Tokyo!
Friday morning Tokyo time
I got into my airport Hilton at midnight – I’m really glad I made that choice of just staying by the airport. It’s about 1.5 hours by train into Tokyo proper and I didn’t want to be figuring all of that out even when I thought it would be 10p. But with my flight delay it was 2 hours late! So this place is very elegant and I had a lovely if expensive breakfast and now I am about to head back to the airport to catch the train into Tokyo. If I do it right I can catch one train to within a 10 minute walk of my Ryokan – which is a traditional Japanese guest house. I had to work when I got here and I had to get up early to work – so I really only got a few hours of sleep. But the nice thing is that now I can play tourist and it is the middle of the night for my customers.
Friday - first day EVER in Tokyo!
Posted Saturday morning:
Today I plan to go down to the central Tokyo train station where I can see the Imperial palace and also maybe catch a bus tour called the “skybus”. Then I may go from there down to the fish market, which is one station away. Then one more station gets me to the akihabara, the Electric Town where one can buy all sorts of technology. Not that I will buy any but it seems worth seeing. Then a subway that heads me back toward my home neighborhood will stop me off at Shinjuku which is the busiest train station in the world. I will see it on a Saturday – which is good and bad. Good because I won’t be in the middle of all that craziness, but bad because I won’t get to see it first hand. I think I’m okay with that! Also at this stop is the skyscraper region as well as a famous shopping area that has side streets that are knows for being red light districts in one direction and artists/musicians alleys in another. Again, will visit this area in broad daylight today – not sure I’ll even stay out after dark but if I do it will be back to Shibuya (see photos) to see that all lit up at night.
And how Saturday really went:
I took the train to Tokyo Station. Wandered around for a long time – it is HYOOGE. Took the skybus for a one-hour circuit. Took the train over to tech street. Got some lunch. Took the train and the subway and the long walk home. Tired and hot. I was going to take the train to the fish market and eat some sushi but I have to admit that I just wasn’t up to trying to figure out what to eat and order it. One huge mystery for me is that there are rarely places to sit and eat yet you do NOT see anyone eating. I am sure I could have found a little sushi joint over there to order and sit at a table – but by then it was all starting to feel really hard. (See the photos and you’ll get the impression.) So believe it or not I ate KFC. I have to admit that I was curious about it because they are rather into it here. They have many flavors and I couldn’t understand anything but there was a picture of a combo and I ordered that – it had like five pieces each with a different flavor. I took some of them home with me and had them for dinner, too.
Observations: cleanest, quietest, most efficient and polite futuristic society that I could imagine. There is no trash, no rudeness, no thugs – no noise. There are rarely any trash cans – so you just take your trash home with you. No one is unfriendly but no one is outgoing or inclusive either. The range of fashion styles is quite breathtaking. They are very individualistic and make very bold choices. See photos. No one speaks much or any English. Not oriented toward accommodating Western or English speaking visitors. We are not minded – but not catered to or capitalized on. Just sort of accepted with mild curiosity. There are a few places where you will see a few of us gaijin, but even then you might see just a few. There are some signs and maps with an English part but it is in tiny print amid the chaos of all the pictures and kanji. They do not believe in white space on packaging, brochures, magazines or maps, that’s for certain!
At starbucks - you know how they will ask your name and write it on your cup sometimes? She didn’t ask my name – once I was able to order by pointing at a picture she wrote something on my cup. When I picked it up I noticed that it was ‘gj’ -- English characters. I am pretty sure she noted that it was the drink for the gaijin. She wasn’t mean to me or anything. Just thought I was a retard. Laugh.
Here is the rest of Saturday’s story in pictures and captions.
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/TokyoSaturdayAugust42012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKiP2PeKmt-MsAE&feat=directlink
Sunday in Japan
Got a relatively early start – out by a little after 8a. The 8 block walk to my local F-station. The F-train to Shinjuko, the busiest train station in the world. Naively I thought it would not be crowded on Sunday. Hah! One thing I can tell you though is everyone’s demeanor is completely different on the weekend. Lively chatter on the train, all the girls dressed in swimsuits and sundresses – at least on my train which was headed South to the beachside communities.
