The pilgrimage

[Popcorn]

Like everyone else who's ever posted here - including Gibbon, apparently - I'm about to move to Tokyo. If they grant me a visa, I can stay for twelve months; otherwise, it's a maximum of three. How long I end up staying also depends on how much I like it and how far my money goes.

I'm going with a good friend. We're hoping to find some sort of part-time work out there and make a bit of a life of it. I understand teaching English is the obvious route for gaijin looking to make a quick buck. We just applied for an apartment with Sakura's House, who I've heard mixed things about. If it sucks, we can move.

How do I find work? What should I eat? Where should I live? And if I go beyond Tokyo, which I intend to, where should I visit?

[chriscaffee]

Do you have a nuclear engineering degree?

[Locit]

Jesus, I have so much advice for you. Tokyo is so damn great. Give me a little while to get it all together.

[Green Gibbon!]

Yeah, Tokyo's great. I'm not a city man (at all), but I head down there for a few days once or twice a year.

The thing you'll quickly learn about Japan is that Tokyo and the rest of the country are two different things. I like to say there's Tokyo and then there's Japan. Venture two miles outside a city and you may as well be back in the 1980's. Some beautiful countryside, though, everywhere you go.


If you're looking for a job, if I refer you to my company and you get hired, we both get a 50,000 yen bonus. At the moment I think all you need is a college degree, which I assume you have?

[Locit]

Gibbon I might take you up on that if my China trip is a catastrophic failure. How are the hours?

And Pop, what kind of visa are you trying to get?

RE: Tokyo
-Asakusa Shrine - you've seen it before in magazines, but it's really worth the trip. It's also really close to the Sky Tree, the big tower they were still building while I was there. It's decent for izakaya, but you can do better. I stayed here during the last leg of my stay in Japan over the summer at Sakura Hostel, which I think is owned by the same guys you're renting from. They seemed pretty on the level to me.
-Roppongi - go to the top of Roppongi Hills for the best view of the whole city. You can walk around a huge viewing floor that circles the center of the building, and check out the roof for a few extra bucks. Be sure to go to the art museum nestled in the top--it's changed since I went but it was the most amazing gallery I've ever seen at the time and I have no reason to expect any less now. I completely forgot I was fifty stories up and got lost in the huge displays. The first area I walked into was amazing: I turned the corner and there, with one or two other people, I found myself facing millions of feathers that had been stirred up by a fan to simulate falling snow in the screened off half of a giant white room. I didn't get a pic of that, but here's a woman watering the tops of some mobile ramen carts in another room:

-Shibuya - the only place in Japan where I felt like things were really active. It felt like there was a lot more energy there than I ever felt in the rest of Tokyo. Assumedly the rest of it is bottled up in buildings for the day, waiting to be released when work finally lets out at the various izakaya. The night life is decent, but expensive and not really my scene.
-Akihabara - felt kind of dead the last time I went. I had some decent curry-soba there. Worth it for Super Potato.

-Kamakura - just south of Tokyo, you can find a lot of great shrines here and check out the giant Kamakura Buddha:

Kamakura is a great way to take a break from the city when you're feeling overwhelmed. For my money it's one of the most beautiful places in Japan:

-Shinjuku - there are some great ramen places here, and a bunch of wannabe Yakuza who turn away when you take their picture. It's hilarious. What you really want to check out is the Golden Gai district, which has about a million bars packed into a square mile, each with a different theme and regular patrons. Live music is nightly and fantastic. I spent my last night in Japan* there! (*And they are singing about Asakusa! God I love Asakusa! And so do they!)
-Shimbashi - the center for many of the foreign news bureaus in Japan, but also home to my favorite ramen shop of all time. Located here. It's the one with the big yellow and red sign. You pay for a meal ticket at a machine in front (just hit the first big button, it's like 800 yen). Just look at this stuff:

BRING THAT.
BRING.
THAT.
Also near shimbashi: the Shogun's gardens. Check 'em out! You can enjoy a tea ceremony on a tiny island on a tiny lake barely removed from Tokyo bay:

-Tsukiji fish market - get up at 3 or 4 am and take a train here to check out where all the sushi you've ever eaten came from. It's totally delicious. Check it:


If I come up with more suggestions I'll post them here!

[Green Gibbon!]

I would definitely add Ueno to that list. Ueno park has some really excellent museums. That's usually the area I stay in when I go to Tokyo.

How are the hours?

It depends on where you end up. I put in 50-55 hours most weeks.

[Popcorn]

Pop, what kind of visa are you trying to get?

It's called a working holiday visa. Basically it lets you work in Japan but you can only stay for 12 months. Unless I meet my wife there or something, I don't anticipate relocating to Japan for any longer than that, so the visa suits me fine - this is really just an excuse for me to go travelling again since my job in the games industry exploded (funny, that).

