Going to Japan for the first time

Hey so I may be going to Japan for the first time in March and I'm pretty excited. So anyway I know some of you guys go there I would like to know what are some cool things to do while I'm there.

I'll be staying here.
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tyocy-courtyard-tokyo-ginza/

Last I would like to know where the best aracdes are also since I'm a gamer of course. Mainly

1. Where the best VF, SF players hang out.
2. Where they have the best selection of different Arcade games to play.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!!

Frankie

 

I too am very interested in this. I asked L_A_Akira in the shoutbox and he had mentioned Shinjuku being thick in competiton.

Any other info available? Also interested in the process/ease of saving matches and uploading them from VF.net.

 

The Marriott in Ginza? You rich bastard!
Anyway, I was there last year and I'll be going back this year on a work visa, hopefully around March/April as well.

As a VFer(and gamer in general) you absolutely must make the pilgimage to Akihabara, home of my favorite arcade ever- Hey Arcade. A whole floor dedicated to fighting games with all the latest stuff and a large plasma screen looping matches of Japan's top players. If memory serves, get on the Ginza line, change at Ueno for the Yamanote line and Akiba is on that line somewhere. Also on the Yamanote line are Shinjuku and Harajuku. These places are cool to visit(until you get tired of buying overpriced clothes that is(not that you will,Ginza boy hehe)), if only to see the kids showing off their own styles - the gothic lolita girls and neo punk guys are a strange and fascinating sight(the first time anyway).

If you're into the whole booze/clubs/hookers thing, the confined hilly streets of Roppongi are a cool visit. Just be wary that some "clubs" dont allow gaijin.

Shibuya's also a cool place, but man, it depends what you're into doesn't it? And how long you're staying. Why are you going to Japan? Do you study Japanese? Do you prefer the historical side? The modern stuff? Do you ski? Are you into Ikebana(hehe)?

 

Club Sega in Akihabara seemed to have quite a few people when I was down there. Also the Club Sega in Shibuya. I actually saw the same guy at both places on two consecutive days when I was in Tokyo.

 

Cool, planning to visit Tokyo during March to play VF as well!

Any of you guys know which area or shop in Tokyo that sells the Beatmania IIDX Arcade Style Controller? Thinking of getting it while I am there to save on the shipping costs if ordered online.

 

Actually my sister is paying for everything. I wouldn't be able to afford something like this with my current job. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif


So I'm going with my sister for a week there from 03/27/ - 04/03.
I'm very into VF and would like to spend at least 1 day dedicated to the arcade. She wants to visit at least 1 arcade but is looking for one that has a wide assortment of good games to play. The other 3-4 days would be hanging out with my sister checking out what the country has to offer. We are mainly interested in good places to eat, nice historic sights to see and cool modern places to visit. Oh any cool big Electronic/Toy Stores also?? So any additional advice would be appreciated!!

 

historic sights: asakusa
electonic/games/toys: akiba
clothes: harajuku
good places to eat : too many ^^
modern places: shinjuku by night, city hall (nice view if weather is fine).

 

For VF, go to Shinjuku Club Sega, Akihabara Club Sega, that should get you set for your trip. There are other quality arcades around but those are probably the best. If you want to fight specific players, post up who you'd like to try to find and some people can help. A lot of players stick to their "home" arcade so you might have to do some traveling if you want to find a player. i.e. Jin usually frequents Shibuya Hi-Tech Land, and I know Chibita is known to go to Yokohama's Pasopiard a lot. Speaking of Chibita, he's regularly on country-wide tours so he's actually kind of easy to track.

For electronics, stick to Akihabara and Yodobashi Akihabara (store name). It's an absolutely gigantic store where you can find pretty much anything.

Visit Harajuku for their fashion and for Meiji Shrine... Shibuya has some nice restaurants if you're interested too.

 

I may go to Japan for a month next year, but thats gunna be to either train at Grabaka or Killer B studios /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

 

i wanna go to japan 2

 

For VF i think club sega at Shinjuku Nishiguchi(shinjuku westport) is best place to go. Highly recommend to go there on the weekends(friday or sat night) after 21:00, if u want to play against some of the famous players.

as for akihabara club sega, it doesnt matter when u go there, there is always ppl playing(vf of course). a lot of different opps, a lot of different styles...etc its also a good place to rank up here lol. players at shinjuku nishiguchi are much stronger and tougher than in akihabara(imo).

ikebukuro gigo and high techland sega at shibuya are also good places to go.

anyway enjoy ur trip and have fun~

Ogi

 

Man thanks for all this help guys.

Also I heard Harajuku station on Sunday is pretty cool. Anyone been there?

 

Uh, I went to Tokyo in 2006, I can give some advice.

