4 ms·

early 2010's, i land for the first time in Japan, with vague instructions to meet my AirBnB host "by the entrance to Shinjuku Station" story ended happily afte

early 2010's, i land for the first time in Japan, with vague instructions to meet my AirBnB host "by the entrance to Shinjuku Station" story ended happily after finding a hotspot and sending an email, but this visualization makes that instruction seem even more hilarious in hindsight a pin pointing out a location using this map would be a perfect waypoint!

TacticalCoder 3y ago
> early 2010's, i land for the first time in Japan, with vague instructions to meet my AirBnB host "by the entrance to Shinjuku Station" A famous and much easier one in Tokyo is to meet at the dog [1]. Now, granted, it's in Shibuya and not in Shinjuku. Darn do I miss Tokyo... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D
- Larrikin 3y ago
  Shibuya station atleast vaguely makes sense, even after all the construction. I firmly believe that the only people who can truly navigate Shinjuku station, are people who work there and people who live there. Seems like no matter what, Google maps/Yahoo will tell you exit via b14 and every exit sign will helpfully guide you to North East, East, and all the exits a1 through a10. It's always easier to exit the station and then figure out your final destination, which can still be annoyingly hard.
  - Klonoar 3y ago
    A fun skill to have is knowing how to reliably navigate Shinjuku in the rain without ever seeing rain - purely by moving via the underground, since it connects pretty far (e.g Sanchome).
    - pests 3y ago
      I did a similar thing on my college campus during the winter snow months. Most buildings were connected in one way or another and then there was a seldom used tunnel no one knew about connecting two science building basements. I could comfortably cross the majority of campus only stepping outside for a few brief steps.
- weberer 3y ago
  In Shinjuku you meet at the Giant 3D Cat.
nox100 3y ago
the smart way to do it is to name an exit like Exit B5 or A12. The signs in the station, and Google Maps, will generally tell how to get to a specific exit. Or probably better would be a famous landmarks tho there aren't many to pick from in Shinjuku. A common one used to be "in front of the Alta building on the east exit" another still is "in front of the police station just outside the east exit
dfxm12 3y ago
Zoom in on shunjuku station with google maps. All those yellow boxes with letters and numbers are various exits/entrances. I wonder which one which entrance was meant as "the" entrance. I'm sure it was the one they use every day, but that wouldn't help a visitor. It's kinda surprising someone like an AirBnB host, who presumably has to communicate this with many travelers from many places, is so vague about it. If you're getting directions via google maps and you have to exit a subway station in Tokyo (and maybe some other cities), it will give you directions underground to the proper exit. It will even tell you which subway car you should be on so you will be closest to the proper exit. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shinjuku+Station/@35.6916622,139.6994283,18.55z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x60188cd0d6b1ba1f:0x1c32a1f1ecacfdd5!8m2!3d35.6896067!4d139.7005713!16zL20vMDIxdnow?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shinjuku+Station/@35.69166...
- jonhohle 3y ago
  In 2010 AirBnB would have been more novel, so maybe there wasn’t the same expectation. I stayed on Seoul a few months ago and in addition to a specific entrance number, my host had made a YouTube video showing a first person walk from the subway exit to his place.
  - jareklupinski 3y ago
    yup my host profusely apologized and emailed me back with the specific exit and a line i could use to ask locals for directions, but when we met I felt he was almost disappointed that I didn't get that we were obviously to meet by the entrance closest to the road which led to the property (it was his apartment that he was renting out for the summer because his family goes somewhere north for the summer) obvious to someone who goes there every day yes, but not to a jet-lagged traveler visiting for the first time :) i enjoyed being in the first cohort of airbnb guests, quirks and all; felt more 'personable' but yea I also remember that being probably the last year I felt comfortable traveling somewhere without a mobile device constantly connected
- ranger_danger 3y ago
  I can only assume that by "the" entrance they meant West.
tkgally 3y ago
I moved to Japan in 1983, and for the first few years I lived and worked near Shinjuku Station and passed through it every day. I also spent most of my free time in the Shinjuku area and wandered around exploring a lot. It took a full year before I really knew the area and could find any entrance or tunnel without getting lost. The station has changed and grown a lot since, and acquiring that sense would take even longer today. As it happens, I will be going to Shinjuku later today for the first time in four years to meet an old friend for lunch. I spent some time online yesterday looking at photos and streetview of the area. My friend has been living in the Tokyo area as long as I have and used to go to Shinjuku a lot, too. But he doesn't use a smartphone and we're meeting on the south side of the station, which has changed a lot. So I prepared a four-page PDF with maps and pictures showing where we will meet, and I told my friend to print it out and bring it along. I hope we're able to find each other.
- notRobot 3y ago
  Let us know how it goes!
  - tkgally 3y ago
    Thanks! We found each other without any problem. My friend was a bit miffed that I seemed to think that he would get lost. Otherwise we had a pleasant lunch. Later, I walked through Shinjuku and Kabukicho up to Shin Okubo to see how the city had changed. It was good to see that the Shin Okubo area is still as multiethnic and ungentrified as it was twenty years ago. A couple of backstreet one-person coffee shops I used to frequent were still there, though closed for the New Year's holiday.
- lovemenot 3y ago
  I might have suggested meeting at the "farm" above the South side of the station. I think it's on the fourth or fifth floor. Of course, theres only one farm in the vicinity and it's small enough that you won't miss each other.
- solardev 3y ago
  This sounds like the beginning of an awesome indie movie :)
makeitdouble 3y ago
I learned to never let people dictate rendez-vous points at landmarks or stations if I can. It never makes sense. If it's a landmark or sizeable train/bus station there must be a cafe or a park with notable features nearby. If it's in the middle of nowhere there will be a bench at an easy to describe place. Telling people to stand in wide and potentially crowded areas for a significant amount of time if they dare coming early is just cruel. PS: for people using Hachiko as a meeting place, there's a Starbucks right the other side of the crosswalk dammit.
- Klonoar 3y ago
  The Tsutaya building that closed for renovations…? I don’t believe that Starbucks is currently an option due to that. Hachiko is a small enough area that’s pretty much proven to work and is a location that any confused tourist can get pointed to easily enough - and signs inside Shibuya station will literally label it.
  - glandium 3y ago
    Except when the spot around Hachiko is crammed with tourists, local or foreign because of its 100th anniversary.
  - numpad0 3y ago
    Why don't people choose somewhere random and empty, so that your counter-party is the only humanoid within 100 feet radius? I'm aware it's because that feels weird, but it should make more technical sense than knowingly going into mosh pits when you're just meeting someone.
T-R 3y ago
Shinjuku station has also changed dramatically from all the construction over the last 10 or so years. I lived in Shinjuku (the ward; I was actually a few stations north on the Oedo line) in 2009/2010; was back there a few weeks ago and it was unrecognizeable. Right now, the whole area over by the Yodobashi Camera, and where they used to have the night bus pickup is all walled off under active construction (if they haven't finished already).
kurthr 3y ago
Similar experience before the era of ubiquitous smart phones ~2006. The hotel was nice enough to say how to get there from Shinjuku exit E8 (at least it wasn't the A series which I think goes to 15) and it took we half an hour to even exit the subway with my rolling bag. But I was completely disoriented and actual street numbering and signage unhelpful. Then the fun started since I couldn't spot the hotel a kind Japanese couple decided to help. Their "crippling helpfulness" became clear only after 5 minutes that they were tourists and had no idea where the hotel was, but it took even longer for me to extract myself politely by pointing towards a taxi stand saying I knew where it was. I got in a taxi and gave him the address... he looked at me like I was crazy, drove forward 1.5 blocks and pointed to the hotel sign. Best Y300 ever spent.

