Japan Retrospective

I'm afraid it's been... 6 years. While working on a gig I had involving writing about blogs, I rediscovered this old blog and saw that I was logged in. A lot can change in six years' time. I'm married, have a great career, out of college, and life has been going great. And I got to go to Japan for a month.

Just a public domain photo I added so that the thumbnail preview isn't the next photo

Me and my wife, Danni, are both weebs. She kind of magnified my love for that culture. After her grandpa left us some money, we decided to buy tickets and lodging in Tokyo and stay for a month. We work online, so we can stay longer than most. No having to sacrifice a year's worth of free days just to get a week's vacation. This gave us time to embrace and adapt.

It's been over a month since I've returned to the states, but fuck, do I miss it. I've compiled a list of things I miss about the country, along with stuff I didn't miss when I was there.

Things I Miss:

Adult stores

If you follow us on Facebook, you know us; we are degenerates. The adult stores in the US always make us sad. Overpriced bullshit that you can buy for a fraction of the price online. Sometimes you get lucky, but that's it.

The adult stores in Japan come in multiple floors and cater to many interests. Trap lingerie, onaholes out the ass, hentai books, you name it.

In Akihabara, there are even adult stores that go on for ten floors. And you can just stumble into lewd stores while in shopping malls as well. 

They don't take themselves seriously, either. 

Affordable anime merchandise

It's hard out here for an otaku in the US. Figures, DVDs, doujins, and any other bit of weeb goodness costs a pretty penny. A doujin that goes for less than three bucks in Japan would be pumped up to $20 at a convention. I know sellers got to make a profit, but sheesh. Honestly, it's more economic to find a cheap ticket to Japan and visit Akihibara for a few days than to get ripped off at the dealer's room at AWA.

Unfortunately, it does add up. I'll get to that later.

Green tea, sesame, and other unique dessert flavors

Drinking some hot macha coffee or trying sesame ice cream was a unique experience. What else can I say? I'm missing it already. They even had an all you can eat dessert bar. Surprised I didn't get diabeetus from it.

Goro Akechi is a lucky motherfucker

Japanese foods

You can get Japanese foods here, but they're not the same. The sushi is different, and what restaurant in the US is going to serve you raw horse? I didn't think so. Plus, in Japan, they do have American foods when you miss home a bit.

The raw horse is in the middle. NEIGH

Public baths

Going into the public bath was quite intriguing. Everyone is naked, yet no one is ashamed or cares. If you come into the bath wearing boxers, you'd get laughed at. Everyone gets in the hot springs and just relaxes, which I dig. Public baths are cool, and apparently some are good for LGBT people. I only went to one, and the public bath at Hotel Mt. Fuji, but I enjoyed both of them and would love to see more here.

Also, the Hotel Mount Fuji had a beautiful view of the mountain.

Cheap convenience store alcoholic drinks

Yeah, the US has that too, but the Strong Zero they sell at convenience stores. is around a dollar and gets you more fucked up than most stuff I've drank for around that price. Way better than Four Loko.

Nomihoudai

This is an all you can drink, and it's available in some places. We did it once when we were here, and we got so wasted I was surprised we didn't throw up and we made it home safe and sound. 

Kit Kats

Kit Kats have always been one of my favorite mainstream candy bars. That combination of wafers and chocolate is simple, yet satisfying. However, you don't have much variety in America.

In Japan, you have dozens of flavors. Green tea, strawberry, pudding, even sake! I could never get a break from a new flavor of Kit Kat. Kinda sucks coming back and all you have here is milk chocolate. Like why?

Drinking in public

Obviously, if you go into a private business, they may not allow it, but when you're walking down the streets, you can crack open a cold one and no one will give a flying fuck. Every day is a party while walking down the streets.

Gachas

If you've been inside a grocery, you've probably seen machines where you put a few quarters in and you get a cheap toy or a sticker. Gachas are similar, but they give you capsules filled with higher quality toys and goodies, and there are so many of them with many varieties. You can find gachas with cat hats, toy hedgehogs, toys of Tokyo Tower, Pokemon, sexy One Piece girls, and the list goes on. I'd love to see something similar here.

