[kamome]

Now that's definitely a gaijin thing to do. 12 hours??? That's about the amount of time it takes to get to the top of Mt. Fuji and back. If you're going to kill yourself for 12 hours, at least Fuji is something cool to talk about afterwards. The Yamanote line just sounds lame.

[cliffy]

This sounds like a twist on the run through London based on the (English) Monopoly board. The idea is to go from station to station named for the properties on the board, exept for the game I play is to drink a pint at the obligatry pub near the station AND use the train to get around. This also takes all day, exausts you and is a lot of fun. Well it was for me.

[Crispy]

Twelve hours? Naw, I don't think so. I have nothing against hiking, but I try to limit myself to ten miles a day.

[kamome]

I disagree it is a 'gaijin' thing to do. Walking through cities in your home or foreign countries is a memorable experience and great for getting a better feel for the geography and scale of a city.

It sure is a great thing to walk through the city and get a feel for the geography of the area--but all in one day??? Going up and down Fuji necessarily must be done in a day (unless you want to camp out on the side of the mountain in a tin shack with no electricity or running water). But the various stops along the Yamanote can be broken up into little outings over a period of time (Gotanda and surroundings one day, Shinagawa another day, Ueno another day, etc). Ask any Japanese about walking the Yamanote all at once and they will look at you like you're crazy. That's why I call it a "gaijin" thing to do.

[cstaylor]

Akihabara sucks on price, but it's nice to have a single area for electronics shopping. I bought my Sony DR-7 DV deck at Laox over the phone after I did some window shopping at their Akihabara branch.

[kamome]

I have tried to negotiate with the sales people at the big stores over big ticket items like a refrigerator and washing machine. They refused to budge past the initial 5-10% standard discount off the sticker price. How the hell do you get them to reduce it further? I spent a small fortune furnishing my apartment with stuff from Akihabara, and I got virtually no discounts. Any suggestions?