Visiting Japan

[Samari]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Or you could save the cost and just got to a club if you want skanky "hoes"
Cosplaying is an actual hobby and goes a little bit more serious than just 'showing flesh'.
For one, not all cosplay with skimpy outfits. Two, they are pretty decent of being in character as well as having a knack with make up and hair.
The major difference between UK and Japanese cosplayers that I've noticed is that Japanese lot tend to just buy their costumes, but UK will sew, stitch, glue and construct it by hand (and produce some amazing, amazing costumes)

A fair amount of work and love goes into them, so don't belittle it...

I was kidding. I know people put effort into cosplay. I'm just saying, it's great to see good looking women in some of these costumes that in my opinion look really revealing sometimes. Same thing goes for Halloween. I won't use the words "ho" or "skank" if you're offended. But let's also not pretend that there aren't females out there that don't use venues like a comic convention as an excuse to dress like a sexy superhero...just like some girls use Halloween as a reason to dress like a sexy nurse, french maid, teacher, etc.

And the club is different. People aren't dressed up in costumes of fictional characters.

[WanderingKnight]

The Tokyo girl? She must've taken a shine to you. Stupid question, but you have been using honorifics, right? I just hope this isn't a Morinth scenario *sweatdrop*

Actually, after the first few minutes we used informal speech. That's something that surprised me about being here and talking with Japanese people--most people (the honest ones at least, not the ones who build their wall between you and them and falsely throw around polite smiles and "hee"s) are pretty quick to jump from keigo to informal speech (I'm now wondering if it's cause I'm foreigner). I actually had trouble when talking with this girl since I was so used to using teineigo and it would sometimes come out of my mouth unwittingly, even though informal speech is undoubtedly more comfortable and easy to use.

After learning she's 27, though, I jokingly started calling her "senpai".

In other news, I'm now in Sapporo and I'm tired as hell. The frenzy of the trip has undoubtedly taken its toll on me--I was in Nikko yesterday, and because I forgot to set the alarm on I missed the first train, which meant adding 4 hours to the trip to Sapporo (to make it a 13-hour trip). I was out and about in the morning but I was so tired I had to come back to the hostel by 2 PM. The cold doesn't help, either.

I also have another 10-hour long trip tomorrow to Tokyo for my final night here (provided I don't miss the first train at 7 AM).

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Cosplay wise, well I 'broke' ettiquette but there are queues for photo enthuiasts to take as many pics as they like of the cosplayer(s) of their choice. I just snapped pictures from the side and ran off xD

Is queuing for photos common to most major cosplay events in Japan? I'm curious since I figure if I ever get over there I'm probably going to want to attend at least one cosplay event, if only to see how much of what I see on Japanese cosplay blogs is real and how much is Photoshop.

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

Is queuing for photos common to most major cosplay events in Japan? I'm curious since I figure if I ever get over there I'm probably going to want to attend at least one cosplay event, if only to see how much of what I see on Japanese cosplay blogs is real and how much is Photoshop.

Probably, it's common to queue for anything in Japan, even waiting for trains.
"Land of order and ettiquette", after all...
It was my first time going to a major event that had cosplay in Japan, so I figure that it'd be the same everywhere

[Arbitres]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Actually, after the first few minutes we used informal speech. That's something that surprised me about being here and talking with Japanese people--most people (the honest ones at least, not the ones who build their wall between you and them and falsely throw around polite smiles and "hee"s) are pretty quick to jump from keigo to informal speech (I'm now wondering if it's cause I'm foreigner). I actually had trouble when talking with this girl since I was so used to using teineigo and it would sometimes come out of my mouth unwittingly, even though informal speech is undoubtedly more comfortable and easy to use.

After learning she's 27, though, I jokingly started calling her "senpai".

In other news, I'm now in Sapporo and I'm tired as hell. The frenzy of the trip has undoubtedly taken its toll on me--I was in Nikko yesterday, and because I forgot to set the alarm on I missed the first train, which meant adding 4 hours to the trip to Sapporo (to make it a 13-hour trip). I was out and about in the morning but I was so tired I had to come back to the hostel by 2 PM. The cold doesn't help, either.

I also have another 10-hour long trip tomorrow to Tokyo for my final night here (provided I don't miss the first train at 7 AM).

I see, that is mildly good to hear on your end then. Have you told her your last night is coming up?... What I'm implying? Nothing

Although this woman sounds rather nice if you can speak casual with her in private, though she might actually be doing it because your foreign. No matter, it's still good experience (some of us would kill for it.)

