Why You Should Travel to Japan NOW!
You should visit Japan in 2026! Tune in to find out why NOW is the perfect time to travel to Japan. We discuss tourism, the economy, Japanese food, and Alun's favourite subject of all: Pokémon. If you've been thinking about a trip to Japan and need that final push, this episode is for you!
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
01:37 - Pokémon, Akihabara & Japanese Nostalgia
07:53 - Why Japan Has Something for Everyone
10:17 - Japan's Incredible Food Culture
11:12 - Kyoto vs Tokyo (And Why You Should Visit Both)
13:15 - Why NOW Is the Best Time to Visit Japan
15:15 - Overtourism & Why Waiting Could Be a Mistake
17:24 - Japan's New Departure Tax
24:12 - The World's Best Starbucks?
27:08 - The Restaurant That Refused to Serve Us
31:55 - Final Verdict: Should You Visit Japan Now?
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Welcome to Tripology
Transcript
Alun:
[0:01] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology. It's a backpacking show where two best backpacking friends backpack towards one another and talk about backpacking. I'm Alan and I'm here with the ever weeby Adam.
Adam:
[0:16] Here for another amazing show. This one's going to be extremely positive because Alan I would like to talk to you given that I'm in Japan with you about how much I love being in japan with you.
Alun:
[0:27] We're trending positive on a graph in which the x-axis shows positivity and the y-axis is time we're looking like a big line baby going this way high pie sky to the sky that's the way we are we're feeling nice adam i asked you what adjective
to use to describe you i had some ideas you went no those are too negative i don't want to be called that I want you to call me weeby. I don't know what it means.
Adam:
[0:59] Weeb is someone who is excessively, can we call it passionate, obsessed really with Japan and all things Japanese.
Alun:
[1:08] Is it a Japanese word?
Adam:
[1:09] Not sure. Because it doesn't sound it.
Alun:
[1:11] I think in my school people used to call each other weebs as an insult. A bit like dweeb.
Adam:
[1:16] Yeah but did they like manga and anime.
Alun:
[1:19] No no they were just dweebs with a d chopped off
Adam:
[1:24] We was specifically someone who really loves japan and all things japanese but in particular anime and manga no they're all over japan they are definitely in akibara which is where we were a couple of days ago.
Alun:
[1:37] We you took me to akibara you said alan let me show you the electric city and you took me all the way over there. Yeah. I was taken aback.
Adam:
[1:46] I mean, it's like your childhood. If you were a kid, like if it was your childhood, because you're into that sort of stuff, aren't you? Well, if you don't know what we're talking about, guys, it's basically video games and Pokemon.
Alun:
[1:56] Yes. Now, am I into it? I think there's people listening to this that would think that based on my level of knowledge, I'm not into it because some people are so into it that the level of into it that I am doesn't even register with them.
Adam:
[2:09] Can I just stop you there?
Alun:
[2:10] No.
Adam:
[2:10] How many? Carry on. how many people listening to this shirt do you think are also into pokemon more than you are.
Alun:
[2:18] A lot really i'm not into pokemon the last pokemon game i played was maybe 15 years ago when i was a kid i was into the original 151 pokemon and they were a big part of my childhood i'm not like i honestly mate i'm not considered out there in the world outside of this relationship i'm not considered a big pokemon fan but do
Adam:
[2:41] You think that people who travel and backpack and people who play pokemon it goes hand in hand.
Alun:
[2:46] No no i just think the most kids who grew up in the 90s yeah have a knowledge of pokemon that's like about my level threshold level
Adam:
[2:54] I'd be surprised if anyone even knew that there were 151 original pokemon's.
Alun:
[3:00] Sorry, Pokemon is already plural, Adam. And if you continue to talk like that, we're going to have to scab the whole show.
Adam:
[3:08] So there you go. I mean, do write in, send us a message on Instagram. And if you are sitting there giggling because you know absolutely fuck all about Pokemon, but you love travel, then you're on my team.
Alun:
[3:17] This is my level of knowledge, just as a baseline. I was into the first few seasons of the anime when it came out, when I was a kid.
Adam:
[3:24] Right.
