Dear Mom and Dad,
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| Shinjuku Koen |
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| Hello Kitty! |
In December we
had two weeks of vacation time over Christmas and New Years. So my friend Olivia and I decided (way back
in September) that we wanted to go to Japan.
We definitely both wanted a travel companion as we were a little nervous
just travelling on our own. (Crazy,
right? We both made it to Korea, and
LIVE here, all on our own) But a week
vacation needed a travel companion, lol!
Anyway, that makes trips that much more fun, so we planned. We decided that it would be fun to visit
Disneyland while we were in Tokyo.
Olivia had been to the one in CA, but I have never been at all. So Disney from a Japanese perspective might
be kinda interesting!
We were only
going for 5 days (4.5 really), so we just wanted to relax for most of our trip,
and since we were both sick with head colds that was a good idea. Our flight from Incheon to Tokyo was shorter
than our bus ride from our town to Incheon.
But it still strangely took us all day to get to Japan. Nine hours of travelling and waiting for a 2 hour flight... it was a snowing quite a bit when we left, but our bus driver was steady and we made good time.
We flew into
Narita airport in the evening and we knew from talking with our hotel that we
would have to take the shuttle to the neighborhood next to our hotel’s neighbor
hood then take the subway one stop. It
sounds easy enough, but we were both nervous and tired. In Korea we are usually okay (now) to get
where we need to go since we are familiar with the system and can speak a
little Korean to get by. Japan, no. Not so much.
And it is really intimidating.
We finally found
the counter for the shuttle tickets and discovered (much to our joy) that we could
purchase 3 day subway passes for half price!
One worry down. Our bus didn’t
leave for almost an hour so we sat and tried to figure out our pocket
wi-fi.
Japan has pretty
decent wi-fi and it is everywhere. But
it’s not free public wi-fi. You need to
sign in. Which typically requires a
Japanese ID number. Tourists are
generally out of luck. Hotels will
sometimes have free wi-fi for their guests but if you are wandering around, and
get lost, good luck accessing online maps or translators.
We sorta figured
it out before the bus came. While we
were waiting, (we discovered the Japanese love to queue) we met a Japanese man
returning for a home visit from the States and chatted for a while. Later I realized that was a little unusual,
but he had been in the States for some time, and recognized that we were
Americans.
We got on the
bus and knew that we would be first off, but that the ride would be about 45
minutes. I tried to stay awake to see the sites, and I did see some, but it was
dark by then and not much showed beyond the headlights. So we ended up dozing, until our stop. We got off and promptly headed to the subway
station.
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| Odaiba at sunset |
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| Gundam- Odaiba |
Or so we thought…! We found the covered stairway near a sign
that said subway and we walked down the stairs, thinking that the automatic
rail ramp thingy in the ground along the side was a little odd. We saw one or two people coming up the other
side and realized that it was an escalator for bikes. There weren’t a whole lot of people which
seemed strange for a subway station but we got to the bottom, struggling with
our luggage the whole way (stairs remember) and realized… it was an underground
bicycle garage. (later we learned they
are called bicycle forests). Up we went,
thoroughly confused, but we finally found the subway, which in our neighborhood
wasn’t actually a subway but an elevated rail.
We finally got
to our neighborhood and proceeded to look for our hotel. Apparently neither of us were very good at
reading maps in Japanese because it seemed every turn we took, took us in a
different direction according to our map tracker. We thought we were heading in the correct
direction, but we were heading in somewhere else. Not even in circles; that we could have
fixed. Eventually we found the hotel and
checked in (turns out we came from the totally opposite direction that we
started from. How, we still haven’t
figured out.)
By then it was
after 9PM and we were hungry so we left the hotel to a mart we remembered
passing around the corner from the hotel.
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| Tokyo skyline from Odaiba- yes, I got on a ferris wheel! |
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| Oh. Yuuu~umm! |
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| Christmas lights in Odaiba |
Grocery shopping
is tons of fun in another country. It’s
one of the funnest (is that even a word?) things you can do actually, to learn
about your new location. On our flight
we had both watched a documentary on the Japanese entrepreneur who developed
instant ramen and cup noodles. So we
snagged ourselves some cup noodles and some other snacks and some soft drinks
and headed back to the hotel. Where we
were in heaven taking a REAL bath! With
super hot water. The tub was almost full
size (I was not expecting that considering the size of the room) and DEEP. So sweet.
