https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaRUtyh9PfA
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Just booked jan 17-25 to haneda with plans to go to niseko.
Looking for recs for dinner places since last time we didnt make our reservations in time.
Also thinking of just bringing the pescados with shifts and that should be sufficient. Thoughts?
That's plenty of time, especially since you don't need the ski gear until day 4 since you'll spend a day just getting from Tokyo to Hakuba.Quote:
Originally Posted by bennymac
Since you're only spending a day in Tokyo you probably already have an itinerary but let me know if you want recommendations for spending a day here or any restaurant recommendations. Though I'm biased towards central Tokyo and the Roppongi/Midtown area.
Oh hey I’d love some recommendations if you can rattle it off without too much trouble! I spent a day there 12 years ago - but everyone else in our group has never been there so I think I’m unofficially expected to be sorta the guide - a role I don’t mind playing. And thanks for weighing in on the ski shipping timing - that is helpful. Cheers!
A few random pointers. You'll want some sort of train card while in Japan, either Suica or Pasmo. Due to a chip shortage they've stopped selling them to the public so you can't buy them via machines or at the kombinis now. There is a tourist thing they're selling at Haneda but whenever I've seen the line it looks crazy long. I've only heard of success using an iPhone but see if you can get it working on the app on your phone. Otherwise have someone in the group get in that line as soon as they clear customs while the rest of you work on getting your gear shipped via Yamato transport (Black Cat). Everyone will want/need the train card for getting around the city and you can also use them more often than credit cards.Quote:
Originally Posted by bennymac
I'd recommend spending the morning going up to Asakusa, check out the temple and you can add on visits to kitchen street if anyone wants any sort of souvenir knives, swords, pottery, etc. Ship that stuff home immediately, don't get caught w/ a knife in Japan. If the weather is clear, which it should be during pow season, a trip over to Skytree is also a good idea. You can eat around the temple as you go.
In the afternoon head down to Shibuya and walk around Meiji shrine and then the main street in Harajuku. Then head over to Shibuya scramble and grab a drink from one of the various terraces overlooking the chaos down below. Recommend doing this in the late afternoon as the sun is setting, which should be well before 4:30pm in the winter.
Finish up the evening in Shinjuku or Roppongi. There's a million awesome places to grab a beer or just people watch. Avoid any of the all you can drink specials, or at least don't give up your credit card inside.
These restaurant recs don't aligns well with the suggested itinerary but are doable. I'm also avoiding foods you can get in Hakuba that are good and focusing on things you won't find there. For example, there's plenty of good ramen in Hakuba so you can skip that in Tokyo. Same with mid grade sushi.
Lunch:
Gonpachi in Nishiazabu: Locals love to tell you that it's an overpriced izakaya and there are hundreds more authentic and cheaper. They're probably right but the food is still good, it's super English friendly, and it's the restaurant that Tarantino modeled the fight scene in Kill Bill after. It checks most of the boxes for a great lunch spot. Reservations are recommended but not essential, especially on a weekday.
Lunch or dinner:
Conveyor Belt sushi. A must do in Japan, it's super cheap and it's like playing a casino where you're guaranteed to win on every hand. The modern ones are run off iPads and you just pick items that are automatically delivered to your table or seat. There's plenty of non sushi items as well. Despite the quality being as low as you can find it Japan it's still good and everyone will find it memorable and enjoyable. It's also incredibly cheap. Personal favorite spots are Ueno Genki Sushi in Dogenzaka (Shibuya) or the Sushi Ro in Shinjuku Nishiguchi. Reservations not required.
Dinner:
High end sushi - If you want to drop some money and get the good stuff, hit up Sushi Y in Azabujuban. You'll get an experience that's would be $500-700 in NY or SF for just over $100. There's only 8 seats, the chef speaks English and used to run a restaurant in Manhattan so he brings most of his seafood across Japan from Toyama but still adds some items that he knows Americans enjoy, such as Alaskan salmon. You'll learn about the preparation and location of each item on the course. So far everyone I've brought here has said it's the high point of their trip. Definitely make reservations early for this if you want to get a seat, I'm sure your hotel can do this well in advance of your stay.
Hit me up w/ any other questions, happy to share the goods about Hakuba as well.
Dude this is amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to type that out I really appreciate it.
Any recommendations on what neighborhood to sleep in? We fly into Narita and land around 4pm local time. We spend two nights in Tokyo and then have our travel day to Hakuba.
Thanks again for this help!
I disagree with skipping ramen in Tokyo. Unless you just don't care much about ramen or think it's all the same.
