How I went to Japan

Posted on March 25, 2010 by AlbinoGrimby

This (final) article goes over how I put together my trip to Japan. I hope the previous articles gave you a taste of the country and culture through my eyes.

Things to Do Before You Go

Get a planet ticket. I got mine through IACE Travel. I paid 729 dollars for it, round trip on JAL. The same time you get your ticket you might want to also get a hotel and a JR Pass. I ended up doing them separately which probably caused the IACE folks all kinds of headaches.

Get a JR Pass. The JR Pass is 329 dollars for one Adult, 7 days. The JR Pass is useful if you’re going to travel around the country. If you’re going to stay in Tokyo, you might as well not bother and get the Pasmo — the subway card. You can buy JR tickets using the machines over there, but you may need some help from a station manager — I don’t know if there was English for all of those JR ticket machines. It was nice just to wave my JR Pass and walk on through to the platform. Something else to note, you have to buy the JR Pass before you leave for Japan. It’s meant for foreigners and they don’t sell it in Japan. Get it through your travel agency.

Find a Hotel. I picked the Unizo Asakusa Hotel — not because it was recommended — but because it seemed fairly cheap but there are cheaper means of staying in Japan. I opted for two nights — the night I got there and the next day so I could experience some of Tokyo on my own before heading to my friend’s place. It cost me 266 dollars. I hoped that the hotel would be somewhere in the city and it was in a fairly decent location (Asakusa). If you want to save money, I hear you can get a thing called a “Weekend Mansion” which are 40 bucks a night but there’s no maid service. I’d love to try a ryokan next time too.

The hotel will probably cost you more. I had the luxury of sleeping on a friend’s floor for most of my visit. If you can do that, then all the better. If they’re in Tokyo and that’s where you wanted to be, it’s even cooler. Keep this in mind: the hotel room will probably be small. Mine was. Everything in Japan is small.

Currency Exchange. I bought 20,000 yen at 90 yen to 1 dollar. That amounts to something around $216 as of right now. The exchange rate sucks, but don’t let that hamper your decision to go. It’s sucked now for a year. Don’t exchange at the airport either. On the Monday I was there, the previous Friday the going rate was 88 yen to 1 dollar. TravelEx, which is the foreign currency exchange kiosk at the airport was going to buy at 78 yen to a dollar. Yeah, you’re getting ripped off. Just use the ATM when you get to Japan. you get dinged with service fees so try to take out as much as you can each time you use the ATM — I didn’t adhere to that rule very well. There was a 5 dollar fee and an extra $1-2 surcharge every time I withdrew. Still though, I’m not kicking myself over it.

If you’re keeping track, my price tag for Japan is $1540 so far. I don’t think that’s too bad. I’m positive I could do better. In fact, I remember IACE was having a sale the week after I bought my plane ticket. It could have been $299 for the ticket, but I opted not to wait. For me, the point wasn’t to get a deal. The point was to go. If I waited, there would have been time for “well…maybe if…” and I didn’t want that hesitation. Just do it, was my motto, then figure things out as you go. It’ll be a lot more fun when you have the ticket in your hand.

Tell your bank you’re traveling abroad. Don’t forget to call your credit card and bank and tell them that you’ll be in Japan between your chosen travel dates. Otherwise, if you try to use your ATM card you may find that the account is frozen and that’ll make life miserable. Usually credit card companies have an option in their telephone menu that’ll let you set up the dates. I went into my bank and told them that I was going on a trip and watched the teller enter that info into my account on her computer.

Japanese Dictionary/Phrasebook. Bernadette told me this might be useful to have. I ended up getting My Japanese Coach on the Nintendo DS. The DS title is meant to teach you Japanese, and I guess to a certain degree it works. I’ve been using it on and off but not regularly enough yet to say that it works in that capacity. That aside, on the cartridge is a dictionary and phrase book. The game will even say the phrases so you can practice it or in a pinch maybe use the DS to get your point across. Honestly, I carried it with me around Tokyo but it was too cumbersome to break out — I think I would have found any kind of phrase book cumbersome too. I just winged it, but that’s me.

Moleskin Notebook. This was slightly more useful as I could write down to do lists and some notes. Also, if you can communicate verbally, try writing down what you want because the Japanese can read English to a certain degree — they all have to learn it in high school.