I won't know if I get the visa until next week, but I'm cautiously optimistic since I tick all their boxes as far as I can tell. I had a JET interview a few years ago (but ending up getting a job at Frontier instead) so I have some experiencing with jumping through hoops at the Japanese embassy. The only thing I believe would stop me from getting a visa would be if they've already given out a set number of allocated visas, but considering Japan's recent unpopularity as a travel destination I'm hoping the odds are in my favour.

Thanks for the travel guide. I'm forwarding this to my co-pilot.

Yeah, Tokyo's great. I'm not a city man (at all), but I head down there for a few days once or twice a year.

That's encouraging. I'm excited to see the place, but I'm a country boy too. London in the summertime stresses me out, and I have this fear that Tokyo will cause me to self-combust.

The thing you'll quickly learn about Japan is that Tokyo and the rest of the country are two different things. I like to say there's Tokyo and then there's Japan. Venture two miles outside a city and you may as well be back in the 1980's. Some beautiful countryside, though, everywhere you go.

Yeah, right now I picture Tokyo as this sprawling futuristic metropolis and the rest of the country as My Neighbour Totoro, with a small corner sectioned off for Shenmue. I'm excited to see everything. We have plans to travel and stay in other parts of the country if we make it that far.

If you're looking for a job, if I refer you to my company and you get hired, we both get a 50,000 yen bonus. At the moment I think all you need is a college degree, which I assume you have?

I have a bitching college degree. Though not in nuclear engineering. What's the company?

[Locit]

Yeah, right now I picture Tokyo as this sprawling futuristic metropolis and the rest of the country as My Neighbour Totoro, with a small corner sectioned off for Shenmue. I'm excited to see everything. We have plans to travel and stay in other parts of the country if we make it that far.

How far afield are you looking to go? I assume Gibbon has advice for stuff north of Tokyo, but I traveled south to Kyushu for a few weeks and had a hell of a time. I can recommend stuff for all the major cities there, as well as the small towns along the coast and nestled in the mountains that are definitely worth visiting. I've also been to Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Kobe and some of the more isolated towns nestled in the inaka/countryside of central Honshu. What's your budget, and do you or your friend know any Japanese? My last trip/internship lasted five weeks. I budgeted for about $5,000 and came back with about $2,000 left over just by minding my pocketbook--and this was a journey that stretched from Tokyo to Kagoshima and back, riding everything from bullet trains to night buses.

[Malchik]

I might be the only person here who has no desire to go to Japan. Have fun .

[P.P.A.]

Why would you voluntarily go to such a horribly, horribly overcrowded place with millions of people ALL OUT ON THE STREET (or in the subway) AT ONCE

[Locit]

Why would you voluntarily go to such a horribly, horribly overcrowded place with millions of people ALL OUT ON THE STREET (or in the subway) AT ONCE

'Cause it's fun. People are what make life interesting. People who are different from you make life more interesting. Lots of people who are different from you makes life awesome. Besides, not all of Japan is a crowded megalopolis. Check those pictures of Kamakura out, man. That is some tranquil shit, is what I am saying.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Gibbon, I'm interested to hear more about your company as well.

I received a notice from JET a few weeks ago saying I was accepted as an Alternate ALT - meaning I can only go if someone else drops out. And who knows what kind of area I'd be placed in. I've been trying to visit or live in Japan for the past 10 years. I have a year's worth of substitute teaching experience, know a decent amount of Japanese (I was once near-"fluent", although that's pretty rusty now), and a bachelors degree.

I should really start looking into other places that need English teachers in Japan too now that I give it some thought.

[Popcorn]

I don't suppose you suckers have any advice about cell phones, do you? Should I buy a phone here (UK) and then buy a sim card in Japan, or buy a phone in Japan?

I've been told contradictory things by people in different phone shops. One shop told me to do the first, but the next shop told me that I can't buy a handset in the UK that will work with the Japanese frequency (UMTS 2100, allegedly).

[The Doc]

I need to ask this, as someone who would love to visit Japan--exactly how much Japanese would you recommend one learns before they make a short-term trip? I know that Japanese people, in general, know a fair amount of English but tend to appreciate a foreigner who speaks the language (just shoot me down if that's exactly wrong).

I'm curious as to how much homework will go into a field trip, basically.

[Green Gibbon!]

Depends on where you want to go. If you only want to hit Tokyo, Kyoto or other touristy spots, you can probably get by without knowing a word of it.

[Popcorn]

What's the best bar in the Golden Gai district? I'm a particular fan of live music.

[Locit]

What's the best bar in the Golden Gai district? I'm a particular fan of live music.

I couldn't give you the name, but the bar I went to was almost on the first main street that heads left from the gateway marking the start of the district, on a corner where it and another alleyway meet. It has two stories and the first floor is small, cramped and badly lit by red bulbs and tended to by a young man in a black, clinging shirt and weak mustache. His haircut is a mop-top, and he likes foreigners. Failing this you can just wander through the streets until you hear music; you're bound to stumble on a live performance if you do.