Below is a summary of my experiences last October & November when we took our first overseas trip to the lovely country of Japan.Photos are located here.
The purpose of this entry is to log my thoughts of the trip in Japan this year.
Perhaps I can look back one day when my mind is old and weary and see how it went...or it’s for present purposes who knows…
Some General Observations and Notes
Japan is CLEAN. Everything was clean. They also seemed to over employ their stores. Unlike the 2.5 people you find in a Home Depot up here, there would be 10 people per department in each store. Think of Wal Mart or Target Electronics department with 10 employees in it, all engaged, all ready and eager to help out and NOT just to make a sale but truly seeming interested in what the customer is there to do whether it was browsing or buying.
This is all I can think of right now but know I will add more thoughts as I think of them while writing this entry.
One thing I kept saying when we were in Japan is that it’s not that the Japanese are so much smarter than the people at home as far as a society, but with each item or each interaction, there seemed to just be that little step or two further to make things efficient. An example are their hygienic Electronic Washlet toilets. Very clean, functional and in every washroom (most unless you’re unfortunate to find yourself at a traditional Japanese squat toilet) even in public malls or train stations. Things did not seem to be abused or falling apart. Everything was in working order.
Another one of these ‘thought’ items were the washroom stalls. Consisting of full height walls from floor to ceiling. 10 foot high in some cases. The privacy was excellent for your business. In most stores at the entrance, there were stands of plastic sleeves in which you’d slide your closed umbrella into so you could walk in the store and not drip water if there was rain outside all over the stores. Some stores had ‘umbrella shaking devices’ which consisted of two panels with almost a padded fabric between where you would ‘hit’ your umbrella against to shake off the water before you slid your umbrella into one of the plastic sleeves. Speaking of umbrella’s and washrooms. Beside the urinals were always small hooks where you could hang your umbrella while using the urinals. Again just a tiny little bit of thought involved in making things a little more efficient and easy on a person.
While on the washroom theme, while using a washroom (basically a one stall washroom) at a Kentucky Fried Chicken, they had a small seat that you could place your toddler child into while you did your business thus being able to watch your child and were ensured they were safely in this seat attached in the corner of the room. Again just a little bit more thought to things to make life that much easier.
Also in Japan, they had little dishes at the tills where you put your money instead of handing them money. They then pick up the tray, and place the cash into the machine. After that, they then place your change into the dish and hand it back to you. Quirky but nice. Then come the bowing and thank you’s for shopping at our establishment.
Travelling to Japan
We learned one lesson. Rather I learned it as I am the one that basically planned each step of the trip against my wishes to (as it was her trip and not mine) and only did out of the situations we could (and did a few times) face if lost in a foreign land with no english speaking people around. I had to memorize and set things up good. More about that later.
We had our first flights with Air Canada. Now I’ve heard bad stories about the subpar customer service, government like employees of the airline and now actually experienced them.
From the first plane being delayed by over an hour, then two, being told to go through security 2 and eventually 3 times in the ordeal to get things straight, to the woman at the Air Canada ticket kiosk. They took way too long to figure it out and eventually after telling us all the flights were full to Tokyo (Narita Airport) said that we could fly out to Los Angeles and deal with the rerouting there and possibly miss the first night of hotel in Tokyo on our own dime. Finally I asked (as I had done TONS of research on Japan) if there were open seats to the OTHER international airport in Tokyo. The woman was clueless and asked her fellow ticket wicket woman, if there was a code for that airport. Finally she found that there were many open seats to go to Tokyo Haneda airport and so that let us on our way. When we arrived there, it was dark outside and had to hail a cab to drive us to the first hotel (which was 80km north near the first airport, where we were supposed to fly into in the first place).
Even though the cab ride was $250 as it was so far, it was nice to see how the Japanese roads were to drive on, how the speed was, what it was like on the toll highways and due to all my prior research (will keep saying this), I knew where we were going as we were going through it even in pitch black of night. *keep in mind, pitch black doesn’t mean it was midnight or anything, rather it was around 8pm. The sun would set around 5pm as it does at that time of the year*
Travelling back was a whole other ordeal with Air Canada but I think I’ll start commenting on my real thoughts from all the places we visited instead of how this airline is completely disappointing and I would recommend never using them again. Ever.
