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Travelers
Welcome to Japan! We are happy you have been able to visit or move to Japan, and would like to pass on some helpful information to travelers and new residents. Some of this advice is for geeks and makers, while others are just great recommendations. Be advised, some of this information may quite outdated.
On rare occasions, THS members are willing to arrange tours around Akihabara. However, we strongly encourage you to give it a go on your own. It is a fun town to explore. Long ago, we prepared a video travel series on youtube you can watch. Though, some of the shops featured are now closed, or at least somewhat rearranged.
- fireworks in summer.
- from a boat
- from a skyscraper
- picnic it at Sumidagawa
- maid cafes (some are English speaking, google it)
- [http://www.gofa.co.jp Gallery of Fantastic Art] in Aoyama
- [http://www.ntv.co.jp/tokusatsu Kaiju Simulation] in 清澄白河駅, near Kiba
- Robot stores: see the Akihabara guide, or [http://www.robots-dreams.com Our friend Lem's site]
- Retro video games: [http://www.superpotato.com/free_html.php?html=about_shop.html Super Potato], especially if you go to Osaka
- Transport Museum in Oomiya
- Ghibli Museum (get tickets ~1 month in advance)
- Salt & Tobacco Museum
- Subway Museum in Kasai
- Parasite Museum
- Disaster Simulation in Matsudo [http://santa.cside.com/hakubutu/seibu_bosai.htm in Japanese]
- interactive art at Opera City
- Biohazard [http://www.c2s.co.jp/biohazard/stars/index.html restaurant]
- Alice in Wonderland restaurant http://www.diamond-dining.com/shop_info/alice-shinjukunishi/ 魔法の国のアリス
- dinner cruise in Tokyo Bay
- [http://www.shinjuku-robot.com/pc/top/ Robot Restaurant] in Shinjuku
- [http://tokyohackerspace.org/akihabara THS's Guide to Akihabara]
- Odaiba
- Kappabashi (http://www.ganso-sample.com/shop/)
- RC stores (in Akihabara?)
- Inokashira kooen
- Tokyo Tower
- Cerulean Tower (Shibuya)
- Mori Building (Roppongi Hills)
- Tokyo Sky Tree
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (Shinjuku)
- DragonQuest Cafe in Shibuya
- Akihabara, of course, for electronics / Gundam Cafe / Linux Cafe / Super Potato
- Harajuku for costumers
- Nakano Broadway
- Asakusa (sensouji)
- Kamakura for the daibutsu
- Kamogawa to demonstrate that Japan isn't just over populated concrete hell?! *For people who like to travel north.... **Matsushima is very nice. **Zao mountain is nice too. *Guess in general any other city which happen to have a festival during the visit. Japanese processions are by any means worth a visit.
- small more eclectic neighborhoods **Kichijoji **Nakameguro **Jiyugaoka. *Tour of a few great food spots. *Tsukiji of course. *Book district in Jimbocho.
- As far as nerd friendly tourist attractions go, I found the Ghibli museum to be quite memorable (even as someone who had never heard of Ghibli before visiting Japan).
- Also on Odaiba the Sony Explorascience (though more for younger crowds)
- National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.
- 8bitcafe in Shinjuku http://8bitcafe.net/index.html
- club mogra in Akiba http://club-mogra.jp/event/
- Ikebukuro / Otome Road for female Otaku (but I'm sure they'll know it already ;))
- Dear Stage in Akihabara for someone interested in Idols maybe? http://moejapan.jp/dearstage/
http://www.hellodamage.com/top Tokyo Damage Report
Sensor-based interactive art... That's a tall order. I don't have any real recommendations for it. "Chiyoda Arts 3331" (http://www.3331.jp/en/) next to Akihabara is not very interactive but quite artsy.
Apart from Akihabara, I definitely recommend spending a day in Odaiba, a tourist spot located on a reclaimed-land island in Tokyo Bay. There's a lot to do there:
- the Miraikan museum has some good science
- the Panasonic showroom used to have a "house of the future." Might still.
- the full-size Gundam and G-Front
- on the interactive side, the Venus Fort shopping mall has a "real-time" lit ceiling
- the ferris wheel and the Fuji TV observatory are OK One neat way to get to Odaiba is to take the Water Bus after spending the morning touring the old temple at Asakusa. If you're lucky (well, lucky if you like anime) you might get the "Himiko". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Cruise_Ship
For weekend spots I recommend being prepared for Sunday, which is when school is out and places will be crowded. If you like fashion or people-watching, the cool places to go would be:
- Harajuku / Yoyogi Park where you can see cosplayers and rockabilly
- Shibuya for young fashion
- Akihabara (traffic on the central Chuo-doori street is closed to cars on Sunday)
Other artsy places:
- the Mori Arts Center in the Roppongi Hills complex (which is close to the Roppongi nightlife spot but not too interesting otherwise)
- 21_21 Design Sight at Tokyo Midtown (also near Roppongi)
You might (depending on your battery life/wifi) also want to spend some time with the recommendations from reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/bvxaw/rjapan_information_hub/
Also: try the yakiniku and yakitori. Unless you're vegetarian.
- The Zou-no-hana Terrace is an art-centric cafe space near the Red Brick Warehouse.
- The Kitahara Museum of Tin Toys is a great way to relive your childhood.
Cycling for site seeing and travel around Japan has it's own page