Point and Shoot camera. This is useful beyond just taking quick snapshots of things, people, and places. I used this to snap various maps, train schedules, and sheets of information, you know, like how spies do it in the movies (and maybe in real life). What’s nice is that with the LCD panel you can immediately review your shot which makes it useful for maps you find on the fly. Of course, if you have an iPhone, you can use things like Google Maps and this makes using a P&S camera moot.

Packing Tips

I packed light. I actually bought myself a new small suitcase — so yeah this is an additional cost for me, for this trip, but I won’t count it, because I really needed a new one and obviously I’ll use it on other trips. I decided to get a Samsonite spinner which I figured would be better for moving through an urban sprawl, and I was right. Having four wheels makes life easier. It was about 100 bucks on Amazon.

Here’s what I packed:

4 days of clothing change — t-shirts, underwear, pants
Extra socks (7) — you always need extra socks
Shaver
My SLR — I fit it into my suitcase
Toiletries – a comb, toothbrush. I figured I could buy toothpaste, shampoo there. I packed these in a ziplock bag, saves space.
Passport. Don’t forget that.
Laptop with AC adapter — I ripped some movies onto my laptop so I could be entertained but the plane will have movies so I never watched the ones I ripped.
Nintendo DS with AC Adapter
iPod Nano with USB Adapter
headphones
Point and shoot camera
HD mini-camcorder — it had a built in USB for charging and data transfer
SD/CF card reader
Glasses — because I wear ‘em.
Pocket tissues
My cellphone — even though I couldn’t use it there, would have been expensive.
Information — how to get to my hotel, my friend’s place, toys my friends wanted, etc.
Light jacket
Hoodie — I wore this on the day of the flight
Money, credit card, ATM card — definitely don’t forget that!
The Little Tokyo Subway Guide — basically rail maps for JR and the subway system
Small sketchbook — for drawing maps and writing things down
Backpack — I was able to stuff a small backpack into my suitcase once it was flattened out. It was good for bringing home toys.
Hand towel — the public washrooms all over Japan don’t have paper towels, you will either have wet hands or a hand towel. You can also buy one at a convenient store.
Headache medicine — just because the plane flight’s a bitch
AA Batteries for my camera

I rolled all of my clothing so they’d take up less space. I packed in SLR in with the clothing and tucked the socks around it to really wedge it in there and protect it. In the end I had the spinner suitcase and my laptop bag. I wore a heavier jacket over my hoodie and basically dressed in layers the whole time.

If you intend to buy toys and things you’ll want an extra bag. Since I didn’t want to haul around an extra suitcase I had tucked a backpack into my spinner which turned out to be a real lifesaver in the end.

Don’t worry about an umbrella. You can buy one cheap in Japan — 400 yen cheap — at any convenient store.

Money Matters

Using the ATM is a good way to get cash. Find out what your bank’s ATM withdrawal limit is. Despite that, the withdrawal limit was much smaller when I was in Japan. I was only able to take out 20,000 yen at a time. I ended up spending maybe $800 for my toys, food, miscellaneous expenses, and a ticket to Ghibli.

Adding the $800 to my previous total that means I spent about a total of $2340, give or take, for everything. I feel like that’s not bad for an 8 day trip to Japan. I’m not a foodie so I didn’t focus on eating at a ton of high end restaurants there. I like otaku toys but I opted to buy cheaper things such as Figma and Mobip figures (2000-3000 yen). I bought gifts for friends but they were also small.

If you buy toys

If you’re going because of Akiba some tips for packing your toys. Bring an extra backpack or something to carry them onto the plane. If you buy the Figma or Mobip toys — these are figures that have bendable joints and they’re fairly small — remove them from the box and pack them in a zip lock bag. You should hopefully be able to buy zip lock bags there. Why do this? The boxes are huge and mostly contain plastic to protect the toys. So if you ship it or carry it back you’re carrying back a lot of trash. I bought five figures and a ton of gasaphon. I stuffed them into two of the Figma boxes after I removed all the toys. I wanted to keep the boxes so I pulled the flaps apart and flattened them to carry home. Now if you buy those more expensive types of statues, you may have to ship it because they’re a little more delicate.

Oh, they like to package everything you purchase over there and tape it up tightly. Let them do it. I’m not kidding. I was at a Lawsons convenient store and when the employee asked me (in Japanese) if I wanted to bag my bottled water, I said no. He wasn’t very happy about it.

Ghibli Ticket

You can get a Ghibli ticket when you’re in Japan too. Just go to Lawsons and they’re everywhere. It’s not as hard as it might have been in the past.

