Tokyo
West meets East
It’s currently 3am local time in Tokyo, I’m laying in bed, having gone to sleep early and woken up again. What better time to start writing? – It feels really weird to actually be here, having booked the trip almost a year ago, it felt like forever away.
The adventure began in Paris, where I spent a day and a bit at Disney, what better way to forget how unprepared you are for Japan than riding rollercoasters?
February 12th, 2018:
Monday morning rolled around and I had a quick shower, packed what was left to pack and checked out of the hotel, ordering myself an uber to the airport. Definitely not the cheapest option, but it was early and I really couldn’t be bothered with the multiple trains and wait times. It was nice to just be on my way, not having to think about it.
Check-in went without any issues, and my back was checked through to Tokyo (a bonus, after the hassle of my very first trip). I had a quick breakfast and headed through to my gate to await my flight to Moscow.
I was due to have a couple hours layover in Moscow, during which time I figured I’d be able to do some final checks/preparation for Tokyo. I was wrong.
We got off our plane from Paris and without really being told where we were meant to be going, had to get through a pointless security check. The whole ordeal took so long that by the time we were on the other side, the next plane was boarding.
I say ‘we’, because on the way through and in the slight confusion of where I was supposed to be going, I heard some people speaking English – “Are you going to Tokyo as well?” – they were. “I’m going to stick with you, if we get lost, it’s your fault.”
They seemed OK with this and so it was. We got to chatting as we went:
We were all going to Tokyo. Great.
Both staying in AirBnB’s. Cool.
Where is your AirBnB? …Mine, too…
Who is your host? …Mine, too…The AirBnB I’m staying in is one of a few apartments in a small apartment building. Turns out, the people I’d spoken to completely by chance are staying above me.
The flight to Tokyo was, uncomfortable. I tried my best to sleep the whole way, but all I was able to do was drift in and out. I even put my chair back at one point, which is something I never do – and something that annoys me when people in front of me do it, but it was a last ditch attempt for comfort and only kind of worked.
Arriving at Narita airport, it was like a different world from the disorder of Moscow. It was calm, it was quiet, it was orderly. I sailed through the border check and went to wait for my luggage, being joined by my new-found English friends after a while.
Once we had everything (a head and bag count was done), we got our train tickets and sat down.
Minutes later, there was a microphone and camera in my face. Japanese TV, apparently. They did a quick interview with me (there wasn’t much option to refuse), asking where I’d come from, what I was going to be doing in Japan, etc.
After that, the train from Narita to Ikebukuro was uneventful. Once we were allowed on, that is. We tried to board and a guy came running along, he had to clean first! We watched him go on, clean the carriage and turn the chairs around so they were facing the direction of travel. Japan!
Once at Ikebukuro, we split up. Nicola and I walked to the AirBnB while the other two took a taxi with the luggage.
The walk was pretty straight forward, but somewhere along the way, we missed a turning. Standing, looking a little lost, an elderly Japanese couple stopped and offered us help, ending up walking with us to the apartment. I don’t know if we could have refused their help even if we wanted to – which we obviously didn’t. The man didn’t seem to speak much English (but he spoke enough) and the woman was a big fan of the Beatles.
In Paris, before leaving, I bought a ‘world adapter’, because I am a massively unprepared person and I hadn’t picked up any adapters before this point. However, upon arriving in Japan, the ‘world adapter’ (which says Japan on the label) doesn’t actually fit any of the sockets. So after a quick google, I ventured back out into the city, this time alone, to see if I could find one that works.
I knew we had passed a number of big electronic stores near the station, so that’s where I headed and I found myself in Bic Camera. 8 floors of… stuff. A couple hundred yen later and I was leaving with what I went in for. Easy.
Once back at the apartment, I was tired and opted just to sleep – which is why I’m now awake at this hour.
Today is the 14th. I’m here until the 24th and I have no idea what I’ll be doing in those days. We’ll see what I decide to do when I wake up!
The Colonel
Feb 14th.
Today was my first full day in Tokyo. After getting myself up, showered, I eventually left the apartment at around 2pm and made my way to Ikebukuro station and bought a Suica card for use on the public transport.
One thing I was nervous about before coming here was how hard it might be to navigate my way around the train network. I’ve travelled on London/Paris/New York before, but this was a new system and completely foreign.
Turns out, I had nothing to worry about, at least not when I had access to Google Maps. Unsure of what I wanted to do, I ended up making my way to the Tokyo Skytree. The largest ‘tower’ in the world and the second largest man-made structure. Due to the time I arrived, I was able to watch the sunset from the top, and catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji in the distance, which was pretty cool.
