Trip Planning: Japan

[Candiru]

Right, stay away from school gates! Don't want to get arrested by mistake!

[Brekkie]

But, but... Japanese School Girls!

[Fivelives]

Brekkie is why they guard the school gates.

[Tarl]

I spent a week in Hamamatsu, for work. It's a very nice place. The town has a strong music vibe to it, as the Act City Music School is there. Flew into Nagoya and took the train to Hamamatsu the next morning. I didn't get to explore Nagoya, but I've heard good thing about the city too.

Looks like I'll be heading back to Japan late next year, in Tonami and Toyama.

[fudomyou]

Funny tangential story:

My best friend (and our guild's #2 hunter) married a Japanese woman. They met while she was studying abroad and she decided to stay.

A couple years ago, they visited her home town, and she went back to her all-girls middle school to visit some teachers and old friends. Since it was an all-girls school, my friend was unable to go on school grounds, so he bummed around a bit near the grounds. After a while he got bored and just sat in a shady staircase nearby. He realized after a while that he was a man in his late twenties hanging around the gate of a private all-girls school, and if the guard asked him what he was doing, the honest reply in his mumbled Japanese would have been "My wife's in there."

He hung out at a convenience store for a while after that.

[katraya]

told her to mark me as an american Japanese which I still think it was rude.

Did you have to wear a scarlet A?

[Brekkie]

Scarlet, white, and blue A.

[Masumi]

no but made it a priority to tell them I didn't know how to speak japanese.

[Arjuna]

Aaaah, Japan! I want to visit again!

I spent 5k € in four weeks while living/eating/traveling for free for three of those...

The JR card is a must! You will go by train or subway everywhere over there, it's well worth the cost! Climbing Mt. Fuji was awesome, I recommend it...

Also, it's fun to keep a look out for fun translated signs!

"Carrying in into a pet's gondola refuses a cat, a dog, etc." was my favorite...

[Candiru]

At the airport on my way at the moment! Will be staying in Tokyo for a few days with a friend doing a PhD at uni there, before exploring the rest of the country.

Free internet at Hearthrow provided by Zurich insurance. I suppose that means they are sponsoring this post?

Hopefuly I'll have pictures and internets and stuff while I'm out there, see you all in three weeks otherwise!