Alun:
[3:25] And I could off by heart name the original. pokemon don't really know beyond that when they started going to different areas a little bit the second area but beyond that not really i lose interest did you basically discover i was going through puberty
Adam:
[3:42] Did you ever play pokemon with the physical cards.
Alun:
[3:45] No but they were popular in my school i think like most kids they were banned in their school because they started like a black market trade of pokemon cards yeah yeah someone got charizard shiny and they were elevated to the status of a god ruling over the other children and eventually it caused relationships to break down and then um and then they were banned
Adam:
[4:06] I said i lost my first girlfriend i was only nine yeah um but no yeah a bit of bullying all that sort of stuff then they started to be worth money so i think parents started getting involved etc i, i thought i did really well i sold a stack of pokemon cards when i was about 14 years old for 30 pounds.
Alun:
[4:24] That you'd bought yourself?
Adam:
[4:26] No, no. They were all traded through neighbours and stuff. Yeah. And I thought I was a wheeling dealing little businessman, little entrepreneur.
Alun:
[4:32] Little did you know that now those same cards would be worth tens of thousands of dollars potentially.
Adam:
[4:37] I'm absolutely gutted. Absolutely gutted. We saw a card... That was worth, how much was it in US dollars?
Alun:
[4:43] Well, just for those of you who aren't into Pokemon, it was a shiny Gyarados.
Adam:
[4:48] Yes, which looks like a big kind of sea snake thing.
Alun:
[4:52] Well, it's a dragon that lives in the sea, so not too far off. It was going for 8 million yen, which is about 45,000 pounds. I had a quick look on eBay after to see if that was valued. i saw one up on ebay for 99 000 us dollars holy shit of the same grade so pokemon cards now they've become a huge huge market the cards we used to buy as kids for a few bucks down at the local store now going for tens of thousands of dollars so
Adam:
[5:28] Yeah it's wild there isn't it it is wild i mean there are there are some serious fans there's lots of people in acuabara wearing sort of cosplay and outfits and.
Alun:
[5:36] That's why i'm surprised you still think i'm such a fan having seen the people there
Adam:
[5:40] Why wouldn't I?
Alun:
[5:41] Because I'm not dressed in, like, I love Pikachu T-shirts and, like, with, like, Magikarp ears and all that sort of stuff. Like, the other people hanging around there.
Adam:
[5:50] Maybe I've mistaken your level of knowledge or interest in many different things, to mean that you're a fan. Hang on, you do play video games, though, and it's kind of a video game neighbourhood.
Alun:
[6:02] Sometimes I play video games, yeah, but equally. I want to maintain the positive vibe, so I'm not trying to insult you.
Adam:
[6:10] Me?
Alun:
[6:10] But I am shocked sometimes. I think that you're... It's not so much that I have a great knowledge of Pokemon and Mario and all that sort of stuff. I think you're... ignorance of pokemon and mario baffles me
Adam:
[6:24] Well i mean what i just not interested you were just.
Alun:
[6:26] A child in the 90s though i thought by osmosis you know what mario is what luigi is princess peach that sort
Adam:
[6:32] Of thing i was doing other things i was dancing around in my bedroom to backstreet boys.
Alun:
[6:35] And i don't know anything about uh football
Adam:
[6:40] But what we are talking about is japan and all things japanese yeah and maybe why you should visit japan in 2026 if you haven't already yeah.
Alun:
[6:48] Reason number one if you have nostalgia for the 90s a lot of japanese stuff filtered through into british and american culture during that time so if you like sort of nintendo heyday nintendo snares n64 pokemon that kind of thing get a bit of a nostalgia kick by coming to japan
Adam:
[7:09] Um we're not the only ones i mean we don't need to endorse japan there's for decades there's been people coming to japan for all of the same reasons that we love it yeah uh even on a couple of articles i've got them up in front of me but i'm not going to read them thank god um the uh, the bbc they released an article about uh the 20 best places to travel in 2026 uh, and it mentions a japanese prefecture on there and then you've got also the new york times 52 places to go in 2026 japan is mentioned twice on there so it's not the same place obviously it's two different places within japan uh we well not we but you only really know tokyo at this point but i'm very excited for you to explore lots of japan because it is incredibly different.
