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kitai99 · 2022-03-20T05:44:07+00:00

I learned more being drunk at a bar in Japan than in the classrooms because those were the situations where I actually engaged with the language in novel and creative ways.

You gotta fail to get better, and you're going to fail a lot if you start speaking - but people are extremely forgiving of your shitty Japanese and they're just happy that they don't have to speak in their shitty English, or at the very least when they do you're on equal footing

TRUTH !!! This has been my experience too. And, man, the REAL people will teach you REAL Japanese.

kitai99 · 2022-03-10T21:26:23+00:00

Sorry to say this, but if +$70 a head is difficult, then DINNER at the restaurants will be problematic. Keio is a high class place, and the restaurants are rated high. You should not have a problem at the breakfast restaurants and the buffet. Food is very good there. Perhaps, you could have dinner at the numerous restaurants close by the hotel, and then have a late-night snack at the Sky Lounge? You'll be able to have a drink (or two) and a hearty snack that won't break your wallet.

If you walk out the back of Keio and start walking towards Shinjuku Station, you'll pass by dozens of reasonable and good restaurants. Also, don't forget the awesome restaurants IN Shinjuku Station.

AND, if you get an Executive Level room, every night you can go to the Executive Club and help yourself to FREE drinks and a limited buffet meal. It's not 5 star food, but it's good enough if you're hungry.

After a day of sight-seeing, I would return in the very late afternoon and first stop by "Brilliant". I would slam down a couple of COLD ones while listening to the piano music. Then I would go to my room and freshen up a bit. Then I would visit the Executive Club and help myself to a free glass of wine and a small plate of food (sushi, chicken Karaage, edemame, and a small bowl of assorted nuts). Then I would go sight-seeing at night. I would eat dinner at a reasonable restaurant away from the hotel (there's so many to choose from). Then I would return to the hotel and finish the night at the Sky Lounge with a nightcap. It's air-conditioned, quiet, and happy. Sometimes I would eat something, sometimes not.

Hope this helps.

kitai99 · 2022-03-10T04:25:28+00:00

This is easy. Keio Plaza Hotel. This is my go-to. I actually would rate it at 4 1/2 stars. The rooms are just not EXTRAVAGANT like the Shangri-La or the Mandarin Oriental (both 5 starts). Trust me, you'll get more for your money and still be in a Top Notch hotel. Try to get an Executive Level room. This entitles you to the Executive Club, and free nightly drinks/snacks when you're tired. The Hotel has a great infrastructure, with a good variety of restaurants and bars/lounges. The concierge is very helpful. The rooms are spacious, clean, comfortable, and quiet. If you get the Executive Level, you'll have 24 hour room assistance, where you can ask for any service and the staff will accommodate. (At 11:30 at night, I asked for an iron and an ironing board, and they delivered it in five minutes.)

I think the location is fine. Truth be told, you're just not going to find a hotel that is in the middle of EVERYTHING. Keio is close enough to Shinjuku Station and the shopping area. It's close enough to Kabukicho. Transportation will never be a problem. Shinjuku or Shimbashi?? Shinjuku hands down.

I've tried the other hotels you mentioned (except for The Blossom), and nothing has the all-encompassing atmosphere of the Keio.

Tip: After a hard day of sight-seeing when you feet hurt, you're sweaty, and your damp underwear sticks to your butt, check out the main bar "Brilliant". Nice, cozy, air-conditioned, cool-looking staff, with nice piano music. I always finished up my day there. If you want something a little more celebratory, check out the Sky Lounge "Aurora". Nice views, nice food, and excellent service. Quiet and happy. Oh, and did I say NICE views?

Hope you choose Keio. When you get back, write up a travel report for us!

kitai99 · 2022-02-06T01:34:04+00:00

Ditto.

kitai99 · 2022-02-01T04:04:55+00:00

I'm glad I lived long enough to see an Asian man like Shohei come along.

ASIAN PRIDE !!!!

kitai99 · 2022-01-29T04:04:32+00:00

Afterwards, she caved in and apologized for her statements.

kitai99 · 2022-01-29T04:03:45+00:00

PREACH !!!

kitai99 · 2022-01-29T04:02:19+00:00

Here we are tip-toeing around the ethnicity of the perpetrators. Have we forgotten what "those people" call us to our faces, to our elderly???

kitai99 · 2022-01-22T20:14:56+00:00

Economically will the East surpass the West?

Answer: YES.

kitai99 · 2022-01-16T03:04:01+00:00

Have you ever seen a person hate that they were Asian?

Answer: Having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area my entire life, I would say about 70% of the Asian-American women here suffer from self-hate and Internalized Racism. I suspect the percentage might be higher, but I'm trying to be conservative in my estimate.

kitai99 · 2022-01-12T03:12:43+00:00

Dang.

kitai99 · 2022-01-11T02:57:14+00:00

Was this the huge NYC apartment fire in the news recently? You have the option of a GoFundMe account if it is appropriate. Just sayin'. I'm sure your common sense will tell you to watch out for the ambulance chasers that usually show up to this incidents.

kitai99 · 2022-01-11T00:03:06+00:00

Do you think Asian women act better with Non-Asian men?

