/a/ - Animu & Mango

>What was it like to have your weeb dreams crushed under reality?

>implying

I'm far from going there myself but from all accounts I've read there's nothing disappointing about it.

Also seems like Yurucamp did wonders for tourism, if only in a few select locations.

>>809555

>What was it like to have your weeb dreams crushed under reality?

Spoken like someone who has never been.

You couldn't be further from the truth. Glorious Nippon will blow past your expectations; It's better than you can imagine.

It's so good that it makes everywhere else feel like shit, actually. It's so good that I cried silently the entire train ride back to Narita and again when the plane took off.

Strange to think that it was almost exactly one year ago.

>>809588

>I'm renting a motorbike for a few days to go tour around Fuji, Hakone and Izu.

That sounds amazing. For the love of god, please take millions of pictures and post them. I'm also curious to read about your experience riding there and how to go about renting a motorcycle.

>>809699

I found Akihabara to be interesting but not a place that I'd want to spend too long in. It's extremely crowded and the stores overwhelm your sensors with a trillion things playing at the same time.

Pretty cool seeing all the animu stores though. They're usually in these tall buildings and each store starts on the ground floor and snakes its way up another 7 floors or something.

>>809584

As long as you have practiced nip, and show that you aren't a normalfag who read through a "how to speak Japanese 101" guide on the plane ride there, you should be okay. Just don't act like an asshole.

>>809584

You barely need to know anything to get around. Some people will try to speak to you in broken English until you respond in Japanese (especially hotel staff). Subways and trains are really easy to use since it's pretty much all automated and most maps will have the station names in hiragana and romaji underneath the kanji. There was a lot more English than I thought there would be. If you've gone through section 3 of Tae Kim and know most of the basic vocabulary and kanji you will get by easily. Just don't forget to use polite language all the time and nobody will get annoyed at you.

This seems like an appropriate thread to ask anons. I'm planning to learn Jap to hopefully increase my chances of getting stationed there when I go into the navy and/or to visit one day in the near future. I have a hard time learning outside of classroom settings because of motivation. I was thinking of taking a Nip class through a private foreign language center (see image). The private center has really good reviews, but there's a few things that rub me the wrong way like no refunds even if the instructor bails (they'll give you a "credit" for another language, but they only have one Nip instructor).

Which should I go with, /a/? If I take a bullshit one credit hour course at the CC I can get half-time status to delay paying loans for another 8 months which would let me afford the Jap class, but I can also afford to take the summer private lesson class. I can't really afford to take both (even though I feasibly could because the classes are on different nights). I need that class structure at least starting out to keep from dropping it or going the route of learning twenty dozen things at once and remembering nothing. I could potentially arrange payments for the public option to try and take both, but it would mean giving up any saved money for a trip to Nipland. Reposted because forgot to spoiler.

>>809716

Even better, I've packed a gopro so I'll post some clips of the roads out there. I'm renting through this company https://www.rental819.com/english/ and they've got a handful of stores that cater to tourists and have English speaking staff. They've been great communicating via email and even accommodated a reservation change no problem when I suddenly decided I wanted a different bike. They set you up with a GPS unit and an ETS card/reader so you can go through the express lane at the toll gates. I'm departing from the Odiaba branch so I'll be going straight over the Rainbow Bridge and taking the Chuo Expressway out of town. Nice pictures by the way, I remember looking through those the last time we had this thread.

>>809718

I made an inquiry to them. I think it's run by a bunch of expats so they're probably great at setting you up with good routes and accommodation or helping you out if you're in trouble but they were a bit of a pain to deal with when trying to actually make a reservation in the first place. I think most of their business is tour groups and married couples riding two-up so they seemed quite resistant to renting out to a lone rider under 30. They're also located a bit out of the way. For the same bike for 3 to 4 days, they're about 10,000 yen more expensive and they don't have any inline fours, either. That'd be like going to a rental place in America and not being able to get a V-twin cruiser.

I just want to go out at night, pull up to a rural, roadside vending machine and drink some hot canned coffee.

>>809807

>I just want to go out at night, pull up to a rural, roadside vending machine and drink some hot canned coffee.

Yeah... That's the dream alright. Godspeed you anon!

>>809825

I would highly recommend that you bring $2000 as spending money after the plane ticket, as anon said.

Although honestly depending on what you do and what you buy, you might be hard-pressed to spend it all in two weeks.

>>809860

>4K for one week

You could stay for over a month with that money.

>JR Pass if not planning on leaving Tokyo

I don't have experience with the passes but from my understanding it is not recommended to get a JR Pass unless you will be traveling between cities. Inside Tokyo you'd be needing a Suica card, which is like a prepaid card for convenience. However, since you're only in Tokyo and only for one week it could be just as convenient to buy your tickets on the spot from the machine. It's extremely easy to do so and I felt no need for a card when I was there for nine days. All machines come with an English option and will take both cash and coins. Make sure you keep your ticket with you or you won't be able to leave the station when you arrive.

I suggest you do some research on how to use the trains in Nip, since you seem pretty clueless about it.

