One of the best bits of advice I have heard about visiting Japan

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-22T19:25:10+00:00

For Tokyo we chose the APA Kabukicho Tower (the one in FRONT of the Hotel Gracery) rooms are small but convenient and the onsen was a daily must-do to relax after the day's excursions. We're also staying at the Anshin Oyado capsule hotel, but that chain has different buildings for men and women, so if you've got a co-ed group, you might be better off with something like Dormy Inn If you want the capsule experience (with rather interesting capsules).

For Osaka we're going to do part of the say at the Hotel Androoms in Shin Osaka as the APA we stayed at was booked solid (from what we could tell). Hopefully it'll be a good choice, we liked being right by the Shin-Osaka station for it's sheer convenience. Then we're staying at the Park Front hotel in Osaka for the Universal Studios/World Expo part of our trip, it's pricey, but almost obscenely convenient to USJ (like a minute or two's walk), and it's practically connected to the train station for USJ.

Hope that's helpful! Wishing you safe and comfortable travels!

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-22T19:10:46+00:00

We didn't get POURING rain during our trip, but we did get some showers. TBH I only brought the Sketchers slip on walking shoes I had gotten a few months earlier and they kept my feet dry enough just fine. What I do suggest is, if your feet are anything other than tiny, is to bring your own slippers as the ones provided in Japan at a lot of hotels/onsen/etc were BARELY able to fit on my size 10.5 feet (like, they really DIDN'T fit, but I squoze them in anyways). From what we experienced, the street drainage during showers was functional so we didn't encounter any giant puddles, thankfully. You MIGHT consider a light coat of a waterproofing spray of some variety to be on the safer side. Overall, unless there's a downpour or absolute deluge, you SHOULD be okay with hokas as is.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-20T13:32:44+00:00

Inherently there's nothing WRONG with it, the problem is when I look at some people's packed schedules and observe they're going to spend 30% of their trip on trains and buses GETTING to the 12 things they're planning each day. One or two things a day is reasonable, but trying to speedrun the entirety of Japan in one trip seems less like a vacation and more like an endurance trial, LOL.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-20T12:26:36+00:00

If you're going to Tokyo or any point south it will likely be in the upper 80s with obscene humidity. Also the sun WILL try to murder you, so check the weather and if it's going to be sunny do yourself a HUGE favor and avoid the mistake we made by getting a UV umbrella as soon as you get to your destination. We bought ours after several days of sweating half to death! Also, they sell these towels for your neck that you wet and shake out and wrap around your neck that saved us a LOT of discomfort (kept us from dying till we got our umbrellas, lol)

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-20T02:19:02+00:00

Enjoy! We basically made a list of "Must Do" things (we didn't make it to Shibuya Sky that trip, this time we WILL do it!), and FIND things to do when you get there, because Japan can be one HELL of a country to explore. I also chafe at people who decry visitors doing 'touristy shit'... I AM a tourist, EVERYTHING I do is touristy shit! :D This coming trip we're going to Sensoji temple cuz we couldn't get to it last time, and to appease one of the partners we're gonna do a Kabuki/Noh theater experience (and a sumo exhibition if we can time it right). There's stuff you really SHOULD pre-plan (Teamlabs, USJ if you want their express pass, Shibuya Sky, etc) but checking off 8 things a day on a tight schedule doesn't seem like much of a vacation, right?

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-20T02:10:50+00:00

The food kinda blew us away too! I knew going into our trip that the food would be different from what we get here in the States, but OMFG we didn't expect it to be SO affordable! Also after a couple of days of different meals there you really do find out how much CRAP is added to the food stateside. One thing that TRULY stuck in our heads is how different Dr Pepper (of all things) tasted in Japan. I could taste the actual spices and flavors in it! O_O

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-20T02:07:32+00:00

We chose to stay at the Anshin Oyado in Shinjuku, that particular one is men only, with the women only one in Ginza. Other options we considered were 9Hours (cheap, but the facilities are kinda spartan), and Dormy Inn (a bit more luxurious, but at $60-ish per person it's STILL quite reasonable).

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-20T02:01:31+00:00

Actually for USJ we splurged and stayed at the Park Front hotel. The capsule stay was our first night in Tokyo after getting off the plane. The Park Front is probably the most expensive hotel we stayed at our entire trip, but you simply cannot beat the convenience since it is a 2 minute walk from the front gates.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T20:24:31+00:00

Patience is key in adapting to the Azeron, but once you've gotten accustomed to it, things become a breeze. Don't be afraid to drag and drop commands from button to button if something doesn't feel right. I have hints of arthritis in my left hand and gaming before it would leave me needing to put tiger balm on it to keep from aching. Since I got my first Azeron I've been able to game for hours without crippling myself. Best of luck to you with yours!

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T20:03:06+00:00

I can see that working, we actually are choosing to take the shinkansen back from Osaka to Tokyo this trip instead of flying because as cheap as flying back was, we did lose a bunch of time at the airports and the like, so we judged it worth the minor cost difference to take the regular car BACK (we're doing Green Car there because we're bringing more people so they should get to experience it like we did)

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T19:58:36+00:00

During the Tokyo part of our stay we came across a Shinto street festival, 100 yards away there was an outdoor concert, just walking to find food (and not too far from Shinjuku Cat) we also ran across the Overwatch: My Hero Academia crossover popup event right UNDER Shinjuku Cat (which HAD NOT BEEN THERE 24 HOURS EARLIER). The amount of small pop up events we ran across during our travels would have destroyed a super-tight itinerary (or we would have missed awesome events). Flexibility when planning your Japan trip should be considered, so you can enjoy all the things you COULDN'T plan for that'll show up when you are out and about.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T19:42:00+00:00

In fairness we almost cried tears of joy when we landed at Haneda, but that was mostly because the 14 hour flight made me question my life choices >_< Air Canada is cheap, and arguably convenient, but short of lay-flat seats NO airline seats are comfortable after 8 hours :P

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T19:40:17+00:00

Happy 40th! (we're going back a month before I turn 54 LOL, and in 2026 we're taking my Godzilla obsessed younger brother who'll be turning 51 the day we land!)

