Tokyo Tourist Traps: Are these popular Tokyo destinations worth your time? | Japan Station 177
Japan Station is made possible in part by Patreon support. If you would like to make sure that I can keep bringing you more content like this, then head on over to japanko.com/patreon and sign up for as little as $1 a month. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Japan Station. Welcome to Japan Station, a production of japanki.com. This is the podcast where we teach you everything you should know about Japan, plus a few other things. I’m your host, content creator, founder of japankia.com, and the anime linguist on YouTube, Tony R. Vega. Today, we’re talking about tourist traps in Tokyo, or perhaps I should say potential tourist traps in Tokyo, because not every single one of these locations that we’re going to mention is in 100% of the cases a tourist trap. It all depends on who you are, what you want to see while you’re in Tokyo. Uh, and also even within some of these locations, some places can be awesome while other places can be very scammy. We talk about all that today. And by the way, today I have a special guest on the show, Shuhei Murakami, aka Shu Murakami. He’s a stand-up comedian, aspiring actor. He just got a role in Japanese movie. I can’t say anything more about that because I think that is still uh being produced and there’s no more details to tell you about that. But he’s trying to get into acting and he’s also been a tour guide for the past 6 months or so taking people around Tokyo and sometimes over to Kyoto Osaka. So we talk about these tourist traps in Tokyo. He shares some interesting stories and insights as well. If you want to follow uh what Shuhei is up to, check out his Instagram, Japanese Standup comedian. You can also find videos of his work on YouTube. I will include the links down below. And if you want a private tour, he might be able to arrange that. You can always reach out to him directly. Check out his Instagram. And if you want to learn more about Shu, well, you can check out episode 45 of Japan Station because he was a guest on the show back in August of 2020 and he has an incredible life story. He’s had some really, really unique experiences. I won’t get into all of that. I highly recommend you listen to that episode because it’s just as interesting now as it was back then. Link will be down below. And one last thing, this episode was inspired by an article on explore.com. So if you want to check out the full article, check it out in the links below. And of course, don’t forget to subscribe and maybe spread the show around and leave a review. All that would be greatly appreciated. We are currently the number one podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. When you look up Japanese culture, well, at least that’s on the US version of Apple Podcast and Spotify. So, thank you so much, guys, for all that support. If you’re a new listener, welcome and thank you for all the support. There’s plenty more episodes coming. So again, don’t forget to subscribe. All right, let’s get into it. So the first places that this list uh mentions is Tokyo Skytree and uh Tokyo Tower. Um have you done tours that that take people to uh Skytree or Tokyo Tower or just just curious? I mean, these are super popular places. I’ I’ve I’ve been to Well, honestly, I I’ve been to Sky Tree, but I never been to Tokyo Tower. So, Tokyo Skytree, I probably go there once a week. Okay. It’s nothing special to me anymore, but it’s a it’s the highest tower in Tokyo. Used to be the highest tower in the world. Now, it’s taken over by uh Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Yeah. But it’s 634 meters. It’s pretty. So I think it’s worth going up there. I agree. And Tokyo Tower, not a lot of people go there anymore because Yeah. Tokyo Tower used to be the highest tower, tallest tower in Japan, but not anymore. Then Tokyo Sky Tree is about like twice taller. Mhm. So yeah, Tokyo Tower is not really u like popular tourist spot anymore, but Tokyo Sky Tree. Yes, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I think if it’s your first time in Japan, um it’s it’s probably worth it. It of course it on a clear day, you can see really really really far. You should be able to see Mount Fuji on a clear day. Um Oh, yeah. If it’s really clear. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I I was there I’ve only been there well I’ve only went to the observation deck once and that was like right when it opened because I was I was still living in Japan at the time I think. Uh, so I I happened to be in Tokyo like pretty soon after it opened. Uh, and you know I I I enjoyed it. I think it was fine. Maybe it’s a little bit expensive but it is what it is. You know you have to pay for that kind of thing. Uh, and of course that whole area has been highly developed. There’s a lot of shopping areas. There’s a lot of shops. Um there’s uh all kinds of shops. There’s like um yeah like uh anime kind of stuff and there’s just you know clothes and restaurants, all that stuff in that area. So you can definitely spend three, four or five hours easily in in that area if you really want to. Um so yeah, you know, I think it’s fine. Shopping mall. Mhm. Yeah. Tokyo Sky Tree would be fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s worth visiting there like once in a lifetime. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe not two, three, four times or maybe not like once a week like you getting tired of going up there because you get the pressure you can feel the pressure on your ears and you know that’s not really comfortable especially if you go up if you have to go up there like once a week at least. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then Tokyo Tower, like I I never went there. And and now, like you said, it’s obviously, you know, just not not what it was before. It was like, you know, that was the tower before. And every time I check, like it’s kind of too expensive for what I what it is, like especially now. And so I it just I’m never I never feel like, oh, I should go. like it looks nice from outside and all that and it’s kind of an important part of Tokyo history I guess but I just never feel like paying to actually go there. I actually haven’t been to Tokyo Tower. Oh, really? Okay. So, even even you haven’t been to Tokyo Tower. Okay. So, I I Yeah, I think that speaks a lot. So, maybe maybe go and take a picture from somewhere outside. But, uh if you really want Yeah. Yeah. It’s good to take a picture with you or that take you know taking picture of it will be you know cool. Yeah. Yeah. But you know if you want to go up somewhere very high sky tree is the place to go. Yeah. Now the this article mentions a place that I I’ve been to instead of Tokyo Tower and well instead of Skytree as well. Uh the to I think it’s called the toou in in uh no in Japanese but it’s the Tokyo I think it’s the Metropolitan Tower or something like that. Uh it’s in Shinjuku. Uh it’s the city hall. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Basically. Yeah. It’s the government Exactly. Yeah. City Hall. Uh and and it’s I I don’t know is it Do you know if it’s still free? It used to be free to go up to their observation desk uh deck at the top. Um I am not sure. Let me check. Yeah, sure. So, I I’ve been there probably like three or four times. I’ve taken multiple people there. Uh it is probably less than a 10-minute walk from one of the many many many exits in Shinjuku Station. I don’t know. There’s so many exits there. I don’t remember which one it is. You You can just look it up online. Uh I don’t remember how tall the building is. It is very tall. Uh but it it is in a it’s in a very different part of the city. So like it’s a great place to go if you want to see Skytree for example because you you’ll get to see like you know outside of Sky Tree. Like if you’re in Skytree then you can take a look at at you know like the Shinjuku area with all the skyscrapers and all that. But if you’re in Shinjuku then you’re in you know that area. So you you can get to look around from that area. So it’s a totally different vantage point but it is free or I I don’t know if you can let us know if it’s not free anymore. Uh and uh I’ll look it up. It’s It’s free. Like there there’s an observation deck on 45th floor. Then it’s free. Yeah. And it’s free. Exactly. U I recommend this place. I I think uh you know especially if you are already going to be in the Shinjuku area like there’s plenty of other reasons to be in that area or nearby. So uh you can go there. It’s open at night as well. So if you want to see the night view, you can go check that out as well. All right. So let’s let’s move on to the next possible uh tourist trap. And that according to this list uh is Tokyo Disneyland. Uh now I I would say I think it depends totally on the person. Um you know, right? Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn’t look like for example um Tokyo Disneyland like is generally speaking cheaper than Disney in in the US. like the entrance and and both not not just the entrance but also like the food and everything inside like in the US like Disney is like crazy expensive like the food and the drinks and it’s ridiculous but in Japan like it’s it’s very reasonably priced. So the ticket is around $70 now. Yeah. And yeah because uh the yen has been really really weak and the dollar has been very strong you know compared to Japanese yen. Yeah. So um in 2016 $100 yen but now it’s uh 150 yen. Yeah. Which means that in Japan if you use dollars everything is like 30% off. Yep. So now it’s time for you to visit Japan and Tokyo Disney and you know in that way Tokyo Disneyland is really really cheap too. Yeah for you know foreigners now. So, the entrance ticket is probably around $70 and food, drinks inside will be, you know, a little more expensive than eating uh somewhere else, but it’s still not like super expensive compared to the Disney World and stuff in the States. