Gung hei faat choi

It’s the Chinese new year again, so hope the folks who celebrate it start the year off on a positive note.  Hope you all have a prosperous and lucky year!

Tokyo – Day 8 & closing thoughts

Well, the end of my whirlwind trip had arrived.  My bags were packed and the check out was almost immediate. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay with the Tokyo Green Ochanomizu Hotel; the service was efficient, friendly, very reasonably priced, and based in a great location.  Consider this place if you’re travelling to Tokyo.

Since I had a suitcase to lug to Shinjuku station, I decided to use Akihabara station since it’s a complete flat walk as opposed to the uphill climb to Ochanomizu station.  Akihabara’s streets were more or less dead as expected for 7:30 in the morning, a stark contrast to how it normally is.  The station was fairly busy though, with all sorts of people using the line; there doesn’t seem to be a day where Tokyo switches off and as such, it’s always full of life.  There weren’t many seats on the express train so I decided to stand since it was only a short hop away.  Getting to Shinjuku, I had to work out where the Narita Limousine Bus station was and took a chance on it being next to the other bus stops and thankfully it was.  After lugging the suitcase up a flight of stairs, I realised there was an elevator to my left…

A coach had just pulled up and had a lengthy queue of people waiting for the service.  I quickly made my way to the counter to buy a ticket, but the guy said that the next two coaches were already fully booked and I’d have to wait until 8:45am for the next available service.  My flight was due to leave at 11am so I considered my options of either waiting or catching a train.  I could always go and have some breakfast and come back since I’d have a space reserved, or risk the trains with a large heavy suitcase.  I decided to go with the coach and bought a ticket.  Somebody up above liked me because there were a few no-shows and they were able to squeeze me on board, so away we went to Narita airport.

It was absolute mayhem trying to leave Tokyo and with it being the weekend, I assume everybody else had the same idea on their minds.  We passed by Roppongi but I didn’t recognise any other locations.  There was a really adorable Indian little girl sat in the seat in front of me, who I was making faces with back and forth for most of the journey.  Sat next to me was a white guy, not really sure of his nationality but he was from somewhere in Europe after I had a brief chat with him regarding Narita security.  We’d just arrived and security personnel boarded the coach, asking to look at everybody’s passports – all very strict.  There are only two terminals at Narita though they’re quite a distance from each other so make sure you’re at the right one and thankfully, I was!  I decided to have a quick smoke before entering since I wasn’t sure whether I’d have another chance until arriving at London Heathrow in Blighty.  Jimbo reassured me that there would be a smoking room of some sort inside the airport, since “it’s Japan, and people would be killing each other if there wasn’t”.  Check-in was largely empty, with two white guys rearranging and dumping luggage to try and get it within the weight limits.  I passed them by and checked myself in (in English) and then came something which threw me completely off.  The lady asked me if I had any lighters packed in my suitcase, and obviously I did, not wanting a repeat of my trip to Vegas with yet another limited edition Zippo.  The lady asked me to remove them and carry them on my person or in my hand luggage instead!  Not wanting to be refused on the flight, I obliged and did as she requested.  I was told I would have a window seat towards the rear of the plane which was nice since I like being able to see the outside world.

Moving on to security, it was very strict with me having to remove my laptop from the bag before x-ray, something I’ve never had to do before.  I always cringe when I have to go through airport security, though I had nothing iffy on me this time so nothing to fear!

On the other side, there was very little in the way of duty free or even places to eat or relax, compared to Britain’s larger airports.  I’ve found this to be a similar situation at most large airports around the world, with Hong Kong’s new one being an exception.  I still had about 30 minutes before the boarding gate opened so I took the opportunity to stock up on some cigarettes for myself and some sake for some people back at home.  It was only 2000 Yen (£10 or so) for 200 Mild Seven 6s, so I now had 600 coming back to the UK with me.  I bought some duty free special sake for 2000 Yen a bottle as well, which sorted me out souvenirs wise for friends and family.  Getting rather peckish, there was a McDonalds in the terminal serving breakfast so I bought myself a bacon & egg McMuffin and do you know what, it’s the best McMuffin I’ve had in years!  The bacon is the old, gammon style that we used to have in Blighty which I find much nicer than the gristley real style bacon they serve now.  Wolfing it down, I quickly made my way to the boarding gate which happened to be one of the last in the terminal.  Boarding had already begun but there was a conveniently located smoking room to the left so I took the chance to have a quick one.  Smoking rooms in Japan are horrible places, with little to no ventilation and it really is like the smoking facilities you see in movies from the 70s.  All stocked up on nicotine, I joined the queue to board where a security guy asked me how long I’d spent in Japan.  It was an odd question to be asked by security I thought and I wasn’t sure if he was making conversation or asking me a deadly serious question.  I told him I’d been in the country for 8 days on holiday and then he ushered me on my way.

Boarding, I found I was located near the rear of the plane and there was somebody sat in my seat!  The Japanese girl spoke American English and apologised, moving to her actual seat in front of me.  In hindsight, I regret making her move because the flight departed with quite a few empty seats, with one right next to her (one guy had an entire row of 4 to himself, allowing him to lie down to sleep).  I was sat next to an older lady, who kept herself to herself.  I was thankful for this because as much as I enjoyed Ged’s company on the flight into Japan, it left me absolutely fucked because I couldn’t sleep or get any rest.  The flight left a little late and the quoted time in the air was close to the 12 hours, with an arrival time of 3pm at Heathrow.  The stewardesses on the flight were much prettier compared to the one going into Japan, with one in particular standing out amongst the rest (I think her name was Naoko or something similar).  I didn’t do much on the flight apart from sleep and pen a few blog entries, which actually helped the time pass by very quickly.  The food was decent, but I can only remember the one meal I had which was a meatball pasta.  They had the bento again but I thought I’d mix it up a little.  There was a baby on the flight who was seriously testing out her lungs and did not let up for most of the journey; I can’t really complain because I was apparently a bad traveller as a baby too.  Flying into London afforded some fantastic views of the city, with the landmarks being clearly visible.

We pretty much landed at Heathrow on time but it was absolute chaos getting through passport control and that was with a British one!  Once through, I was officially back and simply had to wait for my luggage and Kiyomi.

Tadaimasu – I am home now.

Closing thoughts

Damn, I miss Tokyo.  I seriously miss Tokyo.

As one of the world’s supercities, it gets so many things right and so few things wrong.  It truly has a romanticised feel to it (for me at least) and feels like a living, breathing city.  Each area has its own flavour and feel and is something that I feel a lot of cities are slowly losing about them; London for example just feels the same everywhere bar a few unique parts like Camden, or Canary Wharf.  It’s very much a place designed for people and doesn’t feel like a rat race where ever you go, with an efficient rail infrastructure connecting it all.  Trains are reliable, clean, and relatively comfortable given the time of day you travel.

The people have to be the stars of the show for me.  Everybody was so accommodating in all aspects, and it was a pleasure to interact with such a gentle society.  Kiyomi and her friend Natsumi both asked me how Tokyo-ites treated me whilst I was out there and I had nothing but praise for them.  They were both quite surprised by this because people of Tokyo are known to be cold and ruthless, much like their counterparts in London or New York.  I never saw any sign of this and people had as much respect for each other as they did for me.  Regarding the English language thing, learn some phrases and words before you go and they will serve you well.  Few people speak decent English and the further you get from tourist areas, the worse it gets but even with that, they were all more than helpful with trying to get me to where I needed to go.  Those that did speak decent English really enjoyed the opportunity and if you want to really make their day, compliment them.  Japan is steeped with tradition and there are loads of societal taboos which you should be concious of.  If you’re ever unsure of what to do in a particular situation, do what others around you do because observation really is key.  Culture shock does exist and I saw so many Western tourists who just couldn’t get their heads around certain customs.  It’s not for everybody and having seen it first hand, it is easier to empathise with Bill Murray in Lost in Translation.

The food in Tokyo was fantastic and quite rightly so for a city which now boasts more Michelin stars than Paris.  I tried as much variety of food as possible, but my two favourite meals were ramen and curry rice.  I’m very much a comfort food kind of guy and these two warm, hearty dishes were like heaven for me.  Portions can err on the small side at times, with few opportunities to increase the size, even at fastfood places.  Tokyo has London beat on eating out for price, quality, and variety.  Try everything because you may never get the opportunity again.  Hygiene in Tokyo is fantastic and never did I once question whether I’d get food poisoning or not, even with the chicken sashimi.  Drinking in Tokyo is a bit of a mixed bag but then I didn’t do much of it to be fair.  It can be expensive and like food, portions tend to be smaller, but if you drink where the locals go then you shouldn’t be stung too badly.

I found shopping to be better in Hong Kong for prices, but you can’t beat Tokyo for variety.  There was too much choice at times, especially for electronics.  Clothes are typically more expensive if you go after the typical Western brands and designers, but there are some great Japanese brands to be had at decent prices and great quality.  With a more powerful Yen, bargain hunting will be a difficult task for the next few months at least.

Since coming back to the UK, I’ve not been able to stop thinking about Japan and Tokyo.  As bizarre as it may sound, my trip there was almost a pilgrimage of sorts, being able to experience all the sights, sounds, and tastes that I’ve only ever received third party accounts for.  People have asked me if I would ever consider going out to Japan alone again and now, it’s the only way I would consider doing it, unless I went with friends who could appreciate it as much as I do.  Yes, I am being an elitist snob but that’s just the way I’ve become about the nation which receives so much fascination from me.  For others, it’s merely an unusual novelty.  Could I ever live and work out there?  Jimothy and Keiko seem to think so.  The way the UK is heading, it would be the saner choice.  I’m not getting any younger either and I have no ties to keep me down right now.  A colleague of mine has always wanted to live and work in France or Italy and he had the chance when he was a lot younger.  He now has a family to look after and regrets not taking the opportunity when it was there.  All I need is one push…

Thank you all for checking my accounts.  I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them, even if it’s taken nearly a month after returning to complete it all!

Tokyo – Day 7

My, my, my how time flies when you’re having fun.  I really was not looking forward to this day, because it meant I would have to leave the land of the rising sun so very soon.  To top things off, it was also my birthday so I was officially in mid-20s territory.

The original intent was to get up super early to check out Tsukiji fish market, but that plan went out the window due to aclimatising to the local time zone (damn body clock).  Anywho, I still left the hotel at a reasonable time of 9am for my final day of sight-seeing.  I went for a stroll towards Akihabara to get some earphones as gifts for Leo and my brother.  The place was dead that early in the day, which made for a relaxing shopping experience.  On my way back to Akiba station, I noticed a Kotobukiya store.  Intrigued, I decided to pop inside since Kotobukiya make some of the most gorgeous anime figures out there, most of which are based on existing garage kits or are commissioned pieces by some of the industry’s best sculptors.  Looking around, I was somewhat disappointed because it wasn’t an official Kotobukiya store as such, merely one which shared the same name as the company.  It was a generic anime and manga merchandise store, though they did carry some rather rare goods.  I had a look at their Evangelion section which was brim with such lovelies like a Sachiel tie (very cool) and some of the super rare Zippo lighters, like the Seele one, and the Nerv one in chrome.  I thought it’d be rude not to indulge in the Nerv Zippo, even if it came to 10, 000 Yen (£50 or so).  I handed over the cash and wanting to use it immediately, I asked the sales assistant if there was anywhere near by to get some lighter fluid.  He said, “Just a moment please”, and went round to the back and filled it up for me with some official Zippo fuel!  Absolutely fantastic service and I’m so glad I popped in, even if my wallet wasn’t.

Heading back to Akiba station, I made my way towards Asakusa.  Sawa and Jimothy had both recommended I swing by for a visit since it’s really the only part of Tokyo which resembles the traditional Edo period.

It immediately hits you that this part of Tokyo is a little different from the rest.  There’s nothing particularly big or flashy, and you even exit via a side street before you hit the main road.  The main road I stepped on to had loads of little shops, selling mostly fruits, vegetables, and groceries.  I wasn’t too sure what to make of Asakusa until I ventured down the road a bit more and saw the Kaminarimon (thunder gate) to the Senso-ji, a Bhuddist temple.  Things were livening up, with everybody and their dog flocking towards this temple entrance.

It was still early in the day but everybody was out to visit the Senso-ji from high school kids, to tourists, to locals who do it every week.  There are several long rows of shops selling all manner of goods, some selling traditional Japanese handy crafts, Japanese and exotic swords, and Gundam models of all things!  It was clearly a tourist trap, but a good one at that.

It wasn’t until I got closer to the Senso-ji that a sense of familiarity hit me, and I soon realised that I was at the temple from the giant statue arc in Gantz!  It was an impressive sight, though Gantz definitely got the scale slightly wrong since the statues were roughly 12ft in height, whereas they were portrayed to be absolutely ginormous in the anime.  I took plenty of snaps of the surrounding architecture, as did everybody else.

Had my mum have been with me, I probably would have joined her in the ritual.  People were inhaling the incense smoke, and then would head over to a fountain to cleanse themselves.  Having only one of each, there was a considerable queue and crowd to tackle before getting to the front of the line.

