/jp/ - Otaku Culture

[Anonymous No.]

Japanese-American guy going to GLORIOUS NIPPON for the first time in a few months. Will be living there for three months, August to October. What do I do while I'm there? I plan on getting rid of the touristy shit as quickly as possible, then spending my free time going to concerts and hanging out at dive bars like Gas Panic.

As for background info and time constraints, I'll be working as an attorney/law clerk/intern for a Japanese multinational while I'm there. The hours are very good and afford me Friday through Sunday free and I'll only be at work until 4 or 5 in the afternoon on Monday through Thursday. As for location I'll be staying at the Shangri-la in Tokyo (due only to the fact one of the attorneys hooked me up with a very mitigated rate, as it would be WAY out of my price range otherwise).

I really want to experience it all on my own without being led by the hand with a tour group or shown around by the people that I'll be working with. So, basically I need recommendations as to sights to see, restaurants to eat at, concerts to go to, and clubs/bars that are good to hang out at to unwind and also ones that are constant parties. One of my big things is going to small towns for local food, so if anyone knows anything about that I'd appreciate it. Budget isn't really an issue. Also no sex industry suggestions, as my friends have jokingly (and perhaps not so jokingly) alluded to.

On a side note, somewhat of a closet nerd, as if that wasn't obvious from me posting here. Got any recommended game stores or manga, anime and figure shops?

Thanks in advance, guys.

[Anonymous No.]

>Japanese-American guy going to
Stopped reading here

Wrong board
>>>/trv/

[Anonymous No.]

As much as I wished /jp/ were pros on this stuff
go to /trv/ a board that deserves respect

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630020

You guys would know more about this than Travel would. Also, everyone on there is a troll and I'd get no actual answers, plus one of my questions is specific to this board.

Not to mention it's something to break the Touhou flood on the first page.

[Anonymous No.]

>>>trv

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630074
>Not to mention it's something to break the Touhou flood on the first page.
>Reitaisai and anticipation for Double Spoiler currently ongoing

what.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630103
That's not an excuse. Condense your damn threads.

[Anonymous No.]

>Japanese-American
Do you understand any Japanese? 読み書きできる？出来るなら、こんな所より日本のサイトでも見て来い。読
めないなら日本語勉強しろ、カス

[Anonymous No.]

First Step:
Use JapanesePod101.com to learn the necessary phrases.

Second Step:
Hook me up with that awesome crib and I'll get you tons of girls here, promised. Or use my connections and bring you to Soaplands. (I'm a former host in Kabukicho)

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630177
>>4630012

Nvm, thought that was just a pimping tower mansion.

Still, get your buddy to find me an awesome apartment for 120,000 JPY / month and I'll hook you up with all the girls you'll ever need.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630144

It's sort of strange. I can speak a fair bit, and I have a large legal vocabulary in Japanese, but my reading and writing is pretty shitty. For example, I can understand most of what you wrote there, but I wouldn't be able to, say, read a novel in great detail. I also have no practice with an Asian-font keyboard, otherwise I would have tried my luck at posting this on iichan. I'm currently enrolled in a class at a local junior college to improve my writing and typing skills though, so hopefully I'll be at least somewhat proficient by the time I leave.

Fortunately, the majority of the work I'll be doing is for Japan-America and Japan-France contractual and international trade issues, the majority of which will be in English or French, in which I'm fluent. As for getting around, by the time I get there it shouldn't be too much of a problem, and there are always phone apps that I can use to guide myself around.

[Anonymous No.]

>going to concerts
Good idea. Lots of cool stuff to see. Intimate venues too. I've sat feet away from some of my favorite artists and talked to them after shows.

>hanging out at dive bars like Gas Panic.
ahahaha faggot.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630233
If you've got the vocabulary and grammar, you can rikaichan your way through Japanese sites for better information than what you would find here, or go to /trv/.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630253

Gaspanic is the worst place you can go in Japan.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630177
>>4630208

Haha, one of the attorneys that I'll be working with was a former real estate guru here in the States, unfortunately I don't know any of them well enough to ask favors of them yet. I actually got the job through a business connection of mine who knew a guy that was previously counsel for the corporation before he retired. Possibly after my internship, if it goes well, as I might end up living there full time and I'll need a bachelor pad of my own. Thanks for the offer though, and you certainly look like a bro.