Communications

If you’re worried that you can’t speak the language: I can’t speak a lick of Japanese, and I turned out just fine. I might have stepped on some cultural toes. In fact, I’m sure I did.

You can try to speak English to them, and they mostly won’t understand. At that point you can try and write down what you’re trying to say and they may be able to help you. I usually would write one or two words and it was enough for whomever it was to help me out. All I know is “Konichiwa (hello)”, “Arigatou (thank you),” “Sumimasen (excuse me),” and “Watashi wa America-jin desu (I’m an American.)” You will probably say “Arigatou” a lot.

Cellphone Rental

I didn’t rent one. I had the luxury to use Bernadette’s pay-as-you-go cellphone for a few days. Since it was just me and I didn’t completely have to be in contact with somebody all of the time, it was perfectly fine for me to forgo the rental cell. That’s something to consider if you want to save money.

Walking

Get ready to walk until your legs ache. I lost 6 lbs. on my trip, but that maybe exaggerated due to illness. I like my slimmed figure so I’m trying to keep the weight off even now that I’m back in America. You can easily walk 15000 steps in Japan on any given day, and I can only do half of that on an elliptical or treadmill — for an hour. I read while I exercise, so it’s time well spent.

Weather

So I hear that Spring and Fall are the best times to go. If you want to go in the summer prepare for it to be sweltering hot. In the winter it’ll be snowing. I often think of Tokyo weather akin to Pennsylvania. It snowed the night I arrived and was blistering cold. The next day it was gray in the morning but then for the rest of my trip blue skies and warm weather. So much so, that some days I didn’t even need the extra jacket I brought with me.

Mito was colder than Tokyo at night. A lot colder.

Food

You definitely want to eat ramen there. That ten cent packaged stuff here in the US — a complete joke. Good ramen is in the broth and in the quality of the noodles. It’s a different beast over there. Even at the airport ramen stand, the ramen was better than it was here. Sushi. If you’re adverse to raw fish, then that’s to bad, but sushi’s really good. Takoyaki is breaded and fried octopus. You can get it at various festivals. It’s DAMN good. There’s so much more I didn’t have, that I’ll have to do next time. If you need quick food you can grab onigiri and various “breads,” sweet breads, and meatbuns at a convenient store. A lot of things are fried there which may not be cool if you get sick.

I’m not adverse to eating weird things so I was eager to down whatever the folks there eat. There are McDonalds, KFC, etc. over there too. It’s different but the same, but why eat American when you’re vacationing in Japan?

Mister Donut is interesting if you want some Japanese donuts. I still want to try Mos Burger and Gyoza Stadium. Definitely go to Ippudo Ramen.

Also the water is safe to drink out of the tap. How do I know?

Good to drink.

Plus friends told me it was fine to drink the tap water. I noticed when I got home the water here tasted a little crummier than the water there. So, I even feel the water is cleaner over there, but now that I’ve been in the States for a week I’m used to our tap water again.

So there you have it. That’s how I did it. This time it wasn’t expensive, but I’m sure if I stay longer and had a hotel for longer it would be. It’s really fun if you’re a Japanophile. I definitely want to go back because there’s a lot I haven’t experienced yet. I’d like to see other cities like Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Osaka — and anywhere else that might be interesting. I think next time I might go back for two weeks. I think next time I might want to have better Japanese skills. It might also be fun to go with friends too.

If you have any other questions about going to Japan, something I forgot to cover, leave a comment and I’ll answer it as best I can. Thanks for reading these blog posts. They might be long, but I guarantee it took you less time to read them than for me to write them.

Maid in Japan

Posted on March 24, 2010 by AlbinoGrimby

Shinjuku-Chuo Park temple.

Monday morning I walked Bernadette down to the Mito train station. As we walked, I debated: would I have the energy to go through with today? I was still sick, but this would likely be my last time going through Tokyo, because tomorrow I would be on the road to the airport and then home. I was still sick and certainly walking around Tokyo would not be helping things, but this is my vacation and I gotta live it to the fullest or I’d definitely regret it.

I waved to Bernadette as she disappeared on the otherside of the turnstyle. I waited a little bit longer and lingered around the Newsday store and then decided to head back. At that point, I wanted breakfast, but not anything fried or full of rice. This seems to be the issue with Japan. All the food is phenomenal. Don’t get me wrong on that point, but when you start to feel under the weather a fried pork cutlet doesn’t sound appetizing, to me anyway. A rice ball is better, but still not something I feel like having when I’m coughing up phlegm. Just give me some fruit. Give me some juice. Give me something soothing for my throat. Under the departure level of the train station was a local grocery store. I picked up an apple for 400 yen — a big, juicy one. They sell these back at home for $1.99/lb. I grabbed an orange to fulfill my vitamin C needs and went on my way.

