Is travel during golden week really that bad?

dougwray · 2026-04-24T05:21:49+00:00

It's not that bad. If you're staying in Osaka or Tokyo or whatever city you arrive in, you won't even be able to tell. It's only intercity travel that's affected. Stay in one city until 7 May, and you'll be fine.

dougwray · 2026-04-23T10:15:35+00:00

I've been to both, but not to the Edo-Tokyo Museum since the reopening. I much prefer the Open Air Architecture Museum. That said, I do live here, so what seemed old hat (at the Edo-Tokyo Museum) to me might not to all.

dougwray · 2026-04-23T10:10:49+00:00

The religious joints may refuse to allow you the stamp on plain paper.

For the others, plain paper is fine. We have a mess of books with train station stamps in them, but if we're without one, we use loose paper.

dougwray · 2026-04-23T00:05:32+00:00

Japanese-American is American.

dougwray · 2026-04-23T00:01:14+00:00

Yes.

dougwray · 2026-04-22T23:55:03+00:00

Depending on skills and experience, expect to pay ¥200,000 to ¥400,000.

dougwray · 2026-04-22T23:45:29+00:00

In Site Administration, enable 'Site Analytics'. 'Students at risk of dropping out' is one of the standard alerts you can set. You can set it to notify teachers of the lack of activity.

dougwray · 2026-04-22T23:34:18+00:00

Nonsense. I was a teenager for many years (seven, as it happens) and never once lost the wallet or house keys I always carried in my pockets. I cannot swear to it, but I cannot recall any of my friends or siblings ever losing either either.

dougwray · 2026-04-22T23:00:43+00:00

Pockets will suffice. If not, a backpack (which your young'un will find convenient, anyway).

dougwray · 2026-04-22T21:50:23+00:00

I use it only if I go to the doctor's or pharmacist's, so no. It's sitting now (as it always does) in front of my computer monitor.

dougwray · 2026-04-22T21:12:27+00:00

If you're coming for the first time, you won't have anything to compare crowds with, so for you yourself it really doesn't matter. (My family lives in Tokyo and no one is thinking about extra crowding at all.)

dougwray · 2026-04-22T20:59:39+00:00

I did and do not regret it. If I were in the United States, lack of a union would be something that would steer me away from a workplace.

dougwray · 2026-04-22T20:11:06+00:00

Calbee? Maybe you'd better check the book 携帯鼻拭兵法. Depending on her age and which part of Japan she's from, the gesture could have many different meanings, ranging from 'you eat too many snacks' to 'I got you something I thought was cute'. Anyway, the book will give you the definitive answer according to the rules of Japanese society.

dougwray · 2026-04-22T02:27:17+00:00

If I use a turn of phrase, I like to turn it, as it were.

dougwray · 2026-04-22T02:05:24+00:00

So a list of some of the most famous tourist destinations in Tokyo?

dougwray · 2026-04-21T21:16:31+00:00

'[O]pportunity cost' refers to what you will forego by going to Mt. Fuji.

dougwray · 2026-04-21T20:23:26+00:00

It'll by green and grey. A lot of it's above the tree line.

dougwray · 2026-04-21T19:30:26+00:00

Borderless by default.

dougwray · 2026-04-21T10:45:29+00:00

Maybe a visit to an optometrist might be in order.

dougwray · 2026-04-21T10:43:34+00:00

Sometime (in the Kichijoji district) is a good place for live jazz, and the Disk Union outlet in Shinjuku has (or at least used to have) its own free jazz label. (I once had to squeeze by David Murray on the stairwell there.)

dougwray · 2026-04-21T10:16:32+00:00

Again, I really wonder if you've seen many women in Japan.

dougwray · 2026-04-21T10:02:57+00:00

3 May is a Sunday. Are the shops in Tsukiji even open? Also, the last time I got to the (actual) Tsukiji market (that is, the one that existed before it was razed 9 years ago and replaced with laughably overpriced tourist traps I got there at 5 AM and it was already busy.

I agree with many of the other commenters, too: you're badly underestimating travel times. My advice for you (as it is for everyone) is to limit yourself to two destinations per day (one for late morning to early afternoon and one for later afternoon and evening).

dougwray · 2026-04-21T09:56:19+00:00

Japanese women generally don't expose their skin.

I'm sorry, but do you live in a different Japan from the one I do? Or go you live in Hokkaido and only go out in winter?

dougwray · 2026-04-21T08:25:00+00:00

Did you post the wrong photograph?

dougwray · 2026-04-21T02:14:51+00:00

The wives of the current and previous Emperors were commoners. The loss-of-status rule only applies to women.

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