The Montreal/Quebec Local Fans Banter Thread

[Undrave]

Originally Posted by Protoman

That's the magic word.

Hope you had fun, the wise man never goes to Japan and does not hit up Akibahara their whole trip.

There sure was a lot of stuff, though it was very skewed toward the newest Moe stuff...I didn't go but I think the Mandarake in Nakano, judging on the website, has a more varied stock.

Also it's important to visit all the floors of a building since they're usually different stores altogether.

[Grayfox]

Originally Posted by Undrave

There sure was a lot of stuff, though it was very skewed toward the newest Moe stuff...I didn't go but I think the Mandarake in Nakano, judging on the website, has a more varied stock.

Also it's important to visit all the floors of a building since they're usually different stores altogether.

Thanks for the pics. I'm jealous, yep. Would love to go there sometime.

Did you find the people there to be nice/accommodating to tourists?

Also, how did you get around in the city? (Unless all the places in the pictures are very close by and you just walked?)

[Undrave]

Originally Posted by Grayfox

Thanks for the pics. I'm jealous, yep. Would love to go there sometime.

Did you find the people there to be nice/accommodating to tourists?

Also, how did you get around in the city? (Unless all the places in the pictures are very close by and you just walked?)

Folks were pretty nice yeah, I didn't have much trouble except that one monk who was pressuring me to donate to his temple...if he really had a temple and it wasn't a scheme.

Anyway I got around using the MASSIVE railway network present in Tokyo. Mostly Tokyo Metro since there was a station near my hotel, but also a couple times on the JR lines above ground, and the Yurikamome line that goes to Odaiba. All of those can be paid by using a Suica card (which you can get in a bundle with a ticket on the Narita Express train from the airport). Even the Disney resort train takes Suica as payment!

Suica, and it's similar cousin Pasmo, are cards using near field technology, similar to the Opus cards we use here, but instead of individual tickets you load up on cash instead, and the money is debited at the destination station. It's fairly easy to recharge and the machines don't have problem taking bills, unlike say American vending machine who can't recognize a frumpy 1$ bill. As an added bonus you can also use your Suica card at vending machines and most convenience store, like all the 7/11 and Family Mart you see every street corner, and some other places too.

I did do a lot of walking. On my last day I walked from Shinjuku to Meiji temple, passed Harajuku and then went all the way down to Shibuya. You can also walk from the Pokemon Center in Minato all the way to Tokyo Tower fairly easily, and I bet you can make the trip between Akihabara and Ueno on foot as well, since it's only one station away. I did walk from Ueno to Asakusa and probably only half an hour away from the Tokyo SkyTree.

Still trains aren't that hard to use once you know which station you need to hit, every name is listen in roman letter as well as kanji and hiragana and announcements in the train itself is usually bilingual ( though once you know that miggy means right and hidari means left, you can easily tell what is the next station and on which side the doors will open, it's not really rocket science to decode the announcements on the trains).

[Grayfox]

Originally Posted by Undrave

Folks were pretty nice yeah, I didn't have much trouble except that one monk who was pressuring me to donate to his temple...if he really had a temple and it wasn't a scheme.

Anyway I got around using the MASSIVE railway network present in Tokyo. Mostly Tokyo Metro since there was a station near my hotel, but also a couple times on the JR lines above ground, and the Yurikamome line that goes to Odaiba. All of those can be paid by using a Suica card (which you can get in a bundle with a ticket on the Narita Express train from the airport). Even the Disney resort train takes Suica as payment!

Suica, and it's similar cousin Pasmo, are cards using near field technology, similar to the Opus cards we use here, but instead of individual tickets you load up on cash instead, and the money is debited at the destination station. It's fairly easy to recharge and the machines don't have problem taking bills, unlike say American vending machine who can't recognize a frumpy 1$ bill. As an added bonus you can also use your Suica card at vending machines and most convenience store, like all the 7/11 and Family Mart you see every street corner, and some other places too.

I did do a lot of walking. On my last day I walked from Shinjuku to Meiji temple, passed Harajuku and then went all the way down to Shibuya. You can also walk from the Pokemon Center in Minato all the way to Tokyo Tower fairly easily, and I bet you can make the trip between Akihabara and Ueno on foot as well, since it's only one station away. I did walk from Ueno to Asakusa and probably only half an hour away from the Tokyo SkyTree.

Still trains aren't that hard to use once you know which station you need to hit, every name is listen in roman letter as well as kanji and hiragana and announcements in the train itself is usually bilingual ( though once you know that miggy means right and hilarious means left, you can easily tell what is the next station and on which side the doors will open, it's not really rocket science to decide the announcements on the trains).

Thanks for the info.

I'll ask one more question..hoping others don't get annoyed XD

All this Suica cards business and the train systems, did you learn about this in preparation before the actual trip to Japan or did you just figure it all out once you arrived there?

And also, how much time did you spend there in total? Sounds like you accomplished a lot in not that much time.

[Undrave]

Originally Posted by Grayfox

Thanks for the info.

I'll ask one more question..hoping others don't get annoyed XD

All this Suica cards business and the train systems, did you learn about this in preparation before the actual trip to Japan or did you just figure it all out once you arrived there?

And also, how much time did you spend there in total? Sounds like you accomplished a lot in not that much time.

I actually did plenty of research.

For exemple I learned about the Suica & NE'X package you can buy at Narita Airport (which includes a ticket for the NArita Express (offered in both one way or round trip version) and a 2000¥ Suica cards for a decent deal). and the whole Suica system. I also learned about the baggage delivery service available so I didn't have lug my huge suitcase through Tokyo station and simply have it delivered to my hotel the next day. I just had to make sure I carried some extra clothes for the next day with me (I had a tote bag ready for this in my suitcase, which included my hygiene products, I just took it out before handing over my suitcase).

