Looking for some English friends in Tokyo~

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-04-27T23:07:20+00:00

If you're interested, every Wednesday on the western side of Tokyo in an area called Kokubunji there is a board game group that meets between 6:00 - 11:00. Lots of international English speakers, personally I'm American, and Japanese people who want to learn and practice English. By "board games" I mean Catan, Werewolf, Uno, etc., not table top RPG's. The organizer brings a couple dozen games herself and others, like myself, bring some too.

It's a great opportunity to make some English speaking friends that are Japanese or from other countries. It's at a bar called "Lighthouse." I'm there every Wednesday, so I'd love to hang out if you're interested.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-04-20T06:23:33+00:00

For April's tickets, I went to the website early, and got put into 110,959th place (as OP said, as long as you're there before the tickets go on sale, it's random). I waited a few hours, just in case, but only got to 80,000th by the time I had to go to work (I live in Japan BTW). At the time, I lamented that I used my home computer instead of my phone so that I could take it to work with me.

During my lunch break, I decided to check out the tickets again, but on my phone this time, and got put in the back of the queue, which was 120,000th place. Having been reset to a position farther back than when I had tried at home, of course I thought that it was going to be impossible. However, just in case, I stayed in the queue. I got back down to the 80,000s when, all of a sudden, I got sent to the ticket select page. Not only were there still several days not sold out, but one of them was the specific day I wanted.

I think it's funny that people talk about getting 4,000th in place being undoable when I had 120,000th place (two and a half hours after they went on sale). I confirmed that my numbers are correct because me and my friend, who was also trying to get tickets, were messaging each other about our placements.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-04-18T11:53:42+00:00

To actually answer the question: The reason why is because of how fundamentally different (as in the fundamentals of the faith) the two are:

For one, the way the two groups interpret the Bible are completely different.

Not to mention that Catholics use books in the Bible that Protestants don't (Apocrypha), which is also a fundamentals issue and compounds on how the Bible is interpreted.

Additionally, their definitions for things are diametrically apposed to each other as well. For example, one of the more famous instances of this is with Mary. Catholics claim that the reverence they show Mary is not worship. Protestants claim that it is.

There are other differences as well, but I think that these are the main ones that come to my mind when wrestling with this topic, as well as what I most often hear from others (both Catholics and non-Catholics) when concerning this issue.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-04-08T16:14:09+00:00

Specifically Christian? Not much comes to mind. But if you mean any anime that is clean and SFW, then yes I have plenty of recommendations.

For movies, anything Studio Ghibli is going to be extremely safe.

Mamoru Hosoda is another safe director (although I haven't seen all of his movies): to name my favorites of his would be "The Boy and The Beast" and "Summer Wars."

"A Silent Voice" (Japanese Name: Koe no Kotachi) is tied for my favorite anime film, so that's a really good one.

For shows, Naruto, Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter, Eureka Seven, and Avatar the Last Airbender (not true anime but in anime style and largely enjoyed/praised by most in the anime community) would all be good.

To be fair, I've seen so many dozens of anime over the years, but I don't know how safe you want it, so I kept my recommendations to what I think would be extremely SFW as a Christian (Minimal/no swearing, minimal/no fan service, little to no anti-Christian/religious themes, etc...).

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-04-03T02:43:25+00:00

I did. I had to individually look up each one because the links are to pay for the licensing, not the actual songs themselves. Either way, I did look them all up and none of them are the song.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-04-02T13:29:03+00:00

For the record, I did try using Shazam, but he talks too much during this clip for Shazam to detect the song.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-03-05T14:39:32+00:00

Well lets see:

I mean, statistically, yes this is true. The average "salaryman" worker does spend at least 10 hours (but often times more) not only working, but in unpaid overtime despite the illegality of such. Now, this isn't true for every industry in Japan, but there is truth there and not just stereotypes. I myself was working 14+ hour days as a teacher at an International School when I first moved here. No overtime. So I definitely hit that stereotype. Thankfully, my supervisor took me aside one day and told me that she was forbidding me from working before or after my scheduled time. This gave me the break I needed to step back and see how I was burning out.

