I may get flamed for this, but what the hell.

Yours truly is going back to Japan for another year or so. THIS time I will be working in or very near to Tokyo (either Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo or Yokohama).

Although I wont have as much freetime/money as JET I intend to make Tkara very rich peeps indeed!

Im leaving the UK on the 27th of April and start work on May 8th for SHANE ENGLISH ACEDEMY.

Anyway, let the flames begin!

gerrr

you know that its only right that you send us (and by us i mean me) all the takara stuff we want with out scalper price's

Lol 1

Ill try my best to give u all NEWS whenever i can!

Do u like "Domo-Kun" BTW? Tthats who is in your avatar. Hes the mascot for NHK, Japans answer to BBC.

I once saw a DOMO-Tron transformer illustartion. tres cool!

i feel jealous, not only is it a better place for tfs it is supposed to have a better and more friendly culture

Hope you have a safe trip man.

Hey maybe you can help me then. What is there to do in japan? I doing a report thing for a bis com class that involves forming an itenerary for a fictional trip to japan and I frankly can't think of alot of things to do...

More freindly? Not quite! The japanese are famous for being polite but distant! LOL!

As a tourist?

Depends on what time of year. In august and other peak japanese vacation time, absolutely nothing unless uve booked months and months iin advance.

Some places also dont admit foreigners as they are "japanese only" establishments (like certian hostess bars, onsens, normal bars and some shops and hotels).

Japan is also very expensive and even major tourist areas sometimes have little or no staff that speak good English (although there are people who do).

Places of interest:

Tokyo:

- Asakusa (main temple and market)
- Odaiba (futuristic Tokyo and home to the original "rainbow road" which inspired super mario karts one!)
- Akihabara (toy, electronics and videogame mecha)
- Harajuku (alternative fashion scece and home of Gothic Loita (japanese cute gothic), "bathing ape" clothes line and Gwen Stefanis song.
- Roppongi (night time playground of foreigners and japanese who love foreigners)
- Kabuki-cho (near shinjuku, a famous place for brothels, prostitutes and yakuza)
- Shibuya - (feautured in "alone in translation and where all the "fashionable" mainstream young people go. Home of the "ganguru" girls and other types of fashion clones)
- Ueno (huge toy shops, national museums and old school cinemas plus cool back streets for shopping).

NIKKO:
An old former capital city near Tokyo. A little version of Kyoto. The emperors former palace is here.

Kamakura:
Like NIKKO but features a HUGE buddha that u can walk inside of!

Kosatsu or Ikaho Onsen towns:
Traditional volcanic "hot spring" towns with plenty of old buildings etc. Kosatsu also smells of egg as its full of sulphur! Ikaho is twinned with Hawaii. Both are in Gunma, where i used to live.

Mount Fuji:
there are several great lakes surrounding Fiji-san and its not too far from tokyo.

Those are all near Tokyo.

If you want to travel:

Kyoto: famous former cap of japan. geishas and stuff (although geishas dont normally show themselves to unknow people especially foreigners).

Hokkaido: the "scotland" or "canada" of Japan. lots of snow,but beware of thoseracist onsens! Also home to a famous snow festival.

Okinawa: The florida of japan. dark skinned hawain like japanese who belive they are different from the rest of japan. Different music culture and pig based food aplenty. however, asthe USA military has a strong presence, and okinawa was invaded in the 40s, expect to see a dislike for foreigners and more "no foreigners allowed" signs around.

Nagasaki/Hiroshima: famous areas to be bombed by USAs atomic nombs. Local bike gangs in Hiroshima are meant to beat up foreigners for this reason. very nice areas tho.

Osaka: near Kyoto, Osaka is the japan the government doesnt want u to see. Racist nationalist vans spewing forth nationalist chants, unemployed homeless living in cardboard boxe cities in the parks, the largest yakuza group in Kobe (yamaguchi gumi. adress on request from me), kobe beef, gruff accents (its where th yakuza got their nasty voices from), crumbling buildings etc. The New York of Japan.

Aanything else?

If you want to find out more about the quirky and bad or just plain silly bits about japan, check this out:

http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~edjacob/

wow! thanks for the information man! For the time frame this is supposedly happening over spring break time period (all this week is spring break here). It's a fictional trip so I don't have to quite worry about the overbooking thing.
And this may sound like a stupid question but is there anythign like a really good mall in the tokyo area?
Oh and incase you were wondering the purpose of this trip is to check out computer/electronics/video game industry of Japan. *has allready figured out where Nintendo and Soney headquarters are over there*

Should I go out shopping for Kool-aid again?

I am so happy for you! You and another chum of mine really miss the place I know. I need to get out there one of these days.

What will you be doing there this time?

Oh NOW u wanna send me stuff? i was gaspin for kool aid in the uk and nada!

Im gonna teach a t a private englsh school this time. come over and say hi. bring galvaron and nemesis prime as well ! lol

and cool aid and graham crackers.

Sorry man, the Nemesis Primes are GONE. Ask anyone stateside. We just now are getting Galvatron so he's still on my list for ya, I just found one. The next is yours with kool-aid is on the house. If you still want the Galvy?

Well folks, I leave for Japan tomorrow. Im packing today, finishing off my "All about Japan" CD compilation (76 edited/remixed tracks about, from or inspired by Japan) and packing my excess stuff for storage.

I will be leaving to to work in CHIBA, near Tokyo (nearer than Gunma anyway) and Ii arrive there April 28th (the same day the new metal Optims Prime fig comes out there...a GOOD omen?).

Ill dissapear off the radar for a while due to getting settled in, havning a hectic workload and also saving money to travel, buy TFs and survive!

But dont worry folks, "the greatest Transfan of them all WILL return!".

You lucky bloke! Let me know when you need more Kool-aid!

why the hell do you spell it "Bri-tan"? that annoyance is more flameworthy than any self-plug.

Because it rhymes with "Japan" you plum.

ok im back in japan!

Congrats, man.  I'm nearing the point where I gotta decide to head back home or try to make a living out of this place for a bit longer.  In the meantime, let me know if you ever make it down to Kyushu.

im still up for galvy!  let me know!  check out my livejournal for my new email addy on my tempory mobile phone!

www.livejournal.com/users/primalprime

let me know what u want from japan.  i havnt found a local toys r us yet but ito yokado and just co are near plus my friend now works at hlj! lol

lifes great!

must dash, have a date with a british garu! of all people! lol

I agree

hey man, do i know you?  did you come down and vist me in gunma?  if thats so then email me at primalconvoy@hotmail.com and ill evenbtually get back to ya!

youse two is baka yaro.

ne.