Do you want to visit Japan?

[vincent_z]

I had a great break this weekend. Unfortunately, I could not get back on here at Akiba-Online to tell you about it.
I hope your travel robot communicated it to you.
For some reason, perhaps due to the 'Open Skies' adjustment announcement on Thursday, airfares from North America to Japan had an amazing sale this past Friday to Sunday.
Instead of flying to Osaka via Shanghai, China, I was able to book non-stop flights from O'Hare Airport to Tokyo Narita {correct, not Osaka, but} on United Airlines for $435.16! The days for which this fare was valid included the weekend of Japan Do! #4.
Yes, I'll need a method to get from Tokyo to Osaka. The Shinkansen may cost only ¥14,750. That could be intriguing.
There were similarly inexpensive flights from other cities with non-stop service to Tokyo.
Anyhow, this past weekend was when the stars aligned for you to fly from North America to Japan (in March or April), even if you were not going to Osaka. I hope you took advantage of it.

 

[vincent_z]

Holy jumpsuit, Batman! They're doing it again!
United / All Nippon are again offering nonstop flights from Chicago to Tokyo for $436.16! Now, you even get to fly ANA from ORD to NRT!
Even if you aren't going to Osaka for Japan Do! 4, you
must,
must,
must
take advantage of this offer to go to Japan - like you keep typing in here that you want to.
I'll be {bleep}ing explicit this time. Here is the data for flights on 21 and 29 March 2016.
You can get this fare on weekdays through 10 May.
Quit stalling!
Make the plan now!

 

[tylersailer]

Jumping on somewhat traveling ad campaign, late March is good time for cherry blossom flower viewing. You will see things like this:

View media item 21313(courtesy of blogger)

I mean not just one place, but the flowers will be everywhere throughout Japan. It starts from the southern part and gradually goes up northwards. It is majestic view that makes you appreciate the coming of spring season. Def recommend.

 

[Gir633]

Was that round trip? Back in the late 90's early 2000's I was getting round trip from Detroit to Tokyo (including transportation to and from the Downtown hotel and Narita) for between $550 and $650 pretty much all the time on Northwest. So I made several trips going every other year, but then the price when way up. I took a trip that was airfare a week in Tokyo and then a week long guided tour from Tokyo to Osaka for about $2000, a couple of years later that same tour took another route so I was kind of thinking of going. So I called up and checked the price and not with having the week in Tokyo it was almost $6000. With the prices and time for getting away like that not really being there I haven't been to Japan in quite sometime now.

Instead of flying to Osaka via Shanghai, China, I was able to book non-stop flights from O'Hare Airport to Tokyo Narita {correct, not Osaka, but} on United Airlines for $435.16! The days for which this fare was valid included the weekend of Japan Do! #4.

 

[vincent_z]

The poll period ended. Seemingly, there will be eight other people (+ me) going to Osaka for the Flyertalk forum's "Japan Do! #4", along with four maybe's.
I am planning to attend the Thursday evening welcome drinks @ the Osaka Hilton's The In Place (1st floor, lobby level), starting @ 19:00 hours.
I have already begun scoping out where are the Don Quijote and TSUTAYA shops in Osaka. It is quite likely I'll have a bag from one (or both, or maybe more) store with JAVs therein that evening.
If you appear at the evening's drinks, ask for Vincent. It is true that this is not the name by which I am known on FlyerTalk, but I will alert one of our group leaders to keep it confidential, but if anybody asks, to send him in my direction.
I am not doing the day trip to Nara. I will do more shopping, and try to find a quality ramen shop for lunch. The official Do! Dinner ($50 via Eventbrite) will be @ Okonomiyaki Tsuruya in central Osaka. The queue should form @ 18:45 hours.

I know this seems a bit weird. If you are familiar with some of my other posts, you might have puzzled as to whether I am a figment of somebody's imagination; or engaging in a sort of performance art. No. This is really me. Chances to meet me in the real world are rare, but they exist. I would probably enjoy speaking with you; asking you how you found Akiba-Online.