With breakfast over I ventured back to Tokyo on the Super Hitachi train. It takes only an hour from Mito to Tokyo so I was in Ueno Station in no time and back on the Yamanote Line in search of Ippudo Ramen down in Ebisu. It took some meandering around and asking, but I eventually came across it and got myself the lunch special — tonkatsu ramen, gyoza, and all the rice you could eat — at least that’s what the English menu said. I definitely didn’t have it in me to pig out and the meal was filling. Good ramen, I believe, is in the broth, and at Ippudo it was good to the last drop. Maybe, because I was ill, but I felt it in the back of my throat. It was a very rich and flavorful soup. The noodles, I believe, were hand pulled and firm. I tell you, once you’ve had ramen in Japan, it’s hard to go back. This is no comparison but when I got back I had some Sapporo Ichiban ramen — the 89 cent ramen dry package ramen — and all I could taste was the salt. At some point in the past I remember enjoying this but now that my palette is a little more refined, it just doesn’t cut the bill. I suppose if I want ramen like Ippudo, I’ll have to live in the land of the rising sun. Or, I hear there’s a branch in New York City.

Shinjuku was next on the list. I had come here Saturday night only to eat some sushi at a department store and go home, but now it was mid-afternoon and I would get a chance to see more of it. Shinjuku is where all the skyscrapers are. The Tokyo metropolitan government building sticks out of the ground like a large tuning fork. The JR and subway rail stations are connected to a vast underground concourse that links to a series of skyscrapers so you never have to see the sun or rain if these are the buildings you commute too. I walked beyond this concourse out into the daylight and snapped all the skyscraper porn I wanted.

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Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

I continued walking to the Shinjuku-Chuo Park (central park). It’s undergoing some heavy reconstruction. If you’re curious where Tokyo hides all of the homeless, it seems to be here. Sitting in groups on the park benches are the homeless. There are kids doing kickflips with skateboards. Business women and men walk by the homeless without the fear of being robbed, attacked, or accosted for money. The homeless themselves are quite orderly — so it seems. I ventured further into the park and found a small shantytown by the temple. There were blue tents erected in a field. The homeless seem to collect all the discarded umbrellas in Japan and use them as additional shielding for their homes. Their spaces were nice and tidy too. A broom was lying against a tree; the dirt in front of a shanty house had been swept. There was an analog clock hanging on a branch of another house. I snapped a few photos. Nobody seemed to be home, or if they were, they didn’t come out. I went on my way and wandered around the temple behind the shantytown before heading out of Shinjuku for good. There’s much to explore, and definitely a second trip with more time would do it justice.

Shantytown

I had to go back to Akiba. This is one of the reasons why I came to Japan after all. The toys. The electronics. The games. The anime. I won’t bore you with my shopping adventures. Needless to say I found the only Maria-sama ga Miteru gasaphon machine in Akiba again and plunked more yen into it until I was satisfied that I got more of the characters — all of them except Yumi.

I planned to leave on the 19:00 pm train to go back to Mito. I missed it by 5 minutes and decided to stick around to the 21:00 pm train. This gave me two hours to kill. I went to Club Sega and played some Street Fighter 4 at 100 yen a pop. A guy over the network handed my ass to me with Blanka.

Then I decided to do the nerdiest thing I could do. You have to if you’re in Akiba, even if it is against your better judgement.

I went to a maid cafe.

There are a bunch. You can’t walk across a street corner without a girl in frilly maid outfit trying to shove an advertisement for her cafe in your hands. I took one for a cafe called Maidreamin’. It was on Chuo-dori sandwiched between the Softmaps and Club Segas. There it was, a neon pink banner slapped onto the side of a nondescript white building.

“What the hell,” I thought and took the elevator up. It would be good. I could get off my feet. I could get away from the Akiba noise and light show outside. Maybe, it being a cafe, I could get some tea to soothe my sore throat and if it was delivered by a girl in frilly dress, then, all the better, right?

The doors opened and a maid greeted me with a deep bow. “Irasshaimase!” (I believe that’s what she yelled at me.)

“Hello,” I said.