Alun:
[7:53] Yes i think that the reason japan is hitting a nerve with so many people so many tourists so many travelers hitting a nerve yeah in a good way i mean it's like got into people's heads that they want to go there it's striking a chord i think the reason is there's really is something that caters for everyone not just in a broader sense but in quite a niche way If you have a very, very specific hobby, the chances are Japan caters to it quite specifically, I think.
Adam:
[8:25] Yeah, actually, just before we started recording and I was thinking about what I wanted to say given this topic, I actually thought about that same thing, but maybe in different words. I think you can have whichever type of holiday you're searching for in Japan.
Alun:
[8:37] Let's think of some and then decide whether Japan would be a good place to go.
Adam:
[8:42] Pokemon.
Alun:
[8:42] Definitely go to Japan. If you're into pocket monsters, head over to Japan. give me another topic baby what you're into uh sports come to japan not only have they hosted the olympics they've also hosted football tournaments i believe yeah and there's all sorts of hiking trails and stuff like that if you're into snow sports head up to hokkaido perhaps you can snow ski all you like
Adam:
[9:05] This is sounding like a sales pit also baseball you didn't mention baseball.
Alun:
[9:09] Baseball they love it give me something else what if you're into food and drink food and drinks one of the best food and drink countries in the world it certainly is surfing they've got it
Adam:
[9:22] Uh if you like really well what about photography and videography.
Alun:
[9:25] Oh it's photogenic yeah
Adam:
[9:27] Oh it looks so good doesn't it architecture history religion.
Alun:
[9:31] Oh all of those things perhaps you're interested in history or religion why not visit a temple or a museum both of those things you can do here in japan wildlife
Adam:
[9:42] If you like bears.
Alun:
[9:43] Or other animals.
Adam:
[9:46] Like?
Alun:
[9:46] Like those little red... tanuki or whatever they're called
Adam:
[9:50] What are they i don't know describe them to me little.
Alun:
[9:53] Sort of red
Adam:
[9:54] Creatures yeah.
Alun:
[9:56] I'm not sure the name of them but they are only in
Adam:
[9:58] Japan and it's not a type of pokemon no.
Alun:
[10:01] No no i don't think so
Adam:
[10:03] I wish we were getting paid by by pokemon for how many times we can say in one episode let's keep.
Alun:
[10:08] On trying to slip it in
Adam:
[10:09] How do you get pikachu on a bus yep.
Alun:
[10:11] Exactly just about to say the same thing yeah get him on there via the physical force of a
Adam:
[10:17] Poke that's it um but yeah obviously food and drink is such a massive one and every single prefecture uh has you know what prefecture means basically like state um has a different speciality things they're known for so that's really cool to try i hope that when you travel around you're going to be just as hungry as you are when you're with me.
Alun:
[10:34] If you are interested in just going to the sort of places that you've seen on instagram and eating kfc and mcdonald's there you can also do that here
Adam:
[10:42] Do you know one interesting thing about kfc and juban yeah tell me it's what japanese people eat on christmas day really yeah really.
Alun:
[10:49] And i just said it was a good place to go for religion and spiritual experience and they do that on
Adam:
[10:55] It's like a weird crazy thing some in some cases you have to order your kfc weeks if not that's quite anarchic.
Alun:
[11:01] I think i quite like that anti-establishment isn't it yeah f santa man we're gonna study the colonel that kind of thing
Adam:
[11:10] Uh Yeah, I guess so. I've gone on at length about the temples in Kyoto and the fact that I think you should just go there really early in the morning, like six o'clock, for example. Get all your things done in the morning when there's no tourists there, because it is pretty shit if you've got a thousand people in your way. I'd be interested to know what your experience of Kyoto is.
Alun:
[11:31] I don't know anything about Kyoto, but I have a Japanese friend and she said to me, I asked her, I said, do you think I should go to Kyoto? And she went like this. Kyoto is a place that's like if you went back in time and visited Japan in the past but it's available today
Adam:
[11:48] Really she thinks Kyoto's like that.
Alun:
[11:50] A bit ancient yeah like a yester
Adam:
[11:53] Japan didn't it used to be the capital.
