Tokyo - As traveled by a recent college grad
Aug 11th, 2009, 06:15 AM
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Tokyo - As traveled by a recent college grad
Hey guys,
I will copy and paste an entry from my blog here (not sure if I can post links...I will anyway and if I can't I guess I'll find out?) on http://micksalas.blogspot.com/ for my recent trip in Tokyo. I will actually be doing a few entries since I will be here in South East Asia until end of September or early October.
Hope you guys enjoy! And again, with pics and more entries, please visit my blog:
http://micksalas.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 28th
Alright….I’m here.
The overall journey from Chicago to Tokyo in itself was a pleasant one… smooth flight and great service (I flew ANA for the first time – their in-flight entertainment is great! They have so much variety to choose from in your own personal screen that they make a four hour flight from San Diego to Chicago by United seem like an eternal torture). And to top it off, my luggage was waiting for me with open arms once I passed customs! I didn’t had to wait in the conveyor belt for it to arrive, which was a nice change for those who are familiar with my luggage not physically arriving at the same time with me to places ☺ . And I guess the cherry on top would be that I didn’t have much of a jet lag as I was expecting, considering that I was in the plane for 13 hours (by the way, I didn’t see the sky turn dark that whole flight! I was pretty much under daylight for 21 hours straight. I work up at 6:30 am to catch my flight, took off from Chicago at 10:50 a.m., arrived in Tokyo around 2 p.m., plus 4 more hours of daylight. You do the math).
As some of you know my affinity with French culture (some say borderline obsession…but that’s going off topic), the very first people that I met in Japan were… French (eh, ironic). But I wasn’t even trying looking for them like a needle in a haystack as I would do back in America (kidding…sorta). They just kinda…came? These couple who were sitting with me on the Kensei line train from Narita airport to downtown Tokyo were speaking French, and then naturally(?), of course…we started talking. Then when I arrived in the hostel, it turned out two of my roommates were – yup, you guessed it – were French too! (by the way, the people who know me well are probably thinking that I staged this “random” encounters..hahaha. I can sense them shaking their head and giggling as they read that part).
Besides that, it was still kind of hard to fathom that I finally arrived in Tokyo. It was still kinda hard to form my first impression when I was so tired. I got my stuff settled, showered, and walked around the neighborhood where my hostel was located. Then later that night, the three of us (francophones
went out to a local bar (haha, well, so much for it being local considering the only Japanese people that were there were the people working there. They have an international guess base apparently).
Wednesday, July 29th
So second day in Tokyo resumes…
Again to my surprise, I woke up without jetlag! I’m not sure if it’s the adrenaline inside of being in Tokyo that’s preventing me from being a zombie. Either way, I’m not complaining!
Day started with looking where to get breakfast. Mon nouveau pote David, the French kid I met in the hostel, showed me around as this is his second time in Japan and he’s already familiar with the area. As we were walking around, I can finally form a first impression of Tokyo. Seems quiet, clean, and one of few Asian countries that I know of who do not stare or give a damn about tourists.
Anyway, we finally found a place to eat and learned something different! In many eatery places here in Tokyo, you order your food in a machine…kinda like a vending machine, but not quite. There is either a picture (or in some restaurants an actual prototype model of the food) with a number, and then you go to the machine and enter the number of your order and it will print out a ticket. You then give this ticket to the cook and voila, you have just paid and ordered. This is very useful if you don’t speak a word of Japanese! And since we are on this topic of food, this is when I realized that Japan is NOT expensive as I thought it was going to be. Ordering food costs an average of 4.7 bucks (the meal that I ordered was a bowl of rice with katsu (ish) pork with egg, plus miso soup for about 500 yen, which is around five dollars). There’s so much that I’ve read or heard on how Tokyo is this astronomically expensive city that it will be hard to do this trip on a budget. But after that breakfast, I pleasantly surprised that I can make this trip on a budget afterall!
