Japan Trip

sithlord said:
Can confirm KFC at X-mas is a thing. We did it once. Maybe cos most people dont have big ovens in their houses ?
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The lore...or at least the blurb that KFC Japan tell is that back in the 70's, a staff member in KFC overheard a foreign customer coming in to get KFC because they couldn't get Christmas dinner (Turkey), so management had this idea now to promote KFC as a Christmas meal that foreigners eat. Then they continued to do it every Christmas...and now it becomes very popular, Christmas is their busiest time of the year, but their Christmas meal also comes with a "Christmas cake"...not what you think and some meals come with more a roast style chicken, not a deep fried one.

And it is true that an average Japanese home does not have an oven, they have a Fish grill under the stove.

This is pretty much true across SE Asia to be honest, not just in Japan. Ovens is more a European home thing. We didn't have an oven in HK, most cooking is done on the stove. We also steam stuff, even make bread by steaming.

Oven baking is left to proper bakers.
 
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Yup, no idea how to roast a chicken at mums house, or gravy or stuffing etc. I'm taking a Santa hat and we'll get s KFC or something that day. This is a hill i'm prepared to die on.
 
Raymond Lin said:
@Xelene

This just popped up my feed on YouTube which summerises a lot of the recent changes.

I didn't know LARGE suitcases are completely banned now on the Shinkansen.

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Let's be fair, anything over 250 must be massive.

Years ago I took my snowboard, that was say 160cm. Even that would have been say 160 Length, plus 20 height, plus 30 width? Still well below 250cm.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Not sure about 250cm...but under it says 29 inches and 29 inches is 72cm.
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Yer I've got confused by it now :D It says the sum of all sides, but then says the inches of likely one side.

That would have been a bit of a pain for me when I went with the family. Not like we could send luggage ahead. Time to play the gaijin ignorance card :D
 
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tlrBeta said:
Yer I've got confused by it now :D It says the sum of all sides, but then says the inches of likely one side.

That would have been a bit of a pain for me when I went with the family. Not like we could send luggage ahead. Time to play the gaijin ignorance card :D
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Now I need to go home and measure my suitcase, it shouldn't be a problem getting trains between Haneda or Narita to Tokyo since that is not Shinkansen. However, it makes me hopping between cities on trips a bit more awkward.
 
I went a few years back and Osaka was way more fun than Tokyo, but both were incredible.
Definitely try and go to Osaka
 
Deep said:
I went a few years back and Osaka was way more fun than Tokyo, but both were incredible.
Definitely try and go to Osaka
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What did you do in Osaka?

I've been to Dotonburi a few times, the castle, DenDen Town, up to the top of that building on Namba, went to get Okinomiyaki and Takoiyaki...and then i am like...not sure what to do. I've only been to Japan solo so not going out drinking with people.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
What did you do in Osaka?

I've been to Dotonburi a few times, the castle, DenDen Town, up to the top of that building on Namba, went to get Okinomiyaki and Takoiyaki...and then i am like...not sure what to do. I've only been to Japan solo so not going out drinking with people.
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Nara Park, the Osaka castle, a shrine or two and a day trip to Kyoto to see the bamboo forest.
However the sights weren't the big thing for me, it was the people. The people were so friendly and lovely, there was one night out of the 5 we were there and my mate and I went out for takoyaki and ended up going karaoke with some locals till 2am. It was absolutely wonderful, and while I loved Tokyo I still think Osaka has an incredible vibe
 
Deep said:
Nara Park, the Osaka castle, a shrine or two and a day trip to Kyoto to see the bamboo forest.
However the sights weren't the big thing for me, it was the people. The people were so friendly and lovely, there was one night out of the 5 we were there and my mate and I went out for takoyaki and ended up going karaoke with some locals till 2am. It was absolutely wonderful, and while I loved Tokyo I still think Osaka has an incredible vibe
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It is close to all the places you mention, I've been to all those and most of the older sights are in Kyoto.

People do say that about Osaka residents are more friendly, there is this fake gun thing you can do to strangers, just point at them with finger gun and go POW! They will act like they got shot. Not sure if they still do it though but it's almost like in the UK if you look at someone they will say "you wanna fight mate?" :D

I did the random karaoke thing, not in Japan though, randomly was in Taipei. Would not had a chance to do it had it not for these locals. First of all I had no idea it came with drinks and food in the packages etc.
 
