I'm Going To Japan

Weird. Nobody wants to go to a Japanese style bar full of salaryman complaining about their day... :headscratch: :confused: j/k ;)

I always prefer something with less tourists. Cheaper and you can meet locals. :)
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tabana wrote:Weird. Nobody wants to go to a Japanese style bar full of salaryman complaining about their day... :headscratch: :confused: j/k ;)

I always prefer something with less tourists. Cheaper and you can meet locals. :)

Haha yeah that's the approach I took. When I went to a new place, I had a three-point plan to happiness:

Find a place to stay
Find an izakaya (japanese style bar)
Find a bar

The food was always great and in most places it was quite easy to get chatting, especially after a few nice cold beers (I miss Japanese beer sooooooo much). In fact, apart from the first one I went to with a friend, every other time I was the only foreigner in the place. Kinda made it feel more real.

I remember there was this one izakaya in Hiroshima that kinda freaked me out at first because I noticed there were no couples, just two guys and two girls everywhere. So after a beer or two I had to turn to the girls beside me and after pointing out the fact, ask if this was some kinda gay night. We had a good laugh about that :P.

:rofl: :rofl:
Sounds fun. That's the kind of place I'd end up. Getting ultra nervous, because there's guy looking at you and you're not sure if he looks at you, because you're the only foreigner there or if it's a gay bar. :hehe:

At least the girls were friendly. :thumbsup:

qilver wrote:

was the cover charge expensive? any places you can recommend for a fun evening, at any clubs?
decent to a good club with nice j-girls.
my concern is making the train before closing time, or find a place to stay that is close by the club, ie: Roppongi, Shibuya...

it's really difficult to really go out clubbing and get home by the last train...that means you're going home around 1 or so...most places don't begin to heat up until 11 or so....

tabana wrote:
I always prefer something with less tourists. Cheaper and you can meet locals. :)

exactly...when we went to this club yellow we ended up rapping with these chicks from JAL....better than seeing a bunch of drunk ass foreigners trying to speak horrible japanese :P

double post...but i was going to say another great resource for restaurants that i came across is

"Cool Restaurants Tokyo"

the interior designs of the featured restaurants is ABSOLUTELY stunning...it really shows how incredibly enthusiastic the japanese are about quality food and exceptional presentation to create an ethereal dining experience....

qilver wrote:my concern is making the train before closing time, or find a place to stay that is close by the club, ie: Roppongi, Shibuya...

That's gonna be tough alright. Realistically if you plan to club, you'd be looking to stay in the club until the trains start running again around 5 or 6-ish. Otherwise there's always the love hotels when you win or the capsule hotels when you lose :)

It's kinda weird how the trains stop so early and how it really messes things up in Tokyo. I'd be coming out of a bar at near 1 and there'd be girls passed out on the street. For them the night was already over. For most of us it'd only be getting started then.

One other thing that's worth mentioning while we're talking about late night shenanigans. Wherever you stay, always check if there's a curfew. According to the guides I read most places will lock the doors at night and you're out for the night after that. In my experience I only found one place that had a curfew (in Fukuoka of all bloody places).

Hostels might be more inclined to do that, as well as some business hotels. I was staying in low-range ryokan most of the time and could arrive back at any time (and on a couple of occasions I did. Ever wonder what downtown Kyoto looks like at 5:30 am? Now you know:P)

Curfews... I'd never thought about it. :doh:

I was locked out of a hotel once, in Montreal, but we managed to get in by showing the guy our keycard. It's the only place I've been to, that had curfews. The hotel was 1 block away from the red light district, so that's understandable. :sweat:

I can't imagine a place as big as Tokyo with no public transport after 1AM. I used to live in a city with only 300,000 souls and we had buses running 'till 3:30AM. (Only the main lines, tho). I guess students in Tokyo study instead of getting drunk. :mrgreen:

tabana wrote:Curfews... I'd never thought about it. :doh:

I was locked out of a hotel once, in Montreal, but we managed to get in by showing the guy our keycard. It's the only place I've been to, that had curfews. The hotel was 1 block away from the red light district, so that's understandable. :sweat:

I can't imagine a place as big as Tokyo with no public transport after 1AM. I used to live in a city with only 300,000 souls and we had buses running 'till 3:30AM. (Only the main lines, tho). I guess students in Tokyo study instead of getting drunk. :mrgreen:

you still got cabs...long cab rides will be expensive though...but if you're splitting the fare it's not totally outrageous.