Aside that, the touristy stuff that we did today was Asakusa (Shojin temple and the market), daytime visit to Shinjuku, and the Tokyo Tower. I gotta say though, Tokyo Tower was a bit overrated. It cost around 840 yen to go up on the observatory deck, and quite frankly, it wasn’t worth it. It didn’t give me the same sensation (or exhilaration?) when I went up the Eiffel tower in Paris, or even the Sears tower in Chicago (I refuse to call that Willis tower, but that’s a whole different entry). Anyway, back on topic, it’s not worth the climb unless you have extra 840 yen to burn. Pus the majority of the people on that observatory deck were Japanese …which tells me two things: 1) The tourists in Tokyo knew better as they researched it more and 2) Even Japanese people are tourists in their own country.
Thursday
I love Tokyo!
Well, except for the humidity. I seriously can’t think of a place that I’ve been to that has the same intensity of humidity as Tokyo… and by that I’m comparing it to the likes of Egypt, the Philippines, and summer in Chicago. Spots of sweat starts visibly forming in my shirt within a few minutes of being outside. I may sweat a lot (or some even say I have sweating problems – I do, afterall, start sweating the moment I smell spicy food 5 feet away), but the only other place sweat starts dripping from my skin that instantaneously is in a sauna.
Anyway, I still can’t complain. Sweating problems in Tokyo sounds like a champagne problem, considering that I’d rather be sweating in Tokyo town than cramming school work or selling shoes.
With that said, I’m definitely starting to get used to the metro system here in Tokyo. It’s really no biggy as long as you are used to any other metro system (in other words, if you can connect point A to point B, then you should be fine). Perhaps the only difference is with the Japanese system compared to others (western Europe in particular) is that you pay for every stop. They do not have a system here where you can get a pass for the whole day and go around as much as you want. In hindsight, this is probably where Tokyo gets expensive. If I want to go around the city as much as I want, the price adds up every time I use the metro.
The touristy things I checked off today are the Imperial palace and the garden. It was quite….OK. I’m not sure I can say I was blown away by it… but I suppose it’s still worth a trip. Then after I came back to the hostel to take my midday shower, I explored Shinjuku later that night. This was the first night I truly see Tokyo at night… and this is when I can truly say I was blown away by it. For me at least, the lights in Tokyo are more spectacular than Las Vegas at night …maybe because it doesn’t feel tacky?
Then I stumbled upon the “red light district” of Tokyo where I was approached by numerous guys and gals asking if I needed a massage (and um, and sex on the side…). I got approached so many times I thought it’d be funny if I capture it on film…and I did. Those suckers didn’t know I already have my video cam on when they approached me…so you can watch the video yourself ☺
Anyway, lights out. I’m off to bed.
Friday
So I got a message from a facebook friend to go to Odaiba and look for this transformer looking statue (aka Gundam – looking him up). To be honest, I’m not really into the anime/transformer/video games or basically any Japanese animation that’s become such a rage here in Japan. Anyway, I saw the link that she sent me and it looked pretty cool. It was this gigantesque Transformer looking statue standing tall over Tokyo. So Dah-veed (David) and I decided to check it out (to our surprise though, there was no humidity the moment we stepped out of the hostel! It felt so great that my shirt was dry all day long!)
Finally, we arrived to the site where is installed. But to be honest, although impressive in itself of its size, there was not much to do other than stare at it. Literally, we took some shots and left immediately. I’m not sure it was worth the money to go there, as Daiba was pretty far from our hostel location. But after Gundam, I immediately went to search for the largest fish market in the world, Tsukiji. When I got there, I expected to see a gazillion humongous fish lined up. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, they were nowhere in sight. I think I may have gotten there too late because Tsukiji fish market is a tourist spot, but I was the only one walking around.
Then later that night, David accompanied me again to Shibuya where you see the biggest cross street in the world! I don’t know where these people come from, but literally, it seems like a gazillion Japanese come out of nowhere and start waiting in the intersection in every turn. It was definitely quite a show… I don’t think I’ve ever been more entertained than watching a bunch of people cross a street.
Saturday
It’s Saturday already? Seriously, didn’t I just leave Chicago? It’s hard to imagine that I only have two days left here in Tokyo (actually, it’s really one because tomorrow I’ll be spending the whole day with my cousin outside of Tokyo). Time is sprinting and I’m just crawling.