I went to a few places where they filmed Ramen Heads, and watched the series on my flight over there. No place was as crowded as it looked on Netflix, but I can't say that since 2019 any of these places got busier or slower. If you are near even one of these restaurants I'd go for it!
https://ubercow.com/b/ramen-heads-filming-locations/
I'm bringing ghost trains with castified pivots [emoji28]Quote:
Originally Posted by KillerMonkey
I don’t remember eating “Ramen” or even the word being used outside of then supermarket at all during the 2 years I lived in Japan. I ate Soba and Udon was everywhere and those are the only noodle shops we went to. Are people calling that ramen??? What’s changed on the noodle landscape over there?
Kind of depends on what your main interests are?Quote:
Originally Posted by bennymac
If you have game, you could always try the overnight rate at a Love Hotel!
Each area is its own little city really. Ginza if you want to spend time in/around the palace, shibuya is you want to douse yourself in neon bars, harajuku is you want to be near the park and crazy fashion street. It’s endless. Subway and the JR loop are easy to get around on tho. All Day tickets are the way to go if your gonna be on the move around town
I am very confused on what you are talking about. You can read up a bit here:Quote:
Originally Posted by mcski
https://artsandculture.google.com/st...QL1jNFKw?hl=en
Quote:
Originally Posted by CascadeCrudSkier
thanks for this. i was not aware. i always have a folding utility knife in my pocket. glad i didn’t get caught with it while i was there.
When I lived there in the 80s, if I scrub my memory ramen was meh at best. It was the cheap noodle and kinda fast food. Real noodle shops focused on Soba or Udon. I can’t recall a single time anyone got anything else. I’m sure “ramen” was around but i only ever heard discussions around Udon or Soba when it came to foodie talk. They were generally not referred to by people I knew as ramen shops. Someone was going to eat either udon or soba. Ramen noodles were kind of looked down upon. I’ll ask my contemporaries from back then if that’s just a drunken delusion but that’s how my senseis rolledQuote:
Originally Posted by muted reborn
I don't know anything about the history but a quick google saysQuote:
Originally Posted by mcski
"Beginning in the 1980s, ramen became a Japanese cultural icon and was studied around the world. At the same time, local varieties of ramen were hitting the national market and could even be ordered by their regional names."
Good ramen takes a day to make the broth and that's probably all you have time to make, the noodles are hand made or on a machine, and bad ramen is from a broth stock that you find at sushi restaurants and noodles are bought and not made in-house. Basically.
There's no shortage of places so it's really the best combination of your budget and your appetite for nightlife. If you're planning to go big both nights then I'd focus on Roppongi or Shinjuku. If you're not looking for that then avoid those and Shibuya. For work I always recommend guests stay at the ANA in Ark Hills, it sits just outside Roppongi and Akasaka but it's not cheap. For convenience you could just base it on your arrival near Tokyo station coming from Narita or base it off wherever you're departing from to get to Hakuba. If you're really at a loss then use booking.com, pick your location and price range, and see what the best options are.Quote:
Originally Posted by bennymac
I await confirmation but as I recall no one ever referred to Soba or Udon as ramen. Three different things and usually a specialty of the shop by noodle. At that time, Soba and Udon were the quality noodles. Princess Michiko was the daughter of a ramen king which was not a plus as ramen was considered Chinese while soba and udon were traditional JapaneseQuote:
Originally Posted by muted reborn
I wasn't recommending skipping ramen in Tokyo as a general guideline but if you're only spending a day there before heading to other parts of Japan there's not much available in Tokyo that you can't find anywhere else. On the other hand, there's plenty of other things there that you won't find in the mountains or ski towns.
I wasn't in Tokyo in the 80s but ramen isn't the same as soba or udon. It's everywhere but since ramen is from China and not Japan it's usually spelled out in katakana.
ラーメン
Soba is the more confusing word since it can mean the traditional buckwheat noodles served hot or cold, or it can represent something that's very similar in appearance to ramen. There's a great dry ramen (no broth, just oil) chain called abura soba that seems a lot more like ramen than soba to me.
Recent podcast on Ramen history, if anyone's interested https://gastropod.com/wed-like-to-te...rise-to-glory/
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Perfect thanks. Unfortunately I think we’ve aged out of going hard on the nightlife scene - at least at the front end of the trip prior to 7 days of touring - so will visit the active areas of nightlife but sleep elsewhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by CascadeCrudSkier
My trip mates have not been to Japan before so I think they will be stoked to take the bullet train to the interior (which I know will mean some other further form of transit to get us to Hakuba). That AnA does look pristine but probably not in everyone’s price range. But this gives me an idea of where to look so thanks again!
