During November 2014 I was lucky enough to spend 8 nights in Japan. This was my fourth visit, so whilst I was somewhat familiar, this was the first time I visited solo. In the lead up to this visit, I killed a lot of time searching for info and reading about other people’s experiences, travel tips etc. Some of the information I discovered was extremely valuable and helped with the planning of my trip, therefore I thought it only fair I repaid the favour and documented the details of my trip on the off chance some of this information is useful to anyone else planning their visit to Japan.

So why do I enjoy Japan so much? It ticks a few more specific boxes for me – the purchasing of music in a physical form (i.e. shopping for vinyl), pro-wrestling (or as it’s referred to in Japan – puroresu) and gaming culture (particularly retro and arcade). In addition I like a beer and I’m happy to stay up (very) late drinking it. So when you combine all those things with an all-round awesome country, this is why I continually want to return.

I know a picture is worth a thousand words – however due to some technological issues I came home a few photos short. Ok, truth be told – best I can ascertain my phone is still enjoying the sites of Tokyo, somewhere between Roppongi and Shinjuku….

A few overarching recommendations: 

• Get mobile wi-fi. I read a lot of people recommending this and I always thought to myself “I’ve visited 3 times and survived just fine without it”. Whilst technically true it, having it will make your trip run a lot smoother and at the very least you’ll find a few things a lot quicker utilising google maps and save yourself some time. Having said that, I’d rely on google maps to more ‘point you in the right direction’ than deliver you directly to your desired destination. Addresses in Japan are damn confusing, even with technology in hand. But having said that, I don’t recall not actually finding what I was looking for. I got my device from - https://www.rentafonejapan.com/Mobile-Internet.html - I paid a bit extra and had it delivered to me in Australia before I left. It worked a treat and I can’t recommend it enough, you can also have it delivered to the post office at the airport or your hotel in Japan.

• There is plenty on the net about the Japan Rail Pass so I won’t repeat it here – it is a comparatively cheap way to travel within Japan, the bullet trains/shinkansen are awesome and it all just works like clockwork.

• If you’re moving around a bit and checking in/out of hotels etc –the storage lockers at train stations are extremely handy. In my first three visits I probably wasn’t paying attention – however I can confirm there are actually lockers pretty much everywhere. Each train and subway station seemed to have them, and they’d turn up in other random places too. The larger lockers seemed to be rarer…my bag was the maximum airline carry-on size, crammed full, and it always fit in the smallest 300 YEN locker.

• 100YEN stores are as great as they sound – DAISO seems to be the biggest chain, keep an eye out for it. And if you’re desperate to find one, head to Harajuku and visit the 5 level store on Takeshi-Dori.

• If you are using the trains, http://www.hyperdia.com/ will help you with the timetables. Apparently there is an app too but I believe it’s only available to US and Japanese phones. There is also a “japan trains” app I downloaded which was spot on everytime.

Sunday 9th November – Fukuoka (Sumo)

One of the things I really wanted to do on this trip was go to the Sumo. This trip itself was organised around being in Fukuoka for the first day of the ‘Kyushu basho’.

Fukuoka airport is conveniently located just two subway stops from the main “hakata” station. If you land in the international airport, you will need to take a shuttle bus to the domestic and catch the subway from there.

I didn’t do much else in the city other than getting to the Sumo – if that’s what you’re in town for then it’s pretty straightforward. The bus stops are all clustered outside Hakata station and the event itself is held at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, check this site out for the access info - http://www.marinemesse.or.jp/eng/kokusai/access/#bus

Can’t recall whether I caught the 88 or 99 bus, but it will be obvious when you reach the destination (posters of sumo wrestlers, flags etc). Pretty sure it’s reasonably standard with buses in Japan – get in the rear door and grab a ticket out of the ticket machine. That ticket will have a number printed on it. When you reach your destination, look at the grid at the front of the bus and find your number. Next to your number will be the amount of your fare. Drop that in the box as you exit the bus through the front door. That reads a lot more confusing than it actually is…it’s straightforward, just follow the lead of everyone else and you’ll work it out.

