Going to Japan in 2 weeks!!!

[Valkyrie]

If you're into sports you could try going to a soccer game or possibly a baseball game (though I think it might be the "off" season for baseball just now).

Nah, sports aren't really my thing. Maybe a sumo match would be interesting though. I'll have to look into that.

I've got a tour of the Hobbylink Japan facility lined up, so I'm looking forward to that. I was hoping I'd be able to get a job interview there too, but they're not hiring

And one thing I've been curious about... Does anyone know how readily available public wi-fi is in Japan? I'm going to be relying on my iPhone a lot to communicate (Skype, email, etc), and I'm hoping that's not going to take either a lot of searching, or waiting to get back to the hotel.

[Beltane70]

That's a pretty good question, Valkyrie, I was actually wondering the same. Although, for me, it won't be as a big an issue, since I'm sure my friend has a computer where he is.

[Renato]

Nah, sports aren't really my thing. Maybe a sumo match would be interesting though. I'll have to look into that.

I've got a tour of the Hobbylink Japan facility lined up, so I'm looking forward to that. I was hoping I'd be able to get a job interview there too, but they're not hiring

And one thing I've been curious about... Does anyone know how readily available public wi-fi is in Japan? I'm going to be relying on my iPhone a lot to communicate (Skype, email, etc), and I'm hoping that's not going to take either a lot of searching, or waiting to get back to the hotel.

Hi there! Hope we have a chance to get the gang together and grab a few drinks or something.

Wi-fi, yeah, I dunno what the problem is, but Japan really wants you to pay for your on-the-street wi-fi. I think thy just want you to buy those Wimax or Elecom things, which I still don't understand. Everytime I try to get online outside, there's always some catch, like you have to register with whatever. Technically you can get it almost everywhere in Tokyo (even on some Shinkansen trains), but you have to jump through hoops.

I've been in Tokyo since April and the only place I've found so far with free, no strings attached, no potal BS, proper wi-fi has been a certain area of Shinjuku which I won't divulge here just in case the powers that be notice this breach in their totalitarian security stronghold and choose to patch it immediately. I'll show you when you come over if you like. That one area came in very helpful when I absolutely had to check my hotmail account immediately one day.

[Valkyrie]

That's a pretty good question, Valkyrie, I was actually wondering the same. Although, for me, it won't be as a big an issue, since I'm sure my friend has a computer where he is.

Well, I know I'm going to be relying on my iPhone a lot, so I'm trying to get it set up so I'm as self-sufficient as possible without a data connection. So I've got a few offline dictionaries, bookmarks in google maps of sites I want to visit, and I even figured out how to pre-load city maps into the google maps app, so it doesn't have to download them on demand, like it normally does. But of course, all that does nothing to let me communicate with the outside world...

[F-ZeroOne]

You might want to check out Metro for iPhone/Pod, its a great app I've used several times. I can't absolutely vouch for its accuracy but I had no problems with it:

http://metro.nanika.net/

[Wanzerfan]

You have never been lost until you have been lost in Tokyo.

I wonder, is it any worse to get lost in Tokyo than it is to get lost in Greenwich Villiage in Manhattan (god, from the maps I've seen, the layout of that section of New York is a nightmare to navigate)?

[Gubaba]

I wonder, is it any worse to get lost in Tokyo than it is to get lost in Greenwich Villiage in Manhattan (god, from the maps I've seen, the layout of that section of New York is a nightmare to navigate)?

*sigh*

New York is shaped like a grid, and most of the streets are numbered. It's actually quite difficult to get lost there.

[sketchley]

Agreed. The only other places that are comparable are the ones that have medieval street layouts. The first that comes to mind is London.

That said, one must keep in mind that in Japan*, only the most major of major streets have a name (oft just a number, as in Route 1). So, even a place with a medieval street layout with named streets (ie London) is infinitely more navigable. Probably the only place comparable is Seoul.

Hopefully this will also explain why maps, stylized or not, are so prevalent in advertisements in Japanese magazines (aka directions from the nearest major landmark/train or subway station/bus stop).

*there are always exceptions to generalizations. One of them is Kyoto, which has a North-South, East-West grid layout.

Edited October 25, 2010 by sketchley

[Beltane70]

The funny thing about Tokyo is, that despite the fact that most street don't have names, I've never been hopelessly lost there. I've been lost plenty of times, but somehow always managed to find my way.