There’s not a lot to say about the place in all honesty, so I’ll let my photos do all the talking.

After finishing my tour of the place, I decided to revisit Shibuya on a nice day.  The sun was really out in full force with blue skies aplenty.  I had another coffee at the scramble crossing Starbucks so that I could take some photos without all the umbrellas springing up.

I decided to get another t-shirt from Design Graphiph and ended up with one saying “Drink water”.  Whilst there, I noticed a particular shirt with a print of an SLR camera on the front with the straps going around the neck as if it was real.  I picked this one up for Khang because it just seemed so appropriate.  I continued to walk around for a while and stumbled across some Google event involving hundreds of balloons, all in Google colours.  I hung around for a bit on the opposite side of the street hoping something would happen but it never did, so I walked over to ask them what was going on.  They roughly explained that the balloons were to lift people into the air, for a fee; not sure where the money would have gone to but that was the rationale behind it all.

Having had enough of Shibuya, I wandered back to the station and made my way towards Harajuku.  I wanted to visit Meiji-jingu again on a quiet day, and also Omottesando in daylight.  Getting off at Meiji station and after a rather lengthy walk underground, I came to realise that Harajuku station is actually closer to Meiji-jingu (the entrance that I entered through at least).  Deciding to leave the shrine until last, I went for a walk through Harajuku.  The place was the same as when Jimbo and I had visited on Sunday and seemed just as busy, with just as many tourists.  Working my way to Omottesando, it looked completely different in the day and to me seemed trendier than Shibuya, with stores like Tommy Hilfiger, Levis, and other brand names.  There was even a bizarre Audi showroom where somebody obviously didn’t have a spirit level.

What did amuse me was that Sir Alan Green had obviously seen the success of the H&M group in Ginza and thought he’d do the same with his Topshop and Topman brands.  Like Jimbo, I can’t see the fascination behind these British high street brands unless they’re offering a product which is cheaper than the competition.  But then I suppose it could be exactly the same as the whole Krispy Kreme situation in Shinjuku, with everybody wanting what is hard to come by.  Should another Krispy Kreme open up somewhere else in Tokyo, I’m fairly certain that the overall popularity of the brand would wane.

Having had enough of Tokyo’s trendsetters, I wandered back over to Meiji-jingu for some spiritual calm and tranquility.  The place was very quiet with very few people around, the majority of which being tourists like myself.  Once again, I went through the motions of washing my left hand, then my right, and I chose to sip a bit of the water this time (tasted a bit earthy).  I thought I’d pay the shrine a visit since it was my birthday, so I thought I’d take a moment to be thankful for everything I had.  The gravity of the day became a bit much at one point causing me to well up slightly; I really didn’t want to go back home and I wouldn’t be able to see my friends again until April 2009 at the earliest.  Passing on it the first time, I decided to write a message on an ema board for 500 Yen.  Because it was my birthday, I thought I’d give it a shot since it had more likelihood of coming true (I’ve seen shit like Home Alone and other similar movies, I know how it works).  Not gonna say what I jotted down, but it was for all the significant people in my life.  I sat down towards the side of the shrine and ended up spacing out for maybe 20 minutes.

I thought I’d head back to Ochanomizu to get a little bit of packing done since I had to be up at 6ish the following morning to begin the journey back to Blighty.  I had maybe 90 minutes before I was due to meet Keiko at Shinjuku’s South gate, so I took my time.  Ended up receiving a call from a mystery Japanese number which turned out to be Kiyomi, who was staying with her friend in Narita.  I was due to pick her up from Heathrow the following day since our flights would be landing within an hour of each other.  Anywho, time flew by and it was time to head out to Shinjuku.

It was a warm evening, one of the warmest since I’d been in Japan that week.  I wound up being early since I’d caught the express train so I took a stroll over to Takashimaya department store and Tokyu Hands.  I wanted to pick up a pad of writing paper and some rollerball pens for the plane journey home where I wanted to jot a few things down towards this here trip report.  Even at night, Tokyu Hands was still full of people so I had a peruse over their pens which were all amazingly priced; the same rollerball pen would have cost me at least £1.50 here in the UK whereas in Tokyo, it was a mere 120 Yen (60p).  I mozied on over to the South gate where a jazz funk band had started busking, and they weren’t bad either.  A drunken middle age guy (think of the guy who started harassing Hérmes in Densha) started screaming at them, presumably telling them to pipe down.  Keiko was a little bit late, so I did some more people watching to pass the time.  Keiko eventually turned up and we chatted for a while whilst waiting for Jimothy, who wasn’t far behind.  He soon turned up and so began our evening and “the last supper”.

Finding an izakaya on a Friday night in Shinjuku is no easy task and the first place we went was absolutely chock-a-block.  A guy outside, poaching for a rival izakaya approached us and we agreed to go for it.  Taking us inside, we had a 20-30 minutes wait before our booth became free and desperate for a smoke, I ventured outside.  It seems finding a place to smoke on Shinjuku’s streets is actually harder than finding said quiet izakaya.  I eventually ended up just having a crafty cigarette down a quiet alleyway where another nicotine starved man joined me.  Once I’d finished, I realised I had absolutely no idea where I was in relation to the izakaya anymore!  I circled the block twice and whilst I recognised a number of stores and restaurants, I couldn’t remember which street to go down to reach the building the izakaya was located in.  Since I’d been gone for so long, Keiko thought I had gotten lost but Jimothy reassured her that I was OK, only to receive a phone call from me begging for help haha…  Upon my return, our booth had freed up so we were lead inside.  The decor was quite nice, resembling an outdoor Japanese style garden.  They were offering all you can drink for 90 minutes at only 1500 Yen (£7.50) so we all made sure to have at least 3 drinks each to cover the charge.  We ordered typical izakaya style food, with sashimi, yakisoba, dumplings, and so on.  As always, the topic of discussion was varied and ranged from me possibly teaching English in Japan, to Jimothy and Keiko naming their potential male offspring, Enzo (like Enzo Ferrari).  Keiko was also dying for a cigarette and whilst I offered her one, her steely resolve stopped her from partaking and after her recent (possibly still current?) illness, I’m glad she resisted.  The price was very reasonable for the three of us, totting up to 12, 000 Yen (£60 or so) and I think we all had our fill of drinks and eats.

Sadly, the time had come to say farewell to Jim-bob and Keiko.  Leading up to my trip, each day brought me closer to being able to see my friends but at the same time, brought me closer to this moment.  I’m not good with goodbyes and after a few hugs and exchanges, we went our separate ways.  Whilst on the platform waiting for my train, a guy had thrown up and had fallen asleep in a pool of his own vomit, leaving a memorable end to the emotional evening.

Photos of the day can be found here, here, and here.

Tomorrow, I would bid farewell to Tokyo and Japan, and thus will be the final part of my trip report as well as some closing thoughts.

Yokohama – Day 6

After a night of wanting to throw up due to the room spinning, I woke up with a stinking hangover.  Jim-bob was also suffering and definitely in a state far worse than me.  Keiko didn’t hear us return, thankfully, but did later comment that Jimothy’s snoring did wake her up and despite being pushed and prodded, he was dead to the world hehe.

The day was gorgeous by British standards (and probably by Japanese standards, given the days before), with blue skies and a temperature of around 25 degrees.  Since we were both feeling fragile, we took it easy that morning and went for a casual stroll around the neighbourhood. Being the geeks that we are, an arcade was our first port of call.  It was incredibly priced, with Initial D costing only 100 Yen (50p or so).  It was also incredibly dead so I continued to load the machine up with the monies until the ushii came home.  Jimbo played some Virtua Cop 3 and something else that I don’t recall.  We found another arcade where Jimothy showed me his music game skills and had a few goes on Drum Mania, Guitar Freaks, and Beat Mania; don’t ask me to tell you the versions, I have absolutely no idea.  We made our way to the station where somehow, we ended up talking about women’s underwear for some reason or another.

To Yokohama we ventured, where we had arranged to meet Chikara.  Sawa and Keiko were after new laptops and we were going to have a goosey-gander in Yodobashi Camera for some netbooks from Asus, Acer, and so on.  We waited around by the street level entrance, but the usually punctual Chikara was late (shock horror!), so we took some photos to pass the time.  I’m actually very impressed with Jim-bob’s composition work, and a few of his shots on my SLR have impressed me.  Chikara eventually turned up and we made our way to Sogo for lunch.  Sogo is one of my favourite department stores, with my first introduction to the chain in Hong Kong.  There was a store in London many, many years ago, but that was taken over by Virgin, and it’s now an empty shop lot.  Once again, the department stores in Japan are all very plush and full-fat affairs, with the restaurant section on the top floor resembling an outdoor water and rock garden of sorts – all very intricate.  Chikara took us to his favourite ramen restaurant where we all had the regular ramen, with Jimbo and Chikara opting for their salt soup base (a house special) and shoyu soup base for myself.  The ramen was superb and not badly priced at 3200 Yen (£16) for the 3 of us.

After lunch, we had a look at the rooftop where there was some astroturf for football and a view of Yokohama Bay, which wasn’t all that impressive.  We returned to Yodobashi Camera for a look around and it really is heaven on Earth for geeks.  Looking at the mobile phones, I was thoroughly impressed by the variety available.  I even saw the phone which inspired the look of Tony Stark’s phone in Iron Man (the flippy-swivelly one).  According to Jimbo, the reason why there are so many phones on the Japanese market is due to everybody wanting largely the same features, but in a certain colour or a certain style; on Softbank for example, the new Panna (?) was available in at least 10 different colours.  The floor of camera equipment was also a sight to behold, squeezing the Birmingham branch of Jessops (second largest in the UK) into what is an electronics department store, with far more on the shelves at that.  During our perusal of the store, the highly addictive Yodobashi Camera theme (reworked Battle Hymn of the Republic) was playing on a loop:

After our geek-out, we decided to do some touring of Yokohama and headed over to the Sea Bass (Sea Bus) station.  The Sea Bass is simply a boat which takes you across Yokohama Bay and affords some great photo opportunities of the Bay Bridge and Landmark Tower.  Out came the camera no less…

We were all diseased or injured, with Chikara suffering from a sore knee, Jimbo with a sore throat, and me with a sore ankle.  All day long, we were chanting “my foot”, “my throat”, “my knee”, trying to get sympathy from the public and each other.  I miss the banter…

We arrived on the other side of the bay which looked fantastically shiney and new.  Got some great views of the ferris wheel, made famous for me by the wonderful anime, “Honey & Clover”.  Leo would have loved it and it made me feel some nostalgia for the Summer of 2005.

The area was amass with shopping complexes, restaurants, conference halls, and sculptures.  In many ways, this particular part of Yokohama reminded me of the redeveloped parts of Manchester or the London Docklands as Jimothy’s already pointed out on his blog.  It was lovely to just walk around, taking in the sights and sounds.  Chikara mentioned that at Christmas, there is a massive tree indoors which is supposed to look absolutely stunning.  They don’t do things by halves in Japan it seems.  There was also a weird and whacky piece of installation art of a lad about to do the high dive…

I’ve already talked about having to pay to go to the top of Tokyo Tower in Roppongi and it’s no different for Landmark Tower, though at 1000 Yen a pop, we decided to give it a miss.  I kind of regret that decision now because it was such a nice day and it would have been a nice opportunity to take some photos which weren’t cloudy and overcast.  Apparently, there was also a Pokémon store inside the shopping complex for the tower; I know some folks who would have creamed themselves to have been able to set foot inside.

The 3 of us decided to make our way towards the Nippon Maru, which had opted to close in the next few minutes.  Due to meet Keiko after she finished work for the day, we headed in that direction, passing a baseball stadium (I forget the team) and entering a swanky looking part of town, with plenty of fancy western style cafes and restaurants.  Having some time to kill, we popped into a cafe for some drinks and a smoke for me.  The smoking and non-smoking sections of this cafe were laughable, with nothing more than some simple wood beams which were not even connected, separating the two areas.  We had a chat about possible places that Jimothy and Keiko could move to, making both of their commutes to work easier.  Since I’d been on my feet for most of the holiday, I didn’t really get much time to buy souvenirs for people back in Blighty.  For the folks back at work, I decided to get some Hi-Chus since they went down a treat the last time I brought some in.  We went to an Am Pm combini and I must have grabbed about 12 packs of strawberry and apple flavour which came to about 1200 Yen, which is still more reasonable than the £1.50 a pack in Covent Garden’s Cyber Candy (though the Japan Centre sells them for 78p each!).  We soon met up with Keiko and made our way to a station, somewhere in Yokohama…

We popped into an import food store on the way to meet Sawa, where they sold a decent variety of food stuffs from Europe and the US.  Prices were steep with a jar of Sharwoods curry sauce costing about 700 Yen (£3.50 or so).  They also had stuff which you could pick up in Lidl for less than a quid, but if you’re desperate…  There was a film crew shooting a scene for either a movie or drama of some sort, with 2 characters dressed up in Santa suits and surrounded in Christmas decorations.  How they were going to break the illusion of people walking past in t-shirts and shorts when it’s supposed to be Winter is anybody’s guess.  We eventually found Sawa who very kindly got me some pastries for my birthday (and delicious they were too).  The walk to the yakitori place took maybe 10 minutes, but involved walking inside a long and noisy tunnel, and nearly being mowed down by cyclists.