Some tips for the sumo:

• I bought my ticket in advance from http://www.buysumotickets.com/ and had it shipped to me in Australia. It worked well and was the only way I found to buy them without speaking/reading Japanese.

• Unless you’re a real sumo aficionado, I wouldn’t go until mid-afternoon. Actually the place was largely empty, so I don’t even think actual sumo aficionados go before mid-afternoon. Things really heat up later in the day.

• If there is one thing I love, it’s merchandise. The foyer had some sweet sumo merchandise. Sumo trading cards? You got it.

• I’m not sure on the rules regarding food/drinks – I got the feeling you are supposed to buy it from the places in the foyer and take it inside. Just like most places, alcohol is available and if you want to take a bag full of cans back to your seat then it appears to be perfectly acceptable.

Accommodation: Hotel Sunline Fukuoka Hakata-ekimae (http://www.h-sunline.co.jp/hakataekimae/) – all good, close to Hakata station and therefore close to buses and sumo.

Monday 10th November – Hiroshima

Plan for Monday was to visit the Peace Memorial Park and Museum in Hiroshima. Like all train travel on this trip, everything went smooth. I arrived in Hiroshima mid-morning. From memory you can catch the street-car to the peace park (“tram” if you’re from Australia) bit I literally walked straight into a bus-stop outside the station that said it was going there, so I caught it instead.

There are lockers with a 100 YEN refundable deposit at the entrance to the Museum, so if you can’t check into your hotel yet this is a good option.

The Museum itself is as heart wrenching as you would expect, but a very worthwhile experience nonetheless. Getting mobbed by these guys to practise a little English outside the A-Bomb Dome afterwards was a definite highlight.

Hotel: Reino Inn (http://www.reinoinn.com/english/) –for around AUD$38, it doesn’t get much better than this. There are no amenities, so if you want a towel you can rent it from the front desk. Apart from that one anomaly I can’t fault it. There is a restaurant downstairs serving okonomiyaki. It is different to other okonomiyaki in that the ingredients are “layered rather than mixed together”. Either way it was really good.

Tuesday 11th November – Kyoto

Tuesday was largely uneventful; I stopped off at Kobe on the way to Kyoto try the beef…

The accommodation for the next two nights was the 9h (nine hours) capsule hotel. Staying in a capsule hotel was one of the experiences I wanted to have and whilst some capsule hotel purists may argue this tourist-friendly version isn’t really the real deal, it was certainly close enough for me. My observation regarding the whole experience is essentially that the logistics of actually staying are somewhat harder than the physical act of going to sleep:

• You are given two keys – one for a shoe locker near reception, one for a bag locker on Level 6 (for men). Shoes therefore obviously come on and off as you go in and out. The bag locker is around carry-on bag size, I crammed mine in ok but plenty of people had to leave them on a shelf near reception. The bags are accessible to anyone who is entering/leaving the hotel, I guess Japan is like the safest place in the world though

• So your bag will be on level 6 and this is where you can shower. But you will be sleeping on another level. Therefore you need to grab whatever you want in the capsule with you.

• The “lounge”, or at least the lounge which male guests are allowed to use, is more like a few chairs and a bench for using laptops. That’s cool – but if you’re bringing your food/drinks back with you, this is where you’ll be eating/drinking it.

• You check-in & out each day. I believe you can leave your bag on the aforementioned shelf but I opted for a locker in the nearest subway station (I’m risk adverse like that – losing my phone after a big night out is a funny story, having my stash of clean socks stolen would not be)

So what about the actual sleeping conditions? Surprisingly roomy, sitting up is not an issue and it doesn’t feel like you’re in a coffin. Despite it being a relatively cool time of year, it was quite stuffy inside and whilst the majority of people definitely do keep the noise down, the etiquette of shutting up does not appear to be strictly adhered too as there was definitely some talking on the phone etc.