Tu_triky wrote:

you still got cabs...long cab rides will be expensive though...but if you're splitting the fare it's not totally outrageous.

The cabs are outrageous. Funny thing about Tokyo I would not worry about missing the train as much as I would worry about trying to fit inside. The last couple of trains can be worse than commute times. People are mashed in.

Tu_triky wrote:

you still got cabs...long cab rides will be expensive though...but if you're splitting the fare it's not totally outrageous.

yeah, my friend and i took a cab a few times in Japan. Once we had to take a cab from Osaki to Shinagawa, since the the train that we were on, stopped one stop short of our destination, and it was closing time. So we had to take a cab, cause i didn't know how to take the bus back or the direction back to the hotel in Shinagawa. The Taxi fare was 1100 yen, which i guess wasn't too bad.

qilver wrote:

yeah, my friend and i took a cab a few times in Japan. Once we had to take a cab from Osaki to Shinagawa, since the the train that we were on, stopped one stop short of our destination, and it was closing time. So we had to take a cab, cause i didn't know how to take the bus back or the direction back to the hotel in Shinagawa. The Taxi fare was 1100 yen, which i guess wasn't too bad.

beats walking...

MomoNyo wrote:
That's gonna be tough alright. Realistically if you plan to club, you'd be looking to stay in the club until the trains start running again around 5 or 6-ish. Otherwise there's always the love hotels when you win or the capsule hotels when you lose :)

It's kinda weird how the trains stop so early and how it really messes things up in Tokyo. I'd be coming out of a bar at near 1 and there'd be girls passed out on the street. For them the night was already over. For most of us it'd only be getting started then.

One other thing that's worth mentioning while we're talking about late night shenanigans. Wherever you stay, always check if there's a curfew. According to the guides I read most places will lock the doors at night and you're out for the night after that. In my experience I only found one place that had a curfew (in Fukuoka of all bloody places).

Hostels might be more inclined to do that, as well as some business hotels. I was staying in low-range ryokan most of the time and could arrive back at any time (and on a couple of occasions I did. Ever wonder what downtown Kyoto looks like at 5:30 am? Now you know:P)

yeah, i figured that the clubs don't really get happenin' until after midnight, and that would not leave any time to get a train ride back, since they shut down after 1am until 5am or 6am. So my friend and i are thinking next time, we stay in Shibuya or Roppongi at a business hotel of some sort, not too crazy about the capsule hotels.. :hehe:
but curfews is something that is too limiting, and i would like to avoid, i don't like the restrictions, especially if going out and clubbing or bar hopping. Any good clubs/bars and business hotels you can recommend in Roppongi/Shibuya area?

was looking at the pix, and that place is deserted, also, the sun comes up early in Japan, like 4:30am. :bonk:

Tu_triky wrote:you still got cabs...long cab rides will be expensive though...but if you're splitting the fare it's not totally outrageous.

Mmm... ok. I guess there's always the possibility of walking for an hour or two to sober up. :)

Just a little question. Do you need to split the love hotel fee or you can pay it all. Just a thought. You know, like it's unsuitable to tip... :mrgreen: Not that it's going to be helpful anytime soon.

Tu_triky wrote:

exactly...when we went to this club yellow we ended up rapping with these chicks from JAL....better than seeing a bunch of drunk ass foreigners trying to speak horrible japanese :P

cool, you met some nice jgirls from JAL, it helps to know some japanese eh? yeah sure beats seeing a bunch of drunkard gaijins.

qilver wrote:

cool, you met some nice jgirls from JAL, it helps to know some japanese eh? yeah sure beats seeing a bunch of drunkard gaijins.

too bad they weren't flight attendants..they worked the front desk. :beaten:


drunkard gaijin.... :shakehead: ....too funny, man

Tu_triky wrote:too bad they weren't flight attendants..they worked the front desk. :beaten: ...

It's the next best thing. :hehe:

tabana wrote:
It's the next best thing. :hehe:

a couple of 'em were cute.

Tu_triky wrote:

a couple of 'em were cute.

did you get their number?
like you can keep in touch right?.... :shakehead: :hehe:

qilver wrote:

did you get their number?
like you can keep in touch right?.... :shakehead: :hehe:

no...we were just rappin'....