>Or places that are close enough by train

Everything is close enough by train in Tokyo, silly. Look at this fucking map.

>did you organize things through a travel agency?

Personally I just winged it. Had a bunch of holy grails in my mind that I wanted to do and see, and I did them. On top of that I did a lot of walking and took a lot of trains and saw a lot of really cool random shit. It's pretty nice to go out of your way to get lost, actually.

>>809577

Why are moon cars so fucking small? They look like over sized toy cars.

>>809940

They're also extremely efficient and practical. Excellent interior volume/gas mileage/power-to-weight ratio.

Of course, you do see the occasional Nip sports car as well.

>>809555

Photos from around Waseda University and it's surrounding aka the building from last pic. A lot of the cherry trees within Tokyo have/are shedding their flowers, so I suggest yous all to go up to the Tohoku area; it's not too far from Tokyo (500km tops) and the overnight highway buses are affordable, albeit cramped.

>>809981

Those pictures are doing strange things to my kokoro.

Is it any wonder that Nips are ultra-nationalist?

>>810001

Tokyo is the one Major World City that I would want to live in. Japan's cities are actually destinations, rather that places to avoid as in Europe and North America and pretty much the rest of the world too.

>>810006

>Try moving your flight dates around if possible.

I live in the middle of the country, so it's DIA, driving 5 hours to AIS, or driving 8 hours to KIA for slightly cheaper plane tickets. I did my estimates based on leaving on a weekday and returning on a weekday. I can get the price down to about $1,300 if I'm willing to sit on a plane for 35 hours, but if I want anything less than a 24 hour flight, it's ~$2,000 for just the plane ticket. Honestly the biggest issue is every time I save up money, my whore mother steals it all from me.

>>810033

>Live in

Of course - they're going to be the cleanest and safest major cities of all. The question is whether or not cleanliness and safety in and of themselves are tourist destinations - and I would say they are not. Interesting or culturally relevant places would be my top priorities as a traveller, and that's not usually to be found in metropolises, unless you're into art museums and man-made beauty moreso than natural.

>>810044

>whore mother

Anon, you need to realize that this sort of role-reversal, where you are providing for your parent, is 100% objectively fucked up and unhealthy for both of you to get accustomed to. You don't owe her for raising you until she reaches the age when she is physically unable to care for herself. When old people start shitting their pants and forgetting how to eat, that's when it becomes 1:1 like taking care of a baby, and that is when your time is to repay that debt. It is not to be paid with money. You need to live your life, or else your mom is going to reach that physically helpless stage, you will have never done anything with the money you have worked hard for, and you and your life will be at a total loss. Until then, she will always find a way to survive - she is an adult. You on the other hand will never find a way to enjoy your life if you continue allowing that kind of behavior to continue. I also don't recommend the tons-of-layovers method of travel. Not only does that cost valuable trip time, it increases the liklihood that your luggage will be lost or stolen, potentially tarnishing the whole trip

You guys should also remember that if you book your plane tickets ridiculously ahead of time, you will get some nice deals.

For example, if you plan on going to Japan a year from now. Go to a travel agent, tell them to find you offers for the cheapest tickets for your estimated time of departure and then BUY THEM. You will now have tickets to make your dreams come true, and you will have all that time to make it happen (save up money, get time off work, etc.)

This is what I did. I bought tickets 8 months in advance and spent about $750 for a roundtrip on a quality airline that provided all you can drink alcohol.

It was also nice that during those 8 months, whenever I'd hit a low in my life, I'd whip those fuckers out along with the stack of cash that was slowly building up and kept telling myself, "I'M GOING TO JAPAN!" Having that kind of hope and vision of the future lets you get through anything, let me tell you.

>>810057

Well so far the places outside of Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka I want to visit are:

1) Mt. Fuji I need to get healthier if I'm going to climb it and environs, I'd like to stay at a ryokan with an outdoors hot-spring with a good view of the mountain

2) Mt. Koya to see the atmospheric headquarters of the Buddhist Wizards.

3) Ishigaki and Irimote Islands.

>>810097

>Go to a travel agent

Is this really worth it. I figured travel agents are only really worth it when traveling as a group.

Also what airline would give you all you can drink alcohol outside off First Class?

https://www.jal.co.jp/yokosojapan/

Is this a deal?

http://www.akatsuka.gr.jp/group/suzuka/#english

This is beautiful.

A blossoming plum forest is lovely as well.

>>810103

>$1,000/night

http://www.ryokan.or.jp/english/#lead

Don't be silly anon. You're probably looking at $150 and up to $300 for something really fancy.

I stayed at a small one in Tokyo for $120 or so, and it was wonderful and amazing. Although it only had regular public baths, mind you.

Homeikan it was called if that one anon who plans on staying in Tokyo only is interested.

I'm going in May for two weeks. I decided I wanted to take full advantage of the JR Pass, so I'm gonna be traveling from the northernmost Shinkansen station (Hakodate) to the southernmost station (Kagoshima) and then back to Kansai and Kanto. I'm planning on stopping at a few select locations along the way, mostly (anime) pilgrimage sites.