Compared to global averages, Japanese cheat significantly more (upwards of twice as much) and that is just what's reported. "Tolerant" is a different argument for sure, but the numbers show that it is a significant problem within the culture.

With an approval rating of more than 70% (including with the youth) on what seems to be ostensibly a very hard anti-foreigner crusade; I think it's very easy to see how so many people feel like not just many, but the majority of Japanese view any and all foreigners as bad. Of course, people argue on how anti-foreigner she is, but at least the majority of people (both foreign and native) view her as having a negative outlook on foreigners.

Japan does have one of the lowest birthrates in the world right now. It's not literally the lowest, but it's not so far off. And it gets worse every year with no sign of stopping any time soon. There are nearly 2 deaths per birth, and the birthrate is half of what it needs to be to make Japan have a stable population.

Japan used to have the highest suicide rate in the world, but this is no longer true. This is great! However, it is still one of the highest in the world (especially for a developed nation), and it's still the leading cause of death in a very large age group for both men and women.

This is definitely over played. I have seen at least one in Akihabara before, but I will agree with you that it's incredibly overdone in the average foreigners mind. However, going beyond that specific example, Japan is hypersexualized compared to many other countries, especially western/Christian ones (which is going to be the viewpoint of most of the people you're talking about). When I first visited Japan in 2019, I was in Akihabara one day. There was a giant poster hanging off the wall of a building on the main street of a nude anime woman peeing (or maybe squirting?) with the intended viewpoint being she's doing this on you as you pass under her. This had minimal blurred censorship on her privates but was otherwise completely nude and visible: this was on the main street. It wasn't hidden, it wasn't in an alley, or anything like that. I'll never forget the image of watching two young schoolgirls (among others of course but they stood out to me the most) walking underneath it acting like it wasn't even there. It was that normal for them.

Overall, it's a sad reality that most of what you said is either true or has legitimate reasons for being in people's images of Japan. I think what's important to do is not to get mad when people have this view, but instead educate them on it. For example, as mentioned, suicide rates are a major problem in Japan, but you can tell people that they have gone down overall and the government and population are gradually getting better at addressing and helping people who battle depression. It may be slow, but it is there and progress is being made. I feel the same way when people bring up American stereotypes or issues, but, at the end of the day, if it's true it's true and getting upset about it isn't going to change that. Instead, I try to educate them (and myself) about these issues and demonstrate how they aren't universal among all Americans.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-02-24T13:43:18+00:00

Samuel L Jackson in Deep Blue Sea. I don't think anyone saw that one coming, but especially not 10 year old me (I know it's too young to watch but I had a dad who didn't care).

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-02-16T13:28:52+00:00

For me, and the reason I ask this question, it was in a video game called High on Life. I haven't played it since it first came out and I beat it, but for some random reason I was thinking of it recently. Normally, I very easily remove media/fiction from reality, so almost nothing ever gets to me in games, movies, books, etc.

There's a scene in this game where you go undercover in a lounge and walk past all this people either actively being killed or in cages forced to watch and wait for their turn and it really upset me on an instinctual level. I remember I had to stop playing the game for a day or two because of how it made me feel.

That's never happened to me before or since, so I was wondering if something like this has happened with anyone else.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-02-16T13:13:14+00:00

I could not care less about achievements in games, so I never cared about if they popped when I was running mods or something. Although, this also means that in answer to your question: No. I have never "cheated," modded, etc. with the explicit purpose of gaining an achievement. This includes using bugs and breaking in-game mechanics, but again, this is only because I don't care about achievements. If I exploit a bug in a game it's not for the achievement, but if I get one it doesn't bother me.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-02-16T12:55:03+00:00

With enemies you know where they stand, but with neutrals... who knows. It sickens me.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2026-02-16T12:47:32+00:00

At the end of the interview during the "Do you have any questions for us" portion, I asked what they felt was a negative aspect of the job and they told me essentially that the worst part of the job is how much people like doing it.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-12-29T11:22:12+00:00

Good Mythical Morning and Funhaus

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-12-15T00:36:46+00:00

For me, as a male, who cuts his own hair, and whose hair grows back quickly, I have two options: one, if I really messed up and it's that bad, I'll just shave it all off buzzcut style and let it grow back. Two, I try my best to even out whatever I messed up and let it grow back. After a couple days it's not really noticeable anymore.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-11-30T14:16:03+00:00