Chikara told us that he typically visits this particular yakitori place once or twice a year.  It looked fairly traditional and we were able to have an entire room to ourselves, so you can bet we were as noisy and silly as possible.  The food selection we chose from the menu was ecclectic, with such juicy morsels like yaki cheese (grilled/fried cheese), chicken heart, and yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls).  The most memorable dish for me though is without a doubt the chicken sashimi.  For those not in the know, it was essentially raw chicken.  Now having grown up in salmonela and E Coli infested Britain, this immediately raised alarm bells, but then you have to remember that Japan’s livestock are typically not raised or treated like they are in the West.  Everybody reassured me that it was perfectly safe to consume, though Jimbo commented that I might have a minor dicky tummy the next day (I didn’t in the end).  So, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”, as the saying goes since I’d probably not get the opportunity again.  And how did it taste?  Oddly, I quite enjoyed it though I probably couldn’t have had more than a few mouth-fulls.  Rather strangely, it all tasted very familiar which raises the question of where have I had raw chicken before in the UK??  I had a wonderful time, and it was nice to just relax and chat with everybody, which is now a real luxury for me.  The bill came to about 20, 000 Yen for the 5 of us, which ain’t too bad at all really.

Sadly, it was time to leave but that did give me a chance to get a shot of the funky tunnel and Jimothy…  We all made our way towards the station and after a few stops, we soon had to say goodbye to Chikara and Sawa.  I do miss them, Chikara especially for his sense of humour.  He really is one of the funniest guys I’ve met in such a long time thanks to his rather unique sense of humour.  Hopefully I’ll be able to see them again in the Spring if I can get myself out to Japan again.  It was soon time to bid Jim-bob and Keiko goodnight also.  I would thankfully be seeing them again the following night for dinner at an izakaya, after the original plan of dinner and drinks at the New York Bar and Grill in the <insert version> Hyatt fell flat (next time!).

This day and the previous one were my favourites from my trip.  Yokohama is a lovely place and has real character where ever you go.  I will most definitely have to give the place a more thorough look on my next visit.

Photos of the day can be found here, here, and here.

Tomorrow would be my last day in Japan, as well as being my birthday.  I planned to visit Asakusa, and made repeat visits to Akihabara, Shibuya, Harajuku, Omottesando, and Shinjuku, as well as dining with Jimothy and Keiko which I’d decided to name “the last supper”.

Tokyo – Day 4.5

As promised, here’s my continuation of my day at Disney.

It was now early afternoon and thought I’d make my way over to Disneyland to round off my day.  The rain was still coming down, though was now more like drizzle again and didn’t really require use of an umbrella.  I needed to hop back on to the Resort Liner and would have to go nearly full circle to get to Disneyland; reluctantly, I paid my 250 Yen knowing that I was being ripped off for my own stupidity.  They were doing some work on the automatic gates at the station and had removed the panels, showing off the internal electronics and motors.  The Resort Liner was now running slightly less frequently since the morning rush had now subsided, though the flow of guests was still on the up.

Once again, the ticket counters were plentiful and empty and I paid my 5800 Yen for entry.  Because I did not need to converse in English this time, the lady assumed I was Japanese and thusly received a Japanese park map which was next to useless for me – doh!

As mentioned in my last entry, it was now approaching Halloween season so the park had been glitzed up with various spooky attire.  It was wonderful to see since it gave everything that was so familiar a facelift.  There were pumpkins, scarecrows, and ghosts all over the park along with limited edition Halloween merchandise for the collection mad folks.

Tokyo Disneyland is unusual because its Main Street USA is a bit different from the norm.  For Japan, it has a permanently erected (stop sniggering) roof and they’ve renamed it World Bazaar but appearance wise, and for all intents and purposes, it’s the same as elsewhere.  The reason behind the roof is due to Tokyo’s more volatile weather and I must admit, it was nice to be able to walk around under shelter whilst taking in the sights and sounds.  The shops are largely similar to those that you’d find at any Disneyland around the globe, with general merchandise, confectionary, clothing, and so on.  There were also a number of balloon vendors but strangely, balloons didn’t seem to float the boat of the Japanese punters and I saw hardly any that day.  Of course, the weather wasn’t great or people could have simply let them go too soon, but it’s just another observation of mine.

Tokyo Disneyland is modeled very closely after its older brother in California, yet there are a number of quirks and curiosities about the place, which I’ll describe as I go along.  The first quirk is that the castle is styled after Cinderalla’s in Walt Disney World as opposed to using Sleeping Beauty’s like every other Disneyland.

The first ride I went on was Pirates of the Caribbean.  The queue moved along very swiftly and I was on the ride within 10 minutes.  Oddly, everything on the ride was presented in English, which is not the case with other rides.  This was also the first time I had been on the ride since they made the movie inclusions such as animatronics of Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, along with some nice smoke and water effects involving Davey Jones.  It’s all a bit odd how they’ve had to retcon the ride with movie law, from which the movie was inspired anyway.

The next ride I ventured on to is the classic Jungle Cruise.  The ride is pretty much identical to those in California and Florida but the one major difference is that the skipper still uses a fake gun to fire a shot at the hippo.  The guns were removed from the States several years ago for fear of setting a bad example to kids with gun culture.  Anywho, applause is also deserved for the female skipper of the ship who is quite possibly the best I’ve ever encountered.  She was really getting into her role and despite the language barrier, her emotions and actions more than made up for it and everybody onboard got a kick out of her antics.

I decided to have a wander around to see what else was different about the park and to also grab some Fast Passes for the rest of the day.  The crowd was immense, even for a day with poor weather and clearly proved which was the money spinner at the resort.  The variety of people was also interesting to see, with a lot of students who had just finished school paying a visit, a clear benefit of having such good transport links.  Another observation which I forgot to post about was how the main carpark was empty with all but a few cars and coaches.  The carparks at other Disney Resorts I’ve been to are usually heaving by late morning due to their locations being so far out of reach for public transport that it becomes almost necessary to get there by car, but not Tokyo.  I couldn’t help but feel envious that Tokyoites were able to just casually pop along to Disney whenever they felt like it, taking advantage of annual passes which usually cost no more than 3 normal entry tickets (2 for Walt Disney World).

I soon found myself in Westernland, Tokyo’s version of Frontierland which had loads of Halloween garb on.  Lacking a Critter County, Splash Mountain was located here along with the ever popular Big Thunder Mountain.  Both had immense queues, with Splash Mountain’s being 70 minutes.  Big Thunder Mountain still had Fast Passes available but Splash Mountain had run out, a testament to its popularity even in the wet.  I decided to brave the queue for Splash and Fast Passed Big Thunder Mountain whilst it was still available.  I was getting a bit peckish by this point and whilst in the queue, I noticed that the famous jumbo-sized, smoked turkey legs were available near by.  Whilst we’re on the topic of food, Tokyo Disneyland has some frankly odd popcorn flavours which all seemed to be raking in the sales.  They had the normal caramel (sweet) and salt varieties, and then they have odd concoctions like curry flavour, and black pepper flavour.  The curry one was really potent, scent wise and had a massive queue of people waiting for their spiced treats.  Anywho, back to the ride…  As I commented on earlier, the condition of the park is amazing, given it’s celebrating its 25th anniversary.  Splash Mountain is no spring chicken, yet you would not be able to guess from the interior because everything in the queue area was immaculate.  Once again, I did not see anybody sitting on barriers or handrails, and everybody was very well behaved.  The ride itself is based on the Walt Disney World version with the logs being able to seat 6 as opposed to 3 in California.  All of the dialogue and music is in Japanese as well, but they’ve done a great job finding voice actors and actresses who sound just like the American counterparts.

My Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain was not for another few hours so I continued with my walk around the park.  I strolled past the Haunted Mansion and much to my surprise, Disney had dressed it up with some seasonal flare ala Nightmare Before Christmas style!  I had heard about the restyle a few years ago and was dubious to say the least.  Would it look tacky and simply not fit with the theming?  Because of the nature of the ride, photos of the makeover were hard to come by so I had no idea of what to expect.  Fast Passes had already been handed out for the day but the timing remained consistent at around 40 minutes.  Another of the quirks I mentioned is how the Haunted Mansion is actually located in Fantasyland, using the rationale that ghosts are fantastical (makes sense I guess).  I decided to come back later after some further exploring.

Fantasyland on the whole seemed very much like a clone of its American brothers, with very little that was unique to it bar the Haunted Mansion and Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.  All of the rides in Fantasyland command maybe 20 minutes tops for queue times but Pooh bucked the trend, with queue times of 90 minutes not being unusual!  I’d read reviews for the ride and it always receives top marks, regardless of the target audience.  The queue was quoted as 70 minutes which was still pretty hardcore and there were no Fast Passes left for the day, so I thought I’d come back just before the evening parade.

Just adjacent to Fantasyland is one of my personal favourites, Toon Town.  Pretty much a like-for-like clone of California’s, it is a real-life interepretation of what was featured in the Roger Rabbit movie.  The version of Toon Town in Disney World is a poor comparison and lacks the signature ride, Roger Rabbit’s Toon Town Spin.  Like every ride, there was a significant wait time since it was late afternoon, so decided to come back later.  The queue to see Mickey in his mouse house was pretty lengthy, though if you’re after some personalised time with the mascot, you gots to do what you gots to do.

I wound up in Tomorrowland, which got me all nostalgic because it still looked like how Tomorrowland used to before all the mass refurbs around the globe.  Everything was white and you could vaguley hear “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”, the theme from the Carousel of Progress, which was never built in Tokyo Disney due to the heavy American family slant on it.  Attractions wise, it pretty much has all the usual Tomorrowland fare like Space Mountain, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin, Autopia, and Micro Adventure (Honey, I’ve Shrunk the Audience).  Space Mountain was the big draw and had received minor refurb in the last year or so on the inside.  Queue time was 45 minutes which I thought was reasonable enough so I decided to wait it out.  Everything moved briskly, though the inclusion of an escalator slowed things down since for safety concerns, staff were only allowed to let a certain number of people on to the second level of the queue at a time.  Inside, everything looked very modern and minimalistic compared to the Space Mountain of yore; it now had lots of blues, greens, and purples, with fibre optics running everywhere.  The loading area had also received a makeover, with the large mock command centre looking much more realistic, as opposed to retro kitsch.  Even the cars had a facelift, matching the colour scheme and external styling of their surroundings.  The ride itself is very much identical to before, but also uses the new colour scheme for the launch and landing sequences.  I loved this Space Mountain and I’m sure it’s longer than the other versions, with some great bits towards the end creating a huge sensation of speed (max speed is 35mph).

I hopped over to Star Tours where there was only a 5 minute queue, which shocked me.  Star Tours has always been a popular attraction at any Disney park, but has needed an update for many years.  Problem is, what can you do to the ride to jazz it up?  Using the new trilogy would simply alienate people, so the only real option is to create a new film to use in the simulator.  That is unlikely to happen due to differences in opinion between the bearded one, George Lucas, and the heads of Disney.  Anywho…  The insides are identical to all versions of Star Tours around the world, except that everybody speaks Japanese.  It is unusual to hear C3PO, with his usual tone and pitch, speaking Nihongo, though this shouldn’t be too odd since he is fluent in several million forms of communication after all.

I did not bother with Micro Adventure or Buzz Lightyear since I’d done both of those to death before, and I don’t consider them classic Disney fare.  I didn’t want to go on Autopia either since I did enough driving back home, and it was still raining as well.  I had now gone full circle around the park and was back at World Bazaar.  The day was slowly drawing to a close and nightfall was nearly upon us, with lights springing up in select locations.  Photography wise, it made for a nice change of pace since I was now no longer contending for colour with a dull, cloudy backdrop, but I was now looking for light sources.  Sadly, Disney parks have never been all that beautiful to capture at night and after years of trying, I was still no closer.

I headed back to Big Thunder Mountain where I got to use my Fast Pass from earlier.  The queue was around 60 minutes now and with there being so little light in Westernland, it didn’t make for an interesting place hang around for an entire hour.  Near the boarding area, I saw a sumo wrestler with his girlfriend/wife.  This was the second sumo wrestler I’d seen that day with the first over at DisneySea.  Thinking about it now, I saw only 3 people during my entire trip who I would have called truly overweight and all were at Disney, and 2 were the above sumo wrestlers.  Big Thunder was pretty much identical to all the others around the world, though seemed like a good middle ground for white knuckle thrills.  The Disney World version is the tamest in my opinion, followed by California’s, with Disneyland Paris’ being the wildest with plenty of tunnels.  No ride photography either which made for a nice change and come to think of it, most of the rides in Tokyo Disney lacked this ‘feature’.  No idea whether it’s just not been implemented yet, or whether Japanese folks simply didn’t take to it.