Since I’ve arrived, I’ve been searching for the older side of Tokyo…away from the modern and crazy side of it. I think I’ve given up on spotting a geisha (I’ve learned that you see more of them in Kyoto, and not in Tokyo). Sure there are random women wearing kimonos with the thong sandals and all, but its not quite the same effect as wearing a full blown geisha attire with the make up and all that hair accessories. Sadly, that’s still the image of Japan the US advertises (check the cover of lonely planet of Japan).
I was advised to go to Yanaka cemetery to see an “older Tokyo.” Besides the cemetery, there were plenty of houses with traditional Japanese architecture and temples. Funny story… I went into one of the temples and it had a sign that said “No Shoes” just on the outside by the entrance. But next to the sign was this stand where I thought you leave your shoes. But since there was nobody around me, I didn’t really have anybody to ask questions. So I went in and took pictures inside (Big giant Buddha in the middle and vintage Japanese interior)… only for a guy to come out of nowhere and ask me to step out as the place was private. Hmm, no wonder I was the only person there…but then again that sign “no shoes” would only make you naturally think that it is OK to go in once the shoes are off…right? And then to make things even more awkward, there were a group of old Japanese people waiting outside taking pictures (with the peace signs and all) by my shoes…and they were laughing. They told me that I was not supposed to leave my shoes by that stand as that is the place where you “make offerings” or put money in. I’m pretty sure they were laughing for a good couple minutes…which really seemed like an eternity. All I wanted to do then was put my shoes on, bow at them, and run away.
Then later that night I went to the infamous Harajuku area of Tokyo where the kids look like they dressed or put make up on in the dark. But it’s cool. I love how off-beat and modern they look…it’s not something I’m used to seeing. And finally it hit me in the metro that Japanese men wear man purses. A man purse on the shoulder while they play their Nintendo DS.
Sunday
This is my last day in Tokyo. Before I left, David and I went for breakfast for the last time in Asakusa. Seriously cannot believe how time went by so fast.
My cousin, who I haven’t seen since I was little shorty, picked me up from the hostel and spent the remaining day with her and her family. I had such a great time with her and it was so great to catch up after not seeing each other for so long. I also met her kids who are half Japanese (they look more full Japanese, I cannot see a hint of Filipino in them)! Anyway, we had a nice lunch in Asakusa again and later in the evening had sushi in one of the local restaurants in Chiba (a nearby city just outside of Tokyo). I’ve been eating mainly noodles the whole entire week I’ve been in Tokyo so I was definitely pumped to finally eat sushi from the motherland of all sushi’s. And it was TRÉS BON! VERY VERY GOOD! The sushi’s definitely taste better here… though not sure if that’s all psychological (of being in Japan and therefore it has to taste better) or not. In either case, they were amazing! Plus the ambiance may have done a part of that amazing experience. We ate dinner by sitting on a matt with a short table – vintage Japanese style!
So this is it for Japan. I’ll keep you posted on my rest of my time here in Asia. Leaving for a 7hr flight to Singapore tomorrow…then later off to another 1h30 flight Singapore to Jakarta!
Sayonara and Arigato Gozaimashita!
I will copy and paste an entry from my blog here (not sure if I can post links...I will anyway and if I can't I guess I'll find out?) on http://micksalas.blogspot.com/ for my recent trip in Tokyo. I will actually be doing a few entries since I will be here in South East Asia until end of September or early October.
Hope you guys enjoy! And again, with pics and more entries, please visit my blog:
http://micksalas.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 28th
Alright….I’m here.
