Picture diary 6: FELL IN L O V E WITH TOKYO (part I)
Now that I've had a day to "recover," I'm ready to talk about Tokyo.
IT. WAS. WONDERFUL.
I could leave it at that, but I think we'd both like it better if I went on from there. (As I have so many pictures and so much to tell, this story will take three entries, one for each day.)
Late Thursday evening, after stuffing myself at dinner, checking the contents of my backpack for the twelfth time, and scrubbing away every last vestige of uncertainty in the shower, I walked to the Prince Hotel to wait for the night bus to Tokyo. There were ten of us all together, all JCMU students, all excited, all shivering beneath the multitude of stars visible thanks to Hikone's lack of lights.
I think we were all happy when the bus pulled up before us.
In the previous week or two, I'd heard horror stories about how impossible it was to sleep on the night bus -- that the conditions were cramped, that the other passengers smoked freely, that I would smell awful when I left. I took the stories with a grain of salt; none of those I talked to had ever ridden on it. Thus, I wasn't terribly surprised to discover that the night bus was actually ... well, really nice.
I sneaked a few pictures while we were still at the Prince (not using flash of course!). As you can see, there are only three seats across, with ample space in between.
The seats can recline pretty far back, and the bus company provides blankets for all passengers.
All of the other passengers were very quiet, so once the lights were out and we were on our way, it wasn't too hard to fall asleep. So long as one doesn't mind sleeping in a moving vehicle, the night bus is a good alternative to the shinkansen (bullet train), and I would definitely recommend it to those in the Kansai area who want to get to Tokyo on a budget (the tickets were half the price of the shinkansen tickets).
At about 5:20 a.m. the next morning, with our scheduled arrival time drawing near, I found I could no longer sleep from excitement. I pulled aside the corner of the window curtain so I could peer out without disturbing the other passengers and watched the city lights fly past me. Already there were a few people on the streets; early morning runners and insomniacs, I guessed.
Just 25 minutes later, we arrived in Tokyo.
The combination of early morning exhaustion and excitement meant that we were a very muddle-headed group as we tumbled off the bus into the Tokyo dawn. So, when we noticed a McDonald's nearby, we decided it would be best to simply go in and try to figure out the rest later.
Unfortunately, McDonald's in Japan apparently do not carry cinnamon rolls. But they do of course have coffee, which was a very good thing.
As I ascended the stairs in McDonald's with my tray of hotcakes and cup of coffee, I heard a song playing in the background: "A Whole New World" from the Disney movie "Aladdin."
A whole new world indeed.
After eating on the second floor and trying to make ourselves look presentable in the tiny bathroom, we headed out to board our first Tokyo train. Our destination this time was Tsukiji, famous for its early morning fish market.
Along the way we passed by Tsukiji Hongan-ji, a Buddhist temple. I took this picture from a foot bridge over the street. Notice the light of the rising sun.
After wandering the premises (and almost getting hit a few too many times by the myriad of moving vehicles), we finally found our way to the fish market itself. I didn't take any pictures inside, but you can trust me when I say that I have never seen such a great variety and volume of dead fish before in my life. It was ... something, that's for sure!
One cannot possibly go to Tsukiji without buying sushi at one of the nearby restaurants. I wasn't too keen on the idea -- it was somewhere between 8 and 9 a.m. at this point, after all -- but once I found myself sitting in a sushi bar, warming my hands on the cup of green tea the waiter had placed before me, not ordering was no longer an option.
I played it fairly safe with my first pick -- seared salmon with a bit of wasabi to make things interesting. As it was pretty tasty (and everyone else was ordering more), I got a bit bolder with my second choice.
Yes, my friends, I ate octopus. Other than being so chewy that I had to hold on to one end to take a bite, it wasn't bad at all. I liked the flavor, and I hate to say it, but ... it kind of tasted like chicken!
With our objective (fish) completed, we decided to do some shopping in Ginza, a short train ride away. Unfortunately, the department stores we were trying to go into didn't open until 11 a.m., so we spent some time lounging in the deserted lobby of one of the stores, trying to figure out where we could go. At last we made our way to Mitsukoshi Department Store, where we spent approximately 10 minutes shopping (a few of which were spent marveling over the toilets in the bathroom, which make nature sounds when one sits down).