By the way, seeing as you used to be a host, would you happen to have any advice on clubs or bars in the area, or that would be good places to hit up on weekend trips after I see all the usual tourist fare? The only places I've really heard anything about so far from my friends are Gas Panic! and Womb, and from all accounts they seem pretty seedy.

[Anonymous No.]

Ask /trv/

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630253

Yeah, I've heard a lot of the places that the bands I listen to play at are pretty low capacity venues. As for the Gas Panic! reference, I was actually sorta joking as I've seen pictures of the place that one of my friends took, and it looks extremely seedy and STD-laden.

>>4630260

Thanks, I actually forgot all about that extension. It'll definitely help.

>>4630301

So I've heard.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630351
What kind of bands are you into? I might be able to suggest some venues. Even small concerts for independent artists are pretty pricey though. The average "live house" usually charges around 3,000~4,000Y plus a drink ticket.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630012
Try asking /trv/

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630310

Dang, well, good luck when you come back. Finding a place to rent from these fucking chinks is hard and they're worse than Jews when it comes to bargaining prices.

Womb is okay. Gaspanic is somewhere never to go. I wouldn't even tell my enemies about it.

My favorites are New Lex, F-bar and Camelot for clubs.
As for bars,
Pub Cardinal Akasaka (PCA), Any HUB, TGIF, Ginza 300 Yen Bar, 0 Bar (Shibuya near Outback), Geronimo's (Shot bar in Roppongi)

Atom is easy to get laid at but it also depends on whether or not you want AIDS.

Last night I pulled two girls from HUB to karaoke, made out with them at the same time and then brought them both to a love hotel in Shinjuku. Was shooting for a menage a trois but 1 of them ended up passing out while I fucked her friend next to her on the big bed, left them both there and took a taxi home.

Lots of fun in this city...

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630012
1) walk into bookstore once you get there
2) buy a tour book on the place you'll be staying
3) ???
4) have fun/profit

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630384

I listen to pretty much everything actually, but honorable mentions would be Onmyo-za, Aural Vampire, Electric Eel Shock, Maximum the Hormone, Ohmura Takayoshi, Ogre You Asshole, En, 9mm Parabellum Bullet, UltraFuckers, Lite, Watusi Zombie, YDESTROYDE, Zeni Geva, Niumun, kuruucrew and Satanicpornoccultshop. Lots of rock and experimental stuff, mostly.

About drink tickets, I've heard they're mandatory at every venue in Japan. Is this true? How much extra is it, usually? I know alcohol tends to be expensive there.

>>4630448

Awesome, thanks man. Again, you're a bro.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630471

NP!

Booze in Japan = fucking expensive. That's why you get girls to pay for it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630009
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[Anonymous No.]

>>4630471
>Lots of rock and experimental stuff, mostly.
Nice. Tokyo is definitely the place to be for that. Look at the schedules for places like Shibuya-AX, Superdeluxe, Shibuya-O, Duo Music Exchange, and UFO Club--amongst other locations. My personal favorite is Superdeluxe, which is an undecorated basement with little more than a bar and some wooden blocks to sit on. Lots of far-out musicians there.

>About drink tickets
Only show that I saw which didn't require a drink ticket was in a classroom at a university. It's usually about 500 yen extra, which isn't terrible. Some of those places even have beer that isn't Asahi/Kirin/Sapporo too, which makes it well worth the money anyway imo.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630448
fascinating...

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630177

Hey since you were a host, how much yakuza shit actually goes down there?

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630637

It's run by the Yakuza and many hosts join eventually due to no other options for work. Only guy to outsell me month after month was Yakuza and I'm pretty sure it's because of his connections. Others who do well are given the chance to work at companies the same yakuza have connections to and try to get into "clean" work like accounting or sales.

Yakuza run prostitute joints, fuzoku, hostess clubs and cabaret clubs. But here's the secret many people don't realize; they also own many of the host clubs (only 2 I know are an exception).

