Amazing Tokyo!

"Ritcey" made a comment on the previous blog that I posted about Tokyo, saying, "The thing about Tokyo, for me, was I never, ever forgot for even a moment I was in a foreign country (unlike, say, Germany). I'd love to go back - enjoy your stay!"

I certainly am enjoying my stay. And I couldn't agree more. At first, as I passed quickly through Tokyo on the bus from the airport, I thought it looked like many other big cities. But when I ventured out into the city, I have found it so different from anywhere else I have ever been. It really is almost impossible to forget that I am a stranger in a strange land here.

Let me give you a couple of examples. First of all, pretty much all of the signs and written materials are in Japanese writing only, so it is impossible to know what many shops contain from their names, or the advertising outside. The train system is equally confusing, although look around carefully and you can find maps with tiny lettering that you can understand, if you can get close enough to squint at it.

I have been entertained by many restaurants, who really make an effort to overcome this dilemma faced by the foreign traveller, not by simply showing pictures of the dishes they offer, but by having full scale plasticized versions of the foods on offer, in show-cases outside the restaurant. Unfortunately, for me it often has the opposite effect to that intended, as it looks pretty unappetising, as it is so shiny and, well, plastic-looking!

One of the places I was keen to find is a store called Daiso, which is the Japanese equivalent of a dollar-store, although here is referred to as a hundred-yen store, of course. In San Francisco, Susan had introduced me to her local branch of her favourite Japanese store, gleefully showing me some of the amazing and entertaining items that can be bought there. She was so excited when she heard I was going to Tokyo, and insisted that I should visit the main store there:
Daiso - the website is in English too, but check out the intro animation first!
Yelp! reviews for Daiso San Francisco - well worth reading for an idea of the type of stuff you can get in this place.

So after my night at the capsule hotel, I figured out how to get to Harajuku, a trendy teenage shopping area south of Shinjuku, which is the busy central area where I had spent the night. It's only a couple of stops on the underground, and it probably took me longer to get a ticket and figure out where the platform was than it did to make the journey!

Once there I quickly found the Daiso store, with it's four floors filled with eccentric Japanese stuff you never new you needed,



But I was soon drawn back out onto the street by the wonderfully dressed Japanese youth strolling the busy Takeshita Road. The shops are amazing, filled with eye-popping fashions and I wandered up and down the street a couple of times thoroughly enjoying a wonderful session of people-watching. Japanese youth seem very fashion-conscious and image-oriented. I know I have said this before, but unfortunately my pictures can't really capture the amazing vibrancy and atmosphere of the place.



Today it was raining, so I spent some of the morning on the phone and internet trying to piece together the jigsaw pieces of my next week in Japan. I have managed to book a few flights, and if everything comes together as I hope it might, I will have some amazing stuff to report. Fingers crossed.

Eventually I braved the weather and headed out to Machida, a big shopping area only two train stops away from where I am currently staying. I wanted to find out bus times from there to the local airport for my flight on Sunday, and also was keen to see the biggest Daiso in Tokyo!

At Machida it took me a while to find the bus station, and when I did there was no information booth, and not a word of English on any of the signs. Machida is alot less touristy, and it took me quite a while to find anyone who spoke any English at all. Eventually I found out I was at the wrong bus station altogether.

More trudging around in the rain eventually took me to the correct station, and before too long I had the information I needed, with the assistance of a very helpful bus driver. He spoke very little English too, but through sign language we got there in the end. At least I hope we did, or I could end up anywhere on Sunday!

More rainy wandering took me to Daiso, which was almost impossible to find. When I did eventually get directions and found the place, there was no clue that I was in the right location, not a word of English on the signs, very different from Harajuku the previous day. I finally found a tiny hand-written star on a small sign confirming that I was indeed in Daiso.

There are five floors of wonderful Japanese bargains, and I soon found exactly what I was looking for, a computer microphone headset to replace the one I had just broken, for a bargain Y700 (about US$7)

Konichiwa - Goal 32 achieved in Tokyo.