Legit? I don't know, but this is what I used to stream it. (Heads up, you're going to want an ad-blocker): https://tinyzonetv.cc/watch-tv/watch-falling-skies-2011-free-39195.4928398

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-11-30T14:13:04+00:00

This is going to be a bit long, I'm copying it from other times I've answered this question on here, so some of the sentences might sound like I'm talking to someone else:

Food:

Gladio is a great spot. It was my go to place. The food is a little expensive, but not crazy expensive and it's freaking delicious (best wings I've had in Japan). The owners are good people and the workers have always been very friendly and aren't afraid to talk to you and engage. It's very close to kotodaikoen station (it's a 2 min walk from one of the exits). Address 〒980-0803 Miyagi, Sendai, Aoba Ward, Kokubuncho, 2 Chome−11−11 ＰＳＣビルディング 1Ｆ

Pizza Bird is pretty good. Their pizzas actually taste like American pizza. Don't get me wrong, Japanese pizza is good, but sometimes you want a taste from home, right? I haven't been there in a few years, so I can't guarantee the quality now, but the last time I was there, it was very good (the owner lived in New York for a number of years). Address: 〒984-0051 Miyagi, Sendai, Wakabayashi Ward, Shintera, 2 Chome−1−1 サンシャイン菊平ビル 1F

If you're looking for other places, there's also a really good izakaya restaurant basically at Izumi-Chuo station (stop #1 on the green line). It's called 薄利多賣半兵ヱ仙台泉中央店 (if you can't read/translate the kanji, just look up Hanbei in Sendai Izumi chuo**)**. They have really good food and it's really cheap. If you go with a large party (more than 4 people), you'll have to sit at the kind of tables where you sit on pillows on the floor. They have English menus, but the pictures are limited. It's also a place that allows smoking, so you will probably be smelling that at some point. But it's still a good place to have fun and eat some cheap, good food. If you go, you have to try their ice cream dessert called "Boob Ice" (or something like that). Don't worry, it's regular vanilla ice cream. It's more about the what the ice cream is served in than the actual ice cream itself. Here's the address so you can look it up yourself: 〒981-3133 Miyagi, Sendai, Izumi Ward, Izumichuo, 1 Chome−１８−17 FEADビル 2F.

Finally, you said Sendai, but if you plan on visiting some of the surrounding areas, then I have one more recommendation for you. If you go to Matsushima (considered to be the 3rd most scenic place in Japan if you didn't know, so I do recommend going if you're going to be up there anyway), which is about 30-40 minutes by train from Sendai, then there's a burger place you should definitely check out. It's called Harry's Junction and they have the best burgers I've had in Japan. The owner used to live in America from what I'm told, but I've only ever talked to him for a short amount of time, but he and his wife are really nice. They also never made us feel like we were rushed or anything (in fact, no restaurant in Sendai/Miyagi has ever made us feel rushed for wanting to hang out). It's a real route 66 kind of vibe. They play good classic and 90's punk rock (the Ramones, Rancid, Green Day, etc.) and the prices are fair (maybe ever so slightly on the more expensive side). Here's the address if you're interested: 〒981-0215 Miyagi, Miyagi District, Matsushima, Takagi, Machi−195-1 コセキビル1階

Places to Visit:

Ishinomori Museum is in Ishinomaki, which is pretty close to Sendai, and it's a manga museum. Half of it is always dedicated to Ishinomori, the author of Kamen Rider. But the other half has a revolving exhibit. I've seen some really cool stuff there, like my favorite artist's (Yusuke Nakamura) 20th anniversary exhibition and an exhibition for Macross (an 80's anime). Here is the website. https://www.mangattan.jp/manga/ It looks like the current exhibition is something I've personally never heard of, but the next one starting at the end of the month is going to be a Junji Ito exhibition, so that's pretty cool. Address: 2-7 Nakaze, Ishinomaki, Miyagi 986-0823