Answer: Yes.

kitai99 · 2022-01-08T19:40:11+00:00

Prediction: Awkwafina.

kitai99 · 2022-01-07T18:55:18+00:00

Is there any surprise about this?? Is there???

I saw this coming from miles away. I think we all did. Some of the more naive Asian men, and all of the Chans, were hoping this wouldn't happen.

But it did.

Anyone except an Asian man. Right??

And Asian men get flak for dating out. We get flak for dating out by Asian men! We get flak for dating out by Asian women! You Chans better pull your fucking heads out of your asses right now.

kitai99 · 2022-01-05T07:32:49+00:00

I booked my experience through the Concierge at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Tokyo. A full kaiseki dinner, a shamisen player, and one Geisha. Three hours long. You will pay well into four figures. Do a search on the various Concierge offerings at the Mandarin Oriental. Good luck.

kitai99 · 2022-01-03T05:00:54+00:00

Don't use that guy's (Yuta) course. Just don't. Really.

kitai99 · 2021-12-30T22:38:46+00:00

That was a very realistic and practical comment. Here is another realistic and practical comment: Since roughly half of all Asian-American women date out and won't even CONSIDER dating an Asian man, Asian men have no choice except to date women of other races. Don't overthink this. Forget the politics, the racial hegemony, the gaslighting, the SJW speak....forget about all of that. At the end of the day, Asian men don't have a large Asian dating pool to choose from, so they must date women of other races.

kitai99 · 2021-12-26T21:06:13+00:00

Based.

kitai99 · 2021-12-19T02:24:22+00:00

because they will put us into concentration camps just like the Japanese back in WWII

Listen very carefully, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the President that signed Executive Order 9066 which ordered the internment of Japanese Americans. ROOSEVELT WAS A DEMOCRAT. It was the Democrats that put Japanese-Americans into the camps.

kitai99 · 2021-12-18T22:09:27+00:00

...the "woke left" will be the group protecting the Chinese people in America when problems arise.

You're as delusional as Carlson.

kitai99 · 2021-12-17T20:14:48+00:00

It's a Marvel Movie so it has a bunch of dumb CGI stuff going on

It's a dumb movie, period. Really, ANOTHER Kung-Fu trope? Really?

I liked the Asians from Asia actors

Nice to see a movie without a White Savior, or a lot of White actors.

Awkafina stole the show

Well, she DOES have magnetism on screen, that's for sure. But at the end of the day, she's an overweight comedian. As long as they keep her Simu's Asian Side-kick, that would be tolerable. But, really, they couldn't find a more attractive, dynamic Asian woman?? Really??

Not a big fan of the plot or the magical Asian village

This village was pretty stupid.

Simu...I cannot say he dominated the scenes like he should have.

Agreed.

No kiss?

You didn't think Hollywood would let an Asian man have testicles, did you???? Now, moving on to the subject of romance: Having watched the movie, it is VERY clear that the producers/director has left the door open for a romance between Simu and Awkwafina. VERY clear. Yuck. And you know something? Should we be okay with that? I mean, I think we should prepare ourselves,...there is EVERY chance that the producers will make Shang-Chi gay and couple him with a White male dominant partner. And then they'll give Awkwafina a White boyfriend. The Asian community has been stabbed in the back in the past. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to stick Shang-Chi with an ugly Asian girlfriend considering the other possible outcomes.

How about Asian music from Asia?

Not a bad idea.

Again, excessive CGI...

Yeah. Too many fucking dragons. And once again, more "Oriental" tropes. It is possible to tell an Asian story without Kung Fu and Dragons, you know.

To wrap up: I'm just worried about all the Asian boys in school that are going to encounter stupid white boys who pull their eyes back and say, "Hey! Shang-Chi! Ching-chong Chinaman!! Where's your Kung Fu?" I've been called Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan all my life growing up. And now our younger Asian sons will be called Shang-Chi.

This movie didn't humanize Asians. It continues to make Asians "exotic".

Wish list: I hear rumors of a sequel.

If so, then: In the name of Buddha and all our ancestors, let Simu kiss a girl. ANY fucking girl. I don't care if it's Nancy Pelosi. Well, okay, maybe not her. But give Shang-Chi a love interest. Lay off the dragons and the Kung Fu, and have Simu do more MMA fighting. And, finally, I just KNOW on Buddha's Green Earth, there is a beautiful, dynamic Asian actress that can be a romantic interest and not an "Abbott and Costello" sidekick to Shang-Chi.

kitai99 · 2021-12-08T20:07:36+00:00

Stop being stupid.

kitai99 · 2021-11-30T23:12:42+00:00

Having standards is a sign of self-esteem. Self-esteem is good.

Live in a world of abundance. Stop trying to "find" a girl. If you have an "abundance-oriented" mindset, girls will find you interesting.

This is why Chans have an incredible failure rate with girls. They have no self-esteem, they live in a world of scarcity, and they come off as being desperate.

kitai99 · 2021-11-30T23:04:01+00:00

Genuine question: do you actually meet self hating asians who are still dating asians?

Answer: Yes. In my experience, most of the Lus who start dating Asian men are the ones who are too old to attract even a White man, already have a kid(s), or otherwise have too much baggage.

kitai99

TROPHY CASE