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it it is very easy to get there. You can just take the train. Um, you know, it’s it’s not it’s technically not Tokyo actually. It’s it’s Chiba, right? But, uh, you know, it’s very easy to get to as well. And even outside Tokyo, right? Right. And even like the hotels in that area, like I I have stayed in that area, it wasn’t like it was crazy expensive. Of course, you have to book with, you know, like a good amount of time. You don’t want to be too, you know, um, uh, last minute because then things do get expensive. Uh but yeah, if you’re into Disney, uh you know, there’s also Disney Sea, of course, which is like the the original park, like that there is no Disney Sea anywhere else in the world, and they have some they have a new area that just opened up uh in the past couple years, I think. So, uh there’s definitely places to see. Now, for me personally, like I I I love roller coasters, so like I’m not into Disneyland. Um you know, I I I would rather go to Fuji Q Highland, for example. Uh, you know, so that’s where the world fastest roller coaster is or used to be the fastest. I think it used to be. Yeah. So, there’s some awesome roller coasters there. If you’re if you’re really into like intense roller coasters, Fuji Highland is for you. Uh, but um if you’re not, then maybe you can stick to Disney. So, there’s another theme park called the Yumi Land where you can do a bungee jump from around the height of like 30 m. Mhm. For like $10. 10? Really? It’s $10. Yeah. I didn’t know that. It’s pretty cheap. Okay. Yeah. Oh, but and the theme park is not as popular as Tokyo Disneyland or other theme parks, so it’s not very crowded either. And they have some roller coasters and some scary attractions. So, yeah, that’s a hidden, you know, place that I can recommend a tourist to go to. And you did that. You did the bungee jump, right? I did cuz I didn’t want to do it. That’s why I did. That’s basically how how my life goes. If you don’t want to do it, then you do it. Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. So, $10 for a but Do you have to pay an entrance fee to get into the park? Oh, yeah. But it’s like a free pass. You can ride on any attraction with the pass. All right. So, that sounds very affordable. Okay. So, if you if you want to do a $10 bungee jump, hey, that’s pretty cool. Okay. an extra $10 on top of the like repass which is I guess around like $30. Hey, that’s fine. You know, that’s not too bad. Mhm. Yeah. You really caught my attention with a $10 bungee jump. Like $30, you get in, you check out, you know, the other stuff, you do some rides, but then, you know, a little extra $10, you can say, “I bungee jumped in Tokyo.” That’s That’s pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That that is something that I didn’t know about. I haven’t done it now. Now I’m very tempted to go do that since I’m going to be in Tokyo soon. So, what can you do here? Yeah, this year. Yeah. Yeah. Consider it. Okay. All right. So, next up we have Golden Guy. Oh, okay. So, this is in Shinjuku. I’m There we go. Yep. Yep. So, this is something that I I really want to get your opinion on because you just told us you’re you’re from the Shinjuku area. I’m sure you know a lot about uh Golden Guy, but just for anybody that’s unaware, Golden Guy I I’ve only been there once, so please, you know, correct me if I’m wrong, but it it basically it was like a well, it is like a street area with like a lot of small small bars. Used to be very um kind of the locals know about it, but in the past few years like the the foreign media has really focused on it and it’s blown up and now it’s become more of a tourist trap, I guess. I don’t know. What what do you think? So, the golden guy in Shinjuku, I back in the day, I wouldn’t really recommend tourist or anybody to go there unless they know the area or the or shop well because you can be ripped off. They can be No, some bars could be run by some not really normal people. You know what I mean? Mhm. Yeah. Shady people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, but now it’s more like a tourist spot and some some shops could overcharge like tourist, but it’s still not as expensive as it used to be. I mean, they don’t rip you off as much as they used to. Okay. And they you get the vibes and you know some bars are just bars, you know, and you get the vibes and you know you get to talk to local people there. But last time I went there I was really surprised because there were more tourists than like local people. Mhm. But that’s where you know you can meet people then you can talk to the bartenders and you know get to know about things around the area or the culture. So yeah, well if you don’t do anything crazy there, you know, it’s not as dangerous it used to be back in the day. That’s good to know. Um then it’s fun. You can feel the local vibes for