 

[panzer86]

Yes

 

[Pussyhunter1]

In fact 99% of foreign menare disappointed after visiting Japan, especially those who grown up in remote village towns who are more likely to unable to divide between reality and sexual fantasies from JAV. Japanese people are far different to those staged in JAV porn. As highly developed cities, many rules applied which foreigners need to know before they visit the country. These included do not talk on cell phones or speaking loudly in public transport, avoid nuisance to other people or passengers, gain permission before taking photos/videos of other person, keep quiet, polite etc. all the time.

Just got to know this rude American streamer Johnny Somali, who went to Japan streaming in streets and on the train, having no ideas of local manners and morality, making enormous nuisance to pedestrians, train passengers, store staffs, humiliating East Asians and mocking about Hiroshima disaster and so on during his grandstanding live stream. Eventually everyone in Japan hates this American man leaving negative images of American visitors.

 

[vincent_z]

Tokyo trip #16: Asakusa Tawaramachi.
Greetings, people. I am in Tokyo. I am staying at the APA Hotel Asakusa-Tawaramachi. It is very close to the G-18 station of the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. It is also close to any number of ¥100 shops {Lawson, Daiso} and a Don Quijote. This was crucial insofar as I somehow packed two camera battery chargers in my luggage, but did not include the all-important three-prong to two-prong plug adapter.
My laptop computer was on life support a few hours ago. The death notice {You are down to 14%. Plug in your computer.} displayed. I shut it down.
The USD-JPY exchange rate (that I can get) is $1 = ¥148.08.
I walked from the hotel toward the Daiso and the Donki. Each is in an edifice designated the ROX. The Daiso did not have the plug adapter. It did have a shoe insole for my new gym shoes. My left big toe was raw red from all the walking I did on Wednesday. [¥110]
I walked on north to the Donki. The Donki had the plug adapter . [¥768] Whew.
Since I was in the store, I checked its adult goods section. This store does not have any semblance of remaindered JAVs. Donki runs hot | cold. This one is in the 'cold' roster.
But - also in ROX is a TSUTAYA video rental store. It has an adult DVDs portion. There was not a vast selection, but remaindered JAVs were available for 5 | ¥2,200 {¥440} and ¥333. These were in the easy-to-pack clear plastic sleeve with only the cover and the DVD. Recall TSUTAYA accepts a credit card. I did not shop there now, but it will get an inspection sometime during this jaunt. I want to explore the inner part of Asakusa for video shops which might not be found via a search engine.
I am back at the hotel now. Obviously, I need to charge my laptop computer. I won't leave here until it is up to around 92%. I am headed to Beer Club Popeye in Ryögoku, which opens at 1500 hours. It has a 'Happy Hour' with free food for ordering select beers on offer. I will speak more with you about this later. Until then.

 

[vincent_z]

It is Friday. I am heading for Yokohama to visit Thrash Zone, a bar which plays punk | metal music.
Amazingly, as I was checking the area, I turned up this sale at Mulan Yokohama (in the Taki bldg.)! I could do serious depletion of its stock.
Wish me success.

 

[vincent_z]

Friday did not work as well as I hoped.
When reading an ad mostly in Japanese, but with images, what is it reading? In today's instance, what was incorrectly interpreted was that the numbers shown were the price of the DVD was discounted by. So when I thought was getting five DVDs for ¥1,800; it meant I would get ¥1,800 off the stickered prices of the five DVDs. This was on the third floor of Mulan Yokohama - there is no elevator here. Maybe I should have gone up to the fourth floor. (If there had been an elevator, I would have rode to the highest floor and potentially shopped downward.)
So after putting the staff of Mulan through this misinterpretation, the twenty DVDs in my basket were reduced down to five. I had to buy something. An admission against my intent is that I spent more on these DVDs then I would have. Five DVDs = ¥4,796.

1. AVOP-340 (2017) 120' R2
2. KTKL-054 145'
3. KTKY-052 240'
4. KTKY-025 240'
5. MTES-072 180' R2

The Mulan in Akihabara will have its similarly designated "imperial" deal on Monday, the 13th. Depending on how much another function gobbles up time will determine which other Akiba stores are shopped.

I will attend the American Craft Beer Experience festival on Saturday afternoon.