(A random street corner, probably in Ginza)
Next on the list was the Sony Building. The point of interest here was a multilevel showroom of all sorts of electronics, from TVs to computers to dancing music players (the Rolly). Electronics aren't really my thing, but there were some very shiny and compact laptops that I certainly would not have minded taking home with me.
We rested on some benches on the top floor, where a movie about Florence, Italy, was playing (in Japanese, of course).
Since it was coming time for us to check in (and we were very eager to drop our heavy backpacks), we decided to head for our hotel, New Koyo, in Minowa.
New Koyo is not the nicest hotel around, but for 2700 yen a night for a single, we weren't complaining. The hotel purports to be for backpackers; indeed, its conditions are for those who won't be spending much time inside. The rooms are small, and the bathrooms are communal, with a room for toilet stalls, and sinks in the hallway outside. There's a Japanese style bath open from 5-8 p.m. for men and 8-10 p.m. for women, but we got back too late each night for me to check it out. There are also two private unisex showers (as in, two lockable rooms, each containing one shower) available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
There is nothing to the right of the picture's edge; this is the whole room. (I was surprised to see that New Koyo, though it caters to foreigners on a budget, has both Western and Japanese style rooms; Japanese style means tatami mat floors and a futon to sleep on.)
Surprisingly, every room had a TV.
A locker for all my earthly possessions.
Cute koala bear slippers for walking on the tatami mats.
In the lobby of New Koyo, there were several ... interesting vending machines.
Yes, there are indeed beer vending machines in Japan.
Once we had finished up at the hotel, we ate lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant (which served AMAZING tofu -- savory before the meal, and sweet and mellow for dessert) and headed to Akihabara.
How can I describe Akihabara to those unfamiliar with it?
It is a place of electronics, DVDs, CDs, anime, manga, and all sorts of other things. I could spend a week there happily, just walking in and out of stores and poring over the merchandise. Admittedly, once you've seen one DVD/game shop there, you've pretty much seen them all, but there are many interesting places nonetheless.
When we walked out of the train station, one of the first things we saw was a giant tower of books. Semi-literally.
Shosen Book Tower somehow managed to pull all of us in like a magnet. Seven, eight floors of books? I'm there.
But eventually, we realized that we only had so much time, and we had better do other things. Unfortunately, we also lost one of our number to the book tower, so a few of us headed back inside, while the rest waited outside.
Guys? Waiting for the bathroom? (Actually, just waiting for Tori.)
Hear no evil//see no evil//speak no evil -- unfortunately, I cannot take credit for this picture opportunity.
We did at last get the group together, only to separate once more in order that we may explore.
I didn't go in this building, but isn't it wonderful?
After a few hours involving lots of stores, figurine shopping, UFO-catcher shenanigans, so on and so forth, we met back up to go out to dinner.
Shaina (who had the brilliant Nara trip idea, if you'll remember) suggested we head toward Tokyo Tower. The sushi place she had eaten at that morning (we were scattered between a few) was owned by a cool guy who also owned a restaurant in the vicinity of the tower, and she had told him we would try to stop by. Though we had no idea what kind of restaurant this was, we agreed.
Although we didn't make it to the tower itself that day, I got a few pictures of it, lit up in the dark.
My hand is not yet steady enough to use the night function on my camera -- it's exposure time is too long ...
... so I made due with some pictures on regular mode, which didn't turn out too bad, all things considered.
At about 7 p.m., after some minutes of searching, we found the restaurant. It was not large -- and was already occupied by two sizable parties -- so the owner understandably did a double take at the sight of nine foreigners trooping in. Nonetheless, he sat us down at the bar, and we all managed to squeeze in somehow by sharing chairs and squishing ourselves together.
I did not find this out until over halfway through the meal, but it turns out that meals at this certain restaurant worked this way: each person in the party would pay 1500 yen (~$15), and each person would get the same multiple course meal.
