I've never been, any suggestions ?
Okinawa is also such a beautiful place in general. Go to Nago on the northern end and do the castle hike, specifically during February's sakura festival if you can: https://visitokinawajapan.com/discover/events/nago-cherry-blossom-festival/
If they've rebuilt Shuri Castle after the fire, it's also worth seeing. The Nago castle was destroyed in the war so it's more of a jungle hike full of shinto shrines but they reconstructed the old Ryukyu stonghold in the capital.
edit: Also, the main base protests should still likely be outside of Camp Foster in Chatan and Camp Schwab in the north. Chatan is a nice little town with a lot to do and it's interesting to see the cultural imprint of the American presence juxtaposed with the Ryukyu and the Japanese influences. It also has some of the best diving in the world but avoid the China-facing coast because it has incredibly dangerous rip tides.
Go around the war memorials and call everyone there fascists. Just do not shut up about how great China and North Korea are. Carry around the communist manifesto and stand on the street harassing everyone in broken Japanese about how great Karl Marx is, also buy an anime body pillow, as anime is the only good thing to come out of Japan. You would fit right in, everyone would love you. Also when on the train it’s customary to play your music over the speaker phone as well as eat gas station sushi with your mouth open. But please wear a mask!
Go around the war memorials and call everyone there fascists. Just do not shut up about how great China and North Korea are.
:gigachad:
Where in Japan are you going? I would say staying around the Yamanote line in Tokyo is a must, like im Shibuya or Shinjuku. Checking out the mrighborhoods around there is super fun. Wander at night around Golden Gai. Just wander and get lost in general. Some of the hip neighborhoods are fun like Shimokita or Koenji. Take a day trip to Kamakura and/or Yokohama. Drink some sake and wander around the arcades and discount stores.
Kyoto is incredible and beautiful and all the rest.
Osaka is just as dense and interesting as Tokyo with incredible food and an overall chiller vibe.
Go to temples! Stay in a Ryokan if you can. Mt. Koya is a magical place to stay if you enjoy nature and buddhism.
Nara is beautiful and has amazing history and watching the deer terrorize people for biscuits is great fun.
Hiroshima is beautiful and so peaceful and I think visiting the atom bomb museum and peace park there should be a must for every american.
Have fun!
Thanks for the ideas, I'm flying in & out of toyko but have no plan, open to going anywhere in that timeline.
Akihabara seems really cool. Also eat some ramen in one of those street vendor stalls like you see in the anime.
Akihabara is fun but just be careful of street hawkers out there advertising their cafes or bars. They're everywhere and can be really aggressive. They'll also sometimes pretend they're just a random stranger inviting you somewhere. The game is they'll invite you somewhere under the unspoken pretense they're giving you a special deal, or maybe just treating you to drinks, and then whoops you drank/ate too much and you're saddled with a ¥12,500 bill.
Also I shouldn't have to say this to Hexbear dot net but you do not gotta go to a maid cafe or hostess club. They're weird and are designed to peel as much money out of gullible horny guys as possible.
Every Tequila you drink gives hearts, but thugs will try to punch you on the way out so slam as many shots as you can and moon jump over them.
This is happening in Akihabara now? Not just Roppongi and Kabukicho?
yeah, it's all over the city now. someone I was travelling with even had it happen to them in Ikebukuro in 2019
TRAINS TRAINS TRAINS BABY. I think there is a Japan Railways pass for tourists you can get that is supposed to be cheaper than normal or something
I dont know if you could actually do it but I would want to visit the smedley butler okinawa base and take an ironic selfie since the camps existence is probably making butler roll in his grave
also visiting the temple of anarcho socialist buddhist monk Uchiyama Gudo would be cool. He was executed for printing socialist propaganda having declared
"As a propagator of Buddhism I teach that "all sentient beings have the Buddha nature" and that "within the Dharma there is equality, with neither superior nor inferior". Furthermore, I teach that "all sentient beings are my children". Having taken these golden words as the basis of my faith, I discovered that they are in complete agreement with the principles of socialism. It was thus that I became a believer in socialism"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchiyama_Gud%C5%8D
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1066442-d7987158-Reviews-Rinsenji_Temple-Bunkyo_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html
Try the shinkansen if you're going out that way. I've been on it a few times and it's the smoothest transportation I've ever had doing...anything. The train from Osaka to Kyoto takes 15 minutes. It's the closest thing to teleporting I've ever experienced.
Go feed some deer in Nara. They're adorable.
I don't know if you're into it, but Tokyo has a huge experimental music scene. There's a venue called Otooto in Setagaya I really like. Lots of improvising jazz musicians or electronic shows featuring modular synthesizers. It's in Setagaya.
Asakusa is the place in Tokyo to go if you're into old fashioned stuff. Sensouji Temple is there, it's 1400 years old. There are market stalls and old fashioned houses. It's chill.
If you're going up to Hokkaido, go take the cable car up Mt. Moiwayama if they're open. You get a cool view of Sapporo up there.
If you're heading out to Osaka, I really like the Mozu Tombs. I like old graveyards I guess.
I'd really recommend learning at least the fundamentals of Japanese before you go. It's rare to meet someone who speaks fluent English just out and about. But because of Japanese social norms, they will pretend they speak English even when they don't, making encounters really frustrating if you just need directions.
the fried chicken at pretty much any gas station will blow your mind. takeaway joints are god tier. the trains and buses all arrive and depart on time down to the second.
i did 6 weeks in rural Kyushu (the southernmost of the 4 home islands, and already pretty damn rural). supposedly the most traditional nihon move is to do a mountain day hike to a shinto shrine and then onsen (the hot water bathhouses). onsen building and operation is heavily subsidized, so they are everywhere and crazy cheap. around where i was it was like 3 USD to soak as long as you wanted.
i did a foil boat trip to Yakushima, which is this island south of Kyushu. like half the island is a UNESCO World Heritage site for being a temperate rainforest. there are trees there that are like 5000+ years old (Jomon-sugi) and there are day hiking trails that go through places that inspired miyazaki in his rendering of the sacred forest in Mononoke.
anyway, the food there is incredible at all levels. i wish one of their convenience stores was on my block. cash is king. international ATMs are at most post offices. if you're looking for nicknacks to bring back to people, go to a 99 yen shop. also, their 5 yen coins are cool looking.
I've always wanted to go to one of the hot springs, looks reallyrelaxing and those monkes in the nature documentaries seem to really like it
Aside from that: food, trains and food on the trains
Adding to this. If OP has tattoos, then they may not be able to go in because tattoos are still very associated with the Yakuza.
I mean if OP is not visibly japanese and doesn't have a full irezumi I would imagine they'd be ok, but idk how strict the bathhouses get :shrug-outta-hecks:
Based on my own experience people really don't care about tattoos anymore except for some of the very traditional places which tend to be "members only".
Sen_Jen clearly spent some time at a Buddhist temple.
I think just never shut up about ww2, that will make the locals love you and make sure you have a fun trip.
JK. Please eat some roasted eel from a street cart for me, comrade. I wanted to have some but my trip was canceled due to covid. If you like manga, or have friends that do, I would suggest getting some from a news stand. It'll be a fun little reminder of the trip and a cheap but cool souvenir for friends. Make sure to see some shrines, probably goes without saying but some people skip it. And it's kinda cliche, but if you are in Tokyo, try to take a picture with the famous hachi shrine in shibuya. Can't really suggest anything else unless I knew where you were going, but don't dox yourself. Have a great trip, comrade!