Alun:
[11:55] Oh yeah and but it's still preserved some of its lots of natural like a lot of old buildings and that sort of thing whereas Tokyo is a bit more modern
Adam:
[12:04] A bit more modern a bit more modern that is true actually I think it's in the BBC article uh, the prefecture and I hope I'm not getting this wrong because I'm not going to be able to check it quick enough I think it's Ishikawa is the name of the prefecture Kanazawa being the biggest city in that region I've been there and people are saying that it's actually the next Kyoto in terms of in terms of tourists so if you do like the temples if you do like, um what those warriors called samurai samurai regions yeah there's also geisha district all this sort of stuff uh I just didn't want to be the one to say it right uh, especially not after the meeting that guy in the onsen and um and I think you should go there instead not instead well maybe not instead you should go to Kyoto I think but people just seem to do the same route and i do think that that is a problem because it means that the the population of tourists, are concentrated in just a few pockets and the rest of japan is not really seeing much tourism.
Alun:
[12:55] And it's very easy to get around isn't it that's one of the things i love about japan it's very very easy to zip around from place to place like shinkansen the bullet trains the maglevs they're expensive as all hell if you've got the money you can zip off ever so quick can't It takes only two hours or something to get from Tokyo to Kyoto, so I can do that in a weekend.
Adam:
[13:15] Yeah, Kanazawa's about the same. It's around the corner, mate. But there are a couple of reasons why you should probably prioritize going to Japan now, as opposed to delaying it for a couple of years. We can just go through a couple of points, and then we can finish off the episode by talking about what we love about Japan. Okay. Because it might not be the same. It's nice to be subjective.
Alun:
[13:34] Yeah.
Adam:
[13:35] So, good time to visit at the moment, because the yen is weak. you know the currency you've got nothing to add which comparatively.
Alun:
[13:43] Means that your currency wherever you're from is strong yeah compared to the yen
Adam:
[13:48] Assuming you are in the us or canada or the uk or western europe or potentially australia or new zealand don't.
Alun:
[13:55] Kick a currency when it's down that's what people say but if you see the yen struggling why not check how much your currency is worth and see if you can get in there and spend it because that garados for example it's going to be 8 million yen whether you buy it today or next week
Adam:
[14:12] Uh yeah well i don't know how much they fluctuate that 8.
Alun:
[14:15] Million yen is going to be cheaper now than it was before because the yen is weak
Adam:
[14:20] The yen is weak so basically you get more of the local currency for your currency and things are just going to keep getting more and more expensive i would imagine that's the economy baby because tokyo is not cheap is it no but you can get some good deals you can i do think you can it's not as expensive as say london or new york i wouldn't have thought Where.
Alun:
[14:37] You're living now with me in this house, it's next door to the cheapest market street in the whole of Japan.
Adam:
[14:45] Japan?
Alun:
[14:46] Tokyo definitely, but maybe Japan. You can buy fruit and vegetables and sushi and other Japanese foodstuffs there so cheaply.
Adam:
[14:57] So cheaply. They're basically giving them away.
Alun:
[15:00] It's like you're in Tokyo five or six years ago. Yes. When it was more expensive.
Adam:
[15:05] When it was more expensive.
Alun:
[15:06] No, no. When it was less expensive. Wow.
Adam:
[15:10] Crazy. I told you we shouldn't have had that sugar and drink.
Alun:
[15:13] Yeah. I'm feeling crazy.
Adam:
[15:15] Millions of tourists coming every year. There's been a slight drop. I don't know if you knew this, but there's been a slight drop in Chinese tourists recently. I heard on the grapevine that the...
Alun:
[15:25] Have you got that in your list of reasons why you should visit Japan now?
Adam:
[15:29] Well, because there's been a drop in tourists? Yeah. Well, I mean, there's only going to be millions and millions of tourists every single year. So I don't think... Maybe within a few percent. But if you don't come for another five years, there'll likely be even more tourists then, which I think is a worse experience.
Alun:
[15:44] There's been a decline in the tourists. simultaneous to the yen dropping why do you think that is i'm
Adam:
[15:49] Going to tell you what is most of them chinese and i read earlier that it's because of comments that the japanese i think it was the japanese prime minister, made about taiwan so china said just boycott japan and don't visit there as tourists wow it's something along those lines we don't like talking about politics so i'm.