The overall journey from Chicago to Tokyo in itself was a pleasant one… smooth flight and great service (I flew ANA for the first time – their in-flight entertainment is great! They have so much variety to choose from in your own personal screen that they make a four hour flight from San Diego to Chicago by United seem like an eternal torture). And to top it off, my luggage was waiting for me with open arms once I passed customs! I didn’t had to wait in the conveyor belt for it to arrive, which was a nice change for those who are familiar with my luggage not physically arriving at the same time with me to places ☺ . And I guess the cherry on top would be that I didn’t have much of a jet lag as I was expecting, considering that I was in the plane for 13 hours (by the way, I didn’t see the sky turn dark that whole flight! I was pretty much under daylight for 21 hours straight. I work up at 6:30 am to catch my flight, took off from Chicago at 10:50 a.m., arrived in Tokyo around 2 p.m., plus 4 more hours of daylight. You do the math).
As some of you know my affinity with French culture (some say borderline obsession…but that’s going off topic), the very first people that I met in Japan were… French (eh, ironic). But I wasn’t even trying looking for them like a needle in a haystack as I would do back in America (kidding…sorta). They just kinda…came? These couple who were sitting with me on the Kensei line train from Narita airport to downtown Tokyo were speaking French, and then naturally(?), of course…we started talking. Then when I arrived in the hostel, it turned out two of my roommates were – yup, you guessed it – were French too! (by the way, the people who know me well are probably thinking that I staged this “random” encounters..hahaha. I can sense them shaking their head and giggling as they read that part).
Besides that, it was still kind of hard to fathom that I finally arrived in Tokyo. It was still kinda hard to form my first impression when I was so tired. I got my stuff settled, showered, and walked around the neighborhood where my hostel was located. Then later that night, the three of us (francophones
went out to a local bar (haha, well, so much for it being local considering the only Japanese people that were there were the people working there. They have an international guess base apparently).Wednesday, July 29th
So second day in Tokyo resumes…
Again to my surprise, I woke up without jetlag! I’m not sure if it’s the adrenaline inside of being in Tokyo that’s preventing me from being a zombie. Either way, I’m not complaining!
Day started with looking where to get breakfast. Mon nouveau pote David, the French kid I met in the hostel, showed me around as this is his second time in Japan and he’s already familiar with the area. As we were walking around, I can finally form a first impression of Tokyo. Seems quiet, clean, and one of few Asian countries that I know of who do not stare or give a damn about tourists.
Anyway, we finally found a place to eat and learned something different! In many eatery places here in Tokyo, you order your food in a machine…kinda like a vending machine, but not quite. There is either a picture (or in some restaurants an actual prototype model of the food) with a number, and then you go to the machine and enter the number of your order and it will print out a ticket. You then give this ticket to the cook and voila, you have just paid and ordered. This is very useful if you don’t speak a word of Japanese! And since we are on this topic of food, this is when I realized that Japan is NOT expensive as I thought it was going to be. Ordering food costs an average of 4.7 bucks (the meal that I ordered was a bowl of rice with katsu (ish) pork with egg, plus miso soup for about 500 yen, which is around five dollars). There’s so much that I’ve read or heard on how Tokyo is this astronomically expensive city that it will be hard to do this trip on a budget. But after that breakfast, I pleasantly surprised that I can make this trip on a budget afterall!
Aside that, the touristy stuff that we did today was Asakusa (Shojin temple and the market), daytime visit to Shinjuku, and the Tokyo Tower. I gotta say though, Tokyo Tower was a bit overrated. It cost around 840 yen to go up on the observatory deck, and quite frankly, it wasn’t worth it. It didn’t give me the same sensation (or exhilaration?) when I went up the Eiffel tower in Paris, or even the Sears tower in Chicago (I refuse to call that Willis tower, but that’s a whole different entry). Anyway, back on topic, it’s not worth the climb unless you have extra 840 yen to burn. Pus the majority of the people on that observatory deck were Japanese …which tells me two things: 1) The tourists in Tokyo knew better as they researched it more and 2) Even Japanese people are tourists in their own country.
Thursday
I love Tokyo!
Well, except for the humidity. I seriously can’t think of a place that I’ve been to that has the same intensity of humidity as Tokyo… and by that I’m comparing it to the likes of Egypt, the Philippines, and summer in Chicago. Spots of sweat starts visibly forming in my shirt within a few minutes of being outside. I may sweat a lot (or some even say I have sweating problems – I do, afterall, start sweating the moment I smell spicy food 5 feet away), but the only other place sweat starts dripping from my skin that instantaneously is in a sauna.