Make certain to set your clock then, don't forget the finale. It's going to be one hell of a day and you might as well have one hell of a good time. So enjoy yourself AMAP.

[WanderingKnight]

THANKS A LOT ICELAND NOW I'M STUCK IN TOKYO

(My flight goes through Germany--obviously it was canceled. Joy).

Oh and btw yesterday sucked and a series of unfortunate events (the goddamn SHINKANSEN getting delayed for 1h30m --how unlucky can I get?--, the hostel I stayed yesterday being in the buttass end of nowhere between Asakusa and Ueno, and of course finding out my flight got canceled as soon as I arrived to the hostel) led me to not be able to meet the girl at night. I did get to meet her this morning since I'm stuck here till I get a new flight (oh and what kind of airline closes their doors on Sundays? Fuck you Lufthansa), but another unfortunate event (her getting a call from work on a freaking Sunday) meant we had little chance to do anything. She goes to Taiwan on a work-related trip tomorrow, too.

So yeah, yesterday and today have been sucky. And I am not looking forward to being stuck here in Japan for a week.

[martino]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

THANKS A LOT ICELAND NOW I'M STUCK IN TOKYO

(My flight goes through Germany--obviously it was canceled. Joy).

Oh and btw yesterday sucked and a series of unfortunate events (the goddamn SHINKANSEN getting delayed for 1h30m --how unlucky can I get?--, the hostel I stayed yesterday being in the buttass end of nowhere between Asakusa and Ueno, and of course finding out my flight got canceled as soon as I arrived to the hostel) led me to not be able to meet the girl at night. I did get to meet her this morning since I'm stuck here till I get a new flight (oh and what kind of airline closes their doors on Sundays? Fuck you Lufthansa), but another unfortunate event (her getting a call from work on a freaking Sunday) meant we had little chance to do anything. She goes to Taiwan on a work-related trip tomorrow, too.

So yeah, yesterday and today have been sucky. And I am not looking forward to being stuck here in Japan for a week.

That's really unfortunate, but I'm wondering why you're flying through Germany. My assumption here is that you were going from Argentina, so it seems to me like the long way round to me...

[WanderingKnight]

Since it's exactly on the opposite side of the world, it doesn't really matter where you fly through (there are no direct flights). Whether I passed through the US or through Europe, the flight time was more or less the same (around 30 hours), and the prices were similar. The only difference was that I had to pay for the US visa, which I can't be arsed to do.

[martino]

Oh I see, I thought that there would have been a direct flight. Somehow I still thought it'd be closer flying through the US (I guess it's time for me to refresh high school geography knowledge by looking at a map).

[H23]

Alright - As it's looking right now, I'm gonna be in Tokyo from September 13-20 later on this year (I'm gonna check out the Tokyo Game show in the weekend of 18-19th as well). I'm doing a 9 day tour (Starting in Osaka) prior to that, and it's gonna be my first time in Japan too (first major travel experience, really - and I'm also going by myself).

My itinerary looks like this so far:

Osaka - September 5 - 6
Koyasan - September 7
Hiroshima - September 8-9
Kyoto - September 10-11
Hakone - September 12
Tokyo - September 13-20

If anybody is gonna be around the area around that time (especially Tokyo), let me know! Any tips would be greatly appreciated as well

[yoropa]

Man that volcano really did screw everybody over. Apart from the recent turmoil it sounded like you had a pretty enjoyable experience in Japan.

It looks like I'm just never going to be able to afford a trip to Japan until I'm maybe 30, and by that time I doubt I'd even want to go anymore. Unless I work some magic which has happened before but at this point, ugh.

[WanderingKnight]

Osaka - September 5 - 6

You know, there are not really that many things to do in Osaka other than seeing the castle IMO. I would just make it 1 night and focus on someplace else.

I had a hell of a time there but only by random chance.

[Samari]

Originally Posted by yoropa

Man that volcano really did screw everybody over. Apart from the recent turmoil it sounded like you had a pretty enjoyable experience in Japan.

It looks like I'm just never going to be able to afford a trip to Japan until I'm maybe 30, and by that time I doubt I'd even want to go anymore. Unless I work some magic which has happened before but at this point, ugh.

You can't save up any money? There are cheap ways to get to Japan. Probably requires a lot of research, but there are ways.

