's tourism level Japanese?
I was reading some European related stuff that said their B2 was like the most a tourist needs to be able to communicate with locals. That's like JLPT3
No.141570
>>141569it doesn't really match the jlpt because jap tests don't include writing and speaking like euro language ones do
it's not at all rare for a person to pass a test and still be unable to hold even a basic conversation, lots of those stories going around
but yes, with N3 grammar internalized and the ability to use it in speech while also being able to parse what you're being told should be enough to hold a conversation
No.141572
>>141570I was wondering about that writing and speaking stuff. Because the language study in my school was very heavy on writing, speaking and listening. But Japanese language courses are vocab, grammar, listening.
I saw that some foreign people who are fluent can't pass the N1 for whatever reason. So I was thinking that it kinda makes sense that the N3 would be a sort of generic standard for having the means to communicate, but with no actual qualifications to do so because a test can't make you fluent.
No.141590
>>141569>I was reading some European related stuff that said their B2 was like the most a tourist needs to be able to communicate with locals. That's like JLPT3B2 is closer to N2-N1.
https://www.jlpt.jp/e/about/cefr_reference.htmlStart reading visual novels every day like your life depends on it.
No.141591
>>141590>readingAlso watch SOL anime to get a knack for SOL (everyday life) Japanese listening comprehension.
No.141593
>>141591Anime's gotta be too unrealistic. You'd end up picking up the theatrical feminine voice
No.141595
>>141593It's not that problematic. Anime is great for learning. Either way, unless you're planning to live there your whole life you're probably not gonna sound native unless your hobby is imitating speech patterns so just enjoy the journey and have a good time. At worst someone will be confused here and there and then you clear it up together. 橋？ いえいえ、すいみせん。食べ物の箸。 In most cases it will be obvious from context either way. You probably don't look Japanese either way so you are the foreigner even with a good intonation.
You don't even need to practice talking yet which is when you really start building the mouth reflexes, just enjoy the shows and listen to boys and girls talk in all sorts of relaxed and fast comic paces. Can always start watching a ton of casual male youtube videos later on and imitating them when you practice speaking.
I learned English from fantasy movies and games and chatting by text online in video games, but there's no trace of me yelling you shall not pass and lifting my staff during a conversation. SOL anime (and voiced SOL romance VNs) are great for beginners because the language is usually simple so you can focus on the basic grammar, hearing the words, and not being overwhelmed by 1000s of fantasy terms that won't help you in Japan and is better learned after you've gotten good at most of the daily life stuff.
No.141596
>>141593iyaaaaa i hope that doesn't happen to atashi
mouuuu~
pout pout pout No.141598
>>141597you'd probably get a laugh from a few japanese people if you introduced yourself, the gaijin way, using wareware
No.141601
>>141593It's pretty realistic. Especially in SOL/CGDCT/etc type anime. It's the shounen/isekai you gotta watch out for. Source: me. Doing swell working in Japan with just my life's worth of anime japanese and two years of daily anki kanji grinding. No any official learning.
No.141603
>>141601I'm sure there's situations where the language makes sense, but i know that real people talk like they don't care if you understand. And in TV they try to make it clear.
So I'd instinctively trend away from anything scripted if you want to speedrun the language and jump straight into interviews and anything else improvised
No.141604
>>141603Yeah, its 100 times harder getting what they're saying; especially the guys, almost all of them are 早口. Still, you can't train yourself to understand fast japanese if you cant understand the slow ones in anime.
No.141605
i called my japanese coworker hayakuchi and she got self conscious :3
No.141607
cow*rker
No.141626
fellow cow orker jim
No.141633
>The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Canadian Snowbird Association remind Canadians who have spent the winter in warmer climates to plan ahead for a smooth return home.
>In response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian-made goods, Canada has imposed a 25 per cent counter tariff on certain U.S. products brought into Canada. The CBSA is collecting the tariffs on behalf of the Government of Canada in the form of a surtax.
Presumably the US will do the same elsewhere. I'm not sure of the minimums though