japan :: general

[ruach]

It's kind of the opposite direction to where you may be headed, but what about Osorezan?

[Cue]

It's kind of the opposite direction to where you may be headed, but what about Osorezan?

That sounds wicked - will have a look.

Oh, and it's 30K yen for two people a day OK budgetwise? Would need to cover food and cheap hotels, or do I need to up it?

Not looking to stay anywhere too flash - am used to backpacking ... but wanna eat well and have a few beers here and there...

[cyberdome]

hi, sorry to tag along in this thread, wouldn't want to start another thread about japan in here,

was wondering, what's there in Hokkaido ? im going there on end of February, anything interesting there? and, what sort of clothing label i can find from hokkaido? any shops that holds vsvm, nbhd, uc, etc around?

cheers, and a happy new year mates

[djrajio]

Are you fucking retarded. You don't go to Hokkaido for street-wear. Jesus.

[seiji]

haha go to wakkanai to buy streetwear. They must have some MonclerxJunya dounJ

[bonjin]

Haha. I don't think he's going there for the sole purpose of shopping though.

edit: you'll find a couple of 45 rpm stores in sapporo!! not really street though...

[herpsky]

sapporo has decent stores.

figure in sapporo carries visvim, resonate, and some other labels i no longer care about.

[soundune]

kamakura - south of tokyo - has a giant budda and lots of beautiful gardens, shrine plus nice walks through the woods and bamboo groves

zushi is awesome during the summer when the locals open up beach bars directly on the beach and everyone partys until the sun comes up.

both are about one half hour south of tokyo a little ways after yokohama

[herpsky]

taking that yokosuka line from ofuna to kamakura is a bitch

[soundune]

never taken it from ofuna. the JR line is how i get to kamakura and it's no trouble

[herpsky]

I guess it's called JR yokosuka line (coming from Yokohama station).

It just doesn't run very frequently.

[bonjin]

zushi is awesome during the summer when the locals open up beach bars directly on the beach and everyone partys until the sun comes up.

oh shit, that sounds amazing. I used to go on yokosuka quite often and we were talking about going all the way to zushi sometimes but never ended up doing it. Wish I would've know about this.

[herpsky]

i haven't been to zushi but i hope he's not talking about those lame ass 海の家serving fresh kirin

[mike lowrey]

bumping this..

I'm heading to Tokyo this spring and am looking to stop by a few other cities. I can fly into Tokyo and out from another city, shouldn't be a problem. right now I'm thinking of taking the train down to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara. I might limit it only to two of those places to have more time in each city, any thoughts between Osaka and Kyoto, considering I will spend a week in Tokyo?

[Appleseed]

Diehard Kyoto/Tokyo. Fuck Osaka. Anything in particular you wanna know about Kyoto? Unless you can really get around (ie, got a car or friends) Nara is kinda a one day thing. Lots of beautiful places in the surrounding mountains.

[mike lowrey]

thats what I was leaning towards based on earlier discussions.. I dont have any particular questions yet, never been to Kyoto so any thoughts are of course welcome, I'm gonna start digging for information soon.

I dont know anyone there and probably wont rent a car since I'd just kill a bunch of deer in the reversed traffic. So what would be a good plan for Nara and the surrounding areas? is it hard to get around? again I'm just starting to look more into the places so I don't know yet what I want to see there, any ideas are good at this point.

[bonjin]

I went to Nara for just one day and it wasn't very hard to get around. Everything was in walking distance, we got to see a few of the temples and found a couple of nice restaurants. We didn't really have a plan though so just pissing about on foot was great.

Between Kyoto and Osaka, I'd definitely go for Kyoto.

[herpsky]

nara is dope as hell. as far as shopping goes, i don't think it's great but

the food is A+, lots of deer, and very scenic.

the back streets of todai-ji is awesome.

also, it's not as heavily commercialized as kyoto

i dont mind living in nara

its awesome

[Guest jmatsu]

i dont mind living in nara

its awesome

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Appleseed]

Tons of touristy stuff to do in central Nara. Todai-ji/museums/etc. Those park deer get worse every year tho. Can be pretty agressive.

Some of the nicest temples/gardens I've been to have been in the surrounding hills. Quite a bit harder to get to tho.

[salaryman]

Nara and the rabid deer that infest the place are a tourist trap. Its ALRIGHT for a day trip if you want to see more temples and have some decent food, but otherwise....

Stick to the capitals. Old and new, Kyoto and Tokyo are it.

[AstroWolf]

to be honest man, go to hong kong instead.

I totally fully wholely agree with this statement.

[soundune]

yo, i'll be heading to Sapporo in a few weeks for some snowboarding - can you fellas recommend any mountains/resorts/onsens to hit while there? also, can anyone tell me where Hiroshi is snowboarding in all his honeyee photos of mountains in Japan??? arigato

[DaBestSpoona]

^^

http://www.kuramure.com/english/

Its a short train ride from sapporo to otaru. Plus they pick you up from the station.

