A certain Japanese city street expert deviates into the the realm of travel, for those interested in visiting Japan here’s your starting point.
1.) If you’re in Tokyo, the latest young people fashion is at Harajuku. Their crepe is very famous. You can visit Meiji Shrine near that area as well.
2.) There is also a 100-yen store, Daiso, around there. Daiso is actually everywhere in Japan. It’s a great place to get cheap and cute gifts for family, friends, and colleagues.
3.) Akihabara is a good place for manga (new and second-hand), anime goods, doujinshi, ball joint doll items, and electronics.
4.) The imperial palace, where Edo Castle was, is actually a great place to visit. You can join their guide tour in the restricted area. They will provide you with an English audio set but the guide probably can only speak Japanese. At least it was the case when I visited there last time. You’ll need to reserve a space from their website (I lost the website but I’m sure you can find it using Google.) in order to see the restricted section. You can visit the garden without reservation.
5.) Asakusa definitely is a good place to visit. It’s a temple, not a shrine though. It’s not too far from Akihabara. If you go west of Asakusa, you’ll reach Kappamachi, where they sell realistic-looking fake Japanese food displays and other restaurant goods.
6.) Studio Ghibli, if you’re a Miyazaki fan, it’s totally worth the visit. If you do go, it’ll take you half a day to finish seeing everything. They have special products that are only sold at Studio Ghibli, such as certain story books. They also have special films that are only aired there. These films change every month.
7.) If you purchase the JR rail pass with the Studio Ghilbi ticket together from your travel agency (or one that offers such package), they will charge you less on handling fees. (Unless you’ll be travelling from Tokyo to at least Kyoto, round-trip, don’t buy the rail pass.) It’s better to purchase the museum ticket early because only a limited number of visitors can enter the museum each day. You cannot purchase tickets at the museum itself. This place is actually located west of downtown Tokyo. I think it was a 30-minute train ride from Ikebukuro. The station name is Mitaka.
8.) Odaiba is where Fuji TV Station is located. You can see the Rainbow Bridge from there, in additional to the mini Statue of Liberty someone mentioned. There is also a high class shopping mall called Venus Fort. Everything is super expensive there but it’s worth looking at.
9.) Shibuya is another a popular place for Japanese young people. It’ll be another good fashion stop.
10.) If you’re a Disney fan, maybe Tokyo Disneyland? If you’re a Hello Kitty fan, you might be interested in the Sanrio Puroland.
And I’m still only talking about Tokyo…
Kyoto/Osaka/Nara are relatively close to each other and it would take you another 2 weeks or so to see all of them. There are many more shrines, temples and historical sights here than Tokyo.
Brought to you by the expertise of sims2240
Jun 29, 2011 @ 18:31 CDT
A Tokyo Disneyland? Wow, I bet that’s crazy.
Jun 29, 2011 @ 18:40 CDT
omg this just makes me want to go more