A $50 trip to "Japan"

[Hatori]

Hello! As you may be thinking," WHAT THE HELL," do not think I'm crazy. :p

I just thought in this thread you can post any cities or locations in the US that you feel has a large Japanese community or has much Japanese influence. As we all know, you won't be able to go to Japan with $50 from the US, but with a decent amount of money, you can travel to a town or area in your state where there's much Japanese culture.

Basically if you have anywhere to share, put down the state it's in and the city. Please do not give any locations of where you live and try to keep a minimum of street names unless you plan on PMing the person posting about the location.
----
All I have to say is:

Elk Grove Village, Il.

[Infidel]

well for starts, if you're going that cheap then you need to stay in hostels or bring a tent.

[ghosthacker]

Japantown in San Francisco.

I have not been there in almost 12 years but when I lived there I loved to go to the cheery blossom festival they held each year in April. (at least I think it was April )

Japantown is actually a mall with many Japanese shops though last time i was there some American type shops (movie plex and Sizzler) had replaced a long time Japanese movie theater and restaurant.

Anyways its a great place to see a Japanese style festival in the US. But unless you live in Northern California its gonna cost more then $50 to go.

[keatonatron]

When I went to SF's Japan town, the only people walking around were Korean

[Hatori]

Japan town in SF. When I went to California on vacation with my parents two years ago they wouldn't let me go. They didn't know where it was and we were traveling with other people and they'd have no interest. lol.
But we found this fund raising festival with games, dances, and a few art galleries and shops in Cali... lol.

[SirFirestorm]

http://www.indypressny.org/article.php3?ArticleID=2426

There are few japantowns outside of California. Living in New York I can attest that Japanese shops are few and far in between. There is a small Japanese cafe and supermarket next to Book-off in Manhattan. A Kinokuya near Rockefeller center. A couple of overpriced sushi restaurants near 5th ave, and the cheaper japanese restaurants in chinatown. Thats about all I can tell you about the 4th largest japanese-american community in the US.

[juddcarlos2003]

What about us in Florida¿!¿! The only way for me to associate with other japanese are going to JWñs congregations like in Georgia for example... I think that Atlanta has some japanese but thats too far away for me right now... I guess Iñll need more than fifty bucks to go all the way to San Francisco...

Sorry about the typos! Iñm in Mexico and the keyboards are different! the upside down is suppose to be the regular question marks and the ñ is suppose to be the apostrophy... well,,, thanks for the tips

[keatonatron]

Hatori wrote:
Hello! As you may be thinking," WHAT THE HELL," do not think I'm crazy. :p

Can I still think you're crazy?

[trabia-wind]

Hatori wrote:
Elk Grove Village, Il.

are you serious? -_- i live really near there; i actually think it's only 30 minutes away. but i've never heard of anything "japanese-y" about it. (yep, i know that japanese is already an adjective)