Narita
Our first hotel was in Narita, a small city north of Tokyo by about an hour and a half. The airport is a short ride from the hotel via shuttle which we took mid morning after arriving the night before.
Narita and area is lovely. It’s very rural just outside the city on the way to Tokyo. This was apparent when taking the train in from the airport once we exchanged our rail passes. There are trees, hilly areas and generally plush surroundings which if one had a lot of time, could spend a while just enjoying the peaceful area. Random Mandarin Orange trees here and there. Outside the hotel was a nice ‘small town’ feeling area. We wandered down a street or two and spotted a woman covered head to toe and spraying her crop of vegetables before we stumbled onto our first experience with a Japanese Vending machine. I bought a wacky coffee out of it and drank it as it was a vending machine that had hot as well as cold drinks (as most did in Japan).
(Note: There weren't many things that were “shocks or surprises” about Japan to me as I had studied up on it for months watching such shows as Begin Japanology and Tokyo Eye and enjoyed lapping up every second of it. I had to do this as it’s apparently the way I prepare for a trip at least to a foreign land. Again didn’t want to get caught in situations unfamiliar to me especially with someone in tow who wouldn’t hesitate to rip a strip off of me for getting us lost on the trip)
Tokyo
Tokyo is a giant metropolis of a city. All the anime shows we’ve seen where it’s just a ‘slice of life’ type of anime proved to be quite accurate. From the busy light posts (clamps and wires and every twisting attached thing you can imagine) to the train stations, to the people. All seemed INSANELY accurate and detailed. That part amused me.
For such a huge centre, there wasn’t smog, there wasn’t a smell or smells that you’ll find in other larger cities I’ve visited. All the vehicles were small cars, trucks, vans or moped / quiet motorcycles. The other things that never smelled were the people. Even when there were a few times we were jammed like sardines in trains (or one bus in Kyoto later on), there was no body odour smells, no farts, nothing. It was not only the trains that were spotless, the people seemed to be as well.
Everyone kept to their own business although the ODD time you’d spot someone catching a glance at you and exchanging a smile but most of the time people just went about their business. There were no people stopping in the middle of an aisle or a sidewalk like they do here unaware that there may be others around them. It was refreshing. Think of Costco on a busy day...yeah you know the types.
All of my preparations helped us easily find our second hotel, first hotel in Tokyo. It was in Minato Ward, a tidy, new little area where it seems that most of the land there is on reclaimed land from the ocean (meaning they MADE the islands to expand their city). We could go walking day or night, together or alone and feel completely safe. I really enjoyed that area of the city. It was such a short walk to Tamachi Station and you could virtually go anywhere from any of these stations.
(If I were to do Japan again, I’d pick one hotel and try to stay there the entire time. That way you can LEARN the station’s layout and becomes old hat. One would think that would put you too far from some destinations in Tokyo but the fact is, the train system is so extensive and efficient that you can get almost anywhere within half an hour or slightly longer, the entire time enjoying the sights and sounds of the stations, the trains and people in general)
Odaiba
(Reclaimed land formed into islands with shopping, convention centres, universities and industry)
The Malls on Odaiba are extensive and large and consist of ‘themes’ in some areas. If you don’t explore each floor of these malls you’ll miss some unique gems that we stumbled upon. (Decks mall had the crazy old video game floor with extensive little shops that cater to collectors or the average person just looking to find unique things to do and buy, HIGHLY recommend. I had an absolute BALL up there and only wish I had my father or brothers with me there as I know they’d enjoy that as much as I did). The GIANT Gundam (Robot) at Gundam Front outside Diver City Mall was as impressive as it was massive. So clean and such a uniquely Japanese attraction. Though I have never been obsessed with the Gundam culture from Japan, I did used to watch some Gundam anime back in my early 20’s when the animation channels used to carry anime here. Patlabor is the anime I recall watching.
While I write this, I am thinking of the weather there at the time we were on that island the first day. It was November 19th and was around +24 degrees celsius out. It was HUMID though. A humidity that would most likely be felt if you lived in California I imagine. I, being one that tends to sweat quite easily found it warm but didn’t care as there was so much to see there and enjoy.
