Tokyo - Day 4 - November 3rd

Note: this post has few pictures. I think the pain of my feet was affecting my brain function.
Monday! Culture day. Everywhere we went on this day was sure to be as packed and crazy as the last few days. Coupled with the national holiday, the weather continued to be beautiful. A perfect time for sightseeing, if only we could ditch some of these crowds.

Our agenda for the day started with Ueno Park, and within it, the Tokyo National Museum. For 2 hours or so, we walked through the exhibits、upsetting serious Japanese tourists with our oblivious photo-taking in spite of the posted signage. I also spent a good deal of time trying to work out the meanings of the Japanese descriptions when the English description amounted to 'Maki-e Laquer Box' and the Japanese description trailed on for a paragraph. There were beautiful objects preserved since even the oldest periods of Japanese history, such as the Jomon (pre-400 BC), Yayoi (400 BC to 250 AD) and Kofun (250-583 AD) periods, to the most recent, Showa (1926-1989). We only managed to see the Honkan (main exhibit hall) before we needed to move on to our next destination, Akihabara.

Akihabara is known as a center for all things electronic, and also all things geeky. We met my unapologetically geeky friend Lenku there to explore the locale and hunt for imported American games. Of course, Lenku being a resident of Yokosuka naval base...he could get any of this stuff shipped to him and the healthily subsidized postage rates and bypass any and all of this...but still we hunted. We wandered by maid cafes and shops selling any manner of electronics. Eventually, we stopped in at an action-figure shop where they were trying to sell vintage (HIDEOUS) monster figures (think Godzilla done in cheap hideous pink plastic) for thousands of dollars.

I know you think I am the type of person who would in fact kid you, but I promise in this case, I kid you not.

We ended up picking out a few lower-end plastic figures that were much more attractive and making our leave without investing in a piece of Japanese monster movie history. Lenku proceeded to search for a RPG shop (think, table and dice, not electronic) and buy some mad amount of dice so he can set up his own game on base.


It was starting to get dark, as happens so frequently, so we said our goodbyes and traded our hugs and set out on our separate ways. Chris and I returned to our hostel for a regroup, then feasted that evening on Wagyuu (Kobe-style) beef yakiniku (Korean barbecue) and Korean food, and following that, delicious Baskin Robbins ice cream.

Oh, our feet also were hurting.

See also: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Tokyo - Day 3 - November 2nd

Ah, Sunday. We were starting to wish that we had scooters, like those people who went to The Scooter Store and had medicare cover the cost of their personal mobilization device.

But, we were in TOKYO. We were not there to sit around in a sparse hostel room and snooze the day away. So, mustering our strength, we set out for another day in the big city.

Our first stop of the day: Shibuya. Shibuya is one of the busiest places in Tokyo, famous for the crossing in front of Shibuya station. The crossing is called the 'busiest in the world' and every few minutes a hoard of pedestrians and bicycles take over, dodging this way and that and making it to the side of the road of their choosing. Even at 9:30 am there was a crowd, although nothing like the last time I was here on a Monday evening. The smell of the sewer is about the same though.

We start to wander, with no particular destination except to end up somehow in Harajuku by the time all is said and done, and see a few sights along the way. First, the dog stature 'Hachiko', built for a loyal dog who waited at Shibuya station for his master every day, even when one day, his master stopped coming home. Hachiko's statue also serves as a meeting place for people meeting at the sprawling Shibuya station.

Next, we walked through Yoyogi park and saw the structures built for the 1968 Tokyo Olympics. They were...olympian. Futuristic, in that 60s conceptualization of the future. Totally retro and wholly out of place, but still pretty interesting.

From there, we procured a meal, I believe our first of the day, from an Ometesando Hills Subway (the restaurant, not the mode of transportatin') and I walked around feeling outclassed by all the trendsters despite my awesome plaid shorts and leggings get-up. No longer dying of hunger, we wandered into Meiji Shrine.