The four months since I bought the tickets have gone by so fast, I would probably be panicking now if I hadn't put everything in order before. I'm still making a few changes in my itinerary, mostly deciding where to go during my days in Tokyo. I'm definitely adding something Yuru Camp related. Only bad thing so far is I had to ax my stay at a ryokans and most business hotels don't have Japanese style rooms available, so no trying out a futon for me.

>>810138

>>810146

Why don't you meet up for the common items on your itineraries? No pressure to like each other or anything. Just why not?

>>810111

>If it's a real ryokan with a crazy rock garden onsen

Laos is a sad country ruled by cartels. Anyway,

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4575.html seems like a must see if in Kyuushu and the prices don't seem crazy... and it's like you described, nice outdoor rock-work and clean accommodations.

>>810183

Shirakawago looks like Himarizawa did I get that right?. Nice.

>>810197

Rika is best girl NIPAA~~

>Post about your experience actually exploring glorious Nippon.

Anons from previous (and many) threads for the past two years or so know me. Visited in late August/early September of 2016, spent 15 days travelling to 10 cities/places. Tokyo (2d), Morioka (2d), Hakone (2d), Kyoto (2d), Himeji, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kurashiki, and Atami (2d). A taste of everything, so to speak. I got to see many cute stations, visit many amazing places, and meet tons of interesting Japs. Tremendously fun, tremendously beautiful, a simply fantastic experience. I'm not sure Japan actually exists in our reality. It's 2.5D, is what it is.

>What was it like to have your weeb dreams crushed under reality?

It turns out that I didn't dream big enough. I went to Japan to see just how many of my preconceptions were false. I arrived at Japan with thoughts in my mind about NNB and Flying Witch lying to me about how lush it was.

Japan was way better than I expected, even in supposedly boring places like Morioka and Kagoshima, and especially in supposed tourist towns like Hakone and Atami and Kyoto. The worst place I visited was Fukuoka and even then it was better than any of the cities I've been to anywhere else in the world, and believe you me, I'm well-travelled.

I'm happy to answer questions that haven't already been asked or that I haven't answered. I hope to go again this year but it's rapidly looking that I won't have the time and money unless I want to go in the fall or winter. I fell in love with Summer Japan too much to not want to back there during the same season. It's just so lush and beautiful and rainy at the tail end of August.

>>809584

I went there knowing my kana, about 100-200 kanji, basic phrases, a lot of vocabulary that I could at least recognize, and basic Genki up to, like, chapter 4 or 5. Not a lot. I found that as long as you're earnest, polite, and attempt to speak Jap whenever possible, you'll find that the Japs love that you went to the effort. Rule of thumb is to always use Jap unless you're spoken to in English first, always use polite forms unless it's clear you can be informal, and have an honest smile on your face. A smile, a bow, and a sumimasen goes a long way.

>>809699

Akiba's alright. It feels kind of skeezy with a lot of people refusing to even make glancing eye contact except for the poor girls in maid cosplay standing at corners giving flyers out while a sign next to them asks people not to touch them. I walked around, bought some nail clippers at a department store, walked around some more, found the Shosen Book Tower, bought an unreasonable amount of manga, and decided that visiting Akiba once was enough. Go for the experience. I recommend entering the district by Akiba Station. It really is as confusingly signed and laid out as the memes say it is.

>>809825

>>809860

My budget was this, and I was travelling around and spending dosh since I had no idea how anything in Japan really worked. Tourist guides help, but they're really aimed at either backpackers or relatively rich fucks wanting pre-made travel itineraries that hit all the usual Japan checklists. I was in between.

Total for two weeks: $~3200-3500

Plane ticket, round trip, direct: $700

JR Pass, 2 weeks: $~400? $500? Depends on exchange rates, since prices are in yen.

Hotels: $~1000, give or take. Sometimes I stayed in $50 hotels, sometimes I sprung for the full comfy family-run ryokan experience, like in Hakone and Atami. I think those were $150-200 night. Ryokan shouldn't cost more than that. A lot of the hotels have included breakfast in the price, so consider that.

Daily spending: $50/day. I included local travel, food, drinks, souvenirs in this. I always wanted to spring for full local dishes, at least for dinner. Those usually ran $15-20/dinner. $10 for daily drinks, since it was fucking hot and it's important to keep hydrated. $10 for local public transit or a bike rental. Sometimes I'd spend less (it's easy to get big ~$5 dinners in places, sometimes transit just isn't required since you can walk everywhere)

>when you hit the character limit and have to split your posts

More images for you guys, I guess.

>>809999

>getting a hotel in Tokyo for a week, or Osaka for that matter

That's a waste of five days. You can see basically everything unique and interesting in Tokyo in two full days. It's the same in Osaka. Shit you won't actually find in other major cities. Inner-city temples and shrines, Akiba, Shinjuku Gyoen, Jap landmarks like the Tokyo Tower or Skytree, etc. But those excess days could be spent to much better use literally anywhere else in Japan. Spend a week in Hokkaido with a bicycle or motorcycle or even car rental, and just spend that week exploring the island. It'd be cheaper too.