Shinjuku
Known as Kabuki-cho, it’s the nightlife district which is home to many host bars, hotels, bars, and somewhat seedy nightlife (at least in the northern part of Shinjuku). Small office areas with signs stating ‘Guaranteed 18 years old!’ and photos of girls were adorning certain areas. Shinjuku near Shinjuku Station started getting into the shopping / high fashion district that would bleed into Shibuya. We never went further than the station but imagine there to be extensive shopping.
I never expected Shinjuku to be as it is when we made it to our next hotel. The hotel was BEAUTIFUL and new and was at the north end of Shinjuku on the outskirts of the nightlife district. Even though Tokyo is clean and beautiful, this area was a bit more seedy (still clean as far as a bar area you’d find in Canada) but each morning people would be hosing off the sidewalks and streets for a new day (and night) of nightlife. It wasn’t uncomfortable walking around the area but was not like the area we were in prior with all the reclaimed land islands.
I was approached by a pimp of all things the one morning I wandered to a Seven Eleven to withdraw money from the bank machine. He asked if I wanted girls, or anything as he could get me some ‘crazy shit’ if I wanted. I smile and responded with thank you but no thanks. He was a black guy with probably a Southern Island accent (not quite Jamaican, perhaps Barbados? Barbados Pimp?) He was extremely nice and shook my hand and said hey no problem! Enjoy your time in Japan! and went on his way.
*shakes head* (only in Shinjuku)
Capcom Bar
This is a themed bar and restaurant themed after the video game brand Capcom. Such games as Street Fighter, Phoenix Wright, Monster Hunter and so on fall under the umbrella of the brand Capcom.
My experience.
I’ve always been a huge Street Fighter fan ever since we had a Sega Genesis back in the day. Favorite character by far is the Chinese woman named Chun Li, known for her powerful thighs and therefore kick who is both gorgeous, deadly but fair (is a cop as her character). It was great. I was able to order both food from the Street Fighter series (most everything I ate was from Street Fighter) as everything was themed from the games. I ate so much and was so excited about it that later that evening I had a stomach ache, something I have never had before in my life. Totally worth it though. While my partner had food and drink from her favorite games, I interacted with the one server host we had there. He saw my pin from the anime I’m currently enjoying (Yowamushi Pedal) and said in broken english that he watches it too! He then proceeded to step up and down like he was riding his granny bike as the character does in the anime). Then he challenged me to a match of Street Fighter on the Playstation 4 that was mounted on the wall. I picked Chun Li and he picked a female character as well. We had a good few matches but he literally won by ONE hit….at one point i’m sure he thought “oh i’ll beat this guy, how much would he know Street Fighter….” and at one point I did some combo moves to which I heard him utter a very Japanese sounding “ohhhhHHHHH”. One hit man one hit away from beating him lol. It was a good time. Too bad he didn’t speak better english, I could have exchanged emails with the guy lol. I really enjoyed the time there. Highly recommend.
Robot Restaurant
This was excellent. Basically its about $60 per person ($10 more if you want a bento box meal before the show starts) but well worth the price. Picture a highly choreographed Vegas show 3 floors underground with women in costumes (skimpy and non skimpy) and men in robot costumes giving their all in the show of a lifetime. My eyes were popped open the entire time and was extremely enjoyable. If we were to ever go back again, I’d not hesitate to pay again for another show.
Akhiabara
(Note: Anime is Japanese Animation. Manga are basically the comic book version)
Where to begin... it was my hope that once getting off at Akhiabara Station, it wouldn’t be too difficult to figure out where the Otaku and Anime areas would be. It definitely wasn’t as the big red SEGA building called your name. Basically you get off the train and look for the “Akihabara Electric Town Exit” and that’s where you want to go.
We spent a total of 3 or 4 days going through the area. What we thought would be a few stores with Anime and collectables were so much more. Not only were there more items on one floor than in any anime / comic book convention but there were literally floors and floors, buildings after buildings, block after block in all directions….FULL of any kind of toys, figures, pens, pads, stationery, statues, and pretty well anything else marketing wise you can release to sell to people for your anime series...new AND used. There were MANY buildings which had floors full of lexan box display cases (like plexiglass) where a person would sell their goods out of it. All these ‘used’ items were in pristine condition and you would never be able to tell if these were new or used. They were WELL taken care of and so you could purchase things at a fraction of the already good prices they had out there.