Was it worth it? Definitely, except maybe just for one night. Would I do it again? It’s unlikely I’ll ever be in a position that it’s an option (i.e. travelling companions wouldn’t have a bar of it). But glad I’ve done it once.

I should also say it all seemed very clean and well maintained so there were no issues there.  

Wednesday 12th November – Kyoto

Wednesday was all about the walking tours – and from memory this was also the day I set myself the challenge of eating and drinking only items purchased from either a vending machine or a convenience store. But it wasn’t really that much of a challenge – rice balls, fried chicken, sandwiches, coffee in a can and beer…not really a problem.

So before leaving I read about this English-speaking walking tour operated by a former tour guide who went by the name Johnny Hillwalker. I believe Johnny is in his 80’s and the tour is now operated by WaRaiDo (www.waraido.com), however Johnny still takes the tour on a Wednesday so I was in luck.

I’ve scanned in the pamphlet I picked up at the train station which gives a good overview and the specific tour website is http://www.waraido.com/walking/index.html

The tour starts at the train station and ends around Kiyomizu temple. The premise of the tour is that it avoids the main tourist sites and instead visits places that you may have otherwise walked past without even knowing what was going on (workshops, shrines, coffee shops etc). But for me the highlight was definitely Johnny’s commentary and stories which give an insight into Japanese religion and life in Kyoto. I really can’t recommend it highly enough. Johnny’s hand-drawn map of Kyoto was also a really nice touch and helped me get the bearing’s that google maps had thus far struggled to provide (I was legitimately disorientated by the time I found the meeting spot in the morning).

The area that the tour ends is one of the main tourist districts (follow the traffic up the hill…) so I spent a few hours exploring around here and then made my way back to Gion for the night-time walking tour - http://www.waraido.com/walking/gion.html

Gion is one of the few main remaining active Geisha (“maiko and geiko”) districts. This tour requires a bit more imagination – you will be shown houses and have to believe that behind the closed door…. something is apparently happening!! But it gave a good overview of the area, and yes…one or two of the “real deal” were spotted (albeit if you’re observing with an untrained eye such as me, you’ll need to take someone’s word for it)

Thursday 13th November – Tokyo (Nakano Broadway, Akihabara, Zero1 @ Shinkiba 1^st Ring)

Here we go – four nights in Tokyo, s**ts about to get real.

Arriving in Tokyo about 11ish, my aim for the day was to get some of the “geek shopping” out of the way. Akihabara is obviously quite a well-known spot for this, however I’d read about this place called Nakano Broadway and I wanted to check that out first. I stored my bag at the Akihabara train station, given that is where I’d end up.

Nakano Broadway is essentially a 4 level shopping centre, with the top 3 levels being full of anime, idol, collectibles, gaming etc shops. Google it, you’ll get the picture. To perhaps give it some context, here is scan from the centre guide – it’s basically 3 levels of shops crammed in like this, most of them selling cool stuff.

If you’re into this sort of stuff I’d highly recommend it – mainly picked up random stuff….here’s Great Sasuke, Tiger Mask, some giant Mario & Luigi badges and a sweet Predator badge (I like badges).

Next up was Akihabara – there probably isn’t a great deal I can add to what’s already been written about this place. If you have a specific interest in manga or gaming you’ll likely be well aware and visiting anyway, and even if you don’t, this place has to be seen. If you’re on the look-out for retro gaming items, I came across these blogs who documented direction etc a lot better than I can:

http://retro-video-gaming.com/2014/05/10/retro-gaming-guide-to-akihabara-in-tokyo/

http://www.dcgaga.com/2013/06/guide-to-retro-shopping-in-akihabara.html?m=1

The accommodation for the evening was First Cabin Akihabara - http://www.first-cabin.jp.e.jr.hp.transer.com/locationlist/akihabara.html. The general concept here is that it’s essentially supposed to be a step up from capsule hotel, in that you essentially get a “room”, albeit that “room” is around the same size as a single bed (just jump straight on) and the usual rules apply – you can hear everything and the doors don’t lock. Not sure what the deal is with lockers – didn’t see any and all bags were held by reception (so again, there is the logistics of grabbing what you need). I believe there is a locker somewhere in your room (under/beside the bed perhaps?) but I’ll admit that due to the number of beers I had the wrestling, I’m pretty sure I just feel asleep with my belongings surrounding me. I therefore also can’t really comment on whether the place was quiet etc – if anyone was going to make any noise, unfortunately it was likely to have been me…