[Wanzerfan]

I was talking about the blind alleys and narrow streets of that area of Manhattan. I heard that area was a nightmare to navigate if you weren't a native New Yorker.

[sketchley]

FYI, the majority of cities like Tokyo and Seoul are composed of narrow, winding streets. Even granting that that one area of Manhattan is difficult to navigate off of the main streets, sooner or later one is going to cross one of the NS or EW streets and find their way.

The same cannot be said for cities like Tokyo and Seoul.

[Gubaba]

I was talking about the blind alleys and narrow streets of that area of Manhattan. I heard that area was a nightmare to navigate if you weren't a native New Yorker.

I've been there many times. It's not too bad.

[eugimon]

FYI, the majority of cities like Tokyo and Seoul are composed of narrow, winding streets. Even granting that that one area of Manhattan is difficult to navigate off of the main streets, sooner or later one is going to cross one of the NS or EW streets and find their way.

The same cannot be said for cities like Tokyo and Seoul.

Seoul isn't nearly as bad as Tokyo... Mostly because most of Seoul was burned to the ground during the war and when it was rebuilt it was done so with modern city planning at the time. And older districts that did survive, like shinchon, are being systematically torn down and rebuilt.

It's still a far cry from the bland rigidity of American cities like LA and SF but it's not the maze like corridors you can find in some areas of Tokyo.

Edited October 26, 2010 by eugimon

[Beltane70]

I was talking about the blind alleys and narrow streets of that area of Manhattan. I heard that area was a nightmare to navigate if you weren't a native New Yorker.

I'm not a native New Yorker and have never had a problem navigating any area of the city.

Honestly, I prefer the maze-like layout of Tokyo. Cities laid out in a grid are so boring!

[F-ZeroOne]

I think I might need to clarify about the whole "Lost in Tokyo" thing I appear to have started... Its difficult to be completely lost in Tokyo, in the sense that you begin to wonder why you didn't pack the survival radio and if those vultures circling overhead are as tasty as they're beginning to look... its a comment based on experiences of trying to find specific locations in Tokyo.

As an example, my brother is fond of the fashion brand "BAPE". Back when he first asked me to visit their shops whilst in Tokyo, there was a lot less information available on-line than there is now. There was one store in particular I had a hell of a lot of trouble finding. After walking around Harajuku about six times, and despite having a map showing its rough location, I still hadn't found it. I stopped for a breather by a railing and happened to look down. And there the blasted place was, just below eye level. I must have actually walked past it at least three times. I had a similar experience finding a hotel I stayed at near Ueno once; it was 5 minutes walk from the station but took the best part of half an hour to find, including stopping to ask two police officers where it was, and I had a photo of the place as well. Again, I must have walked past it at least twice...

...or maybe I'm just an idiot! But thats what I mean by "lost".

[Renato]

While I agree locations in Tokyo are really hard to find, the example which you used is sort of an exception, because Bathing Ape originally was located out of the way on purpose. It was part of the underground culture back in the day, and wearing his label's stuff made you cool to the eyes of people in the know, of which there weren't many. Now that he has gone mainstream, many avant-garde fashion Harajuku folk don't care for him much and think of him as a sell-out, but there are always many others to take his place. The idea is that they don't really want the whole world to know where they get all this cool gear from, they just want to preserve their subculture as their own.

[F-ZeroOne]

While I agree locations in Tokyo are really hard to find, the example which you used is sort of an exception, because Bathing Ape originally was located out of the way on purpose. It was part of the underground culture back in the day, and wearing his label's stuff made you cool to the eyes of people in the know, of which there weren't many. Now that he has gone mainstream, many avant-garde fashion Harajuku folk don't care for him much and think of him as a sell-out, but there are always many others to take his place. The idea is that they don't really want the whole world to know where they get all this cool gear from, they just want to preserve their subculture as their own.

Okay, good point about the brands cachet back then. There is another example, though - I was with a friend trying to find a Japanese language school where he had some contacts. My friend speaks Japanese to a fair level and we had the address of the building and we still couldn't find it, after probably a good half an hours search and another enquiry at a Police box. We eventually wound up using a public phone to ring the place and ask for directions.

Turns out the phone was located just across the road from the building...