Posted March 27, 20178 yr I just got back from a trip to Tokyo and wanted to share some pics with everyone. My body has decided waking up at 4 am is totally acceptable so I figured why not upload while I wait to get ready for work? Tokyo was amazing. The Japanese culture of courteousness, accommodation, etc. was enticing. We flew direct from NYC to Narita on Japan Airlines. We were on one of their awesome 787-8 planes which are fabulous. Their food was even good as well. By far the best airline I've been on. We weren't sure what to expect going in when it came to getting around once in Japan. We did a little research but are the types that like to figure things out as we experience them. It was super easy once there. Their trains (there are two major systems that operate in Tokyo, the Tokyo Metro and the JR lines) are all named, lettered, and their stations all numbered. It was insanely easy to figure out exactly where to go and how to get there. Plus their trains have seriously tiny headways. I would be surprised if we waited longer than 3 minutes for a train at any point in the trip. Most of the time one arrived the moment we entered the station. And they were never delayed or slowed down. I want the MTA to go take some notes... We stayed at an Airbnb in a neighborhood called Akasaka. It was tiny, only about 140 square feet, but was a great little space. It had a balcony with a nice view and was a few blocks from a great little business district and multiple train lines. Onto the photos. 1. 2. Our Airbnb's view. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. We spent our last night visiting the New York Bar at the Hyatt used most famously in Lost in Translation. The view was pretty great. We then went out to the sensory overload that is Golden Gai. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. I'm going to miss Japan. I wish I had more time to explore and branch out beyond the city. I'll have to get back sometime soon. I loved it.
March 27, 20178 yr Nice pictures. Tokyo is so fascinating. I wish I go there. I'm a little surprised by how many SUVs and vans I saw in the photos. I suppose they're still needed, especially for deliveries or hauling large groups. It seems like they would purposely make a lot of the parking spaces really small or narrow, though. Was your airbnb an apartment or condo? Did you take any pics of it? I'm really curious how they fit a fully functional living space in 140 sq. feet. That's smaller than my bedroom.
March 27, 20178 yr Lots of SUVs and vans, but most much smaller than their western counterparts. The most common vehicle I saw was the Honda N Box. Followed by the full size Toyota Alphard (what a hideous name). But then tons of little Nissans, Hondas, Alphas, Peugots, Citroens, etc. that we don't get in North America. It seemed like most people who didn't have families or deliveries to make were driving small crossovers or mini SUVs. I believe the Airbnb is an apartment that they were renting out while the listing guy's sister was out of the country for prolonged periods of time. I stupidly didn't take any pics of the Airbnb. I realized that last night when I was home and was kicking myself. But I can grab the link for the listing later and post it here so you can take a look. It was seriously small. Basically the bathroom was a pre-built, four-piece fiberglass unit that was about 3'6" wide and 4'-6" deep. And about 6'-2" tall. My head brushed up against the ceiling in the shower. The main body of the unit was a 5' or so long kitchen with mini appliances, a full size bed, a tiny desk, and a fabric dresser. That was it. Not much room for anything else. Lots of windows though so that helped make it feel larger. No room for the balcony door's swing so it opened out onto a balcony that could fit me standing there and that was it. No room for furniture unless you brought the desk chair out with you.
March 27, 20178 yr It really is amazing how the Japanese can make do with such little space. The house I stayed in when I was over there was way out in the boondocks close to Chiba (of course there really isn't any "boondocks" anywhere around the Bay, but by Japan standards I was out in the countryside), and even out there the houses are very compact, but they never really feel claustrophobic. Everyone out there in the suburbs had a family car, too, but of course you're never more than a 20 minute walk from a train station so I can't imagine they get used terribly much except perhaps when visiting family in a remote part of the country or on trips to Costco (which I totally didn't expect to find existing in Japan, but they do!). “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
March 27, 20178 yr It was honestly really enticing. My personal tastes have been trending smaller and smaller for about 10 years now and while in the Airbnb I was imagining how to arrange the space to actually be able to fit a permanent seating area without having to have a pullout sofa since those suck 100% of the time and are pretty insufferable to sleep on for any period of time. 140 square feet would probably get rough for me, a 6'-0" tall guy, when everything is designed for someone in the 5'-0" to 5'-6" range. The door into the unit was barely above my head. If I wore my boots my hair brushed the door head. I had to duck to get into the bathroom and out onto the balcony. The ceilings thankfully weren't terribly low, but everything felt about 90% of the size it should be. The kitchen counters were also low at only around 32" or so which would be a gigantic pain in the ass. The vanity in the bathroom would surprise me if it was above 28" Not exactly heights designed for me...but it was cute and worked well for a week stay for two people.