Anyway, I still can’t complain. Sweating problems in Tokyo sounds like a champagne problem, considering that I’d rather be sweating in Tokyo town than cramming school work or selling shoes.
With that said, I’m definitely starting to get used to the metro system here in Tokyo. It’s really no biggy as long as you are used to any other metro system (in other words, if you can connect point A to point B, then you should be fine). Perhaps the only difference is with the Japanese system compared to others (western Europe in particular) is that you pay for every stop. They do not have a system here where you can get a pass for the whole day and go around as much as you want. In hindsight, this is probably where Tokyo gets expensive. If I want to go around the city as much as I want, the price adds up every time I use the metro.
The touristy things I checked off today are the Imperial palace and the garden. It was quite….OK. I’m not sure I can say I was blown away by it… but I suppose it’s still worth a trip. Then after I came back to the hostel to take my midday shower, I explored Shinjuku later that night. This was the first night I truly see Tokyo at night… and this is when I can truly say I was blown away by it. For me at least, the lights in Tokyo are more spectacular than Las Vegas at night …maybe because it doesn’t feel tacky?
Then I stumbled upon the “red light district” of Tokyo where I was approached by numerous guys and gals asking if I needed a massage (and um, and sex on the side…). I got approached so many times I thought it’d be funny if I capture it on film…and I did. Those suckers didn’t know I already have my video cam on when they approached me…so you can watch the video yourself ☺
Anyway, lights out. I’m off to bed.
Friday
So I got a message from a facebook friend to go to Odaiba and look for this transformer looking statue (aka Gundam – looking him up). To be honest, I’m not really into the anime/transformer/video games or basically any Japanese animation that’s become such a rage here in Japan. Anyway, I saw the link that she sent me and it looked pretty cool. It was this gigantesque Transformer looking statue standing tall over Tokyo. So Dah-veed (David) and I decided to check it out (to our surprise though, there was no humidity the moment we stepped out of the hostel! It felt so great that my shirt was dry all day long!)
Finally, we arrived to the site where is installed. But to be honest, although impressive in itself of its size, there was not much to do other than stare at it. Literally, we took some shots and left immediately. I’m not sure it was worth the money to go there, as Daiba was pretty far from our hostel location. But after Gundam, I immediately went to search for the largest fish market in the world, Tsukiji. When I got there, I expected to see a gazillion humongous fish lined up. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, they were nowhere in sight. I think I may have gotten there too late because Tsukiji fish market is a tourist spot, but I was the only one walking around.
Then later that night, David accompanied me again to Shibuya where you see the biggest cross street in the world! I don’t know where these people come from, but literally, it seems like a gazillion Japanese come out of nowhere and start waiting in the intersection in every turn. It was definitely quite a show… I don’t think I’ve ever been more entertained than watching a bunch of people cross a street.
Saturday
It’s Saturday already? Seriously, didn’t I just leave Chicago? It’s hard to imagine that I only have two days left here in Tokyo (actually, it’s really one because tomorrow I’ll be spending the whole day with my cousin outside of Tokyo). Time is sprinting and I’m just crawling.
Since I’ve arrived, I’ve been searching for the older side of Tokyo…away from the modern and crazy side of it. I think I’ve given up on spotting a geisha (I’ve learned that you see more of them in Kyoto, and not in Tokyo). Sure there are random women wearing kimonos with the thong sandals and all, but its not quite the same effect as wearing a full blown geisha attire with the make up and all that hair accessories. Sadly, that’s still the image of Japan the US advertises (check the cover of lonely planet of Japan).