After coming back down to ground level, I had to decide what I wanted to do next. I had bookmarked a few free things to do, that were happening during my time here. One was illuminations at Tokyo City Dome, which sounded alright. So I made my way there.
I literally knew nothing about the area or what it was before arriving, so when I saw there was a roller coaster, I had to find my way on it. I got myself a ticket and joined the queue.
Now, it was dark by the time I got there, so while I could see the coaster, I wasn’t really aware of just how big it actually was. I could see there was a big hill at the start (but then, don’t all coasters have that?) and I could see that it came through a hole in the wall on top of the building opposite. That was kind of it.
The above video shows the full coaster in POV, in daylight. You can see just how steep that first drop is and when you’re not expecting it, it feels even steeper. It was fun though, especially as I wasn’t expecting to ride a coaster at all.
After the coaster, I decided to make my way back to the apartment. Stopping off at a supermarket to buy some snacks for the remainder of the evening.
The pocket wifi provided by the AirBnB has been a godsend, I connected it up to my anker power bar and shoved both in my rucksack, and didn’t have to think about it again.
Lady Liberty
15th.
Much like the day before and we can only assume every day that I spend here, I started without any real plan of what I was going to be doing.
“Hey, where’s that giant robot thing?” I asked myself, and then also Google – Google was a lot more helpful when it came to actually answering the question, I figured out what trains I’d need to get and I was off.
The station I ended at was called “Tokyo Teleport Station” – I won’t lie, I was disappointed that there was zero teleporting involved. I arrived at the surface, via old fashioned methods, and looked around. I could see a giant ferris wheel, but no giant robot. I found somewhere to sit down and consulted the map.
The giant robot was about 2 minutes to my right, so I started walking. Now, apparently this robot ‘transforms’, but I didn’t see it do that and I wasn’t waiting around to see it do that – I’ve seen a video online though, it’s pretty cool, but not nearly as impressive as I’d had it in my head, so I’m glad I didn’t wait around.
After taking a couple pictures of the gundam, I rounded the corner and walked toward the water. It’s a really nice area, with views across the city and also a Statue of Liberty. Why? I’m not sure. Why does anywhere other than New York have one – Paris maybe makes sense, as they made New York’s, but… It is what it is and what it is is my third Statue of Liberty. I’ve seen New York’s, Paris’ and now Tokyo’s, it’s a fun little game now.
After taking in the view for a while, I headed to the Sensō-ji temple. Tokyo’s oldest. It’s a massive tourist trap, but that doesn’t take away from how impressive it is. I stuck around there until the sun started to go down (I did that on purpose, because I’m all about that sweet sunset shot).
Feeling tired, I started to head back to the AirBnB. Only to see that one of the stops on the metro line I was on was Shibuya. Though I was tired, I stuck it out on the train until I got to the stop and ventured up to the surface, to see what this crossing was all about.
If I wasn’t as tired as I was at this point, I could have probably sat around in awe at the sheer scale of everything, but I was tired, so I crossed at the crossing and ended up buying some Krispy Kreme, because when you see a Krispy Kreme, you buy some Krispy Kreme, that’s the rule, right? #notspon
With my donuts in hand, I headed back underground to get the train back to good ol’ Ikebukuro station, on the platform, while waiting for the train, a girl stopped me. At first, she spoke Japanese, I heard the name of where she wanted to go, but that was it. I told her I only spoke English and that I was sorry.
She came back with some broken English (although, far better than she claimed). She wanted to know what side of the platform she needed to be on for her train. I kept waiting for it to be a scam of some sort, but maybe I’m just so used to Europe.
It was now rush hour on the trains and they were full and I was squashed (along with everyone else). Every stop, the train would stop. No-one would get off and a normal, sane person would think “There’s no room for me on this carriage…”, not the Japanese! Every stop, you’d get shoved into the carriage some more, to make room. Ikekuburo, my station, is the final stop. So everyone gets off there. Which is handy, as you don’t need to fight to the door.
Once back at the AirBnB, I attempted to have an early night, failed and then ended up watching the first episode of E.R on Netlfix. It totally still holds up, in case you were wondering.
Are you actually in Japan though?
16th
Today was Chinese New Year and where better to celebrate it than Japan!
After my failed attempt at sleep last night, I woke up pretty late, around lunch time. I didn’t end up leaving the apartment until around 3pm, when I made my way to Yokohama Chinatown. One of the largest Chinatown’s in the world and the largest in Asia – which… Isn’t China, the largest Chinatown? Any way…
There was a fun atmosphere in Chinatown. There were multiple dragons parading around, going from business to business, eating up red envelopes. After wandering around for a bit and contemplating eating at several restaurants (I decided against it, as my stomach has been a bit dodgy since getting here), I ventured away from Yokohama, aiming for Tokyo Tower.