Alun:
[16:06] Sorry to our chinese listeners but you know you're currently going through a bit of a boycott situation but for the rest of you guys presents an opportunity to come and visit japan
Adam:
[16:17] Yeah well it just goes to show that headlines don't always tell the whole story because we can sit here and say oh there's been a drop in tourists so it's a good time to come and then if i say it's actually been a drop in tourists and those tourists are chinese we've alienated them is it a good time to come, maybe some people might think it is yeah we're not we're not it's up to you.
Alun:
[16:36] Yeah you've got to decide now if when you're thinking about coming to japan and using this podcast for advice decide your stance on the complicated geopolitical discussion that's taken place between the chinese people taiwan and japan look at those three things all independently know that the chinese aren't coming to tokyo as much anymore and then make your decision accordingly and that's all we can
Adam:
[17:00] Say yeah so whether.
Alun:
[17:01] Balls in your
Adam:
[17:01] Court whether it was it was someone high up in the government anyway made a comment and i think that's affected things look all i can say is when i was in hong kong there was a, load of chinese mainland chinese tourists in a place called causeway bay some of those people that lived in that area would come into my bar i'm not going to tell you what they said but.
Alun:
[17:19] You know you've got to now i
Adam:
[17:20] Think i can't i just can't do it.
Alun:
[17:22] Was it relevant to this decision
Adam:
[17:24] Uh yeah i think so i think so i don't want to sway people one way or another that was years ago anyway yeah world now all right um did you know that there's a did you know there's a departure tax no yeah.
Alun:
[17:35] Is that gonna ping me
Adam:
[17:37] If you leave by by land uh or sea or air but.
Alun:
[17:41] I'm a Japanese resident
Adam:
[17:41] I think you actually you can't leave by land because um because it would be the sea because it's an island or a group of islands i know you're a resident but i don't think that makes a difference really.
Alun:
[17:51] I'm just gonna get taxed just for the act of
Adam:
[17:53] Leaving automatically included do japanese.
Alun:
[17:55] People get taxed as well
Adam:
[17:57] Wouldn't have thought so because i think it's only applied to tourists but.
Alun:
[18:00] I'm not a tourist i'm resident
Adam:
[18:01] Okay i'll just read what it says.
Alun:
[18:03] I just think if you know if you're gonna tax me tax everyone
Adam:
[18:07] Here we go japan is set to significantly increase taxes for travelers leaving the country tripling the current departure levy from uh 1000 yen to 3000 per person effective from july 2026 oh brilliant brilliant great that's next month uh luckily i I would have already left by then.
Alun:
[18:22] I'm going to have to get out quickly.
Adam:
[18:24] The government was also a tax. For you? Oh my God, I'm not sure. It's priceless. The government has also announced plans to introduce additional entry inspection fees by 2028, citing pressures from over-tourism and rising fiscal constraints. The departure tax was introduced on January the 7th, 2019. I didn't even realise that, so it is important to, you know, read the breakdown of your flight information, pricing and applies to travellers departing Japan by air or sea, regardless of nationality. The departure tax will be automatically added to airline and ferry tickets with exemptions for aircraft, crew, and transit passengers departing within 24 hours.
Alun:
[19:01] So hold on, are we advising people to come to Japan now, i.e. before July?
Adam:
[19:06] Get over here now, guys. I don't know what you're doing next week.
Alun:
[19:08] Guys, I don't know what you're doing right now this second, but if you come now, you've got a weak yen, an absence of Chinese tourists. You've got an advancing situation where you can get in and out before the attack pings you. So now there's never been a better time to come and try your hand at being a Japanese tourist.
Adam:
[19:30] Yeah, I do think it's a really good time. It's also the summer. A lot of people don't really like being in Japan in the summer because it does get bloody hot. But it's supposed to be the rainy season at the moment. It's not been too bad.
Alun:
[19:38] I've been told that it's one of the hottest, most uncomfortable places on earth during the summer.
Adam:
[19:44] Yeah, I don't know if they've been to the same places you have.
Alun:
[19:48] I literally said, I've lived in the Amazon. It was humid. And I've been... at the equator at summertime and then they looked at me and said it's probably about as bad as that
Adam:
[20:01] Having not been there we assume yeah i don't know yeah i don't think given how many people they could potentially say that to you know it's maybe one of those flippant comments it's just a you know oh it's the hottest place in the world maybe not everyone they're saying that to on a regular basis has been to the same places you have so, i'll probably give them the benefit of the doubt but yeah it's horrible it is sweaty and hot and.