The difference from my last visit was starkly evident the moment we reached the stone bridge that leads to Meiji Shrine. Instead of a scattered few strolling towards the Shrine, the bridge was littered with hipsters dressed in ostentacious fashions and masses of people heading for the shrine. Rather than the peaceful paradise of 3 months ago, it was one of the busiest weekends of the year. There was a festival as well as the celebration of Shichi-go-san. Shichi-go-san is when children who are aged 3, 5, or 7 go to a shrine dressed in their cutest baby kimono with their parents to pray and receive blessings for their lifetime.

That said, the shrine was still incredibly beautiful, and we found our ways to make the most of it. We saw a few places I had never been to, such as Empress Shoken's inner garden, and the treasure museum. After hoofing all over the world that morning, we still had much to conquer, being due in Shinjuku at 3 or something. We made it to the garden a wee bit late, but with plenty of time to walk around with my friend Rebecca and her friend Ayaka and mentally block foot pain from our minds.

After that, one of my favorite parts of the Tokyo trip...Mexican food. We went to a restaurant in Shinjuku called El Torito. I dined famously on chicken and beef fajitas, an apple margarita, and a banana creme chimichanga for desert. This food made me so very, very happy. I think of it fondly sometimes, remembering how I didn't even mind spending $20 on a meal I could have scored in the South for less than $10.After that, our minds and bodys rejuvenated, we sought to entertain ourselves further that evening. We walked over to the Mos Eisley of Tokyo, Kabukicho ("I just want to see it for a second!" Rebecca helped us justify.) and while not quite a hive of villainy at 7 on a Sunday, we could definitely see that it deserved its reputation. Following that, we met with more of Rebecca's friends of the English teaching variety and went to karaoke.

The night dragged on, and we didn't make it back to the hostel until after midnight. I think we took probably one of the last trains back. Upon arrival, I fell asleep quickly. Despite the blisters on our feet, we continued to look forward to the coming day.

See also: Day 1, Day 2, Day 4

Tokyo - Day 2 - November 1st

Waking up at the crack of 8 AM, we began our day eating cinnamon rolls (well Chris ate candy and leftover steak from the previous night) and playing Wii. After much digression, my friend drove us to our train station around 11 AM. We booked back toward the hotel, freshened up, then set out for our destination of the day: Odaiba.

Odaiba started as a number of island cannon batteries constructed in the 1800s to protect Tokyo (then Edo) from sea assault. The current island of Odaiba consists of one of those batteries (#3) plus some islands built out of trash and then relabled 'reclaimed land' and covered in business and entertainment.

A suspension bridge called the 'Rainbow Bridge' connects Odaiba to the mainland and
has a pedestrian walkway. So we took a train to the base of the bridge, and then walked across. When dressing for the day I didn't expect the crosswinds we encountered on the bridge. I spent much time on the bridge clutching my skirt to my legs and shuffling along.

After we snapped some awesome pictures of Tokyo, we arrived on the island of Odaiba and checked out the parks. Walking through the parks, something like 70% of the people had their dogs with them. We found the old battery #3 and due to the lack of English signage and my total failure at reading the Japanese, thought it dated from WW2 rather than the 1850s. After that, we headed towards the 'Statue of Liberty', the second piece of fake-America we ended up finding in Tokyo.

Our stomachs growing weary and starving, we searched for some food and landed on a festival in progress in front of 'Aqua City', a huge high-class shopping mall. There was fun dancing to watch, and cheap food to eat. We ate lunch for under 500 yen a person and also got entertainment for free. Sitting down and watching the dancers was a nice change from walking kilometer after kilometer.

Following our brief rest, we headed back into Aqua City and neighboring mall Decks Tokyo Beach and looked around at all the cool things to buy. We searched in vain for the 'Comme Ca Ism' branded candy, finding only Comme Ca Ism clothing, and Comme Ca Ism lunchboxes.

