As someone who lives in Osaka, I find Tokyo is overrated. I know a lot of other people who feel the same way. There are lots of people and many of the areas are similar to those in other cities. I've also had people try (both Japanese and foreign) and get me in various "bars" and other places (such as 無料案内所s), something I've never had in Osaka.
Sure, once you've been there nth times and saw all the sights, then what do you do? This is no different from any other big city whether it's Milan or Berlin or London. In the end you still need to be able to call up a friend and go to lunch or dinner or whatever.
I live in the Bay Area and can give any visitor a full day tour, half day tour or even an hour tour of San Francisco. Does that count as boring or over rated?
I took a friend to a yakitori place under the JR tracks in Yurakucho. Table was two beer cartons and seat was one beer carton. She was fascinated.
Guess I'm just not over the novelty of being in an overcrowded beehive yet. I still find Tokyo an endlessly fascinating city. I've been there 60+ times, yet on my last trip about three weeks ago, I still found things to do and places to go to that were new to me.
That's not the only place of course. Years ago there was a guy at the pedestrian bridge on Aoyama Dori with a yakitori wagon. True to form he had a enamelware coffee pot the type you would find on chuck wagons to warm sake. Our office was near Omote Sando and the owner of Sabatini's in the Suncrest building walked by and knew my colleague. We got invited to Sabatini's for an after dinner drink and their imported italian singer came to the table.
Tokyo is such a place, going from Y1000 to Y10,000 within steps. I am sure NYC and other OVER RATED cities have similar things too.
That thread is interesting because I've been to many cities, but would rank Tokyo and NYC as "endlessly fascinating." I'll talk about NYC in the other thread, but having taken 2 trips to Tokyo and seen things that locals haven't, I still feel like I've only scratched the surface. Sure, its crowded like many other crowded cities, but just seeing what solutions the locals have to cope with the lack of space is incredible.
The lack of space is not just Tokyo. Couches in some countries only come up to middle of my thigh. Large furniture store in SJ closed and I thought I could find a bargain, but nothing fit my house. Then I understood why they closed.
But I total agree that going to a place like Tokyo once in a while put things into perspective. One would look at things differently back at home.
Sure, once you've been there nth times and saw all the sights, then what do you do? This is no different from any other big city whether it's Milan or Berlin or London. In the end you still need to be able to call up a friend and go to lunch or dinner or whatever.
I live in the Bay Area and can give any visitor a full day tour, half day tour or even an hour tour of San Francisco. Does that count as boring or over rated?
I took a friend to a yakitori place under the JR tracks in Yurakucho. Table was two beer cartons and seat was one beer carton. She was fascinated.
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I've also been to TYO many times (but not as often as RichardinSF!).
After the 1st couple of trips that involved buying everything electronics-related in sight, I thoroughly enjoy TYO now for what it is. I rarely buy anything (to bring home) anymore but savour the experience every time.
I've been to Japan 5 times. I have to say I would still prefer Tokyo over Osaka. But I think that is because I have a lot of friends in Tokyo and we go out to eat a lot But for a place to visit, I prefer the smaller places. Like a region as opposed to one big city i.e. Hokkaido, and Kyushu. And all the smaller places in and around Kansai, like Himeji, Nara, Okayama. I also like Kanazawa and Takayama a lot.
