Tokyo: Day 1
Before I get all bloggy, a few quick notes.
We get limited TV in our room, but we are getting CNN in English and some decent internet. We're seeing the situation in Haiti, and it's just awful. As usual, it's difficult to really get much more from mass media than a combination of pure grief injected with unnecessary over-dramatization. But for what it's worth, our thoughts are with Haitians and those working intensely to help them firsthand.
For those who don't already know, the core reason we're in Tokyo at all is because Amber is an awesome sister who agreed to take her brother Matt to the Tokyo Auto Salon after he graduated college, which he did (cum laude!) last month. He's a big fan of import cars and performance modifications - yes, exactly like The Fast & The Furious. D Sport Magazine, which Matt loves, has been doing group trips to TAS for a couple of years, and so it made sense for the trip to be with them and other like-minded car nuts. Amber and I pretty much have zero interest in this kind of thing (beyond a general enjoyment of seeing Matt in his element), so we're really here for 5 days of Tokyo and Tokyo alone. (We were almost going to go with the group on Sunday for a very exclusive opportunity to go drift-driving at 120 mph with some famous drivers in some amazing cars, but unfortunately there are some Sunday-only Tokyo phenomenons that we absolutely can't miss, and the drifting is a full day trip away from the city.)
Lastly, our photos on Flickr. Many digi-kids like ourselves are also decent shutterbugs. I am not one of them. So you may see a couple of photos with some info, and a second very similar photo immediately after. This is deliberate; when I shoot, I side on caution, take multiples, and even at the time of upload, usually don't even try to decide which one is best and just keep them both. Also, anything particularly artistic or even just well-shot is probably one of Ambers.
We started the day with some good breakfast in one of our hotels many restaurant and cafes. We met up with Matt and the D Sport group as they were forming to shuttle to their exclusive Auto Salon VIP morning, where they get exclusive access to the show a half-day before it opens to the public. They all seemed very, very excited.
Amber and I wandered across the street to the Shinagawa station, off to discover our transit options. Matt had just informed us that last night, as Amber and I crashed like 90 year olds after the early bird special, he and some of the D Sport guys ventured out into Tokyo drinking for hours. What was once trepidation about getting just the right metro card and not being taken for the proverbial ride on costs was now replaced with a sense of defiance and rebellion. ("If those damn kids can figure it out drunk and having been here for all of 12 minutes, then by god, so can we!")
It took a little while to figure out Shinagawa - and to stop looking and giggling at the phenomenon that is full-on rush hour rail traffic on foot - but we finally got our SUICA cards, loaded them up with yen, and hit the rails. It turns out Tokyo transit is much easier to jump into than I had assessed from home. It's too complicated to get into now, but suffice it to say, we're on a pay-as-you-go plan which worked out just fine today; it cost us about $2 per person for our 2 rides each.
We thought we'd spend today around Shibuya (pronounced by us as "sha-BOOO-YAAAA!!"), using it as a test run for getting familiar with Tokyo, generally and travel specifically. Thank the Japanese gods we did because what we thought would be a simple 1-stop skip for walking turned into half of our day. Which isn't a bad thing, and not very notable beyond just having walked a lot, but lesson learned: even just 2 stops difference & distance in Tokyo is nothing like any US city I've ever been in. And we had been warned by Josh and others, but it's still something you have to experience firsthand (though I highly recommend you do it with a partner; Amber and I saved each others lives today).
Tokyo has two things going against it for getting around easily: a layout that is as close to an opposite of a grid system as you can get, and most of the streets are completely unnamed. It also has some very confused citizens. Everyone has been 110% warm and friendly, but we found it very odd how people less than a mile away from a large and supposedly very important landmark, the Meiji shrine, had no idea how to get there.
We met a very elderly and very kind crossing guard who spoke zero English and sent us in the wrong direction (we knew it immediately though, and fled in the opposite direction when he wasn't paying attention). We met a funny university security guard - who loves New York and went once years ago - who was incredibly helpful, in a very vague and gamble-ish sort of way (it paid off). And we met a young girl crossing the street who was of no help whatsoever, though again, very very nice.
After some shopping, some coffee, and some strange chain-store Italian spaghetti (not too bad tasting, not too good sitting afterwards), we finally made it to the Meiji-jingu shrine. It's a really beautiful area with some interesting history. Guidebooks make it seem like a necessity; I'd agree with that assessment. You definitely don't have to spend more than about an hour there if you didn't want to, but I would recommend not missing it entirely.
We spent close to 3 hours walking around there. Today was apparently Seijin-no-Hi (Coming-of-Age Day) at Meiji-jingu but we didn't really find anything that looked out of the ordinary. We felt it too complicated a conversation to try and spark up, and also frankly, we weren't overenthusiastic about needing to see it. A guidebook mentioned something about an archery display, but we didn't find it.
By the time we left the area, Amber was beginning to crash hard. It's quite nippy here in Nippon (*rimshot*) so between the cold and the achy feet, it was time for a break. Luckily, Tokyo is filled with awesome noodle bars, so we hit one up and took a break. Three young, hip, and friendly employees helped us with the ticket ordering system, new Japanese words, and some fantastic ramen.
That was the end of the day-day though; we had both had enough and needed a recharge. We meandered over to the Harajuku station - and discovered Cat Street in the process (noted!) - rode the JR back to Shinagawa, and came back to the hotel. We need a recharge and need to assess how much we can give the night. It might be a hotel-only evening, though there's plenty to do on the first 7 floors. I've already warned Amber that if we do stick ourselves here at the homebase tonight, she may be forced to come bowling on 2F...