>>810183

Enjoy Kagoshima and make sure to take a picture of all the stations. Kagoshima's really cute. Shame you had to axe the ryokans, they're very comfortable and a great experience, especially genuine ones that aren't the ripoff luxury ones costing $1000/night

>>810251

>>810410

Others have said it here, but JR Passes are on a fixed price, per duration period, in yen. A bit more expensive for Green Car tickets. For two weeks it's about $450, maybe $400. Depends on the exchange rate. You go to an authorized dealer that's listed on the JR website. There's no way you can get a ticket without JR specifically authorizing a vendor, so if it's not on their site somewhere, it's not a real dealer. Japs are fastidious like that. There was a local travel agency here where I walked in the door, told them I wanted a 2-week regular JR Pass, signed some paperwork, showed them my valid passport, paid up, and I walked out with a voucher.

The voucher is valid for 3 months from the date of purchase, and you have to redeem it by then. You can do so at any JR Green Ticket office - basically any major Shinkansen station, any major train station in a big city, or at Narita, Haneda, or Kansai airports. From there, it's valid for 14 calendar days, starting on a day of your choice, with the first day being before the date of your voucher expiry. They check your passport upon validation, to make sure it has a tourist visa and not a temporary worker/student/resident visa too. From then on, you have to flash your JR Pass at ticket stations, present it when requested (along with your passport if they ask), and present it when booking Shikansen tickets.

Having a JR Pass lets you book reserved seats on all but the fastest Shinkansen services up to a few days in advance at JR Green Ticket offices. Super nice if you want to plan ahead, get a window seat facing a particular direction (such as viewing Fuji), or just avoid having the standing/unreserved space on Shinkansens. It's also valid for booking reserved seats on non-special long-line services, such as on special touring trains, Mini-Shinkansen, or intercity services. I think it's also valid on certain JR bus lines, which is nice. You can use it, of course, to grab any regular service JR train with no extra fare, and this includes unreserved seats on special trains.

A good example of how useful it can be: On my morning out of Kurashiki, I needed to get onboard a local train to Okayama to catch a Shinkansen to Atami. The San'in Line was running nothing but local services at this time, and it was pretty packed. I had a huge backpack on me and I could tell that it was going to be an uncomfortable 15 minutes. Then I noticed an Okayama-bound train due to stop at Kurashiki on another platform five minutes before the next San'in Line. It turned out to be a Yakumo-service limited express train that was making a semi-scheduled service run on the tail end of its Kurashiki-bound Hakubi Line trip. Hakubi Line technically stopped at Kurashiki, but it was going to Okayama as an end-of-line run before daily maintenance. I hopped aboard the unreserved car, threw my huge backpack up on the overhead storage, and sat in a really comfy seat in a mostly-empty car. A JR official asked to see my Pass once we got underway, but he accepted it and I arrived at Okayama in style and comfort half an hour before I expected. I had a nice onigiri breakfast there.

As for the Green Car JR Pass, I would advise against them. Shinkansen seats are already tremendously and unbelievably spacious and comfortable, even compared to limited express trains, intercity buses, and especially compared to any airplane seat. JR Kyushu trains in particular are amazingly comfortable, and Shinkansen rides are unbelievably quiet and smooth. You genuinely can't believe it unless you've already been on one. So, unless you're planning to use the Green Car JR Pass to book non-Shinkansen Green Car seats (or use Green Cars on local JR services), give it a miss and save some money.

>>810412

>2.5D

>>810414

>nailclippers

>>810414

>>810415

I FUCKING LOVE YOU, ANON!

A recommendation for visitors in Tokyo with a day to spare: Buy a ticket to Nikko and visit the temple complex.

It's a World Heritage site and of course quite the tourist spot, but if you love the Japanese shrines and temples you can walk around them pretty much the whole day and see the famous three wise monkeys for yourself. Before going back to the station, take a short detour and see the row of Jizou alongside a beautiful mountain river. It seems not many people know about this spot, although pictures of it are featured in nearly every traveling guide to Japan.

>>810591

>taking pictures of 地蔵さん

>>809805

Sup, soon-to-be-navyanon. I was worried you left already.

Trust me, learning nip will not help you in the slightest with getting stationed there. It's all luck from the start, even if you put down nipland as your first three choices. Military will put you where it wants you.

Now, having said that, listen to me, this is how you get stationed there: I don't know what Navy calls it, but in the equivalent of the Air Force's tech school, as in the place you go to learn your job after basic training and before your first duty station, do this: Make people like you, even if you don't want to. Get into their social ring but don't be annoying. Be someone people like and want to help out. Anyone and everyone. Help them out with all their stupid 3D relationship troubles and form bonds that way. Trust me, there will be plenty of those problems for you to deal with. Be a good senpai, be a good kohai. Just get to be someone people in your own career field like any way you can. INCLUDING the NCOs who watch after you all, this is important.**

**At the same time, don't be afraid to let people know how much of a weeb you are. Explain your passion for animu, you're waifu, everything. Let it all bare if you can. Don't hide your power level here. You'll never see any of them again, remember that.