I was advised to go to Yanaka cemetery to see an “older Tokyo.” Besides the cemetery, there were plenty of houses with traditional Japanese architecture and temples. Funny story… I went into one of the temples and it had a sign that said “No Shoes” just on the outside by the entrance. But next to the sign was this stand where I thought you leave your shoes. But since there was nobody around me, I didn’t really have anybody to ask questions. So I went in and took pictures inside (Big giant Buddha in the middle and vintage Japanese interior)… only for a guy to come out of nowhere and ask me to step out as the place was private. Hmm, no wonder I was the only person there…but then again that sign “no shoes” would only make you naturally think that it is OK to go in once the shoes are off…right? And then to make things even more awkward, there were a group of old Japanese people waiting outside taking pictures (with the peace signs and all) by my shoes…and they were laughing. They told me that I was not supposed to leave my shoes by that stand as that is the place where you “make offerings” or put money in. I’m pretty sure they were laughing for a good couple minutes…which really seemed like an eternity. All I wanted to do then was put my shoes on, bow at them, and run away.
Then later that night I went to the infamous Harajuku area of Tokyo where the kids look like they dressed or put make up on in the dark. But it’s cool. I love how off-beat and modern they look…it’s not something I’m used to seeing. And finally it hit me in the metro that Japanese men wear man purses. A man purse on the shoulder while they play their Nintendo DS.
Sunday
This is my last day in Tokyo. Before I left, David and I went for breakfast for the last time in Asakusa. Seriously cannot believe how time went by so fast.
My cousin, who I haven’t seen since I was little shorty, picked me up from the hostel and spent the remaining day with her and her family. I had such a great time with her and it was so great to catch up after not seeing each other for so long. I also met her kids who are half Japanese (they look more full Japanese, I cannot see a hint of Filipino in them)! Anyway, we had a nice lunch in Asakusa again and later in the evening had sushi in one of the local restaurants in Chiba (a nearby city just outside of Tokyo). I’ve been eating mainly noodles the whole entire week I’ve been in Tokyo so I was definitely pumped to finally eat sushi from the motherland of all sushi’s. And it was TRÉS BON! VERY VERY GOOD! The sushi’s definitely taste better here… though not sure if that’s all psychological (of being in Japan and therefore it has to taste better) or not. In either case, they were amazing! Plus the ambiance may have done a part of that amazing experience. We ate dinner by sitting on a matt with a short table – vintage Japanese style!
So this is it for Japan. I’ll keep you posted on my rest of my time here in Asia. Leaving for a 7hr flight to Singapore tomorrow…then later off to another 1h30 flight Singapore to Jakarta!
Sayonara and Arigato Gozaimashita!
Aug 11th, 2009, 03:32 PM
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Ho ho ho - thanks for the great giggle. I think it's safe to say you've fallen in love with Japan - like the rest of us!
We are about to do our 4th visit and now we are going to take an overnight ferry from your Obaida statue to Shikoku (Read "Lost Japan" by Alex Kerr) rent a car, visit the "forgotten" Iya Valley etc,make our way up across Japan to Matsue, fly internal back to Tokyo see Kamakura big Buddha. You get more confident quickly when you discover how nice it all is - and then you eat again and that's always nice too especially from street stalls and stations. With care it costs less than being home in Aus, too!
We are about to do our 4th visit and now we are going to take an overnight ferry from your Obaida statue to Shikoku (Read "Lost Japan" by Alex Kerr) rent a car, visit the "forgotten" Iya Valley etc,make our way up across Japan to Matsue, fly internal back to Tokyo see Kamakura big Buddha. You get more confident quickly when you discover how nice it all is - and then you eat again and that's always nice too especially from street stalls and stations. With care it costs less than being home in Aus, too!
Aug 11th, 2009, 07:41 PM
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You're right about Tokyo not having the geishas - Kyoto is definitely the place for that. Even there you have to choose the right places.
I do love Tokyo though and there are some older areas close by. A visit to Kawagoe just north of the city is great to see old style architecture on the Tobu Tojo Line and the Asakusa area with Sensoji Temple is great - especially if there is a special festival or other event being held there : ) I'm biased though - I've lived here 8 years now and absolutely love this country!
I do love Tokyo though and there are some older areas close by. A visit to Kawagoe just north of the city is great to see old style architecture on the Tobu Tojo Line and the Asakusa area with Sensoji Temple is great - especially if there is a special festival or other event being held there : ) I'm biased though - I've lived here 8 years now and absolutely love this country!
