i found riding in japan a hell of lot safer than riding here. Cabbies are on a salary, so they don’t hussle for a fare which means they won’t dart through 4 lanes of traffic to pick someone up.
try and find the “mother bar” which is in kabukichō. there’s heaps and heaps of bars around there and most only seem to accommodate 5-10 people max. mother is good if you want to drink cheapish beer and listen to black sabbath and dead kennedys.
also, hit up one of the baseball driving range type things, pretty fun.
i’ve heard that capsule hotels that women can stay at are pretty rare, but if you can find one, do it! i stayed in one with a mate on our first night in japan and it was great, if a little bizarre.
9 Hours in Kyoto is a pretty good Capsule hotel. I wouldn’t bother to be honest as only a few doors down there was a pretty good hostel for pretty much the same price.
I’m going to be in Tokyo in October for a week with my bike, on my way back to the UK. It’s my second time. I’ve booked a room at the Sakura Hotel in Ikebukuro. It’s good that they have a range of different rooms to choose from and have special offers for each season. I didn’t want to share, so went for a single room, which is about $60 per night. They have a few locations, but I decided the Ikebukuro one was best for me.
I used a service that a lot of westerners call ‘Black Cat’ to cart my snowboard to and from the mountains.
Just note that it may take 2 days for it to get to where you are going.
Along a different line to the above tips, which are mostly great, I reckon its worthwile taking a train into the countryside and riding away… You can get the impression that all of Japan is crowded and citified while on the train, but often its just built up around the train lines, as it should be. I remember the station that I lived at looked like an armpit, but about 10mins ride away I was riding through endless rice fields, with the odd amazingly steep hill thrown in.
That time of year it will be V cold north of Tokyo, but head down the boso penninsula, for a $7 or so train fare and 90mins from the Yamanote line (Kisarazu station is a good place to start) and ride all over it. If you keep going in any one direction you will hit a train line and they all go back to Tokyo and Chiba.
Another recommendation would be to mix it up between big name chain stores (It’d be a bummer to come home and not be able to talk about various yoshinoya dishes) and little independent “restaurants”/stands. Don’t feel like you’re selling out by having a meal at Mosburger, places like that got massive cos they are pretty rad.
I’m not so sure about the talk about acting shy about speaking Japanese. I found plenty of people in Japan keen to speak English, especially young people.
As a cyclist, the best things to buy from combinis are rice balls, or onigiri. I think a lot people think you can live on them alone, and why wouldnt you at $1.20 a pop! Oh, and for instant energy that isnt too crazy sweet, Youkan… Its a sort of non-sweet jelly you can buy in little bricks. Every lawson, family mart and whatever else will have a good selection.
Pocari Sweat is the bomb. Calorie Mate isn’t as good the tenth time. Boss Coffee is good, but I rate Georgia Emerald Mountain as the nicest.
If you really want a gun of a fixy guide and are willing to elbow other people out of the way, Yohei Morita is the man.
JP - i think you are one of the few people I have found that likes ‘the sweat’ as well. i first bought it for the ‘weird’ name, and came back for the taste.
yep. although the best iced coffee i got was a brand called Lacti, which came in a big m-style carton, not a can.
if you go to starbucks and order an iced coffee make sure you order a frappe, cos if you just ask for an iced coffee you’ll get an ice cold long black and that shit wasnt good.
go to the monkey park at the top of a hill in kyoto (see earlier post about the bamboo forest) just dont look them in the eye or they will come at you, bro.
and get a Royal Milk Tea Swirkle at Tully’s Coffee, just so you can tell me what they’re like. not trying one was my biggest regret.
