Tokyo
[My account of my trip to Tokyo!]
Wednesday
I got really lucky after school, I called my friend Shane and he was kind enough to give me a ride to the train station as it had been raining all day and didn’t show any sign of stopping. Me being my usual self I got to the station a good 20-30 minutes before my train was due to arrive. It meant that I could relax, knowing that there was nothing more I could do since I was at the station rather than fretting at my apartment for another 20-30 minutes.
The train journey from Ugata to Tsu was easy enough and rather uneventful barring two guys, who I think were JHS students, who were pratting around until the train got a bit busier. They kept hanging from the hand holds like monkeys and laughing that the other of the pair kept slipping. So I’d keep looking over with a smile and a little laugh, they’d spot me looking and smile back. Once I’d got to Tsu I managed to share a lift at the station with a group of salarymen who attempted to ask me questions in English and were surprised to have me answer in Japanese.
Anyway, getting on the bus was a breeze. The driver and his assistant had a list of all the names of people who’d booked seats so I just pointed to my name on the list and he told me my seat number. We got told that after we’d picked up all the passengers that there would be “lights out” and all the curtains had to be shut so that everyone could sleep. Most people were already falling asleep/fast asleep before that happened. But not me. I stayed awake for some reason. I knew I should have been trying to get as much sleep as possible. But no.
Thursday
I arrived at Shinjuku station at about 6:40am and first off I found myself a coin locker to shove my bag of travel stuff into as well as a few of the bits from my rucksack. I then sat down on some steps just like about a hundred other people, dug out my guide book and started to decide where I wanted to go. I settled on heading to Harajuku and Shibuya. I went to Shibuya first, figuring that since it was the furthest of the two places that I would then work my way back to Shinkuju. I went and found the Hachiko statue. It was actually pretty cute, which was nice since the statue was a nice story behind it. After that I figured I’d go for a quick wander in the rain. In the end I found out that I’d walked most of the way to Harajuku so figured I’d just keep going. Big mistake that turned out to be. I got thoroughly soaked through. The first big place I went to was Meiji-jinju. It’s the most famous shrine in Tokyo, being dedicated to the Emperor and Empress who ended Japan’s global isolation. It was really pretty, and because I was seeing it at about 7am there were hardly any people about. So I had a nice and quiet wander through the grounds. In the main part of the shrine there was a whole load of ikebana displays. After that I headed down Takeshita Street which is probably the most crowded street in the middle of nowhere that I’d seen in a long time. Basically it’s filled with cute little boutiques selling everything from adorable, girly clothes to gothic Lolita dresses to branded tat of all shapes and forms. I picked up a few random little bits and bobs, nothing big though. Next was Shinjuku. I was basically waiting until gone 3pm so that I could go check into my hotel. I’d noted a few places I wanted to go and check out - the cat café, the animate store, Hanazono-jingu and the big Kinokuniya store. As I was looking for Hanazono-jingu a advertisement truck for Super Junior’s new song Opera drove past and pulled up at the red light so I got a great photo of the truck. I nearly shot some video, but I couldn’t keep the camera steady while trying to keep the umbrella steady. The shrine itself was quite cute and sweet. It was hard to believe that it was less than 5 minutes off the main road. So after stopping by almost everywhere I wanted to go (minus the cat café) I went to check into my hotel.
I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel. It was much nicer than I was expecting and the bed was a nice big Queen size that I could spread out on with room to spare. I took a rest for about an hour, just chilling out and trying to decide which of the many places I’d seen in my wanderings that I wanted to go to for dinner. In the end I settled on the “Hub” a chain of bar/restaurant places themed around a typical British Pub. It was cram packed full of people, both foreigners and Japanese. But it felt well done. I started talking to a random expat and we sat together and talked about missing home and the like. I got myself some dinner in the Hub and then we moved onto the cat café. It was super adorable in there, a good 20 or so cats, most of which were passed out asleep. The guy left reasonably quickly, deciding he’d had his fill of cats but I stayed for a full hour, just happy to be in the company of animals again. After that I went back to the hotel to shower and pass out in bed.
