A Week in Tokyo, Japan

When I came to Southeast Asia with Semester at Sea in 2006, our last stop was Japan before we turned around the ship and headed home. It seemed the same would be true for us, except our journey home much shorter this time than the 3 long weeks crossing the Pacific Ocean. Originally (on this trip) we had planned to fly to Beijing, then take the Trans-Mongolian Express to St. Petersburg, then fly onward to London. Due to my immigration papers appearing several weeks before we expected them (count on the government to be too efficient when you don't want them to be!) we had to cut our plans short. After an initial bout of disappointment, I changed our flights and decided we would go out with a bang for our last part of the trip. On my last visit, I was a poor student working with $100 for 5 days, and so I was only able to visit Kobe (where we docked), Nara, and Kyoto. I had eaten fruit loops for lunch, and breakfast and dinner on the ship. This time I had promised myself I would finally see Tokyo and try some of that infamous Japanese cuisine. So instead of trying to race around the country seeing everything, we would stay blissfully in one place for 6 whole days. It might have been our longest stop in the entire trip, and by then, we were ready for it.

Arriving in Tokyo airport after our very exciting (read: stressful) transfer from Khao Sok National Park to Phuket to Bangkok to panic because our flight had disappeared and then to Beijing where they confiscated my external charger to finally, Tokyo Haneda Airport was an absolute relief. The airport was clean and efficient, and the toilets were space-aged! More on the toilets later...

One of the most difficult things to plan when arriving in a new city is choosing where to stay. Cities that are absolutely gigantic are the worst - places like Sydney, Australia; Bangkok, Thailand; Rio, Brazil; or in this case Tokyo, Japan. Staying in the wrong part of town can really put a negative spin on your stay, but staying in the right neighborhood means enjoying your surroundings, finding good food, and feeling safe. After weeks of research, I decided we would stay in the Asakusa (pronounced As-uh-ksa) region. This is an old historic neighborhood that every day-trip-tour visits because of its history, temples, shopping and food. It is also right on the metro and train line, so it has easy access to everywhere. Even finding our Ryokan (Japanese traditional guest house) was a snap and we were delighted with everything around us. The only potential downside is that most of the town closed up between 6-7, except a few restaurants and fewer bars. This didn't bother us at all as we were happy to be in bed by 9, if not earlier. The latest we stayed out was 11:30, and that was because we had a late dinner and then went to karaoke!

We had decided to spend most of the time in Tokyo actually exploring the different neighborhoods, and agreed on only one day trip out of the city. Still, at the end, we felt like we could see more. The best thing about Japan being at the end of our trip, is that we were so exhausted from constantly trying to find safe food, safe water, safe neighborhoods, that it was such a relief to be somewhere where everything was safe. It allowed us to relax and let our guard down and just enjoy our surroundings for one last hurrah.

So what did we do with all our time? Here are some of the places we saw and some of the things we visited while in Tokyo.

THE PLACES

Asakusa: Senso-ji temple, shopping, food, and Karaoke, this lively area is wonderful to just walk through, enjoying the ambiance and surroundings. During the Edo period, this was the center of Tokyo. Although it is packed with tourists, the majority of them are Japanese tourists who just want to see a bit more of their culture. Some of the shops and restaurants here have been around for generations. One of the shops, a knife shop, was where we bought our knives for our new home! We could have spent all week in this tiny neighborhood and been happy. One night we decided to have an adventure and try karaoke! We ordered food and drinks in Japanese using the phone, and spent some time extremely confused trying to figure out how to use the system. In the end, the disco ball, strobe lights, and English song choice made this an unforgettable night.
 

 

Our knives being sharpened

So many chopsticks, how to choose?

Karaoke remote!

Shibuya Crossing: This is one of the most famous and overused crossing, although I can see why. You come out from the train/metro stop, and then wait behind busy people going important places. While you wait you are surrounded by TV screens, ads for crazy things, and many bright electric lights. When crossing, Paul and I held hands to make sure we wouldn't get lost.

Tskuji Fish Market: A real working market with every imaginable sea creature, busy trolleys, men throwing water everywhere, shouting, cutting, haggling - not for the faint of heart. I went on my own and loved just being in it, as well as stopping outside in the more pedestrian friendly marketplace to have incredible fresh fish for breakfast. Sashimi at its absolute best, I would say!

Mmm, fresh fish for breakfast!

Akihabara:  This is the techno center! The shops on the main street sold everything you could want, including robots. The smaller side streets were also crammed with little shops selling cameras, watches, plugs, you name it. It's the kind of place you can spend hours walking around in a trance - we certainly did! One of my favorite parts? The cute little buses! I know these were everywhere, just seeing them made me smile.

 

Shinjuku: A major administrative town that had a small piece of old Tokyo hiding within - the Golden Gai. We came here for dinner and were pleasantly surprised by a restaurant where you pick the meat then grill it to your taste on the charcoal grill set right in the table. After, we picked one of the tiny little bars (that mostly seat 6-10 people max) to try some plum wine (u-me-shu) and chat with the owner. The Golden Gai is what Tokyo looked like before the earthquakes destroyed everything, and before the rest was bulldozed to create the shiny, tall, glowing place it is today. Although I was warned ahead of time that it looked sketchy, but wasn't, we were still a bit hesitant when we arrived. In the end, it turned out that it was quite a nice little area I would be happy to go back to and spend more time exploring all the hole-in-the-wall places.

Inside the bar that sat 7 people!

In the Golden Gai - look what I found!

Harajuku - apparently the center of youth fashion, although all we saw here was more shopping and lots of people. We walked through here on the way from one neighborhood to another, but didn't really stop or see anything other than the leaves changing for fall.