Konichiwa! (kon-nee-chee-wah)

I arrived at Tokyo airport yesterday afternoon, and found an ATM to get some Japanese Yen. The maths took a while, as I tried to figure how much Y10,000 is worth. I didn't want to get it wrong, and withdraw ten bucks worth, or try for a couple of thousand by mistake either! I am reasonably confident that I have about $400 worth of Yen with me now.

I found the bus that I needed to catch, and bought a ticket with a couple of minutes to spare, and travelled for a couple of hours through the centre of Tokyo and out the other side.

At the bus station in Shin Yurigaoka I called Connie, who had offered me accomodation with her family, and eventually met her husband Kazuyuki at the station, and took the metro with him to their home in the suburbs.

There I met Connie, and their four children, three boys, aged 12, 9 and 6, and a girl aged 3. We went out for dinner, the young daughter happily chatting to me on the way in the back of the car in a confusing mixture of Japanese and English. She had me laughing delightedly, as she seemed quite surprised at my lack of understanding. She tried teaching me the Japanese words for the colours of the traffic lights we passed, but I struggled to remember the words later on.

So this morning I was wide awake at 3am, body-clock still on Hawaii-time, and did some planning for the day. After an early breakfast with Kazuyuki, I gathered some stuff for the day, and headed into the city.

Tokyo's railway system is mind-boggling, and although the section of system I was on seemed relatively easy to navigate, the ticketing system is a minefield of possibilities, with several different companies seeming to offer several different options and services. The complicated diagram in the picture below is just one route, not the whole system. I think!

Eventually I made it to the city, just in time to meet Kazuyuki for lunch. He showed me a nearby capsule hotel and he tried to book me in for the evening. Oh dear, everything had been going so well. Kazuyuki was too honest when asked if I had any tattoos! Unfortunately I found that a goal achieved earlier was now in conflict with this goal at this particular hotel. Kazuyuki's only possible explanation was that maybe they had had trouble with tattoed gang members previously!

According to the list of restrictions, it would also be an issue if I turned up "deeply drunked"!

So we got directions to another capsule hotel nearby, where the possibility that I may be a tattoed thug didn't seem to be an issue, but my lack of ability to speak Japanese would be. However, Kazuyuki saved the day by translating the many rules, and left his mobile number with the manager in case I proved to be too troublesome!

For the rest of the afternoon I wandered around happily soaking up the atmosphere of the city.

There are some amazing sites, and some completely unexplainable ones. I imagine that I wandered most of the afternoon with a look of puzzled amusement on my face. The huge array of schoolgirl and nurse outfits was eyebrow-raising!




I took a look in a few electronics stores, where I found myself in gadget heaven. The range of technology was fantastic, but the prices seemed a bit higher than they had been in the US, so my purchase of a new computer will probably have to wait a while yet.

Eventually I managed to tear myself away and headed to my accomodation where I tried out the tiny cubicle, and made use of the communal baths and sauna. The capsule hotel is for men only, no women allowed, and the choice of stations on the tiny TV in the cubicle reflected this, with channel 21 offering "adult-oriented content"!




I headed back out for a bite to eat, and a wander around gazing at the bright neon lights. I strayed into a video games arcade which spread out over six floors, filled with an array of amazing games I have never seen before. Somehow I ended up in the extremely busy red light district, and must have stood out like a sore thumb, as I seemed to get alot of invites into little clubs hidden away down narrow staircases.



The whole place really comes alive and is so vibrant at night, and I could have walked around for hours. It is quite fascinating and so different from most places that I have experienced. Eventually though, I headed "home" for an early evening. I am still trying to get over a last lingering bit of jetlag, and this morning's early start, I think.

And so now it's time to complete the goal, by sleeping here tonight. I might just check out Channel 21 again though first!

