See, I thought the guy had really wide feet...

You forgot one option, instead of underrated or overrated, I vote for "lives up to the hype". I went for a snowboarding trip to Hokkaido. For me as a non Japanese speaking American, 99% of the people I interacted with were sincerely polite. The food was awesome. And most importantly, the snow was incredible.

Japan is unique and certainly lived up to my expectations. I think as long as you don't go in expecting it to be perfect (and there are people who expect Japan to be a utopia), it will live up to the hype. The only thing that I was slightly bummed about was that the sushi was great, but not mind blowing. My bet is that I didn't go to the right places, but what I had was on par with Seattle (and far better than most places).

I think it also depends on what you want and where you go. If you want cultural heritage and you go to Tokyo, you might be disappointed but then again you went to the wrong city. I've been to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto and I am really looking forward to going back. Tokyo was more than I expected and great fun (except for me going their during the humid/hot season) and Kyoto was beyond fantastic. I arrived just after the peak of the cherry blossoms and after the crowds had mostly vacated the city. What was left on the trees was still amazing and lived up to my expectations.

I have been living between the outside world and Tokyo/Fukuoka for the last few years. ^

You know me too well Jib.....:cool:

Tokyo was about on par for me.

Outside of Tokyo, definitely underrated. Kyoto might be my favorite city in the world. Also, the 'cool' factor pervasive everywhere can't be diminished for me. The different kinds of trains and transport alone. Japan is awesome.