Living in Tokyo for one year: Ideas for a Sunday (or in general)

[NXCALE]

Thanks NB!

Once there, I will keep checking this post (and other ones) to pick up ideas for those Sundays.

 

Something I would like to do is watching a kabuki performance.

I know that they may be expensive, and I have not checked much info about it yet.

However, if someone has any experience on attending kabuki performances, it would be great to know about it.

[cteno4]

They are interesting! I’ve seen a couple live in japan and one in San Francisco years ago. Not speaking the language it can be hard to figure out what’s going on. Definitely something to do in your stay in Tokyo. I have no idea of the prices these days. It was reasonable on my first trip in 84 as I was a grad student and not really flush with funds. I don’t remember it seeming horribly expensive on last trip to japan like 10 years back.

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Yes do t be afraid to explore in japan. I’ve always found it very rewarding to just wander at times and had some delightful experiences. 
 

maybe do the whole yamanote line loop with some strategic stopping points.

 

jeff

[Andrew Nummelin]

9 hours ago, NXCALE said:

Thanks NB!

Once there, I will keep checking this post (and other ones) to pick up ideas for those Sundays.

 

Something I would like to do is watching a kabuki performance.

I know that they may be expensive, and I have not checked much info about it yet.

However, if someone has any experience on attending kabuki performances, it would be great to know about it.

Quite a while ago we had a couple of years living in Japan and went to the theatre with Japanese friends who had not been before. We all had headsets, translation for the gaijins and explanations for the locals (think studying Shakespeare or Chaucer) - a great success for all of us.  Where else can you dine during a theatre performance. An experience not to be missed.

[cteno4]

Very cool having translation! I’ve seen that a couple of times on nhk and really helps make it more interesting.

 

jeff

[SL-san]

On 6/24/2023 at 8:16 AM, NXCALE said:

Something I would like to do is watching a kabuki performance.

Many years ago my wife and I went to the Tokyo Kabuki Theatre and paid for and saw a single act.  This is an economical and easy introduction to Kabuki.  If you go to the english language pages of the Kabukiza Theatre https://www.kabukiweb.net/theatres/kabukiza/kabukiza-information/ you can get information on various performances and even buy tickets for a whole show or single acts on-line (not something we were able to do back then).  The website also says that is is possible to purchase english language explanations of the various plays (a synopsis is also available on the webpages).

 

Graeme

[railsquid]

The first evening of the first full day of my first Japan trip was a visit to the Ginza Kabuki place, which was also my first time experiencing massive jetlag, and headphones were provided through which live commentary/interpretation in English was provided, and the speaker had a beautifully soporific voice, so I drifted off into the depths of a nice deep nap to the sound of wooden blocks being banged together.

[NXCALE]

Thanks for the info!

I was checking the website and:

• The "headphones" option is not available at the moment (no good).
• There are single act tickets (good).
• The theatre is still in "rona" mode so not food nor drinks during performances (no good).

Hopefully they can remove restrictions and bring back the headphones on next year.

[NXCALE]

Hi all,

Anyone has experience (good or bad) with mobile companies in Japan? Any info will be helpful.

Note: the main thing is that they (the company) is easy to deal and, at least, provides an ok customer service. Cheers.

 

[NXCALE]

After living a bit more than one month in Tokyo, I can tell this city is a very "interesting" combo of "high tech" (things you know like trains and gadgets) and "low tech" (things like visiting your local ward office for documents or visiting your local bank...). It must be the "Galapagos Island" syndrome.

 

All pretty good overall. I survived summer here... so, 11 months to go...

 

[NXCALE]

Halfway, 6 months passed and 6 months to go.

Autumn was short and winter is still going.

The longer I stay here the more I like it here.

 

 

As I mentioned it long ago, could anyone suggest places to visit (or things to do) while in Tokyo?

This could be in/around Tokyo, one day trip or two/three days trips also are ok.

Also, it could be a restaurant that you consider as good.

 

Below some of the things I did and I am planning to do.

Any recommendations will be welcome, Thank you!!!

