My Japan Adventure18829
 Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'm currently at LAX waiting on my flight, and it'll be a while yet. It's nearly three hours before I take off. The flight itself will last TWELVE hours, and is far from my favourite part of the journey. I'll be landing at NRT (Narita) in the afternoon. Another couple of hours - maybe three - to de-plane, go through immigration, pick up luggage, go through customs, and take my train to Tōkyō. When I get to my hotel, I'll see about sending some photos so you can see what a US $44/night hotel looks like. You may get to see some convenience store snacks, too, because I'm pretty sure I'll want to supplement the airplane 'food' once I get to town. It's not like that hasn't happened before. Unfortunately, I will get to town too late to do much aside from a walk in the neighborhood in search of a convenience store. The next day will be much more interesting. |
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 Collector
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scratchtasia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My own journey to Tokyo begins in six days. Good luck on your travels! | ||
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 I hear their hourly rate is outrageous!
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sportshort private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'd love to see pics from both of you folks! Never been, probably never will be but I've enjoyed Japan through cartoons as a kid, Gigantor, Kimba, Speed Racer, Robotech and of course all the Kaiju and Anime stuff that I still enjoy. | ||
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 being an ass and being a clown are two very different things.
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HAmistoso private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Safe travels @Byrdibyrd! Looking forward to the photos/updates... | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @scratchtasia I'm very interested in seeing how your travels go, too!  |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @sportshort @WMorse My plan is to have at least one update every day with photos of whatever looks interesting. I have my usual itinerary full of Shintō Shrines and Buddhist Temples, plus a couple of castle remains sites and (maybe) an actual castle, but I can't promise that one. |
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 Moderator
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Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Byrdibyrd safe travels!!! I look forward to living vicariously through your posts!!! | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Jesse_O I'll do my best! The plane will board soon and I'll be very bored indeed for quite a while! That problem will get fixed as soon as I land, though. |
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 Keep your $6.87 bro... not even saving tax with that.
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Cli4dR3D0g private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Byrdibyrd That's pretty extreme just to find hot water. Have a safe trip! | ||
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 Suck it up, buttercup!!
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KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Japan is a bucket list destination can't wait to see your updates!!...15 days and we are off to Paris! | ||
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 No rust here...
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Nearmint67 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Byrdibyrd Hey girlfriend, Have more fun than 10 people should have. Lots of pics for your comic fam. | ||
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 I'm not a plagiarist. I'm also not illiterate.
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drmccoy74 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hope you get to drift down Chichibu Mountain and send pictures! | ||
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 Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'm sure you will have a great time. Japan has inspired many things. Including a really bad song and maybe the world's worst music video: |
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 The apple sauce and pudding were the best part...
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Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Made it thru 2/3. That's part if my life I will never get back | ||
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 " . "
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Davethebrave private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Have a blast. One of my favorite snacks:  |
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 It was a one trick pony show but always hilarious.
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GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Byrdibyrd Have an awesome and safe adventure!! Look for some comics too! | ||
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" . "
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Davethebrave private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I’ve been trying to get a clean copy of Weekly Shonen Jump 51 (1984)… just in case you happen upon one ;-) | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Cli4dR3D0g LOL!! Right? I will be taking a shower after the flight because that's just a good idea. I'm expecting the water to be appropriately hot. |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by KatKomics How cool is that?! Have a great time! |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Davethebrave I'll have a look if I find myself in a Book Off.  |
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| Post 20 • IP flag post | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'm on a train - the Narita Express- right now. I'll be at Tōkyō Station within the hour, and then I'll take a cab to my hotel. I'll be able to give a proper update then. This train is great but not the best for typing on tiny phone keyboards. | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Got to my hotel 'near' Tōkyō Station about TWO HOURS later than I thought I would. Delays in customs and a big delay with getting my JR Rail Pass contributed to the tardiness, but I'm here now, and it's a nice place. I've never stayed here before, but the price was right. Getting a room as 'close' to Tōkyō Station as this one is and not paying an arm & a leg is pretty sweet. So here's what my US $44/night hotel room looks like:  Sadly, the lateness means I won't be taking a walk in the area or scrounging for convenience store snacks, but I did find my first proper vending machine drink in three years:  This fruit tea is delicious and I'll be downing it all pretty quick. It's been too darn long since my last vending machine bevvie... Anyway, the flight went okay and I had some surprisingly decent food. There was chicken on a bed of quinoa with a wheatberry salad (that