Akihabara is definitely the place to go and HEY (Hirose Entertainment Yard) is possibly the most mind blowing arcade in the world. Dunno if anybody is into shoot'em ups here on vfdc, but HEY has an Ikaruga and a Radiant Silvergun cabinet side by side. Awesome. when I was there one random guy was completing a 1cc of Ikaruga like it was nothing.
The Akihabara Sega Club is good too, together with the Sega Gigo (a whole room only for Virtual On, BRILLIANT).

I heard good things about the Sega clubs of Shinjuku and Shibuya too.

Do not expect many people to speak English, especially from random gamers at the arcades.

If you are going there to buy things, you might disappointed in realising that even in places like Akihabara, 90% of the electronics and videogames shops ONLY have stuff that is in production. Do not expect to walk in any shop and be able to buy Sega Saturn or PS-1 games or peripherals. Also, because consumer electronics is such a huge market, do not expect a high level of competence from shop assistants (let alone lacklustre English). If you are looking for old things, Super Potato in Akihabara will do (they ONLY have discontinued stuff).

For the rest, I'm a big fan of towers and skyscrapers so here's a list of good observation decks.

1 - Tokyo Metropolitan Government (Shinjuku): some kind of twin towers with spectacular views on Shinjuku and the Yoyogi park
2 - World Trade Centre (Shimbashi): very obscure but REALLY good for pictures. It's by the seafront so you can get good sights of the bay and the city as well, together with the new area of Shiodome
3 - Tokyo Tower (Roppongi?): kinda overrated as an observation deck (not too good for photos) but still worth it

 

Oh man I love shoot em ups!! I'm trying to find the 2 best arcades for VF and for variety of games. Unfortunately I only have 1 day for VF playing. Based on what everyone is saying, the one for VF will prob. be the Club Sega in Shinjuku. I guess I could do one in the morning and then another one at night. What time do they usually open/close?

The second one is for my sister and would need to have the best assortment of different games. The one "Shizukarashi"/"Franz" suggested "Hey Arcade" sounds pretty good and I may do that one

So do I just take the trains to each destination? No taxi's?


Thanks for the observation deck advice. We will definitely do 1-2 of the ones you mentioned.


BTW it sucks I won't find much people that can speak english since I don't know any japanese. I'm going to get lost probably.

 

Hey Juno.

C'mon... you'll find more than a day's time won't you? Although there is definitely more to Japan than just VF. Street Fighter for that matter. JK (sort of).

The Sega arcade in Akihabara (not sure what HEY is unless they changed the name) would be a good one for your sister since they have at least 5 levels. The last time I was there the basement was filled with Final Tuned machines. One whole level is even dedicated to pericura (Print Club) which are the themed photo machines.

Club Sega in Shinjuku for sure and there is another I've always been told about but never ventured there called More which is also in Shinjuku. It's not pronounced as it sounds though. It's pronounced mo-ray.

As for the lack of Japanese as long as you are in or near the major cities you won't have a problem at all with the trains, and they're inexpensive. In fact the Yamanote line is an oval line which travels between the major cities. You could spend more than a day just going to the different places on it. On that line to name a few are Akihabara, Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro.

You absolutely MUST go to Shibuya for the experience and sights. The sights aren't historic but the wow factor is amazing. There is also an arcade there but it's practically impossible to tell you where to go. It's a good one but not as important as the other ones mentioned.

I'll probably be going this year as well but not in March. Have fun!!

 

So does anyone have the address for these places?

Akihabara
1, Hey (Hirose Entertainment Yard) Arcade
2. Club Sega

Shinjuku
1. Club Sega

How do I go about finding these places? Well if they are all just right off the train station I guess I can find it myself.

Also I plan on taking a lot of pictures and video taping.
Will they mind this in the arcades?

Sorry for all the questions. It's just I like to be prepared whenever I go somewhere.

 

shinjuku club sega:
really easy to find, its right off the train station(shinjuku, then u get out from the west port). near yodobashi camera.
http://location.sega.jp/loc_web/cs_shinjukunishiguchi.html

akihabara club sega:
same as for shinjuku club sega, right off the train station. its on the main street of akihabara. u will find it easily.
http://location.sega.jp/loc_web/cs_akihabara.html

for vf, they are both in underground(B1? battle arena).

 

Yes. Most big-name arcades can and will bitch at you if you bring tapes/cameras in. Some goes for stores.

 

I can confirm. Super Potato had big cations against pictures. While making a video at HEY (which has a floor only for shooting games), one of the guys came over and kindly asked me to stop. I'd say you can give it a shy go, but of course don't try again (at least in that arcade) if you get caught.

 

If you've been recently to Japan, there no wonder why you didn't found it: it has been replaced by a store/compagny !!
No more "MORE" arcade .
I heard it will re-open somewhere else.
This arcade wasn't very good for VF, last time I went (May 2006) it hadn't any VF machine iirc (t5 was there though). It's more 2D oriented (Very good competition for KOF, good CVS2, GG and SF2X). It was the "small-all-round-good-level-2D" arcade, with always someone to play against.