We literally spent the next four hours eating. The owner of the restaurant (the only worker there!) worked at the kitchen right on the other side of the bar, tossing out a small course every 10-20 or so minutes. I cannot recall all the different things we ate; there was tofu, and soup, and eel, and tempura-fried oysters (heavenly!), and pork, and kikan (tiny oranges eaten whole, skin and all), and potato wedges, and salami, and crackers with marmalade, and many, many things I couldn't put a name to. Every time we thought the meal was over, the owner would bring out yet another dish, and every one was delicious. I also had the chance to try sake, Japanese "rice wine" (really, nihonshu), served piping hot. Surprisingly, I liked it. The flavor reminded me of the syrup in chocolate covered cherries -- not like candy, but still sweet -- and the heat of the sake combined with the alcohol burned like fire going down and warmed me up with just one sip. (Since it was my friend's cup, I *only* had one sip, of course!)
After the owner had stuffed us beyond full, he stood talking with us -- by this time (after 11 p.m.) the other groups had already left the restaurant. He was a really fascinating person, as we had already guessed during the course of our meal; he spent some time in Africa as well as the U.S., and he used to work for the steel industry and, at some point, as a tour conductor.
Fascinating, but obviously lonely. He kept us engaged in conversation until after 11:30, and then he thanked us again and again for being so friendly and only charged us 1000 per person, calling it a "present," which was really ridiculous considering how wonderful the food had been and how much we had eaten. He was very kind.
But, by this time it was very late, and we knew well that we must hurry to catch the last train of the night, the midnight train.
I wish I could've taken a picture for you. The train car was crowded with people who were laughing, drunk, tired, happy, sad -- and everywhere in between. No one in our car was disruptive, but the atmosphere was at once lighter and heavier than it is during the day on the trains. It is very hard to describe.
We arrived back at New Koyo, giddy and exhausted at once. I could not sleep right away -- just the thought of being in Tokyo, falling asleep in that tiny room on a futon with a buckwheat hull pillow was somehow amazing. It's like the air there was different, or maybe I wasn't breathing in the normal way at all.
It was truly something beautiful.
On that note, I will end for tonight -- days 2 and 3 should be up soonish.
Until next time~
IT. WAS. WONDERFUL.
I could leave it at that, but I think we'd both like it better if I went on from there. (As I have so many pictures and so much to tell, this story will take three entries, one for each day.)
Late Thursday evening, after stuffing myself at dinner, checking the contents of my backpack for the twelfth time, and scrubbing away every last vestige of uncertainty in the shower, I walked to the Prince Hotel to wait for the night bus to Tokyo. There were ten of us all together, all JCMU students, all excited, all shivering beneath the multitude of stars visible thanks to Hikone's lack of lights.
I think we were all happy when the bus pulled up before us.
In the previous week or two, I'd heard horror stories about how impossible it was to sleep on the night bus -- that the conditions were cramped, that the other passengers smoked freely, that I would smell awful when I left. I took the stories with a grain of salt; none of those I talked to had ever ridden on it. Thus, I wasn't terribly surprised to discover that the night bus was actually ... well, really nice.
I sneaked a few pictures while we were still at the Prince (not using flash of course!). As you can see, there are only three seats across, with ample space in between.
The seats can recline pretty far back, and the bus company provides blankets for all passengers.
All of the other passengers were very quiet, so once the lights were out and we were on our way, it wasn't too hard to fall asleep. So long as one doesn't mind sleeping in a moving vehicle, the night bus is a good alternative to the shinkansen (bullet train), and I would definitely recommend it to those in the Kansai area who want to get to Tokyo on a budget (the tickets were half the price of the shinkansen tickets).
At about 5:20 a.m. the next morning, with our scheduled arrival time drawing near, I found I could no longer sleep from excitement. I pulled aside the corner of the window curtain so I could peer out without disturbing the other passengers and watched the city lights fly past me. Already there were a few people on the streets; early morning runners and insomniacs, I guessed.
Just 25 minutes later, we arrived in Tokyo.
The combination of early morning exhaustion and excitement meant that we were a very muddle-headed group as we tumbled off the bus into the Tokyo dawn. So, when we noticed a McDonald's nearby, we decided it would be best to simply go in and try to figure out the rest later.