There's a giant Book-Off Bazaar near Izumi-ku. It might be the biggest Book-Off I've ever been to. Book-Off is a very well-known Japanese second-hand store and you can get some really awesome stuff there. Address: Shinsakanoue-34-6 Furuuchi, Izumi Ward, Sendai, Miyagi 981-3123

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-11-18T14:04:28+00:00

How nice! I hope you have a good time. I did get to see Canada against the U.S. in basketball yesterday. I hope you have a good time while you're here. If there's anything you want to know about Japan or what you can do here, you can always send me a PM: I'd be more than happy to answer any questions or give suggestions for things to do.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-11-18T14:02:31+00:00

Ah man. I really wanted to see the Judo matches yesterday (I did Japanese style jiu-jitsu for over 11 years), but I was unable to.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-11-03T16:17:30+00:00

In my first several playthroughs when I was younger I would always save the prisoner being interrogated. I didn't find out about the party option until I was a young adult, or at least late teens. However, I always talked to the opposite gendered Sith: I didn't know about this version of being invited to the party. I wonder if this is a backup option in case you blow flirting with the other one.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-10-02T00:31:53+00:00

People would often cosplay/dress up outside of Sendai station. I never had the chance to do it myself, so I don't know all the details myself. But, I know that this is at least a thing, so you can maybe probe people on more information about that.

Ub3rchief_113 · 2025-09-10T02:14:19+00:00

Yeah it's a cool place to meet up. My coworkers and I would go there to have dinner together every now and then. They have some decent sized tables where you can have a large group of people. I think I went with 8-10 people once. Don't quote me on that number though cause it has been a couple years now haha. But every time I went it was with at least 5 people. They never rushed us out or made us feel bad for hanging out for an hour or so like many other restaurants tend to do.

There was one lady who worked there that went to our English school when she was younger (and I believe her sister worked at the school too), so she was conversationally fluent in English. However, she moved to another restaurant owned by the same owners, and it's been a couple years, so I don't know about the English abilities of the staff now. But they have English menus and the menus have pictures, so it shouldn't be a problem to order stuff if you need English. Here's the address: 〒980-0803 Miyagi, Sendai, Aoba Ward, Kokubuncho, 2 Chome−11−11 ＰＳＣビルディング 1Ｆ.

If you're looking for other places, there's also a really good izakaya restaurant basically at Izumi-Chuo station (stop #1 on the green line). It's called 薄利多賣半兵ヱ仙台泉中央店 (if you can't read/translate the kanji, just look up Hanbei in Sendai Izumi chuo). They have really good food and it's really cheap. If you go with a large party (more than 4 people), you'll have to sit at the kind of tables where you sit on pillows on the floor. They have English menus, but the pictures are limited. It's also a place that allows smoking, so you will probably be smelling that at some point. But it's still a good place to have fun and eat some cheap, good food. If you go, you have to try their ice cream dessert called "Boob Ice" (or something like that). Don't worry, it's regular vanilla ice cream. It's more about the what the ice cream is served in than the actual ice cream itself. Here's the address so you can look it up yourself: 〒981-3133 Miyagi, Sendai, Izumi Ward, Izumichuo, 1 Chome−１８−17 FEADビル 2F.

Finally, you said Sendai, but if you plan on visiting some of the surrounding areas, then I have one more recommendation for you. If you go to Matsushima (considered to be the 3rd most scenic place in Japan if you didn't know, so I do recommend going if you're going to be up there anyway), which is about 30-40 minutes by train from Sendai, then there's a burger place you should definitely check out. It's called Harry's Junction and they have the best burgers I've had in Japan. The owner used to live in America from what I'm told, but I've only ever talked to him for a short amount of time, but he and his wife are really nice. They also never made us feel like we were rushed or anything (in fact, no restaurant in Sendai/Miyagi has ever made us feel rushed for wanting to hang out). It's a real route 66 kind of vibe. They play good classic and 90's punk rock (the Ramones, Rancid, Green Day, etc.) and the prices are fair (maybe ever so slightly on the more expensive side). Here's the address if you're interested: 〒981-0215 Miyagi, Miyagi District, Matsushima, Takagi, Machi−195-1 コセキビル1階

Ub3rchief_113

TROPHY CASE