Alun:
[20:21] I sweat much worse than you as well do you I noticed when we were going around India
Adam:
[20:26] Together When you're making those on Aguirre.
Alun:
[20:29] I'd get wetter than you When we were going around India together
Adam:
[20:32] India, yeah, where was the hottest place we were together in India?
Alun:
[20:35] Uh mumbai just mumbai yeah when we were just going about a day in mumbai i remember it being hot and you being dry
Adam:
[20:42] Yeah i can even remember the shirt you were wearing as well.
Alun:
[20:45] Well i'm not talking about one specific day i've worn more than one shirt
Adam:
[20:49] No i've got an image in my head of you being sweaty and i know which shirt.
Alun:
[20:52] You're on describe it
Adam:
[20:54] It was a button shirt.
Alun:
[20:55] Yeah why uh
Adam:
[20:56] Actually no navy blue.
Alun:
[20:57] Oh a button navy blue shirt have
Adam:
[20:59] You not had one no.
Alun:
[21:01] So so all we all basically we've deduced from that that adam has got a fictitious imaginary image of me sweating in a navy button-up shirt and he thinks that's acceptable
Adam:
[21:12] Was it like linen you like.
Alun:
[21:14] No and i think you were sort of you weren't wearing anything on your pants and you were just going around in flip-flops and a navy button shirt linen sweating
Adam:
[21:23] Anyway it's not about you sweating and it's not about uh mumbai this episode's about japan and why we love it and why we think that so many people should come here yeah as long as you're responsible tourists all right keep your phone in your pocket every now and again.
Alun:
[21:36] Oh no uh
Adam:
[21:41] Go just reel off a couple of things you love about living in tokyo.
Alun:
[21:44] I like the vibe the buzz the effervescent little fizzkin of a city in which everything is possible you can be walking down the street catch eyes with a japanese salaryman go your separate ways one of you goes off to the cbd where there's all sorts of business stuff going on he's making deals he's wheeling he's dealing the other goes off to electric city and perhaps plays at a pachinko slot machine oh they're
Adam:
[22:11] Wild aren't they.
Alun:
[22:12] Yeah we'll talk about that i want to talk about that more but don't carf monologue because i'm on a bit of a roll then you can go there's green spaces there's like forest there's sakura, cherry blossoms. It's all beautiful in one area. You can turn a corner. Suddenly, there's billboards with advertisers blaring into your brain. Buy this! Buy this! The yen's weak! Then you go down another side street. There'll be a little izakaya with people eating yakitori off sticks and sipping sake. Turn down another alley, perhaps. You're in the red light district. What's this? There's maids outside a bar trying to entice customers. All these things, just within a five minute walk isn't that a wonderful city to be in yeah yeah
Adam:
[22:54] I would agree i would.
Alun:
[22:56] Agree that's what i like about tokyo is the endless possibilities of being in one of the biggest cities on planet earth
Adam:
[23:02] It is absolutely gigantic and we do have a little back and forth about how long it takes to get across the city because you keep saying well by tokyo standards you know an hour on the train that's that's nothing just it's just a normal.
Alun:
[23:12] Commute it's not that it's just because i've set you up with a place to stay here and when you complain about how long it takes i feel like in a way you're sort of biting off the hand that feeds you do you know i mean it would be like me me feeding an apple to a horse and the horse saying oh it's going to take a long time to digest
Adam:
[23:32] Well hang on it is a long time i think objectively.
Alun:
[23:35] It's a big city adam i know tokyo standards 30 minutes to the center is not a long time
Adam:
[23:42] It is a big city. It is a big city. And there's loads of lovely little pockets that you can go and explore. And they are actually different from one another.
Alun:
[23:48] Totally different.
Adam:
[23:48] They've got different personalities. We went to Nakameguro, didn't we, recently? That's my favourite neighbourhood as it stands. We went all the way down the river. Lovely little canal walk. I was going to take you to Starbucks, but we didn't get in because there's a ticketing system.
