place you will go in Japan

Ryuichi Sakamoto has started a Twitter in English.

This is funny: New Russian Girls Photo Trend. I saw this pose in commercial photos or something.

Top Traveler is a travel guide site and Top Traveler JP released a ranking of the top places in Japan that foreign people search for information on. It's interesting because some places are not popular at all with native Japanese people.
No.1 Tsukiji: I am not sure it’d be fun to go there. It's a big market, but you can't buy anything because it is meant for wholesalers. The good thing is that the area around the market is cheap and they serve fresh fish.
No.2 Tokyo Disney Land: Asian people would like to go there, but not Americans.
No.3 Pokémon Center: Wow... I have never been there and I didn't know about the place. If you have kids, maybe it would be good. But if you just want to go buy some Pokémon items, you don't need to go there, you can buy them everywhere.
No.4 Roppongi Hills: My company left that area and I am very happy about it. That place is strange and nothing there is fun. Shops are expensive, restaurants are expensive… maybe the sky tower is the only good part about it.
No.5 Tokyo Disney Sea: I read that they will open a new attraction in May.
No.6 Asakusa: This place is good, you can try many food stalls (yatai) too.
No.7 Kinkakuji: Yes if you go to Kyoto, please check it out.
No.8 Fushimi Inari: Yes, if you go to Kyoto, it's an exotic place.
No.9 SPA world: I don't know this place. It's in Osaka.
No.10 Universal Studio Japan: Asian people go there? I couldn't enjoy the US one.
No.11 Tokyo Oedo Onsen: Hmm I heard that it's a very cheesy place and it’s crowded on weekends. It’s fine if you don't mind that, but you have to get naked. Try it.
No.12 Kiyomizu temple: historical place in kyoto, it's good to visit.
No.13 Spa Rakua: 
No.14 Osaka castle: Hmm it's a symbol of the ex-capital of Japan. It’s a reconstruction, not the original structure.
No.15 Meiji Shrine: It is not so special a place, but I heard that it’s a power spot in Tokyo.
No.16 Takaragawa Onsen: Wow, I don't know why this is famous with foreign people. But you can feel the mood of "Spirited Away." This place is a famous ryokan. Yes! It's good to visit.
No.17 Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan: I don't know this place.
No.18 Shitenno Temple: It's in Osaka and the oldest temple in Japan.
No.19 Hokkaido Shrine: I have never been there. Hokkaido is so far away!
No.20 Shinjuku Gyoen: If you go there, I would recommend going in early April. You can see the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, this year, most of the flowers have already fallen.

I sometimes wrote about urban legends like in this post and this post. Someone asked me about another legend called the "Red Room." It was an old urban legend on the internet. When you use the Internet, a red pop-up ad window opens. In the window, there are a sentence: "Do you like it?" You try to close the window, but it pops up again and again. Then you realize that the sentence is splitting out little by little and the pop-up window starts to open and close automatically. Then, finally you see "Do you like red room" in the window. Suddenly, the monitor screen changes into a red color and a lot of names appear on it. You can sense that something is behind on you. You die and your room turns red with your blood. Here is a movie about "Red Room." Yes, the story is nothing interesting and it’s not scary at all. But imagine when you are using the Internet at midnight, suddenly a red pop-up window opens with the words "Do you like it?" We had a lot of such mischief and it made us scared.

Comments

[ku]

Tsukiji - The Hongan-ji temple, built in Hindu style, is worth seeing.

Asakusa: Touristy but fun, close to Kappabashi, where you can buy a wax food model or look for any kitchen and cooking things you might need. There is also an area full of toy stores nearby.

Kinkakuji, Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-dera: Definitely worth visiting.

Spa World: It's adjacent to Festivalgate at the Dobutsuen-mae subway station (IIRC, you used to be able to enter either Spa World or Festivalgate directly from the station.). I went to Spa World a few years ago, before Festivalgate closed for good. Festivalgate was a shopping center/amusement park, part of an attempt by the Osaka city government to revitalize a run-down neighborhood. It was pretty creepy when I was there - most of the shops were shuttered, many shifty-looking people hung around, and the roller coaster looped and swooshed through the structure carrying only a few riders.

I was lured to Spa World by an Osaka city tourist guide. It was expensive for a cheesy pretend onsen - 2400 yen for 3 hours. It has floors with "Asian" baths and "European" baths. From month to month, the men's baths and women's baths rotate between the Asian and European floors. When I was there, the women's baths were on the European floor. There was nothing particularly European about it, except for the names of the different baths and some statues. It's like a love hotel, in a "pretend all your dreams come true amidst cheesy reproductions of famous stuff from other places" way.

Go to Kurama Onsen instead - it costs about the same, and has a soothing natural atmosphere (except for the coin-operated massage chairs). Take the Eizandensetsu train from Demachiyanagi station in Kyoto, and ride to Kurama, which is the end of the line. No kitsch needed when you've got the real thing.

I enjoy sento - they're inexpensive and there is usually one nearby. People at local sento are pretty friendly and fun to talk with (if you speak Japanese). If you're not feeling social, go at an off hour (like 2-3 pm) and you'll likely have the place to yourself.