March 28, 20178 yr I liked pretty much all of the small buildings, esp this one: <img src="http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag30/Miffiffippi/Tokyo/2017-03-25_13.31.00_zpsxv7yx5kw.jpg" alt="" border="0" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" class="bbc_img" /> I like that wood frame and then the mix of railing types. Looks like there is a small section of ornate ironwork at the top of the staircase.
March 28, 20178 yr ^I don't know if it's for all Japanese real estate or just houses, but I know that home values tend to depreciate as fast as car values as opposed to here in the States, so a somewhat larger proportion of people are willing to build a more creative house because they know it'll get torn down and replaced when they move anyway. It's kind of a shame, because some of those "creative" homes are very well designed, but have no resale value! “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
March 28, 20178 yr ^Yep, that's exactly what happens. The silver lining is that they don't regulate single family homes anywhere near as much and you can find some seriously creative, hyper personalized homes. They do a really nice job of detailing their buildings. Even the most utilitarian structures have nicely detailed railings, doors, windows, tile work, etc. It was nice to see. There was a ton of seriously gorgeous concrete work as well. One interesting thing was that their fire stairs are almost always outside. Even sometimes on massive towers. But they're not just tacked on like a janky fire escape. They're integrated nicely. Many of the newer buildings had really great layering of materials to create the facades and the stair would exist within an interstitial space. It was really interesting to see. It added a ton of dimension to their buildings. There weren't any "all blue glass curtain wall" buildings that have plagued the west and sprung up everywhere. I was really happy about that. Even their older, less architectural structures had a nice quality to them. Their materials were scaled to the human. it turned what could have easily been really bland buildings into a nice collective. The building the Airbnb was in had an indoor lobby but once you went up a level in the elevator the halls were outside with a courtyard located above the lobby. So you exited the elevator and there were two courtyards, one to the left and one to the right, and an exterior fire stair at each end. It was interesting since Tokyo gets cold in the winter and this is something you usually see in warmer climates. This is the listing for the Airbnb for those interested in seeing it since I failed to document it. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9776463
March 28, 20178 yr I liked pretty much all of the small buildings, esp this one: <img src="http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag30/Miffiffippi/Tokyo/2017-03-25_13.31.00_zpsxv7yx5kw.jpg" alt="" border="0" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" class="bbc_img" /> I like that wood frame and then the mix of railing types. Looks like there is a small section of ornate ironwork at the top of the staircase. I was thinking the same thing. The buildings in Tokyo may not be uniform, which is something we tend to appreciate in the States but when buildings stick out, there's at least a lot of thought put into making it unique and aesthetically pleasing. The lack of blinds/curtains is pretty odd though. It's a big, dense city but I know from having a lot of Japanese people in my family that they do value privacy.
March 28, 20178 yr I stayed in an AirBNB in Akasaka last year that was similar to yours (mine was at Hinokicho Park), similar size as well, and enjoyed staying in that area immensely. Tokyo really is the cleanest mega-city in the world. I do miss all the vending machines on the sidewalks and alleys. GOD I miss them. And the quality service, nice restrooms, the food, the people, the food... "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
March 28, 20178 yr Do strangers passing on the street or in waiting rooms or in lines make eye contact in Japan?