This became our routine almost every night we were there. Cup noodles, snacks and a hot, hot bath!
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| Ferris wheel Odaiba |
The next day we
decided we wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel we had seen on the bus. So we pulled
out our subway map and figured out how to get there . We were heading to Odaiba, with the highest
ferris wheel with a view of Mount Fuji (which I had a fantastic sunset view of
on the plane!), the rainbow bridge, fantastic shopping and other fun things. But first we had to get there.
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| Rainbow bridge -Odaiba |
The Tokyo subway
is interesting. And a little complex at
first. It goes from subway in the city
center to elevated rail in the outlying neighborhoods. We also learned that the Tokyo subway system
does not just look like a bowl of ramen on a map, but it’s convoluted like one
too. There are actually three companies
(and the 3 corresponding rail lines) running the subway systems in Tokyo. The Tokyo Metro, the Toei Line and the JR
lines. Some of these lines shared stations
but not all. And if you only had a Metro
card you could only ride the Metro and not the Toei or JR lines. All a little confusing. And it means that the subways are a jumble of
swiping cards in and out. Transferring
lines gets a little rough with all the card swiping. Swipe to enter, swipe to leave, swipe to enter
again, and swipe again to leave. But our
card was good for Tokyo Metro and Toei, which were the main lines within the
city. JR lines were mostly just outside
the city.
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| Odaiba at night |
Which we
promptly needed to use on Tuesday, our first full day in the city. We were heading to Odaiba and to get there we
had to take both the Tokyo Metro line and the Toei line. Then transfer to the JR line. Metro and Toei ~ fine, no problem our card
took care of that. JR line we had to get
new one time tickets for. After much
much confusion and not much help from the information folks, we finally realized
that we had to use the vending machine (that are everywhere, for everything). We just had to figure out which one and how
far we were going etc. etc. Luckily we
had made a promise to each other, that we had no time schedule and therefore we
were not in any hurry. We could take our
time to figure things out without getting too frustrated. Otherwise that could have been pretty panic
inducing. We got our tickets (the
machine spit out 2). I went through the
gate, Olivia went through the gate. We
got on our train and got off our train at the correct stop. Did a little shopping then left the
station. As we went out, I went through
first, and the Olivia went through directly after me. The machine door levers slammed shut behind
her. We had no idea what happened, but
it kept her ticket. It hadn’t kept
mine We were confused but the station
people seemed more amused that irritated so we left, not really understanding
what had happened. (Can you tell we aren’t
used to subway systems?)
We had a
fantastic day in Odaiba. We walked
through the shopping center, which was more like a shopping mall in the States,
than the shopping centers in Korea.
Everything was decorated for Christmas, which seemed strange for a
Country that is less than 1% Christian.
But they love Christmas (it’s a dating holiday, although not a day off)
even more than in Korea, which is almost 50% Christian. Neither is bad, certainly not the
materialistic commercialism in the West (another story, not for here,
lol).
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| Odaiba |
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| cosplay at Don Quixote-these are for men |
In the meantime,
one of the first stores we saw was guess what?
Hello Kitty! Lots of cool stores,
were we found green tea Kitkats (and bought some!) We then gathered up the courage to stop for
lunch at a restaurant in the mall (which was PACKED) with people. It was delicious but we had to eat quickly as
there was not much room in the restaurant and people were moving through
quickly.
Then. We headed to the Ferris Wheel called
Daikanransha. Wandered along the way
trying to find it, and discovered a Toyota Car Museum attached to the Ferris
Wheel. We got in line and although I was
nervous (terrified more like) I got on.
It was supposed to be 15 minutes around, but I think it was more like 7
or 8. It felt like forever though. There were fantastic views of the city and
Tokyo Bay. We could see Mount Fuji
also, but just barely through the clouds
and it just doesn’t appear in photos at all (bummer)
We watched the
sunset from across the water along the Bridge of Dreams and then headed toward
the Rainbow Bridge for night viewing.