I was absolutely starving by this point and wanted something fairly substantial for dinner.  I wasn’t in the mood for typical fastfood fare, which you’re pretty much limited to at a theme park.  Also factoring in my plans for the evening, I decided to head over to Fantasyland where there was an Alice in Wonderland themed cafeteria style restaurant.  The prices were much steeper than the typical fastfood place in Disney, but the food also looked much nicer and was served on proper crockery, with metal cutlery.  The queue was also fast and efficient, thanks to the great service from the folks behind the counter.  I opted for a seafood tempura with potato wedges.  I also decided to have a cream of corn soup to warm me up as well as a side order of rice, which I found to be a nice novelty.  All in all, the meal came to about 2100 Yen (£10.50 or so), which was very expensive for what you’d find at your typical foodcourt for £5 or less.  However, when you’re the captive audience and you’re hungry, you can’t complain.  Oh, the food was also very yummy and is quite possibly the best theme park meal I’ve ever had.  Like DisneySea, the staff busing the tables were fast, friendly, and efficient.  I tried once again to take my own tray and plates to the collection area but was once again defeated by a bright, cheerful smile and open hands…

I returned to the Haunted Mansion where the wait time was still 40 minutes or so.  I joined the queue, which moved swiftly and was maybe in there for only 30 minutes at most.  As I’d mentioned, the ride had been dressed up with Nightmare Before Christmas theming and it all starts as soon as you enter the familiar stretching room.  I’m always amazed by this feature of the ride and am never too sure whether it’s actually working as an elevator or as a pure optical illusion.  The familiar morbid paintings overlooking the room have been replaced by scenes from Nightmare Before Christmas, and a lovely shattering noise is heard when the room starts stretching.  Up above, a giant and rather scary Jack Skellington head is scene laughing at the people below.  The doors open up and everybody is ushered through to the ‘Doom buggies’ as they’re affectionately known.  The budget for the development of the redress must have been huge, because none of the elements look out of place.  There are huge animatronics from the movie which take centre stage in nearly every scene, and some special effects have even been updated such as the ballroom scene and the neverending hallway, which now has a floating Zero instead of the bride.  What was a nice location touch was a naughty or nice children list, which featured some Japanese names amongst the Western names.  Rather than the normal Haunted Mansion theme, two songs from the movie were used which topped off an already fantastic seasonal update.  I was so glad to have been able to experience the ride for myself that it was one of two highlights of my visit to Tokyo Disney, and reassured me that not all of modern Disney’s decisions are cost cutting measures.

The parade was due to start in the next 30 minutes or so, which meant queues for rides were gradually dwindling in size.  Despite the drizzle, guests were ready to camp out spots along the parade route to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars.  This proved to be a great time for me to join the queue for Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, which was now quoted as 40 minutes from the point of entry.  Remember earlier how I mentioned that my visit to Disney didn’t feel right because everybody was so well behaved and polite to each other?  Well, there was one instance which brought me back to theme park must-haves.  There was a family behind me who spoke Mandarin, so most likely from China, or possibly Taiwan, and it was a real test of saintly patience for me not to do anything.  The family consisted of a mother, a father, a little boy, a pre-teen daughter, and an uncle of some description.  The little boy was a nightmare and kept walking into me and my shouldered camera.  The mother kept poking the back of my head with her umbrella.  The mother then decided to pick the boy up and the father then proceeded to poke me in the back of my head with their umbrella.  The daughter didn’t actually do anything to piss me off.  The uncle kept trying to cut ahead of me and a couple in front of me.  When the queue moved inside, they were pushing all manner of people out of the way to get a few photos and I could not help but shoot a few dirty looks their way.  Somehow, the uncle had managed to get several places in front of me and I couldn’t help but wonder what the point was?  He would have had to wait for the rest of his family anyway before boarding.  Anyway, it was now time to board and I jumped into a giant hunny pot and we whizzed forward.  To my surprise, the ride moves the hunny pots in groups of 3 and I ended up following the 2 cars in front of me.  What was very impressive was how all 3 cars moved in synch with each other, with all 3 constantly in knowledge of where they each were.  As a result, they were able to perform complex synchronised routines.  The ride technology is an updated version of that used in Epcot for Ellen’s Energy Adventure (Universe of Energy), starring everybody’s favourite Hollywood lesbian, Ellen Degeneres.  Pooh’s Hunny Hunt is packed with technology, and each room displayed something different, with the first showcasing wind simulation, with the cars showing some resistance whenever the blustery day blew towards us.  My favourite room is where you encounter Tigger, when he bounces, the entire room appears to be bouncing along with him, with the walls looking like rubber and the cars feeling like they’re on a trampoline.  Pooh’s dream sequence has the entire room decked in psychadelic colours, like some bad Disney acid trip with the cars all dancing along with each other.  It’s very easy to see why this ride is so popular with the masses, showing off a charm that Disney are capable of when Imagineers are given enough money and resources to play with.  The exit leads you right into a Pooh merchandise store where I couldn’t help but indulge (for other people).

As I left the store, an announcement came over the park PA system reluctantly declaring that the Main Street Electrical Parade had been cancelled due to inclement weather.  To my surprise, they had a backup mini parade prepared with a Disneyfied firetruck and all the usual characters dressed up in firefighter outfits, having a dig at the miserable weather.  This was a really nice touch and I’ve never seen another Disney park do such a thing, so hats off to Tokyo Disney for looking after its loyal guests.  I took this opportunity to head over to Roger Rabbit’s Toontown Spin where I was able to literally walk on.  I love this ride to bits and it’s been maybe 8 years since I last got to go in it back in California.

I was getting a bit tired by now and my feet were soaked and aching from the hard day’s theme parking.  I decided to call it quits and leave whilst the crowds were still lingering for some last minute action.  What I was surprised about was how the parks remained open until 10pm, even during Autumn; Disney normally close their doors at 8 once peak seasons are over.  I chose to walk back to Maihama station from Disneyland so as not to pay over the odds to use the Resort Liner.  For some bizarre reason or another, the information centre was still fully loaded despite it nearing closing time.

I wanted to have a look at Ikspiaria, the Downtown Disney clone, to see if there was anything of interest.  It was a pretty nice place in all honesty, much better conceived than its American and European counterparts, with a much better variety of stores and restaurants.  I popped into a branch of the Gap and found myself leaving with a lovely cardigan hoodie that wasn’t available in the UK as far as I was aware.  The price was steeper than what it would have cost back home, but the sizing was great.  Japanese Gap stores will even giftwrap for free, which threw me off when the lady asked if I wanted it wrapped.  Perhaps I should have said yes and surprised myself?  There was the usual Planet Hollywood guff and a Rainforest Cafe, as well as some odd retail choices like a Paul Smith (Jonathan Ross wasn’t lying when he said the man is a legend in Japan) boutique.

After a once over, I called it a day and made my way back to Maihama station… only to see the family from hell again!  They were even trying to board the same carriage as me which made me whince a little.  Thankfully, they were at the far end of the already packed out car so I breathed a sigh of relief.  The journey back was not fun, being soggy and tired from the day’s antics along with other people in a similar situation.  Luckily, I managed to get a seat after a stop or two so at least I wasn’t standing.  Taking part in some more people watching, people had bags and bags of Disney merchandise which they’d purchased.  I did feel sorry for people who had to catch the train on a daily basis, since it must have gotten old very quickly having to contend with theme parkers all day long.  Arriving back at Tokyo station, I had that 15 minute walk again before getting back to the platform I needed; not fun when you’re less than genki.  The combination of soggyness and walking all day was no doubt the reason for my aching foot which I suffered from for the rest of my stay in Japan.

Everything said and done, I had a fantastic day out with plenty of new experiences.  Theme parking on your own can be a good and bad thing.  It’s great because I was able to move at my own pace and see what I wanted to see.  I was able to get so much more done in less time than if I’d have been with family or friends.  Conversely, it was a very tiring day and I think I pushed myself a little too hard.  Despite being on holiday, it was anything but really and without others to persuade me to take a break, I carried on ploughing through everything like it was a race.  It was also a very expensive day, totalling close to 18, 000 Yen for entrance, food, the odd sourvenir and so on.  It wouldn’t have been nearly as costly if I’d have only visited one park instead of both, but I can probably rest easy knowing that I won’t need to visit DisneySea again until the next major ride comes along.

Photos of the day can be found here (even if it’s the same album as the last Tokyo entry).

Tomorrow, I visit the chic Ginza, seedy Roppongi, futuristic Odaiba, and get to see James and Keiko again.

Tokyo – Day 4

If you have no interest in theme parks, especially Disney ones, then you can ignore this entry completely.  As most of you should know by now, I have a huge fascination with Disney theme parks around the globe and my visit to Japan would not be complete without a trip to Nippon’s land of Mickey.  I had originally only decided to set foot in DisneySea but thought I’d make a full day out of it and scheduled in Disneyland as well.

The day started off like usual with a smoke and an iced tea at the usual spot.  From Ochanomizu, I needed to head towards Tokyo station, which as mentioned previous, is the other hub station of Tokyo after Shinjuku.  From here, I needed to hop onboard a train to Maihama; the walk to the correct platform from the JR line took maybe 10 – 15 minutes of solid walking.  There were travelators but I decided to tough it out.  There were already plenty of people heading in the same direction as me, most already wearing Disney merchandise.  I did kinda envy the people who lived so close to Disneyland because they’re then free to visit whenever they wish.  I’ve only ever been able to visit during the Summer in the past and there’s never any special celebrations.  I lucked out this time because Halloween was in full swing at the parks.  I eventually made it to the platform but had just missed a train so had to stand around for a while.  The service on this line didn’t seem as regular as others I’d been on and I had to wait maybe 10 minutes before I could jump on another train, which wasn’t very busy at all.  All in all, the journey from Tokyo took maybe 15 – 20 minutes.

It was a dull and drizzley day but Maihama station was buzzing with people of all ages.  You’re presented with a large sign displaying directions for everything.  Immediately to the left in Maihama station is the information centre, which was heaving.  I imagine you can buy annual passes, receive guidance in a number of languages and so on, like the parks in the West.  Just beyond that is Ikspiaria, some sort of Downtown Disney style clone with shopping and restaurants galore.  To our left and right were entrances to the Disney Resort Liner, Tokyo Disney’s version of the staple monorail which circles the resort.  Unlike their Western cousins, this one was not free and required 250 Yen per trip, or for 600 Yen, you could travel all day.  Everybody seemed to be heading for the Resort Liner so being distinctly Japanese, I decided to follow the crowd.  I’m not sure if it’s possible to walk to every location in the resort due to the large bodies of water surrounding the place, but it is certainly possible to walk to both Disneyland and DisneySea, so maybe it’s just the hotels.  The ticket machine threw me off like all the ticket machines I’ve encountered in Japan; I’m never sure whether to put my money in first and then make my selection or vice versa.  After I’d bought my ticket and joined the queue for a carriage, I realised that I should have gone for the 600 Yen all day pass since I’d be using the Resort Liner at least three times during the course of the day…

The monorail arrived and I boarded one of the carriages closest to the front of the liner.  It moves in an anti-clockwise motion, stopping at Maihama Station, DisneySea/Mira Costa hotel, a bunch of other hotels, Disneyland, and Maihama Station again.  The inside is the lushest compared to the other Disney monorails at Disney parks.  There are little glass fronted cabinets housing Disney memorabilia and even the hand hold thingies are Mickey shaped!  The Resort Liner arrived at DisneySea after a few moments and I duly stepped off towards security control.  Ever since September 11th, all of the Disney parks around the world have stepped up their security and whereas once there was an invisible security presence throughout, it is clearly present now.  Tokyo Disney still has minimalistic security but they do inspect all bags and packages that you take into the parks, though all they did was glance over the top of my camera bag.  I now had to buy a ticket and had a choice of 30 or so ticket counters to approach, and none of them had a queue.  The familiar, “Anno, Eigo desuka?” was used and to my surprise, the lady replied with “Yes, I speak English”!  I needed to know if there was any way that I could visit both parks at a discounted rate, and cutting a long story short, there wasn’t.  I told the lady that her English was great, and she was thankful to hear that.  She then went on to tell me that she lived in Massachusites for 4 years and that she was also 1/4 American.  Oh well, at least she didn’t lie and just act all modest!  Entry to the park set me back 5800 Yen (£26), which isn’t too bad at all; entry to Alton Towers would cost at least £30 and there’s arguably more to do at Disney.

