San Francisco cool places to go?

DarthPwner

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My wife and I are here visiting, and I was curious on where I should go. I was debating between Chinatown or Japantown, so where has the cooler collectibles and better food? I have never tried authentic ramen, and I'd like to. Do they have that in Japantown? I ask because in Texas, there is no place near me with authentic ramen... Any way, I'm asking for advice CAGs! Help me out!
 
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It's sort of a crapshoot between those two places.

While Chinatown will probably be better priced as far as collectible goes, many of them are basically marred with lots of questionable quality things.  Japantown is going to have much more of the authentic stuff, but pricing wise, it's hit or miss for the most part.  Not saying you can't find anything authentic collectible wise in Chinatown, but depending on the store, the quality might not always be the same.  I think it really all comes down to exactly what you mean by collectibles.  Touristy collectibles about SF, or collectibles as in gaming stuff, anime stuff, etc.? 

If you just need a simple plan, just go to Marufuku Ramen in the Japan Center in Japantown.  This will basically get you to the heart of Japantown, and then you can wander around from there.  However, if you like other options, depending on your accessibility to BART, there's some other authentic places you can go to.

Any chance you could maybe provide some more details on your specifics of location, transportation, and also other things that might help narrow down the specifics to get you some better recommendations for your needs?

Also, is this for today, tomorrow, Monday, etc.

 
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Thanks for the reply! We're staying at California and Octavia. I don't really mind if they're knock offs, but yes, gaming and anime items. If they are knock offs, it would probably save me some money. I'm also limited on space as we didnt check any bags, just carry on, so what I'll look for are just small items to put on my desk/in my office.
 
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If it's just small stuff, then probably Chinatown would be better, but I have to tell you it might be harder to find things there as it's much more cluttered store to store compared to Japantown, where things are a bit more organized since it's an indoors visitor center, unlike Chinatown where all the store fronts are on the street.  And if you're not good with hills, Chinatown also sucks because it's literally on a hill, so you'd be doing a lot of walking up and down, so get those calf muscles ready. ;P

Food wise, probably better to stay in Japantown, especially if you're mainly looking for ramen.

They're not all that far away from each other, and can be accessed around BART for the most part, so if you have time, I'd personally just visit both to see.

If you're on a tighter schedule, then yeah, hard to say which to do first, or if to do both at all.

Good luck!

 
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Thanks man. I think there better use of our time would probably be Japantown. It's so close. Plus it's hard to get my wife to go very fast at night time. We're here until Monday, but leaving early on Monday. Thanks for all your info. I really do appreciate it!
 
Yep, no problem.

When you go to Japantown at the Japan Center, make sure you also visit the above ground areas near the center.

The majority of the Japan Center is more like a mall, but the above ground stuff is neat too, particularly the one across the street from the actual Japan Center.

It's got some nice little shops, not necessarily anime or game related, but some fun trinkets, and what not there as well.

Just take your time to explore around the area.

 
Japantown is a pretty small area and nothing else really around it. If you go to Chinatown, North Beach (Little Italy) will be next to it plus you'll have Union Square and shopping on the opposite end. Fleet Week is here so you can watch the Blue Angels. I'd usually recommend Fisherman's Wharf but it's not like it used to be.

It you go to Japantown try to stop by the Cathedral. It's a nice steeple-like Catholic church, one of the most beautiful buildings in SF.

 
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