Deli wrote:
There's supposedly a huge cosplay gathering in the park in Shinjuku every Saturday. I was told this after I got back home of course. And while in Shinjuku, you can go to momo paradise and get some killer shabu shabu.
Train/subway around Tokyo is also romanized enough that you can easily get around without one bit of kanji knowledge. At least in-city, I never went on the JR line outside the city.
A lot of people in Tokyo understand English and can speak it to some degree. There are many who do understand it won't speak it for whatever reason. I was told it was they know they have a horrible accent, and don't want to sound silly. Communication wasn't really an issue for me with all of a dozen Japanese words. There's always the tried-and-true point to the beer tap you want and hold up one finger method. Works every time.
I was also told that the morning fish market down in the harbor was very commercialized now. The real fish market happens somewhere else, and not to bother with the one everyone says used to be really fun to go to.
Be prepared to spend a decent amount in hotel/lodging if you want western sized accommodations. My hotel for 10 days was over $2500 (USD) at the ANA hotel in Roppongi. You can do cheaper, but when the company is picking up the tab, there's no point, eh?
Hit the currency exchange on your way out of the country. There really is a vending machine on every corner, and you can't be sure they'll take plastic. A soda from said machine was like 120 yen, which was about 1 USD at the time...3-ish years ago. I think I exchanged 40 dollars and didn't come home with much left over.
The cosplay at harajuku is saturday&sundays at the afternoon around 12-3
facebumnuts - much face much bum much nuts