[WanderingKnight]

Well if I was able to go with my absurdly low salary compared to first world countries I guess anyone can. The whole cost of my trip was 4000 USD, and that's including the ridiculous 2000 USD plane tickets, and the 500 USD 14-day JR pass. Food is really cheap in Japan and you can get accommodation in hostels for 15 days for about 300 USD.

Of course, don't expect to do all of the touristy things, or fill bags and bags of shit in Akihabara (however, I spent about 8000 yen in manga and related stuff and I still had a nice amount of cash by the end of my trip--too bad that cash is running low now that I'm stuck waiting for a flight back, lol), or go to the most expensive restaurants, or enter every single temple in Kyoto. But you can still do a lot of stuff--and thankfully, all the stuff that costs a lot of money for the most part I'm not really interested in.

[yoropa]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

The whole cost of my trip was 4000 USD

Holy friggin' crap.

[Samari]

Originally Posted by yoropa

Holy friggin' crap.

That's not that bad. You said something about almost graduating high school right? What are your plans afterwards?

[H23]

Yeah... 4G's is definitely not bad to spend for a 15 day trip to Japan.

[WanderingKnight]

Holy friggin' crap.

You have to take into account that

1) half of it is the plane ticket, which is frigging expensive from my country--you can probably get it for half or something of the sort if you look enough in the US
2) 500 USD is the JR Pass for 2 weeks. If you don't plan on seeing much of the country and just want to stay in Tokyo, then you can ignore that.
3) 300 USD for 15 nights is frigging cheap and it's the same as single a night at a really good hotel. Of course you have to be prepared for dorms and smelly toilets, but if you're young it's not like you really care, right?
4) I really didn't look after my spending that much, other than never eating for more than 1000 yen. And even then it's kind of expensive--you can eat very well for less than 500 (Matsuyas and Yoshinoyas offer gyuumeshi, which is gyuudon + miso soup, for 250 yen more or less) if you look hard enough.

[yoropa]

My absolute limit on any foreign travels is $1,500 max. Usually it lowers down to $1,000 if I'm being realistic. I have that embassy deal that can get me in the country for a short bit with hotel for $900. My last travel was in the US and cost $100 to rent a car. I drove halfway across the country... to visit family... who live in the ghettos.

I think the main reason I'd enjoy Japan is that it's NOT THE FRIGGIN GHETTO. I am SICK of traveling to the ghettos. I have not gone on vacation to a place that was not the ghetto in 4 years! I am sick of being surrounded by violent, poor, racist, ignorant, retarded people. Sick of it. UGH.

Somehow I feel Japan is the exact opposite of my situation. But it still requires me to spend an immense amount of money in order to get to. Money that I probably will not have to spare until I'm 30, and by that time I doubt I would enjoy it. Actually chances are I'd be dead, but whatever, same thing.

I am going to be in a position where I will be able to meet the ambassador of Japan to the US on Sunday. I don't know if he's the same one I met 3 years ago or not, though. Maybe I can beg him for a plane ticket...

[WanderingKnight]

I am sick of being surrounded by violent, poor, racist, ignorant, retarded people. Sick of it. UGH.

Somehow I feel Japan is the exact opposite of my situation.

You're in for a huge surprise, though. A lot of Japanese can be like that--a lot more than you might think. Racist? Check--the majority of the population. As long as you look foreign the main reaction from a large portion of the people is to treat you as you would treat a clinically retarded person. Ignorant? Like everywhere else in the world. Retarded? Well that's a bit subjective but sometimes Japanese people can be more than a bit wonky, as exemplified by their exceedingly consumerist culture that outranks even the US.

(well maybe not poor and violent but you get the drift)

The thing is, this is not the promised land (maybe for weeaboos it is). This is just full of stupid people as anywhere else in the world--and it can be quite more shocking when you look and act foreign. My knowledge of Japanese and Japanese customs allows me to go by while not standing out like a sore thumb--unlike most foreigners here who can get, directly or indirectly, a really rough time by the locals. Most of the times it's indirect (and most of the times the tourists don't even realize it), but yeah, Japan is not lala happy land.

Sometimes I wonder what life can be for the child of a foreign couple who is born and raised in Japan. I don't think I would like it much.

PS: that doesn't mean everyone in Japan is like that. As in any country, you have to look for the smart and interesting people--I've met a good number, as I related about my experiences in Osaka and with the Tokyo girl. But yeah, this is just like everywhere else in the world.