Friday
I overslept for an hour or so but in the end it worked out for the best since I’d done more walking than I’d intended to on Thursday. I had plenty planned, but it wouldn’t have been fun if I was exhausted. So off I went, the morning looked reasonably clear but the weather on the news said that there was going to be rain in the afternoon which led me to take my umbrella with me. My first stop was Tokyo subway station and the Imperial Palace East Garden. The weather kept getting nicer as I walked around the grounds and gardens so I managed to take some nice photos.
Next was Ueno park because there was another statue I wanted to find. So off I went. The station itself was packed with people heading to the zoo - thankfully the one place I didn’t want to go! I found the Saigo Takamori statue, unusual because it’s of a samurai walking his dog. After that I took a brief walk around the edge of the park so I could find something to eat for lunch. I found a nice little place on the side of the lake and got some curry rice before walking along the water’s edge and to Benzaiten a small shrine on a little island on the lake. As I left the shrine it started to rain just like the weather man said it would. My next stop was the Tokyo National Museum, which was thankfully inside and so I wouldn’t get wet! For about 600 yen I got to wander the main building of the museum and see the standard exhibit which has a really nice collection of pieces from Japanese history and culture. There was enough on display to give you a feel for the range of things without overloading you and making you feel like you were being overloaded.
Next was Akihabara. I’d heard about how great Electric town was for electronic goods and for any otaku so I’d wanted to at least stop by there. First thing I saw coming out of the station was the AKB48 café and the Gundam café. The latter I would have gone to if it wasn’t for the huge ass queue outside. So I went off wandering, looking to see what I could find. Now I’d honestly expected that almost every store I went into looking for anime goods would be stocked full of mecha models, figures of girl characters in skimpy outfits and the standard hentai doujinshis. I found those by the thousands. For other fare, what I noticed was that shops mainly stocked only the most popular series and the most current. Anything from two years ago or that wasn’t firmly entrenched in people’s minds wasn’t stocked. I’m sure that if I’d gone further from the station I would have had more luck, but I had plans for the evening and wanted to make sure I got back and had an hour or so to relax before heading out again. So with that I ended my wandering of Akihabara after picking up 3 tenipuri anthologies.
After my rest at the hotel I headed out to Roppongi, intending to find some dinner but not entirely sure where to go. In the end I settled on the Hard Rock Café and got seated at the bar, which was fine by me. After ordering a burger I got adopted by a group of drunken American’s who were all about my parents age and they bought me a shot to welcome me. I was very glad that I had food coming. So I sat with them and chatted with them as I ate and we all drank together. They then adopted another Brit and then an Australian into the group. The Auzzie came and sat next to me and I was surprised to find that we had loads in common - we were fans of plenty of the same TV shows. So we got on like a house on fire. 10:30pm hit and me and the Auzzie decided that it was time to call it quits and leave the adults to get even more wasted without us! So we walked back to the station as happy, tipsy people. At the station we shared a brief, friendly kiss and parted ways.
Saturday
The day I’d been looking forward to finally came! I had to be out of the hotel before 10am so I made sure I woke up with my alarm and headed off to Shinjuku station to play the “coin locker game” which ended up with me standing around for about 30 minutes until someone came and emptied a locker and I got to put my stuff in it. Now I had several hours to kill and sore feet from all the walking I’d been doing - so I wanted to go see something but not have to do a whole load of walking to do it. There was one thing that I knew was almost expected of me on a trip to Tokyo and that was a visit to the Tokyo Tower. I had no intention of going up it, but I did want to see it up close. So off I went to take a look. It was pretty enough, I couldn’t really see the point in going up it since it wasn’t much taller than the buildings around it and the observation deck wasn’t very high up either. So my decision not to go up felt justified. A stop off at a café for some lunch and then I started to make my way to Shin Yokohama for the concert - the whole reason I’d come to Tokyo.
Needless to say the concert was a blast! And can be read about here.
After that somehow I managed to get on the first train that stopped at Shin Yokohama heading back to Tokyo and picked my stuff up at Shinjuku to start the nearly 20 minute walk to the bus station to check in for much coach. Needless to say I was exhausted when I got there and was thankful that it wasn’t raining so I could go sit outside until it was time to check in a board the bus to go home.