 

Things/places completed:

• Visit Tomix World
• Visit Hobby Centre Kato
• Visit Popondetta Akihabara (and rent a layout)
• Visit several other hobby stores, mostly in Akihabara
• Play at "Hey" Akihabara (i.e. Street Fighter) and challenge locals
• Visit several book/magazine stores at Jimbocho
• Visit a maid Caffee with friends
• Travel to Sapporo, Otaru and places around
• Try onsen
• Try snowboarding
• Have nomikais almost every week (Izakaya, etc)
• Check LP (vinyl) stores
• Visit Hard off, book off, and other stores
• Visit Mt Takao
• Visit Kawaguchiko / Hakone
• Visit museums: modern art, history, etc.
• Visit Nikko
• Visit Odaiba (pretty much all of it)
• Visit Teamlab
• Visit Tokyo Disneyland
• Visit jazz clubs like Jazz Spot intro
• Attend concert from Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
• Learn about sake (by buying and drinking)
• Have dinner at a Michelin-recommended restaurant in Tokyo
• Have a road trip
• Visit Korean town

Thing/places aiming:

• Attend the JAM International Model Train Convention 2024 (does anyone have news of it?)
• Picnic under Sakura trees
• Attend a Kabuki performance
• Visit Hiroshima and places around
• Visit Universal Studios Japan
• Attend a j-pop concert
• Attend a New Japan Pro-Wrestling show
• Visit Yokohama (for the big Gundam)
• Visit Omiya Railway Museum
• Ride shinkansen

Thing/places if time allows:

• Kamakura
• Yoro Valley
• Mito
• Ghibi Museum
• Edo-Tokyo museum

[bill937ca]

23rd International Model Railway Convention

Date and time: 3 days: Friday, August 16th , Saturday, August 17th , and Sunday , August 18th , 2024 .  10:00-18:00 (17:00 on the last day)

 

https://kokusaitetsudoumokei-convention.jp/

 

Facebook

 

https://www.facebook.com/p/国際鉄道模型コンベンション-100069562994550/?paipv=0&eav=AfYwqXi-XZ9ViwObUrvum0lrjwisQ010-41BQY42cdbRgVcSTmfxY0hc5EWH5pPH9eo&_rdr

Edited March 3 by bill937ca

[SL-san]

Visit Kyoto...especially the Kyoto Railway Museum

Attend a Matsuri...check times and locations through JNTO webpages

 

Enjoy the culture and differences!

Graeme

[Kamome]

Kabuki can be quite expensive, although I think some theatres have “experience” rather than sitting through the entire performance. It is very subtle as an art form, beautiful costumes but certainly lacks the dynamism of alternatives .

 

Yokohama and Omiya are short hops away. Yokohama has the Hara model railway museum plus it’s quite a nice place to look around. 

 

Sumo takes place in May in Tokyo. Worth going from 3:00pm onwards if you want the experience. The bouts before this time are the low ranking wrestlers and there’s not the same level of pageantry as you get with the top ranks. 

 

Shizuoka is also an option. The Hobby show is coming up after Golden Week. Open to the general public on the weekend of 11th, 12th. As it’s the model capital of Japan, and Oigawa line is not that far away either. Steam loco ticket price only adds a ¥1000 supplement to the standard fare. 

 

 

 

[Tony Galiani]

Didn't see these on your list so ....

Visit Kanazawa - just saw a video on this and it looks interesting and is an easy ride by Shinkansen.

and

Visit Enoshima - roughly an hour from Tokyo Station.  Great aquarium near the causeway as well if you like that kind of thing.

Ciao,

Tony

[mojo]

I was going to suggest Enoshima as well. Hakone hot springs too. Or Yamanashi - great onsen and top notch Hard Offs.

 

For Hard Off, probably the best one in the Tokyo area is Hachioji Owaraten, although I don't think they have much train stuff. I'll have a look through some photos and see if I can find some with more trains if you like, although none of them are anywhere near as good as the dedicated modelling shops.

 

Have you been to Mount Takao? That's a decent day trip.

 

Here's a slightly random one: https://gaikaku.jp/

 

It's a huge underground water storage system designed to prevent flooding. Not many places like that in the world that you can go visit. I wanted to go myself, but couldn't get it arranged while I was in the country.

 

Have you been to Tokyu Hands? If not, the one in Times Square in Shinjuku is worth a look if you are in the area. It's not cheap but it is interesting, maybe.

 

If you are interested in older computers then Beep in Akihabara is worth a visit.

 

There's also the Choushi Railway: https://youtu.be/TgtoFS_wsCk

 

Yokohama China Town and the adjacent Motomachi shopping street. They are both near to the Gundam. There is also the foreigner cemetery and some houses that they built on top of the hill. If I recall the story goes that they built European style houses on top of the hill, thinking that the Japanese were just primitive and not able to build such things. Of course, the houses fell down on top of them in the first big earthquake, and some of the ruins have been preserved.

