Has anyone been to Japan?

I've visited twice. Visiting is great, I never had any issue with locals. The only problems I had were with other tourists. I've heard that actually living (and working) in Japan is completely different. There are nuances you have to learn about and deal with.

Akihabara is fun, no doubt. There are a fair few new and used shops to buy merch. You can probably find/buy anything you're looking for in particular there, but you're right it's a "noob trap". I was supposed to go again last March. I hadn't been to Nakano broadway yet, so it was on my list of places to visit. Apart from everything else in the mall, the HQ for Mandarake is located there. I'm kind of upset I didn't get to go.

In my opinion, it is a must go. I have been to many places. This is my favorite place for travelling thus far! If you like Gundam, make sure you visit Diver City in Odaiba!

Travelling to Japan is like my dream trip. Since moving to the city, my roommate (a mother hen type) is encouraging me to save my money for next year.

I went to Japan back in 2016. It was a very interesting experience. Met up with a Chinese guy and started traveling with him. It was quite interesting since I could speak Japanese and he couldn't. Most expected him to know Japanese and were kinda confused when he couldn't and I could. Shared drinks, it was fun. Another surprising thing was how they just advertise porn on the street in Akiba. Like there would be young children walking by porn advertisments. Had 3 incidents basically out of a movie, they even confuse Japanese natives when I tell them! Two were when a bicycle hit an older man and he got angry and started yelling in the streets. It really was something out of a J-drama. Another time was when there was a famous person (think he was a tennis player) on one of those loudspeaker trucks and I saw one of the really tall people dressed in a suit standing out in the croud (security for the guy). Another time, there was a guy selling dango and blasting eroge music at a temple. I knew it was to attract weebs, but it was quite funny to see the disconnect between normal Japan and some guy with eroge.