TacticalCoder 3y ago

> early 2010's, i land for the first time in Japan, with vague instructions to meet my AirBnB host "by the entrance to Shinjuku Station" A famous and much easier one in Tokyo is to meet at the dog [1]. Now, granted, it's in Shibuya and not in Shinjuku. Darn do I miss Tokyo... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D

Larrikin 3y ago
Shibuya station atleast vaguely makes sense, even after all the construction. I firmly believe that the only people who can truly navigate Shinjuku station, are people who work there and people who live there. Seems like no matter what, Google maps/Yahoo will tell you exit via b14 and every exit sign will helpfully guide you to North East, East, and all the exits a1 through a10. It's always easier to exit the station and then figure out your final destination, which can still be annoyingly hard.
- Klonoar 3y ago
  A fun skill to have is knowing how to reliably navigate Shinjuku in the rain without ever seeing rain - purely by moving via the underground, since it connects pretty far (e.g Sanchome).
  - pests 3y ago
    I did a similar thing on my college campus during the winter snow months. Most buildings were connected in one way or another and then there was a seldom used tunnel no one knew about connecting two science building basements. I could comfortably cross the majority of campus only stepping outside for a few brief steps.
weberer 3y ago
In Shinjuku you meet at the Giant 3D Cat.

nox100 3y ago

the smart way to do it is to name an exit like Exit B5 or A12. The signs in the station, and Google Maps, will generally tell how to get to a specific exit. Or probably better would be a famous landmarks tho there aren't many to pick from in Shinjuku. A common one used to be "in front of the Alta building on the east exit" another still is "in front of the police station just outside the east exit

dfxm12 3y ago

Zoom in on shunjuku station with google maps. All those yellow boxes with letters and numbers are various exits/entrances. I wonder which one which entrance was meant as "the" entrance. I'm sure it was the one they use every day, but that wouldn't help a visitor. It's kinda surprising someone like an AirBnB host, who presumably has to communicate this with many travelers from many places, is so vague about it. If you're getting directions via google maps and you have to exit a subway station in Tokyo (and maybe some other cities), it will give you directions underground to the proper exit. It will even tell you which subway car you should be on so you will be closest to the proper exit. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shinjuku+Station/@35.6916622,139.6994283,18.55z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x60188cd0d6b1ba1f:0x1c32a1f1ecacfdd5!8m2!3d35.6896067!4d139.7005713!16zL20vMDIxdnow?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shinjuku+Station/@35.69166...