One of the girls asked if this was my first time in a maid cafe. To that I said, “yes” and she explained how it worked. Before anything happens, you pay to sit in the maid cafe. 500 yen will get you 30 minutes at the bar. 1000 yen for an hour. 1000 yen will also get you an hour at a table, but if it’s a table you want to come as a group otherwise a single person will have to pay for two people — so 2000 yen if you sit by yourself at a table for 30 minutes. I opted for the bar for 30 minutes.

How shall I describe the room? It’s pinku. Pinku everywhere. The walls were pinku. The sofas. The karaoke stage. The room’s not big. The bar was a white counter with a pink heart shaped end. I had a basket under my feet to tuck my belongings into so I could keep them off the ground. To my left and behind me was a small kitchen. The floor was wood and spotless. When I sat down, a waitress, uh, maid, came over with the Japanese and English menus. You could have dinner here, but none of that seemed appetizing. I opted for maple strawberry tea and a parfait — a really expensive one by the maid’s suggestion — it was 1300 yen. Figures, of course, she’d pick the a really expensive one as a recommendation, but I went along with it. Why not? It was supposed to be fun after all.

As I waited for my food and tea to arrive, one of the maids came by every now and then to chat with me. I suppose it’s apart of her job description, but then again, of all the maids working there, she was the only one that spoke with any semblance of English. I’m sure a lot of American otakus come to Japan, so having someone on staff to speak the language is good for business. Our conversation wasn’t deep; it wasn’t like I discussed Nietzsche with her or anything. Regardless, it was nice to try and hash out a conversation in my native tongue.

She asked me where I was from. “California,” It told her. That got some big “OoooOos.”

Later on she walked by again and asked, “How long are you in Japan?”

“Just a week.”

Later on, “Where are you staying?”

“I’m staying in Mito at my friend’s.”

“Oh, Ibaraki?”

“Yes.”

It seems like I didn’t say much, but I tend to write curt dialogue. Plus I don’t remember everything I said to her. A lot of it also was just repeating the same thing over again because I said it too fast.

A different girl than the one talking to me brought my tea out. She knelt down on the otherside of the counter and set the kettle in front of me with the grace of a young woman trying to be a trained geisha. “Here is your tea, master!” She said with a flourish of her hands. So there it was. The “master” bit. The part that made Michael Moore on his visit to Akihabara blurt out, “Oh no, we’re not your masters!” It’s goofy. I understand it’s meant to be polite in a strange way. I also figure, it’s just something she’s paid to say. So I just smiled back and thanked her. “Would you like milk or sugar?” she asked.

“Both would be nice.”

I watched her prepare my cup of tea, but before I could have it we had to do one more thing. I call it an “incantation.” She put her fingers together to form the shape of a heart to her right, then her left and then in the middle of her chest and splayed her hands out. “Now, you and me!” I grinned. Okie-dokie. I mimed her moves and when she seemed pleased and moved off I cured my scratchy throat with a cup of tea.

My parfait was brought out with similar fanfare. Again before I could eat it, the same maid knelt down on the otherside of the counter and had me mime an incantation with her. This time she had me trace a heart with my fingertips, then a heart to the left, then right, then cat ears. “Kupi, Kupi, Kupi, Nyah nyah!” I repeated after her. I suppose if the point is to make you smile, even if its goofy, it works. You can’t help it.

The parfait was a mile high and probably gave me diabetes. It’s two scoops of ice cream over Del Monte fruit and a bed of cornflakes — I don’t know why cornflakes, but I hear the Japanese love courne, I mean, corn. Over the ice cream scoops it’s whipped cream used to stick a small pie crust down. On the pie crust is a dollop of pudding. On top of that more whipped cream used to hold down another little cookie with a dog shaped face on it. I ate the entire parfait and when they girls came around again they uttered “Sugoi! Suuugoi!!” as if, while in the kitchen, they were colluding with one another while making the damn thing and saying, “I bet that idiot foreigner couldn’t finish this!” Just so you know, we Americans have bottomless stomachs. Where else in the world can you get a 72 oz steak and get it free if you chow it down in an hour? How about a mammoth breakfast burrito? Or a pizza that has to be custom delivered in the back of a pickup truck and is larger than most Japanese apartments in terms of square footage? Where else can you get a 6 lb hamburger made from the tomatoes, cheese, bread, and hamburger meat of lesser hamburgers? America. That’s where. We have no problem eating this kind of stuff.

