So who has been to Japan then?

jonnyburgo

@drew_fx i know you definitely have. I'm planning on going next year for 3 weeks, landing in Tokyo, What do I need to & see based on your experiences there?

Having a 8 & 10 yo will definitely mean Disneyland Tokyo for a day (It's quite small-ish)

But what about for us grown ups? I like guitars and comics.

I would love to take GAS money too, but that may not happen

Drew_TNBD

Guitars - Ochanomizu. It's on the Chuo line. Go from Shinjuku, platform 8-10 (iirc) of the JR Lines; towards Mt. Takao.
Comics - Akihabara. Loads of comic book shops there.

You *HAVE* to take your kids to the Ghibli Museum. I fucking loved it, and I just turned 30. Buy tickets before you fly out though, that's what we did.

Take a look through my photos on Facebook, loads of Japan stuff there.

jonnyburgo

Cheers pal, I'll take a look, the museum sounds ace, my kids love Ghibli stuff

Gassage

Beware of taxis. The automatic doors ping open and hit someone of 6' 2" right in the nuts.

Hootsmon

guitars......lickenbacker and Gletch

comic......Billee Connolee and Kevin Bwidges

HAL9000

Guy Pratt tells the story, in 'My Bass and Other Animals', of how he was asked to write a song for a Japanese girl group. The brief (allegedly) was 'Verse in minor key, chorus in major key, no R or L sounds'.

cpcompany

Aye. I lived there for 9 years.

Are you staying in Tokyo only or going other areas? There are book/comic/game shops and guitar shops are all over the place really. You won't necessarily have to seek them out.

CabbageCat

I found the Ghlibli museum to be thoroughly underwhelming. It's very small - you can do the whole thing in an hour including lunch.

Timing it to go to a Sumo tournament is a good idea.

Most people would recommend getting the shinkansen to Kyoto for a couple of days and I'd back that up. Maybe Osaka too (but I haven't been there so can't comment).

Tokyo isn't great for "attractions". The place itself with its individual districts and amazing people is far more memorable than the tourist traps. Check out the Lonely Planet website to give you a bit of structure.

If you're there in September I'll grab a pint with you.

Drew_TNBD

Takao Mountain is nice. long walk up to the top, some sake and ice-cream and what not... back down in a cable car. Yokohama has some nice walks too.

Do the kids play games? Plenty of arcades around.

Hootsmon

.........Paul Leed Smith

B C lich

scrumhalf

Kyoto is nice, I preferred it to Tokyo. Mind you, Tokyo does have a place where you can pay to go and play with cats for an hour or two.

We spent some time in Takayama, which is basically a Cotswold town transplanted into Japanese skiing country.