After doing this, there will come a time when everyone will start getting their first duty stations. This is the moment you've been waiting for. Ask around to see if anyone has Japan if you didn't get lucky, and do whatever you can to switch with them. Everyone will start switching at this moment, and you need to enter into and manipulate the market so you end up with Japan. People will also help you out because A. They like you and B. They know you love Japan. Convince your favorite NCO to help the switch happen when you've found someone willing, and presto, you've got your dream station.

I know from personal experience that this works. I would have gotten Japan just handed to me if I wasn't Guard. Yes, this might not work for you, and Japan is one of the most sought after bases in the world, and for some reason they always seem to send the niggers there or Germany, but I won't get into that. Eventually, though, someone will get Japan that doesn't want it.

Also, it's important to get NCOs to like you too because they may tip things in your favor.

Your other option is to go to the shittiest base which no one else wants. The dangerous one, but the one that people get out of after a couple years. There, do your job and do it well, and when it's time to switch your base, request Japan and they'll give it to you. Talk to prior service and/or NCOs which this is. For us, it was Korea.

Hope you take my advice, but who knows, you may get lucky after all. If you have a nice NCO working that day, they may just give everyone their dream stations. Like I said, it's random. Just play the game until you get it.

Good luck, anon.

>>811175

>for some reason they always seem to send the niggers there or Germany

I wonder who could be behind this.

>>811175

I appreciate the advice, anon. I really do, thank you. Some stuff happened and I'm delaying it a little longer again. I'm gonna try to visit Nipland at least once in Autumn when I was originally gonna try and go in since I think I can raise the money, since otherwise as you said, if I don't get stationed there I won't see the country until I'm in my 30s.

Arrived in Tokyo and Shinjuku Gyoen Park is beautiful. Sadly I missed out on Ueno as it seems most of the blossoms are gone. Imperial palace is also amazing. Never seen so many people in one place like Shibuya.

>>809848

I know I am a bit late but yes that is the plan, I might save more though just incase.

>>810006

>>809839

>>809925

>>810414

Highly appreciate all the advise, thanks anons.

>>811315

I brought ten books of hentai all of it either loli or shota and a few random doujin. It was incredibly comfortable just browsing around and seeing what was available. Once you realise no one cares what you're looking at, it becomes incredibly liberating. The best place to get hentai cheap would be a Mandrake store, while it's all second hand goods there, their quality control is really good. Everything I brought looked practically untouched. It's worth noting you'll be unable to see inside any books as they are all sealed to maintain their condition. You'll want to do some research beforehand if there's any specific artist you're looking for. Most of the time, work is organised by artist, sometimes I found stuff sorted by series and once by fetish. If you got any understanding of kana, that will help you a lot in figuring out where things are.

Alternatively, you can try first hand sellers like Melon Books, which do have sample books you can flip through to help decide if a book is to your liking. They also have sample pages on the back of doujin to give you a taste of what to expect. Prices are higher, you are buying new at this point after all.

When purchasing, just remember the cashier likely put those books on the shelf, they don't care what you are buying. I brought the latest issue of Comic LO and was served by a girl who was putting on the most stereotypical anime girl voice you could imagine. If people judge you in Japan, I certainly didn't sense anything. The only concern you should have is getting hentai back into your country. Even if your stuff is legal, it can be quite embarrassing to have your stuff looked through at customs or whatever. I was fine when I came home a few weeks ago, but your fortune may vary on this matter.

r8 my purchases guys I did terribly, didn't I?

>>811352

Mandarake was the best shop I went to. You can get just about any second hand otaku goods there, including manga, games, eroge, cds, dvds, bds, art collections, posters, daki covers, figures, etc. And all good quality and cheap, though many manga will be missing the obis. Also if you go to the one in Akihabara be sure to check out the toy section on the top floor. It's full of rare collectors toys of old kaiju and robots from the showa period. All extremely expensive but cool to look at.

Tora no Ana is another good place to get doujins. I went to the one in Fukuoka and they had a nice selection of stuff. However, caveat emptor. I was shopping in the shougakusei section (they even had a sign there that said まったく、小学生が最高だぜ) and picked up a few doujins. One of them even looked like a really nice vanilla doujin based on the cover and the sample, pics 1 and 2. When I get back to my hotel, excited to fap to my spoils, what I do see right on page one when I open this particular doujin? A trap. It was a trap doujin the whole time. Now there was a separate trap section too, so apparently this doujin even tricked the staff stocking the shelves. Unfortunately, I had to head back to Tokyo the next day for my flight out so I wasn't able to go back and ask the staff about it. Thankfully, all my other doujins were fine. But next time I will definitely go in with a list of doujins I want to buy.

>>811358

>they even had a sign there that said まったく、小学生が最高だぜ

FUCK

I went in August last year. I think my favourite thing was going on a tour of a tea plantation in a place called Wazuka, south of Kyoto. I walked back from the plantation to the train station, took about an hour and a half, but it was so goddamn gorgeous. Such a beautiful, bright green countryside.

>>811778

>tour of tea plantation

Brilliant. I don't anyone's ever brought that up in all the Nip Travel threads I've seen in the past few years.