As I sat there enjoying the ambiance, another foreigner — he was a white guy — entered the cafe and sat down at the opposite end of the bar and one of the maids began the same shtick with him. A group of young Japanese guys entered and took a table. They seemed to have the most fun. At some point all of the maids were clapping and yelling what I might equate to “chug chug chug” at a frat party. I couldn’t see what they were doing, but it looked fun and/or crazy.

I talked some more with the only maid that could speak English and as a last thing to do, I snapped a photo with her for 500 yen. I got my pick of the harem, but even when I was presented with the entire roster of girls, I pointed at her from across the room. I connected with her the most. Mainly because she spoke English. For 500 yen, they turn the lights up and bring you up to the karaoke stage. I was handed a pair of gaudy cat ears and made the nyan-nyan Asian pose. Another girl brought out a giant Polaroid camera and snapped us in the moment. Me and my maid. Something I’ll remember forever. 500 yen forever. I guess.

She drew some cute little things over the photo and gave it to me. I realized, I didn’t know her name, but she told me it was Midori. “It means green,” she said. That I actually knew.

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I guess she likes cats. I still look horrible in pictures.

I had paid to stay to 8:45 PM but I had a train to catch. I wanted to cut out early which seemed to surprise them, as if no one had done that before. You don’t pay until your allotted time is up which is how it works. I tried to ask one of the non-English speaking maids if I could pay the bill. When I spoke to her, she laughed nervously and immediately searched the room for Midori and waved her over. I tried to explain to Midori that I wanted to pay the bill and leave and she eventually understood. Once I had paid they waited for me to enter the elevator (i.e. I was politely getting kicked out) and Midori bowed deeply. I gave her a little bow. She stayed that way until the elevator doors closed.

I spent 3000 yen there for the right to sit at the bar, have some tea, a parfait, get a photograph taken to commemoriate the experience, and get a little “magic” candle trinket.

I had written some observations about the maid cafe experience, but I chopped it out of the article. If you want some culture shock and humor, here it is.

The next day I spent traveling to the airport. I bid Kenny farewell around 7 in the morning. He went off to work. I did my laundry and prepared for my long journey home. No more pictures. No more Tokyo. No more buying things. The night before I managed to stuff all my toys into a backpack I carried along with me. I had three bags going home. I wheeled everything precariously down the back alley to the Mito Station around noon and got to Ueno around 1:30 pm. From there I headed down to Tokyo Station and took the N’EX to Narita. There were things to see around Narita, but admittedly, I was done. I checked my bags. I crossed through security. I massaged my weary back in one of the massage chairs onsite, and then caught my plane at 6:45 pm. I left Tuesday evening. I arrived home Tuesday morning. I didn’t sleep at all on the plane since some parents can’t silence their spawn. On my way out of SFO, I saw the SFPD and paramedics holding down a man screaming in anguish.

It’s good to be back in America.

The Yamanote Line

Posted on March 23, 2010 by AlbinoGrimby

Mito Station, my start and end point.

The Yamanote Line is the JR track that encircles Tokyo. If you want to get anywhere in the city, this is the line to travel. These trains literally come every three minutes. So if you miss one or you go the wrong direction you can easily get on another one.

Bernadette, Alexis, Kenny, and myself were supposed to go to Sea Disney on Saturday, but Friday night they were feeling under the weather, and at the last minute we decided not to go. I was doing alright. Bernadette reminded me that it was my vacation so I didn’t have to let it live or die around their schedule. I felt bad for leaving them, but it is my vacation and she didn’t need to remind me twice. I headed down to Tokyo for the day. The Super Hitachi runs from Mito to Ueno Station with three stops. It’ll get you into the city in an hour. That’s blistering fast considering the Joban rapid line will take two.

While I sat in the train I pulled out a Tokyo guide I had picked up from the Unizo Asakusa Hotel and began to go through the sights. There was the Imperial Gardens, Tokyo Tower, Lolitas in Harajuku (uh, not listed in the guide), the sky promenade in Shinjuku, and why not, I’ll even swing by Akiba for a bit of shopping. I circled the places I was interested in and when I dropped into Tokyo I hopped onto the Yamanote line to go from Ueno to Tokyo and begin my whirlwind tour of the city.

Imperial Garden

Imperial Garden by Tokyo Station

Tokyo Station empties out into a massive center city. The train station and all the skyscrapers that surround it are filled with upscale stores. This is not the place for me, so I believe. I’m not apart of the fashion elite. I would fit right at home in a Jusco, still I walked through some of these department stores. I then went on further to the Imperial Garden. It’s surrounded by a moat and there’s one or two bridges that lead inside. To visit the garden you get a special pass which you have to return upon exiting — I guess this way when they hand out and receive back all the passes they know that everyone’s gone. It’s like a zero-sum game.