 

[vincent_z]

Sunday, 12 Nov.
Things did not go as well as I had planned today.
The 'cover' reason for my visiting Japan was the Japanese Railway Society's "veterans tour". The main event for the group here in Tokyo was a nomaihodai at a venue in Higashi Gotanda 2 Shinagawa-ku, ensuing at 18:00 hours.
I am staying in Asakusa, as you may have read (But how could you not?). I am very familiar with the Toei Asakusa subway line. Yet, for all the photographs I have taken at Sengakuji station (A-07), I have not rode the branch of it which runs to Nishi-Magome station. (Again, if you have not visited Tokyo, this seems perplexing. But most Toei Asakusa Line trains divert from the downward route at Sengakuji - serving Shinagawa station and entering the Keikyu train line to serve Haneda Airport, Shin-Zushi, Keikyu Kurihama, and as far down as Misakiguchi.) There is what amounts to a shuttle service connecting Sengakuji and Nishi-Magome (A-01) stations.
In the upward direction, nearly every train travels beyond Oshiage (A-20) onto the Keisei train line to Aoto, Takasago, Imba-Nihon-Idai, Keisei Sakura, or all the way to Narita Airport. This is the keen element which causes me to hit its stations to photograph other train lines' consists and annotate their destinations.
I was riding other trains today as well. I deliberately left Toei at Sengakuji to walk to the new J.R. Takanawa Gateway station and rode the J.R. Yamanote line to Osaki, where my investigation had detected a TSUTAYA store adjacent to the station.
Compressing the bad news down to a few sentences: There is an adult DVD section at TSUTAYA Osaki. But its sell price for DVDs is ¥700. Guess who wasted a bunch of minutes inspecting rental DVD offered for 10 | ¥2,200, and had thirty DVDs in the basket, only to learn that this was the weekly rental rate?
Yes.
At least this time, the DVDs were not rung up on its POS system. But it also means I did not buy any. Somebody shall have to reshelf the DVDs. I feel lousy having to cause this much additional work for an employee.
I know that the Asakusa TSUTAYA has sell-through DVDs for ¥333 or ¥400. I want to visit one more TSUTAYA store to check its adult DVD selection.
Seemingly, the J.R.S. people have nothing binding planned for Monday. I am going to hit Akihabara to check the sale announced for Kintaro Hanataro's shop. This sounds promising. I shall also hit Mulan; in particular, its second floor, where I have found shrink-wrapped three-packs of JAVs for ¥999 or less. There are also two TRADER stores (the third one is closed because the edifice is being reconstructed) on the avenue. Those have potential for the shrink-wrapped multi-JAV packages (up to 15, but you only see two of them).
So think of me and give me some karma that I will actually get a number of JAVs. Until then.

 

[vincent_z]

OK. Thanks for your help, people; however you provided it. A solid breakthrough occurred today in a store so unassuming and obscure, I had to look it up on Google™ maps. I will return to this.
First, I must relate that Mulan Akiba was a complete bust.
I saw some of the same ad copy seen in Yokohama; and did not want to attempt a duplicate episode. As well, most of the cases I saw on its shelves were the rental packages with the DVDs sticking out the top.
I went up to the third floor to inspect; but everything there was close to list price. So nothing was bought.
I stopped in a BookOff in Akiba. On its top floor were a variety of JAVs, but hardly any of them were priced below ¥500, and they mostly orbited around the one starring female doing a variety of lewd acts. I am unenthused and unaroused by blowjobs, and masturbation scenes, whether hand-performed or with a dildo, also have me hitting the fast-forward button. I want to glimpse the in-and-out, with some footage of full-screen cock-thrusting up and down.
Kintaro-Hanataro in Akiba had very few JAVs at a sale price I would buy. A lot of the packages were the rental type.
I found a few JAVs at Trader2 Akiba (03-3255-0777) 1-chome-4-9 Sotokanda.
They were ¥330 each.

