I’m going to Tokyo! What should I do?

Started by nintendodork, May 19, 2019, 11:16:09 am

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nintendodork

May 19, 2019, 11:16:09 am Last Edit: May 19, 2019, 11:29:01 am by nintendodork
Given the nature of this forum I thought a lot of you might be good sources of info for helping me plan my March 2020 trip to Tokyo, Japan! We will be there for two weeks, and are trying to stay within Tokyo but might be up for a day trip somewhere else within a reasonable distance. Give me all your ideas!

Some stuff I have so far:
• Pre-Famicom Nintendo toy hunting in Akihabara (my biggest goal)
• I need tips on good used record stores (trying to find Yellow Magic Orchestra, Shigeo Sekito, Tatsuro Yamashita, etc)
• Ghibli Park/Museum
• Digital Art Galleries (but also any substantial or cool regular art galleries would be fun)
• Sunshine City Pokemon Center (the biggest one?)
• Kawaguchiko Music Forest
• Mascot cafes (Kirby, Pokemon, Square Enix, open to other cute cafe suggestions)
• Bonobo nightclub (looking for any cool electronic music spots!)
• Todoroki Valley for some nice sightseeing/shrines
• Imperial Palace (I definitely wanna spend some time looking at cool historical architecture)

These are just a few things that sound pretty interesting to me so far.  :bub:
I like to glitch old VHS tapes and turn them into visuals for live music events. Check out what I'm working on - www.instagram.com/tylerisneat

P

Yes Beep (old computers and video games) and Super Potato (retro video games and arcade) in Akihabara are great, I always go there when I visit Tokyo. I usually only buy something cheap there, you should treat them more like museums than shops. I've bought some great hardware there cheap though, because they were sold as untested. I knew that this stuff seldom breaks so I took the risk, and it was only a few yen anyway (it worked perfectly). Super Potato in Sunshine City isn't bad either.

If you want to see some old Tokyo, Asakusa is great.

For the Ghibli Museum I heard that it can be very hard to get tickets because it's so popular. You have to pre-book. If you get in however, I highly recommend it. I've only been there at a school trip where the school got the tickets for us.

For night clubs, I've had mostly bad experiences in Tokyo. Expensive entrance fees, expensive drinks, no beer, foreigners can't come in, too many weird foreigners etc. I had better luck in Sapporo (free entrance, cheap beer, nice people etc). Some people I know that go to clubs more often than me had good experiences in Tokyo though.

Only record store I know is Tower Records.
For used CD/DVD/BDs and games I often go to Book Off (and Hard Off etc). You can find better prices there on used stuff than in the big Akihabara stores and they are everywhere.

The Mandarake chain is also worth a look. You should definitely go to the original Mandarake stores in Nakano if you have time. It's in the Nakano Broadway shopping mall which is like a small Akihabara with tons of nerdy stuff, retro stuff and some plain weird stuff. It also has a good arcade hall.

If you haven't been to a Don Quijote that may also be an interesting experience. They sell about anything and usually for cheaper than other places. I found a NOS Dragon Quest Kenshin there for cheap. Sometimes you can find those hanko machines where you can design your own stamp using a touch-screen interface (with limitations) and the machine will carve the hanko for you in about 15 minutes. They can be found in other places as well. I built mine using one of these machines and use it for work.

nintendodork

QuoteBeep and Super Potato

I have heard from many that Super Potato is pretty expensive now, however I'm trying to save up quite a bit of money for this trip so I'll probably splurge against my better judgement at least once. But treating them like museums is a good suggestion and one I will definitely hear played back in my head when I'm there, much like the Professor's voice when you use your bike in a place you aren't supposed to in Pokemon. We were looking at Nakano Broadway already, but I missed the Mandarake store. That place looks awesome, it will definitely go on our list. Saw some pics from there that had Game and Watches for over $200, but maybe that's just par for the course now. :-/

QuoteGhibli Museum

Yes, I've read that you need to buy tickets four months in advance because they only let 200 international people in every day, and that's how far ahead they go on sale. I will definitely be on top of that and I really hope it works out. I'm so excited to finish the Studio Ghibli filmography leading up to this trip!!

QuoteNight clubs

I found an article that listed a handful of clubs that seemed to be tourist friendly. One that stuck out to me on the list is Oath with its chiller vibe and vinyl-centric DJs. I can only dream of what cool tunes i'd hear in a place like that. https://acclaimmag.com/culture/starter-pack-guide-tokyo-club-scene/

Thanks, both of you, for your knowledge. I appreciate it so much. :-)
I like to glitch old VHS tapes and turn them into visuals for live music events. Check out what I'm working on - www.instagram.com/tylerisneat

senseiman

I tend to support the Super Potato idea, its the one place every Famicom fan has to visit once in their life.

Tokyo has too much to really set out a list of other recommendations, its massive (and great). 

nensondubois

I was going to recommend Super Potato but the prices are higher than you would expect. I had a few other cursory suggestions but they're probably not very interesting and everyone else mentioned most of the key points of interest.

Game & Watch prices are 200 and going up. I would collect them but they're out of my league.

nintendodork

Please, anything you can recommend, I'd love to hear! I'm trying to expand my scope in or around Tokyo as much as possible. The bigger my initial list is, the better!
I like to glitch old VHS tapes and turn them into visuals for live music events. Check out what I'm working on - www.instagram.com/tylerisneat

nensondubois

Try a handful of convenience store food items from Lawson and 7-11 that are unique to Japan. It may sound like a super shitty thing to do but it is worth the experience. Also, from Lawson, try the Loppi ticketing system and get a partial feel of how FDS and Nintendo Power kiosk service worked.

Seriously, find a way to get a look at Mt Fuji, go to a Japanese baseball game, try a hot spring, use a vending machine for an obscure item, there's loads of wacky things there to do while visiting Japan aside from the most common tourist attractions.