181–190 of 308 posts
Try the Gala resort. Train from Tokyo right to it. Onsen on-site for after a full day of skiing is a plus: https://gala.co.jp/winter/
Would also recommend jigokudani for onsen and monkeys. There is a good ryokan nearby: http://www.jigokudanionsen.com/guide/
As another long term resident of Tokyo (10 years and counting), I honestly can't understand why Patrick would recommend anyone give their business to APA Group. As others in this thread have mentioned, this hotelier group is abhorrent. They are led by an anti-Semitic, anti-Korean, anti-Chinese history revisionist. The hotel leaves its disgusting diatribe in their company issued magazines conveniently laid out in ever…
So the only reason against them is because of their ideologies? If the hotels are nice, and cheap, I couldnt care less what their ideologies are.
I'm not sure when this post was originally written, but at a quick glance I can see some mentioned stores/restaurants that have since unfortunately shut down (like Deus Ex Machina which I used to frequent when it was in Harajuku but has since moved about 45 minutes away to Asakusa). This might not be the most up-to-date resource if you're visiting Japan in the future. Also, this list specifically recommends the APA h…
To use the physics sense, we found vacationing in Japan high friction . Yeah, it was totally different than anywhere we have been on n America or Western Europe. At times, it felt like we were looking at everything on the other side of a closed window, amazing yet inaccessible. This was ‘05 or earlier, and the lack of Roman lettering outside Kyoto was hard. Outrunning English has not been a problem elsewhere, but los…
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Tokyo is absurdly gigantic, I would not suggest randomly walking it. Also the subway system can be challenging, and the staff don't speak English, so if you get stuck they likely won't be able to help. Another random thing about the train system: there are women-only cars. I didn't realize this until I had already boarded and (as a man) I was absolutely mortified.
You really can't "get stuck" though. Carry a phone with Google Maps and get a Pasmo/Suica fare card, and it's easy to get back to your hotel from anywhere at all in the city.
Suica is great with how you can reload it from your US credit card, and works in many places besides just transit stations. It saved me several ATM runs last time I was there.
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Looks like a lot of gatekeeping on your part. This was the good old days when you were travelling but now that other people travel, they are the worst because they take too many selfies. Negative impact of tourism have been documented for a while. There’s just more people traveling because flights got cheaper. But new travellers aren’t worse than you were, there’s just more of us traveling and it makes our impact mor…
When I visited the Great Buddha in Kamakura a couple of years ago, there were dozens of foreign tourists laying down, sitting, or posing on or next to the statue in a way that our native Japanese friend remarked how disrespectful they were being. I don't think it would've been as bad before smartphones and influencer/YouTube culture, but I can't really say.
As another long term resident of Tokyo (10 years and counting), I honestly can't understand why Patrick would recommend anyone give their business to APA Group. As others in this thread have mentioned, this hotelier group is abhorrent. They are led by an anti-Semitic, anti-Korean, anti-Chinese history revisionist. The hotel leaves its disgusting diatribe in their company issued magazines conveniently laid out in ever…
So the only reason against them is because of their ideologies? If the hotels are nice, and cheap, I couldnt care less what their ideologies are.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tokyo is absurdly gigantic, I would not suggest randomly walking it. Also the subway system can be challenging, and the staff don't speak English, so if you get stuck they likely won't be able to help. Another random thing about the train system: there are women-only cars. I didn't realize this until I had already boarded and (as a man) I was absolutely mortified.
When was the last time you were there? I went in 2019 and 2020 and it was really easy to get around. All stations have signage in English almost everywhere. Google maps says which exit / entrance to come in or leave from, even which car of the train you're on is closest to the path you need to get off. As for walking, you don't need to walk _everywhere_ but it really is cool to spend a few hours like OP said and just…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, unfortunately, there are loads of people who look to someone like Logan Paul as someone to emulate and attempt to film their own wacky antics for online popularity contests, at the expense of ordinary folk.
> online popularity contests It’s more than that. People think there is a financial payoff if they win the influencer game. And when they do make income, their taxable income is likely not going to these countries which they are profiting off of. I guess it’s a sort of negative externality.
That said, there is an influencer angle and probably some reasonable number of younger people who see a few people becoming YouTube or TikTok stars and thinking there's a chance they could become one of them.