That's something I can totally get behind. I'd like walk around some rice fields next time I'm there as well; The first time I went I only saw them looking out the train window.

Did you get to drink delicious ocha while touring the plantation?

>>811781

I went to this place https://obubutea.com/ but accidentally got the train going the wrong way in the connection, so I missed the tour of the tea fields themselves, but got there in time for the tour of the processing facility. And afterwards there was a tea based lunch, and tasting of various teas, houjicha, genmaicha, matcha and a few others.

It's a strange place, with most of the people there on "internships" from elsewhere. The girls hosting my tour were from Australia and California, but it was just me and this French guy so it was really chill. But the walk to the station was what really did it for me. It was 38 degrees and such a beautiful, rural setting.

>>811800

38 Farenheit is almost freezing. It was between 35 and 40 Centigrade (95 and 104 Farenheit) every day I was there in August. Brilliant. After the constant cold of Scotland it was nice to feel warm for once. Summer showers were nice, because you'd get wet and then, 5 minutes later, the shining sun will have dried you out.

>>811813

>What is that even?

I went to the supermarket (Donki) and found some sweets with animal girls on them. I bought the cow ones (because I like cowgirls) and the rabbit ones (because she's fucking hanging herself). There were also a few others.

I assume it was just a sweet company trying to muscle in on the Kemono Friends train, but I am not sure.

>>811175

To add on to this, I'm also speaking from Air Force experience, but find out what the "range" for the base trading is. It's a little more difficult socially, but it can triple your chances. My tech school let us swap with anybody one class behind or ahead. This fucked me over; a guy ahead of me got Japan but was unable to go because he married a true 3d pig that was too fat to stay overseas, and of course I only found out he existed when he flunked into my class in the final weeks of training after the trade window closed. Just remember to put Okinawa dead last on your list of JP bases, for whatever reason that is where every single ounce of shit starts.

Again like >>811175 said, see if the Navy treats Korea as a sweet deal. For us they always need people, the tour is short (1.5 years?), you can take leave and grab a ferry to Japan for super cheap, and once the tour is over you get higher priority in choosing your next base. Even if it all fails and you end up in Virginia just keep letting your power level peek through so leadership comes to you first if they need to send somebody to a naval station over there or some such opportunity.

>>811815

>and the rabbit ones (because she's fucking hanging herself).

I have many questions.

>>811837

It's simple, really

Fellas I found a fucking Moomin cafe.

>>812541

Oh, that's the one in Tokyo Tower, right? I only saw it from the outside, but regretted not going in later.

There's also the Japari Cafe near Shibuya (I think), which is a lot less professional but still pretty cute.

>>812545

Skytree.

Would you have a rough location of the Japari cafe?

>>812546

Skytree, of course. I always mess those two up.

Japari Cafe is a bit off the main streets near Shibuya, I guess your best bet is to let Google guide you there.

That food looks delicious, I really have to visit on my next trip.

>>812810

>going to Japan without even bothering to learn a lick of Japanese

>>812546

Is that a pan of sausages, olives and pears? Doesn't look too bad I just happened to have bought pears and sausages too.

I found her!

Pop Team Epic pop up in Akihabara.

For god's sake read up on train etiquette. And don't make the mistake of going with a tour group unless you want to stick out like a big glowing dildo with a megaphone in a public transit way.

I made the mistake of going in a tour group. All were gaijin from all over the world. Going in trains was a mess, or going out in public really. Some were fat and would dress like whores, they took off their shoes in the trains and put their feet on the seats. They ate and talked loudly. They ignored elderly people looking for seats. They were animals. I legit saw people getting out of our train car in one stop and get right back in the adjacent one to avoid us. It felt fucking awful. And the smiles. THE SMILES. Dont fucking smile and do that half assed nice guy laugh at everyone you see in public unless you are interacting with them. Act like a fucking Roman when in Rome.

>>813366

>Learned my kana solid, learned about 150-200 kanji in that time

Yeah, that sounds about right. I went in knowing even less, although mind you I was accompanied by a guy who spoke Jap fluently for the important bits. In any case, I had no trouble questing around on my own, buying groceries from the supermarket, ordering food and so on.

It felt amazing to look at a menu and half-ass be able to order what I was looking at. It felt amazing being able to half-assed figure out what Nips were having conversations about.

>>813398

Those fucking prices though. I imagine you keep the glass but damn; You could eat like an emperor for that￥

>>813399

Christ man, that's a story of horror. I'd like to think we /a/nons are a more refined bunch.

<tour group

I was in the area to see Pallet Town and had no idea she was so close!

>>813670

She's massive indeed! Even the food court is huge.

There's some boat convention going on right now but I don't see any KanColle cosplayers. Just a bunch of old men in suits!

>>813670

That's it right there.

>>813697

Remember to post lots of pictures you marvelous faggot.

Is it worth it to go to Japan in the winter? Is it still pretty?

>>813720

Do you like snow?

