Japan Forum

I've lived there off and on for three years, and will be there for another 2, and there's a few things I can say I miss/people have to do, that may not always occur to people til they get there.
 
1) Eat Ramen.  It is delicious delicious stuff, there's a reason it is everywhere in Japan.  Just look for the sign that says ラーメン。
2) Eat Japanese Curry.  See above. カーレ is what you are looking for here.
3) Go through Shinjuku station at rush hour.  Just try it once, you have never seen a crowd til then. 
4) Go to a Ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel).  As you listed, they are quite nice, this combos very nicely with number 5. 
5) Go to an onsen.  I actually don't like them that much, they are too hot for me.  Still an experience. 
6) Go to izakaya.  They are like a pub/restaurant/bar hybrid.  You go there and you eat and drink.  Lots of them have nomihodai.  Many many restaurants in Tokyo are izakaya, and they even have some really cool themed ones like Lock-Up.
7) If you like to drink, nomihodai is the way to go.  Means all you can drink, is usually 2,000-3,000 yen for 2 hours all you can drink.   
8) Imperial Gardens really are quite impressive, go if you get the chance. 
9) Go to Kyoto, but NOT during Golden Week.  It is so crowded you'll never get the chance to do anything. 
10 Ride the shinkansen (bullet train).  You'll wonder why we don't have them in the US. 
11) Go outside your comfort zone, this applies to all foreign travel.  Learn some japanese, meet natives outside the people you are travelling with.  People in Japan are pretty friendly to us gaijin, especially if you make an effort at speaking Japanese.  Don't be afraid to, they'll be impressed if you even speak a little. 
12) Konbini (Convenience stores) are your friend.  They are almost all open 24 hours a day and have a great range of pre-prepared and snack foods.  You can seriously live out of these places.  7/11 is worth a special note, as they have international ATMs.  They are EVERYWHERE.   
13) If you are here, you are probably interested in anime/manga stuff.  Go to Akihabara (Akiba) but prepared to be overwhelmed.  It's not called electric town for no reason.  You'll see lots of foreigners here, don't worry. 
14) If you feel so inclined, Maid Kisa aren't that bad, kinda expensive but fun to try once.  It's almost nauseatingly cute though.  I think it almost gave me a cavity. 
15) If you feel so inclined and have a bit to spend, you could try kyabakura (host/hostess clubs).  They are a very uniquely Japanese experience, but be prepared to spend a lot of money on alcohol here.  
16) Chu-hai is both the most wonderful and most dangerous thing ever.  It's a type of flavoured japanese alcoholic beverage they sell in convenience stores.  It's cheap, it's decently strong, and it is delicious.  A deadly combination. 
17) Umeshu is the best thing ever invented.  
18) Purikura really are a lot of fun.  Make sure you go with girls though, it's kinda weird to just have guys go. 

 Things to avoid:   
1) Stay away from Kabuki-cho at night unless you are actively looking for the services there.  You'll get propositioned a lot, especially as a foreigner. 
2) Most cheese is very expensive in Japan, and of a very low quality.  Pizza is okay, but most other cheese products are a bit sketchy.   
3) You get what you pay for, those 100 yen bottles of whiskey are worth exactly 100 yen, and will give you a hangover to match. 
4) Don't be frivolous with coins.  As an American, you'll have a very low value of coins, but both 100 yen ($1) and 500 yen ($5) are coins in Japan.  You can spend a lot of money and have it not seem like much. 
5) If you are a guy, be careful about going into purikura without a girl with you, a lot of them don't let guys go in by themselves. 
6) Don't get on the women only train at rush hour, I had friends do that by accident.  You'll get the dirtiest looks in your life. 
7) Your umbrella WILL get stolen, live with it. 
 
That's all I can think of right now, I may add some more later ^^

Re:  Addfwyn's Avoid #1 - I think walking through Kabukicho in the middle of daylight with plenty of normal folks around was the one time I didn't feel entirely safe when I was in Japan.
 

• Thank whatever gods you believe in that Japanese women like short skirts, and take in the lovely scenery.
• The Yamanote Line. Love it.
  