1. DEEP-1212 (2012) Grayal Deep "JK" Special (bare DVD ~ the release code is so small I will need a magnifying glass to read it)
2. JJPP-158
3. MOU-13 (2002) 120' 4x3
4. PYM-141 480'
5. DFTH-002 240'
6. JUKF-074 145'
7. 7MIMK-046 120' R2

Seven JAVs = ¥2,310 (credit card ~ Visa #1)

The shop where I bought a bunch of JAVs was Liberty Kaitori at 1-chome-11-5 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku. On its 3rd floor, in small carts holding only the disc and its cover were over a thousand DVDs. They were not restricted to JAVs. There were a number of fetish DVDs, of which I bought those focusing on panties. The prices on these varied between ¥200 - ¥500. I selected mostly ¥300 DVDs. It was tiring to filter through these carts; and after a while, I ceased because I was noticing duplicates. In another cart, I found a few shrink-wrapped five-packs stickered at ¥1,000. I bought those because broken down, each was ¥200. I just did not know what three of my 'selections' would be.
I calculated that these JAVs would cost ¥15,200. However, when I brought my basket to the checkout counter, staff were pleased with the quantity of my purchase. The sale here was 10% off the price, but it was willing to make a deal; and with a tiny amount of negotiation (language barrier notwithstanding), we cut the price down to ¥10,000, and it was charged to a Visa credit card (#1).
Here are the fifty-four JAVs bought there. I will look up these releases on JAV Library after returning to the U.S.A.

1. IFPTLQ-91 (2005) 110'
2. C-29 (2011) 4x3
3. FH-1019 (2010) 240' 4x3
4. SUGAR-DVD-48 (2010) 4x3
5. ? Make it Love (2005) vol. 2, disc 1
6. BT-1010 (2010) 4x3
7. IMD-006 (2011) 110' 4x3
8. SUN-ENT-95 (2011) 240' 4x3
9. TDED-7344 (2008) 120' 4x3
10. GF-021B vol. 2 4x3
11. NOOO-1009 (Sep. 2010) 270' 4x3
12. JRC-72863 (Apr. 2011)
13. TDED-8616 | YAVD-1010 (2010) 69'
14. DRX-0004, disc 2 180' 4x3
15. ALT-1001 (Jan. 2010)
16. 5SHK-326 (I need a missionary period pause.) 4x3 R2
17. PS-1103 (Mar. 2011) Disc A 4x3
18. YAVD-0906 | TDED-7806 (2009) 58'
19. YAVD-0904 | TDED-7761 (2009) 74'
20. Glay'z-2007-09 [H7-01 ?]
21. TABD-001 DVD-PG 4x3 120'
22. OKAX-679 240'
23. GBDN-002 55' non-nude
24. GBD-098 30' + 60' More southeast traders, including enough - nonnude
25. GBD-108 (1977) 77' nn
26. GSB-111 75'
27. GASA-001 (2006) 120' 4x3
28. SVOMN-026, disc 2 (2010)
29. CATS-003 240' 4x3
30. GIGL-579 {SM?}
31. Sweet Heart GSD-001 DVD-PG 2 angles, 4x3
32. AMGZ-020 240'
33. ARN-100 {incest} 240'
34. YG-004 160'
35. KUNK-036 220' R2
36. AXDVD-0152R (2016) 240' 4x3 {SM}
37. AXDVD-0176R (2016) 240' 4x3 {SM}
38. AEDVD-1830R (2017) 110'
39. AEDVD-1705R (2017) 240'
40. AEDVD-1748R (2017) 120' 4x3
41. AXDVD-0199R (2017) 240' 4x3 {SM}
42. AXDVD-0168R (2016) 240' 4x3 {SM}
43. HODV-20930 (2013) 240'
44. MGR-0710 (2007) 120' 4x3
45. JGAHO-214 240'
46. EBIR-009 90'
47. CP-002 240'
48. NANX-059 240'
49. VIRT-D21 90' 4x3
50. JGAH-0247R 240' {SM}
51. WA-305 140'
52. VRTM-498 110'
53. HAPT-102 120' 4x3
54. DVH-465 240' 4x3

So that is it for Monday. I am heading back to Akiba Tuesday because there were a few other shops I noticed east and south of the J.R. station, closer to the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line station. Also, I want to visit the Hitachino Nest Brewing Lab in the southern part of Akiba. Until then.