jonhohle 3y ago
In 2010 AirBnB would have been more novel, so maybe there wasn’t the same expectation. I stayed on Seoul a few months ago and in addition to a specific entrance number, my host had made a YouTube video showing a first person walk from the subway exit to his place.
- jareklupinski 3y ago
  yup my host profusely apologized and emailed me back with the specific exit and a line i could use to ask locals for directions, but when we met I felt he was almost disappointed that I didn't get that we were obviously to meet by the entrance closest to the road which led to the property (it was his apartment that he was renting out for the summer because his family goes somewhere north for the summer) obvious to someone who goes there every day yes, but not to a jet-lagged traveler visiting for the first time :) i enjoyed being in the first cohort of airbnb guests, quirks and all; felt more 'personable' but yea I also remember that being probably the last year I felt comfortable traveling somewhere without a mobile device constantly connected
ranger_danger 3y ago
I can only assume that by "the" entrance they meant West.

tkgally 3y ago

I moved to Japan in 1983, and for the first few years I lived and worked near Shinjuku Station and passed through it every day. I also spent most of my free time in the Shinjuku area and wandered around exploring a lot. It took a full year before I really knew the area and could find any entrance or tunnel without getting lost. The station has changed and grown a lot since, and acquiring that sense would take even longer today. As it happens, I will be going to Shinjuku later today for the first time in four years to meet an old friend for lunch. I spent some time online yesterday looking at photos and streetview of the area. My friend has been living in the Tokyo area as long as I have and used to go to Shinjuku a lot, too. But he doesn't use a smartphone and we're meeting on the south side of the station, which has changed a lot. So I prepared a four-page PDF with maps and pictures showing where we will meet, and I told my friend to print it out and bring it along. I hope we're able to find each other.

notRobot 3y ago
Let us know how it goes!
- tkgally 3y ago
  Thanks! We found each other without any problem. My friend was a bit miffed that I seemed to think that he would get lost. Otherwise we had a pleasant lunch. Later, I walked through Shinjuku and Kabukicho up to Shin Okubo to see how the city had changed. It was good to see that the Shin Okubo area is still as multiethnic and ungentrified as it was twenty years ago. A couple of backstreet one-person coffee shops I used to frequent were still there, though closed for the New Year's holiday.
lovemenot 3y ago
I might have suggested meeting at the "farm" above the South side of the station. I think it's on the fourth or fifth floor. Of course, theres only one farm in the vicinity and it's small enough that you won't miss each other.
solardev 3y ago
This sounds like the beginning of an awesome indie movie :)

makeitdouble 3y ago

I learned to never let people dictate rendez-vous points at landmarks or stations if I can. It never makes sense. If it's a landmark or sizeable train/bus station there must be a cafe or a park with notable features nearby. If it's in the middle of nowhere there will be a bench at an easy to describe place. Telling people to stand in wide and potentially crowded areas for a significant amount of time if they dare coming early is just cruel. PS: for people using Hachiko as a meeting place, there's a Starbucks right the other side of the crosswalk dammit.

Klonoar 3y ago
The Tsutaya building that closed for renovations…? I don’t believe that Starbucks is currently an option due to that. Hachiko is a small enough area that’s pretty much proven to work and is a location that any confused tourist can get pointed to easily enough - and signs inside Shibuya station will literally label it.
- glandium 3y ago
  Except when the spot around Hachiko is crammed with tourists, local or foreign because of its 100th anniversary.
- numpad0 3y ago
  Why don't people choose somewhere random and empty, so that your counter-party is the only humanoid within 100 feet radius? I'm aware it's because that feels weird, but it should make more technical sense than knowingly going into mosh pits when you're just meeting someone.

T-R 3y ago

Shinjuku station has also changed dramatically from all the construction over the last 10 or so years. I lived in Shinjuku (the ward; I was actually a few stations north on the Oedo line) in 2009/2010; was back there a few weeks ago and it was unrecognizeable. Right now, the whole area over by the Yodobashi Camera, and where they used to have the night bus pickup is all walled off under active construction (if they haven't finished already).

kurthr 3y ago

Similar experience before the era of ubiquitous smart phones ~2006. The hotel was nice enough to say how to get there from Shinjuku exit E8 (at least it wasn't the A series which I think goes to 15) and it took we half an hour to even exit the subway with my rolling bag. But I was completely disoriented and actual street numbering and signage unhelpful. Then the fun started since I couldn't spot the hotel a kind Japanese couple decided to help. Their "crippling helpfulness" became clear only after 5 minutes that they were tourists and had no idea where the hotel was, but it took even longer for me to extract myself politely by pointing towards a taxi stand saying I knew where it was. I got in a taxi and gave him the address... he looked at me like I was crazy, drove forward 1.5 blocks and pointed to the hotel sign. Best Y300 ever spent.