>>813726

Most places won't have snow on the ground during winter though if you're lucky you'll see some snowfall. The temperature is generally around 40 in Tokyo and other urban areas. Kyushu is nice and warm at this time of year sitting at around 50. It seemed like most of the trees in Japan were still green. Check out Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo while you're there, I was surprised by how lush it was even in January. If you want cold and snow, head to inland prefectures or north to Aomori and Hokkaido. Aomori especially gets a lot of snow and is well known for it. Pic on the left is Aomori in January, pic on the right is Ibusuki in Kagoshima Prefecture.

I was quite lucky it didnt rain much when i was visiting.

There's really something to be said about this place's natural beauty.

By which I mean that Yoshiko sticker on the boat.

Apparently this area had anime mascots even before Love Live. I don't know how successful they were, but I want to fuck a sea slug now.

>>814889

I'm staying in a house at the southmost end of Numazu, and the bus for that was a little under 400 yen. The bus to the marine park was another 400 yen. I don't know how much a direct line would be, but getting to the island itself is 1800 yen.

>>814898

Also this is very important, if you've been to rural areas of Japan before you know this already but if not be aware that nothing on the island takes credit cards. Even the surrounding area is mostly cash based, the only place I've found that accepts card so far is the usual 7-11.

Bring money.

Yo dog fuck these stairs and fuck sunrise I'm supposed to believe that little japanese girls did this 650m climb every day that's some bullshit and I will not be fooled any longer.

And of course they were all out of the individual character promotion water bottles.

fellas I'm gonna eat Chika

Anyone going to Toyosato? Please find out if they are preparing anything for the 10th anniversary of K-On! a year from now.

>>810097

You inspired me Anon. I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna go to Japan! In a few years after saving up a few thousand. Hopefully they resist the cultural enrichment from the olymics and the country is still worth visiting by then.

Wishing my wife a happy birthday!

>>815047

And it would be interesting if they bring some of the stuff in the club room only out in summer, it was a bit empty the two times I visited in winter.

View from 魚見亭 restaurant in Enoshima.

>>814857

>>814901

>>814931

That's so wonderful anon! Have your eyes adjusted to taking in that much beauty all the time? Have you went swimming yet? Will you write a detailed post about all the little things that you've come across on your trip?

>>809717

>Just don't act like an asshole.

>>816471

That is fucking painful to watch.

I just got home from Japan the other day. I took around 1100 photographs and somewhere in the region of 13 hours of GoPro footage that I now need to sift through and review once I've got my head on straight. For now I can post a few pictures and stills.

>>813366

>I started actively disliking whenever Japs spoke English to me

Gods, I know how you felt. That was one of the differences that stood out to me between places like Osaka or the countryside versus Tokyo. In Osaka, they'd breathe a sigh of relief and reel off a load of nihongo once they heard you speak a few words, in Tokyo, I found a lot of people would just respond in English no matter what.

>>813697

You'll love Hiroshima, anon. I did. You go for the bomb but then realise it's a really cool place with a lot going for it. Then you'll stay for the okinomiyaki.

>>811352

It's funny, I noticed that on the hentai floors of Mandrake and similar shops, the native customers would be quite suspicious or avoid foreign tourists like myself until I had picked up a few doujins. Once they realised I was there for the same reason, and not just to treat it as some sideshow, suddenly we could smile, make eye contact and excuse ourselves politely whilst passing by in those narrow aisles.

>>816461

Planning on posting many many more when I get home and have had the chance to pull everything off my camera, to the point where I'm concerned about it being considered blogposting.

>>816490

>>816500

Bakuon-anon is back, holy shit!

>1K+ photos

>13 hours footage

What a way to start my day. That looks incredible anon.

>>816577

Don't be silly; Threads like these give the rest of us something to strive for. It's threads like this that are the reason why I ended up going there in the first place.

It's about sharing bits and pieces of Nihon as you experienced them and saw them through your own eyes. It's every anon's duty to do so.

>>816500

Unity through dick, Anon.

>>816615

It was a CB400 super four. Brand new. I thought the zero miles on the clock was the trip meter but it turns out it was the total mileage. I had the bike for four days, brought all my riding gear in a big suitcase and took my helmet as carry-on luggage. The rental place let me leave the suitcase at their place whilst I just took a backpack.

Went around Fuji, Hakone and Izu. I probably could have gotten further afield in the time I had it but it was nice to take it easy and make lots of stops. Spoke to loads of bikers out on the skyline roads and saw lots of the bikes and cars of my dreams. I did get that late night, rural vending machine canned coffee, by the way. Overlooking lake Ashinoko.

>>816500

>third pic

>those plastic bottles

I thought this was Japan.

>>816631

>Everything about that post

Things like this are what drive me to continue my Japanese lessons when days get blue.

Thanks for sharing this with us anon.

>>816631

>He got the late-night vending machine coffee

That's beautiful, anon. How'd it taste?

>>816631

>I did get that late night, rural vending machine canned coffee, by the way.

HNNNGGGGG

I appreciate seeing a fagg/o/t, by the way. I hope you took more pics on the subject.

Please do >>816637.

>>816682

Anon, I...

