Some first voyage questions.

Im planning my first voyage to Japan this April, and i have some questions for residents or experienced voyagers :icon_bigg

How is the climate in April at the tokyo zone?

How are the tokyo nights in the terms of clubs and pubs? Any chance with local girls :dance:

Any good reference for retro shops?

Any useful hint will be welcome :thumbsup:

 

1: Perfect. Sunny all day, every day, mild evenings without the humidity of the summer.

2: Probably the best in the world, although you do pay for it. Cover charges for decent clubs are steep, expect to pay between US$25-40 to get in, drinks are about $5-10 each depending on what you're drinking. Harder to get a girl here, but not impossible. These clubs tend to cater towards people who are there to actually enjoy the music rather than get laid. The cheaper clubs are the pick-up joints. They are usually all-you-can-drink places with a $20 cover charge or free to get in with cheap drinks, the girls are slutty, the music is crap with an aggressive atmosphere. Much like home really. Favourite hang-out of the American frat boy/Marine. If you can't get a girl there though, you need to check your pulse.

3: Retro as in gaming? Plenty in Akihabara. Easy to find almost anything you want, although you usually pay over the odds for it.

4: Hope that helps.

 

Yeah, Thank you very much!! :thumbsup:


Reading some people here seems that finding good retro stuff in Akihabara is rather difficult. Im going to spend a couple of days lurking there, any recomendation?

Thanks!

 

1. As phinn said.

2. Drinks are expensive generally but I'm not one for clubs or pubs to be honest. Spent more time in small bars owned by friends of a friend and had a good evening chatting, singing karaoke, drinking and playing Mahjong.

3. Depends on what retro stuff you want to get, it can be expensive but making a list of what you want and what you want to pay will help. You can pick up unboxed machines and common games quite cheap and you'll still find the odd bargain. Still most of the fun is doing the shopping rather then buying the game on ebay and it'll be in better condition. Some stuff is near impossible to find, you won't find any FM Towns games outside the odd hentai game and most shops have cleared most of their old retro stock. Still you have two streets to walk down.

Although I still have the urge to get a big stick and beat european people who go to shops, speak bad English to a Japanese person that doesn't really understand, doesn't do any research or Japanese learning and then proceeds to go through 5 copies of the game to see which one is in the best condition.

 

The best advice is to bring some Japanese knowledge with you.

I was in a perfume shop in Harajuku, two Americans come in and shout "how much" at the poor girl behind the counter while brandishing a bottle at her.

Simply put, learning some phrases. Like how much? Or do you have X? Is the best way to actually get what you want, as even I have problems finding exactly what I want even with a safe level of Japanese. I was trying to find Jojohantom Blood, and it turned out some idiot had it in the fighter section!

Oh yeah, and don't expect Japanese people to know what a pippin or playdia, etc is. Chances are even in Akiba most people will know more about DVD than Games, so they will not know as much about games as you.

 

I don't think I've seen a Playdia in the wild in Akihabara, although I have seen a few expensive Bandai Atmarks (Pippin) around but no games.

Lonely Planets Japanese phrase book is pretty good as you can find most of the phrases you might use in it and has a nice food section too. You can get away with learning about 10 phrases which will be enough to do most things.

 

Super Potato had new unused Playdias for 3000yen last summer. Maybe offers like this come back from time to time?

 

Yeah Super Potato is a solid bet, they do have a huge stock room at SP as well. So asking there is your best shot, if you want a Playdia that is!

 

Hi all, im back from Tokio :icon_bigg What a wonderful place, i cannot wait to travel back :crying:

I found some decent shops in Akihabara, a shame i didnt have a freighter to load with stuff :katamari: Mind blowing selection and cheap prices, i bought a Supergrafx and half ton of saturn games for the price of a gasoline tank in my country...

As for the girls..... no japanese no chance

 

Ah you fail. :lol: It's very easy to make friends and the like with Japanese girls just need to find the ones that want to learn English.

 

Yeah.. next time :110: I had a free spanish talking guide contracted by the turism office of the TMG for a day, but the good old men had like 70 years :icon_bigg He told me some histories about WW2 :icon_bigg

I lurked in Roppongi and Shibuya pubs but i only find some english talking in the american sites (All populated by 2x2 meters soldiers...)

 

Jaja, un gallego.

 

Jaja un español. ;-)

 

I managed to get a marriage proposal on the 2nd day! seriously, if it wasn't for the kid/mortgage I would still be there now... *sigh*

 

And even much easier when you can speak Japanese. ;p

 

Wow, too much for me :lol: ... Well, if the girl is cute and has money... :evil:

 

eat real sushi.

 

A opposed to the crappy western stuff? Definately.

 

She had both... *sigh*

I had some western sushi the other day, the first time since I have been back and I nearly wretched it was that bad...

 

You fail too for being married before going to Japan.

Even Japanese sushi from supermarkets is better then the crap they sell in the west, too many god damn rolls for my liking and none of them resemble Japanese sushi rolls. Note to westerners Avacardo is not a Japanese sushi ingrident...