Tuesday March 16th 2010
Here we are in Tokyo after quite a smooth (yes unusual I know) trip.
Spent Saturday night in Chicago and had dinner at this Speakeasy called Gaslight lounge. It was full of old crooners singing St Paddys day songs on a piano. Super laid back and then I saw SNOOKIE!!!!
She came in with her manager and affliction clad "boyfriend" and sat right next to us.
Well saddo that I am that was the highlight of my Chicago evening
The flight for Chicago was only 13 hours...and went quick thanks to 4 movies and a little sleeping aid (thanks Nancy)
Now here we are at the Prince Park Tower hotel for 3 nights which is just amazing (Leading hotel of the world) Got a brill deal but not brill enough for the full 7 nights
We have floor to celing windows wth a view of tokyo...a toilet that does all but serve our breakfast! I could so get used to this ! Unfortunatly we are only at this hotel for 3 nights..pocket book wouldnt stretch to more.
Our first night we spent wandering "lost in translation style" round the bright lights of Shibuya which also has the busiest crossing in the world.
I already love Tokyo. Everyone here dresses so well, male and female. Its like being in a japanese fashion show with the most put together high end fashion side my side with the craziest styles, yet but all looking so good-like they have just stepped out of a magazine
Our first meal last night involved a machine where you click a button/photo of a meal that looks good. Out pops a ticket and then you hand that to the waitress. On the machine I tried so hard to find a photo that looked like it might not have red meat and the voila steaming beef/noodle broth. Damn...they need to take clearer photos :)
I have decided that I need a Japanese toilet at home now. They are the bomb !!!
Buttons for music, bidet, spray, Powder, seat warmers, deodorizing, drying.....Who knew going to the bog could be so much fun !!!
This morning we woke at the ungodly hour of 4am to head to the Tsukiji tuna auction, which is where the huge Tunas come in and get sold to the restaurants. It was prett amazing to watch and see how the process goes before it ends up as Sashimi on your plate.
Needless to say the Sushi restaurants around have some of the best seafood on offer !
Spent the rest of the day sightseeing..., Ginza (posh), Shinjuku (crazy), Imperial Palace (beautiful), Akihabara(electric town). We used the metro all day and for the most part managed pretty well.
Most of the underground is labelled in English which is surprising considering that barely anyone speaks English.
Hardly any restaurants/bars have English menus of English speaking staff. I dont mind this as it all makes the adventure but its still surprising considering other conutries we have visited more off the beaten track (Peru, Cambodia etc) did !
Another thing to note about the people is while they dont speak English they are so very friendly. They cant do enough for you rushing to get this rushing to get that...apologizing profusely when they dont understand US...even though its us in their country
My favourite part of today was Electric town..justa mass of Gaudy shops selling all the latest and greatest technologies for cheap. Karl enjoyed alll the video games sega stores and we wandered into the Pachinko arcade but didn't have a clue what the oint was to all the silver balls so will have to try that again later after Ive googled how to play it
Ok thats it for now...heading out to Dinner.
later....
Wednesday March 17th 2010
Ugh...waking up with a hangover thanks to Random Japanese man who decided we hadn't drank good sake til we drank what he bought us.
We had found this awseome sushi place and was just busy minding our own business trying to make out what the hell to order on a menu with no photos and no english. The staff just thought we were amusing and without my translation book I was stumped just remembering odd words for yellowtail and such
Anyway we attracted the attention of a local who started sending over BOTTLES of sake...then food...then more sake. Oh my !!!
Its a little fuzzy after that but I do remember having a wonderful evening and some amazing Sashimi
Wednesday 17th March 2010We dragged our hungover arses out of bed this morning and took the metro to old Edo (Asakusa) to see the temples. There are vending machines everywhere selling snacks, and cans of drink (both hot and cold) Everything is just so convenient here. Other than just having the temples Asakusa is just an step back in time with wooden store fronts and old fashioned noodle houses.
We wandered the main market area which led to the temples. I liked people watching there more than I liked the temples. Tokyo girls amaze me with their fashion. Even at the temples people were dressed like they were going clubbing in mini skirts and high boots !
We are just at the very beginning of Cherry blossom season and whilst there are areas where the blossoms are peeking through its really just a few weeks too early to see them in their full glory yet at the temple they seemed "more advanced". A divine actby Buddha maybe??? Nope…on closer inspection I saw they were stuck on !!! Seriously fake cherry blossoms so no matter what time of year we all get the perfect photo op. at Asakusa. The japanese do love perfection
At lunch we found a 100 years old noodle house that the lonely planet recommended.
I had quite a few restaurants picked out in advance for this trip either from the lonely planet or the interne but for the most part they have been impossible to find as their names have only been in Kanji Japanese symbols and not the English name I read about !