>>816661

Not him (I'm beachanon) but what I'm doing is just booking through AirBnB or Hostelworld a day in advance. So far it's worked perfectly, with no homeless nights.

>>816723

I can answer this as well, "daijoubu" and "sumimasen" have gotten me surprisingly far in their own. Learn how to say times, days, and amounts of money. Hand gestures also go a long way. If you're going into a shop you can anticipate what is going to be asked of you, just Google what you need to say before you walk in. For spontaneous conversation, the Google translate app has a conversation feature that's surprisingly accurate compared to their website translations. As a last resort you can pull out the old gag of slowly speaking "Engrish", and you will be understood most of the time. It might sound rude to you, like you're making fun of them, but it's actually a real thing here thanks to katakana readings. I wouldn't recommend trying it after returning home though. Also important to remember that people living in the cities usually have way more English vocabulary than you have Japanese vocabulary. They might not be able to speak the language, but you can usually communicate nouns if needed.

>>816982

>>817000

Brothels do it but I've never experienced anything regular people use being marked up for gaijin.

>>817155

>Japan

>gun anything

Good luck with that.

>>817151

Here's all the halfway decent photos.

https://mega.nz/#!3SwABSrD!OE4lndGj4YbWRrT-Kh2RzzIBSWJ7BF1yXUZZ33NAb-g

>>817151

>>817167

<cafe au lait

>not Bossu Buraku

Anyway, thanks for everything anon, you rock!

That loop bridge is so fucking cool. Riding around Japan on a motor is so fucking cool. Anons never cease to amaze with how awesome they are at seeing Nippon RIGHT.

Seeing Hiroshima and the aftermath of the nuke is also wild. Also,

>that 1999 Sega Rally

>those nip race cars

>those panorama shots

>everything

Wow. Some of the photos are really magnificent to look at. I think you changed my life a little bit anon.

Some images from the past week in the Fukuoka area: a shot from Fukuoka tower, a shot from a mountain peak south of Fukuoka, the torii on Miyajima (near Hiroshima), and two more peaks on Miyajima and Nokonoshima. Quality on my phone is shit anyway so I shaved the filesize down. Ed from r/a/dio is doing a travel blog with higher quality pictures if you like these pics. Fukuoka is a beautiful place with enough attractions for maybe 4-5 days if you can spend as much time wandering Mandrake and Melonbooks as I can. Keep an eye out; two of the weeb shops I ran across were by happening to notice a large animu sticker stuck on a second-story window next to "アニメ".

>>817315

I remember the view from image 4 like if it was yesterday. Fuck, time flies.

Went off one of the trails in Hakone and found a spooky graveyard.

>>817315

You went through all the trouble of going to Nippon but you couldn't manage to bring a half-assed decent camera? They're not even fucking expensive anymore anon.

A damn shame considering how beautiful those sights are.

>>817407

That's a nice graveyard.

>>817411

>>817416

You obviously have not seen European graveyards/are a couple of burgers.

>>817573

I usually don't bother taking pictures; it makes the view better when I know it's the only time I'll see it, but this time around I did bring a $20 AE-1 I got from Goodwill, though the film won't be developed until I get home. One of the r/a/dio guys is doing the proper pictures, pic related.

Did the Hakone circuit today.

I wish the rain would let up but it can't be helped.

There were three guys in toku-esque costumes that we're being "interviewed" in a restaurant at the top of Kamiyama. I wonder what that was for.

There's a Touhou collab at this shopping center right past the Akiba station. Its not a huge deal, but there's a small Touhou merchandise pop up on the second floor and Touhou music playing in the mall.

I bought a Remilia charm.

>>818167

I would have blew a ton of money had I seen that. What a lucky opportunity.

>>817016

My phone pictures are shit, but this was my strawberry thing I had in Osaka at the Namba Walk (underground shopping mall beneath Namba station)

Starting from the bottom: Strawberry gelatin, vanilla ice cream, diced strawberries, strawberry ice cream, a strawberry, a strawberry-flavored mochi ice-cream ball, sprinkled with strawberry-flavored sugar

It was amazing.

Omu-rice thrown in because that's what I ate for a meal there.

>>817407

Here's one I saw on a mountain-side on the train to Koya-san, and a few other pictures.

I don't care how other /a/nons feel about this, but I intentionally took the photos from where I was sitting on the train, leaving the train body in-frame, because when I looked back at these photos, I wanted to give myself the feeling of looking out from my seat.

Also, manga meat

>>818486

What I did was book a place in the middle of Tokyo for an entire month to act as a home base I can return to and to store my luggage while I traveled around the country and booking different places as you need them. This obviously only works if you have the appropriate funds. Otherwise it's totally possible to just send shit back. I ended up buying a bunch of LLSunshine stuff including an exclusive Yoshiko sold by the GAMERS aka Little Demon House at Numazu, and I just went to a post office and sent it all back home in a big box. I think it cost like $13 to ship but it'll also arrive after i get home.

>>818315

The glasses frame shop was selling these as well.

>>818941

The post office has boxes, but essentially yes that's how it went.

It's not like I was sending food or anything so no issues with customs.

>>822815

I think you mean right side.