Unfortunately, McDonald's in Japan apparently do not carry cinnamon rolls. But they do of course have coffee, which was a very good thing.
As I ascended the stairs in McDonald's with my tray of hotcakes and cup of coffee, I heard a song playing in the background: "A Whole New World" from the Disney movie "Aladdin."
A whole new world indeed.
After eating on the second floor and trying to make ourselves look presentable in the tiny bathroom, we headed out to board our first Tokyo train. Our destination this time was Tsukiji, famous for its early morning fish market.
Along the way we passed by Tsukiji Hongan-ji, a Buddhist temple. I took this picture from a foot bridge over the street. Notice the light of the rising sun.
After wandering the premises (and almost getting hit a few too many times by the myriad of moving vehicles), we finally found our way to the fish market itself. I didn't take any pictures inside, but you can trust me when I say that I have never seen such a great variety and volume of dead fish before in my life. It was ... something, that's for sure!
One cannot possibly go to Tsukiji without buying sushi at one of the nearby restaurants. I wasn't too keen on the idea -- it was somewhere between 8 and 9 a.m. at this point, after all -- but once I found myself sitting in a sushi bar, warming my hands on the cup of green tea the waiter had placed before me, not ordering was no longer an option.
I played it fairly safe with my first pick -- seared salmon with a bit of wasabi to make things interesting. As it was pretty tasty (and everyone else was ordering more), I got a bit bolder with my second choice.
Yes, my friends, I ate octopus. Other than being so chewy that I had to hold on to one end to take a bite, it wasn't bad at all. I liked the flavor, and I hate to say it, but ... it kind of tasted like chicken!
With our objective (fish) completed, we decided to do some shopping in Ginza, a short train ride away. Unfortunately, the department stores we were trying to go into didn't open until 11 a.m., so we spent some time lounging in the deserted lobby of one of the stores, trying to figure out where we could go. At last we made our way to Mitsukoshi Department Store, where we spent approximately 10 minutes shopping (a few of which were spent marveling over the toilets in the bathroom, which make nature sounds when one sits down).
(A random street corner, probably in Ginza)
Next on the list was the Sony Building. The point of interest here was a multilevel showroom of all sorts of electronics, from TVs to computers to dancing music players (the Rolly). Electronics aren't really my thing, but there were some very shiny and compact laptops that I certainly would not have minded taking home with me.
We rested on some benches on the top floor, where a movie about Florence, Italy, was playing (in Japanese, of course).
Since it was coming time for us to check in (and we were very eager to drop our heavy backpacks), we decided to head for our hotel, New Koyo, in Minowa.
New Koyo is not the nicest hotel around, but for 2700 yen a night for a single, we weren't complaining. The hotel purports to be for backpackers; indeed, its conditions are for those who won't be spending much time inside. The rooms are small, and the bathrooms are communal, with a room for toilet stalls, and sinks in the hallway outside. There's a Japanese style bath open from 5-8 p.m. for men and 8-10 p.m. for women, but we got back too late each night for me to check it out. There are also two private unisex showers (as in, two lockable rooms, each containing one shower) available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
There is nothing to the right of the picture's edge; this is the whole room. (I was surprised to see that New Koyo, though it caters to foreigners on a budget, has both Western and Japanese style rooms; Japanese style means tatami mat floors and a futon to sleep on.)
Surprisingly, every room had a TV.
A locker for all my earthly possessions.
Cute koala bear slippers for walking on the tatami mats.
In the lobby of New Koyo, there were several ... interesting vending machines.
Yes, there are indeed beer vending machines in Japan.
Once we had finished up at the hotel, we ate lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant (which served AMAZING tofu -- savory before the meal, and sweet and mellow for dessert) and headed to Akihabara.
How can I describe Akihabara to those unfamiliar with it?
It is a place of electronics, DVDs, CDs, anime, manga, and all sorts of other things. I could spend a week there happily, just walking in and out of stores and poring over the merchandise. Admittedly, once you've seen one DVD/game shop there, you've pretty much seen them all, but there are many interesting places nonetheless.
