My son(and 2 navy buddies) are taking leave and going to Japan for 3 weeks starting Nov 7.
Looking for suggestions to forward to them. Thanks

Which part of Japan? Some places up north are already open for skiing, but Tokyo is still pretty mild. If they go to Tokyo there's plenty to see in the city, but day trips to Nikko, Kamakura, and Hakone could be fun, especially since they have 3 whole weeks.

Thanks for comments and I don't think they are skiing but are buying high speed rail pass. I think they are pretty open to anything.

Ponshukan Sake museum in Niigata is a must. There is a huge selection of Sake but also, oddly pickles and salt.

All the products they sell there are made in Niigata.

Of course with over 90 sake brewers in the area so the museum has over 100 sale selections as well as plum wines not to mention a hot sake bath.

Tokyo has a lot of options. Roppongi is a great place to start for nightlife.

Sumo Match!

The November Sumo tournament is being held in ***uoka - pretty far from Tokyo, but if they're here for 3 weeks and getting rail passes it's not outside the realm of possibility.

Danger Mouse said:

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Tokyo has a lot of options. Roppongi is a great place to start for nightlife.

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If they go out to bars in Tokyo I'd suggest only bringing as much cash as they're willing to lose, and not following any street touts/people in bars recommending you go with them to different bars. There are major issues with seedy bars scamming tourists and running up their credit cards (and potentially drugging drinks to make sure they don't remember what happened and just sign whatever credit card receipt they are given).

Per the state department:
"Drink spiking at bars and entertainment venues, especially in areas such as Roppongi and Kabuki-cho, near Shinjuku, has led to robbery, physical and sexual assaults, and credit card fraud. Some victims regain consciousness in the bar or club; other victims may awaken on the street or other unfamiliar locations. U.S. citizens have reported being threatened with gun or knife violence in such venues so that they will pay exorbitant bar tabs or withdraw money. U.S. citizens have also reported being beaten when they have refused to pay or hand over money. There have been reports of U.S. citizens being forcibly taken to ATMs and robbed or made to withdraw funds after being unable to pay exorbitant bar tabs."

https://www.osac.gov/Content/Report/0372abfc-517c-493d-87e7-1ee6b159615b

Can confirm on credit card scams at bars in Roppongi.

Somewhere around 2011 or 2012, Tokyo was the end of a 2 week, 6 country "Training" tour for our local subsidiaries and about 10-15 Americans on the tour went out in Roppongi as a group on the last night. The obvious part was avoiding the Nigerian scammers in the street offering girls, etc.

The less obvious part was the credit card scams in the bars. Here's how it worked:

• You order a drink and they want you to pay for it or open a tab, etc.
• Bartender takes your credit card away and comes back and says your credit card didn't work, do you have cash or another credit card.
• Since this is a very common scenario to have your card blocked when traveling overseas, you don't think anything of it and hand them another card. Same thing, they disappear and come back and say your card worked.
• Now, when it's time for the next round, same drill - your card that just worked, doesn't work now. Do you have a 3rd card?
• Go to a new bar, same scam.

So... my recommendation is - pay cash and as Backwards in Boots suggested, only take cash you're not planning on coming back to the hotel with.

Funny aside - My American cards, especially Capital One - got shutdown immediately. My Australian cards just let the scammers charge away until they hit the limit of my available credit.

Capital one showed me exactly what they had attempted to charge. They tried about 7 transactions looking for the amount of available credit on my card.

One of my work colleagues on that trip got charged about $5,000 for a bottle of champagne. If you're going to pay that much, you should at least get some extra services with it.

So part 2 of that scam story is - don't ever agree to order anything without knowing what the price is.
That advice is especially pertinent to Eastern European drink girls but works for Tokyo too.

In my opinon, I'd hit all of these spots in Tokyo:
Shinjuku - the whole area around the train station, shopping mall, shops nearby, even the Hooters.
Harajuku - again, the whole area, look for the Nike store if it's still there
Meiji Shrine can be accessed from either Shinjuku or Harajuku

Go to the store at the Tokyo Dome for Japanese Baseball merch. I got a Nippon Ham Fighters hat that I loved until I lost it.

Kappabashi Street is pretty incredible for all manner of cooking related stuff. Knives, fake food, chopsticks, etc. I got a really expensive Damascus blade knife there. I also picked up a bundle of plastic chopsticks that are fun to trot out when you have any kind of Asian food.