I made my way to the main entrance of the park, which doubles up as the Mira Costa hotel.  The surrounding area, known as Mediterranean Harbour, has an Italian-Venetian feel to it, with a heavy Pinnochio theme running throughout its stores and restaurants.  There’s a gondola ride and that’s pretty much it in terms of attractions for this Main Street USA-esque land.  Speaking of lands, there’s 7 in total: Mysterious Island, Lost River Delta, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Port Discovery, American Waterfront, and the aforementioned Mediterranean Harbour.  One thing that initially hits you as you begin walking around DisneySea is the vast amount of open space there is for future development.  Walt resented the fact that he did not purchase enough land for the original Disneyland in California and as a result, tacky souvenir stores and cheap motels began to open up right on his doorstep, and he had to be somewhat creative in the use of space at the park.  DisneySea, dare I say, feels too barren and sparse due to all the empty space; walkways are super wide and there aren’t that many attractions so I anticipated wrapping things up in the park by about lunchtime.

I made my way over to the park’s centre piece, Mount Prometheus, which serves the same purpose as the castles in the other Disney parks.  The theming for Mysterious Island was a bit weak I felt, borrowing heavily from 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea for inspiration.  The surroundings were not particularly photogenic and one of the two rides in the area was down for maintenance.  However, housed inside the faux volcano is the star attraction of DisneySea (arguably), Journey to the Centre of the Earth.  It borrows technology used in Epcot’s Test Track ride, albeit with very little downtime (which they still haven’t corrected despite Test Track being over 10 years old now!) and some impressive theming.  Tucked away down a dark cavern, the ride entrance was easy to miss; I’d circled the block twice before finally finding it.  The standby time was only 30 minutes so I decided to head over to the next land, Port Discovery, to pick up a Fast Pass for Storm Chaser.

Port Discovery had a look and feel which was very similar to Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris.  Everything looked like it had come from a utopia which simply could not happen, with lots of bronze, red, and silver everywhere.  There were two attractions in this land, Storm Chaser and Aquatopia.  I quickly grabbed a Fast Pass for Storm Chaser which would become valid in the next 30 minutes or so, thus allowing me to walk off Journey to the Centre of the Earth and straight on to this one.  Fast Pass use is an art in itself and knowing the in’s and out’s will dramatically free up your time whilst at Disney parks.  The rules are universal around the world and are as follows and are based on the following:

1) You are technically only supposed to have one Fast Pass per attraction at any one time, but…

2) You are allowed to obtain another Fast Pass as soon as you enter the window for your current Fast Pass, ie. you obtained a pass at 10am, and the return window is 11- 11:59am, then you are allowed another Fast Pass as of 11am.

3) You are allowed to obtain another Fast Pass 2 hours after the issue of your original Fast Pass.  Some times, the return window will be hours away and it would be silly if you could not obtain a pass again until that time approached.

If you time everything just right, you should be able to get Fast Passes to take you straight on to rides for most of the day.  Of course, passes are released in limited batches and once they’re all gone for the day, that’s it.  Thanks to a lot of darting around on my part, I pretty much never spent more than 30 minutes in a ride queue whilst at DisneySea.  Anywho, I digress…

I returned to Mount Prometheus and the standby time was still at 30 minutes.  I joined the queue, which takes you past some ornamental digging equipment in glass cases.  I was incredibly impressed by how immaculate everything looked, despite the park and the ride being several years old by this point.  There were also a lot of couples around and as a guy theme parking on his own, I did feel somewhat lonely, not for female companionship but just some company.  I’ve never been to a theme park on my own before and it is an odd experience since there’s nobody to share laughter, excitement, or fear with whilst on rides.  Ride attendants look at you a bit odd as well when they ask how many passengers, and you reply with “hitotsu”.  But on the plus side, I was able to indulge heavily in some people watching and I came to a number of conclusions:

1) Appearance is very important to the girls of Tokyo.  You may remember my thoughts about Tokyo girls being very trendy and pretty and that didn’t stop just because they were at Disney, oh no.  The day was absolutely freezing and wet but majority of girls were dressed in skirts with their black, knee-high stockings, with their fellas wrapped nice and warm in big coats and scarves.

2) Japanese people are merchandise whores.  Whilst on the train to Disney, there were people dressed in full Disney theme parking garb, which included Disney t-shirts, Disney hats, Disney coats, Disney bags, and so on.  When I actually got to the resort, people were buying Disney merchandise to wear, left, right, and centre.  The stuff is not cheap by any means and I would personally never wear theme park clothing outside of the theme park.  Jim-bob said something about it being all about fitting in with the crowd, and if the price of entry is a dodgy looking Mickey Mouse hat, then so be it.

3) Japanese theme park etiquette is incredible.  Like the rest of Japanese society, etiquette should always be on top form and shouldn’t be left out just because you’re on a break from reality.  I did not experience any pushing, shoving, or queue cutting (bar one occasion, which I’ll clarify later) and as odd as it may sound, it didn’t feel like I’d been at a proper theme park because of that.  The respect everybody had for their surroundings was also amazing, with handrails being scratch free and looking like opening day still.  People also refrained from sitting on handrails, or walls, which were part of queues.  I never even heard a screaming child, all day long!

Anyway, I digress again.  The queue for Journey to the Centre of the Earth eventually takes you to 4 elevators, which serve the same purpose as the the stretching room in the Haunted Mansion – it’s a glorified holding pen.  You’re ushered into one of them and once the doors close, you begin your ‘descent’ into Mount Prometheus.  Whether the elevator actually takes you anywhere or not, I do not know, but it is convincing.  The car shakes and rattles, gauges spin and whirr, and the surrounding colour changes from a cool blue to fiery oranges and reds.  You emrage on the other side to yet another queue, albeit a short one.  Once at boarding, each car is shaped like a small bulldozer and seats up to 6 people, in rows of 3.  As mentioned earlier, the ride borrows technology from Test Track and the cars are able to behave independently of each other, and without the use of rails.  The car begins descending into the caverns and you’re introduced to a completely alien world, with fantastical plants and insects.  The special effects are incredible with creepy looking insect larvae pulsating like something out of Ridley Scott’s Alien.  It’s full of cheap scares, designed to divert your attention from the real threat coming up ahead.  You enter a large central cavern, with fire erupting all around and then you’re greeted by a large, animatronic creature with mandibles and a sour disposition.  It roars and tantrums because you’re disturbed its beauty rest, which it really could use and the car speeds away like a bat out of hell.  The ride takes you outside for a few seconds to grab some air and then it’s straight back into the dark for some twists and turns, and then you’re at the exit for the ride.  What is refreshing is that you are not presented with a gift store of some sort once you leave, nor is there any ride photograph taken.  An impressive attraction, but I couldn’t help but feel that it should have been longer.  Tales of people queueing up to 2 hours becomes ridiculous when the ride itself lasts no more than 5 minutes at mostl.

It was now time to head over to Port Discovery again to use my Fast Pass.  Storm Chaser now had a standby time of 40 minutes and would only get longer as the day progressed, being a sit-down theatre type attraction.  You enter a fictitious storm institute where they’re demonstrating a newly designed storm diffuser and guess what, you’ve just volunteered to join the maiden voyage into the eye of a storm!  The pilot for the journey is Captain Davis, who speaks fluent Japanese and has a reputation as a bit of a hot dogger when it comes to aerial antics.  You’re ushered into an auditorium, which is really a large motion simulator, and them you buckle yourself in.  After all the pre-flight checks, you’re good to go and the screen at the front of the theatre springs to life.  The windows in the doors to the left and the right also spring to life which is a nice touch and they depict what should be happening to the plane as you move.  The movie on the screen is all in CG so realism is thrown right out the window, but because the motion of the room is so accurate, my mind at least had a hard time picking fault at it.  You soon fly into the eye of the storm and your support plane is taken down by a bolt of lightning leaving you as the only option.  The storm diffuser missile is fired and looks to be straight on course, but lightning strikes that too and it loses its guidance function and strays off its path… straight back at your plane!  A lifesize replica of the missile bursts through the roof and causes all manner of havoc in the cabin; fires are ablaze, cables and air pipes are flailing madly, and rain from the outside world is flowing in, adding to the realism of the effects.  Things get far worse because the missle is still primed to fire and a countdown begins; Captain Davis puts on his best aerial maneuvers to try and shake the thing free and just in a nick of time, the missle dislodges itself and fires straight into the eye of the storm.  Sunshine is restored and there’s now a lovely sunset and just as we’re returning to base, we run out of fuel!  The plane is now in more or less free-fall and narrowly misses several boats and bridges and just about manages to fly back to base.  The crowd seemed pretty impressed because there was a round of applause which I was not expecting.

At this point, I decided to grab a Fast Pass for Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull (not related to the movie in any way), and then some lunch.  I’d tried earlier at Port Discovery but no restaurants were opening until 11am and I could only get stuff from vending carts.  Absolutely famished, I ventured towards the American Waterfront where I settled on a New England style place.  The menu was typical American grub with some minor Japanese tweaks.  I settled on just a regular cheeseburge meal and when it arrived, I was shocked at how small it was for the price at 1200 Yen (about £6).  I thought I’d ordered the kids meal but when I checked the receipt, I had indeed been charged for the adult meal and had to give out a little sigh.  Again, the small sizes of a lot of the meals I’d had so far were reflective of the relationship Japanese people seem to have with their food; “it’s all about quality and not quantity”, said me tucking into my theme park cheeseburger…  I did however have Chip, Dale, and Donald to keep me company whilst I dined.  Another little thing I noticed is the pride a lot of people have for their job and role, regardless of the task at hand.  A lot of the people busing tables were very pleasant and helpful; when I tried to take my tray and rubbish to the bin myself, a girl promptly came to try and take it from my hands.  I tried resisting but that cheery smile and positive demeanor was too much for me handle and I left with my tail between my legs.  Pussy whipped twice in the space of 20 minutes isn’t good…

My Fast Pass for Indiana Jones was coming up soon and I decided to join the standby queue for Tower of Terror.  The Tower of Terror in DisneySea is even more impressive than those found in the West.  Depicting a turn of the century hotel, the amount of detail the ride oozes is mind boggling.  Losing the “Twilight Zone” moniker, there is a completely new story for this iteration and it’s rather appropriate for the surrounding themed land. The standby queue was about 30 minutes long but it moved briskly and before I knew it, I was at the pre-show for the ride.  The special effects for the pre-show were very nice and really helped to set the scene, even if it was completely in Japanese.  A certain Hightower-san is an entrepeneur, and his two favourite hobbies are exploring and building hotels to display his bounty from his explorations.  He travels to what looks like South America and finds an idol statue of some sort and removes it from its sacred resting place in a remote village, and is cursed as a result.  He returns from his travels and one night, whilst in his hotel, the idol comes to life and traps him in another dimension within the building.  What I really liked was how they managed to get the idol statue to float around the room, have its lips move when it spoke to us, and then spin on the table and disappear; it was all so seamless and polished and really prepared you for something special.  The theming for the back is just as elaborate as the front, looking like a warehouse for Hightower’s collection with various artifacts littered throughout the queue area.  Once at the elevator, there was a bit of a wait to actually board the car and the safety checks they had us go through were extensive to say the least.  The ride started and began its descent backwards and then up, arriving at at about the 6th or 7th floor, and then being presented with a retelling of how Hightower disappeared that one fateful night.  The car then continued to move up and approached the 13th floor where you could clearly see the outside world, and then let us fall to maybe the 6th or 7th floor, and then hurled us back up again, and then back down to maybe the 3rd or 4th floor, and then back up again, and then back down to the ground.  There is ride photography and the exit leads you straight into a gift store.  I loved the theming for this version of Tower of Terror, but I couldn’t help but feel that they took the easy way out by not filling in the Twilight Zone from Walt Disney World’s version with something else.  The one they have in Disneyland Paris is similar and also omits the Twilight Zone from accounts I’ve heard.

I now had to head back to the Lost River Delta where Indiana Jones is found.  Because of the lack of a central hub like Disneyland, trying to get from one part of the park to another is complex if the two areas are not next to each other, and usually involves a lot of walking.  There is a railway, though it’s limited to only a few lands and ultimately feels a bit redundant.  Anywho…  I made my way over to Lost River Delta where the star of the show is Indiana Jones.  The ride itself is housed inside the faux pyramid and is pretty much a like for like clone of the version at Disneyland in California (Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye).  The queue area isn’t quite as novel as its Californian brother, lacking some of the interactive elements like the room with the collapsable ceiling when you pull on a lever, or a well which plays a recorded voice when you tug on the rope.  The safety video is also somewhat politically incorrect, featuring a distinctly Japanese man, browned up for the weekend, going by the name of Pedro.  You board the large Jeep style cars and the safety checks are as rigorous as they were for Tower of Terror.  Then, you’re off and the ride is not shy about showing you it means business; harsh acceleration, braking, hairpin turns, and all in the first few seconds!  The Californian version of the ride features a lot of fire and utitlises a lot of reds and oranges in its colour scheme and in comparison, DisneySea’s uses much cooler colours like blues and greens, with fire effects replaced with water, wind, and smoke.  All of the ride elements are the same, including the route the Jeep takes, though one significant difference is the giant snake.  In California, it looks like a realistic python whereas here, it looks more like a snake you’d see in Aztec hyroglyphics, and is significantly less scary as a result.  It’s also odd to hear Indiana Jones speak fluent Japanese, yet retain the Harrison Ford voice.