 

Meiji Jingu Shrine: A quiet little oasis of trees, paths and more shrines. My favorite part here were the three and seven year old children who were coming in to get blessed, all dressed to the nines in their kimonos and robes.

Donated casks of wine in tribute to this shrine.

Green-tea ice cream, one of the reasons I returned to Japan.

 

Little girls age 3 come to shrines to be blessed in November. The little girl and mom were happy to stop!

Our day trip was on my all-time bucket list - see Mt. Fuji! So we got up early to join our massive tour. We knew most of the day would be spent on a bus, but hey, it had free wifi! We got to stop to see Mt. Fuji several times, and even go up to the 5th station to stand on it (and buy souvenirs, of course). Then we went to lake Hakone and took a short boat ride to a gondola to watch Mt. Fuji at sunset. Although it was a lot of travel, the whole day was worth it as it was a perfect, cloud free day. Apparently this is an anomaly and as much as 30% of people who come on this tour never even see Mt. Fuji due to its constant cloud cover. Yes, the tour felt rushed (15 minutes here! 5 minutes there! Get back in the bus!) but we knew what we were getting ourselves into and didn't mind the nap time and great views out the window. Plus, the sunset was probably one of the most gorgeous I had seen on this trip. I couldn't get enough of the colors, the mountain, everything!

 

As I said, the 6 days just weren't enough, but I did get to try a varied cuisine and explore many of the neighborhoods all around Tokyo. We really appreciated the fast and reliable public transportation (something we will miss when we move to the UK!), the kind and genuinely helpful people, and the delicious food! Of course, there is the sushi and sashimi, but also the ramen and meats and the range of seafood. Let's give a closer look at our favorites.

THE FOOD

Ramen:
Warning: This is not your plastic wrapped, 25 cent ramen! The first full day in Asakusa, we were extremely hungry by the time we woke up from our jet-lag induced stupor.  We found what looked like a nice enough noodle place and went in. What we found was a bustling ramen bar with efficient and highly vocal waiters/servers behind the bar. Our gigantic bowels of ramen and a side of gyoza still makes my mouth water. This is the "fast food" here? Yes please! We loved this place so much we went back on our last day in Japan, and there was a huge line to get in. Apparently, it is well known and loved. We enjoyed our second time there as much as our first.

Sushi and Sashimi:
If you know me at all, you'll know I LOVE sashimi. I eat it every opportunity I get, and would eat it every day if I could afford it. Japan is an island, and fresh fish is the thing to eat. We ate lots of this, all over Tokyo, but we had two favorite experiences. The first one was when we found a sushi place that had been recommended in our local guidebook. When we walked in we were the only ones there, and so we were obliged to sit and order. Well, it might have been a bit pricier than we had bargained for, but what the heck! We went all out and ordered the full set meal with an appetizer, sushi, sashimi, soup and tea. We had two very talented sushi chefs to ourselves, and we had the most amazing time using my Japanese phrase book (which they loved too) trying our best to communicate back and forth. I used phrases (in Japanese) like, "This is delicious!" which made them smile and laugh and bow and smile more. The sushi was very high quality and everything we ate was actually delicious. It may not have been the type of things we normally ordered, but it was fantastic. By the end, we found out that they were packed full at lunch (when the fish is fresh), but by 8pm when we arrived, they were almost always empty. Oops. This is lesson #1 on when to eat fish.

 

My favorite part - they're using my Japanese book to try to communicate! 

Our second favorite sushi experiment was at a sushi-train restaurant. This place was equally packed full of people, and after waiting a while we were given seat and an English menu. We tried plate after plate of smooth salmon and buttery tuna, while I made my own green tea with the powder and hot water provided. If you've ever been to a sushi train restaurant, you have probably had a similar experience. Each plate is a different color and each color is a different price. The surprise came at the end of the meal when we wanted our bill (shown in Japan by crossing your pointer fingers in front of you to make an 'x') and they just waved a magic wand over the plates.. beep beep beep... and our bill popped out! Astonishment was mirrored in Paul's face as we both nearly burst out laughing. So many wonderful things here, everywhere, surrounding us! We loved it!

Cook your own... 
Two restaurants we visited served us raw meat and provided us a means to cooking it ourselves (table top grill and charcoal pit!) It was interesting and a bit fun, but mostly we appreciated when the food came to us ready to eat. Our little charcoal grill place was quite a fun surprise, as we had no idea that's what was coming for us. The meat was mouth-watering and we tried different cuts and types. We also got free cabbage salad with a tangy dressing.

THE TOILETS & TECHNOLOGY

Space-age toilets
I mentioned this earlier in the post, but never came back to it. I didn't want to finish without making an honorable mention to the toilets. How can toilets be post-worthy, you ask? If your toilet seat has more buttons than your phone, you know you are in for a good time. My favorite feature was the seat-warmer, which the cleaners in our ryokan stubbornly turned on every day. It meant instead of sitting down to a shock of ice-cold, everything was all toasty and wonderful. More buttons were included for the bidet function (calibrated for both men and women), as well as an air dry system. No more wasting loads of toilet paper! I have to say, I am dead tempted to buy one of these for my new home in Edinburgh.

Technology:
There were many technology enabled things that we loved in Tokyo, but one of the best was the bullet train. Extremely fast, nearly silent and used daily for commuting, this was an enjoyable ride from near Mt. Fuji back to Japan. Instead of the 2 hour drive, it was 40 minutes! Wow!

In conclusion...
Japan was a perfect end to an exciting, exhausting, whirl-wind world trip. I loved it more than I could have imagined and I (almost) wish we were moving there for a few years to get to know more about Tokyo and the rest of Japan. It had everything we loved and more, and will definitely look forward to going back for a longer period of time someday.