John W. <worthj1970@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 14, 8:29?pm, The 2-Belo <the2b...@msdREMOVETHIS.biglobe.ne.jp>
> wrote:
> >
> > Oh, I know it's real. I've been twisted like a pepper mill on trains during
> > business trips to Tokyo more times than I can count. But it's not only the
> > native population that largely ignores the sticks... the offshore press does,
> > too. I'll see country courses aimed at the backpacker guys time and again, but
> > for the most part the image has always been "overcrowded, futuristic".
> >
> I have this argument quite a bit over on tripadvisor.com. People love
> Tokyo. Tokyo is soo cool. Tokyo is so fascinating. Never mind that, if

Tokyo is, in fact, fascinating, and I never got tired of it. (Best place in 
the world to be a single guy, IMO.) And if you're a tourist, you generally
won't be dealing with the trains during the worst of the crushes, and 
that helps tremendously. 

But even in and around Tokyo there are relatively unspoiled areas most
people know nothing about; some very nice areas are pretty accessible even
on the Chuo-sen. Not the spectacular wooded valleys of other parts of 
Japan, but some nice, unspoiled waterfalls, some rolling hills, etc.

Mike