Ok so onto one of the significant reasons I enjoy my time in Japan – the puroresu. I’ll admit that in “real life” I follow the Japanese wrestling via keeping an eye on results and watching a few matches online (so not actively), same goes for US wrestling now-a-days (less time and less interest). Notwithstanding – I never pass up on the opportunity to watch it live, no matter where I am, and some of the best live experiences have taken place in Japan (the quality of the product, the crowd reactions and respect for what they are watching, the interactive elements, the wrestlers hanging around the foyer afterwards – just an all-round fun experience)

Before making my first couple of trips to Japan, I scoured the net looking for information regarding the logistics of scoring a ticket to the wrestling. Turns out it’s always been extremely straightforward. I might just cover all the puroresu info here. First of all, the shows I’ve been too over the years:

• New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) – Tokyo Dome – 10^th August 2005 (one of Brock Lesnar’s few appearances for NJPW)

• IWA – Shinjuku Face – Dec 2009 (not sure if there is any connection left to the old deathmatch IWA…certainly didn’t appear to be, the main event featured a Yeti and Abominable Snowman in full costume. Quite surreal)

• Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJPW) - Korakuen Hall – 25^th May 2012

• NJPW - Korakuen Hall – 27^th May 2012 (first night of Best of Super Juniors 2012)

• Zero1 – Shinkiba 1^st Ring – 13^th November 2014

• All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) - Korakuen Hall – 16^th November 2014 (first day of World Strongest Tag League tourney – including (in-ring) appearance by Dory Funk Jr).

So what are some of my observations regarding the logistics.

With regard to tickets, I’ve never bought a ticket in advance and I’ve never missed out. Having said that, with the exception of BOSJ 2012, I probably haven’t been going to anything which is a risk of a sell-out. My understanding is that if you want to buy tickets in advance, there seems to be a couple of options:

• There is a ticket office at Korakuen Hall – I believe it is open on “non-wrestling” days and sells tickets to most of the shows (i.e. not just those being held at the Hall)

• There are ticket machines in Lawson convenient stores and I believe you can use an “L” or “Loppi” code (scour the ticket details on the event website and you should be able to figure it out) and purchase the ticket in advance. Same deal with a “P” or “pia” code – there are apparently machines and actual outlets you can get a ticket from. I’m assuming the machines are all in Japanese – if you search online however there appears to be some guides available

• There is NJPW shop in the neighbourhood surrounding the Tokyo Dome area and I assume they sell tickets to NJPW shows. The “Battle Royal” shop right next door might sell tickets also.

But as I said, I’ve never actually used any of these options. Looking at the various venues:

• The Tokyo Dome shows are obviously a bit of a big deal, so there were ticket booths setup outside. 

• Korakuen Hall – the Hall itself is located on the 5^th floor of the blue building near the Tokyo Dome (literally, look for the one building that is blue). There is sometime a little ticket booth setup in the foyer – if so, you can grab a ticket from there. My Japanese is not good, but pointing at the price category which is listed on the board appears to work just fine. For the BJPW show – I didn’t see anyone in the booth so headed straight to the 5^th floor and sure enough, bought tickets at the door using the same unsophisticated hand signal approach. BOSJ 2012 was the closest thing I’ve seen to a sellout – as a result my ticket cost 8,000 YEN as these were all that remained. But on the plus side, I got the experience of sitting close to ringside. Of course, there was always a risk I would have missed out if I turned up any later

• Shinkiba 1^st Ring – it’s extremely close to Shinkiba station. No dramas buying tickets on the door

• Shinjuku Face – I recall finding this was a bit random (pre wi-fi days), but once I did, tickets at the door.