From there we wandered through the malls, figuring out where to head next. After we had decided to go to Palette Town, a conceptual mall/entertainment district nearby, we had one more stop - this cat store/amusement park. We passed on the 'attraction' (over $20 a person to pet adorable cats and watch them) but the store was hilariously overstocked in all things ridiculous for your cat.

At Palette Town, we wandered through Venus Fort, stumbled in on the Car Museum, and took a ride high above the skyline on a giant ferris wheel. The views from the top were terrific, even if my camera largely failed me.

After that, we hoofed back to Asakusa. Once in our hotel, I was lulled to sleep by the warmth and comfort of the bed, and promptly crashed, sleeping through dinner entirely.

See also: Day 1, Day 3, Day 4

Nifty new online archive

Google, in its ever pressing desire to take over the world, has introduced a new archive of photos from Life dating from the beginning of photographs to the 1970s. Some of the photos have never been published before. Linky.

There's a lot of cool stuff, like a bunch of old-timey pictures of airbases like Barksdale. Or pictures of the Ruins of Persepolis, one of the 10 coolest places in the world American's really can't go. Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Kittens. Basically, anything you want.

Fighting through the cold

Winter is starting to get here. I mean, it's still warmer than NY was, and it always will be, but in NY it was a trip in a parka from overheated room to overheated room, and here it's more like sitting in a 15 degree offices rubbing my hands together in a shirt and sweater. Then walking through 5 degree corridors to 10 degree classrooms to teach 50 minute lessons and am I losing you with the celsius yet?

(5 degree - 41 degree, 10 - 50, 15 - 59)

Solution is obviously to buy more sweaters. and turtlenecks. and start wearing a parka at ALL TIMES EVERYWHERE.

I fear for my electric bill...but I did up the efficiency of my apartment by plasticking my windows with bubble wrap.

Honestly I wouldn't mind so much if there weren't these ominous dark clouds. I can't see Daisen out my office window today...sigh.

Taiyou WHALES and such

I spent basically the last hour speaking to the school's industrial arts teacher about how many seasons each part of the US has, followed by why I went to collegei n New York instead of Louisiana, followed by Japanese and American differences in school systems and testing for college, followed by testing to become a US foreign service officer, followed by kanji for different kinds of fish, and I'm sure a number of things in between.

Also, he spend much of it waving a knife around.

Tokyo - Day 1 - October 31

Early in the morning of October 31, braving the darkness and the morning chill, Jessica and Chris set out from Nanbu-cho with their heavy luggage burdens toward Yonago station. Boarding a 5:30 train to Okayama, they slept fitfully in their seats as the sun began to brighten the world. In Okayama, they transferred to the Shinkansen train bound for Tokyo. And finally, at 11:30 in the morning, they arrived...and so begins their tale of triumph and the human spirit.


So once we had arrived at Tokyo station, we wandered around and I proceeded to get us terrifically lost. Our destination was the Imperial Palace, but it took us about an hour to find the location, only a kilometer or so away from the station. But the palace was awesome...if only we could enter. We wanted to go to the East Garden, but it was closed to the public (closed on Mondays and Fridays, of course!) so we only walked around. There were copious cool things to look at though, and nice pictures to take.

After that, we boarded a few trains bound for Asakusa, the district where our hotel was located. From there, our backs and legs aching under the weight of our overpacked duffels and backpacks, we took the long, long (10 minute) trudge to the hostel. The staff was friendly and we checked in with no problem. However they didn't provide towels there so we would end up having to purchase one at a convenience store.

This is the famous "flaming poo" Asahi beer building
in Asakusa, a short 3 minute walk from our lodgings.

From there, I hopped on a computer to see if I could resolve a 'I forgot my passport, can I still get on Yokosuka naval base?' problem. Problem resolved, we headed out for Yokosuka to stand in line for like 3 hours to get onto base and attend a REALLY FUN Halloween party with my old college friend.

There was carving of pumpkins, and wearing of super lame costumes, and fun was had by all. Also, we shouldn't have purchased that first night at the hotel. But since it was so cheap, it wasn't a huge loss.

See also: Day 2, Day 3, Day 4