I find it interesting that the pricing is different based on the sex. I'm a male and I can eat.

You're right, I meant limitation and not exclusion.

​​​​​​​I haven't read the whole thread, but are you saying there is price gouging on foreigners?

No - it was mentioned up thread a little that tik tokers are reporting different pricing on the english menu than the japanese version of it in a restaurant -- LapLap had asked for an example...

The interpretations you gave as a possibility are along those included in this website
https://www.debito.org/?p=15482
Debito is perhaps the highest profile activist for social injustices against minorities in Japan, at least for English speakers.

There are more than enough legitimate social injustices to focus on without yielding to the perpetually aggrieved caste of social media vampires.

Does anyone know what was the issue with Noel's train ticket? The machine didn't print out the correct one? I'd so so worried and scared if this happened to me, especially as none of the staff speak English!

Not being rude, but the staff member at the counter didn't seem to know that he needs 2 tickets not 1? Surely that'll be pretty obvious?

He’s been contributing to the thread you started (introduced himself in post #103). Have you asked him directly?
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...flights-7.html

ETA
Here’s a blogger with a different style who shows you the process of collecting the tickets, what the tickets used look like and how both are placed together, one on top of the other, and put into the machine as a pair.

As we never get a close up of TCASAlert‘s tickets I don’t get to learn what went wrong.

He needed two tickets - The basic fare ticket and the express train ticket. He only had the express train ticket, so the ticket gate did not let him through.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/ticket/types.html

Possible explanations are 1) the machine failed to print both tickets, or 2) the machine did its job but he failed to collect and retain both tickets. [EDIT: or 3) he purchased only the express ticket without a basic fare ticket]. Judging from the video, I doubt that he can tell you which of these occurred. My money is on the second explanation.

The agent at the ticket office communicated adequately with the assistance of a translation app and sold him the basic fare ticket that he needed. If that is terribly worrying to you, I suggest that you stop watching videos by people who say "the signs are all in Japanese" in a wobbly voice, as they walk through a station with multilingual signage and electronic displays that switch between languages.

Obon
 

It's not my first time in Japan by a long shot, but it's my first Obon here (here being western Tokyo).

What are business operating hours like? Would it be best to avoid heading to Tokyo at some point? Is Obon time one giant 一連の祝日?

n.b. I unintentionally ambled by Tsukiji Honganji last night; there seemed to be a big Obon event replete with drunken dancing and taiko.

Also, got a kick out of the food waste, err eggplants and cucumbers in front of some houses, to shuttle spirits to and fro. That's another aspect of finding food fluency.

Appreciate your replies,
FFF

Not my first trip to Japan but I think those questions will be helpful to others:
- What is the current best phone app to look at transport options ? Is it still Hyperdia or is there something better nowadays ?
- Is there a good eSIM for Japan (for a German phone in case it matters) ?

I found ubigi the cheapest esim for me (in my case I only needed 1 week and not a lot of data)

Ubigi and airalo are both amongst the cheapest (~100-200yen/GB, depends time & how much data of course, if you only need 1GB for 30 days it's different story). IIJMio can be cheaper but hoops to jump thru (but it's a native network)

Myself (and a few users) had issues with airalo Japan. I had no issue with ubigi (ubigi provides geo located Japan IP but it still routes via Singapore with some latency)



Hyoerdia is no longer useful (they no longer offer timetable results, only generic avg times). I use Japantime&googlemap

https://www.japan-guide.com/news/0057.html

I got the Navitime app for travellers and am hating it.

Had to go to JR’s own timetables to figure out a route between Hiroshima and Kanazawa. Plug in that journey with the request to arrive by 6pm (or any other time really) and it doesn’t show anything that takes less than 12 hours.
Google maps doesn’t seem to give me the actual train name number (such as Hikari 533) but is much more useful.

EDIT TO ADD - Never did get it to work. Excluding Nozomi or Mizuho trains (which my pass didn’t include) may have been a reason why I didn’t see reasonable through-times on this route.

I don't see any problem with navitime? Example for Monday arrive by 6pm

https://japantravel.navitime.com/en/...mode=goal-time

Gmaps does (it's just too long to fit in the text). If you click on the station/platform/departure time, it brings you to a new screen (list of departures on that track, where you can see the full train #).

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d22d54319e.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d73ccd7068.jpg

Navitime did a good job while my last 3 week trip, traveling between Tokyo and Okinawa. Esp. helpful is the JR-Pass (and others!) filter and
the instructions for connections like "enter car 3" to have shorter walks while connecting. (Example in the above screenshots)

We used Google Maps for the majority of our needs. Apart from our fixed travel dates which we reserved right when we activated our JR passes, Google Maps had the exact train numbers so we could walk in to the JR office and show them that to get a seat. If I recall we used it for Osaka -> Kyoto, Hakodate -> Sapporo and for all of our local subway/light rail.

Thanks. It seems Google Map is the most convenient indeed.
i had a look at Ubigi and will use them, it seems reliable and fit for purpose.