Traveling to Japan for a Game Show, Need Major Help!

[TheAmazingOti]

Hey everyone. I'm a total nooblet when it comes to traveling, especially to another country, ESPECIALLY to one on the other side of the planet, so... help?

Let's see... where to start... Well, I'm trying to get on a Japanese game show called Sasuke (aired as Ninja Warrior in the U.S.). In order to participate, however, I need to get to Japan and find my way to the T.V. studio. The studio is TBS Midoriyama Studios and it is in Yokohama.

To get there, I apparently need to start at the Yokohama train station and take the Yokohama Line 10 to Nagatsuta station, which is a short trip. From there, I'll need to change to the Kodomonokuni line (a shuttle train). At the second (and last) station, Kodomonokuni station, it's about a mile to Midoriyama Studios. There's a bus that runs this mile long route, so I was thinking of catching that instead of walking.

Also, I wanted to go to Muscle Park. If you don't know, it's address is:

Muscle Park
Decks Tokyo
Island Mall 5F
1-6-1 Daiba,Minato-ku
Tokyo Japan
135-0091
81-3-6821-9999

It's not that far really, I just need some help figuring out my train routes.

I was going to fly from the U.S. and land in Haneda Airport, or Tokyo International Airport. This is a common place to fly to and it's roughly in the middle between Midoriyama Studios and Muscle Park.

Once I have the main routes planned, if that's possible, I'll decide on a hotel and then we can fine-tune the plans.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you need more information, just tell me.

Thanks!

[Nagoyankee]

Midoriyama: If you're going to be based in Yokohama, what you described may be the way to go. But Midoriyama is easily accessible from Tokyo as well. Take the Denen-Toshi Line at Shibuya (a major section of Tokyo) and get off at Aobadai. From Aobadai, take the bus to Midoriyama Studio City. It only takes 30 minutes one-way (train + bus together).

Muscle Park: Take the Rinkai Line at Shibuya and get off at Tokyo Teleport. It's an 18-minute ride. Then walk 5 minutes to Muscle Park. No transfer needed.

Staying near the Haneda Airport is not recommended at all for a tourist. It's surrounded by big warehouses, factories, highways and polluted rivers/canals. Mostly airline people stay in the few hotels that are there. There are very few stores, restaurants, bars near the airport. It's just dead at night. You will be bored.

You may want to look for a hotel in Shinjuku, Shibuya, or Shinagawa for your purpose. Of course, Yokohama would be a good choice as well.

[TheAmazingOti]

Wow, thanks. That was more helpful than I thought it would be!

So, it would seem that somewhere near Shibuya should be my headquarters, huh? Everything sounds like it would be much simpler if I just stick to that main Shibuya station.

As for the surroundings and night life, I'm not too worried about it right now. I'm absolutely terrified that my friends and I won't be able to find our ways around. That and our budget is kinda tight. Our plan was to fly in, hit Sasuke and Muscle Park, then leave, but we figured we needed to fly in a few days early to get over any jet lag and then stay an extra day or two just in case we couldn't hit Muscle Park for some reason. We decided to stay for a week, only six days if we can manage it. Maybe during a future trip, we'll really try to absorb the culture, but for now, it's the bare minimum, I'm afraid.

It sounds like we should get a hotel in Shibuya, but a have a few questions. How would we get from the Haneda Airport to our Shibuya hotel? Are there a lot of trains and buses to take all the incoming people to their hotels?

Also, do you have any rough estimates on how much money we should bring with us? It'll be around $5,000 USD for the three of us to fly there, and I figured we'd bring... maybe an extra $2,000?

[MMM]

Do international flights land at Haneda? It was my understanding it is only a domestic airport.

American contestants who want to be on Sasuke seem to go through G4-TV. Unless you are established in Japan, I am not sure they will just take you off the street (that would be kind of unfair to those that tried out and failed, it seems like to me...though you are paying your own way there).

http://midoriyama.forumcircle.com/index.php

This might help.

[TheAmazingOti]

Well, the Haneda airport comes up when you search for Tokyo International. I assumed they changed the name but not the policies. After all, it does show up on all the airline sites as a valid flight.