Based on the Over 30 thread I think most people have aged out of going hard in Tokyo before a week of skiing. If you like that area then the APA is a cheaper brand of hotel in Tokyo and there's one almost across the street from the AnA. It'll be smaller but if your gear isn't present it should be okay to sleep at. That one was renovated just in time for the 2020 Olympics that never happened, it stayed shuttered through the whole games in 2021 and just reopened last year. I've never been inside but it looks nice from the sidewalk.Quote:
Originally Posted by bennymac
Agreed on the uniqueness of the shinkansen to Nagano but there is a bus option from downtown, maybe Shinjuku station, that goes straight to Happo. I think the time is roughly the same since it's almost as long to get from Nagano station to Hakuba station as it does from Tokyo to Nagano. I've never actually taken either route though so this is all secondhand knowledge.
Are you doing guided tours in Hakuba or running the tours yourselves?
Thanks for the ongoing advice! We have a full travel day on our way to Hakuba so maybe we bullet train there for the experience and then look at a more direct option on our way back out - we’ll be looking to go from Hakuba back to Narita as smoothly as possible on our departure day (and will be lugging our skis on that leg).
We are going fully guided with a reputable and experienced operation we’ve used for the past 12 years - so feel like once we get to the skiing we’ll be in good hands - they run Hakuba touring trips every season.
That's because it's not ramen.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcski
Thank ya!Quote:
Originally Posted by fleaches
I was making a Yakuza joke today and it reminded me about one thing that surprised me about Japan and Japan newbies may not know about is the aversion tattoos - apparently because of the association with the yakuza.
We were there in 2017 and warned that you may not be able to access all onsens if one were tattoo’d. maybe things are loosening.
Also wear good socks always when in Japan because you will take off your shoes more frequently than here- ie going out to dinner when you enter the restaurant
No knives. Good socks. These are the tips you don’t get from guidebooks!
I enjoy ramen but cant say I have ever taken a picture of the menu. Lots of good food in Japan.
Attachment 477070
If you can swing it spend some money. I dont know where you are getting snapper turtle with blowfish milt in the states. We stayed in Ginza to be close to the fish market. Had our sushi for breakfast there. That has changed since we were there although I think the restaurants are still there.
we stayed here
https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/roy...s=1&#hotelTmpl
it seems expensive but I think it was somewhat mid range. They could of filmed Lost in Translation here.
Attachment 477074
it was snowing in Tokyo so bus to Hakuba was cancelled. We had to walk over and catch the shinkansen. It was easy, dont remember any problems connecting to Hakuba.
Attachment 477075
looks like lots of good advice being given by people who know more than me. But no matter what you eat or where you stay it will be good.
have fun
That’s what I’m sayin!Quote:
Originally Posted by muted reborn
Ramen was a nothin burger when I lived there lol
Slip on shoes are key. Leave the laces at home! They get really annoying fast and avoid if at all possibleQuote:
Originally Posted by bennymac
Reg tats are no big deal. Yakuza tats are a whole nother level and it’s obvious what is and isn’t a yak tat. Onsens won’t care about your butterfly tramp stamp:D
We’d see the yak tats at the local sento bathhouse). Amazing artwork on those guys. And strategically inserted pearls too [emoji15]
Reg tats are no big deal (palm-sized shoulders here)....until they are because either a/another customer complains at the counter on the way out and someone comes to turf you out (been there) or b/a staff person clearing up etc spots you and turfs you out (also been there). You are generally right but do be aware it's not a done deal. Staff don't want to have to decide between what is and isn't ok so prefer a blanket no to everyone, but they also would rather not deal with the hassle of trying to deal with you and me if possible, so it's a balancing act we're not part of. Once they do say no though, no means no.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcski
sauce: here 30yrs and counting
Hmm my partner has a pretty big dragon tattoo on her side from her hip to her ribs and we're going to the Tohoku region for skiing (and I sens)... Hope it doesn't cause any issues.
Ramen != soba or udon, so maybe that's the confusion?
If you're thinking of going to onsens it either won't or it might be. Play dumb, hope for the best, be prepared for the worst.Quote:
Originally Posted by eSock
PSA:Quote:
Originally Posted by m2711c
SERIOUSLY. DO NOT CARRY ANY KIND OF BLADE WHILE YOU'RE HERE (if you bought a gift etc and it's still wrapped etc then you're basically ok).
You can 'yes but officer it's just a camping knife I always carry it/I forgot' all you want but if they fancy they can hold you for up to 23 days without charge. If you find yourself in any kind of situation do NOT touch or push a cop, esp if they surround you during any 'discussion'. They don't care about any 'don't lay hands on me'.