I think, because it looks so much like the Eiffel Tower, I expected a similar sort of set up and similar surroundings. Like it’d be set in a park, and you’d be able to walk all around it and underneath it, but you can’t. There’s a building underneath it and a car park around it. The building houses the lifts, and also a large food court and shops.
I hadn’t really planned on going up the tower, I just thought it’d be cool to get a picture of at night (and I was right), but once there, I figured, fuck it. Bought myself a ticket and headed up – parts of the viewing areas were closed off due to some kind of refurb going on, but I didn’t know what I was missing, so it didn’t really matter to me.
There was some nice views across the city and seeing it at night added a cool factor.
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| I have a similar picture from the top of The Shard. I like them both. |
Once I was done looking at the city from above, I ventured through the gift shop and down to the food court area, where I grabbed something to eat before heading back to the apartment, where it’s now 3am and I’m still awake.
Doing great at this whole sleep thing here in Tokyo.
Nightmare Street
18th. My plan for today was to get up early, get out early and see more of Tokyo. I woke up early…
I eventually got out of bed around 11am and was out of the apartment by 12pm. Which, is actually the earliest I’ve been out since I got here, so I didn’t do too bad, really. The first stop today – Harajuku Station, to check out the Meiji Shrine and also the Harajuku area in general.
For the Shrine, I kind of expected the same kind of deal as the Senso-ji Temple, just kind off of to the side, amongst more modern buildings, but it was actually set deep into a wooded area. It was a nice walk, and once in there, you definitely didn’t feel like you were in the middle of Tokyo.
I don’t know if it was because it was a weekend or not, but there seemed to be a lot more people at Meiji than were at Senso-ji, though Meiji did have a calmer feel to it, despite the amount of people milling around.
There were prayer things you could buy for around 500 yen, that you wrote your wish/prayer/whatever on and hung it up on a board. I read through some of them, and they’re nice, but I always feel with that kind of thing, that I don’t believe in any of it, so why take part in it? It was the same at Senso-ji. People were lighting incense and stuff, as part of whatever ritual was going on, but to take part in it all feels disingenuous.
I’m happy to observe.
From the shrine, I headed back out of the woods and across to Takeshita Street, a famous street in Harajuku. It was packed and everyone was moving so slowly. It was awful. I did get a crepe though, so not all was lost.
I had planned, after Harajuku to go to Akihabara, but I forgot about that and ended up in Shinjuku instead. Mostly, because I had the image of the Godzilla statue in my head and knew it was there. It took a bit of searching, but I eventually found it.
Was it worth the search? Probably not. But cool to say I’ve seen it all the same.
By this point, it was around 4pm, my eyes were sore and I had a headache coming on. So I decided to head back to the airbnb for a bit, with the idea that I might venture back out to Akihabara. Ultimately though, I opted to just stay in. Took a couple ibuprofen and chilled.
Tomorrow’s plan – Akihabara.
If a 5-year-old drew a fish
19th.
Today I went in search of the Pokemon Centre. I failed to find it and ended up going to the Sunshine Aquarium instead.
The aquarium is located on the roof of one of the buildings in Sunshine City, which is pretty cool. They’ve got a wide array of fish, seals, sea lions, penguins… And almost all of them are in tanks/enclosures that are far too small. Which is sad, but at the same time, probably to be expected for an aquarium that is on the roof of a building.
After a quick tour of the aquarium, I made my way to Akihabara. It was the first time that Google steered me wrong, when it comes to Japanese transport. It told me to get off at a certain stop (that wasn’t Akihabara station), which I did… and it was nowhere near where I wanted to be.
There was a simple fix, jump back on board the train and head to Akihabara Station, I walked around for a bit first, ending up walking through a market, which, if I enjoyed shopping at all, would probably have been pretty cool.
I’m not sure what I expected to do in ‘Electric Town’, but once there, the crowds alone put me off. I ventured into a shop, and almost immediately turned around and came back out. It’s fine if you need something – like I did the first night I was here. I could ignore the crowds and the overstuffed floor layouts, because I was on a mission, but when it comes to just browsing… Nope. I can’t.
I wandered around the general area, taking some pictures along the way and then headed back to the station and got a train back to my airbnb. Once back, I decided to try out the bath.
The bath is extremely short, but also extremely deep. Even with my famously short legs, I couldn’t sit with my legs stretched out in front of me. Still, the depth meant I was able to submerge myself completely, with my legs crossed.
I might go search for the pokemon centre again tomorrow. We’ll see.