March 28, 20178 yr ^From what I saw, no. It was insanely quiet at all times. The only people talking or interacting in public were generally non-Japanese. Very different than the US. I stayed in an AirBNB in Akasaka last year that was similar to yours (mine was at Hinokicho Park), similar size as well, and enjoyed staying in that area immensely. Tokyo really is the cleanest mega-city in the world. I do miss all the vending machines on the sidewalks and alleys. GOD I miss them. And the quality service, nice restrooms, the food, the people, the food... The vending machines every 10' were so convenient. You knew that if you were thirsty that there would be one available. somewhere nearby. And none price gouged. Everything was cheap in them. I'll also miss the public restrooms everywhere. Every station, every park, every shrine, random streets, etc. all had spotless public restrooms that were always open. Another thing we can't have in the US thanks to our inability to have nice things. I was thinking the same thing. The buildings in Tokyo may not be uniform, which is something we tend to appreciate in the States but when buildings stick out, there's at least a lot of thought put into making it unique and aesthetically pleasing. The lack of blinds/curtains is pretty odd though. It's a big, dense city but I know from having a lot of Japanese people in my family that they do value privacy. Only the top level of that building was a residence which I'm sure had blinds to get some privacy when desired. The first floor was a cafe of some sort and the second floor was a dog grooming business. But overall it seems like the concerns of privacy aren't as great there as they are here. Which I sort of get. I rarely ever close my blinds since I value being able to get light and the view way more than I value privacy. I think that must be something most people feel there.
March 28, 20178 yr 140 square feet would probably get rough for me, a 6'-0" tall guy, when everything is designed for someone in the 5'-0" to 5'-6" range. The door into the unit was barely above my head. If I wore my boots my hair brushed the door head. I had to duck to get into the bathroom and out onto the balcony. The ceilings thankfully weren't terribly low, but everything felt about 90% of the size it should be. The kitchen counters were also low at only around 32" or so which would be a gigantic pain in the a$$. The vanity in the bathroom would surprise me if it was above 28" Not exactly heights designed for me...but it was cute and worked well for a week stay for two people. LMAO That would be so weird! I'm 6'0 too and I don't even think that I'm tall but I'd imagine you feel like you're a Center in the NBA when you're in Japan.
March 28, 20178 yr So pic 44 is taken at just above my eye level. It was weird always being one of the tallest people in a crowd and being able to see over top of almost everyone. I felt oddly giant and I'm really not here in the States. But everything is definitely designed with shorter people in mind. Some of the train doors were JUST above my head and once inside the hanging ads and rings to hold onto were very much occupying the space my head wanted to. I've never had to duck to use buildings or trains before. It's an odd feeling. There was one train station where the beams on one of the passages were too low for me to walk under without ducking. That was especially odd since most of their station spaces were fairly large and open. But every once in awhile some element would be uncomfortably low and much lower than is allowed in the US.
March 30, 20178 yr Did you bother riding Thunder Dolphin while you visited the Tokyo Dome area? It was still closed back in 2012 when I was in Tokyo, and I've heard it isn't great, but it's pretty damn cool to find that in the middle of a city completely surrounded by skyscrapers “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
March 30, 20178 yr I did. I'm a huge roller coaster enthusiast and wanted to go to more parks but had to calm that down as I wasn't traveling alone haha. So I got three coasters in while there, including Thunder Dolphin. Basically take any other Intamin mega/giga coaster and make all the air time floater air instead of ejector air and you have Thunder Dolphin. It was nowhere near as intense as say, Superman Ride of Steel, Skyrush (which has the most powerful airtime I've ever felt), Intimdator 305, etc. It was fun but definitely didn't feel like I needed to go back and pay another 1,030 Yen to ride again. The location though was pretty awesome. Hard to beat that setting.
April 2, 20178 yr very nice. most of the structures in japan, even tokyo, are kind of crappy, but there is always something nearby that is super interesting. and the interiors and as you mentioned the detailing are endlessly fascinating. the best part is how bikes are integrated into the culture. so polite and smooth! absolutely opposite ny, where everyone thinks they are a type-a bike messenger superhero or they are a clueless tourist or careless yunnie. so aggravating! was anything going on with tsukiji? did you go there? its supposed to be moving to toyosu anytime, if they can resolve pollution conerns. and you always hear how shinjuku's famous shouben yokochou and the golden gai are constantly threatened to be bulldozed too. both of those are beyond awesome -- i can't stand the thought of it -- that would be terrible.
April 2, 20178 yr We intended to go to Tsukiji when we were nearby. But that was our first full day and we pushed ourselves a bit too much (about 15 miles in one day) and were just ready to get on a train, get back towards our airbnb, have dinner, and call it a day. Plus the amount of activity at times other than the morning weren't said to be that interesting. We planned to go back on our last day on the way to the train station but it took us a little too long to get up and going so that didn't happen. Will have to save it for my next trip there. We briefly walked through Golden Gai but I don't drink and taking up a spot at a very tiny bar when there's nothing I can even purchase wasn't something I was comfortable doing. I didn't grab any photos stupidly. We then hung out nearby in what can only be described as a sensory overload. We actually attempted to find the bar used in Enter the Void that's filled with crazy lights and such but the place listed online was definitely not it (it mentioned the Robot Restaurant which was equally crazy, but not the same). I wound up finding the actual filming location once I got home to NYC where it did me no good. Oh well. Hopefully it'll still be there whenever I get back.