sure. Mhm. But also that’s one of those poor spots now where you know, right, some things are a little bit overpriced but not not as much. Right. Right. Right. Uh the the article mentions uh like other options for these kind of like uh bar uh districts uh or Shimokazawa and what was it? Nbe nbe Yokucho I think it was um what do what do you think about these other places? Yeah, they’re not overpricing. And I think those places are, you know, good for tourists to go. Even though even if they don’t know a lot about these areas, there are just local bars. They charge you, you know, as much as they charge local people. And most of the most of those places are very cheap. For example, there is this Japanese uh word s. Mhm. So Sam means 1,000 which is equivalent to $7 now and BTO means drunk. So that means if you spend $7, you can get pretty drunk cuz drinks are very cheap and also you can get some cheap snacks there. So remember sro this word when you come to Japan. Yeah. No, no. I mean like I don’t drink so I don’t know some of this like language, you know. So that that is that was a new word for me. I didn’t know that word. So thank you for teaching that. Mhm. Similar 1,000 yen and you get drunk. Pretty much which is $7 which is amazing, right? So one glass of beer like $2 or $3. Yeah. I think in Wik Ki so I live in Hawaii. I live in Honolulu. In Wik Ki you can’t even get one drink for $7, right? So the other day I went to this sbero street. In Japanese, it’s Sber Yoko. That was in Akaban area. And there were a lot of small pubs and bars that offer some special 1,000 yen like set course, like $7 course. That was three drinks and one like one kind of snacks. That’s for $7. That’s good. That is really really good. Crazy. And in Japan, you we don’t have the tip culture, so you just pay $7 and you get three drinks and some snack. Yeah. So, if you spend $14, yeah, you could get pretty drunk. Yeah, that that is really good. So, you know, obviously Golden Guy, you’re paying for, you know, the name and, you know, it’s the famous place and, you know, you’re gonna you’re gonna be paying more. So, if you’re prepared to, you know, pay a little bit more for that experience and be able to say you went to Golden, then, you know, that’s fine. You know, that that’s that’s your choice. But, of course, there are many many many other places all over Tokyo uh where you can find some good bars and uh you know, we learned a good word today, sido. So, if you can get drunk for a thousand yen, yes, that’s a that’s a good deal right there. Okay. So, then let’s uh let’s we’re going to skip one here because we can’t do this entire article. Well, I will include a link to this article if you guys want to read it, but uh I want to do Akihabara next. All right. So, I I’m pretty sure Shu I think you’re you’re not into too much into anime and that kind of stuff, right? Like just maybe kind of a little bit, but not not like a nerd like me, but not not as much as you. But actually, I hate going to Aki as a tour guide. Do you know why? Because you know there are a lot of like trading trading card shops. Yep. That sell like Pokemon cards, you know, like special Pokemon cards and everything. And there is one trading card shop where they sell one Pokemon card for like a million yen, which is like $10,000. And all those cars, I had all of them as a kid. Like literally every one of them. would be a millionaire or billionaire if I knew the prices would go back crazy in the future. I threw them away when I left Japan. But if I kept them, I didn’t know. And maybe that’s why the prices are crazy now. But anyways, yeah, if you are into anime or like made culture, yeah, Gabbor is the place to go. You I think you can spend like all day there. Absolutely. Yes. And like like you you were saying, of course, there’s, you know, the trading card shops. Uh it can be Pokemon. There there’s Yu-Gi-Oh. There’s all that stuff. There’s of course all the anime figures. Uh basically any kind of anime merchandise. There’s, you know, all those stores. There’s the new stuff. There’s the old stuff, used stuff, all that stuff is there. But and there’s a lot of those shops in a very small area. So you can visit a ton of different shops and you can find a lot of different things. Also like the the main headquarters of like, you know, the these Tamasi nation, like these, you know, official stores, right? Um they’re there. But but but but the one thing that I will say is that they’re probably maybe not 100%, but a lot of these places will be a little bit more expensive because you’re paying for that convenience charge where you can just go to Akihara and you can find a ton of stuff. uh and they know that the tourists are coming so they can charge a little bit more. If you want to go somewhere else like maybe Nakan no Broadway or you go to like a book off, a hard off uh you know like hobby off like all these other bigger shops that are you know a little bit more in in like the more