Salary men take their money to the women, the women take that same money to the host clubs (9/10 customers are night workers) and all that money the women (and some girls...) made returns to the hands of their bosses and they continue selling their bodies to pay off loans or whatever it is they're doing it for.

When you want to quit hosting, you don't just quit - they won't let you. They build it up as your "last event" and the club is open for about 16-18 hours. The objective is to squeeze every last yen out of your clients that they can before they lose you - and at the expense of your liver. Then they also make sure your coworkers are in on every table of your clients to retain them for the club as a valuable source of income.

Other dirty ways they try to retain money is by taxing your monthly salary with fees for breaking stuff or supposed medical fees for when you get in a fight with coworkers over clientele (competition is rough). In reality they don't even pass on the money to the host you kicked the shit out of. Every month I got my salary I had to threaten the manager to let up on it or I'd leave and about 80,000 JPY would be added back.

checkout my blog for more http://www.hostinjapan.com

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630781

How the hell does that even work with the non yakuza run host clubs, wouldn't they be run out the business one way or another?

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630781

Thanks man, I'll definitely check out their schedules.

>>4630573

Corporate mafia indeed. Are the Yakuza in Japan much different from the ones here in the US? I lived in San Francisco for a while and it's sort of inevitable that you end up knowing people in various gangs and mafia organizations. I still keep in contact with a few choice individuals and they're all pretty nice guys if you don't fuck with their money or their women, and if you're close friends with them they tend to hook you up with pretty awesome perks at clubs and hotels in the area.

I'm talking about on a social basis, after you get to know them, rather than on a work basis. I hear most people try and steer clear of the Yakuza in Japan though, so I don't know if you'd have any insight on that.
Still no advice on what sights to see, guys? Or food?

[Anonymous No.]

If anyone says anything to you that you do not understand, pretend as though you were deaf.

[Anonymous No.]

Do you look Japanese? If so then you should have no problem looking "touristy".

[Anonymous No.]

Go to maid cafe, ask if they can do some after time with you, get banned from Japan.

[[a/nimu and mangoes No.]

>>4630863
>Yakuza
Dunno. My only experience with these guys was vicariously, while watching Trapeze. That animu depicts them as being a little like old /b/, and not in a good way.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4630866
This is what I use headphones for.

>>4630871
I c wut u did thar.

>>4631041
That's the one thing I've vowed not to do. Go to a maid café.

>>4631142
That show reminds me of Shin-chan with added new-/b/.

[Anonymous of Germany !WvzhzxDiIQ No.]

I never really got the appeal of sight seeing, especially using some kind of guide book. When i was in Japan I went to Kyoto and the whole city is like some huge sight seeing place, but they pretty much charge entry fees everywhere. Luckily I went around the place with two Japanese and a Norse guy I met at the hostel. The Japanese guys knew their way around and only showed us the free places, haha. I didn't really feel like paying just to see some places. Though it might have been worth it for that golden pavillion or what's it called. Oh well.

One of my favorite past times in Tokyo was just walking around planlessly. Sometimes you'd run into nice places you'd never have found using a guide book and sometimes you'd wonder where the fuck you were. Also there are shrines and temples everywhere, you don't really need to find them, they find you. Anyways enough ranting, if you really want to just google "Tokyo Sightseeing" seeing as you won't get much of a useful response from here.

Also first thing to do over there is buy yourself a cellphone, you will need it, trust me.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4631204
>That's the one thing I've vowed not to do. Go to a maid café.
Why ? Are you scared you won't be able to control yourself ?

If I go to Japan someday, this is definetely the kind of place I'm going to hang out at the most.

[Anonymous of Germany !WvzhzxDiIQ No.]

>>4630208

I know someone who may or may not help you with that. I'm not currently in Japan but I could give you his number, of course I can't post it on /jp/ but add me in MSN and we'll talk.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4631381
>If I go to Japan someday, this is definetely the kind of place I'm going to hang out at the most.

Why? It's awkward and expensive.

[Anonymous No.]

>>4631487

It is indeed expensive, but I don't find it awkward at all. Being circled by maids is my dream. I'll go to one of those where you can choose a girl and be alone with her in a room to play video games. Maybe I'll feel a bit less ronery, or not.