Its equally difficult trying to find an address and just too tough to ask as virtually no one speaks English. Anyway call it Buddha good luck but in this case we did find the right place we were looking for somehow just by matching the symbols.
It was a small wooden café (called "Namiki Yabu Soba" in the Lonely planet) and with communal tables …all Japanese except me and Karl you can imagine it was quite an intersting time. We both had Soba noodles (Karl cold-me hot). Karls favourite Japanese food is Soba and whilst I love the taste there is no way I could enjoy eating it often unless I was solo.
The noise does my head in. SLURP SLURP SLURP…SLURP SLURP SLURP. Its deemed normal in Japan to do this and it drove me mad…It was so loud and so constant. Needless to say for this reason, and this reason alone, I will never be a big fan of Soba !
What tradition i AM a big fan of is how very polite the Japanese are. It puts Americans (and British) to shame in their customer service. Karl forgot some change in one shop and he was practically chased down the street so they could return it. People apologize constantly even though its US not understanding THEM and smile and try to help even when its not needed.
We cant take Karls traditional "monkey Arm" photo without someone prizing the camera out our hand to take it of us. Same with our map…the minute we start looking at it on the street someone is trying to lead us where we want to go ! AND I don't mean Thailand style where they detour us by their brothers tailor/gem store first !
Nope…the Japanese here wouldn't dream of scamming you.
It's the safest, friendliest yet incredibly foreign country I have ever visited !
Ok so in the afternoon as a totel change of pace we went to the Harujuku area and I found Heaven !!! I was so in love with this place in seconds. To start with the fashion that I already thought was amazing in Tokyo is on a whole other planet here ! Its like Halloween everyday as the girls (and boys) dress to impress.
The stereotype of giggling asian girls wearing kitch is long gone….these girls take their fashion very seriously and each one looks beautiful as though she is right out of a magazine. They still wear kitch but its to an extreme here..One moment sid vicious Punk…then Halloween goth…Next moment its like being on a set of Alice in Wonderland. Tim Burton aint got nothing on these kids…Pull up socks, lace, fake eyelashes, tutus,make up out the wazoo!
I could easily max out some credit cards here too…such cool clothes (though most what I tried on was way too short..arms and hemlines)
It was just a shopping frenzy but not really as uncultured as it sounds because here in Harajuku was the best teen culture Tokyo has on offer and I could have sat all day just people watching (which I almost did)
Later….
So now I know the real reason Japanese are so slight. Its nothing to do with healthy cuisine but the damn Shinjuko train station. Its like a mini city and we must have been lost down there for almost an hour tonight. Of course being tipsy doesn't help with a sense of direction either but that place is seriously insane !
We found a rather bizarre restaurant called Christon café which was part bar, part restaurant and part dj lounge. It was a gothic theme with all the workers dressed as Goth kids and the whole place decorated in theme…Gargolyes, candles, chandaliers. Even the menu was in a huge black book called the Epicurian Bible and drink names like Sucubus kiss, Hells blood etc !
The food was honestly just ok but the atmosphere was fun and fitting after an afternoon in the dressup Harajuko
Friday 19th March 2010
Ive been AWOL for a couple of days as Thursday we left Tokyo for the Hakone region (Mount Fuji national park). This trip had seemed complicated in advance trying to read up on how to execute it, but actually it was fairly straight forward.
We boarded the cutely named "Romance train" and headed from Tokyo to Hakone Yamota…from there we changed to a small mountain train and took that to Miyanoshita where the Hotel Fujiya hotel was our stop for the night.
It was an amazing old hotel with pagoda style buildings, gorgeous Japanese garden grounds, Carp ponds. It was like stepping back into "Memoirs of a Geisha" .
The restaurants there though were ridiculously expensive so we had a "picnic" dinner from Lawsons (think Japanese 7/11) of Noodles, sushi and bean paste cakes !
The staff were so sweet (again very little English versus my very little Japanese) yet they went out of their way to help us. The one afternoon we returned in (slight) rain and they came running at us down the drive with umbrellas! It was like something out of a film :
Our room was huge and a mish mash of odd furniture. It was like 1960's Japan had exploded all over the place and every type of furniture had landed in our room. Very strange yet very fitting …..The bath was like an old Victorian claw foot with the hot water right from the Springs. I was asleep by 10pm !!!!
Must be that mountain air
We spent that day and the one following exploring the Hakone area including cable cars and ropeways, pirate ships (on Lake Ashi) and exploring by foot. Mount Fuji itself seems to elude us with slight clouds the first day and full-on fog the second but as its rare this time of year to see it in all its glory I wasn't too bothered.
Ate famous black (sulphur) eggs and tempura octopus on a stick until I was nearly sick in the various small mountain towns and villages along our route. Whilst this area had its fair share of tourists we were still about the only Westerners causing something of a stir in each place…especially Karl with his height !
Now its Friday afternoon and we are back In Tokyo
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