Along the way we wanted to stop at the Cup Noodle museum (because, you
know, cup noodles!) But for some reason
we couldn’t find it. So we stopped for
dinner. Sushi!
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| Wooa..ahh! No comparison and it wasn't even high end |
It wasn’t high
quality sushi, at least not for Japan.
And I know we are not sushi connoisseurs, and have no idea of the
appropriate culture and habits for sushi, but we didn’t really care. It was still the best sushi we ever had. Not too cheap, not too expensive and oh so
delicious. Except for the most expensive
piece on the plate… Neither of us really
liked that one, but I suppose we aren’t “sushi cultured” enough to understand
its qualities. We wandered along to the
Rainbow Bridge and enjoyed the light shows on the buildings.
Coming back was
when we learned what had happened to Olivia’s train ticket. When we went to exit the JR line Olivia went
first and I followed. Olivia got through
but I was just too slow. The machine
kept my ticket but I was stuck on the other side of the machine. The station guy came over to retrieve my
ticket and was trying to tell me that it wasn’t the right ticket. Neither of us understood and I felt very
foolish and a little panicky. But
eventually, we understood that what I had just put through and what Olivia had
put through (but the machine was too slow to catch) was the ticket information
stub, not the actual ticket (wow, real 바보 moment there). Luckily I
still had the actual ticket in my purse and I didn’t even have to fumble for
it. The front of the ticket stub and the
information stub were identical except that the back of one was black!
Wednesday we had a quieter day, since we
were both feeling a little rough from our colds. So we ate lunch in the
neighborhood at a small udon restaurant and explored the area before heading to
the other side of the city for the Wednesday night meeting at the Ohmoris. We had bdinner before hand with one of the
workers and then walked to the meeting home.
It was about a 15 minute walk and we never would have found it by
ourselves. I discovered quite a few
common connections with the family, as they have a son in Pittsburgh and have
visited there frequently! Small world!
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| Disney at night |
Thursday, we went to
Disney. We almost didn’t get a ride on
the free hotel shuttle as we didn’t reserve until Wednesday. But we got on the last shuttle at 9:30Am
coming back at 11PM, which worked out great for us. Disney was awesome! Even though everything was in Japanese, it
was a blast! It was a little weird to
see the America flag flying in the wild west park, though. Because it was Christmas day (=dating day)
there were couples everywhere besides the usual families, so it was really
crowded. Couples in Asia like to wear
matching clothes, so everywhere you looked there were matching outfits. We of course had to buy Minnie Ears, because,
you know, it’s Disney! We had a problem
though because we both liked the same Minnie Ears, lol! So we at least bought different colors!
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| Disney twins! |
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| Mickey! At Disney Tokyo |
At the end of the day we still hadn’t
ridden Space Mountain and we made a mistake getting fast passes for that ride so
we ended up waiting almost 2 hours to get on.
By then it was freezing so we broke out our hot hand packs. But it was so cold that all the heat wicked
away unless it was in our pockets, but then it would get so hot that it
burned! It even snowed a little
bit! The only time we were there that it
snowed!
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| Disney Tokyo- Christmas Day |
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| Shinjuku at night |
Friday we were tired, and maybe a little
cranky from walking all day the day before, so we decided to have a lie in that
morning then head out for Shinjuku and Ginza.
We thought about Roppongi but we didn’t think we’d have enough
time. We were also concerned about
subway rush hour in Shinjuku, the most massive of subway station in Tokyo. Neither of really wanted to see, let alone
meet a subway pusher. (and judging by
the subway crowds on a Friday night they would have been in force.) The masses of people between at rush hour
were incredible above ground. So we had
a leisurely afternoon, but we didn’t really have much of a goal other than to
explore the area. We started by heading
to Shinjuku Koen, an amazing garden park that had been at one time part of the
imperial properties. Stopping at Don
Quixote which I had heard of before but didn’t really know what it was. Apparently it is primarily a cosplay store…
We
had a late lunch in the park, ordered by vending machine and delivered by a
very sweet elderly woman who helped us figure out the vending machine. It was cold and bare, but the park was
beautiful even in winter. There were
even paperwhites blooming!