• Go in the spring time and take a bajillion photos of the cherry blossoms. Everyone else is doing it.
• Watch in awe as the usually reserved Japanese let loose with gigantic alcohol-fueled picnics well into the night under the cherry blossoms. Tokyo's Ueno park and Kyoto's Maruyama park are both filled to the brim during sakura season.
• Try to see some matsuri (festivals). The really big ones are in the guidebooks but there are heaps of other smaller ones. Those ones require knowing what to look for or just dumb luck. I stumbled across a Yosakoi festival celebrating the sakura  in Kyoto one weekend and spent most of the rest of the afternoon watching. Another weekend I found myself in Narita for a taiko drum festival. Both were awesome.
• Ride the Shinkansen (bullet train). It's like a freakin' airplane.. but on the ground.
• Learn to love Japanese beer. It's everywhere.
• Experience the electric neon of Shibuya at night. Is it even possible to go to Tokyo and NOT see Shibuya Crossing? (at least if it's your first time)
• Go to Roppongi Hills. Go to the 52nd floor of the Mori Tower and experience the Tokyo City View. Preferably at night. Bring a camera.
• Marvel how everyone tells you that Kyoto is really flat but you spend all your time climbing stairs. Most of the interesting temples and gardens are at the edge of the mountains that make up three of the borders of the city.
• Stroll through Japanese walking gardens.
• Jingū-bashi. Sunday afternoon. Be there.
• Spend a few hours walking (mostly uphill) through thousands of vermillion torii in Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto.
• Visit Akihabara and wonder just how the Japanese otaku are able to afford paying for anime DVDs.

@Addfwyn: I have always been under the impression that The Japanese tend to dislike foreigners. Have you ever been hassled about it in your time living there?

@rein: I wouldn't say everyone here hates foreigners, but yes I most certainly have been hassled to varying degrees.  I've been spat on, glared at, yelled at (in Japanese and in English) just for my very presence.  I never felt unsafe though, just a bit offended and disappointed.
 
I've also had total strangers being very helpful, people honestly curious about american culture/politics, elderly folks happily smiling and waving at me and asking what I like most about Japan.  So it goes both ways really. 
 
But yes, you'll find racist folks here that hate all foreigners.  Sometimes they have good reason to, as a lot of tourists here do a lot of stupid shit that gives the rest of us a bad name.

@John_Martone said:

" @Superevil225 said:

2) Visit a ninja school

whaa?
 

If he told you, he'd have to kill you.
 
With DVDs you have to deal with the Region encoding.. at least with Blu-Rays Japan and North America are in the same zone.. not that their stuff has English subtitles generally.. I was really tempted to pick up the blu-ray version of Summer Wars. It looked so damned pretty. I'm hoping it's a big enough hit to get Funi or another company's attention.

@Chengy: Number two is worth repeating.  You could eat different ramen every day here from a different shop and probably never run out of places to go to. 
 
I ESPECIALLY recommend Hope in front of Otsuka station (on the Yamanote line).  They only have one ramen on the menu, and you can get it with or without garlic.  Get the kind with garlic, it's pure garlicky rameny bliss.  I go out of my way to go to that ramen shop.

@Addfwyn: ah i remember that one from my second visit
 
japan is a nice country
 
things i would do again if i visit there again ( notable for being inevitable)
1.Buy crazy stuff (say..... one of those candy dolls)
2. see the vending machines(again)
3. Splurge on akihibara (splurge i say)
4. get one of those electronics you cant get in america/other place or really expensive internationally
5. get my game card updated (i wonder if it's still valid.....)
6. get drunk(again)

@Addfwyn: thnx for the great advice!... i'd love any more tips... i'm going next yr... still undecided when to go (season wise)... i read the end of january is pretty good (cheap airline/hotel prices... however i wonder about the weather... it's probably cold...brr*)

@universe_chic: Depends on where you're going in Japan, if you're going to Tokyo, I recommend spring or autumn.  End of Jan/Beginning of Feb is the coldest time of year in Tokyo, but it doesn't get TOO cold.  Rarely drops below 0 C, so usually we don't get snow here.   
 
Avoid Tokyo like the plague in the summer, it's incredibly hot and extremely humid.  Tokyo summers are pretty brutal, and it's been getting worse cause the taller buildings block the wind from the coast that used to cool things off a bit.

what will i do when i go to japan???
 1.) eat Japanese Foods.
2.) buy my favorite anime manga books.
3.) take a tour with my auntie.
4.) buy Japan's best art materials.
 5.) take a swim at a beach.

-^_^-

@AURON570: It's not something I do very often, but arcades are around. They are largely dominated by floors and floors of UFO Catcher machines, along with some fighting games, rhythm stuff, and insane mech-style cockpit things. Also a smatter of card-based games. I'm not too big on any of those, so arcades haven't had quite the appeal to me as just gaming at home does. Also, most arcades are EXTREMELY smoky, which as an ex-smoker kinda bothers me.