It can be a weird concept coming for someone coming from Australia – but if you notice people pulling beers out of plastic bags at Korakuen Hall or Shinkiba 1^st Ring, you are correct in assuming these events appear to be fully BYO. Don’t be shy – find a convenience store and join in, it will only enhance the experience.  Not sure if same rule applies at Tokyo Dome (I’d assume a “Dome” would expect to make a profit on its own beer) and I think Shinjuku Face similarly has its own bar you’re expected to buy from.

Friday 14th November – Tokyo (Record shopping, Tokyo Pub Crawl)

I did a bit of digging around for vinyl on Friday – vinyl shopping in Tokyo is something that seems pretty well documented elsewhere, I found these blog posts in particular which helped me out:

http://www.vinylrecordcollector.net/2012/11/tokyo-japan-style-definitions-table.html

http://mostly-retro.com/2013/04/16/the-mostly-retro-guide-to-buying-records-in-japan/

http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/10/16/6595/2298/travel/Guide+to+Cool+Tokyo+Record+Stores

I’m not one of those collectors who is seeking out original pressings or cares too much whether I do or do not find what I’m looking for – I tend to be more obsessive about collecting locally (Australian) released independent music, so I’m well enough catered for when at home. Having said that, I had a couple of things in particular I was on the look-out for and I didn’t leave disappointed. The majority of my time was spent in the Disk Union stores in Shinjuku and RecoFan in Shibuya.  One of the records I specifically wanted to track down whilst in Tokyo was something which was recently released by Tokyo’s 1997 records – “Culture Shock” by The Victims (live recording of early punk band from Perth). I couldn’t locate myself in Disk Unions “punk market” store, so I tried my luck and asked. 3 minutes later I was walking out the door, desired record in hand (for a really reasonable price – around AUD20).

If you’ve got any gaps in your CD collection too, I should really mention the “book off” chain – they were everywhere. I visited, from memory, in Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Shinjuku, Shibuya and Akihabara.

Not sure you’ll find anything too obscure, and I know peoples care-factor about CD’s seem to be plummeting…which probably explains why these stores are absolutely overflowing  with CD’s, including very well stocked 500YEN and 280YEN sections. And if you are one of the people who cares about having every pressing or the Japanese pressings with OBI strips…then I assume this place would be of interest. They also have gaming (including retro), DVD and book sections.

Friday night I tagged along on the Tokyo Pub Crawl – might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I really enjoyed it, check out http://www.tokyopubcrawl.com/. The website pretty much summarises it, you will visit pubs, you will get drunk. Details are a bit sketchy and not for the first time, I owe a debt of gratitude to a friendly Tokyo cab driver you delivered me back to my hotel (although if you find my phone in the back, let me know…)

Saturday 15th November – Tokyo (Shimokitazawa, Golden Gai)

After reporting a missing phone to a couple of the local “koban” (police stations) the next few hours was spent exploring Shimokitazawa. Jokes aside, if you lose anything in Japan I think it’s pretty standard to report it. I got the concierge at the hotel to translate the details for me and handed that to the officer on-duty. There seemed to be a standard process in place, involving a form and some phone calls. Didn’t help me get my phone back, but it was kind of a neat experience in itself (as usual, everyone was incredibly friendly).

Anyway I’ve seen Shimokitazawa described as the “hipster” area, but that’s not a reason to avoid it. If I had to draw a comparison it reminded me a little of somewhere like Newtown in Sydney. And similar to that area, there seemed to be a high concentration of shops selling the sort of crap I like. If I cared for vintage clothes this place would have been completely off-the-charts, but unfortunately I do not. But well worth a visit – the shops are concentrated around the South and North exits from the train stations, so do one and then double back and do the other.

