@mysstris
I only bought the plane because money wasn't an issue. Otherwise, I would have simply purchased a ticket.
I didn't bother to mention this, but I've won a trip to Tokyo before (off a radio show) and $5,000 spending money. I was there for 5 hellish days. I hated the food so bad. I was a head taller than everyone, which brought both good and bad attention. Some crazy vagrant picked a fight with me screaming "fukyuu!" Almost got the boot for that. Got molested on the subway (I was surrounded by dudes and nobody fessed up when I flipped out). I checked out some temple. I checked out Akihabara and most items I was interested in didn't have any sort of translation of the instructions. Not to mention the people in costumes kept trying to take pictures with me, which was annoying as fuck. Gaijin-san was my nickname said by everyone. Somebody picked my passport out of my pocket, which led to a simply fantastic time trying to prove my identity when a cop stopped me. The "tough guys" who kept rolling their r's running their mouth about about something that sounded like Pearl Harbor, I think (don't know how old they were, maybe high school kids, but they'd take off when I'd walk towards them). Some people even imitated me every time I'd pass by near my hotel (I usually have a disgruntled, for lack of better words, look on my face and I don't always stare at the ground). I tried eating at what I thought was a normal restaurant, but I noticed the floor had mirrors and you could stare up the panty-less waitresses' skirts. Then they took me downstairs, where it turned out it was a two-way mirror and every guy (20's to 60+ years old) was just staring like they've never seen one before. The only, ONLY mildly good thing that happened was I slept with the girl who worked in the kitchen (I think) in my hotel. You could say she delivered room service in more than one way. She was a terrible lay, though.
In short, it was overrated as hell. I heard many nice things about Japan prior to my visit, but, apparently, those nice things didn't occur during my stay. I enjoyed manga, but it's pointless unless you go somewhere where a lot of people are reading and you find one who's willing to translate (only once some kid did it for me). I don't care for the manga/anime products besides manga. Just seems childish. It was just a droll experience, and I went out of my way to look for a good time. I did get shitfaced with some old Okinawan, but when he brought me to the restaurant (see above), he ditched me. I think that place doubled as a whore house, because he went in back and didn't come out for the 30 mins I was there. I was always polite and respectful, but it was rarely returned unless it was their job to kiss tourist's asses.

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-No longer do I quote great scholars, the famous, etc. Kids feigning wisdom ruined it.
--I wont type a post like a college report. If you don't read it just for that reason, you don't have to post why your hoity-toity ass refused to. I swear, so many people on this site are so full of themselves. A lot seem to think they always have an "intelligent and/or logical" point or show signs of a superiority complex. They never admit they're wrong. Maybe partially, but excuses abound! :\
-Stop mailing me about my comments. I don't read them.
/sigrant