That’s all the significant rides done and dusted for DisneySea.  I decided to have a leisurely stroll around the park, shooting more snaps, and the more I saw of the place, the more I grew disenchanted with it.  Whilst it may be the most expensive theme park to date, there is very little substance to the place.  As commented earlier, there is an ass-load of empty space and with lower attendance numbers, it really shows.  DisneySea has a very California Adventure feel to it in that it’s unfinished.  Sure, everything has a huge amount of polish on it but there’s simply not enough there to warrant a full day out.  Universal’s Islands of Adventure was a much more complete theme park when it first opened over a decade ago.

I wandered over to Mermaid Lagoon, which as the name suggests, borrows heavily from The Little Mermaid.  It’s not a land as such in the traditional sense and is more of a pavilion containing what are essentially fairground rides with Disney theming.  This is one of two places in the park which are geared strictly towards younger children, and the crowd I saw that day really supports this.  DisneySea is a much more adult oriented theme park and it really shows, from the style of restaurants to the type of merchandise offered, it’s more kakoii than kawaii.

I took a walk over to Arabian Coast and it felt like I’d stepped right on to the set of Aladdin.  The theming of the land looks just like Agrabah, and again feels much more like they’d invested more in the landscaping and architecture than the rides themselves.  What is available to punters is an elaborate two tier carouselle which looks much nicer than the one they have in Disneyland.  The other ride is Sinbad’s Voyage, which is actually very good on a technical level.  To describe it, I’d have to liken it to It’s a Small World with an Arabian flair.  It’s a gentle waterboat ride, with storybook facades depicting Sinbad’s adventures, with the masterpiece scene being his fight against the legendary Roc.  The animatronics used are very well made, and some of them put the ones used in Pirates of the Carribean to shame, if you can look past the cutesy styling of it all.

By this point, it was about 1pm and I’d pretty much done everything I’d wanted to see and do, so I took the long way around the park and made my way to the exit.  Even at mid-day which is normally peak time for park attendance, the place seemed quiet and at this point I thought I’d perhaps tackled the parks in the wrong order.  As I exited through the turnstyles, all the staff bid me farewell, from the lady giving people stamps for re-entry, to the person sweeping up nothing on the ground!  I still can’t get over how polite everybody was during my trip.

I’m going to wrap this part up since I still have so much to write-up about Disneyland, which will hopefully come in the next few days.

Photos of the day can be found here.

Tokyo – Day 3

Note – This update has taken me sooo long to write, so apologies for the delay.

The rain from the previous night did not end, sadly.  Rain in Tokyo is not like rain back in the UK; once it started, it did not relent for the next two days.  Thankfully, I’d packed a portable Muji umbrella from back home so I was well prepared for the onslaught that would ensue.  The temperature outside had dropped, but not significantly and it was still reasonable for me to wear a t-shirt with no jacket.

Today, I was scheduled to pay a visit to the Studio Ghibli Museum out in Mitaka.  Back in the UK, I had alreadt obtained the much sought after ticket a few weeks prior to my departure.  They allocate a limited number for overseas sale and it just so happened that it was the travel agent in the Mitsukoshi department store in London who handled the enquiries.  All in all, my ticket came to £9, though residents of Japan only have to pay 1000 Yen (£5).  Apparently, it’s far more competitive trying to obtain a ticket in Japan than it is outside of the country.

I started my day with what would become my morning routine for days to follow: stop for a cigarette at the smoking spot, grab an iced tea (loved it in Japan) from the vending machine, and then head to Ochanomizu or Akihabara station.  I can’t remember the route I took to get to Mitaka, but I did have to hop on to a different train on the line due to it not going all the way or something similar.  Once there in Mitaka, directions to the Studio Ghibli Museum are very well signposted, with Totoro depicting how many metres there are remaining.  Occasionally, you can see Totoro and children’s footprints in the ground on the path to the museum (a lovely touch in planning).  The path they have you follow is actually a rather nice walk, and I have no doubts that it would be even more pleasant when dry.  Mitaka looked like a fairly affluent area, with most homes looking rather nice, and possessing German cars in their garages.  Once I’d reached the museum, I took as many photos outside as possible since photography and filming is strictly forbidden indoors.  This I found to be a huge shame because the inside is lovely, with so much detail littered throughout the building.

The most important phrase of my trip was unleashed at the Studio Ghibli Museum, “anno, Eigo desuka?”  For me, being of Asian descent means that there is no mercy if somebody speaks to me first.  It also helps them avoid embarassment and stops them thinking I’m a retard if I make it clear that I don’t speak much Japanese.  Seriously, anybody wishing to venture into Tokyo should learn some key words and phrases because so few people speak English out there.  Those that do are probably too shy to try and use it and I suppose it’s very much like kids in the UK learning French or German; there simply isn’t any need for the majority of people and they will rarely ever need to fall back on it in Japan.  I can count on one hand how many people spoke decent English with me on my trip, so you’ve been warned!  Having said all that, the staff at the museum were all very accomodating and whilst none spoke any English, we were able to meet halfway thanks to me cobbling some basic Japanese together and using plenty of hand gestures.  This was actually true of alot of people during my stay in Tokyo, so applause goes out to them!

Once you arrive at reception for the museum, you are given a ticket which happens to be a slide from a particular Studio Ghibli movie.  Mine was a scene from early on in Nausicaa.  I have no idea whether these slides are completely random, or whether they’re in batches, or whether they’re even original film stock and not repro’s for distribution.  They’re also apparently supposed to check foreign visitor’s passports along with their tickets, but I was never questioned for mine.  They did not remind me about no photography, despite walking around with over a grand’s worth of camera equipment on my shoulder, another nice thing about Japanese society I noticed where they just seemed to trust you to be on your best behaviour.

Inside, the museum is split up into four floors: three indoor floors and the rooftop garden.  The first floor consists of the animation room and the Saturn Theatre.  The second floor features replicas of Miyazaki’s own office studio, a production studio, and a seasonal exhibit room.  The third floor features the merchandise store, a picture book store, the huge plush nekobus, and the cafe.  The rooftop garden has the awesome lifesize Laputa robot soldier, and one of the levistone cubes from inside of Laputa.

The animation room on the first floor is a nice way to pass some time.  There are some very intricate exhibits displaying the properties of light and rotating images in animating still images and objects.  My favourite two displays were a giant tree with a number of creatures and characters from Totoro, each with slight differences for each model (think stop-motion).  The tree would spin and everything would be a blur.  The tree would then spin again and a strobe light, set to the pace of the models would then shine and everything sprung to life; Totoro would bounce up and down and the nekobus would run and seriously brought a huge smile to my face.  The other display was a large glass tube with a small Laputa robot solider contained within, and there was a spinning cylinder (I can’t remember the technique’s name) which would allow light in to create the effect of floating leaves and birds around the robot.  Another wonderful display and bonus points for being Laputa related.  The other displays were a lot more basic and less awe inspiring, some using simple glass facades and so on.

I had just missed the most recent screening for the the Saturn Theatre, which runs at regular 20 minute intervals, so I ventured up to the second floor to check out some of the mock studios.  These were nice and had a very homely feel to them, rather than the sterile studios you often see on similar tours in Disney theme parks.  There were a number of personal artefacts in Miyazaki’s office which made me smile such as an unemptied ashtray (Miyazaki is a prolific smoker from what I’ve seen), a photo of him and his ‘mate’, John Lasseter of Pixar fame, and plenty of books about Wales.  Attached to the walls were plenty of rough sketches and storyboards for all of his works, ranging from Nausicaa all the way to Spirited Away.  There were also plenty of intricate models of fantastical contraptions like those seen in Laputa.  Moving into the next room, I was presented with what was a mock cel painting studio.  There was a large rack of paint tubes in one corner and several unfinished cels from Kiki’s Delivery Service; whether the cels are rotated on a regular basis with ones from other movies, I do not know.  The next room to follow seemed a bit odd and out of place; there were European ornaments all over the place and the decor of the room itself did not fit that of the previous two rooms.  The exhibit didn’t seem to serve any purpose, nor did it have any focus on animation.

Across the hallway was the seasonal exhibition.  Walking towards it, I looked to my left and noticed that the windows were stained glass and depicted scenes from several Studio Ghibli Movies.  Being heavily biased, my favourites were a scene of Pazu catching Sheeta when she falls from the sky, and one of the robot Soldier handing Pazu and Sheeta a flower, both from Laputa (in case you hadn’t already figured it out).  The seasonal exhibition for me was a big disappointment; focusing purely on European renaissance art, the exhibit was named “Petit Louvre”.  Being a former art student, this type of art had no impact on me at all (impressionist art is where it’s at).  I quickly walked through the exhibit and managed to get my head stuck in a viewing hole designed for children (comical for all those involved).  I decided to check out the toilet on the second floor to see if there was any theming and was let down to find only regular toilets.

I ventured up to the third floor to see what was going on upstairs.  I opted to use the metal circular staircase, also designed for children; I’m a small guy but even I found it to be a tight squeeze and hit my head on several steps and railings along the way.  I went outside to grab some more shots of the museum and of the cafe, I kept having to wipe the lens on my camera due to rainfall and regretted not picking up a lens hood in Akihabara.  The cafe had both a self service and a proper sit down option, with self service fair offering foods like hotdogs and the sit down having quite fancy looking dishes like pasta and so on.  Prices were typical of a theme park for both.  Due to the rain, all outdoor seating was covered by a temporary gazebo.

The rest of the third floor focused on mainly merchandise.  The main store is called “Mamma Aiuto”, named after the pirate gang from Porco Rosso.  I was a little bit disappointed with the store, namely because there wasn’t all that much exclusive swag to be had.  A lot of the stuff that was available was also available in Akihabara for less, but despite that, the crowds were huge.  There were people with shopping baskets piled high with merchandise, spending money like it was going out of fashion.  The only thing I walked away with was the official guidebook to the museum in English which was 800 Yen.

The final room of the third floor was a favourite with kids, featuring the huge plush nekobus!  It was amazing to see in person, what was essentially a large stuffed teddy bear.  Only children were permitted on the thing, sadly, so I didn’t get a chance to clamber on to the famous Ghibli icon.

From this point, I decided to head up some more stairs on to the rooftop garden.  I walked along a narrow path, with overgrown greenery on either side and stood right in front of me was the lifesize robot soldier from Laputa.  It’s an amazing piece, made entirely of bronze, and wouldn’t look amiss in a modern art gallery elsewhere in the world.  Being on my own, I had to ask a lady in front of me to take a photo of myself with the statue, which she was more than kind enough to do for me.  Moving on behind the robot, I came to a clearing where there were a number of the levistone cubes from Laputa, resting on the ground.  It was nice to finally have my photo taken with the Laputa robot, but I couldn’t help but feel that the rooftop garden lacked any theming beyond the robot and the levistone cubes.  They could have made it more Laputa-esque and included a few additional elements from the movie like the glider from the Tigermoth, and so on.

Almost finished with the museum, I had only one thing left to do to complete my tour and that was to pay a visit to the Saturn Theatre.  I had missed yet another screening by mere minutes so I joined the front of the queue for the exclusive screening.  The lady manning the entrance took my movie slide and stamped it to ensure that I didn’t go in again for a repeat viewing.  The queue quickly swelled and there were so many mothers with babies and young children around.  There was a raised bank which one kid ran towards and climbed on to, and then decided to slide down it.  All the other kids saw this and decided to follow suit, and all the mothers all started twittering “kawaii!” and started taking photos, I shit you not – we’re truly in Japan now, folks!  I saw two tourists who I assume were from the UK since they had the same guidebook (Rough Guide to Tokyo) that I had with me.  Eventually, we were allowed into the theatre and I made a beeline for a seat on the far left of the room.  It was a small room, seating only 80 or so, with a raised platform towards the back exit for wheelchair bound visitors or people wishing to stand.  The theatre itself was decorated in a very non-Ghibli manner; the decor was reminiscent of children’s picture books like Spot the Dog, with a large sun in the centre of the ceiling and lots of bright primary colours.  Once everybody was seated, the lights were dimmed and the sun disappeared, only to be replaced by stars.  A retro countdown started on the screen, with random hands projecting against the picture.  At first, everybody (myself included) thought it was just some kids messing around but when they started to make elaborate shadow puppets, we were all in on the gag.

