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originally posted by: crazyewok
Instead of America I'm ended up with a little change, I have a flight and rental apartment booked in Tokyo......
So anyone been? What should I look out for? Advice?
originally posted by: boymonkey74
a reply to: crazyewok
Knew that was coming lol It is ATS afterall
originally posted by: the owlbear
a reply to: crazyewok
If you like fruit, eat as much as you can NOW! I had a friend and ex-sister in law who lived there for a while. Fruit was ungodly expensive. They have used panty vending machines, too. No fooling. Turns out, we Yanks got them into ladies undergarments during the Post-War period.
Crowds. Be prepared for people on top of people in certain areas.
Be prepared to drink copious amounts of liquor and be on task the next morning.
Be safe and have a fun!
originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: crazyewok
Look out for the radiation. It's a killer.
Unless you assume that the PR talk from the Japanese government and the nuclear energy companies are fully correct and everything is almost hunky-dory or will be as soon they fix the current problem. "Course, they have no timetable on that because the don't know what to do about it yet.
originally posted by: FlyersFan
The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.
I lived just south of Tokyo for three years back in the 1980s. Things have changed since then, I"m sure. But here are a few things to think about ...
- No real milk. If you are a milk drinker, be prepared. (us Americans love milk). The 'milk' they have there is some kind of fake crap that is coconut oil mixed with powdered milk or something. YUK. Tokyo Disneyland has real milk. Its about the only place that had any when I was there.
- No beef. Well ... there IS beef but you will pay more than you could possibly believe.
- Gotta try the Fugu (blow fish); the yakisoba; the gyoza; and for drinking ... sochusours. Sochu is a potato whiskey and they put something 'sour' in it. Tasted like liquid sweet tarts. They'll kick your backend.
- Kentucky Fried Chicken has an ice cream dessert that is pretty good. They have real cocoa beans in it. And they have great CORN SOUP. LOVED IT. Seriously ... hit a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Tokyo.
- Earthquakes. They happen. A lot. Unless it's over a 4.5 or so, most people just keep on moving. Except the trains. They'll stop for each and every quake. The earthquakes come in two kinds ... the back and forth kind (4.0 or smaller) and the up and down kind (4.5 or higher). At least, that's how we kept track of them when I was there. And the big ones really do rumble ahead of time. You can hear the ground rumble ...
- Tokyo Disneyland. It's small but do it.
- Mt. Fuji. This is a 'must do'. There is also a park at a mountain next to Mt. Fuji. There are hot springs and the Japanese custom is to eat eggs boiled in the hot springs. It's supposed to make girls pretty and boys handsome.
- See the castles. This is a 'must do'.
- Kamakura. Take the train into old Kamakura. See 'The Great Buddha'. There are lots of shrines and very old creepy cemeteries there as well. This is a 'must do'.
- Day trip to Nagoya. The fertility fest is in March so you wont be there for it. But you should go anyways.
- One last thing ... stay out of the ocean. When I was there the Tokyo harbor and surrounding water was seriously polluted. People went in, but they were swimming in chemicals and pollution. Stay out of the ocean water. I doubt it's gotten cleaner since I was there. If anything, I'm sure it's probably worse.As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.