I also did plenty of research on which stations were next to the areas of town I wanted to visit as well as what exactly to see. You can visit the Hyperdia website to get detailed instruction on how to travel from station A to station B, with cost and time included. I printed a bunch of those but after a while I didn't even carry them with me, just checking the names and remembering them.

I also researched with Google Maps and Google Street View so that once I got to the area of my hotel I had some actual points of references (street names aren't usually pointed out in Japan) so I wouldn't get lost.

I stayed there for 9 days and 8 nights. I did manage to do a lot mostly because I walked around for like 8 hours everyday and then got up at 7:30 or so every morning. I did a lot of walking and even did it somewhat randomly, just exploring.

I knew that even if I did get lost it was just a matter of asking for directions to the nearest Metro station.

I did do plenty I think, though maybe not enough...

I went to Ueno Zoo, exploring the surrounding Ueno park and its many temples, explored the nearby market, went to the Natural History Museum in Ueno park, visited Akihabara at night AND during the day, I went to the Advertisement Museum, the Pokémon Center, Zojoji Temple, Tokyo Tower, Odaiba, went from Ueno to Asakusa, ate in various restaurants(okonomiyaki is DELICIOUS! but will make you fart), went to various shopping malls and giant stores, went ot Tokyo DisneySea, went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Authority building in Shinjuku and up to the observation deck at night, went to Shinjuku Gyoen national park, Meiji Shrine, Shibuya, the Pokemon Center again (go on week days!)...

Still I didn't visit Ikebukuro, Nakano, Nerima...and I didn't hook up with a Japanese chick I hear Roppongi Hill is easy picking for foreign guys...

I'll probably try to go back in a few years, and this time plan a part of my trip outside of Tokyo and visit Kyoto... time to stock up money again! On the plus side, food in Tokyo is super cheap. You can get a decent meal for 500¥ (provided you only drink water).

Oh and one of the JR east station had a chime that played the Astroboy theme!

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by Undrave

Folks were pretty nice yeah, I didn't have much trouble except that one monk who was pressuring me to donate to his temple...if he really had a temple and it wasn't a scheme.

Maybe he had a pyramid, and it was a pyramid scheme!

[Buhawi]

Originally Posted by Dracomancer

Hi Buhawi,

I recall awhile back you'd mentioned that you were giving shipito.com a try to have US packages reshipped to yourself over here. I'm just curious to know if it worked out okay or if you got dinged for duty, taxes or fees in the end.

Thanks,
Draco

Oh shit. completely forgot about that. I received the toy like 3-4 weeks ago. Same deal. 2$-3$ shipping. I can't remember now. It took total 6-7 weeks.

[Grayfox]

Originally Posted by Undrave

I actually did plenty of research.

For exemple I learned about the Suica & NE'X package you can buy at Narita Airport (which includes a ticket for the NArita Express (offered in both one way or round trip version) and a 2000¥ Suica cards for a decent deal). and the whole Suica system. I also learned about the baggage delivery service available so I didn't have lug my huge suitcase through Tokyo station and simply have it delivered to my hotel the next day. I just had to make sure I carried some extra clothes for the next day with me (I had a tote bag ready for this in my suitcase, which included my hygiene products, I just took it out before handing over my suitcase).

I also did plenty of research on which stations were next to the areas of town I wanted to visit as well as what exactly to see. You can visit the Hyperdia website to get detailed instruction on how to travel from station A to station B, with cost and time included. I printed a bunch of those but after a while I didn't even carry them with me, just checking the names and remembering them.

I also researched with Google Maps and Google Street View so that once I got to the area of my hotel I had some actual points of references (street names aren't usually pointed out in Japan) so I wouldn't get lost.

I stayed there for 9 days and 8 nights. I did manage to do a lot mostly because I walked around for like 8 hours everyday and then got up at 7:30 or so every morning. I did a lot of walking and even did it somewhat randomly, just exploring.

I knew that even if I did get lost it was just a matter of asking for directions to the nearest Metro station.

I did do plenty I think, though maybe not enough...

I went to Ueno Zoo, exploring the surrounding Ueno park and its many temples, explored the nearby market, went to the Natural History Museum in Ueno park, visited Akihabara at night AND during the day, I went to the Advertisement Museum, the Pokémon Center, Zojoji Temple, Tokyo Tower, Odaiba, went from Ueno to Asakusa, ate in various restaurants(okonomiyaki is DELICIOUS! but will make you fart), went to various shopping malls and giant stores, went ot Tokyo DisneySea, went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Authority building in Shinjuku and up to the observation deck at night, went to Shinjuku Gyoen national park, Meiji Shrine, Shibuya, the Pokemon Center again (go on week days!)...

Still I didn't visit Ikebukuro, Nakano, Nerima...and I didn't hook up with a Japanese chick I hear Roppongi Hill is easy picking for foreign guys...

I'll probably try to go back in a few years, and this time plan a part of my trip outside of Tokyo and visit Kyoto... time to stock up money again! On the plus side, food in Tokyo is super cheap. You can get a decent meal for 500¥ (provided you only drink water).

Oh and one of the JR east station had a chime that played the Astroboy theme!

I'd definitely love to go. Maybe someday. Thanks for all the info and you can certainly consider me jealous

[Kristal]

Dammit Buhawi! Im not done with Link between worlds and your icon's a huge spoiler! Im only at the dark temple lol @V@

[Buhawi]

Whoops! changing it now. LOl