Alun:
[24:02] Yeah, we refused entry to Starbucks. Yeah.
Adam:
[24:07] You could edit that pause out.
Alun:
[24:09] Keeping it in i want the audience to stew on that
Adam:
[24:12] Well just just for a bit of context the starbucks reserve roastery or whatever the fuck it's called is a really impressive building in nakameguro at the end of, walking street type thing uh it's got roughly four floors with some viewing terraces it's all glass inside they're roasting beans and it's not like any starbucks you've ever been to in your life i mean it was really lovely quite japanese they've created an amazing atmosphere inside i would not be saying to anyone you should go to a starbucks.
Alun:
[24:39] Ever i said i didn't want to go but you
Adam:
[24:40] Insisted i said look let's give them one chance to make a good coffee if starbucks in any country makes a good coffee it's in japan i think, and we went all the way to the shop went to go in and the lady at the door said, have you got a ticket it's, a shame it's a shame and we said well and no you actually read didn't you you read on a board it was a 45 minute wait or something there were people you actually said you spotted some people over the other side by the river and you said is that a queue and i was like it's not gonna be a fucking queue for a starbucks.
Alun:
[25:08] Let's not complain about it though because everyone was just trying their best adam i want to tell the story about the pachinko machine but just say quickly what you love about tokyo and then i'll do that and then we'll end the app
Adam:
[25:19] Well i say wider japan and if you're anything like me um i'm not.
Alun:
[25:24] We're quite different and that's why we work so well on this podcast together
Adam:
[25:27] Yeah if you're anything like me and i think in this regard you are, um i just like walking and walking for hours and hours and hours around gardens and little side streets and alleyways and through busy cities and parks and all the rest of it and i just eat and drink as i go, i might even go as far to say the best thing for someone like me about japan is eating and drinking it's the food and the food culture it's not just what they're eating it's the way they eat it and if you can get stuck in you learn a little bit japanese you go out till the early hours, i think it's amazing to experience and i I have gone on record saying this, and I'm going to say it again, Alan. Japan is a very strange place because you feel like you're going into the future and the past at the same time, and it feels equally very strange, like very unfamiliar to you, and also very familiar. It looks like London, but with a Japanese filter over it.
Alun:
[26:17] Totally. I'd agree with that. And I think that if you are deciding to take advantage of the weekend, the absence of many tourists, and that you just want to get in and out before they ping you with that departure tax, do take opportunity to eat and drink as much of the local cuisine as you can. because if you let's say you go to Tokyo for three weeks there's going to be there's there's many days in
three weeks and you could have a different completely different dish on every single day because that's how varied Japanese cuisine
Adam:
[26:48] Is it is amazing and don't be put off by people not speaking English either because you've got Google Translate the lens app thing enough people in my opinion in the big cities speak very good English even though they might be a little bit shy uh, so don't let that deter you it's a good time to come it really is i think fall is maybe my favorite that's autumn for our.
Alun:
[27:08] Uk yeah also don't let people tell you what you can and can't do because we were in a japanese restaurant the other day me and adam and the restaurant owner came up to us and said what do you want to order we said we'd like that salt fish please because it looks interesting and we've never had anything like it before she said no way jose not for foreigners because she'd had some foreigners order it before and they couldn't finish it because it was too pungent to uh just not you know they didn't like
Adam:
[27:41] It yeah too salty.
Alun:
[27:43] So she refused us service of the salt fish which to adam was like showing a red rag to a proverbial bull he got enraged
Adam:
[27:51] Not enraged no.
Alun:
[27:52] No you did get enraged but you held it within i was proud of you so i could tell in your head you were angry
Adam:
[27:57] I think so this woman spoke good english she really did she went to london like 30 years ago and still kept the uh the english current, and she said i think i asked if it was tasty didn't i, think i asked it normally i just say oishidesuka which i don't even know it's correct japanese but it's like delicious is it it seems to work and um and she said it is it is but it's but not for foreigners she said we've had a number of foreigners try it in the past and all of them didn't like it, and you know basically implying alluding to the fact that we're foreigners and we probably won't like it and i looked at i just thought this is the perfect opportunity alan, What do we love more than anyone?
Alun:
[28:33] I was excited because I thought this could be an opportunity for me and you to prove to her that we're unlike any foreigners that she's ever met before.