 

[vincent_z]

Tuesday was lengthy and intense; and I was unsuccessful at negotiating a lower price for the JAVs I bought at Kintaro-Hanataro Kanda. But I did get through there with twenty DVDs for ¥10,000. I was arguing for ¥7,000 on a graduated basis of "one for ¥500 [actual price charged | paid], 10 for ¥3,000, 20 for ¥5,000, and 30 for ¥7,000". Yes, I had thirty JAVs in my basket at the end.
When checking out, the clerk politely declined to sell me two DVDs for hairline fractures in the disc. Two eliminated JAVs got revived.
Five hundred yen is my semi-official upper limit for a price to pay for one JAV. I am placating myself by remarking about the USD-JPY exchange rate (All these JAVs have been charged to a U.S.-based Visa credit card. A U.S. bank's exchange rate is
higher than that of a Japanese merchant bank.) I have a second Visa card, the U.S. Bank Altitude Go Visa signature card, which pays off four times the dollar amount of purchases in bars, taprooms, and restaurants, which is being used at venues like Beer Club Popeye, Devil Craft Hanamatsu, Yona Yona Ale Works, and here tonight at Hitachino Brwg. Lab Kanda Manseibashi. It should go without my annotating that my credit cards do not impose a foreign transaction fee. Unlike last evening at Yona Yona, the wi-fi network here broadcasts to 2.4 GHz devices.
I am contemplating. Wednesday is my final full day in Japan. My flight back to North America is on Thursday afternoon; but I must check out of my hotel, the APA Hotel Asakusa Tawaramachi Ekimae by 10:00 hours Thursday. My route back to Narita Airport will be from Keisei Ueno. All the DVDs bought so far do not seem to be a significant weight compared to prior years' flights. But, instead of the Peoples' Republic of China, which is where my previous cheap flights from Tokyo to Chicago effected a change, this time I am on Air Canada. I'm being returned via Vancouver [YVR]. Vancouver is one of those infrequent airports where I clear U.S. Customs outside the contiguous forty-eight states. I have Global Entry {Why? Recall my prior soccer coverage.}. My YVR-ORD flight is on United Airlines, not Air Canada.
Let's just utter I hope Canadian Customs does not decide to ransack my checked luggage (looking for drugs, but finding erotica).
I am going to hit my neighborhood in Asakusa, including that TSUTAYA which seemed to have DVDs on offer for ¥333 or 5 | ¥2,000. I will ask before shopping whether this is a buy price or a rental price. I also have a very old remembrance of a magazine | book | mook shop in the area closer to the Sensoji Temple east of here. I want to shop there.
Otherwise, I have not found any shopping streets | malls | arcades here or in Ueno. The one with which I am most familiar is all the way down in Ota-ku between the Keikyu Kamata station and the J.R. | Tokyo Kamata station. It is ASUTO. There were two shops which purveyed old (and I do mean old) DVDs and VHS videocassettes in ASUTO. They are {kanji characters I can't duplicate} @ 4-15-2 (03-3737-1168)(shop #50), and its 2nd shop @ 4-5-6 (03-3737-1168). For that respondent who wants to unload his VHS Videocassettes as well as a VCR(!), go here. These shops certainly only accept cash. Do I want to go there? This would be a moot query if I was flying out of Haneda Airport. But I am unsure, since the cheap airfare involves Narita. I specifically chose a hotel somewhere close to both the Toei Asakusa Line (which is fun to photograph), and Ueno | Asakusa. I will issue a preliminary pronouncement that this hotel is absolutely fine for what I request from a lodger. Unlike people on FlyerTalk, who are seemingly born and bred to get first-class, four-star service from their purveyors, and love to gripe when they do not, I need only arrive here. I can handle 'lower-star' service.

I'm composing this from Hitachino's Lab in Chiyoda-ku, manseibashi [Hint: This is also the wi-fi password.]. In Chicago, there is a sporadic function called the "Drinking and Writing Theater" at Haymarket Brwg. @ Halsted and Randolph [southeast corner]. It does seem I scrawl with more ease when I have beers flowing through my bloodstream.
I post this now. For the twenty JAVs I bought today, you will have to wait until now.