The short film was very interesting, because the tone represented appeared quite different to the usual fare that’s presented at the museum (based solely on the titles I’ve seen online).  It was completely in raw Japanese with no subtitles so the following is my own interpretation from what I could gather visually, and through keywords I could hear every now and again.  The movie was about a boy (looked like Haku from Spirited Away) who appeared to have run away from home.  He was cycling at night down a country path and came across a lady who seemed to invite him to live with her.  She lived in an intricate, Victorian style home and had the boy tend to her garden, where she grew melons.  One day, when the melons were ripe, he’d harvested them and was planning to take them to the market to sell.  On his way there, he passes a humanoid frog and badger on the side of the road, hawking their wares.  His bike breaks down and the frog and badger come to speak to him.  I couldn’t work out what was said but the frog sampled a slice of the melon and seemingly in return, they offer the boy a blue jewel, which they instruct him to plant like a seed and to water like a plant.  The boy goes to the market and sells the melons and returns home.  He plants the jewel as instructed and the following day, it’s grown into a small planet, about the size of a tennis ball.  If you’ve seen The Simpson’s halloween episode where Lisa grows her own civilisation, you’ve got the right idea here.  The boy discovers a small woodlouse which has taken up home on the planet and he continues to water the planet, which creates an atmoshphere for it.  After a few days, the planet starts to become lush with greenery and the atmoshpehere even produces lightning and thunder.  One day, what looked like the authorities sent by the boy’s parents come for him and he’s taken back to his home in the futuristic city (looked very Jetsons-esque).  The frog and the badger decide to pay the boy a visit at home using their flying bus thing, and walk down the boy’s window to speak to him (both becoming very nauseaous).  They ask him to bring the miniature planet with him and they fly into space, only to be met by the lady who had taken the boy into her home (must have been mother nature or god) and he’s told to release the planet into space.  The closing shot shows the woodlouse, that’s now started a family, living happily on the small planet.  I really enjoyed the short film and felt it was better than a lot of Ghibli’s recent works (I’m looking at you, Howl’s Moving Castle and Gedo Senki), and with a bit more breeding time, I’m sure they could have developed it into a full blown feature.  I still have no idea what the movie was called, but I’m happy to have had the opportunity to see something that only a select few will ever grace their eyes upon.  The short films are made strictly for presentation at the museum, and will never be shown elsewhere again.  Whether the reels are destroyed after their runs, or are archived, I do not know, but Dave seems compelled that all that will change when Miyazaki passes away.

I’d now done all that I wanted to do at the museum so made my way back into Mitaka.  The rain had gotten heavier since entering the museum and there was now a bit of a chill in the air; I seriously regretted not taking a jacket out with me.  I decided to have curry rice at a chain place; can’t remember the name but I ordered the large portion and was given some awesome miso soup (I do love the stuff) with it.  I decided to plot the next part of my day and decided that Shibuya was in order, possibly visiting Roppongi or Omotesando afterwards.  I headed back to Mitaka station and jumped on a train line (again, can’t remember it for the life of me) and made my way to Shibuya.

Arriving in Shibuya, I made my way towards the Hachiko crossing exit.  I saw the Hachiko dog statue which Jim-bob has blogged about previously, though decided not to take a photo.  I decided to pop into a nearby department store to take refuge from the rain and had a wander around the food hall.  This was my first time in what I could call a Japanese supermarket (Japan Centre’s in London doesn’t count) and it was truly impressive.  All the sights, sounds and smells were incredible; there were people making fresh pastries and sushi, cutting fresh meat for little old obaa-sans, and so on.  Despite having only eaten very recently, I decided to pick up a small sushi platter for later.  It looked great, though it was pricey at 1200 Yen but then you are paying for quality; a few plates of the shit they serve up in Yo Sushi in the UK could easily come to that price and do nothing for the palette.

I arrived at the famous crossing in Shibuya and took a few photos of the surrounding cityscape.  Spotting the Starbucks overlooking the crossing, a cup of java was the order of the day.  A Starbucks in Japan is not too unfamiliar from one back home; the menus are largely similar as is the decor and presentation.  The one significant difference are the sizes, or lack of, when ordering.  The only size available is tall, and despite what Jim-bob protests, you can not get a size other than tall (I visited two different ‘bucks and it was the same in both).  Once again, I can’t help but feel that Japanese people are so healthy size wise is because they are not presented with different size options and the offering presented is usually enough.  I had a mocha and made my way upstairs and found a seat in the centre.  Everybody seemed to have their heads in books or magazines and I sat down next to a lady who was jotting stuff down on a pad.  I decided to take a few snaps of the crossing by putting my camera right up against the glass.  Since it was raining, it made for an interesting shot since all you could see were umbrellas scrambling to cross.

Done with Starbucks, I decided to check out the streets of Shibuya.  I popped into HMV to have a look at some CDs, though it was pretty much a pointless experience.  The new Oasis album was due out on the Wednesday and that was the only thing I was really after.  Having said that, I next popped into Tower Records to do the very same thing again.  I found a funky t-shirt store where I picked up something for myself.  It was the kind of store which would flourish in somewhere like Covent Garden in London, and some of the designs were absolutely brilliant.  They had a special offer where if you bought more than one, you paid 2100 Yen per shirt as opposed to the regular 2500 Yen.  Sadly, they didn’t have the second shirt I wanted in my size so I settled on just one.  I next popped into the 109-2 store which featured some mens’ stores.  Some Tokyo fashion I like but alot of this stuff I just couldn’t get on with and made a sharp exit.  I decided to pop into the Seibu department store since the team associated with them had just won a tournament or something similar, or so Chikara told me.  The rain was coming down hard now and Shibuya wasn’t the most pleasant of places to stroll around in.

I had decided to pay a visit to Omotesando to have a look at the shopping centre, Omotesando Hills.  Like a number of places in Tokyo, I found Omotesando to actually be closer to Harajuku station than Omotesando’s own.  I had a wander around and stumbled across the Avex Media office, the folks responsible for a lot of anime related music and most notably for me, Initial D’s.  Getting rather peckish, I decided to find somewhere to have some dinner and stumbled upon a small local ramen place along some side street.  It wasn’t particularly busy, but had a steady flow of locals eating there so I thought it looked decent enough on that basis.  I settled on a char-siu miso ramen, with nori.  It was good, but far too much for me and I think I prefer shoyu instead of miso due to the stronger flavour.  Once finished, I continued on my quest to find Omotesando Hills but had no hope; the Rough Guide to Tokyo has god awful maps and I do not recommend it at all as a guidebook.  I eventually gave up hope and just started walking and eventually ended up back in Shibuya!  I passed some school girls who were speaking American English to each other; Jimbo tells me that there’s an international school in Shibuya so there you have it.  I found a cool smoking area which was part of some cinema complex overlooking Shibuya and decided to have a quiet, contemplative cigarette.  It had been a long day, but I thoroughly enjoyed my solo exploration and I was truly able to soak everything up that I came across.  I decided to head back to Ochanomizu since the rain didn’t look terribly merciful, and I needed my rest and to dry off.

Photos of the day can be found here.

Tomorrow, I planned to visit the Tokyo Disney Resort in Maihama so had to be up early and the weather report didn’t look any better; at least the parks would be quiet as a result.

Tokyo – Day 2

Being jet lagged to fuck, I had an awesome night’s sleep at Keiko and James’ place.  I also finally got to have a melon pan, which despite what Yakitate Japan has taught me, it doesn’t actually contain any or taste of melon in the slightest!  The name simply comes from the shape, which resembles a melon (clutching at melons if you ask me, or is that a different game?).

We had a busy day ahead of us and Jim-bob was quickly becoming quite ill with his sore throat.  Keiko was also worried about me (bless her) since I looked like an express train had hit me the night before, so we played it by ear.  I actually outlasted Jim-bob but that’s besides the point.

We headed out towards the station where I noticed that McDonalds serve some breakfast burgers on sesame seed buns, talk about bizarre!  We got on a train line, which I sadly can’t remember.  Anywhere that I went to with either James or Keiko, I can’t for the life of me remember names or directions to.  Our first destination was Yoyogi Park.  Jim-bob likened it to Hyde Park and it was your average central city park.  Visually, it looked a bit downtrodden and gloomy.  I also got to see one of these infamous Japanese crows which are truly huge, no doubt an inspiration for the abundance of zombie crows found in the Resident Evil games.  It was a Sunday morning and there were plenty of people up and about, mostly in yoga sessions and power walking.  There was also a large gathering of dog owners participating in what I can only call dog play groups.  I couldn’t stop laughing at this one massive dog which was constantly trying to hump every other dog in sight; some sort of dominance thing, or so Jim-bob tells me…  The variety of dogs was impressive, and you would struggle to find a wider selection of canines short of going to Crufts or some other dog specialist convention.

Jim-bob and I headed towards Meiji jingu for a moment of spirituality (and plenty of photos).  The day was overcast but warm, and pretty much held out until the early evening; pretty much ideal for a day’s worth of sightseeing.  There were tourists aplenty since it was a Sunday, and I’m not just talking gaijin here; Jim-bob explained that ever since the economy went bust in the early 90s for Japan, in-land tourism has increased significantly which makes sense.  I saw plenty of adverts and posters for such places like Hakone and Hokkaido, and living in a small town but visiting Tokyo would be no different to me visiting London for the weekend.

We did the motions before entering the shrine: washed our left hands first, then right, and take a sip of the water (optional).  It was an impressive sight to behold, and was immaculately well maintained.  What was interesting was that there were plenty of modern refurbishments to the shrine, such as new storm drains and flood lights.  I wonder if Japan has the same sort of protected historic building mantra as the UK does, or whether they sensibly make changes where they’re needed?  I saw a tree where you could write a wish or a prayer on a plaque for 500 Yen; I didn’t bother with it this time but on a repeat visit, I decided it would be worthwhile.  I settled on just a simple prayer and went through the ritual which involved throwing in a coin with a hole (not so sure about this since the free guide says “a few coins”), bowing twice, clapping twice, and making your prayer before you let your hands go from the second clap.  Did I feel any more spiritual or at ease with myself afterwards?  Not really since it was so busy, hence the repeat visit at the end of my trip.

Our next stop was to Shinjuku to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.  At the base of the tower was some sort of girl scouts meet.  There were plenty of stalls and girl scouts about, and even Ampan man made an appearance!

There are two towers at the TMG building and I believe we opted for the North tower. Admission is free, though bags are prone to search before you’re allowed to enter.  Going up to the observation deck, there is a cafe of some sort and a souvenir store which seems to sell everything remotely Japanese. The view from the deck is incredible; all you can see is urban sprawl right into the horizon.  On a clear day, it is apparently possible to see Mount Fuji.

I think we had lunch at this point.  We went to a chain ramen place in Shinjuku near the station and Yodobashi Camera.  Like most chain eateries, you go to the ticket vending machine near the entrance and insert your pennies, and make a selection from the menu.  It’s an efficient way to run a restaurant, and removes some of the problems with taking orders.  We both settled on a basic cha-siu ramen, which were indeed very good, which I found surprising for a chain.  Chikara later explained to me that ramen restaurants are a dime a dozen, and that they have to at least be decent to remain competitive and stay open, so there you go.

We decided to head back to Harajuku bridge to see some goths and rock-a-billies.  It was a bit crazy and there were tourists aplenty.  I enjoyed it but it’s the sort of thing that I’ll only ever need to experience once, Harajuku on a Sunday that is; any other day and it’s your normal shopping district.  Harajuku is one of the many youth fashion camps in Tokyo.  There are plenty of shops and stalls selling the sort of stuff most students rock most of the time.  I actually ended up buying a pair of jeans in Harajuku since my trusty pair of Ralph Lauren’s had given up on me.  The flies had broken and there were several large holes in the crotch area; I semi-flashed Keiko the night before haha…

We headed back to Yoyogi Park to see us some rock-a-billies.  There were only two gangs there, and both wouldn’t have looked a miss in a Grease musical.

Once we were done with Harajuku, we headed over to Akihabara.  I wanted to get a particular lens for my camera and this was the place to get it.  The one I wanted is simply a high-end version of the stock 18-55mm lens I was given, but with a bit more zoom and a bit wider (17-85mm).  We found a Laox discount store, which also offered duty free shopping (why it was discounted, I don’t know), and all in all, along with a protective filter, came to about 68,000 Yen (about £350).  The other bonus is that it’s definitely made in Japan, since there are rumours of some Canon lenses being made in Malaysia depending on the batch you end up with.  The customer service was also exemplary; the sales guy gave me the lens to test out on my camera and he tried his best to communicate with a few English words and phrases.  I’m also certain that he said that my lens was ideal for “gravure” photography…

According to Jimbo, Akihabara is no longer the place it used to be.  Despite only ever having seen Akihabara in pictures, film, and third person accounts, I did get the vibe that Jimbo described was lacking.  The place had become full of tourists and there were very few authentic otaku about; most had moved to the back streets or other locales.  It is still a great place to shop for electronics and other anime related goods, but don’t go expecting it to be as crazy as it once was.  There are still plenty of maids about though near the train station, though I did not visit a maid cafe sadIy.

Next up, we hit a few arcades on the main street.  I finally got to try my hands on Street Fighter 4 which isn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be.  The visuals are a lot nicer once they’re in motion and the jarring Westernised look isn’t quite so obnoxious.  The joystick was something I could not get along with though; it had an odd square gate as opposed to a regular circular one so it was very difficult to do smooth motions.  We also played Taiko no Tatsujin where we both got down with the Evangelion theme.  I got to play Initial D too so I was a happy bunny.  All of the arcades allowed smoking which was like heaven for me.  What is a bit odd is that it’s easier to find somewhere to smoke indoors in Tokyo than it is outdoors, due to various restrictions in place.