Cat hats were a common theme

Cool vending machines

The US has drink vending machines, but Japan has more variety. They have soda, tea, energy drinks, electrolyte drinks, a weird corn drink, and the list goes on. It's not just Coke and Pepsi products. I even saw weird creamed corn cans, which I forgot to try because they looked disgusting.

Which drink you picking?

Bidets

In many public places, they have bidets, which are toilets that have a variety of features. They can play music, warm the seat, and most famously, squirt water to clean your butt. I've talked to some people who are turned off by this idea for some odd reason. I don't get it. Cleaning your dirty ass with a blast of water is better than using TP, which never fucking does the job. While you can buy bidets for your personal use in the US, I wish they could come to public restrooms and whatnot. People thought I was insane for liking them, but I think they're the crazy ones. 

I'm looking at you, Timmy Chan

The train system

I had a bad experience when I first arrived in Japan where one train broke down and it took forever to get home. My jetlagged ass hated their train system at a time, but that was the only bump in an otherwise awesome system. Google Maps can tell you which trains to take, and they come fast, get you to your destination, and navigating the station is quite easy.

Indoor theme parks

There are quite a few indoor theme parks in Tokyo, themed around One Piece, shonen anime, Sega, and more. These parks have unique attractions, games, and activities. One had you walking around the park, trying to find ghosts. There were a few VR rollercoasters that were quite fun. They are quite different from other theme parks, and I'd love to see more here.

The One Piece theme park though

No tipping

You realize how bullshit the tipping system is in America once you go to another country. I tip well, but I wish America could be like other countries and just pay the damn staff instead of taxing us.

Hit button for service

At service places, you always feel rushed trying to order something. Or, you know what you want and it takes forever for the server to come by your table. In many restaurants, such as Johnathan's, they gave you a button, and you hit the button when you were ready. The server would be there almost instantly and not bother you again until you hit the button.

Ramen machines

At first, I was confused how these work. In a US ramen shop, it's no different than any other place. In Japan, you go to these machine, insert some yen, and select what you want. Sometimes, it's designed like an old-school vending machine, and other times, there is a touch screen, usually with a helpful English option. Once you get everything, they give you a ticket. Hand it to the chef and you're all set!

Good KFC

The KFC here just doesn't taste right. I live in the state where it was created, and it tastes like shit and has been for many years.

Japan's KFC is much better. Their chicken has a stronger flavor and more meat on the bone. Plus, the Halloween buckets! They are worth it for that alone. They have odd donut biscuits, too.

Buckethead I'm not

7-Eleven pastries

The pastries at 7-Eleven, and other convenience stores, were so good. That was most of my breakfast in Japan. From melon bread to jelly and cream cheese, they had them all.

So good

Themed cafes

They are gimmicky as hell, but I loved eating at cutesey cafes themed around anime and video games. The Square Enix World Ends With You cafe was awesome, and so was the Steins;Gate cafe. And, of course, you can't talk about themed cafes without talking about the maid cafes. We went to a normal one and a male crossdressing themed one. Guess which one we liked better?

El Psy Kongroo

Johanthan's

You gotta love sit-in diners, and Johnathan's had it in spades. It was the exclusive chain restaurant we ate at the most in Tokyo, and for good reason. Service is extremely fast, with your order made by hitting a button. They served some godlike French Toast that kept me coming back. Plus, for a small fee, there was the drink bar. You had access to unlimited hot chocolates, macha coffee, iced coffee, soda, and the list goes on. Why can't we have that at IHOP and other places?

The Lack of Kids

Japan's birthrate is plummeting. While this may be a bit of a problem in the long run, it sure was nice to not have screaming kids every where you go. Kentucky, being breeder central, is quite the obvious. This is a state where screaming babies were in an adult panel at an anime con, for fuck's sake. Also, the kids they had seemed much more well-behaved.

