Is Japan an option for summer 2022?

[AntonyJ]

This is all new to me - are the tapioca balls always have no taste? Or are some filled with flavours? Is it just tea this is done with?

For record I hand a tea which choc flavour but the choc tasted pretty yucky

[sky13]

Originally Posted by ScoopsAhoy

There are bubble tea places everywhere!
Dd is absolutely obsessed..
We’ve so many different ones but mostly Chatime, bubbleology and Bobo tea in Manchester.
My ds and his girlfriend also took dd to a Shiba inu themed cafe in Manc and she tried brown sugar tapioca which she liked but I’m not a fan.
I did get this one on Sunday which had heart shaped jelly

Was really nice and not too sweet!

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It's nice to know there are bubble tea places everywhere now! I remember being so excited when Chatime opened in the city I was living in in the UK a few years ago because it meant I could get decent bubble tea whenever I wanted (as opposed to only being able to get it when I went to London)!

That bubble tea looks great!

Originally Posted by AntonyJ

This is all new to me - are the tapioca balls always have no taste? Or are some filled with flavours? Is it just tea this is done with?

For record I hand a tea which choc flavour but the choc tasted pretty yucky

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The "traditional" bubble tea pearls are the black tapioca balls. I guess they kind of don't have a lot of taste but they take on the taste of the drink they are in! But there are now lots of other toppings like jelly and white tapioca balls and popping boba balls (these have some sort of liquid centre) and all.

I'm not a fan of milky bubble tea in general so I tend to get them with fruit teas. I'm really not very adventurous with my bubble teas (and honestly I don't drink them that often though I enjoy them on occasion) so there are a lot of flavours I haven't tried as I tend to stick to ones I know I like!

Just realised that Gong cha is now in the UK! So using their menu (gong-cha/wp-conten...u-Nov-2021.png) as an example (having never had Gong cha in the UK but have had it outside of the UK) my favourite drink on their menu is the "Lemon juice with White Pearl and Ai-yu" which is a very light sort of drink with white pearls and aiyu jelly. But I would also be pretty happy getting something like the "Grapefruit Green Tea" or "QQ Passionfruit Green Tea" as I like fruit tea based bubble tea.

But it is really a personal taste thing though - many people I know really like the milky sort of bubble tea!

[ScoopsAhoy]

Some places call tapioca, Taro pearls which are absolutely foul (imo) so we just go for the popping ones as they are highly flavoured and aren’t chewy.
My daughter and I are the same, we only like the fruit teas although there is a little Korean restaurant near me that does really good milk tea but that’s because it’s just like a milkshake.
Last year for DD’s 10th birthday her brother got her a a home bubble tea set and she loved that, when it ran out I bought cold brew tea bags from Amazon and they worked really well.

[stanleycamel]

Yes summer in Tokyo can be hot and very humid and if walking around a lot quite unpleasant.

Anyone wanting to visit in bear in mind that November can be extremely busy with domestic tourism as the "fall" period is just as busy as cherry blossom season. I once saw a sign on the Tourist Board door in Kyoto station simply saying "Kyoto Full" in mid-November.

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by stanleycamel

Yes summer in Tokyo can be hot and very humid and if walking around a lot quite unpleasant.

Anyone wanting to visit in bear in mind that November can be extremely busy with domestic tourism as the "fall" period is just as busy as cherry blossom season. I once saw a sign on the Tourist Board door in Kyoto station simply saying "Kyoto Full" in mid-November.

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My October visit is a week until November 6th, should that be ok?

[ScoopsAhoy]

We have to go in the summer as we have a school aged child so we will just try and adapt.
We always go to Florida, vegas and Arizona at the height of summer so if we can cope with that we’ll be fine I reckon 🤞🏼

[RockTheDots]

Originally Posted by AntonyJ

My October visit is a week until November 6th, should that be ok?

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We went in early November 2019 and it didn't seem too busy. Disney was busy as the Christmas season was just starting (which was excellent BTW) but I was under the impression TDR is always busy! Outside the parks, we didn't find Tokyo city overly crowded. Hoping to return November 2023 for the 40th celebrations but will see how Covid progresses over the next year and decide early next year if it seems plausible.

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by RockTheDots

We went in early November 2019 and it didn't seem too busy. Disney was busy as the Christmas season was just starting (which was excellent BTW) but I was under the impression TDR is always busy! Outside the parks, we didn't find Tokyo city overly crowded. Hoping to return November 2023 for the 40th celebrations but will see how Covid progresses over the next year and decide early next year if it seems plausible.

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That would be a great time, the big expansion should be open by then too!

[kk20]

Summer is fine in Japan. I was given all sorts of "oh I wouldnt go in July, it's horrible weather, too hot and sticky". We had zero issues. The days are long so it was fine to do the same as Orlando, get up early and do stuff, nap at lunch, go out for afternoon and evenings.

There are 7.11/lawson everywhere, the vending machines arent the same as UK vending machines (i.e. drinks are not eye watering expensive). we only used a taxi once sticking to walking and public transport. But we had a plan and looked at distances etc so we werent going to flog ourselves to death.

Queues were a lot smaller as Japanese schools hadnt broken up. Even the Gion float festival wasnt ram packed and that was good.

Alas I needed to take my trippie (well, the photos but it was just easier) down but can still answer questions on what I did if necessary.