Japanese Culture

[Vexx]

I highly recommend the Lonely Planet series and their Japanese phrase book. Study it thoroughly and keep it with you. Though most people have taken english, they're usually to embarrassed to actually try it on a foreigner.

The Azumanga Daioh tactic of "running away" can be quite real when faced with the alien unknown

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

I have a few questions.
1)What will be the best time of the year to visit Akihabara, weather wise and culture wise?

Weather-wise, pretty much anytime of the year, I think. I would be better to avoid winter (Dec to Feb) and summer (May to Aug) though. Winter in Tokyo can be miserably cold, wet and grey, while the summers are hot and sticky. That said, bluejazz87 has just returned from a holiday in Tokyo. You might want to PM him to find out more.

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

2)If I can only speak english and chinese, will i have problems communicating with the service people there?

If you can read Chinese, you'll feel almost at home in Japan - the signage are mostly in kanji. Furthermore, English signage are increasingly common in Tokyo. There also seem to be more guides around who speak passable English, compared to when I first visited in 2002.

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

3)What are the "must go" places to see there?

Depends on what you regard as a "must". For me, visiting heritage sites are always a must, but that would immediately put several people to sleep.

Off the top of my head:

• Tsukiji Market (for fresh sushi; visit before it's gone; I read that it's moving soon)
• Shibuya (for the iconic youth culture of Japan; there is a major Mandarake store there as well)
• Harajuku (where the cosplayers hang out on weekends at Takeshi-dori, a sidestreet behind Harajuku; or so I read, because I didn't see them)
• The Imperial Palace (especially during sakura season)
• Asakusa (to see the famous Rei-mon)
• Tokyo University (to re-live your favourite Love Hina! moments )
• Sony Building, in Ginza (to see the latest gadgets)
• Akihabara (if you're an otaku, need I say more?)

And if you have the time, make a day-trip to Mitaka, to visit the Ghibli Museum. Contrary to what people say, you can buy tickets at the bus station (next to the train station), which are sold to foreigners and locals alike. You don't have to buy a ticket in advance. Take some time to explore Mitaka if you can - it's a very pleasant suburb of Tokyo.

Actually, I just realised all the above is out-of-topic. There's a Visiting Japan thread which may be a better place for more answers.

[Kang Seung Jae]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Winter in Tokyo can be miserably cold, wet and grey,

It's cold in Tokyo?

[Samari]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

I presume: Yes. The language barrier is quite real in Japan.

It's not as bad as Americans though and their knowledge of Japanese. I don't know that much Japanese (just enough to survive) and I could tell that it would be easier for someone that didn't speak Japanese to get around in Japan (at least the Tokyo area) instead of vise-versa.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Kang Seung Jae

It's cold in Tokyo?

It was around 4-5 degrees Celsius on the first day of my holiday there last February. Grey and drizzling the whole day too. Luckily, Tokyo is heavily built-up, so you don't get the wind-chill factor. I was literally freezing in Matsumoto, smack in the middle of the Japanese Alps, for example, not because it was cold per se, but because the wind was so strong.

[Kang Seung Jae]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

It was around 4-5 degrees Celsius on my first day of my holiday there last February.

That's pretty warm. Try Seoul or Chicago.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Yes, yes, Mr Eskimo. Hot or cold, it's all relative, I'm sure we'd agree.

[Samari]

It's really humid there right now. And it was raining a little bit for the few days I was there. But for about 80% of the time just cloudy/semi-sunny. I was lucky, because the forecast before I went was quite brutal.

[LiberLibri]

1. Usually June is the rainy season in Japan (plum-rain / 梅雨). Were I an easy traveller I would like to visit Japan in autumn or spring. The ancient name of this country was Aki-tsu-shima (the island of autumn), and the autumn is the most beautiful season there. But most of interesting events in Japan (festivals, rituals or the Comic Market) are held either in summer or winter. If you are an epicurean, I recommend winter because everything gets more tasteful, especially the fishes.

2. I don't think so. If you feel difficulty, try to talk in writing, whichever in English or Chinese. But never forget to use traditional kanjis (繁体字中文) in the latter case!

3. It really depends on what kind of person you are.

Akihabara, Asakuasa, Ryogoku and Fukagawa are located next to each other (see the video, akihabara-asakusa-ryogoku). In Ryogoku, you can watch the Sumo matches. Tomioka shrine in Fukagawa will open the Fukagawa maturi in August this year. Yokohama China Town is a bit far, but it might be interesting in that it tells you how your people live in Japan.

I personally recommend the National Diet, that offers a tour programme everyday for everyone, and the National Library, that holds ALL publications published in Japan including manga.

[bhl88]

Harajuku (where the cosplayers hang out on weekends at Takeshi-dori, a sidestreet behind Harajuku; or so I read, because I didn't see them)

@TinyRedLeaf: Most lolitas, especially those who wear the style on a daily basis, state that "we say we're not cosplay, but they don't listen. Of course we're not happy, but there's nothing we can do about it." (translated from the 2ch lolita fashion messageboard introduction) The comments of this style being cosplay is usually from the otaku who only know of this fashion through anime and manga. - taken from Wikipedia

[LiberLibri]

The lolita-fashion movement has its direct origin in Isao Kaneko's PINK HOUSE, which has had nothing with otaku culture by itself. It's true. But it is also fact that some of the earliest female otakus in the 80's enthusiastically accepted the brand, and even today both male and female otakus cherish a strange love for the descendants of Kaneko's works. It's not wonder if a person, whether a native Japanese or not, thinks the lolita belongs to the otaku world.