Osaka-jo looks nice from the outside, but is pretty dull. The park around it is fun if you enjoy people watching. One of the oddest things I saw there was a punk rocker wearing a black leather trench coat, walking a prairie dog on a leash. (Always wondered where prairie dogs were relocated after being vacuumed up out of their holes before new construction started - guess they were sent to Osaka!)

[Limo]

Hey Mari! Hokkaido is only an hour away by plane!! Not far really.

I could spend lot's of time there though.

I too think Asakusa is touristy and not a fun place at all. I'd much rather spend some time in Yoyogi park.

[mari]

hi there
thank you for a lot of comments. I will make my own reccomendation, it will be fun to make.

[Chris]

Hi Mari,

I am interested in knowing, what are your favourite places to visit in Tokyo and other parts of Japan.

Thanks

[Jeff]

This is definitely the kind of post that will get a lot of comments :)

> Asakusa
I don't like it there. It's *very* touristy and the stuff sold in the stalls is mostly just cheap junk souvenirs. It feels fake, even though I know it's a real temple. Other temples are better.

> Meiji Shrine
I like this much better than Asakusa. Obviously one is shinto and the other buddhist, but that doesn't matter to westerners. I just like how much calmer the Meiji shrine is, and it's surrounded by a big forest that you can walk through in the middle of Tokyo. It's very nice. The stuff they have at the gift shop there is also better than almost anything you find in the stalls in Asakusa.

You didn't actually write anything about Kiyomizu Temple, but I loved it there - it's one of my favorite places in Japan.

One funny thing related to this post is that I usually write about my Japan trips on my own blog, so I get a lot of people coming in through Google searching for various Japanese things... one of the places people often search for on my blog is Sanrio Puroland. It's almost always the top search term. Actually what they really search for is "Hello Kitty Land" but I know what they mean.

[Chris Kuan]

Uku mentioned _Ringu_, so I will also add this: there is one scene in _Ringu 2_ that is very similar to the "Red Room" story.

In the movie, they interviewed some school girls who watched the cursed video tape, and one girl asked the video editor to watch her curse tape so she would be saved. He didn't watch the tape, and she died.

Later on, when he is watching the interview of the girl, there seems to be slight glitch in the video. So he rewinds to watch that small part again. This time the glitch gets bigger. So he flicks backwards and forwards, faster and faster, and we see the picture is changing - the girl gradually develops a demonic expression and turns towards the man...

This was a scary scene!

[Marco Bresciani (マルコ·ブレシャ−二)]

>Tsukiji
I want to eat near Tsukiji market... I've asked many friends about interesting (and good) places to eat... let's see next August...

>Tokyo Disney Land
Maybe I'll go in August...

>Pokémon Center
Funny!

>Roppongi Hills
Went about Mori building... don't know about the area...

>Tokyo Disney Sea
Is it different from Disneyland?

>Asakusa
Went to a ryokan there... very nice place.

>Kinkakuji
Lovely.

>Fushimi Inari
Wanted to go... :-( Next time...

>Universal Studio Japan
Didn't know there is one in Japan as well.

>Tokyo Oedo Onsen
Maybe I'll try, but I prefer the Akazawa Onsenkan near Izu-Kougen.

>Kiyomizu temple
Lovely!

>Spa Rakua
Mmm Seems interesting... next time!

>Osaka castle
Went there: nice panorama.

>Meiji Shrine
I saw two "typical" Japanese marriage wit hvery elegant people.

>Takaragawa Onsen
Want to go!!!

>Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
Nice and big. Lovely to see and some good restaurants near.

>Shitenno Temple
Damn, missed it... :-(

>Hokkaido Shrine
Never been there, yet... maybe honeymoon... in few years... :-D

>Shinjuku Gyoen
Very nice!

Well, as usual, lovely blog Mari.

[bshock]

On our visit to Japan, my wife and I were only in Tokyo, and so of the items on the list, we visited Asakusa and the Meiji shrine. We particularly enjoyed Asakusa. I liked the Meiji shrine because of the short hike through Yoyogi Park to reach it, but I think that's the part my wife really disliked.

Of course we passed Tokyo Disneyland on the way to and from the airport, but I had little interest in visiting. As I told my wife, if we really wanted to visit Disneyland, it would be much less expensive for us to drive to the one in Los Angeles.

Even so, on the way home after our trip, I remember hearing at least two different groups of Americans in the airport talking about their visits to Tokyo Disney.

[Sarah]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sarah

http://www.clpostingguide.info

[mari]

hi there. KRN that's why tsukiji is so popular for foreign people. Hmm thank you

[KRN]

Tsukiji may be so popular for some foreigners because of its hustle and bustle. Plus it's really cool to see all the various sorts of sea life and the sheer dynamism of the tuna auctioneers, etc. Can you tell that I'm a Tsukiji fan?!

[Uku]

oya..the last japan movie I wacth is The Ring..

[Uku]

would love to go there one day..

[Sam]

I only went to four of those places when I was studying in Japan for a while (Asakusa, Fushimi Inari, Meiji Shrine, and Osaka Castle). I don't understand why other foreigners have become obsessed with the Tsukiji Fish Market...why would anyone want to go there? It's weird to want to do that...

Even if it's not famous, I think every foreigner should experience a sento or onsen. They're so relaxing...and a lot of fun if you go with friends, so you can talk with somebody.