I hate G4 with a passion. Also, I'm only 19, not 21. If the producers (TBS) like your submission, they will let you compete. In the 20th competition, there was an American who didn't go through G4 but still got to compete. The funny thing is... G4 CUT HIS RUN. We (me and the members of the G4 forum) all assume it's because G4 wants people to think they own the course and that you have to go through them.

So... yeah... I'll be going through TBS directly, not G4, and if I beat the first stage, G4 automatically has to show my run. That oughta make 'em mad. :P

[SSJup81]

G4 does suck...seeing as how it jumped ship years ago, but if it wasn't for that station, we wouldn't have gotten exposure to Sasuke at all. I do hate the fact that they cut stuff out, though, when they show it. I hate seeing the translations going, "And he is the first person to clear the stage today" and with my limited Japanese hear, "And he is contestant number five to clear stage one" or something like that. I wish they could air it like they did the very first competition. I also wish there was a way to watch all of the competitions originally. For the most recent one that G4 aired, they cut out Yamada's run. I was shocked that they did that given who he was. He's Mr. Sasuke...the Sasuke-otaku. How in the world could they cut him?

I wish you luck of getting in though and passing the preliminaries to even qualify for the competition. You'd get to meet Yamamoto Shingo. *Gets starry eyed*

[MMM]

Originally Posted by TheAmazingOti

Well, the Haneda airport comes up when you search for Tokyo International. I assumed they changed the name but not the policies. After all, it does show up on all the airline sites as a valid flight.

I hate G4 with a passion. Also, I'm only 19, not 21. If the producers (TBS) like your submission, they will let you compete. In the 20th competition, there was an American who didn't go through G4 but still got to compete. The funny thing is... G4 CUT HIS RUN. We (me and the members of the G4 forum) all assume it's because G4 wants people to think they own the course and that you have to go through them.

So... yeah... I'll be going through TBS directly, not G4, and if I beat the first stage, G4 automatically has to show my run. That oughta make 'em mad. :P

Haneda was the international airport until they opened up Narita airport. I would bet you will be flying into Narita, not Haneda. The only international flights out of Haneda are Seoul, HK and Shanghai.

That's interesting about G4. I have watched Sasuke in Japan, and you are very right, G4 makes it seem like G4 has something to do with the show, when all they are doing is supplying a couple contestants each round.

Good luck to you...I am looking forward to hearing about your adventure!

[SSJup81]

Originally Posted by MMM

That's interesting about G4. I have watched Sasuke in Japan, and you are very right, G4 makes it seem like G4 has something to do with the show, when all they are doing is supplying a couple contestants each round.

I never really thought of it that way, to be completely honest. I guess it's because I know that G4 literally doesn't own the show, even if they try to act like they do.

I now wonder how many other American contestants have been on the show, but cut since G4 started having contests to include American competitors. I've seen non-G4 competitors before, but they were older competitions, though. One guy that comes to mind, was an English teacher over there. I find it sad that for the last competition that had Olivia and Kevin in it, screwed up the amount. I always thought it was just 100 competitors who were allowed to compete. Thinking about it, it's unfair that they were even allowed a free pass, just to act goofy, although, I bet Kevin would've done okay. I don't think he was acting goofy on purpose...he's just goofy in general.

Aside from random clips on youtube, does anyone know how to view Sasuke as opposed to Ninja Warrior? I've been wondering this ever since I first started watching Ninja Warrior back in 2007.

[MMM]

You are right...on older rounds they always showed some random gaijin giving it a shot. Now they probably cut those out, like Oti said.

Regardless, I am a G4 fan, and can't get enough of AotS. Kevin and Olivia make my day.

[SSJup81]

I would watch Attack of the Show more, if my television got G4. I have basic cable. Only our two upstairs televisions get Digital and usually when it's on, someone else in the house is watching it (my grandmother has digital in her room and my parents watch the television they have in the living room, which has Digital). Watching G4 is a rarity, but the station hasn't been good in years, imo. I miss all of t he old shows G4 used to show, like G4TV and Judgment Day and Filter and Cinematech and old reruns of Starcade.