One thing I noticed was that with all the anime we get back in Canada, it’s not even 0.1% of the anime that is currently out in Japan. Where we have a manga store with 2 long shelf units both sides full, they have entire stores that encompass entire floors or multiple floors (the size of a Chapters or Barnes and Noble) with nothing BUT manga series. My partner was disappointed the first couple days as all of the series she loves so much were so far out of date that we would have needed to travel to Japan at least 5 or more years ago to find items from the shows she liked (she had more luck once we found those used areas). I however had my Yowamushi Pedal which is currently out in Japan to look forward to as far as purchasing items from it. There also were other items in which I was interested in so it was definitely enjoyable for me.
Kotobukiya, a high quality Japanese based figure and collectible store was mind bogglingly impressive with the amount of items they had. Floors and floors in such a small store. AWESOME.
Super Potato was another store that was awesome. Floors and floors of video game machines from the late 70’s, early 80’s and right up to the present day. All the systems of course were in Japanese but I could recognize many of them as we had them here as well. There were systems in which you would NEVER be able to track down here that were still in their boxes or wrapped when new and never unwrapped and available for purchase. Collectibles in every corner of that store. I would go back in a second as well and explore it more thoroughly even though we did a pretty good job of that this time.
Gachapon (Capsule Toys)
There is a famous store that is solid capsule toy machines. Now a side note. The store was great but definitely shows it’s age. I recommend this to anyone heading out there although with one caveat. Little did we know, but you can find these machines everywhere. In Yodobashi Camera (more about that store later), in alleys, outside stores, inside malls and so on. If you weren’t to visit this shop (Gachapon Kaikan), you would be able to find capsule toy machines elsewhere. Definitely a fun thing to do though as they are small tiny toys that you assemble and can be quite collectible. A set I purchased for my partner in 2007 online for $14 for 5, each one is now worth well over $50 EACH...who knew. It IS fun however when you’re looking to get that ONE little figurine you want (for instance myself? Street fighter ones, the ladies).
I think if I were to go back, I’d immerse myself a bit more in different NEW anime series and see what I liked before going back. Then one could purchase items from shows that you actually know, heard of, and like. I found it enjoyable though. Just seeing all the collections of things and items you could purchase reminded me of hitting garage sales as a kid with dad where we’d be hunting for Star Trek or Archie toys and collectibles.
Mitaka (Tokyo) and The Ghibli Museum
I have enjoyed Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, both movies created by the same studio. This was a must for our trip and was very enjoyable not only for the museum.
We took a train (of course) to the City of Mitaka which is basically part of Tokyo and walked to the museum through streets with small businesses as well as purely residential streets. Mitaka was so beautiful and quiet. People riding bicycles would go back and forth as you walked towards the giant (for a city in Japan) park that the museum resides in. We spotted Orange trees and a GIANT spider (on the way back) but was so peaceful after being used to the business of Tokyo (not that Tokyo is loud for a big city).
I would have loved to explore the area a lot more and perhaps had I had another chance and not another person in tow, I would have explored and even stayed a night or two in Mitaka. One of the funniest parts was when we arrived at the station, it was around lunch time and I was hungry and so went into a Kentucky Fried Chicken (why not) and ordered a wrap and french fries. We sat on a small concrete curb that was on the outside of a massive bicycle parking area on the way to the museum and ate the food. A woman pushing her baby past us walked by and the baby’s face was priceless. He stared at me, mouth agape and eyes HUGE. I laughed and waved at the baby and when I did the baby’s mother laughed and kept walking. Never seen a white guy eating chicken in Japan have you?! So great.
The museum itself was nestled in a giant park with very high trees. It was both plush and warm. There were a lot of people waiting to get into the museum but was not bad at all. People tended to walk in an orderly fashion around all the floors of the museum. Looking back, I wish we would have went up to the roof as there is apparently a rooftop garden. I had no idea! Oh well.
I really found that I enjoyed the upstairs portion of the museum the most. It had drawing rooms with sketchbooks and drawings including storyboards from the movies. Looking at all the reference books they had to go from just echo’s what I hear from other professional artists and semi-professional artists and how they stress reference as key to their being able to do their art. I always thought a good artist just could create from their mind but the truth is it’s reference that makes it that much more believable. This was a treat to see.
I purchased a few items from there including film strip from Spirited Away and have it up in my display case. I highly recommend going to the museum.
