I just came back from Japan - AMA if you like?

by "gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
Published 10/17/2017 at 20:31

Tags: TRAVELOPNIK ; JDM
STARS: 2

Hey Oppos,

My body clock is broken (from JST to EST, it’s a 13-hour shift) but after a good night’s rest tonight I should be mostly alright.

If any Oppos are travellers, I highly recommend Japan. I can’t say good enough things about it - the people were always very professional, generally friendly or at least courteous and the food & drink is phenomenal.

I also went to the Japanese GP - Suzuka is a great circuit, but the race itself was rather lacklustre with very little passing from where we saw the race (Spoon and the hairpin). Watching the first third of the race or so from Spoon was great but the hairpin had more errors and really showed the differences in braking and corner lines between drivers.

The cars in Japan are generally just in great condition, and it’s probably the kind of place where us Oppos would geek out at the stuff you saw. I think the most expensive thing we saw was an Aventador, or perhaps one of the few Continental GTs we had seen.

I did catch this at a Nissan storefront in Ginza:

but this was probably my favourite of the trip:

I’m sad that I used my phone for that pic since I had to use the digital zoom, but this was in awesome condition.

Anyways, it was an awesome 2.5 weeks, and I highly recommend going to Japan if ever you should get the opportunity. I’m already thinking about when I can go back since I’ve only scratched the surface of this addictive place.

Also, AMA if you like - I could’ve written a long post about the trip but am having trouble arranging my thoughts right now.

Replies (13)

"S65" (granthp)
10/17/2017 at 20:44, STARS: 0

Did you drive some sick jdm cars bro

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
10/17/2017 at 21:09, STARS: 0

I wish, bro.

There were many JDM cars I coveted like Supras, Integra Type-Rs, and a current-gen STI wagon.

Really didn’t see very many modded cars on the street; older cars looked well-maintained and otherwise there were a lot of newer, smaller cars on the road.

"sn4cktimes" (snacktimes)
10/17/2017 at 21:16, STARS: 0

Wife and I went to Japan for our honeymoon. We were there for 21 days. Was pretty amazing. I also did not drive at all.

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
10/17/2017 at 21:23, STARS: 0

I might be going to a conference in Japan in May of next year, and am thinking about adding a few days (the conference takes 4 days and is in Niigata, which as I’m told is boring). Which city’s should I definitely check out?

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
10/17/2017 at 22:57, STARS: 0

Hell, I had trouble crossing the street since I would do the left-right look. A lot of the busier areas are one-way streets and it’s a miracle that I wasn’t run over.

Also, there are a lot of bikes on the sidewalks there - pretty dicey at times.

"SpeedSix" (speedsix)
10/17/2017 at 23:55, STARS: 0

Should’ve gotten your International Driving Permit to test new JDM Toyotas at the Toyota MEGAWEB .

I tried out a Crown Majesta, Hiace, and Alphard when I went.

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
10/18/2017 at 00:03, STARS: 1

I wish I could help here - We didn’t go any further north than Tokyo,

After looking it up, Niigata is ideally about 2h40m to get to Shinjuku, Tokyo, but that’s a little over 10,000 yen.

Even if the city’s quiet, look for good eats - I don’t know what the regional specialties are, but if you look for japanese curry, soba, tonkatsu, and ramen you’re usually in for a good time. Sushi can be great but is so widely variable.

I don’t want to lead you astray - when we were visiting less touristy parts of the city we couldn’t even order from the menu without the help of friendly locals who would do their best to translate. Without knowing how touristy Niigata is, it’s hard to tell.

Realistically, I don’t think you can really do better than Tokyo (based on my extremely limited knowledge - if want to go I’ll give you some of my perspectives but it would be purely from a tourist’s POV.

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
10/18/2017 at 00:05, STARS: 0

Someone on Oppo suggested it to me - I lost a day off of my trip due to unforeseen circumstances and I didn’t get to visit MEGAWEB.

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
10/18/2017 at 00:10, STARS: 0

Yeah, I was thinking about flying into Tokyo, spending a few days there and then continuing to Niigata (ideally I could be reimbursed for the trip between Tokyo and Niigata). Any need to visit places I need to know of for Tokyo?

From what I’ve heard Niigata does have good food, but doesn’t really have sights to see, so I expect it to be very low on tourist friendly menu’s and such, haha.

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
10/18/2017 at 12:38, STARS: 1

If you have a few days, your options are pretty open. If you like doing the usual touristy kind of stuff, Asakusa/Senso-ji Temple is a cool area, and getting a view of Tokyo from the top of the Metropolitan Government Building is pretty surreal - the sprawl of Tokyo appears to be endless.

Food-wise, you have a lot of options - we stuck with Japanese for the most part (except for a trip to McDonalds due to a massive hangover) and a lot of places will have English menus. I highly recommend this place in Shibuya which is a nice stand-up sushi joint and was incredibly satisfying.

One place we just couldn’t get to due to timing was Nakajima, a Michelin-star restaurant. If you can get there for lunch, it’s supposed to be less than $10 (dinner is much pricier, apparently around $50 or so) and their dishes are all based on sardines (fresh, not the canned kind).

This article here will give you some tips on cheap, high-quality meals; it’s where I found out about Nakajima. http://travel.nine.com.au/2017/05/15/15/27/tokyos-affordable-michelin-starred-restaurants

Other touristy things - try checking out the Golden Gai area at night if you want to drink. We were at one bar called Ace’s with no cover charge and reasonable prices, and I ran into a few F1 fans. Coincidentally, it appears some of the Sky F1 crew were also in the area, and we did get to see Johnny Herbert before being told by the barman to leave since the crew were somewhat rude.

That’s where I’d begin with - I had to familiarize myself with Japanese dishes before going and I had a checklist of things that I really wanted to try. Google area searches really helped in locating what’s nearby, and the ratings in general were quite helpful.

"Pistol Whipped Cream" (heynickhere)
10/18/2017 at 12:42, STARS: 0

I love visiting Japan. I have been there 3 times so far. The new Nissan Leaf was in the Nissan Ginza store a month ago when I was there.

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
10/18/2017 at 13:08, STARS: 1

I think there was a Leaf there, but I don’t remember. I was looking at that Gran Turismo car and the GT-R Nismo that was inside.

I want to go back for the food alone, but I just really like the vibe of the country.

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
10/18/2017 at 14:19, STARS: 0

Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll definitely check these out if I get to go there.