um smaller neighborhoods, the the kinds of places that people don’t normally visit. You can probably find cheaper prices, but it’s more inconvenient because you have to actually go and look for these places. Also, like Merkari in Japan, I I’ve looked at prices for anime figures in in on Merkari. A lot of times you can find cheaper stuff on Merkari. So, but if you don’t live in Japan, you don’t have a Japanese address, you don’t have a Japanese phone number, a Japanese credit card, you can’t buy on Japanese Merkari. So, uh that that’s the convenience charge. If you go to Akiara, just know that you might pay a little bit more for some things uh or a lot more for some things, but you know that you’re probably going to find a lot of what you want to find in one place. So that’s just you have to accept that. Exactly. I would say Akihabara is the Disneyland of like anime. Yeah. So things are a little bit more expensive, but you know, like you can you have a lot of options and you know, you can get pretty much everything there. Yeah. So, uh you know, and if you’re like Shu and you threw away your Pokemon cards, then maybe don’t go to the Pokemon card shop because it’ll be torture, right? I always get very disappointed. I know. By the way, anime is not the only thing that you can go to Akihabara for. A cabar is also known for made cafes. Do you know what they are? Yeah, of course. Of course. Made cafes. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah. So, the servers there wear the costume of like maid and as you enter the cafe, they say, “Welcome back, my lord.” Mhm. And they treat you so nicely. And a capital used to be a place for like electric electronic like nurse. They go there to buy some parts of computers and they built their own computers and stuff and then those med cafes you know are born there. So if those people go to the med cafe they are treated so well then you know they love going there then they started going there then now there are a lot of med cafes there still and they will have a very good experience there especi you know of course the prices of like regular curry or coffee drinks that’s very overpriced but you go there for the experience not for the food or drinks so that’s it cafe is something that you can they don’t like super overcharge so that’s something that you can experience in Akihabara and also there are some adult so-called adult department stores yes there are yes I will leave it to you I will leave it to the listeners you know exactly yeah yeah imagine what kind of department stores they are yes that that is something that Akihabad is known for absolutely yeah and And like you said, just to emphasize the the maid cafe thing. Um, you know, there’s a bunch of them. I I I haven’t been to one in Akiara in a very very very very long time. I went to like a couple in 2006, maybe. Uh, and then I never went again because I got the experience and that was fine, you know, like I just wanted to see what it was like. Um, now of course everybody knows about made cafes. I’m sure there’s places that are like even more expensive. You just have to understand that you’re not paying for the food. It’s not the food that, you know, is so good that people are coming to pay the food. No, people are paying to spend time with the maids and to play with the maids because they play games sometimes or, you know, they’ll they’ll uh talk to you and all that. So, that is what you’re paying for. If you’re okay with that, then, you know, maybe you won’t consider it a tourist trap. If you were expecting good food, uh then don’t don’t expect too much there. Reasonable price. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. If you want reasonable price, go like to I give out a station like nearby. There there’s there’s a bunch of little restaurants around in that area that are much cheaper, right? So, G is an interesting Yeah. area. So, it’s it’s worth visiting. Yeah. Even if you even if you were not really interested in or into like anime stuff, you know, you can see Japanese stuff. Yeah. Yeah. how Japan is like of Japan to see it like just to to see the stores and everything like even if you’re not into any I think it it would be an interesting thing if it’s your first time. All right, so we’ve got two more and then we’ll finish up. So, uh first up, I think this is one that many people might say has become a bit of a tourist trap. Uh I I might agree, I think, but uh let’s talk about it. So, Nakami Street, uh this is a a famous shopping street. Um, where is this shoe nakami? That’s in Asaka. And that is the oldest shopping street in Tokyo. M, right? That’s that’s the one leading to Asaka Temple. Mhm. Temple. That’s right. Yeah. Which is Yeah. The oldest temple in Tokyo built in 628. Have you been there many, many, many times? Oh, I can’t count how many times. So, yeah, I go there on every tour. Okay. I think it’s worth it because, you know, they try to keep it as traditional traditional as it