Also remember you are required to carry your passport as a visitor.
Yeah I heard that a lot before going there in Jan 2019 and then noticed a bunch of people in onsens with tattoos. If the artwork isn't similar to any of the traditional yakuza themes then it's fine (I guess?) - or at least that was my takeaway. I'm tattoo free so not an issue personally.Quote:
Originally Posted by babybear
Three very different noodles.Quote:
Originally Posted by eSock
Apparently Ramen has exploded in popularity since I lived there and it was a not common option and far behind the Soba and Udon shops in popularity. Hence my wtf about why I’m seeing so many references to Ramen now. Back then it was cheap chinese, not a good noodle. That is all.
They love their alcohol in Japan, but do not tolerate drinking and driving... Don't know if this has changed, but on my first trip there I was informed that if the driver has over a 0% BAC level, and if a vehicle is pulled over, driver cannot refuse a BAC (or breathalyzer?) test, if any BAC above 0% is found, the driver is arrested, everyone in the vehicle is arrested (for letting that person drive....), and the vehicle is impounded..... So if you rent a car, no drinking and driving... This aint the USA....
Ramen-- it's fucking famous and delicious. Locals have their favorite spots and make a Sunday afternoon of it. Somebody is way out of his element here.
Tattoos. I still get asked to leave onsens. And I've got stupid biker/tribal tats. Wear a surfing shirt. Done. It's quite common at onsens and indoor pools. Nobody is going to confuse you for Yakuza but some elders do think tattoos are dirty so they complain. Also, don't be scared of Yakuza. That's just an out-dated term that now translates to dodgy businessman.
Spend money for high-end restaurants when you're in Tokyo, or anywhere for that matter. Expensive restaurants in JP are mind-blowing. And so are the old ones. I have two friends who are heirs to hotel and sweet shops that go back 17 or 12 generations, respectively. Both of them try really hard to maintain original recipes. Old is legit here. "Your recipes are older than my home country." So when a local recommends some old place, go. And because of that-- ask. Ask your hotel where the old, famous, legendary family restaurant is. That doesn't mean it's expensive. It might just be soba. But it'll be dope.
Anyone passing through rural Yamagata in Tohoku can hit me up via PM. I'll make a reservation somewhere for you depending on what food you want.
In regards to police-- they will make you famous for all the wrong reasons. It's why this country is so peaceful.
And don't look monkeys in the eye in the wild. The chill ones in the onsens being gawked at by foreigners are fine. But the pack in the wild, just move on by. And if you're in a forest with no tracks- shut up, stop talking. If you're quiet enough you'll likely scare up a rabbit or a kamoshika (a goat-like deer, a serrow). And because they'll be scared, they'll run downhill, where you're going. So if you're lucky, you'll get to ski with a rabbit. That's fun shit.
And wax your fucking skis. Nothing worse than someone on their expensive-ass trip to JP while not understanding that 4-5% water-content snow is staticky and squeaky slow. Yeah, it's blower. It's a windstorm of static-filled needles that want to grab on to your every being. Dry bases might as well be covered in mohair.
Also try balance a coin on the shelf by the window in the shinkansen while you're traveling 125mph. That's always a fun, shocking representation of cool technology.
Tokyo & ski resort towns are both a wicked contrast between modern and old. Don't overlook the old.
This guy Japans.Quote:
Originally Posted by gaijin
Oh, and if you're a smoker, legal or otherwise, dig out, vacuum out and wash that shit out from every pocket and forgotten hidy hole you have/had. Dogs find you while you're waiting at the carousel etc, and you're toast. If you're solo you'll disappear and people will only finally find you when they either call the embassy or the police decide to put you on a plane ~23 days later.
Agreed with everything but I'm curious about this. I'm far from an onsen expert but I've been to a fair bit and I've never seen someone wearing a rashguard / surf shirt. Or any shirt. Do you wear some boardshorts or go Winnie the Pooh style with a shirt and no pants? I've always been under the impression that gender segregated onsens are full nude, this info is new to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by gaijin
They are full nude. But tatted-up dudes wear rash guards. Everybody knows what they're covering up. Feels awkward, to say the least. You can also just put a bandage over your tat if small enough.
Yep to all this. With my shoulder tats I've also draped the small white towel across the back of my neck and covered the tats before too.Quote:
Originally Posted by gaijin
Remember one time getting into a full milky-white-with-minerals outdoor bath....old guy already in there chilling and soaking. Old guy stands up out of the water a few mins later revealing a FULL body suit of ink haha.