When we walked out of the train station, one of the first things we saw was a giant tower of books. Semi-literally.
Shosen Book Tower somehow managed to pull all of us in like a magnet. Seven, eight floors of books? I'm there.
But eventually, we realized that we only had so much time, and we had better do other things. Unfortunately, we also lost one of our number to the book tower, so a few of us headed back inside, while the rest waited outside.
Guys? Waiting for the bathroom? (Actually, just waiting for Tori.)
Hear no evil//see no evil//speak no evil -- unfortunately, I cannot take credit for this picture opportunity.
We did at last get the group together, only to separate once more in order that we may explore.
I didn't go in this building, but isn't it wonderful?
After a few hours involving lots of stores, figurine shopping, UFO-catcher shenanigans, so on and so forth, we met back up to go out to dinner.
Shaina (who had the brilliant Nara trip idea, if you'll remember) suggested we head toward Tokyo Tower. The sushi place she had eaten at that morning (we were scattered between a few) was owned by a cool guy who also owned a restaurant in the vicinity of the tower, and she had told him we would try to stop by. Though we had no idea what kind of restaurant this was, we agreed.
Although we didn't make it to the tower itself that day, I got a few pictures of it, lit up in the dark.
My hand is not yet steady enough to use the night function on my camera -- it's exposure time is too long ...
... so I made due with some pictures on regular mode, which didn't turn out too bad, all things considered.
At about 7 p.m., after some minutes of searching, we found the restaurant. It was not large -- and was already occupied by two sizable parties -- so the owner understandably did a double take at the sight of nine foreigners trooping in. Nonetheless, he sat us down at the bar, and we all managed to squeeze in somehow by sharing chairs and squishing ourselves together.
I did not find this out until over halfway through the meal, but it turns out that meals at this certain restaurant worked this way: each person in the party would pay 1500 yen (~$15), and each person would get the same multiple course meal.
We literally spent the next four hours eating. The owner of the restaurant (the only worker there!) worked at the kitchen right on the other side of the bar, tossing out a small course every 10-20 or so minutes. I cannot recall all the different things we ate; there was tofu, and soup, and eel, and tempura-fried oysters (heavenly!), and pork, and kikan (tiny oranges eaten whole, skin and all), and potato wedges, and salami, and crackers with marmalade, and many, many things I couldn't put a name to. Every time we thought the meal was over, the owner would bring out yet another dish, and every one was delicious. I also had the chance to try sake, Japanese "rice wine" (really, nihonshu), served piping hot. Surprisingly, I liked it. The flavor reminded me of the syrup in chocolate covered cherries -- not like candy, but still sweet -- and the heat of the sake combined with the alcohol burned like fire going down and warmed me up with just one sip. (Since it was my friend's cup, I *only* had one sip, of course!)
After the owner had stuffed us beyond full, he stood talking with us -- by this time (after 11 p.m.) the other groups had already left the restaurant. He was a really fascinating person, as we had already guessed during the course of our meal; he spent some time in Africa as well as the U.S., and he used to work for the steel industry and, at some point, as a tour conductor.
Fascinating, but obviously lonely. He kept us engaged in conversation until after 11:30, and then he thanked us again and again for being so friendly and only charged us 1000 per person, calling it a "present," which was really ridiculous considering how wonderful the food had been and how much we had eaten. He was very kind.
But, by this time it was very late, and we knew well that we must hurry to catch the last train of the night, the midnight train.
I wish I could've taken a picture for you. The train car was crowded with people who were laughing, drunk, tired, happy, sad -- and everywhere in between. No one in our car was disruptive, but the atmosphere was at once lighter and heavier than it is during the day on the trains. It is very hard to describe.
We arrived back at New Koyo, giddy and exhausted at once. I could not sleep right away -- just the thought of being in Tokyo, falling asleep in that tiny room on a futon with a buckwheat hull pillow was somehow amazing. It's like the air there was different, or maybe I wasn't breathing in the normal way at all.
It was truly something beautiful.
On that note, I will end for tonight -- days 2 and 3 should be up soonish.
Until next time~