Well traveled around a couple places in Japan now. Went to the Silver Pavilion in Kyoto, (I've already been to the much more famous gold one). Also went to Hirsohima and Miwa Jima. Stayed in a traditional Japanese Ryokan on Miya Jima and walked down a mountain rather cool.
Just some tips for those travelling to Japan in the future. On the toy front the back srtreets of Akihabara, and Den Den town are still the best places I've found for toys, yes there are some high prices out there, but those who hunt should find bargains. Also Mandarake secondhand stores are also a good place to find bargains, it's all mostly second hand, but its all still packaged.
On the non toy front I've found food in Japan can be quite cheap, as little 540 yen could get you a decent meal like the Katsudon + 100 yen for a salad I had tonight. On the other hand there are some quite fancy pricey meals too. but there easy to avoid. Eat where the working class does if you need to save yen.
Also accommodation so far has been quite cheap around 6000-7000 Yen each a night on average for a quite decent hotel, the one we stayed in at Kyoto was the most impressive bargain, the New Miyako I recommend it right near the station. The Ryokan was more but it was worth it. Entry fees also very cheap, castles, shrines usually set you back around 500-1000 yen on average. Going to the super Aquarium at Osaka tomorrow, probably one of the priciest entry fees I've encountered at 2000 yen, but thats nothing compared to OZ.
On the way to Hiroshima I noticed some cranes (not the bird) around Himeji Castle. Apparently its undergoing major restoration work which will not be fully completed till 2015 or so. So you may want to reconsider visiting there, parts of it will be closed of till 2011 at least I didn't end up going went to the Kure Yamoto ( the ship not the toy company) museum in Kure instead, quite cool. As an alternative to Himeji Castle I recomend Matsumoto Castle I went on Monday, very nice old castle not a rebuilt one. It's not as big as Himeji but its quite pretty and can be done as a day trip from Tokyo. We also got a free quide.
Also I can't recommend Miya Jima enough, so pretty and tranquil, spend a day and night there if you can.
I've just been following my friend who researched some places, or has previous experience. So far Kagaya's is a cool crazy bar, you need to book though more details when I find his business card. Zoetrope is a whiskey bar in Shinjuku which has a scifi movie theme, trailers of scifi and fantasy films are played on a screen in the background. I've heard there is a Submarine themed bar in Shunjuku too, but I have yet to find it. All these bars are small affairs literally run singlehandedly or near abouts.Originally Posted by Lint
I also went to the lock up restaurant, a themed restaurant where the sexily dressed warden leads you in handcuffs to a booth styled like a prison cell. There's some crazy food, and the drinks are strange colours and served in beakers and testubes.
If I see one, can't promise atm.
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