April 2, 20178 yr yeah you have to go to tsukiji very early in the morning and even then they stop you from walking around the tuna auctions these days -- maybe something will be done about that in the new market? like a viewing area? but there is plenty of action to see -- it reminds me of the old fulton fish market in its day, orderly, but insanely hectic, and the sushi stalls outside have fish as fresh as it gets, so definitely worth a visit. there is just so much to do in tokyo and so little time!
April 2, 20178 yr Right? I was there 8 days and felt like I barely scratched the surface. We tried to mix touristy things with just aimless wandering to stumble upon random things to do. But you could do that for years I feel and never see everything. The city just kept going! I'm trying to get to Hong Kong as my next Asian endeavor. I feel like Tokyo is the epitome of Asian sprawl and Hong Kong Asian verticality. I want to compare those both in close time proximity to one another.
April 19, 20178 yr Nice pics. My wife is from Osaka, so when we visit Japan, Osaka is home base. It's just a quick jaunt from there to Kobe or Kyoto and a short bullet train ride to Tokyo. Tokyo makes NYC look like a small backwater. While in Tokyo I got to see the fish market before it is relocated, so that's a great memory. I highly recommend Osaka as a place to visit, as well. It's huge and known as the culinary capital of Japan although the denizens of Tokyo might disagree. There is a bit of a "friendly" rivalry beteeen the two cities. Think NY vs LA and how New Yorkers still look down on LA a little bit (although everyone I meet now in LA is from NY) and that's how Tokyo looks down a bit on Osaka even though Osaka has done a lot of catching up.
April 19, 20178 yr actually, the city of tokyo, meaning the 23 wards, and nyc are quite similar population-wise at around 9M -- however, it gets crazy as this old city of tokyo is only 1/3 the size of nyc area-wise. it certainly helps that they are all japanese and on the same page for most things! and of course it just goes on from there regarding metro tokyo: more fun tokyo - usa here: http://metrocosm.com/how-many-u-s-cities-can-you-fit-inside-tokyo/
April 19, 20178 yr The one big difference that was readily apparent was that the density in Tokyo didn't just fall off and thin out like American cities do. When we were in Tokyo Skytree you could see Yokohama and beyond and the density between the two was very consistent. You could see way outside the main 23 wards and it never let up. It's not as dense as the densest parts of NYC, but NYC's density continues to lessen as you move outside of the city. Sure, parts of the UES are pushing 200,000 people/square mile, but you don't have to go that far to find places where people are living at 3,000 people/square mile. In Tokyo that just didn't happen. It just kept going...for what seemed forever. That and the fact that Tokyo didn't have quite as many huge buildings as NYC. It's easy to misunderstand that scale of Lower Manhattan or Midtown as a result of just how many massive buildings there are. Whereas in Tokyo you'd have a neighborhood that's all 1-6 story buildings then BAM, 800' tall tower. These felt so much more massive than they would if they were plopped into Midtown where they'd get lost in the sea of 700'+ tall towers. Our view from the airbnb looked at two of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, Tokyo Midtown Tower and the Mori Tower that's part of Roppongi Hills. Those two buildings felt absurdly massive but really aren't all that high when compared to what I'm looking at right now out my office's windows in Midtown. Granted Mori Tower is over 4,000,00 square feet so it's beefy as hell, but still. This affected how I perceived the scale of the city's urban landscape. Hope all that rambling makes sense or means something to someone haha.