Halloween

I know loving Halloween is a bit normie nowadays, but fuck, do I love the holiday. I didn't know Tokyo loved it as well, but they love it better than we do. Everything is Halloween themed, from the snacks you eat to the homes the fish swim in at the aquarium. Kinda makes me wonder how Christmas season is. I'm the weirdo who enjoys both holidays.

Aesthetic 

Cosplay shops

In the US, you gotta order your cosplays from sketchy Chinese sellers. They take forever to ship, and they're always too big or too small, no matter how much you customize your order. Wouldn't it be nice if you have a brick and mortar store to buy your cosplay goods in?

They exist in Tokyo. Every cosplay accessory you can think of is available, and while most of the cosplays were too small for our American bodies, I love the idea.

Cosplay is the great uniter. And we look like shit because jet lag

Animal cafes

Cat cafes are getting somewhat popular in the US, but what about a cafe where you can play with owls for a bit? Or hedgehogs? Ikefukuro, an owl cafe we visited, was quite fun. It wasn't much of a cafe, but playing with the owls and just chilling there for an hour was an experience.

O rly?

Don Quijote

This is a one-stop shop with many floors, packed with everything you need. They had a floor dedicated to Halloween clothes, a floor for electronics, and even a small adult section. We got lots of cool stuff there, and it's way better than Walmart.

Arcade culture

Here in the US, arcades are a niche market. You have them in pizza places or at your Dave and Buster's, and if you go to Chicago, you can go to Galloping Ghost. However, you don't have floors of different arcade games, each themed. You have a floor dedicated to claw machines, with prizes way cooler than the US (too bad I suck at Japanese crane games,) you got floors dedicated to gambling, a floor for kawaii photobooths, and so on. It's quite amazing.


Madarake

This is the place to go if you want nerdy goods for cheap, as well as rarer, more expensive figures. There are many Madarakes across Tokyo, and each of them had something new to offer. I spent so much in there, and there was a lot of goods I didn't buy that I wish I did. Plus, one Madarake had a cute Ann from Persona 5 cosplayer working in there, so there's that.

As parodied in SSSS Gridman

Wont miss:

Elevators that murder you

If you run into an elevator door while it's closing in America, it'll open. In Japan, it'll keep closing. It closed on me a few times, and it hurt!

Can't call anyone

I didn't want to bother with the hassle of switching my SIM card and whatnot, so I didn't have phone or SMS on my smartphone. On one hand, not getting scam calls was nice. On the other, communicating with some family members who don't use Facebook was a bit more difficult.

Obvious language barrier

Ah, the language barrier. No matter how connected our world is, this holds us back. While I'm not some guy who likes to chat with random strangers, it would have been nice to make friends there, if it weren't for that damn language barrier.

Even people who did know English would misinterpret us. There was an upset at Disney world involving seating for a show. One time, we stayed at a hotel and the AC was pumping out hot air. We asked the person at the booth how to fix it, and he thought we were talking about the AC in the entire hotel, not the individual room.

The worst part of the language barrier? Seeing people walking shibes and you don't know how to ask them to pet their pooch, or if that's even okay.

Who wouldn't want to pet this baby? 

Lack of nature

One of the woes of staying a month in a big city is that you don't have a spot to enjoy nature. There are some beautiful parks in Tokyo with some nature in it, but it's never quite the same as getting lost in the woods, is it?

The parks are beautiful though

No photo

In the US, you can go to most shops and snap some photos in stores and businesses. The owners realize that you'll share them to social media, and that's great promotion. There are some stores that are more anal about that sort of thing, but all in all, you don't see it often.

You see it a lot in Japan. There are some places that allow it, but you're greeted to plenty of "no photo" signs. And, you know, that's fine, I wanna be respectful to your culture, but my hand is automatically programmed to take a photo of something that interests me, and sometimes, it was hard to resist.

The funniest no photo sign came from a punky store in Harujuku that said something along the lines of "Fuck you foreigner no photo" or something to that effect. I'd show you a picture of it, but you know.