was very tasty) for dinner, and a nice pork scramble for the pre-landing meal. I actually ate everything, and that doesn't always happen for airplane food. It was after landing that I ran into some delays. Customs was a zoo (when is it not?), but it was supposed to go super-quick for people who did all their homework first, like providing proof of vaccination and a photo of your passport and filling out customs declaration forms in advance. I did all that and was really shocked to see how many people didn't. My guess would be at least a third of the people on the flight, maybe even as many as half. I hope they all like long waits, because I did some waiting, but it wasn't for hours like them! Anyway, the annoying bit was when it came to the customs declaration forms. For some reason,a gazzillion people did that. Go figure. So Japan, in a very special move, had only about SIX kiosks for processing the QR code customs forms... and at least a dozen windows for processing the usual paper forms. The lines for the windows were teeny-tiny - like maybe 3 ~ 5 people in each one. The line I got to stand in was all the way down the hall. The real fun was when I finally got up there and scanned in my QR code. Some screens came up and I got to answer a bunch of questions... and they were the exact same questions on the customs forms! What!? I just scanned a QR code that said I already answered all these and now I have to do it all over again!? Come on, Japan! The people who filled out the paper forms breezed through their dinky lines while I languished in the big QR code line. Dang, maybe I'll fill out paper forms next time... The next delay was in getting my JR Rail Pass. You pay a flat fee for the pass before your trip (you can't get a rail pass in Japan - they're for foreign tourists), and when you pay, you state how long you want the pass to be - 7, 14, or 21 days - then you pay up and once you get the pass in Japan, you can ride all the JR trains for free, to include the bullet trains. My pass is a 14-day pass, and it cost me about US $400. To give you an idea of how much of a deal that is, the bullet train I'll be on tomorrow from Tōkyō to Osaka would cast about US $125, and of course, it'll cost that much again when I head back to Tōkyō near the end of my trip. So that's over half the pass paid for. I'll also have trips out to Hiroshima & Kanazawa, both of which will be round trip on the bullet trains. Add those to my Tōkyō to Osaka and back, and that's already more than I paid for the rail pass. As long as you're traveling around, the JR Rail Pass is a great deal. It just had a big line of turistas who've never been to Japan before and decided this was the place to ask all their touristy questions. Holy crap, guys! Find an information kiosk and let me get on with my rail pass exchange! Sheesh. So all that contributed to me leaving the airport much later than expected, but I'm still here! On the itinerary for tomorrow will be a visit to Zōjō-ji Temple, one of my favourite temples in Tōkyō. I'll also pay a visit to Akasaka Hikawa-jinja Shrine, and it's on the Tōkyō 10 Shrines Pilgrimage. Maybe I'll show off my pilgrimage stamps from my visits. |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| In a stunning moment of Epic Timing at Work, CBCS has finally gotten back to me regarding those returns I've been bugging them about since August. Nice one, guys! I appreciate that my grievance will be attended to, but maybe next time y'all could maybe not wait until I'm in a hotel in Tōkyō about to get ready to go beddy-bye after staying up for over 24 hours straight. | ||
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Collector
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scratchtasia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Oh boy . . . I entered all my info on Visit Japan Web and got the QR codes. I'm not looking forward to having to answer the same customs questions in spite of that. If it's really faster to get through the paperwork lines, maybe I'll do that instead (if that's allowed). One of my fears about my trip is that CBCS will ship my submissions back while I'm away, and they'll get stolen from my porch before the people checking on my house can bring them inside. I sent a message to customer service to try to avoid my "away" dates, but of course I got no reply. I'll just have to do my best to keep an eye on shipping notices (not just for CBCS). |
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The apple sauce and pudding were the best part...
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Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @scratchtasia May want to sign up fir fedex account. They email you when a package is due to arrive and you can send to an alternate location suck as kinkos if you aren't going to be able to pick it up. Also USPS has informed delivery. They send you a daily picture of all incoming mail and tell you packages that are in route to your location. Free service on both. |
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 You can't get good wood on the ball every time.
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HotKeyComics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| enjoy your trip! as far as I'm aware, Japan has the only officially licensed Marvel comics in an adult magazine. There are 12 total all from the mid 70s with Spider-Man in them, back when Marvel was desperate for money and licensing just about anything. They usually go for a couple hundred on the bay. |
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Collector
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scratchtasia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte Thanks--I'm signed up for both (as well as UPS delivery notices), but things still happen. FedEx has a 14-day vacation hold, but I'll be gone for 37. USPS holds max out at 30 days. UPS charges for practically everything these days. With regard to FedEx, it looks easy enough to have a package delivered to another location and allow someone else to pick it up. I'll be keeping up with shipping and delivery notices as much as possible. |
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| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by scratchtasia Contact FedEx and have them 'hold at location ' for your parcels. I did that for mine. FedEx will then hold your shipment at a FedEx store or depot where you can go pick it up when you back. |
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| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Say good morning to my breakfast. Yes, that is a hot dog. Hot dogs are breakfast food in Japan. This doggie has some tasty mashed potatoes in it along with a schmear of seed mustard. Yum. And it only cost about $3. |
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The apple sauce and pudding were the best part...
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Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| What happened to tea? It looks like you have coffee? | ||
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