was back in the day, like before World War II. So, you can see the traditional types of shops and street and also you can buy some like Japanese cultural things like souvenir and stuff there. So, I think it’s good to visit there when you’re in Tokyo for the first time. I mean, I I think that if especially if it’s your first time, you absolutely should if you have the time, of course. Um because every it all depends on what you want to see. Like maybe some people don’t care about temples, right? And that’s fine. Don’t don’t go see the temples, right? But like for me, I do enjoy seeing temples and historical places. So, like I think that people should go see that temple if that’s something that they’re interested in. Uh, and since you’re already there, you’re going to pass through Nakami Street. So, it’s worth checking out. Take a look. I’m sure it’s very crowded, right? Like it it’s probably become even more crowded because it always was crowded, but I’m sure even more now. It is really crowded every day now. Yeah. So, understand you’re going to have to deal with that because this is, you know, very popular place. Um, I’m sure you can find some of the stuff sold there cheaper at some other places, but again, this is just how it is. If you’re going to be there, you know, you have a bunch of shops. It’s the convenience charge, right? Because you can go to a bunch of these little shops and and buy a bunch of stuff in one place. So, that that’s just how it is. Also, in Asaka area, you can rent kimono. There are a lot of rental kimono shops. Kimono is a Japanese traditional clothes. Mhm. So, and that’s not expensive as well. Like it’s like $30 or something for the whole day. Oh, wow. So, you can wear the Japanese traditional clothes kimono and hang out in Asaka and you can feel it. Yeah, that’s you can try. That is a really good price. Uh, so yeah, I mean I wouldn’t say go to Asakusa just for Nakamisa Street, but you know, you you go there for multiple things and Nakamisa Street is one place you can just go check out. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to stay there, you know, a long time. You can just take a quick look and that’s it. And that’s close to Tokyo Skytree. So, usually when I go to Asaka, I will take them to Sky Tree as well on the same day. Okay. All right. All right. That’s nice. Uh, so as I said, Sky Tree is just one station away. Oh, perfect, perfect, perfect. Yeah, like it sometimes it’s hard to keep track of where everything is because you’re like going in the subway, so you forget like, oh, actually this is like right next, you know, to this place and like, you know, I I forget like I lose track of the the layout of of Tokyo sometimes. Um, but what one other place that this this article mentions is Aayoko in uho. So, that’s another kind of marketplace. Uh, and uh, yeah, like I think that’s another interesting place to check out. There’s a lot of uh, or well, at least I haven’t been there in the past few years, but uh, there used to be a lot of cheap food um, over there in the uh, uh, literally it’s like the American market, I guess it would be. But, uh, that’s in Ueno. So, that that might be another, uh, place to check out if you want to see like this kind of old style Japanese market kind of place. So the streets the street called uh American street in Japanese it’s called a Yoko is known for like American stuff that were sold after like World War II. There were a lot of um American stuff imported from the states sold in the like illegal market I would say. It was called Yamichi in Japanese. That directly translates to like dark market. Yeah. So that’s how it started. And now there are a lot of like very cheap bars. As I mentioned earlier, there are some sbero pubs bars like 1,000 yen drunk. Yeah. Places and Yeah, it’s good to see it. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. I I went to a a little Chinese food place. It was, you know, not a lot of people. Uh it was open late at night and uh the food was really cheap. It was really good, too. Uh like just again really like kind of cheap interior. The the the chairs weren’t even like proper chairs. Uh but I I loved it. I absolutely loved it. Cheap really good food. So I hope those kind of places are still there because I went there maybe like four years ago. It was it was a little while ago. Um but you can definitely find some cheap food. Fancy. Yeah. Yeah. You don’t go there for fancy food. Exactly. Go to Giza for the fancy gorgeous setup or Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. But Oh, that Yeah, those little cheap places. They’re so good. They’re so freaking good, right? Yeah. If you want to feel the local vibes. Yeah. Definitely. That’s why you go there for Yeah. Okay. So, one one last place, and this is another place that often gets called a bit of a a tourist trap, but Roongi. Roongi. So, what do what do you think about Roongi? Uh shoot. That’s for party people. Yeah. For a night out. Yeah. So if you are one of them, Rapongi is a place to party. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You It’s a little expensive. Rapongi is relatively unexpensive area. It’s in the city center, but you know, I would say there are clubs, there are pubs, and sometimes I go there Saturday morning to pick up my guest at hotels and there are drunk people in the street. Yeah. Still drinking beer and stuff, you know. Oh, I haven’t mentioned yet, but in Japan, you can drink pretty much like anywhere, even on the train. Yeah. So, you’re allowed to drink in the street if you like. And in Japan, you see some office workers drinking on the train after work. Yeah. So, that’s uh that’s a very cheap option for you to get drunk. Probably buy a $11, right? But Japanese people do sometimes are sold 247, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Like Rapongi um you know there are absolutely some you know well-known places some you know just normal places. Of course Roongi is is well known and and it’s a little bit more expensive but um I wouldn’t say that every single place there is is a scam or tourist trap. Uh but uh one one thing that you might want to be um aware of is a lot of times the the pl some places and these are like the more tourist trap kind of places. These places will have um uh like they’ll call it in English sometimes you call them a barker. Uh in in Japanese you call it um like a katchi or like um what’s it called? There’s another uh name for that. Um, but uh these people that will like stand outside and they try to get you to come in and they’ll they’ll they’ll give you the the the flyers for the place. Um I I know that recently the the laws have changed in the past few years. Is that still legal or did they change that? Did they make that illegal? Do you know? Well, pl is legal but Katy is illegal. catchy is those people who try to get you into their restaurants. Gotcha. So, they’re in the street with their like printed menu on their hands showing how cheap they are and you follow them and then you get ripped off because other than the food and drinks, they would charge you for like seat. They call it seat charge, you know. So they say like weekend charge or service charge and I have followed one of them when I was in college. Mhm. And they said all you can drink was for $10. But they didn’t mention that I had to order at least two dishes and one kimui plate was like $7. Yeah. And one small karogi plate was like another $7 or something. And then they charged me for the weekend or like they they charged us three things like weekend charge, service charge, and a raining charge or something. Then I ended up spending a lot more than we were supposed to. So, and it’s illegal as well. Right. Right. Right. Please don’t follow any of those so-called catchy people. Right. Right. Be careful about that. You will never experience any Mhm. you will never experience anything good. Especially when that’s for Kabakura or like girly bars. Kabakura is where it’s like a lounge. Do you call it lounge in English? Um I don’t know. Maybe not in the US, but like uh basically you’re paying to talk to a girl and you’re paying a lot of money. Yes. A lot of money. Yeah. So they they may say, “Oh, one hour $30 and all you can drink.” But you know, they end up charging you for ice, seed, using the toilet or you know, they can say anything. So please don’t follow. You’re paying for the girl, too. Like like if she drinks, you’re paying her drinks. So my my friend once followed one of those guys. You know that when someone says, “My friend once did something,” that’s that’s that person. But anyways, I was saying, “My friend once followed one of those guys and they say like $30 an hour and he ended up paying $800.” Oh my god. But actually, he was with a senior uh worker. So that person paid. Wow. Then he didn’t he I mean I will call him K him because he he was he was younger than he was a lot younger and he was more he was more innocent and he was more uh naive than who I am now. But anyways that was one experience and I would never ever do that again. So never follow uh a catchi or oh another word for that is kovk which means black clothes. So they are usually wearing like suit. Mhm. And they will try to take you to those kakura prices places. Mhm. Here girly bars and stuff. So well if you want to experience what might happen there Mhm. you know go for it. But I wouldn’t really recommend Yeah. doing it. Yeah. Exactly. Like you like like we were saying, you know, it’s actually illegal to do that now. It used to that wasn’t the case. That the the laws changed, you know, somewhat recently. Uh but if anybody’s really aggressive with you to try to get into a certain place, just get out of there. Uh not if if a shop is good, they don’t need an aggressive person to to do that. So be careful about that. If you’re gonna go to Rapongi or Kabuki Cho, any of these like nightlife places, I highly recommend doing a little bit of research ahead of time, there are plenty of good places, you know, fun places, popular places, but there’s also people that take advantage of, you know, innocent, naive, uh, Japanese and tourists. Uh, so just be aware. It’s best to do a little bit of research before you you go to one of these places so you know like which stores or ask shoe. Yeah, exactly. In that area. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She might be there. I would be trying to trying to trap you. But if you say uh I listen to the podcast episode, then I will be easy on you. So don’t worry about that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So be careful. do do the research, you know, pick the places that you want to go and make sure that people have said good stuff about it because, you know, these right now, especially now, right, where tourists are so common, I’m sure that there’s uh definitely some bad people out there that are trying to take advantage of of, you know, tourists. So, I wouldn’t say Roongi is a tourist trap. Like I said, I I I I know that there are places there that people enjoy, that people like, but just be careful because wherever there’s a lot of drunk tourists, there’s going to be people that are going to try to take advantage of them. Yeah. And Roong is uh generally like high-end. Mhm. So, yeah, just so you know that. Exactly. Yeah. Be prepared to pay. You can find again the same other places. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And in Shinjuku like kabuk show as you mentioned it’s like cheaper but when it’s when something is really really cheaper than it should be and there’s something off. So yeah if it’s too good to be true it’s probably not true. So sero sber but sbero is a good deal actually but the thing is you don’t know what you’re drinking what kind of liquor you’re drinking. You could get really drunk and messed up, but that’s what people like. You know, those people who go to those places, that’s what they want. Yeah. So, if you really want to get drunk and messed up, Yeah. those are the places to go. Same barrel, right? I think like I mean, everybody’s different, but maybe you go to experience the same bed. You you you you know, you get what you get, you drink that, and then if you want to go to a nicer place after, then you do that. I think, you know, you can get both experiences. uh you know for not that much money. All right. That’s right. Yeah. So uh that is it. Of course if anybody has any questions you can always email me [email protected] and I can if you have any questions for Shu I can always ask Shu later. Uh but Shu if people want to uh reach out to you if they want to I don’t know follow you somewhere or even ask about possible tours. Uh what would you recommend they do? Where should they go? I have an Instagram account and also I have a YouTube channel that’s for my standup comedy but also when I do a tour guide when I do tour guiding that’s what I do like it’s like a standup comedy you know introducing Japanese culture in a funny way and you can ask me any questions about Japanese culture things so you can see my stuff on YouTube if I could Uh um I will leave my email address there. So no problem. Yeah, I will. Yeah, I will include the links in the show notes. So thank you so much, Shu. Uh thanks for sharing your stories. My pleasure. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I’m sure you know we’ll we’ll uh either meet up in Tokyo or or you’ll be back on the show or something. But it’s always great to talk.
On this episode of Japan Station, we talk about some of Tokyo’s most popular tourist sites. Are they tourist traps or worth your time? We’re also joined by stand up comedian and tour guide Shuhei “Shoe” Murakami.
👉Topics Discussed
Is Tokyo Skytree a tourist trap? Should you visit it? Should you visit Tokyo Tower? Should you visit Tokyo Disneyland? Is it a tourist trap? Is Tokyo Disneyland expensive? Is Akihabara a tourist trap? Is Akihabara expensive? About the observation deck on the 45th floor of Tokyo Metropolitan Main Building No. 1 Is Golden Gai a tourist trap? What is senbero About cheap bars and izakaya in Tokyo About bungee jumping in Tokyo About Fuji Q Highland About Roppongi About scam bars and shadey barkers What to avoid in Roppongi and other entertainment districts About kyacchi About scam bars and how they overcharge you And much more! 👉Subscribe to the Podcast!
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👉Links, Videos, Etc. Follow Shuhei Murakami on Instagram and check him out on YouTube
@Japanese_StandupComedian: https://instagram.com/japanese_standupcomedian Shuhei Murakami on YouTube: Shuhei Murakami Works Check out his first appreance on Japan Station:
The Fascinating Life of Stand-Up Comedian Shuhei “Shoe” Murakami | Japan Station 45: https://japankyo.com/2020/08/about-shuhei-shoe-murakami/ This is the article this episode was inspired by.
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