Tokyo Skytree
The skytree was fairly typical of a high tower in any large city be it CN Tower in Toronto or the Empire State Building in Manhattan. The view was pretty nice although it was a cloudy day. There were many people there but not nearly as crowded as it was in the Empire State Building but that is understandable since the Empire State building is older and they probably designed the Skytree to hold 1000 people or more at once. After the skytree, we ate in a food court level below and then hit up the gift shop. It was nice but would not need to go to it again as it’s just a tower to view buildings that all start blending into one another after a while.
Travelling to Kyoto via Shinkansen (Bullet Train) & Kyoto Station
We had stopped by Tokyo Station one time when around Akihabara to reserve our seats on the Shinkansen for our trip down to Kyoto. It was nice as the cost was free as it was included in our Japan Rail passes we had purchased prior and had been using the entire time save but for a few subway/train rides (which are run by other railways).
Besides hauling our now filled luggage, the trip wasn’t too bad. We were early at the station and able to get on the Shinkansen with little to no trouble besides an old lady trying to steal our reserved space behind our seats.
The trip itself was fast. A little over 2 hours with stops along the way. We travelled over 500 km and was basically like riding on a plane on the ground. It was smooth and FAST. I needed to take some motion sickness pills as everything seems to fly by you so fast (when it’s close) that it causes you to not be able to focus on things thus feeling nauseas. It wasn’t bad though and found myself alright shortly after.
Arriving at Kyoto station was alright too. I figured a way to get out to our hotel and walked there with our luggage in tow to drop it off as we were early for check-in. They stored our luggage (as what seemed to be normal there) and we went back to Kyoto station to explore and get a handle on where things are in Japan’s third largest building.
The station is very nice, clean but full of people. I had a Donut and an Ice Cream and we sat for a bit on one of the floors. We later explored around the outside of the station. Kyoto station is interesting as most of Japan is in that there are giant areas of the station that are just open to the outside. It’s not quite like here where you have clear doorways and divisions from ‘inside’ to ‘outside’.
Very elaborate shopping areas are underground for miles at that station and it would be VERY confusing if you had thought you could just find your way through on one go. I suggested we walk in these areas and go up the various stairwells and pop our heads out (like a groundhog) to see where we were and then go back in. Smart move as it helped later on greatly. I ended up using the tunnel system later on when I would go out myself to pick up a few things. It was nice, our hotel was only around a 10 minute walk from the station so was very handy. One could also take the subway for a brief 3 stop (5 minute) trip to the station.
Castles, Temples and the Imperial Palace
Our tour guide met us in the hotel lobby. She came running in telling us she was sorry and that her train from Osaka was running late and she RAN FROM THE STATION..Kyoto station that is...not that it’s that far but still enough to run!? Wow. AND the funny thing is, she wasn’t even late. She was still 10-15 minutes early!!
I won’t go into extreme detail here about each and every castle, temple and palace. In general terms, they were interesting. Plenty of history, plenty of culture and beautiful well kept grounds and buildings. A common theme was “this building unfortunately burned down in the 1400’s but was rebuilt in the late 1400’s...so it’s not as new….which struck me as funny as it is still older than anything in Canada.
Our tour guide was fantastic. We took the bus through the city to the golden pavillion for one. Afterward, we went to a traditional Soba Noodle restaurant. I ate buckwheat Soba noodles and a raw egg and some kind of sauce on them. We went temple to temple, from the city into the mountains and back again. Kyoto is surrounded by mountains in 3 sides.
The International Manga Museum
We took the subway from our hotel to the station near the museum. Probably cost 280 yen ($2.80) and took around 12 minutes. Such a good system in Kyoto as well.
It was a beautiful day out and we found it very easily. It was in an old primary school and was very well kept and clean (as everything else in Japan seemed to be)
I thought it was really neat and quiet. There were people wandering around the building, flipping through some of the literally thousands of manga issues on the shelves both from Japan and around the world in many different languages. There were also people laying on the lawn out front reading their Manga in the sunshine. Great to see. Wish I had taken more photographs now that I think of it but at least in the museum it wasn’t allowed.
They had displays of famous manga artists, castings of how they hold their pens/pencils, galleries of certain manga artists, one artist who I swear, couldn’t draw anything but the same face 42000 times and all horrible but I digress.