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The moat around the Imperial Garden

If you want solitude in the center of Tokyo, come to the Imperial Gardens. Once you’re through the gates and buffered by the stone walls the jack-hammering, the incessant honking and din of cars motoring down the streets disappears. It’s quiet here. There are a couple of small museums you can visit that show off the Emperor’s swag from visiting other countries over the years. I generally ignored it. I wanted to see the garden. Show me the manicured trees, the meticulously kept grounds, and the stone walls that you carefully rebuilt stone by stone over the years. I came for the epic-ness. I came to be thrown back in time to the Edo period in the small space that survived, untouched by the modern world and time itself.

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Well manicured trees and grounds.

That’s what I came for. I don’t care if the King of Scotland gave the Emperor a fancy toy boat. Ironically, I’ll probably devote a blog post to the toys that I got from Japan because…I think you might care.

There’s a part of the park where a vast field of dried grass covers a flat field. People sit out there and picnic and rest. You can lay on the grass. It looks damn nice, especially with the blue sky over us that day. I opted to stay on my feet and kept walking around snapping photos and videos. This is how I like to spend my time — on the move, but if I come back, I’ll lay on the grass and stare at the blue sky.

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower

I left the Imperial Garden and headed back to Tokyo Station. There’s one thing here I wished I had taken a picture of. A homeless man had made himself a little umbrella hut under one of the concrete pylons. It was constructed entirely of umbrellas and looked pretty solid for something that might blow away in the wind.

I was back on the Yamanote Line and heading to my next stop, Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower’s not the highest building in Tokyo anymore. It’s not the best observatory, but I choose this because it seemed to be iconic, even if it is kitsch. One of my favorite sentimentalist Japanese movies, Always: Sunset on Third Street takes place in 1950s Tokyo. They’re rebuilding after World War II. It’s about a family that runs a small auto shop called Suzuki’s (maybe or maybe not related to the big auto manufacturer). They’ve just hired a new mechanic — a girl that just got out of school who’s looking for work. They live next door to a struggling writer trying to make it big while running the candy shop he inherited from his folks. There are glorious melodramatic moments in the story between the famiily, the writer, and the girl he falls in love with. It takes place under the backdrop of Tokyo Tower being built and that’s why I wanted to see it.

Tokyo Tower sits on a hill and you walk up to it, gazing up at its magnificent grandeur as you approach. I entered the shops around Tokyo Tower first and had a Pink Waffle — think of it as an Auntie Anne’s but they make a waffle and smother it with ice cream and chocolate. I looked at all the campy Tokyo Tower toys to buy — keychains, globes, puzzles. No, I thought to myself, I won’t buy any of it. Just show me to the tower.

For 1000 yen one adult can go up 150 meters to the first observatory. Once there you can pay 600 yen to go up another 100 meters. I figure, I made the journey all the way out to Tokyo Tower — why not go up? The real price of going up 100 meters more is that, it will take you an hour. You have to wait for your number to be called. I spent time on the first observatory and I recommend you immediately buy your ticket for the special observatory if you want to go higher, but honestly at the end of the day that extra 100 meters was not worth it. You get the same view at a slightly elevated angle. The observatory is smaller and packed tighter and there’s nothing else to do there other than gaze out at the city. I really didn’t get the sense that I saw more than I could at 150 meters. I snapped pictures of the buildings below and got a good panorama view of Tokyo from the sprawling city to the bridges over the bay. That’s really about it. You can dine at the cafe on the first observatory. There’s a shop there the size of a closet that a thousand Japanese tourists will try to squeeze through. So do yourself a favor and enjoy the 150 meter high view and move along.

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150 meters over Tokyo

I stayed long enough to see the sunset.

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The sun sets.

As I walked away from Tokyo Tower, I turned around and snapped this postcard picture:

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Tokyo Tower at night

An even better one:

Harajuku

There were two things I wanted to see here: the temple and Lolitas. Since I couldn’t find the temple, I saw the latter just by walking around. Once I got off the Yamanote Line, I was back on the streets of Harajuku I ended up following several people around making a loop about the shopping district. Harajuku’s known for its high fashion and all the shops reflect that. Now, imagine Akiba stuffed to the brim with electronics, DVDs, anime, and toys. Harajuku is the same but with fashion. I don’t know if all the stores went up eight stories, but I bet they did. There are Lolita shops that effuse pink. They love them some pink in this country. Men wear pink without embarrassment. I don’t know what the official reason is, but here’s my take: everywhere you go they wear gray and black — the business men, school kids, everyone except for the one girl that’s dressed in a bright kimono. So then there’s only on way to not be so plain and lifeless. Wearing something pastel. Pink doesn’t carry the same stigma that it does in America. It doesn’t scream pansy and they love it on everything here. We just think it’s gaudy.