Wednesday
I got really lucky after school, I called my friend Shane and he was kind enough to give me a ride to the train station as it had been raining all day and didn’t show any sign of stopping. Me being my usual self I got to the station a good 20-30 minutes before my train was due to arrive. It meant that I could relax, knowing that there was nothing more I could do since I was at the station rather than fretting at my apartment for another 20-30 minutes.
The train journey from Ugata to Tsu was easy enough and rather uneventful barring two guys, who I think were JHS students, who were pratting around until the train got a bit busier. They kept hanging from the hand holds like monkeys and laughing that the other of the pair kept slipping. So I’d keep looking over with a smile and a little laugh, they’d spot me looking and smile back. Once I’d got to Tsu I managed to share a lift at the station with a group of salarymen who attempted to ask me questions in English and were surprised to have me answer in Japanese.
Anyway, getting on the bus was a breeze. The driver and his assistant had a list of all the names of people who’d booked seats so I just pointed to my name on the list and he told me my seat number. We got told that after we’d picked up all the passengers that there would be “lights out” and all the curtains had to be shut so that everyone could sleep. Most people were already falling asleep/fast asleep before that happened. But not me. I stayed awake for some reason. I knew I should have been trying to get as much sleep as possible. But no.
Thursday
I arrived at Shinjuku station at about 6:40am and first off I found myself a coin locker to shove my bag of travel stuff into as well as a few of the bits from my rucksack. I then sat down on some steps just like about a hundred other people, dug out my guide book and started to decide where I wanted to go. I settled on heading to Harajuku and Shibuya. I went to Shibuya first, figuring that since it was the furthest of the two places that I would then work my way back to Shinkuju. I went and found the Hachiko statue. It was actually pretty cute, which was nice since the statue was a nice story behind it. After that I figured I’d go for a quick wander in the rain. In the end I found out that I’d walked most of the way to Harajuku so figured I’d just keep going. Big mistake that turned out to be. I got thoroughly soaked through. The first big place I went to was Meiji-jinju. It’s the most famous shrine in Tokyo, being dedicated to the Emperor and Empress who ended Japan’s global isolation. It was really pretty, and because I was seeing it at about 7am there were hardly any people about. So I had a nice and quiet wander through the grounds. In the main part of the shrine there was a whole load of ikebana displays. After that I headed down Takeshita Street which is probably the most crowded street in the middle of nowhere that I’d seen in a long time. Basically it’s filled with cute little boutiques selling everything from adorable, girly clothes to gothic Lolita dresses to branded tat of all shapes and forms. I picked up a few random little bits and bobs, nothing big though. Next was Shinjuku. I was basically waiting until gone 3pm so that I could go check into my hotel. I’d noted a few places I wanted to go and check out - the cat café, the animate store, Hanazono-jingu and the big Kinokuniya store. As I was looking for Hanazono-jingu a advertisement truck for Super Junior’s new song Opera drove past and pulled up at the red light so I got a great photo of the truck. I nearly shot some video, but I couldn’t keep the camera steady while trying to keep the umbrella steady. The shrine itself was quite cute and sweet. It was hard to believe that it was less than 5 minutes off the main road. So after stopping by almost everywhere I wanted to go (minus the cat café) I went to check into my hotel.
I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel. It was much nicer than I was expecting and the bed was a nice big Queen size that I could spread out on with room to spare. I took a rest for about an hour, just chilling out and trying to decide which of the many places I’d seen in my wanderings that I wanted to go to for dinner. In the end I settled on the “Hub” a chain of bar/restaurant places themed around a typical British Pub. It was cram packed full of people, both foreigners and Japanese. But it felt well done. I started talking to a random expat and we sat together and talked about missing home and the like. I got myself some dinner in the Hub and then we moved onto the cat café. It was super adorable in there, a good 20 or so cats, most of which were passed out asleep. The guy left reasonably quickly, deciding he’d had his fill of cats but I stayed for a full hour, just happy to be in the company of animals again. After that I went back to the hotel to shower and pass out in bed.
