raddy

I'm doing a month with girl in Aug/Sep next year and looking for high end house rental in/around TKO. Is there a JP clone of One Fine Stay or some such? AirBnB has been WAY too sketch. 

ps yogoro is the best imnho

Those are both very very good calls. Two of my fav places I've been to recently. Actually, most of the places I'd recommend in that price range don't do lunch; SF is stupid sometimes. 

 

I haven't had any Japanese food here worth eating tbh. 

 

If you're still hungry after Petit Crenn, the tacos out the back of Cala nearby are pretty tasty. 

 

Tawla's a new Mediterranean spot that's quite good. (Dinner only though)

Karuizawa should have some good winter stuff. Hiking, skiing, etc. I've only been in summer but it's probably one of my fav day trips out of Tokyo. Here's a few. 

 

Kiso valley should be doable in winter too. I loved it in the fall. 

 

I'm sure there's good stuff up north in Sendai too. 

 

Ramen? Eat lunch at amazing $$$$ places that do lunch specials. Eat amazingly good random stuff for dinner. Eat ramen drunk at 2am. 

 

Only sushi spot I know in Osaka is Jinen. It's nothing special but pretty solid -- I think it's a white person place though.

@rirawin --

 

Ku De Ta if only for desserts and vibe. Mamasan for drinks / dinner. Get local style BBQ somewhere -- shit is amazing.

 

Sights -- Tanah Lot. Super beautiful area. The various monkey infested areas are fun as well. (Have her not wear earrings!)

 

Surfing -- http://www.baliwaves.com/surfing-in-bali/surf-spots/

 

As far as beaches, I'm not sure. We wandered around the resorts, drank beer and ate peanuts at various bars out on the beach, jumped in ocean, got some coconuts, repeated at various spots -- none really stood out to me. 

@Waraki -- I was probably one of those finance expat dbags. 

 

Back in Shangers next weekend. So hyped.

Back in TKO next week. Looking for good shit Fri night. 

Katana ya way way better than I expected. +1

 

Favorite underground speakeasy whiskey/cocktail spot? Preferably not in the TL. Feel like I need to mix up my boozing.

Nice -- glad you at least liked the drinks. I've got no clue as to the crowd -- I was there only the first few nights which is always like the f&f and degen cocktail drinking crowd. What was the scene? ABCs with older dudes?

 

What spots are you feeling these days? I'm probably not back through till fall but always curious to hear what's good these days.

HKer slang. (AKA same cats)

I kind of miss Shangers. 

 

Aaron's new spot, Candor, is awesome. S tier cocktails. Was there when I was back in Jan, which, yeah, seems like a while ago now. If I was still living in SH, I'd be there ALL the time. 

That PH runs that small, huh? Damn his random sizing. >.<

Kind of a bummer -- I really liked AirBnB in tko for certain parts of the city where there really weren't good hotel options.

 

Anyone got any gallery recs particularly in the architectural / photography space? Looking to broaden my tko horizons from coffee/food/jawnz. 

Hotpot, Korean spots...

 

Got a recc? I like the KFC @ Aria quite a bit and Namu Gaji is okay, but compared to LA, SF has less obvious amazing good Korean food. 

That's one shop I've never made it to in LA but given that I like BB in TKO better than here in SF not super shocking. That said, under no circumstances will I brave Shinjuku for it.

 

LA best coffee in world no lies no lies though.

I think Namu Gaji has some really good stuff just don't really love the actual menu. Like their bulgogi is actually REAL good but it's only in their snack hour tacos which, while looking cool, are impossible to pick up and eat and generally super frustrating.

 

Mau is def under hyped for america-fusion-y viet. Pho ga with veges is like ultimate comfort food. Bun Thang also realllly good.

 

Tacolicious is super hype but, yeah, pretty good. 

 

Delfina, Mission Chinese, as well for lunch?

 

It is true that 90% of everything in Mission is dinner only sadly. I feel like any other neighborhood has better ratio of lunch / dinner spots.

Anyone got a real estate agent hookup/friend? Thinking of fleeing china soon. I see all these relo services, but I'm hesitant to pay like 500$ for someone I've never heard of to show me a few properties that could all suck. 

i think BB in tko is def better than "decent" -- its just theres so much 3rd(4th) wave coffee in town now. I got no hate for BB I guess.

 

@martin -- you mean DSM? the giant bug be creepin'

FugIen right there too. Had a friend who used to live in that area. Used to booze there all the time. Now because I'm americana gaizin, I just go there to stand awkwardly in the 5 foot big monocle shop.

Those maple bacon ones are ridiculous. Serious fat kid + cake syndrome. Nice people watching too, though that's pretty true everywhere in Daikanyama. 

see u there

 

http://goodcoffee.me/未分類/tokyo-coffee-festival-2015/

 

Tokyo coffee festival

 

AMEN

This dude is a thug if it's legit. 1800 nikkei big futures is balls of steel. 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-28/while-many-panicked-japanese-day-trader-made-34-million

 

paging djraj

Shit thats useful actually. I've been using my US cell in jland for past 6 months every time like a chump.

Toyama is up near Kanazawa. Kurobe Alpine area is sweet even in summer. I was once at the top of Noto -- Mitsukejima, Senmaida, Koiji Beach etc are all photogenic/tranquil. It's bus only territory for public trans after Anamizu I think. Otherwise, if I had a lot of time to kill during Sept, I'd run around Seto Inland area or Izu. 

Heyday -- Kimi rocks. Jazz bar and hardcore cocktail nerdotry. My fav spot in city. If you have group, call ahead and grab a table; it's quite cheap I think. (Especially for value)

Epic -- Down the street a bit from Heyday. Cross is super awesome. Again, hardcore cocktails. 

 

Another pretty decent bar very close to those two is Bar No 9. (All 3 are within a few blocks)

 

Union Trading (UTC). I go there a fair amount as it's down the street from me. It's a bit too hypehype but solid. Again, cocktails but less avant garde. 

 

Bar @ Commune Social is solid. Not at same level as above spots in terms of overall drink program probably but food menu is AWESOME and a few of the drinks are worth liver damage.

 

All the Japanese chain bars are zzz. Papaya >> Constellation *. But, the vibe at all these places will make you insta-suicide.

 

Flask is zzz. El cocitel, zzz. El ocho I want to like more than I do. Great space, ambitious drink program, kind of constantly underwhelming.

 

If you're looking for beer, I don't really know; I always hit Boxing Cat or Liquid Laundry and both are plenty sufficient for me but I'd rather have an Ebisu than all the crap I drink here. Dogtown up next to Sumerian has good rotating taps. 

 

Avoid all Dr *s.

 

Yongkang lu is crap version of LKF with similar but more downmarket food/bev options + crowd. Still, can be quite fun. ^^

Cost of living metrics are weird; Tokyo always strikes me as crazy cheap compared to Tier 1 / Tier 2 US cities.

 

Rent is pretty reasonable at some price points in TKO. Like moderately high end stuff in TKO is WAY better than what I can find in Seattle, LA, SF, etc.

 

Owning seems pretty rough -- depreciating everything to zero in 20 years makes the economics somewhat baffling. Still, beach houses down in Hayama-Ishiki or down in Izu are crazy cheap to comparable stuff in US.

 

Strike one for me is the super absent expat finance crowd. Two is lack of white milfs jogging around in lulu.