Saturday night I visited the Golden Gai. Another place with plenty of info available online, but essentially it’s four narrow streets full of tiny bars. Many of them have themes (music, movies etc) and some of them, reportedly, prefer to rely on the patronage of regulars only. This is on the basis most of them sit around 6-8 people max. However it seems like a fairly safe bet that if the sign out the front is written in English, you’re pretty safe.

The overall experience would rate up there as one of the great nights out. I started off at Araku, one of the larger establishments in the area. I then moved onto a second place (name escapes me) with a couple of new friends. Then finally I made my way to place I’d be eyeing off ever since I walked past it last time I visited Tokyo (unfortunately during the day that time), Hair Of The Dog. For your 800 YEN cover charge you get a seat at the bar and get to pick your choice of punk and hardcore music from the playlist. Or if you don’t see it, just ask – I’m not sure how many hours I spent here, but it must have been quite a few given I didn’t leave until closing time. It took me a ridiculously long time to make the very short trip back to the hotel and from memory it included two taxi rides (and therefore at least one taxi driver I thoroughly confused) but I think at this point I was just wandering around aimlessly with a massive grin on my face. I must admit, I was a little wary about heading to the Golden Gai alone (not because of safety or anything, more due to the potential social awkwardness of drinking alone in confined bars), but it turned out perfectly.

Sunday 16th November – Tokyo (AJPW, Ribera Steakhouse)

Sunday morning was a bit touch & go, but I made it to the 12 noon AJPW show at Korakuen. All the info about the puroresu is above, but if it’s any indication of how straightforward the whole process is – I arrived at the Tokyo Dome area around 11.45am without a ticket. By bell time I’d purchased a ticket from the booth on the ground floor, food and a couple of giant cans from the Family Mart and was safely in my seat.

Dory Funk Jr.

After the show I headed across the bridge (it goes over the train station) and headed to the area surrounding NJPW’s retail store. I believe this store is nearby - http://www.toudoukan.com/ - I couldn’t see a sign though and google maps wasn’t helping. I could however see what appeared to be rows of wrestling VHS’s through a second story window, so I’m guessing it was the right one. Unfortunately there was a big queue which was extending out of the store and curling around the street – I couldn’t really work out what was going on, someone was making an appearance I assume. I did a couple of blocks and then reassessed – unfortunately the line hadn’t moved. Having noted that the Japanese are quite adept at queueing, and seem quite happy to spend time in said queue, I knew it could be quite a while and I was, well, hungover. So I gave it a miss, squeezed in between however is another shop called Battle Royal which has a nice collection of puroresu merch, so I checked that out.

I ended Wrestling Sunday with a trip to the famous (if you’re into this sort of stuff) restaurant, the Ribera Steakhouse in Gotanda. It doesn’t get much straightforward than this – around 8 seats at the bar, around 4 steaks on the menu. I waited for a seat to become available (refer above regarding queues) and squeezed into next to a friendly looking chap who was washing down his steak with around 18 menthol cigarettes. It seemed perfectly reasonable. Not many words were spoken during this entire experience – when the guy behind the bar took a break from cooking, looked at me and said “one pound” it seemed more like an order than a question, so I nodded and before I could finish working my way through the wrestling pictures covering the walls, 1 lb of still bleeding steak was served up with a side of rice and corn. It was the perfect feed under the circumstances.

By the time I got back to the hotel I was well and truly done - and the next morning I was on the bus to Narita at 7am so not much else of interest happened. Oh the hotel in Tokyo was the Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku. Definitely the most comfortable of the trip, but therefore probably the least memorable. But if I'm bringing extras with me next time then this is definitely where I'll stay as it's the right mix of being in the thick of the Tokyo action, having the facilities of a proper hotel but not being prohibitively expensive. I'll leave the overview of my tip at that, if you've read anything here of interest or you’ve got any questions for your own trip, leave me a comment.