Japan

pentium wrote: My camera is also about to kick the bucket. Low light pictures are starting to show off too many dead pixels and I don't have the money to replace it or risk buying a camera from London Drugs and returning it before the two week return policy expires. Looks like I have to drag out the crap consumer grade Kodak.

You know, having a camera changes the experience quite a bit. It would not be a bad thing to forget the camera entirely.

hamei wrote: You know, having a camera changes the experience quite a bit. It would not be a bad thing to forget the camera entirely.

You know, I kind of agree with that. I only snapped a few pictures on one of my trips to Japan, and all the rest of the trips I didn't bother with a camera at all, yet my memories of Japan are extremely vivid. Well, except for that one night where my Japanese coworker asked me if I would like to try some saki...

I agree, if you really want a memorable experience ditch the camera except for singularly important photos. I only took a few pictures while in japan as well. Best thing i did!

...and the pictures will just be filed away in a box never to be looked at again. But! you never know what you will see (3 naked ladies riding a unicycle ) and you can get cameras as small as a credit card nowadays, so it is not much effort to bring one along.

Do something awesome . For example, several years ago we went on a family vacation to Caracas, Venezuela. The surf, island expedition, food, seeing the city, etc, was alright, but my favorite (and certainly most vivid!) memory was riding in a city bus with no walls, chickens in the overhead bins, and people dancing to salsa music blaring on the radio. Let's see, took two weeks off of school for illness and came back golden brown. In Feburary

If you can find a local who will go with you for dinners and shows that will be great. As a bit of a test* I checked out the tourist stuff they have here in Cincinnati and... it sucked. Well, the zoo, aquarium, Kings Island. Art museum. Outlet malls. Baseball games. BORING CRAP. Actually the zoo is pretty good. Ottawa is the same. Toronto was a bit better. Hiding in between all the tourist places are the excellent unique shops and restaraunts. Just speaking from cities I've lived in for a while and have also bothered to check out the "touristy" things to do. Don't expect the concierge to recommend anything exciting, you gotta find it on your own!

*Actually my aunt cousin great cousin once removed (?) came down from newfoundland. She had never been to a five guys before, which is basically a fast food joint. Apparently it was the best burger she ever had! AAA would never recommend it of course, being a boring national chain. Now we did go to the outlet mall, because middle aged women like that sort of stuff.

I stand by my first post in this thread: "Spending a few hours lost in the transit system would probably do you some good." It's complexity is world famous!

hamei wrote: You know, having a camera changes the experience quite a bit. It would not be a bad thing to forget the camera entirely.

Unfortunately that is not really possible. At least for part of the trip.

!WARNING! NERDY ANIME STUFF AHEAD

Over the last few months me and the others who I am going with have negotiated and set aside a big chunk of time to roam about Tokyo and go to various locations that were seen in the TV series Digimon (if my avatar, hostnames and other fodder has not told you I'm a huge fan, this proves it ). The final cut should be available on Youtube and as a single HD torrent sometime in the fall or winter of this year. I put a lot of work into this project too. I wrote scripts, mapped locations, and bought new equipment just for this short window of time I will get to film all the raw footage I can before I take it home and start working on it.

OKAY, RESUME YOUR NORMAL LIFE

I agree though that dragging a camera everywhere really ruins the moment sometimes. At the expense of quality I guess I can just take along my little Kodak and use that. It at the least can fit in my pocket. The Olympus won't.

Okay, rule 1:
If you ar going to pack this time of year, prepare for southern Ontario/Florida weather.
After nine hours of flight, two hours of train travel and a nasty case of jet lag I'm finally here.

have fun!

yep - keep us posted. I am over again for 3 days in Sept.....

pentium wrote: Okay, rule 1:
If you ar going to pack this time of year, prepare for southern Ontario/Florida weather.
After nine hours of flight, two hours of train travel and a nasty case of jet lag I'm finally here.

Heh, you must really be jet lagged; southern Ontario and Florida are two kilo clicks apart... Didn't anyone tell you this time of year in Honshuu is going to be like 30c and >75%?

Edited to point out that it says BC right in your profile, and unlike most Americans, I know where that is. Buffalo is 20 clicks from southern Ontario, and summers here are nothing like Honshuu -- as my friend, Kurt (son of The Destroyer), who's lived in Tokyo on and off for 20 years (the "off" part is in the Buffalo area) and will be landing in Narita tomorrow night, will attest to at every opportunity.

Spent the day roaming around Akihabara today.
The place sure feels like it's changed from the electric town it is was. Ther eis a fair amount of anime merchandise all over the place. Never knew One Piece was still so popular.
I finally did come across a scattered few shops which specialized in random electronics and bought a brand new Cisco Aironet 340 for 800 yen and then went to the Super Potato and bought some game stuff and a WonderSwan with games for 1700 yen.
The rest of the day was spent being dragged through the various anime shops that dot the area.
I'm suprised at the other fantastic prices. 3500 yen for a Famicom.....65800 yen for a Vectrex.
Oh, my luck also gave out and we are getting the broad side of a typhoon that's off to the....
Crap. I don't know if you deem it the east or west.
Anyways, it was raining on and off today and thank god, the humidity was a lot weaker.
Also, I see a lot of places do not allow for photography.

No. I live in BC. I'm just saying it's as humid as an Ontario summer.

How are you enjoying the food?

Another day, more fun.
Me and the rest of the group slept in, then went for ramen at lunch.
After that we visited the residence of the people who were greatful to rent the apartments while we are here and spent the afternoon there. After that we all went to the soba and then went bowling. Following two action packed games of ten pin (canada only has five pin) we split with the parents and went to the arcade.
It was win.
It was also expensive.
We spent a good 2000 yen in the Gundam PODs (air conditioned, audio interconnect and a domed panoramic display system I could only wish was driven by an SGI) and another 1000 in the other various machines.
Now we are hunkering down and enjoying sake with friends. Tomorrow we flip a coin to see if we go to Yokohoma or Shibuya/Harajuku.

woo, this sake is good.

at least you're not on IRC. sheesh, in Japan, and you want to waste your time gabbing on IRC?!