What would you do with 4 months in Japan?

[chupon]

Long story short - my bother in law will be working in Tokyo for the next four months. He's all lined up with an apartment and accomodations. He's a gamer so that's good. Not quite as serious as us but he still plays something every few days. I'm quite jealous obviously. He said he'd even devote a few days to hunting down games for me!

I told him for Christmas I'd make him a list of things he had to see / do in Tokyo hoping the Racketboy community could really help out. I've already found a lot of things but anything anyone would be willing to recommend would be appreciated. Doesn't have to be video game related. Can be as silly as drinking hot tea at a train station, trying all the kit-kat and pepsi varieties he can find.

Please bring on the recommendations! Things, places, experiences!

Oh yeah - and what should I ask him to find for me? I told him about Book Offs and that he'd have to do some real searching.

[brunoafh]

For starters I would visit the Gundam statue and the Gundam cafe. That's probably not everyone's thing though.

Game and hobby related stuff I would be all over Hard-Offs, Mandarakes, and whatever recycle shops I could find. You'll find great stuff in these shops for half or less compared to eBay prices.

I'd be all over arcades too. I don't really know where many of these are off the top of my head, but if I was in the area I'd have to check out Club Sega in Akihabara. Since he's going to be in Tokyo, he'll be pretty close.

I'd also do obvious stuff like check out bars, museums, and some historical sites, but no specifics here come to mind.

[noiseredux]

I'd go to an arcade and smork.

[BoringSupreez]

I've always been very interested in Japan since I was little, but not for the anime and games. I find the climate and isolatedness of the culture more interesting, and if I visited Japan I'd be spending my time in rural areas and non-touristy cities. Okinawa and northern Japan would be the areas I'd most want to see.

Edit: Cracked has an interesting article on how Japan in reality differs from what you might expect. For one,it's surprisingly low-tech.

[Hobie-wan]

The old capital palace in Kyoto and the nearby Fushimi-Inari shrine with all the torii should definitely be on the list.

[deathsled]

I'd probably do a lot of Japanese chicks

[EvilRyu2099]

Edit: Cracked has an interesting article on how Japan in reality differs from what you might expect. For one,it's surprisingly low-tech.

I read that article and everything seems true except the whole low tech deal.. Japan certainly has many rural areas that are devoid of a little tech, but most of his gripes are debunked in the majority of the bigger cities.. And Japan has many of them just like the US.. So in conclusion, they are one par with the US, except for possibly Tokyo...

[MrPopo]

He should pay his respects to Tama.

[Xeogred]

Buy a truck load of hentai.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I'd probably do some kickboxing at the awesomest schools, eat REAL ramen, see the Steins;Gate movie, climb mount Fuji, spead the Gospel, and get married while I'm at it.