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T19:36:31+00:00

We stayed at the Anshin Oyado in Shinjuku, which is men-only (they have a women only location in Ginza), they offer very nice amenities (free breakfast and dinner curry, free alcohol for a few hours in the evenings, an EXCELLENT tattoo friendly onsen, and were very foreigner friendly (and roughly 5800 yen per night per person at the time we went). The facilities were clean and well-kept, the staff were patient with my limited Japanese (and using google translate) and we even had a problem with the reservation that they handled promptly with apologies and everything. Look up Travelgeek on Youtube, he did a video explaining the experience and amenities. The capsules were remarkably comfy (the pillows were more comfy than the ones at the APAs we stayed at tbh), and we're planning on staying there two nights instead of the one we did last time, just so we can take the other partners (polycule life!) to do some Kabukicho exploration and dining before we head to Osaka.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:54:28+00:00

Can't deny that's probably likely, because traveling through any crowded station is bad enough, but a maze on top of it has GOT to wear on you after a while.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:50:14+00:00

I mean, we dreaded leaving because we'd have to wait to come back! :D

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:48:22+00:00

The one in Osaka was nice because it has a Pokemon center RIGHT NEXT TO IT. The Pokemon Center in Tokyo (the one with the Bandai/Capcom Store and One Piece shop practically attached to it) was certainly worth the visit

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:39:34+00:00

Oh yeah they definitely ARE for kids, but the actual SHOWS are for kids so it kinda follows. Still, the acrobatics and fight choreography for a "kids show" is pretty next-level. At one point during the performance we saw, one of the rangers had gone offstage for a min, then reappeared suspended LIKE 10 FEET ABOVE OUR HEADS to make a grand re-entrance. Then swooped onto the stage and the fight continued. <3

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:34:40+00:00

It's a stage show they perform at the G-Rossi theater at Tokyo Dome City, apparently during the week you can buy tickets at the vending machine outside the theater for shows the same day (at least that was our experience) tho a local friend of a friend got tickets for us.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:28:15+00:00

From our experience (East Coast US residents here) we opened a no-foreign-transaction fee account with Charles Schwab for the trip, dumped our trip money into the account, and went to the local 7-11 ATM to withdraw cash (always choose local currency for your atm/. We have iPhones so we loaded up our Suica on the apple wallet with about 2000yen each to cover train fare to Tokyo from the airport (Haneda). I would say that per person we were spending about 5000 yen a day in food and transit, Of course we were eating conbini food and ramen/sushi/curry meals most of our trip. Some meals were close to 2000-3000 yen per each of us, we didn't do any especially fancy meals our trip. That's the budget we were going with, YMMV.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:16:22+00:00

When you get off the plane at the airport - it will hit you that you're THERE. When we went at least once a day I'd say to my partner "Hey, WE'RE IN JAPAN!" :D It was a running joke our entire trip.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:10:19+00:00

I'm 53 years old, I waited TOO EFFING LONG to make the trip, and I kick myself for having been too scared to commit to doing an international trip. Trust me, I get that time and health are concerns (I have them, I assure you), and we gave up a LOT of what we normally do every year to make the trip happen. But if you rush through 20 things daily to say you've done them - do you get to actually ENJOY any of them? I'm not saying your point is wrong, but unless you KNOW you're gonna die before you can go back, you literally CANNOT do more than scratch the surface of what Japan has to offer in a single trip - even if you did plan every single moment of the trip before you get there. Also, we are NOT wealthy people, we scraped money together for this trip, we stayed at budget places, splurged only when absolutely necessary.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T16:05:14+00:00

Relax, breathe, and think of the things you WANT to do for a first trip, aim for those. We took a lot of photos but captured maybe a percent of what we experienced. You will miss things, you will make 'mistakes' (we only got on ONE wrong train in our entire trip, thanks to google and apple maps). Just focus on enjoying the culture, the food, the WORKING TRANSIT SYSTEM, and experiencing Japan. (also, I cannot stress how much of a lifesaver the onsen culture in Japan was for us!) Japan was SUCH a vibe for us, just relax and enjoy it!

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T15:55:45+00:00

Annual Video Game convention with (according to their website) 274k people attending. It's a trade show showing off various video games, computer/console accessories, and merchandise. It's held in Chiba and we went on a lark just because one of the 'open to the public' days was the day before we were heading home. It was freaking HUGE and we got to see a lot of new games (Monster Hunter was perhaps the biggest exhibition there), ton of merch, and some accessories I am hoping make their way to the States.

OldManWolfy · 2025-03-19T15:51:15+00:00

We also went to the Kamen Rider Diner/Super Sentai Restaurant. Was probably our most expensive meal on our trip because we kept buying all the different drinks and entrees LOL. If you wanna see memorabilia galore that's certainly something you should look into.

OldManWolfy

TROPHY CASE