April 19, 20178 yr Japan is a small island where land in general is a lot more scarce for the number of people living there, so that would make sense. They need to preserve farm land to ensure that they are able to grow food. It's fascinating to see how they live but I wonder if they particularly like it. I imagine the thought of living in a McMansion subdivision on a half acre of land and driving an SUV sounds appealing to them after being crammed into trains like sardines and having to wear flu masks in public. Are there just as many obnoxious tourists in Tokyo as there are in NYC? It seems like half of the people in Manhattan are just tourists. There were times (before I had a smart phone) I'd ask people for directions and they had no clue where to steer me and in fact, didn't even know where the hell they were, either. Sometimes I'd have to ask six people for directions in Manhattan before I got an answer. I also got asked for directions all the time which was equally annoying :-P
April 19, 20178 yr So the whole, "crammed into trains" thing is definitely a limited experience. We purposefully went through some of the busiest stations at rush hour to experience it and it just didn't happen. Their trains are so much more frequent than ours that they just never fill up. It wasn't even that common to have to stand. I highly doubt there's any desire to live in a mcmansion with a big suv and land. If there was they'd go do it. Land outside of the city is basically free as a result of shrinking/aging population. Their culture has its own materialistic things about it, but size of housing didn't appear to be one of them. And I can see why. Even their "cheap" housing was comfortable and well connected. Their lifestyle is far too urban to desire moving out to some pseudo-western dream. There were some tourists but not a ton. Most were Japanese from other parts of the country, Chinese, Australian, or French. The only obnoxious tourists I saw were American (ugh) and French. Everyone else was respectful. But it was nowhere near the quantity of NYC's touristy areas. When I leave work today I'll walk past Herald Square and 90% of the people will be tourists who don't understand how sidewalks function. There was none of that there. Plus the city just felt less hectic in general. It was rare to be surrounded by swarms of people for whatever reason. Very different than my experiences here in NYC.
April 19, 20178 yr ^ omg you got lucky and didnt catch the in\famous tokyo pushers at rush hour. its really something to experience. but yeah, otherwise the whole transit thing was usually lot calmer in tokyo than nyc. but then again, nyc transit is much calmer than other places, like mexico city, for example. david -- actually the opposite is true. outside of the tourist horde crowds the real ny'ers will bend over backward to help you and give directions. its a civic point of pride to argue the best way to get somewhere with other ny'ers! i never saw such clusters of tourists in tokyo as you do in places in manhattan. i have never seen anything like that in any other city either for that matter. thankfully.
April 19, 20178 yr Yeah the massive clusters didn't really exist. There were touristy areas that had TONS of people, but it was mostly still Japanese people visiting or partaking in the activities. Not a bunch of out-of-towners. I generally try to help anyone I see here in NYC who is clearly lost. If you aren't from here it can be intimidating but it's really not hard once you know it. And helping people out, even if I'm not a native New Yorker, is something I pride myself in if I can.
April 20, 20178 yr Yeah for as massive and influential as Tokyo is, is definitely very much a monoculture with very little outside influence or tourism. I feel like the plane flight's length/cost tends to keep a lot of Westerners away. Ironically, the language barrier wasn't even an issue at all, since everything that any outsider would use either is listed in English or has a picture or pictogram explaining it. Apparently the Brits and Aussies tend to cluster in the Roppongi clubs when they visit (Roppongi also has a large African population, at least by Japanese standards), and there's a sizable American expat quarter in Nakameguro, but there really aren't a lot of American tourists anywhere. “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
April 20, 20178 yr Yeah there were very few Americans. We got asked a lot where we were from and people were visibly surprised and excited when we'd say "NYC." A group of school girls literally squealed when we were riding Thunder Dolphin and they asked us where we were visiting from. It was fun haha. The flight length was a bit long, but the cost was actually lower than I expected. It was $900 roundtrip for nonstop flights which was awesome. And I slept about 90% of the flight home so it went by quickly haha.
April 20, 20178 yr When I was leaving Tokyo, I got on the plane and immediately heard an older American woman going on and on about, "How can they live like that? Everything is packed so close together..." So that was a pretty effective slap-in-the-face, "welcome back to America where we love our sprawl!" moment. But the thing is, when you're there, it doesn't feel like that at all. Even in a city as huge as Tokyo, it was developed in such a way that you had big, wide streets lined with skyscrapers, but you could go two blocks away and be on a quiet street lined with 3 story buildings, where you would feel comfortable walking down the middle of the street.
April 20, 20178 yr ^That's so cool and interesting that you can go two blocks away in Tokyo and be on a quiet street that you can walk in the middle of. A lot of American cities were actually designed from the get-go to be mega-blocks; having grand buildings with mega-blocks and wide streets... with serious growth in mind (but apparently they didn't foresee white flight and sprawl starting in the 60s.) Cleveland is actually a prime example of this phenomenon. As Richard Sennett put it, a lot of our cities (with their layout) were a giant prayer to power. You can see it in the unnecessarily wide boulevards all across America.