At this point, Jimbo’s throat got significantly worse so we headed to a very pretentious cafe at the station.  After a drink, he decided to head on home and we parted ways until the following Wednesday.  Leaving me alone in Akihabara is a dangerous thing to do…

I continued to do some solo exploration and ventured further up the main street.  I popped into a cool electronics department store called Sofmap because I needed a new camera bag since my old one no longer fit with the new lens.  Cutting a long story short, I bought the wrong one and needed to buy another one .

I checked out a few anime stores and found one in particular that was very good, they had their merchandise sorted by anime so it made it very easy to look for stuff.  Sadly, most of the merchandise was for the most recent of shows, leaving me out in the cold.

I was getting quite hungry at this point so I decided to hunt down the Mos Burger which Kiyomi had recommended.  I opted for the seafood rice burger which wasn’t bad, but it was very bland.  I had to douse the thing with so much salt just to give it a kick, which I found myself doing quite often whilst in Japan.  The food is good, but generally very flavour neutral so if you like your spices, I’d pack a travel bottle of Tobasco.  I ended up talking to a random German guy who was in Tokyo on business, who shared my thoughts on the food.

Conveniently, there was a smoking shelter next door to Mos Burger.  I don’t know about the rest of Japan, but in Tokyo, you can be fined for smoking on restricted streets (majority of Shinjuku falls into this category).  As I mentioned earlier, it is actually easier to pop inside somewhere for a smoke than it is to traipse around looking for a smoking shelter or an ashtray outside.  As a result of this, the streets of Tokyo are generally very clean.  I wear jeans which tend to drag on the floor a bit and after a day of walking around London, they would be ready for the wash, but in Tokyo, there was plenty of wear left in them.  One other perculiarity I noticed about smokers in Japan is that few ever smoked the cigarette to even remotely near the butt.  Most would get to about halfway or 2/3 and would then put the cigarette out.  They simply are that cheap out in Japan that it’s possible to do this, hence why I’ve come back to the UK with a fair few more cigarettes than I should have hehe…

At this point, the heavens began to open up so I decided to walk home.  On my way there, I passed a store which had a meaty looking queue outside so there must have been some sort of DVD, or game release at midnight on the Monday.  I’d had a hardcore, but thoroughly enjoyable day and felt enlightened.

Photos of the day can be found here and here.

Tomorrow, I will visit the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Shibuya for some fashion and music goodness, and Omotesando, where I would end up getting lost for the first of many occasions in Tokyo.

Tokyo – Day 1.5

The flight into Japan was only so-so.  I’m sure the service on Virgin has declined in recent years due to rising costs in both fuel and security checks.  I did however meet a nice chap, named Ged, who was visiting his friend in Mitaka whilst in transit to New Zealand and Australia.  Apparently, he was sat next to me at the departure gate in Heathrow, though I was too consumed with writing the previous blog entry.

The food was pretty damn good, with both Ged and I opting for the bento box for lunch, which came with a nice miso soup.  The breakfast was a bit of a let down since we were both expecting a Japanese option, but were only presented with a ham and cheese omelette.  Another sign of cutbacks perhaps?

The inflight entertainment isn’t as good as it used to be since they’ve moved to a new system, which has now lost the Super Nintendo.  The movies are now on their own ad-hoc rota so they can be started and stopped whenever you please, instead of relying on the schedule.  The inflight map was also broken and required constant reloading to update on our current position.

The worst thing about the flight was actually nothing to do with Virgin; there was a travelling jazz band of some sort and were the noisiest and most bizarrely dressed bunch I’d ever had the displeasure of sharing a flight with.  To clarify, they weren’t actually being musical, just drunk and surly.  Ged and I nicknamed them, “the jazz fuckers”, and they were able to get away with it thanks to their “jazzports”.  OK, that last one was lame but you have to do what you can to amuse yourself on a 12 hour flight.

Landing at Narita was very smooth and going through passport control and customs was very efficient, a good sign that we had arrived in Japan.  At baggage claim, I had to wait maybe 20 minutes for my suitcase since I was one of the first to check-in on UK side.  I was dying for a smoke since I’d not had one for maybe 16 or so hours by this point.  I managed to find a smoking room and ventured forth to Marlboro country.  It was a horrible trip; I was severely jet lagged, tired, and hungry.  The nicotine went right to me and I felt horribly ill.  Worse yet, Chikara was meeting me at any moment!  I tried composing myself but it was no use and my only option was to force myself to throw up, and there was no way I would be doing that having only just arrived in Japan.

I managed to find Chikara who had very kindly come to meet me at Narita.  We decided to get the Airport Limousine Bus, which takes you straight into Shinjuku in Tokyo.  At 3000 Yen each (£15 or so), it is pricey but it is only one stop and saves you having to change at several stations with a big heavy suitcase.  If you’re travelling light, then I would recommend using the train network which can be faster in rush hour traffic.  The bus is quoted to take anywhere between 90 minutes and 2 hours, though for us, it was just over an hour.  We were both surprised at the speed into Tokyo and once that famous skyline hit me, I was in full-on slack jawed tourist mode.  The sight of all the skyscrapers and familiar landmarks was truly breathtaking and I think Chikara got a kick out of seeing me all giddy.

We quickly arrived at Shinjuku bus station and made our way inside to the train station and my god, was it busy!  Shinjuku can be considered a hub station and pretty much allows you to get to anywhere else in Tokyo (and further) by commuting through.  Chikara and I eventually managed to find the train line and platform to get to Ochanomizu, where I would be staying for the week.  The train was on time, as expected of Japanese public transport and it took maybe 20 minutes to reach our destination.  There is also a rapid service on the Chuo line which takes only 12 minutes to get to Ochanomizu.  I love the trains in Tokyo; they’re covered in adverts and posters for everything from cameras to fat reduction drinks.  Jim-bob has already commented on this before but I just want to vouch for what he’s already said.  Due to how widespread and efficient the trains are, they really are the most ideal way to travel around Tokyo.  Unlike here in the UK, they really aren’t perceived as transport for peasants, more like transport for the people and so, you’ll see everybody from a little old obaa-san right through to a ry-man in a sharp suit using the trains.  People watching quickly became a hobby of mine during my stay.

Ochanomizu is an interesting part of Tokyo; it is located right next to Akihabara but seems somewhat purposeless.  It was dead upon my arrival and had been quiet throughout the duration of my trip, at all times.  This was great since it was a great place to start and unwind each day.  After about 30 minutes of searching, we finally found the place thanks to some directions from a taxi driver.  The Tokyo Green is actually closer to Akihabara station, though that would have been a nightmare to get out of with a big suitcase in tow.  Check-in is normally at 3pm, but they very kindly allowed me to check-in at 12pm since they had the room available already.  I dumped my stuff and we made our way into Ochanomizu for some food and settled on a local soba place.  It was very popular, judging by the queue leading out the door and was a bit intimidating for your first meal in Japan!  We both decided to have tempura soba, with Chikara opting for cold and me for hot, though in hindsight, I now wish I’d have gone for the cold too since I’ll probably not get the chance apart from possibly London to try it.  It was supposedly expensive for two, clocking in at 3200 Yen (about £16) though it was damn good, and was also to thank Chikara for meeting me at the airport.

We made our way back to the hotel where I severely needed a nap.  I’d been up for maybe 28 hours at this point and was not going to survive the rest of the day without some shut-eye.  I bid farewell to Chikara and would meet him again at Shinjuku in the evening.  I set my alarm for 2 hours and completely crashed down in my bed.  It’s a strange sensation to be woken up again so soon whilst in deep slumber from exhaustion; I was horribly disoriented and had no idea where I was.  I decided to get myself together and used my room’s facilities for the first time.  Being a business hotel (like Nite Nite in Brum), the rooms are small but functional, clean, and well decorated.  Mine was fully en-suite with a Japanese style tub and shower, had a queen sized bed, two desks, a TV, air conditioning, and most importantly, unlimited free broadband internet!  Each floor also had a free green tea dispenser, which made the tea making facilities in the room redundant for me.  I would not hesitate to recommend the hotel to anybody, and at around 6000 Yen (£30) a night, it is a bargain when compared to something equivalent in London.

I would be meeting the wedding gang in Shinjuku station but first had to get there…  Contending with the ticket vending machine, I quickly realised there was an English option and bought my one way ticket for my first solo train journey in Tokyo!  This time, I managed to get on the rapid service with only two stops as opposed to 7 or 8.  Going back to the people watching thing, my wandering eyes could not help but notice all the beautiful women in Tokyo.  The ratio of average, or below average, to good looking girls falls heavily in the latter’s favour.  They all looked immaculate, and the trendy thing right now is to wear black knee high stockings with skirts – wowza!

Arriving in Shinjuku, I had to navigate to the South exit (which would become a regular meeting point for me and the wedding gang) to find Sawa and Chikara.  When you’re in a country where the mass populous have dark hair and are all roughly the same height (myself included), trying to locate somebody in one of the busiest train stations in Tokyo (at quitting time no less) is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.  I eventually found them and also discovered Shinjuku has a “New South exit”, just to confuse us further.  We had some time to kill before meeting Keiko and James so we had a look in a department store and a funky place called Tokyu Hands.  Tokyu Hands dubs itself as the “general life store” and I would have to describe it as a mix of Muji-meets-Ikea-meets-Woolworths-meets-W H Smiths.  One could buy anything from a new mountain bike, to household cleaning products, to an afro wig.  The Japanese also seem to have an obsession with the USB humping dogs, which were heavily advertised on nearly every floor.

Heading back to Shinjuku station, we quickly found James, who had just finished work.  We now had to find Keiko and cue the same problem before about the mass populous…  She was actually stood not too far from us in the end, so it happens.  We all quickly hopped on a train to Shinagawa, to the Outback Steakhouse where Keiko used to work 4 years ago.  We were seated in our booth and all had a set meal to some degree; James, Chikara, and I settled on the same but I can’t remember what the girls opted for…  I usually have my steak rare but was advised against this since in Japan, rare is actually closer to bleu.  The food was lovely but we did order a tad too much, and they give out free, fresh baked bread in Japan too!  I decided to comment on how many different birthday celebrations  were occuring over the course of the evening, only to have the next one be mine!  The staff brought out a surprise icecream, dressed up with candles for me to blow out.  I’ve never had my friends and a restaurant sing me “happy birthday” before – mina-san, arigato gozaimasu!

We finished up and made our way back to Shinjuku (I think) where we said goodnight to Sawa who was heading back to Saitama for a few days.  James at this point gave me a spare Pasmo card; think Oyster card in London or Octopus card in Hong Kong.  I would highly recommend all travellers use a Pasmo since it makes things so much easier; you’re not fumbling around for money at the beginning of each journey and you can just decide on where to go.  You simply load it up with credit and away you go.  I found it to be a real joy to use, and if your touring habits are anything like mine, it’s a great time saver.

We said goodnight to Chikara at some point and made our way back to Keiko and James’ apartment.  We stopped by to get some drinks, breakfast for the next day, and cigarettes for me (can’t beat £1.50 for a pack of 20!).  We even saw the lady of the night that James blogged about  recently (now that’s sight-seeing).  I stayed in the now infamous “cockroach room”, though I did not have any encounters sadly, nor did I experience any earthquakes.

So ended my first day in Tokyo.  Tomorrow, James and I visit Yoyogi Park, Meiji jingu, Shinjuku, Harajuku, and Akihabara.

Tokyo (UK actually…) – Day 1

OK, so it’s not really day one at all because I’m still in the UK and by the time I get to Japan, it’ll already be day two.

Woke up at 5am this morning because I couldn’t get to sleep last night. I had a humungous nap in the afternoon which threw me off completely. I am absolutely shattered right now so will probably sleep for most of the journey to Narita.

Virgin’s new express check-in terminals are pretty cool, though seem completely redundant. I still had to wait for about 20 minutes before I could check my bags in and even then, they still went through all the motions. The lady on the desk assumed I was Japanese which will no doubt be the first of many occassions on this trip, though I did get to use a few lines of Nihongo with her.

Here was my first fatal flaw: I didn’t go back outside for another cigarette! I had read on Heathrow’s website that there was a smoking balcony in Terminal 3… And there isn’t. Yet they sell 10s and 20s in the WHSmiths!

Absolutely ravenous, I decided to have lunch at the TGI Fridays. Second mistake of the day; the service was atrocious! The waiter I had was an absolute idiot who had no idea what he was doing. He then disappeared for about 15 minutes and none of his colleagues knew where he was. Needless to say, I didn’t leave a tip though he was fishing for one.

I was looking at some of the Omega watches in Mappin & Webb and being tax free, they were very tempting. My credit card was burning a whole through my wallet into my jeans, but I resisted. One day, for sure…

Looking forward to seeing everybody, only 13 hours to go until I arrive in the land of the rising sun.