You can take a photo of this though

Lack of free refills

In America, I'm so used to fast food places and restaurants having unlimited soft drink refills. I'm a slut for Coke Zero, dammit. Besides the drink bars in places such as Johnathan's, I didn't see too many fast food places with free refill fountains. The only places I recall were a Carl's Jr. in Akihabara (AKA Hardee's) and a Taco Bell we ate at in a mall.

Real American foods and bacon

Eating foreign foods was nice, but sometimes you gotta have that nasty-ass American food, ya know? Sadly, the burger places tended to not be as good as Five Guys or other places. Also, let's talk about that bacon. That is ham. I like ham, but it's not bacon. Why you calling it bacon? Reeee.

They serve alcohol at Wendy's, though 

Lack of Crunchyroll

You can't really use Crunchyroll in Japan unless you have a VPN. I ended up using illegal streaming sites to get my stuff. And so many good animes debuted while I was in there, like Goblin Slayer and Jojo Part 5.

Hostels

I guess this is a complaint that would happen everywhere you go, but man, we stayed at two hostels, and they were a mixed bag. The second was a lot better than the first, but the first one was noisy, always had people in the bathroom, and even had bugs. Ugh.


Tiny rooms 

Speaking of places you stay in, the rooms in hotels were typically small, and didn't fit all our goods. A couple of hotels were more of the size in the US, but others were tiny as fuck and felt like they were designed for one person who didn't have much to pack.

This apartment was pretty nice though

Spending too much

A personal grievance, but we spent so much on food and merchandise in that month. I'm sure glad the dollar is worth more, because we may have been in the red completely when all was said and done. I swear in Akihabara, they pump some gas through the vents to get you to spend more.

Only using cash 

I could use my card, but I would have had extra fees. Lugging all those yen coins around was a bit annoying. Luckily, getting money is easy. Go to an ATM in 7-Eleven and withdraw some money. The ATM fees are less than in America if you withdraw from an ATM that isn't your bank. Da fuck?

Yen rules everything around me

Bars that rip you off

This happened to us once. We tried a bar and had a couple of drinks. The bartender spoke perfect English and was quite fun. However, the bill was more than two drinks, and we definitely got milked being foreigners and all. It is what it is I guess. With all you can drinks, it's equivalent exchange.

Danni doesn't like the water
When traveling to a foreign country, you always risk drinking from the tap. The water tasted fine to me, but Danni got a little queasy from it. Plus, it was harder to stay hydrated while traveling.

Not seeing my cats

Another personal one, but it did suck leaving my cats home for a month. They had our neighbor taking care of them, and when we came back, they acted like we left for a few hours, but fuck, did we miss them. Especially since we saw so many cute animals there.

Their reaction when I cam back

Things I wish I knew:

Learn more Japanese

An obvious one. While I won't master the language, knowing a bit more could have been beneficial in some situations.

Rent a car when in rural areas

Obviously, a big city like Tokyo doesn't need a car. However, when traveling in the Mount Fuji area, not having a car definitely held back our experiences. Like it took a few hours to walk to a mountain, when we could have driven easily. Getting an international license and traveling more in the country is what my goal will be the next time we visit.

Preferably a car that looks like this

Check the tourist seasons

We wanted to climb Mt. Fuji, but it wasn't the season to do so. It doesn't matter, anyway, as we climbed a smaller mountain and couldn't make it to the top with the equipment we had. Oh well.

Gahgeous

A month is too much time, but at the same time, not enough

Finally, looking back, it's hard to say if my vacation was too long. During the last week, I was like "Yeah, this vacation is great, but I'm ready to go back." However, being back, I realized there was a lot of stuff we could have done if we stayed for another month. I didn't even get to do karaoke. There is always new stuff to see and do in the country, and we will definitely be back in a few years to go to Osaka and maybe other places too.

Also, may continue writing on this blog if people enjoy it. Who knows?

I may also update this blog if I missed any ideas or photos. Until then, check out the rest of my photos here.