Eiji Otsuka once critically studied the relationship between lolitas and otakus; see, Mental History of Otaku: Analysis on the 1980's, pp.139-146; and Folkloristics of Girls, if you please.

[yezhanquan]

To add to LiberLibri, the original "Lolita" was the name of a novel. That's why for me personally, I don't see why otakus should even think of lolitas as something "exclusive".

[LiberLibri]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

To add to LiberLibri, the original "Lolita" was the name of a novel. That's why for me personally, I don't see why otakus should even think of lolitas as something "exclusive".

Nabokov's novel is quite well-known here in Japan. I read it in my high-school's library (though I was too young to understand why it was considered as a classic; it did not interest me at that time). I think everyone admits the word itself is unexclusive, rather universal one. But note that the lolita in Japanese major context symbolises the refusal of girls to maturity (that means, the girl herself hates to grow), while the original Droles does not care for the maturity; it is Hambart who wants her not to grow up. The subjectivity is here set opposite.

[escimo]

Originally Posted by Kang Seung Jae

That's pretty warm. Try Seoul or Chicago.

Or Helsinki on a cold day. Last winter coldest days were around -32C here. And if you dare to go a bit norther, in Lapland temperatures can drop way below -40C usually around February.

A few years ago I was skiing at Ylläs in northern Finnish Lapland. It was a beautiful January day. Temperature, mild -37C and wind around 18m/s. That was cold.

Sorry for the OT. Kinda was compelled.

[Mystique]

weather wise, tokyo has all seasons, i've been caught in a snow storm that made a 30mins journey = 3hours x.x
came in during september, it was near 30C, dec = minus temps and back in spring the temp will shoot straight up.
Of course rainy season at the moment = endless days of rain, rain rain, i'm sure i wrote about it driving me insane at some point.
Oh, can't forget the lovely blood sucking vamps too that come out to play (mosquitoes)

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Off the top of my head:

• Tsukiji Market (for fresh sushi; visit before it's gone; I read that it's moving soon)
• Shibuya (for the iconic youth culture of Japan; there is a major Mandarake store there as well)
• Harajuku (where the cosplayers hang out on weekends at Takeshi-dori, a sidestreet behind Harajuku; or so I read, because I didn't see them)
• The Imperial Palace (especially during sakura season)
• Asakusa (to see the famous Rei-mon)
• Tokyo University (to re-live your favourite Love Hina! moments )
• Sony Building, in Ginza (to see the latest gadgets)
• Akihabara (if you're an otaku, need I say more?)

Actually, I just realised all the above is out-of-topic. There's a Visiting Japan thread which may be a better place for more answers.

anyways for harajuku, you need to go to the bridge on a sunday, some examples (not my entire collection, lol) of some of the styles there.

hara 1
hara 2
hara 3

Also make sure to take a 10min walk to visit the meiji shrine that's around the corner, you may get lucky like we did and experience this:
meiji shrine

Spoiler for procession:

I kinda forget that this may need explaining, but it's a traditional Shino wedding that was happening at the time, the left side was all the man's family and the right was all the woman's family, side by side. They paraded the entire length of the shrine (it is huuuuuge) and she was dressed in traditional shinto bridal wear... well so was the husband to be honest.
Even though i've been lucky to spot a few shinto weddings in the shrine grounds (this was by far the largest and most grandest) it's definitely a rare (and very expsenive) occasion, so we kinda turned into pappazzi and snuck around grabbing more pics >.>

best place on the net for anything japan was well can be found here:
http://web-japan.org/
they've changed the website a lil since i last used it, but as you can see under 'content' it's basically a gateway to just about anything related to japan that you can thing of
(Kids web japan is awesome and just not for kids!!!!) ^^

Anyways happy researching FateAnomaly


edit:
funny how i only notice now about the 'visiting japan' thread, lol.
Well i guess posts can be merged into there from when fate asked the question, if it's really out of place...

[Samari]

Originally Posted by LiberLibri

Nabokov's novel is quite well-known here in Japan. I read it in my high-school's library (though I was too young to understand why it was considered as a classic; it did not interest me at that time). I think everyone admits the word itself is unexclusive, rather universal one. But note that the lolita in Japanese major context symbolises the refusal of girls to maturity (that means, the girl herself hates to grow), while the original Droles does not care for the maturity; it is Hambart who wants her not to grow up. The subjectivity is here set opposite.

I'm confused. There's a style all on it's own that people mistake for cosplay? Do you have any photos of this "lolita" style?

[LiberLibri]

Originally Posted by bluejazz87

I'm confused. There's a style all on it's own that people mistake for cosplay? Do you have any photos of this "lolita" style?

Exactly. See: (from LuckyPinky at Rakuten)


The lolita style can be characterised with the extreme usage of frills and ribbons as well as the unpractical design like a classic doll's cloth. Dark-coloured clothes are often distinguished as "Goth Loli" (Gothic Lolita), and light-coloured ones are "Ama Loli" (Sweet Lolita). The former type is often mixed with such punk-rock motifs as crosses, chains and bandages.

[Samari]

Oh okay thanks. Yeah I think I saw a few of those types when I was there.

[Happy_Chip]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

I presume: Yes. The language barrier is quite real in Japan.

I speak only english and a handful of japanese words. For what it's worth, I had no issue in Akihabara. It struck me as a place used to touristy types wandering around.

[Samari]

Originally Posted by Happy_Chip

I speak only english and a handful of japanese words. For what it's worth, I had no issue in Akihabara. It struck me as a place used to touristy types wandering around.

In places like Electric City I hear that a lot of shopkeepers and or employees are pretty good with English. Probably for the reason like you stated.