[MissingNo.]

hello,

i am an undergrad from los angeles.

planning to do either full time research at osaka university or some part time research + academic quarter at tohoku university in sendai. pretty much approved for both programs, just figuring which place to go, and when to go.

first, i'm not really into the osaka program, sounds pretty grueling 6 hrs in lab per day.

second, i know nothing about either osaka or sendai.

not really looking for any particular responses, just any general thoughts that anyone may have about "osaka" and/or "sendai"

weather, shopping, nightlife, student life, etc. i don't know.

thanks!

Edited October 12, 2012 by MissingNo.

[herpsky]

Yom lives in Sendai, I think. You should PM him.

It's a pretty big city with low cost of living. You can cop some of the finest jawnz Japan has to offer at Revolution. http://www.revolution-jp.com/

I went to Sendai a few years ago and looked up the rent at a Fudosan-ya. Saw a bunch of properties with crazy cheap rent but situated in central areas. I guess there's not a whole lot of stuff going on in the Tohoku area overall though.

I know nothing about Osaka.

Edited October 13, 2012 by herpsky

[herpsky]

Revolution stocks supram. how cool is that f'reals

[MissingNo.]

supram might be a deal breaker O:

sounds a tad boring though

[insomnia]

hello,

i am an undergrad from los angeles.

planning to do either full time research at osaka university or some part time research + academic quarter at tohoku university in sendai. pretty much approved for both programs, just figuring which place to go, and when to go.

first, i'm not really into the osaka program, sounds pretty grueling 6 hrs in lab per day.

second, i know nothing about either osaka or sendai.

not really looking for any particular responses, just any general thoughts that anyone may have about "osaka" and/or "sendai"

weather, shopping, nightlife, student life, etc. i don't know.

thanks!

i think you're talking about that UC osaka labs program, right? yeah that shit looked pretty weak. can't comment on the area as i only visited osaka for like 1 day when i was in japan, but i would go to the EAP office and ask them for any potential contacts you could talk to about participating in the programs. also i would ask the sufu members that are from those respective areas, as herpsky said. however, i think there's a mistake:

Yom lives in Sendai, I think. You should PM him.

It's a pretty big city with low cost of living. You can cop some of the finest jawnz Japan has to offer at Revolution. http://www.revolution-jp.com/

I went to Sendai a few years ago and looked up the rent at a Fudosan-ya. Saw a bunch of properties with crazy cheap rent but situated in central areas. I guess there's not a whole lot of stuff going on in the Tohoku area overall though.

I know nothing about Osaka.

if i remember correctly, Yom is in Nagoya. maybe you're mixing him up with someone else (stylistics, likely).

can i ask what you're trying to research? and why you've set on doing the research at tohoku or osaka university? i know some people that studied in tokyo and just contacted professors to do research while they were there, have you considered that? you could just take some easy GE/language courses in addition (credit inflation through the UC system is obscenely generous, btw). unless you wanna stay out of tokyo...

[fpar]

if i remember correctly, Yom is in Nagoya. maybe you're mixing him up with someone else (stylistics, likely).

yup...yom is down in nagoya and i'm up in sendai.

if you ask anyone up here, you'll likely get the always common response that sendai is just big enough of a city without being too big and that it's just close enough to both the ocean and the mountains. it's a bit of a boring response but it holds true.

as a tourist, you could do what's worth doing in the city in a day or two and spend another day or so taking day trips on the trains to matsushima bay (30 min train ride) or yamadera (1 hour train ride to yamagata). there's a lot more to see than that, but if you've got time constraints, I'd say those are the best/easiest.

if you're in japan for research or anything else that's a bit more long-term, i really couldn't recommend anywhere else. product-wise, between revolution-co. and other shops, there's really nothing you can't get up here. and as a smaller city that doesn't get the tourist shoppers that tokyo does, it's a lot easier to get into conversations and build relationships with the staff. shops aside, just being a smaller city makes it a little easier to assimilate if you want to.

as herpsky said, your money gets you a lot more as far as apartments go. just under 100k/month has me in a fairly big 1LDK in nice/new building with parking in a central but quiet neighborhood just a 10 minute walk from sendai station and all of the shops. granted, i rarely stray far from the center of the city, but if you've got a bike or skateboard, you could easily get by without even having to step foot on a subway/train. if i could offer any advice, don't be tempted by even cheaper places that are less central...pick a place that is central that may be relatively expensive for sendai and it'll still be less than you'd spend in any other major city out here. no need to worry about train times and you'll find yourself doing more with your time.

the only thing i have against sendai is that, although comfortable, it lacks some of the character that some of the smaller cities surrounding sendai have (morioka, aomori, hirosaki). there're more than enough good cafes/restaurants/shops in and around the city but so many of them are either chains or just done up too much in a way. there are hole-in-the-wall spots but they're fewer and further between that some of the other cities i've been to.

either way, if you end up here, as a tourist or otherwise, i think you'll enjoy it.