April 20, 20178 yr Yeah, I might have mentioned it upthread, but there was never really a moment where I felt overwhelmed by crowds in Tokyo. That contrast between those side streets and busy intersections is everywhere, and perhaps most notable right around Harajuku Station where you have mass amounts of teenagers and shoppers on one side of the street, and then you cross the street into Meiji Shrine and it's basically completely silent and peaceful. Heck, even on the "busy" side of the street it's really not that noisy, especially compared to other megacities. I think the Japanese are all well aware of the fact that they live on top of one another so they go out of their way to be respectful of other people's space even in the public realm. Honestly, the biggest adjustment for me was the shockingly small volume of beverages served with meals. The small food portion sizes I could deal with, but the Dixie cup's worth of tea or juice took a week to adjust to. “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
April 20, 20178 yr There was definitely a respect for each other's space when in the public realm. It was always so quiet and everyone was so polite. So different from what I'm used to. Those tiny side streets were my favorite part. That's basically where everyone lives and they're just so comfortable. The one my airbnb was off of rarely had cars and when they would go by they'd just slowly go around walkers or bikers. Speaking of bikes, nobody locked their bikes up. They just left them outside all day or overnight. THAT was a big cultural difference that's subtle but says a lot about how people respect each other. Maybe Americans should all be forced to live abroad temporarily before becoming an adult...
April 20, 20178 yr yeah the sudden quiet residential side streets are stunning. that is the most amazing thing for sure, i love that. no idea how they pull it off for being such big cities, but that is the way it is in japan. another quirk of culture where tokyoites far out do even the most helpful ny'ers, or anybody else for that matter, comes if you ask for directions. ny'ers will stand put and jaw you up and down about the best way to get somewhere, but in tokyo they will often take you and walk you there (and practice english, they do get something out of it too)! i found it a bit embarrassing when it happened, but sweet.
April 20, 20178 yr another quirk of culture where tokyoites far out do even the most helpful ny'ers, or anybody else for that matter, comes if you ask for directions. ny'ers will stand put and jaw you up and down about the best way to get somewhere, but in tokyo they will often take you and walk you there (and practice english, they do get something out of it too)! i found it a bit embarrassing when it happened, but sweet. That is VERY true. Happened to me on several occasions (in Tokyo and Kyoto). Also, I remember walking in Shibuya on a random weekday night after midnight and being the ONLY person out for blocks and blocks. It was fascinating, peaceful, and basically awesome to have the feeling of having a city to myself. God, I miss Tokyo. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
April 20, 20178 yr another quirk of culture where tokyoites far out do even the most helpful ny'ers, or anybody else for that matter, comes if you ask for directions. ny'ers will stand put and jaw you up and down about the best way to get somewhere, but in tokyo they will often take you and walk you there (and practice english, they do get something out of it too)! i found it a bit embarrassing when it happened, but sweet. That is VERY true. Happened to me on several occasions (in Tokyo and Kyoto). Also, I remember walking in Shibuya on a random weekday night after midnight and being the ONLY person out for blocks and blocks. It was fascinating, peaceful, and basically awesome to have the feeling of having a city to myself. God, I miss Tokyo. of course it's true! everything i say is THE WORD! :mrgreen: like elias bros > frischs!!! :laugh:
April 20, 20178 yr Clearly not. There hasn't even been an Elias Bros since the early 2000's. I'd rather eat Hot N' Now. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
April 20, 20178 yr you know nothing about elias bros, it was better than frischs any day -- mind your manners! :laugh:
April 20, 20178 yr you know nothing about elias bros, it was better than frischs any day -- mind your manners! :laugh: I've actually been to an Elias Bros before they converted. It was "meh." Not saying Frisch's is great but it's still around! :D "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
April 22, 20178 yr come to think of it, maybe they were all pretty much the same - ha! speaking of elias bros and manners big boys, nothing is a bigger shock to northeast ohioans in tokyo and elsewhere in japan than seeing the lawsons is alive and well -- even though it morphed into a konbini chain and you can't get those coconut square lamington cakes or chip dip in the cooler, or the chip chopped deli ham, or anything from the old lawsons.
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