1. MBM-060 240'
2. (3)DVDMS-363 320'
3. POST-476 210 R2
4. FP-029 240'
5. HRV-030 480'
6. SCR-278 240'
7. NHDTB-521 150'
8. VRTM-443 300'
9. (R)DORI-1001 488'
10. (2)TOMN-197 240'
11. SCOP-583 480'
12. OKAX-739 240'
13. R-SW-672 180'
14. HNDB-138 480' R2
15. G-2527 (Gogos) 240' R2?
16. OKAX-501 480' 4x3
17. FP-028 240'
18. (R)FONE-112 240'
19. LOL-189 240'
20. SVOMN-154 300'

I entertain judgments on whether I should ride the through-running Toei Asakusa Line to Keikyu Kamata to shop the above two {although actually one} shops in ASUTO.

 

[vincent_z]

I sometimes wonder if my posts here prod people outside Japan to want to visit Japan.
At the least, here on Akiba-Online, people are intrigued by the country, and can tolerate my mentions of Japanese Adult Videos [JAVs]. This is an advantage of semi-anonymity. Were I to exclaim about the JAVs I bought cheaply on an SFW travel forum where I identify myself would likely lead to that post being swiftly deleted, and a strike being placed against my account.
But you, and I do mean you, should go to Japan and buy JAVs. Streams are one thing; since I now have 940 MB symmetrical Internet connectivity at my abode in Chicago, IL., U.S.A., I have learned how to access and download streams to a portable hard drive. But the physical DVD is something that cannot be arbitrarily terminated by its stream provider. I strive to not only relate where I obtained my JAVs, but to annotate how much they cost. A core of my travel axiom is staying at inexpensive hotels and hostels. Unlike the people on FlyerTalk previously mentioned in this thread, I do not require four- or five-star accomodation. The budget set to visit Japan should be expended on food, beverage, and JAVs, not supposedly fancy hotel rooms in which you would occupy for mere handfuls of hours. You will sleep pretty much anywhere. People who know I visit Japan sometimes query, "Can you sleep on a thirteen-hour flight?" My retort is {changed slightly for AO}, "I can fall asleep on the Ginza Line." [And I have.]
Reviewing this thread; the original purpose of which was to discern if you would visit Osaka in 2016 for a FlyerTalk Japan Do; did you follow through? How about after when my travel bot turned up an astonishing round-trip airfare from ORD-NRT (and I even linked to booking it!).

Today - my last full day in Japan (my flight tomorrow from NRT is at 18:05, but I must check out of this hotel at 10:00), I managed to execute a stunning, last minute maneuver.
I returned to the TSUTAYA Asakusa ROX shop (03-5806-4825). I detected the shelves where JAVs were offered for ¥330.

• Gina (nostalgia JAVs) GZMS-005 70' 4x3 70'
• R-EMOIS-006 180'
• 5TSP-452 240'
• MXGR-1142 115' R2
• GUN-861 128'
• BAB-047 129'
• HEZ-392 125'
• HEZ-443 300'
• BNSR-108 139' R2 Nagae Style
• ODV-21683 240'
• GODR-1041 (2021) 180'?
• GOJU-192 300'
• GODR-1002 200'
• GNAX-058 160'
• R-SDMU-929 200'
• SPYE-257R 120'
• OKAX-119 240'
• R-IENF-053 160'
• OKAX-443 240'
• (2)ROYD-089 150' R2
• YAMI-089 145' R2
• BDAR-156 141' R2 {Anal}
• JKSTR-070 240'
• MCSR-489 240'
• R-SDMU-943 90'
• JKSR-421 130'
• XRL-009 126'
• AARM-047 110' Foot fetish
• GGSR-568 240'
• TSM-14 119' Bondage light
• HEZ-418 145'
• ZMEN-049 125'
• DRPT-005 110'
• GODR-976 (2020) 180'
• HZGB-035 281'
• HGOT-036 150'
• DNJR-070 159'
• MBM-414 240'
• OPPW-099 133' {Transgender}
• YST-220 100'

Total = 42 DVDs = ¥13,860 (credit card)
Grand total = 128 DVDs.