Akihabara is incredible for anything electronics related. They have the robot cafe there and a bunch of Anime dressed girls on the street promoting it. The electronics stores are pretty great and they have vendors on the street selling random computer parts. Like if you need some random computer cables or fans, etc. I also found a great burger restaurant in that area.

Ginza is a pretty cool area with again, lots of stores, bars, etc. One of the coolest stores is the Nissan Crossing. It has all kinds of concept cars and a nice gift shop where you can get nifty little Nissan merch. I got a G-Shock with a GT-R logo on it and some refrigerator magnets with the various GT-R logos from across the years.

That reminds me, there are a couple of G-Shock stores. Worth a look to at least see the $10,000 Casio Mr. G Hammer Tone watch.

Roppongi - entertainment area but watch your wallet and your cards

Food wise, I loved Devil's Craft brewery the last time I was there in late 2019, early 2020. There are lots of good burger places, just look them up. And a big treat is going to Korean BBQ, or to the Italian wood fired pizza place in Shinjuku. And if they're there 3 weeks, they should at least check out the Hooters for comparison.

I paid $170 for a Kobe steak in Shinjuku - delicious but not worth it. That was an awkward work situation.
Another worthwhile one was going to lunch at a Ramen restaurant near Tokyo Station where you ordered from a kiosk. I way over ordered but great experience.

If they get to Osaka, I recommend going to some of the shops selling vintage American stuff - Levis 501 jeans, etc. Again, lots of good food. For nightlife in Osaka - the RockRock bar is a must. It's a mandatory stop for foreign touring musicians.
http://www.rockrock.co.jp/

Damn. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Japan has an image of being safe, which it is, but this scam happens to so many people it's crazy. Especially since the border has opened post-corona I've seen multiple posts from tourists who had one or two beers and woke up the next morning with fuzzy memories and their credit cards run up to the limit.

The worst part is that the Japanese police do absolutely eff all about it. You went to the bar, you bought drinks, you signed the receipt, clearly you just don't remember how much you actually spent.

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The obvious part was avoiding the Nigerian scammers in the street offering girls, etc.

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I've always heard Japan is incredibly tough place for foreigners to live or stay.... surprised to hear about Nigerian scammers & Eastern European working girls. Do the authorities turn a blind eye or are these folks somehow legal?

Not sure what visa category they are here under, but in general it's actually relatively easy to get a working visa for Japan as long as you have an employer to sponsor you.

I have no idea how the Nigerian scammers are able to operate in Japan but they're there.

BackwardsInBoots said:

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Not sure what visa category they are here under, but in general it's actually relatively easy to get a working visa for Japan as long as you have an employer to sponsor you.

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During my 10+ trips to Japan, I ran into a lot of randoms who were teaching English or were married to a Japanese person.

Also, one colleague who was traveling around Asia with me was making the most of Tinder. He found a Canadian nanny who wanted to get out of the house for some fun and games.

BackwardsInBoots said:

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Damn. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Japan has an image of being safe, which it is, but this scam happens to so many people it's crazy. Especially since the border has opened post-corona I've seen multiple posts from tourists who had one or two beers and woke up the next morning with fuzzy memories and their credit cards run up to the limit.

The worst part is that the Japanese police do absolutely eff all about it. You went to the bar, you bought drinks, you signed the receipt, clearly you just don't remember how much you actually spent.

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I chalked it up to a lesson learned the hard way.

I also learned that at the employer I was working for at that time, the instigators in the shenanigans that HR would frown on were the senior leaders in the organization.

One of those guys bragged about how we could get away with anything in Roppongi because we were gaijin. Yeah, turns out, we couldn't get away with anything. We could definitely misbehave more than we would have at home.

At this point, I'm really over that whole lifestyle. I just want to have a few drinks and go home now.

Love these last minute what to do threads….

If you're ever back in Tokyo, let me know. I know plenty of chill places.

Second Hakone as a suggestion. Cool sculpture garden and generally a very walkable town.

Will do. I've been wanting to go back since my last trip in Feb 2020.
I haven't left the USA in almost 4 years now.

BackwardsInBoots said:

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The November Sumo tournament is being held in ***uoka - pretty far from Tokyo, but if they're here for 3 weeks and getting rail passes it's not outside the realm of possibility.

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We had to improvise during our trip last August when the typhoon forced our cruise ship to cancel stops in Shimizu and Osaka, replacing them with a stop in Kumamoto. We took the Shinkansen to ***uoka and spent the day there.