 

From Tachikawa you can get the Tama Monorail Line to Keio Rail Land. I haven't been myself though so can't say if it is any good, but here's the website: https://www.keio-rail-land.jp/

 

There is also a zoo opposite it. In Tachikawa there is the Showa Kinen Park, well worth a visit in the summer when all the flowers are blooming. It's quite spectacular.

 

There is the Yamanashi Maglev exhibition centre. I believe you can watch the maglev from a bridge near there. Last I heard foreigners couldn't get tickets for it, but I don't know if that's accurate. Trade secret protection or something.

 

If you are headed to Kyoto, I also recommend Nara. The temple complex is a nice area to visit, and they have friendly deer who will bow to you if they think you have food.

[NXCALE]

Thank you all for the information.

I will be reviewing the places.

Hopefully I can visit most of them!

[Kingmeow]

If you happen to be in Osaka, you NEED to visit Joshin's Super Kids Land.  5th floor to be exact.  🤣

 

Edit: Add Tsukiji Fish Market to your list but go before 12 Noon.  Delicious!  🙂

Edited March 4 by Kingmeow

[MeTheSwede]

What about viewing Tokyo from above? I've visited:

Tokyo Skytree

Mori Building
Yokohama Landmark Tower

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

 

Watching the sun set from Tokyo Skytree was great. Shibuya Sky and Tokyo Tower are still on my todo list.

 

 

Also I'm thinking maybe viewing Tokyo from the water could be interesting. Does anyone have any suggestions for sightseeing from boats?

 

 

Also the most important sight that hasn't been mentioned:
Seeing Railsquid and counting his arms.

 

 

[Gunzel]

I'm not really into the movies but I enjoyed my visit to the Ghibli Museum, and I really liked the little layout they had based on Laputa. They have a theme park now as well, in Aichi Prefecture so near Nagoya.

 

The Seishun 18 ticket should have just gone on sale again. You get five days (they don't have to be contiguous) on all JR local trains, can be fun to see how far you can get.

 

The Chichibu railway is great, and the Tobu line that connects with it is pretty good too. I also liked the Tsurumi line and its little branches near Yokohama, and the Tokyu Setagaya line, which is more like a tram (and I thought more fun than the Arakawa tram).

 

I'm not really into gadgetbahns but the Shonan monorail was kinda fun, if you're going to visit the Enoden may as well travel on this as well, good views of Fuji right after you leave Ofuna, sit on the right.

 

It was interesting to visit Futaba station, near the Fukushima Daichi reactor and have a wander around the mostly abandoned town.

 

The storm water thing is great, I want to go again. When I went a few years ago you needed a fluent Japanese speaker in your group.

 

Keio Rail Land was closed when we were there last week, but it didn't look that amazing. 

 

I'd like to go and watch the Keirin cycling and a "BOAT RACE" sometime.

 

 

[bill937ca]

Cherry Blossom guide

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=804283708400590&set=pcb.804284471733847

 

https://www.facebook.com/GoTokyo.en

[Grant_T]

On 3/3/2024 at 2:09 PM, NXCALE said:

Learn about sake (by buying and drinking)

 

I myself am a bit of a One Cup connoisseur. 😎

[cteno4]

Sake has been making inroads here in the us and a few places now will have samplers with like a half dozen cups of different sake, great way to find your taste! 
 

Jeff

[Grant_T]

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

Sake has been making inroads here in the us and a few places now will have samplers with like a half dozen cups of different sake, great way to find your taste! 
 

Jeff

 

There was sake tasting by a NZ brewer at the Japan event last week. They have a nice selection of styles and I picked a couple of bottles up. Very nice too.

[NXCALE]

Thank you for all the information!

I am making notes of all.

 

I will have a Friday and weekend off so I think I will go to Yokohama for a day trip and around Tokyo on the other days.

 

At the beginning, I thought about Osaka but I was told I would need more time/days and now it is high season. Also, Hiroshima was an option but some colleagues mentioned that there is not much to see for three days.

 

About seeing Japan from above, I will give it a go for sure.

 

About sake, the standing bars are a good option to try sake if you visit Tokyo. There are many good ones!

 

Off the topic: I will be in new york for four days (first timer) in few days. My schedule is already quite full but if there is something easy to do (around manhattan) and train related, let me know.

 

I will reach ny via amtrak from new haven, where I am currently for few days. So, I am quite excited about my 1st train trip here!