I think the final nail in the coffin for me was when they said they felt like they had gotten a feel for the entire city of Tokyo by being driven around it for a few hours - how can that be possible?!
The Tokyo portion of our trip was not part of our ABD Adventure. This was a three night add on that John put together for the folks on our Adventure that wanted to see Tokyo
Disneyland as long as they were on that side of the world.
We arrived at late in the afternoon after a tremendous amount or travel and pretty much passed out.
The next day was spent in Tokyo Disney Seas. With all of the research you've accused us of not doing, no where did I read that full grown adults would dress up as a stuffed bear, carry around a toddler sized version of the stuffed bear and then hold said bear out in from of themselves so that he got a better view of the park....or take up seats in crowded restaurants so that the stuffed bear had a seat of his own. I used the word "odd", but your version "different to American" is also correct. Although, Id consider this odd in the US as well.
I think Disney Seas had been oversold. I didn't think it was the most amazing park. I didn't think it was the most beautiful park. It reminded me of Universal Orlando / Islands of Adventure in execution and theming.
Also, I think you are mistaking "fad" with "culture".
We spent 2/3 of the next day in Tokyo Disneyland in the rain.
As we had traveled all that way, we felt we needed to hire a car and driver to see at least some of Tokyo. It seemed shameful to travel to a city / country and only see Disneyland.
We took a very quick 3 hour trip to Tokyo and actually had about 2 hours to explore. We asked to see as many highlights of the city as possible in our short window of opportunity. We did the "tourist" tour. We saw Shibuya, Harajuku, Kabuki Theater, Ginza ...all in the rain.
I got as much of a feel for the city of Tokyo as we could in that amount of time. It was literally all of the time we had.
We left the next morning for Hong Kong.
I have been home since October 26th and i finally think I am over the jet lag I experienced. Im finally sleeping through the night.
Im sorry that you are disappointed and surprised, but as someone that loves the podcast...Im surprised that you expected anything less than our honest opinion.
We only had time for a very short visit. I do not believe I got to see Japan / Tokyo any more than I believe that someone that only visits Walt Disney World gets to see the US....or even the real Orlando.
Im surprised and disappointed that I have to explain that.