We get limited TV in our room, but we are getting CNN in English and some decent internet. We're seeing the situation in Haiti, and it's just awful. As usual, it's difficult to really get much more from mass media than a combination of pure grief injected with unnecessary over-dramatization. But for what it's worth, our thoughts are with Haitians and those working intensely to help them firsthand.
For those who don't already know, the core reason we're in Tokyo at all is because Amber is an awesome sister who agreed to take her brother Matt to the Tokyo Auto Salon after he graduated college, which he did (cum laude!) last month. He's a big fan of import cars and performance modifications - yes, exactly like The Fast & The Furious. D Sport Magazine, which Matt loves, has been doing group trips to TAS for a couple of years, and so it made sense for the trip to be with them and other like-minded car nuts. Amber and I pretty much have zero interest in this kind of thing (beyond a general enjoyment of seeing Matt in his element), so we're really here for 5 days of Tokyo and Tokyo alone. (We were almost going to go with the group on Sunday for a very exclusive opportunity to go drift-driving at 120 mph with some famous drivers in some amazing cars, but unfortunately there are some Sunday-only Tokyo phenomenons that we absolutely can't miss, and the drifting is a full day trip away from the city.)
Lastly, our photos on Flickr. Many digi-kids like ourselves are also decent shutterbugs. I am not one of them. So you may see a couple of photos with some info, and a second very similar photo immediately after. This is deliberate; when I shoot, I side on caution, take multiples, and even at the time of upload, usually don't even try to decide which one is best and just keep them both. Also, anything particularly artistic or even just well-shot is probably one of Ambers.
We started the day with some good breakfast in one of our hotels many restaurant and cafes. We met up with Matt and the D Sport group as they were forming to shuttle to their exclusive Auto Salon VIP morning, where they get exclusive access to the show a half-day before it opens to the public. They all seemed very, very excited.Amber and I wandered across the street to the Shinagawa station, off to discover our transit options. Matt had just informed us that last night, as Amber and I crashed like 90 year olds after the early bird special, he and some of the D Sport guys ventured out into Tokyo drinking for hours. What was once trepidation about getting just the right metro card and not being taken for the proverbial ride on costs was now replaced with a sense of defiance and rebellion. ("If those damn kids can figure it out drunk and having been here for all of 12 minutes, then by god, so can we!")
It took a little while to figure out Shinagawa - and to stop looking and giggling at the phenomenon that is full-on rush hour rail traffic on foot - but we finally got our SUICA cards, loaded them up with yen, and hit the rails. It turns out Tokyo transit is much easier to jump into than I had assessed from home. It's too complicated to get into now, but suffice it to say, we're on a pay-as-you-go plan which worked out just fine today; it cost us about $2 per person for our 2 rides each.
We thought we'd spend today around Shibuya (pronounced by us as "sha-BOOO-YAAAA!!"), using it as a test run for getting familiar with Tokyo, generally and travel specifically. Thank the Japanese gods we did because what we thought would be a simple 1-stop skip for walking turned into half of our day. Which isn't a bad thing, and not very notable beyond just having walked a lot, but lesson learned: even just 2 stops difference & distance in Tokyo is nothing like any US city I've ever been in. And we had been warned by Josh and others, but it's still something you have to experience firsthand (though I highly recommend you do it with a partner; Amber and I saved each others lives today).
Tokyo has two things going against it for getting around easily: a layout that is as close to an opposite of a grid system as you can get, and most of the streets are completely unnamed. It also has some very confused citizens. Everyone has been 110% warm and friendly, but we found it very odd how people less than a mile away from a large and supposedly very important landmark, the Meiji shrine, had no idea how to get there.
We met a very elderly and very kind crossing guard who spoke zero English and sent us in the wrong direction (we knew it immediately though, and fled in the opposite direction when he wasn't paying attention). We met a funny university security guard - who loves New York and went once years ago - who was incredibly helpful, in a very vague and gamble-ish sort of way (it paid off). And we met a young girl crossing the street who was of no help whatsoever, though again, very very nice.
After some shopping, some coffee, and some strange chain-store Italian spaghetti (not too bad tasting, not too good sitting afterwards), we finally made it to the Meiji-jingu shrine. It's a really beautiful area with some interesting history. Guidebooks make it seem like a necessity; I'd agree with that assessment. You definitely don't have to spend more than about an hour there if you didn't want to, but I would recommend not missing it entirely.We spent close to 3 hours walking around there. Today was apparently Seijin-no-Hi (Coming-of-Age Day) at Meiji-jingu but we didn't really find anything that looked out of the ordinary. We felt it too complicated a conversation to try and spark up, and also frankly, we weren't overenthusiastic about needing to see it. A guidebook mentioned something about an archery display, but we didn't find it.
By the time we left the area, Amber was beginning to crash hard. It's quite nippy here in Nippon (*rimshot*) so between the cold and the achy feet, it was time for a break. Luckily, Tokyo is filled with awesome noodle bars, so we hit one up and took a break. Three young, hip, and friendly employees helped us with the ticket ordering system, new Japanese words, and some fantastic ramen.That was the end of the day-day though; we had both had enough and needed a recharge. We meandered over to the Harajuku station - and discovered Cat Street in the process (noted!) - rode the JR back to Shinagawa, and came back to the hotel. We need a recharge and need to assess how much we can give the night. It might be a hotel-only evening, though there's plenty to do on the first 7 floors. I've already warned Amber that if we do stick ourselves here at the homebase tonight, she may be forced to come bowling on 2F...
Leave a comment