They had a history of manga in the centre of a large room which housed collectibles from various series. The whole place was neat as far as a museum as I am NOT a fan of museums….I figure once I see it, I never have to ever see it again (and it’s a good thing) although this museum was neat and if they changed exhibits now and then I can see if people went back more than once.
Hiiragiya Ryokan - Traditional Inn
This was our “traditional inn” in which we stayed for 3 nights. They include two meals a day which they have women in kimono’s bring you and the meals have many courses. There is also a certain woman who is ‘assigned’ to take care of you be it for meals, removing the beds, preparing the beds and so on.
First of all I want to start with the positives.
I will say that the young woman who waited on us was extremely kind, gentle, and a beautiful Japanese girl probably anywhere in the age range of 18-26. I think she was happy to converse with just ‘normal’ people and not the typical people that will usually stay at one of these places such as politicians, and other upper muckety mucks. The ‘common’ person doesn’t stay there and I noticed a few interactions with these other pompous assholes that just reiterated that this place was a bit (or a zillion miles) too rich for my blood (or learned manners). We were checking into the inn and a person, a man, was after us and started yelling at the staff to get serving him. Come on! I’m here, hello?! What’s with the hold up..and had some type of accent. Later on when we talked with Kay (as our girl went by) it was apparent that she was getting more and more comfortable and open with us discussion wise, showed her photos of home, our stinky puppy and also talked about our experiences so far in her country including how I LOVED Seven Eleven’s there and had to try their limited time pumpkin creme filled Halloween puffs. She too had tried these and was excited to talk (I think) about normal things. She was ever so excited and ecstatic when we gave her our gift from Canada for her consisting of two Tim Horton’s travel mugs and a pound of dark roast coffee. As it’s only (mostly) from Canada she not only was excited but exclaimed “but I don’t have a boyfriend!!!” referring to the fact that we handed her two mugs. Only in Japan would a woman that nice, that kind, that sweet and that beautiful be single, swear to God. I miss our interactions with her and hope she’s doing well.
Now onto the review of the place itself. Basically it consists of a large room where you spend most of your time. It is transformed come bedtime by having roll out bedding on the floor (which was way more comfortable than I had thought would be) and the floor itself was Tatami Mats.
There were a few other parts to the room including a traditional Japanese Bath made out of wood (Japanese Cypress) where first you showered off on a stool and then climbed into the warm tub. Although the building was beautiful in a sense (kind of like a museum), and the people kind, the price to pay per night was a crime. IF you are the type who needs to feel like a king or queen, and has money to set fire to, by all means I recommend you stay there. Sure we ate traditional Japanese food there, but nothing and I mean NOTHING is worth the price paid per night.
(Do still miss Kei though, she was sweet and I regret not getting a photo with her)
Teramachi Street
Teramachi Street was an interesting street. It’s basically a shopping arcade that is open air but covered with a long roof and only allows walking traffic. There are many of these types of streets throughout cities in Japan and some are focused more on food. This one was focused more on typical retail and small shops, restaurants and cafe’s. I recommend wandering through these streets as you never know what you will find as far as stores or even people watching.
On TV in Bento&Co.
This was an interesting experience! A woman came up to us in the street mentioned above and asked if we had a few moments to speak with her about Bento boxes. I said SURE! and we were whisked off on foot to a business called Bento&Co. In came a cameraman and producer, the woman translating the whole time and asking us questions. They were not only surprised but blown away that we even knew what bento boxes were and that we own one each back home in Canada. I had fun with it and some day I WILL find the video footage...
In summary
Now I don’t want to sound pompous here but I fully believe the main reason why our trip went so well and had little to no incidents was due to the extensive planning during the few months leading up to our trip out there. I’d spend HOURS on Google Street View, looking up items using Google Chrome as it can translate for you as you surf the internet. Checking hotels, reviews, watching endless hours of video’s and printing the crazy map books I had and used multiple times. Also even though I had no sim card in my phone, my GPS worked on my phone and that really helped get around once I figured that out.
I tend to think that this could have been a much worse trip had I not spent hundreds of hours preparing for it and with all the resources Google has to help, it was the perfect time to head to a country where I spoke not one word of their language.
I would absolutely recommend Japan to anyone and would even go as far to say I would go again in the future.