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We actually ended up getting a few Shinkansen trips, but not long distance; taking one handsized luggage for the shorter trips.

Flying into Haneda, staying at Hotel overnight then schelpping down to Akihabra for a couple of nights; half day in Akihabra then day in surrounding area then back up to Haneda to fly down to Kyushu and most of the trip split between Kitakyushu, Fukuoka and Kumamoto

Note: Kitakyushu is not a tourist destination, don't go there in general
 
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Cousin phoned up Kumamoto castle so going a couple of days earlier; 29th as they said closed for NY.
en.wikipedia.org

Kumamoto Castle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
And got a really nice Ryokan booked near Kumamoto so super excited. Horse sashimi is a big thing around that part of Japan, okay with it so long as I know it's Horse; but not really my thing.
Will try and go up the Volcano if have time, but it's gonna be tight.
 
Raymond Lin said:
It is close to all the places you mention, I've been to all those and most of the older sights are in Kyoto.

People do say that about Osaka residents are more friendly, there is this fake gun thing you can do to strangers, just point at them with finger gun and go POW! They will act like they got shot. Not sure if they still do it though but it's almost like in the UK if you look at someone they will say "you wanna fight mate?" :D

I did the random karaoke thing, not in Japan though, randomly was in Taipei. Would not had a chance to do it had it not for these locals. First of all I had no idea it came with drinks and food in the packages etc.
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I wish I knew about the gun fingers before hand!

We definitely found people friendlier in Osaka but they were lovely every where tbh
 
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I recommend Okinawa. You got to take another plane out and its near Taiwan but the climate is more tropical and the people are friendly and more open.
 
So I am back into research my trip, the next 5 months is going to drag.

Managed to snag a decent hotel room in Ikebukuro for a good price, £640 for 11 nights (free cancellation, pay on arrival). Prices have gone up so much in the 2 weeks since then it cost about £900+ now for the same room.

What i am going to do is use it as a base to take trips out of Tokyo, the price is in my favour to the point in that I can take overnight stay elsewhere in Japan for 2 or 3 nights, and still be cheaper than cancel and rebook just what i need.

So with that in mind, I am going to take a trip to Kanazawa, with a twist...

Tokyo to Lake Suwa for the morning (The lake that Your Name is modeled on)
Then train to Narai-juku, a Edo era post town. It's a tiny town, 2hrs there is more than enough, in fact, probably 1hr would do.
Then in the late afternoon a train up to Matsumoto. See the castle for sunset, walk around at night, get some local food. Stay the night.
In the morning see the castle at sunrise, then breakfast and train to Kanazawa.
Then explore Kanazawa for 24hr, stay the night then head to Kyoto.
1 night in Kyoto then back to Tokyo

Worked it out, keeping the room instead of rebooking, even tough double booking for 3 nights only cost me about £60 more.

Ignore the driving part, will be taking the train, which is roughly the same route.

Xar8d6t.png
 
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Raymond Lin said:
So I am back into research my trip, the next 5 months is going to drag.

Managed to snag a decent hotel room in Ikebukuro for a good price, £640 for 11 nights (free cancellation, pay on arrival). Prices have gone up so much in the 2 weeks since then it cost about £900+ now for the same room.

What i am going to do is use it as a base to take trips out of Tokyo, the price is in my favour to the point in that I can take overnight stay elsewhere in Japan for 2 or 3 nights, and still be cheaper than cancel and rebook just what i need.

So with that in mind, I am going to take a trip to Kanazawa, with a twist...

Tokyo to Lake Suwa for the morning (The lake that Your Name is modeled on)
Then train to Narai-juku, a Edo era post town. It's a tiny town, 2hrs there is more than enough, in fact, probably 1hr would do.
Then in the late afternoon a train up to Matsumoto. See the castle for sunset, walk around at night, get some local food. Stay the night.
In the morning see the castle at sunrise, then breakfast and train to Kanazawa.
Then explore Kanazawa for 24hr, stay the night then head to Kyoto.
1 night in Kyoto then back to Tokyo

Worked it out, keeping the room instead of rebooking, even tough double booking for 3 nights only cost me about £60 more.

Ignore the driving part, will be taking the train, which is roughly the same route.

Xar8d6t.png
Click to expand...
Ikebukuro has the largest anime shop in Japan. Called Animate.
 
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