Caught my one hour train – got to sit during some of it even. Got off at a remote train station and walked via the mountainside through various temple sites into a very touristy (Japanese tourists) seaside community. Took a cable car, walked to an island … reversed the trip. They tossed us off the train at Tokyo station instead of letting me ride in to Shinjuko as was my plan. So there I was at that crazy place again! I took the F-train but rather than going to my stop I got off a stop early at the big Ikebukuro station and bought my Narita Express pass to the airport for morning. Then I popped outside to a very busy section of Tokyo that I had not really visited before. I wandered a bit – took no pictures. Then yeah, I’ll admit it. I had a McDonald’s burger and a Coke Zero. Then back to the subway for the last one-stop ride on the F train and the 8 block walk home. I wish I had worn a pedometer today – I definitely walked A LOT.
Now I am up early –it is Monday morning here. I will shortly pack up and catch my 6a taxi to Ikebukuro station to catch my 6:43a Narita Express that will land me at Tokyo Narita airport at 8:10a for my 10:30a Malaysia Airlines flight. I arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 4:45p. I am being picked up by a car arranged by my partners in Australia. So that will be nice – nothing more complicated than looking for my name on a sign. Three days of staying in a 5 star hotel that caters to Westerners. With a real bed. And, if my room last year was typical, a giant bathtub. Can’t wait. J
I got into my airport Hilton at midnight – I’m really glad I made that choice of just staying by the airport. It’s about 1.5 hours by train into Tokyo proper and I didn’t want to be figuring all of that out even when I thought it would be 10p. But with my flight delay it was 2 hours late! So this place is very elegant and I had a lovely if expensive breakfast and now I am about to head back to the airport to catch the train into Tokyo. If I do it right I can catch one train to within a 10 minute walk of my Ryokan – which is a traditional Japanese guest house. I had to work when I got here and I had to get up early to work – so I really only got a few hours of sleep. But the nice thing is that now I can play tourist and it is the middle of the night for my customers.
Friday - first day EVER in Tokyo!
After finding my way from the airport to my guesthouse and cooling off for a bit I took the neighborhood walk to the subway station, figured out buying tickets (sounds simple, huh?) and got myself to the Shibuya area. I just wandered around, grabbed something for dinner and headed to bed early. I was still very tired. I ended up eating bakery food (see photo) for dinner because it is really hard to order food when you don’t have the language, no one around speaks any English and the signs are not even written in an alphabet that you can guess at the meaning. When I found the bakery, you will see in the photo how appealing it was and I knew what everything was without asking!
Today I plan to go down to the central Tokyo train station where I can see the Imperial palace and also maybe catch a bus tour called the “skybus”. Then I may go from there down to the fish market, which is one station away. Then one more station gets me to the akihabara, the Electric Town where one can buy all sorts of technology. Not that I will buy any but it seems worth seeing. Then a subway that heads me back toward my home neighborhood will stop me off at Shinjuku which is the busiest train station in the world. I will see it on a Saturday – which is good and bad. Good because I won’t be in the middle of all that craziness, but bad because I won’t get to see it first hand. I think I’m okay with that! Also at this stop is the skyscraper region as well as a famous shopping area that has side streets that are knows for being red light districts in one direction and artists/musicians alleys in another. Again, will visit this area in broad daylight today – not sure I’ll even stay out after dark but if I do it will be back to Shibuya (see photos) to see that all lit up at night.