Later we found a coffee shop, which was
difficult to come across in Japan. We’ve
been used to Korea which has coffee shops on every corner. (My small neighborhood alone probably has 15
or 20) rested as we had had some trouble
getting out of Shinjuku station and headed in the direction we wanted to
go. Why was it so difficult? We couldn’t figure it out either. The station was massive and connected to a
shopping center with rail lines in every direction
We wanted to head to the skyscraper district
thinking that we might see some good street lights along the way and find some
dinner, but we lucked out. Eventually we
were getting tired and not really seeing anything interesting anymore (although
we did do some shopping!!) So we looked
for a place to eat. We wanted to sit
down and rest, but Shinjuku is not really the area for that, but we did find a
little curry restaurant that was quite good and cozy.
Then we headed to Ginza
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| You can find everything in a vending machine. This was for ordering lunch. |
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| Ginza at night |
Our idea was to see Ginza at night. We knew it was a shopping center but we
thought it would be more interesting to see at night with all the lights. But by the time we got there, everything was
closing down and we discovered it was mostly all high end shopping. Armani Gucci, that sort of thing. It was pretty, with some street lights but
not much happening. But we wandered
through the streets and came to some kind of massive convention center and
museum that looked like it might have been cool (if it was open, lol) but they were having some street performances
that looked and sounded pretty awesome, so we stayed and watched for a while
before heading back to the station.
Our next stop was Tokyo station. We decided that while we were in Tokyo, we
should go to “Tokyo” and do something like have coffee to say “We were in Tokyo”.
Silly, but fun. So we wandered back to the station and found
ourselves on our way to Tokyo station.
It was only one stop, but it felt like a fairly good distance. So we came out of the station into this
amazing and beautiful old 1920’s style brick building that housed not just the
subway but the Shinkansen trains as well.
There were some tall buildings around but not much else so we wandered
down the street. We hadn’t seen anything
that remotely looked like a cafe and everything was shutting down. So we were strolling along casually for about
a kilometer before we came to this intersection. It looked vaguely familiar but
I didn’t pick up on it until Olivia stopped and looked at me.
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| Lolita goth in a Shinjuku store window |
“We’ve been here
before.”
“What?”
“This is the
building we just left. With the dancers?”
Yep, we had just done a circle from Ginza to
Tokyo and back to Ginza.
It was to be the
story of our day! At the station in the
morning, where we couldn’t figure out how to leave, to wandering around after
leaving the garden to Ginza and Tokyo, and even later when we got back to our
hotel that evening.
Meanwhile we
looked for a café in a promising building but everything was closed and so we
headed to the basement to the station there and headed back to the hotel.
We got to our
station headed straight out from the entrance and made a left…and there was our
hotel. All week, we had taken a
different route each time we left or came back… and it was so close the whole
time!
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| Tempura~ again, sooo yummy. |
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| Soba! Yuu~uum. juapanese food is sooo good! |
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| Year of the sheep |
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| Shinjuku Park |
The next day was
our last day. We had an easy morning and
then about 10:30 or 11:00 we decided that we would go check out the bus to the
airport and get tickets, then do some shopping if there was time. We got to the next station over and realized
that there is no bus station. No person to buy tickets from, just two men who
were loading and unloading the airport busses when they came. We asked them for some help. Eventually we determined that there were two
ways of doing things. We could reserve a
bus ticket at the convenience store (which for the life of us we could not
find), but only the day before we wanted to leave (which was no good, we were
leaving that day). The other was to wait
and hope there was space on the bus we wanted.
Well there were only two more busses leaving before we absolutely HAD to
be at the airport. We had time so we
went back to get our things and wait for the first bus. The weather was fine so waiting wasn’t a
problem. We made it onto the bus and got
to the airport, checked in returned our wi-fi, then palled around the
airport. We did some shopping. Since we both had checked in our luggage and
we had no carry on bags we both bought a Tokyo bag and did some more shopping
to fill up our new carry on. We found
the wasabi kitkats Olivia had been looking for all week as well as a few more
unusual flavor. I bought some too. We had a leisurely dinner or soba noodles and
tempura before making our way to the gate and back home!
Other than being sick for the whole trip,
our Japan trip was a success! And now
that we understand the subway system, (lol) there are dreams of going back
again someday!