Friday
I overslept for an hour or so but in the end it worked out for the best since I’d done more walking than I’d intended to on Thursday. I had plenty planned, but it wouldn’t have been fun if I was exhausted. So off I went, the morning looked reasonably clear but the weather on the news said that there was going to be rain in the afternoon which led me to take my umbrella with me. My first stop was Tokyo subway station and the Imperial Palace East Garden. The weather kept getting nicer as I walked around the grounds and gardens so I managed to take some nice photos.
Next was Ueno park because there was another statue I wanted to find. So off I went. The station itself was packed with people heading to the zoo - thankfully the one place I didn’t want to go! I found the Saigo Takamori statue, unusual because it’s of a samurai walking his dog. After that I took a brief walk around the edge of the park so I could find something to eat for lunch. I found a nice little place on the side of the lake and got some curry rice before walking along the water’s edge and to Benzaiten a small shrine on a little island on the lake. As I left the shrine it started to rain just like the weather man said it would. My next stop was the Tokyo National Museum, which was thankfully inside and so I wouldn’t get wet! For about 600 yen I got to wander the main building of the museum and see the standard exhibit which has a really nice collection of pieces from Japanese history and culture. There was enough on display to give you a feel for the range of things without overloading you and making you feel like you were being overloaded.
Next was Akihabara. I’d heard about how great Electric town was for electronic goods and for any otaku so I’d wanted to at least stop by there. First thing I saw coming out of the station was the AKB48 café and the Gundam café. The latter I would have gone to if it wasn’t for the huge ass queue outside. So I went off wandering, looking to see what I could find. Now I’d honestly expected that almost every store I went into looking for anime goods would be stocked full of mecha models, figures of girl characters in skimpy outfits and the standard hentai doujinshis. I found those by the thousands. For other fare, what I noticed was that shops mainly stocked only the most popular series and the most current. Anything from two years ago or that wasn’t firmly entrenched in people’s minds wasn’t stocked. I’m sure that if I’d gone further from the station I would have had more luck, but I had plans for the evening and wanted to make sure I got back and had an hour or so to relax before heading out again. So with that I ended my wandering of Akihabara after picking up 3 tenipuri anthologies.
After my rest at the hotel I headed out to Roppongi, intending to find some dinner but not entirely sure where to go. In the end I settled on the Hard Rock Café and got seated at the bar, which was fine by me. After ordering a burger I got adopted by a group of drunken American’s who were all about my parents age and they bought me a shot to welcome me. I was very glad that I had food coming. So I sat with them and chatted with them as I ate and we all drank together. They then adopted another Brit and then an Australian into the group. The Auzzie came and sat next to me and I was surprised to find that we had loads in common - we were fans of plenty of the same TV shows. So we got on like a house on fire. 10:30pm hit and me and the Auzzie decided that it was time to call it quits and leave the adults to get even more wasted without us! So we walked back to the station as happy, tipsy people. At the station we shared a brief, friendly kiss and parted ways.
Saturday
The day I’d been looking forward to finally came! I had to be out of the hotel before 10am so I made sure I woke up with my alarm and headed off to Shinjuku station to play the “coin locker game” which ended up with me standing around for about 30 minutes until someone came and emptied a locker and I got to put my stuff in it. Now I had several hours to kill and sore feet from all the walking I’d been doing - so I wanted to go see something but not have to do a whole load of walking to do it. There was one thing that I knew was almost expected of me on a trip to Tokyo and that was a visit to the Tokyo Tower. I had no intention of going up it, but I did want to see it up close. So off I went to take a look. It was pretty enough, I couldn’t really see the point in going up it since it wasn’t much taller than the buildings around it and the observation deck wasn’t very high up either. So my decision not to go up felt justified. A stop off at a café for some lunch and then I started to make my way to Shin Yokohama for the concert - the whole reason I’d come to Tokyo.
Needless to say the concert was a blast! And can be read about here.
After that somehow I managed to get on the first train that stopped at Shin Yokohama heading back to Tokyo and picked my stuff up at Shinjuku to start the nearly 20 minute walk to the bus station to check in for much coach. Needless to say I was exhausted when I got there and was thankful that it wasn’t raining so I could go sit outside until it was time to check in a board the bus to go home.