I took the train to Tokyo Station. Wandered around for a long time – it is HYOOGE. Took the skybus for a one-hour circuit. Took the train over to tech street. Got some lunch. Took the train and the subway and the long walk home. Tired and hot. I was going to take the train to the fish market and eat some sushi but I have to admit that I just wasn’t up to trying to figure out what to eat and order it. One huge mystery for me is that there are rarely places to sit and eat yet you do NOT see anyone eating. I am sure I could have found a little sushi joint over there to order and sit at a table – but by then it was all starting to feel really hard. (See the photos and you’ll get the impression.) So believe it or not I ate KFC. I have to admit that I was curious about it because they are rather into it here. They have many flavors and I couldn’t understand anything but there was a picture of a combo and I ordered that – it had like five pieces each with a different flavor. I took some of them home with me and had them for dinner, too.
Observations: cleanest, quietest, most efficient and polite futuristic society that I could imagine. There is no trash, no rudeness, no thugs – no noise. There are rarely any trash cans – so you just take your trash home with you. No one is unfriendly but no one is outgoing or inclusive either. The range of fashion styles is quite breathtaking. They are very individualistic and make very bold choices. See photos. No one speaks much or any English. Not oriented toward accommodating Western or English speaking visitors. We are not minded – but not catered to or capitalized on. Just sort of accepted with mild curiosity. There are a few places where you will see a few of us gaijin, but even then you might see just a few. There are some signs and maps with an English part but it is in tiny print amid the chaos of all the pictures and kanji. They do not believe in white space on packaging, brochures, magazines or maps, that’s for certain!
At starbucks - you know how they will ask your name and write it on your cup sometimes? She didn’t ask my name – once I was able to order by pointing at a picture she wrote something on my cup. When I picked it up I noticed that it was ‘gj’ -- English characters. I am pretty sure she noted that it was the drink for the gaijin. She wasn’t mean to me or anything. Just thought I was a retard. Laugh.
Here is the rest of Saturday’s story in pictures and captions.
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/TokyoSaturdayAugust42012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKiP2PeKmt-MsAE&feat=directlink
Sunday in Japan
Got a relatively early start – out by a little after 8a. The 8 block walk to my local F-station. The F-train to Shinjuko, the busiest train station in the world. Naively I thought it would not be crowded on Sunday. Hah! One thing I can tell you though is everyone’s demeanor is completely different on the weekend. Lively chatter on the train, all the girls dressed in swimsuits and sundresses – at least on my train which was headed South to the beachside communities.
Caught my one hour train – got to sit during some of it even. Got off at a remote train station and walked via the mountainside through various temple sites into a very touristy (Japanese tourists) seaside community. Took a cable car, walked to an island … reversed the trip. They tossed us off the train at Tokyo station instead of letting me ride in to Shinjuko as was my plan. So there I was at that crazy place again! I took the F-train but rather than going to my stop I got off a stop early at the big Ikebukuro station and bought my Narita Express pass to the airport for morning. Then I popped outside to a very busy section of Tokyo that I had not really visited before. I wandered a bit – took no pictures. Then yeah, I’ll admit it. I had a McDonald’s burger and a Coke Zero. Then back to the subway for the last one-stop ride on the F train and the 8 block walk home. I wish I had worn a pedometer today – I definitely walked A LOT.
Now I am up early –it is Monday morning here. I will shortly pack up and catch my 6a taxi to Ikebukuro station to catch my 6:43a Narita Express that will land me at Tokyo Narita airport at 8:10a for my 10:30a Malaysia Airlines flight. I arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 4:45p. I am being picked up by a car arranged by my partners in Australia. So that will be nice – nothing more complicated than looking for my name on a sign. Three days of staying in a 5 star hotel that caters to Westerners. With a real bed. And, if my room last year was typical, a giant bathtub. Can’t wait. J
Here is the photo-story of Sunday's exploits.
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/TokyoAugust52012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKWWzqj_nvqivQE&feat=directlinkLast day in Japan – (Monday morning) mostly the trains. Then a few shots in Malaysia:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104815910362716114764/LeavingTokyoALittleOfMalaysia?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJXKnevn-OaTJw&feat=directlink