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Whats the best things to do, heading to japan alone as a tourist

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fallen1

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Say some things you would do
if you are visiting japan as a tourist, alone.
:)

focus on these cities: tokyo & sapporo
 
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When are you going? I just returned from Sapporo. They're having the Snow Festival right now.
 
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fallen1 said:
Recommend some thing you would do
if you are visiting japan as a tourist, alone.
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Buy a Lonely Planet guide, and read it.
 
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I would buy a massive hard-sided suitcase and stand in various entranceways during peak hours.

If I had a traveling companion or made friends, id be sure to stand 5 metres apart and shout at them in order to communicate rather than standing near them.

Id need to keep my friends back home updated in real time on literally every thing i did, so i would enjoy speaking on the phone by holding it as far away from my mouth as possible and shouting at it in crowded areas, making sure to kind of zig-zag and stop randomly on busy pathways.

After all that id be hungry and thirsty so id go to gonpachi, goldengai and asian feeling and tell my friends back home that Id seen the ‘real japan’ that the guidebooks wont tell you about.
 
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I would T-Pose in the middle of Kabukicho, only to be harassed by a group of drunk hosts and touts, only for all of us to be defeated within a 5-second period of Kiryu Kazama arriving and using the Tiger Drop on each of us.
 
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corgiesiao said:
Don't know about you when I tried ichiran it was the most disappointing experience in Japan. Any random ramen shop tastes better IMO
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well taste is subjective, you wont know you hate it until you tried it. Any random ramen doesn't taste better for me.

for example my friends love jiro ramen, I hate it.
 
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I dunno, no ramen has ever lived up to Fuku no Ki so they all taste the same to me
 
corgiesiao said:
Don't know about you when I tried ichiran it was the most disappointing experience in Japan. Any random ramen shop tastes better IMO
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Yeah, it's just clever marketing/hype...it's a bit like the Mc Donald's of ramen. Found in every part of town and in the end they just heat up stuff produced in a factory. That alone disqualifies it.

...every small joint that cooks everything fresh has better quality.
 
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Danbo said:
Yeah, it's just clever marketing/hype...it's a bit like the Mc Donald's of ramen. Found in every part of town and in the end they just heat up stuff produced in a factory. That alone disqualifies it.
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funny story time, my friend asked to meet and guess what, she chose McDonald's japan. such a contrast when she was staying in a 4 stars hotel.
 
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I don't hate Ichiran or anything, but I just balk at the price for what you get. Plus the lines.

Last time in Japan I got an itch to try Ichiran again because it has been quite a while since, but I got there saw the line and turned back immediately lol.

Regarding mcdonalds I really don't understand it. I see so many people online like "its actually interesting to see what mcdonalds serves in other countries" no not really, it's all different flavors of shit to me lol.
 
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If you want good ramen look for a small place with a filthy kitchen. Fire damage a plus.
 
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qcryp said:
Regarding mcdonalds I really don't understand it. I see so many people online like "its actually interesting to see what mcdonalds serves in other countries" no not really, it's all different flavors of shit to me lol.
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yup especially those otona no cream pie menu.

qcryp said:
I don't hate Ichiran or anything, but I just balk at the price for what you get. Plus the lines.

Last time in Japan I got an itch to try Ichiran again because it has been quite a while since, but I got there saw the line and turned back immediately lol.
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most tourist can afford it for once in a lifetime experience. for local it might be expensive to go to regularly.

and most tourists, their taste bud will be blown away since it is their first hakata.

for you local, probably numb already to tonkotsu.

sometimes I enjoy negicharsui rice more than the ramen.

anyway I recommend it solely for the single booth. it was novel experience and memorable when I visited japan for first time.
 
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Sudsy said:
If you want good ramen look for a small place with a filthy kitchen. Fire damage a plus.
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The best tonkatsu ramen I ever had in my life was a hole in the wall place in Kyoto called the "stinky ramen shop" by locals. Looks like it survived both world wars, only to spitefully hang on by a thread.
 
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kirayamato said:
anyway I recommend it solely for the single booth. it was novel experience and memorable when I visited japan for first time.
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Ichiran was my very first meal in Japan. I arrived to Japan from the US around 5pm took a Narita express, and as soon as I left the station, someone approached me and put a phone in my face with Google translate asking me for money - has literally never happened to me in Japan ever since. Didn't expect that based on everything I read about Japan. I eventually found my hotel and feel asleep. This was, by the way Saturday night so extra busy, huge culture shock to me. I woke up around 3am due to timezone shit and decided ill go walk around since Tokyo is so safe, I read about this Ichiran place and look at that its open 24 hours... so off I go. On the way there I passed the big south exit of Shinjuku and I as I approach I see ahead 3 young salarymen completely wasted. Literally right as I walk by one of them vomits and his friends make fun of him and run off. I didn't know to expect any of this shit in Japan, all I read is super clean super safe city lmao. Well then I got to Ichiran and it was good, and that was my first night/morning in Japan.

edit: forgot to add, after the ramen I caught one of the first trains out of shinjuku station (again Sunday morning) and it still might be the most crowded train I have taken in Japan or anywhere else. I don't know how I managed to stumble into so much shit my first few hours in Japan lol.
 
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qcryp said:
Ichiran was my very first meal in Japan.
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Mine was a can of Asahi Super Dry.

So was the second.

And the third.

I think I was 6 beers deep before I got all my luggage off the conveyor.

(They had beer machines in the luggage collection area back then)
 
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Sudsy said:
(They had beer machines in the luggage collection area back then)
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Yeah I remember that! And then the kids now say things were not better in the olden times!
 
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MikeH said:
Yeah I remember that! And then the kids now say things were not better in the olden times!
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To be fair, they get the luggage out a lot faster now. I think these days I'd only have time for two beers. Three if I shotgunned the first one.
 
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