Oyasuminasai. (oh-yah-soo-mee-nah-sigh)

Travelling forward through time.

Today I flew from Hawaii to Japan. Or was that yesterday? Actually, I think it was both days!

I set off from Honolulu at 11.45 am on the Monday 26th Jan, and after a nine hour flight arrived in Tokyo at 4.00pm on Tuesday 27th Jan, over a day later. This is the first time I have ever crossed the International Date Line, and have lost a whole day!

Hopefully I will get it back sometime in the future, perhaps if I travel the other way around on the next trip!

More on the International Date Line:
Wikipedia
WorldAtlas.com

Goal 31 - Paula Campbell is in the top ten!

Today is Australia Day, when the whole country celebrates it's identity as a nation, and commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the unfurling of the British flag at Sydney Cove and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia.

So what better day than to announce that Goal #31, getting my Australian buddy Paula Campbell into the top ten in a Google search for her name, has been achieved!

Paula is currently living and working in London, and I am sure that she will be celebrating Australia Day today, somewhere in the big city with her fellow countrymen and women. Happy Australia Day Paula!



Huge thanks are due to Anthony Merizzi, who is the web genius who has somehow made this happen. He somehow discovered this goal in my list of things I wanted to do, and made it a pet project of his own.

I really thought that this might be one of the harder goals to achieve, and did not know where to start, but Anthony has achieved it relatively easily, despite there being a very well-known singer called Paula Campbell too.

Anthony works in Search Engine Optimisation, and if you need help in this area, take a look at some of his work. He seems to be pretty good at it!
http://www.whereizzi.com/portfolio.php
There is an interesting case study on his website on this particular project.

Happy Australia Day everyone!

Hawaii holiday.

I have been pottering around Oahu for a few days now. There is plenty to see and do, and it's all very spectacular. Here are a few places I have enjoyed:-



By far the most spectacular so far is the stunning Hanamau Bay, where I went snorkelling on Thursday:-



On Friday I took a bus across to Kailua on the other side of the island, where I met another internet contact, Julie, and her friend Karen. We went on a wonderful trip around the island, stopping off at a huge pineapple plantation, and then heading up to the north shore to see some of the world-famous big surf spots, such as Sunset Beach and Banzai Pipeline.




There is so much to see around the island, and the day passed so quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to catch the last bus back to Waikiki. Thanks to Julie and Karen for a great day out.



On Saturday, before going on the outrigger canoe, Matt, Jackie and I drove into Diamond Crater and took a walk up to the summit, where the views were nothing short of spectacular!





After the canoe ride we drove out to Pearl Harbour to visit the Arizona Memorial, which was sobering and thought-provoking. There is a very informative film of that terrible day on December 7th 1941, and then you can take a boat out to the memorial itself, which straddles the remains of the ship which still sits on the harbour bed, and still entombs over 1100 who died on that fateful morning. It is very difficult to believe that you are right on the spot where the film you have just seen took place, as it is so quiet and peaceful.




On Sunday morning Shannon called, and asked if I wanted to go out on a paddle board. Stand-up surfing on paddle boards is the big new craze here in Hawaii, and of course I was keen to give it a try. Shannon is originally from New York, and is friends with Stef, who came along with me way back in October to see the Statue of Liberty.

So we took the board down to the beach and off I went. There were quite a few people out there, and it was such a lovely morning. I really did start thinking to myself that this is perhaps somewhere I could fancy living one day! I would love to have a go on the paddle board in the surf, but think I maybe need a little more practice first! Thanks again Shannon.

There is only one picture of this activity, as Shannon's memory card in her camera malfunctioned, and we were unable to download any of the other pictures from her camera.



And so now my Hawaiian holiday is at an end, and first thing tomorrow I fly to Japan to start a new adventure. Thanks so much to all the wonderful people that I have met here on the island, and particularly to Matt and Jackie for allowing me to stay in such a spectacular location, despite it only being a small apartment. This has been a very memorable stopover.