Adam:
[28:40] And also, even if we order it and we don't like it, that's fine.
Alun:
[28:44] I've got my passport out and I said, have you seen all those stamps?
Adam:
[28:48] I'll be to the Amazon.
Alun:
[28:49] You're not dealing with someone who's never travelled before, sweet cheeks.
Adam:
[28:54] But then it got a little bit awkward, didn't it? Because she said, all right, if you're sure. And we were like, no, no, we're totally sure. we're 100 sure we will even even if we don't like it we did the we were like talking telepathically yeah we will finish the whole fucking thing just to make sure that they don't know that they were right inside.
Alun:
[29:13] Our minds i was like adam you gotta know that we got to finish this like if it comes in it even if it was shit on a plate
Adam:
[29:21] Just a pile of a fish if she's salty fish shit if she just put.
Alun:
[29:29] This in the back for you. As I said, foreigners don't tend to like it. We'd have to swallow it by the mouth, wouldn't we? We lent into it. Yeah, yeah.
Adam:
[29:38] So she went away, didn't she, to her husband, his husband and wife team. Lovely, cute.
Alun:
[29:42] For a suspiciously long time, the husband disappeared off.
Adam:
[29:45] And then she came back and said, sorry, there's no saltfish.
Alun:
[29:50] Yeah, he says no.
Adam:
[29:52] So, I mean, I would have thought, because it was a small family run restaurant, she might have known that, If there was no saltfish left.
Alun:
[30:01] See, there was saltfish. You had a theory. I'm 100% certain that there was a plethora of saltfish, almost too much saltfish. And the husband said, no, I'm not prepared to give them the saltfish.
Adam:
[30:12] At the risk of us not liking it and then leaving a bad Google review or something.
Alun:
[30:16] Or not even that. Just I felt like sometimes they just felt like they knew better than us. They were like, they don't really understand that the saltfish is really pungent and putrid.
Adam:
[30:27] This is actually something that you will notice in japan um, if you go out to eat sometimes in the establishments they do you know very rarely would you find someone in the uk go into a restaurant you order something and the staff says no yeah you know unless it is sold out they have confidence.
Alun:
[30:43] In their recommendations
Adam:
[30:44] Having said that i did go out for a meal once in france and the one of the people in my group ordered the duck and asked for it well done and the waiter said no Yeah.
Alun:
[30:56] Well, French will do that, though. No, no, Doug is not.
Adam:
[31:00] But the people I was with were French, and still are. And she said, well, hang on, why can't I order it like that? And he said, that's not how chef cooks it. And she said, but I'm the customer, so I would like you to cook it well done, please. And he said, I'm sorry, but I'm not even going to ask.
Alun:
[31:18] Because the chef will.
Adam:
[31:19] It's just such a no that it's not even worth wasting any time over it.
Alun:
[31:24] I like that, though. I like that he was just honest about it.
Adam:
[31:26] And similarly with the Japanese.
Alun:
[31:27] Maybe it's something that all cuisine cultures share.
Adam:
[31:31] You know, it's a difficult conversation, isn't it? Are they within their rights? Maybe they are because they're the business owner to decide what you should have. A chef would say you're stepping into their house.
Alun:
[31:42] Not every chef.
Adam:
[31:43] Not every chef, no. Not a burger flipper at McDonald's. No, not like that really authentic Japanese restaurant chain in the UK called Wagamama. I imagine that if they've got soulfish on the menu and it's in the bag, if you order it, you get it.
Alun:
[31:55] So basically, we think that you should visit Japan. We think you should do it imminently. We think that if you don't do it imminently, you're going to get taxed to high heaven. You're going to be thwarted by a million tourists. And you are going to have a very, very strong yen to contend with. That's our review of Japan. But in the Patreon section, I'm going to talk about a little guy that I saw playing Pachinko. What is Pachinko? Why is Pachinko? How is Pachinko? And what was he doing while he was playing Pachinko? Questions that will all be answers inside the Patreon section. There's a link in the description. get in touch with us at tropologypodcast.com and if you like me and Adam tell us by going to our contact form and saying I like you
Adam:
[32:00] Arigato gozaimasu suimasen. Bye bye!