I managed to catch sight of a few dour looking Lolita as I walked around, and since there was nothing else I could find to see in the night, I headed back to the Yamanote Line and breezed off to Shinjuku.

So, before I blitz out of Harajuku, why Lolitas? I have a thing for girls in period clothing (obviously). The subculture’s always fascinated me. Don’t call it a costume. Don’t mistake it with anime inspired maids — it borrows influence from Lolitas not the other way around. This is youth rebellion. It’s girls that got tired of of the modern world and the hyper-sexualization of their society so they dressed down. Rococo style. They dress for themselves because they got tired of being treated and paid like second class citizens with the only future prospect of popping out babies. At least that’s how I understand the fashion movement. There’s an air of elegance about it; I suppose that’s what I like the most.

If you want to find more about Lolitas watch Kamikaze Girls. It explains the fashion and a take on the mentality of it. That aside, it’s a damn good movie to boot. Lots of good moments. Plus if you like Fukada Kyoko, you can’t go wrong.

Shinjuku

Shinjuku at Night.

Honestly, by this point in the evening, all I did was have dinner here. The stores were closing for the night anyway. The JR station connects with a department store and on the eighth floor of that store there’s a restaurant floor. I had sushi there and was on my way. I vowed as I left that I would come back to Shinjuku to see it in the day next time.

Akiba

I cut across Tokyo on the Chuo line to avoid going around the Yamanote Line — it was a lot shorter this way. I stopped off at Akiba for some quick shopping — I figured I’d grab a figure or two and then be on my way back to Mito.

Mito

I arrived here back at midnight. I thought I could take the Super Hitachi back, but for some reason I thought I couldn’t — but the joke’s on me, because you could, and I learned that a day later. I ended up taking the Joban line back to Mito and enjoyed the two hour train ride.

It was a long Saturday filled with sightseeing and I did see everything I wanted too. What I like most is that I didn’t extensively plan anything. It’s all spontaneous. Off the cuff, if you will. I must travel this way more often. It’s fun to explore on your own. When we had considered going a year ago we looked at doing tour groups, but honestly, what’s the fun in having someone hold your hand? I like to explore.

The next day, Sunday, it was Kairakuen Garden in Mito. The day after, one final stop in Tokyo and I do something absolutely ridiculous and nerdy: I go to a maid cafe.

Mito

Posted on March 23, 2010 by AlbinoGrimby

Mito

Friday

After two and a half frantic days of bouncing around Tokyo, today is slow, and it’s not necessary a bad thing. My legs ached from walking and standing everywhere. I hadn’t talked to anyone (in any intelligible sense) since I arrived, and apart of my vacation was to come and visit my friends — that’s how this whole trip began in the first place. Although, admittedly, I was finding myself wishing I was in Tokyo, but it’s easy enough to navigate my way back there.

This whole trip began with an IM to my friend Bernadette. “How’s Japan?” I asked her.

“It’s great you should come out and visit,” she replied to me.

I figured that wasn’t a bad idea. I hadn’t gone anywhere in a long while. I spent the winter break at home. I had always wanted to go to Japan but the last time I tried to put together a trip with friends it made Japan feel like a daunting task. There was too much effort that went into planning the trip and this time I feel that it was the right amount — no planning at all. I would just wing it. I told Kenny to get ready because I was coming to Japan to sleep on his floor.

Bernadette’s children, Kenny and Alexis, are out here in Japan apart of the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. Alexis teaches in Toyama, but she’s visiting Mito because she’s sick and looking for a little comfort of home. Kenny lives in Mito and that’s where the four of us are staying. The apartment’s small, but I suppose for Japanese standards, for one person, it’s practically a mansion. The family would be sleeping together in the bedroom and I would be sleeping out in the living room on a mattress on the floor, which is pretty much what I expected and sure beat paying more for a hotel.

Friday started out quiet. I was quite content having seen Akiba at least once and having gone to the Ghibli museum. If there were two big things I wanted to do on this trip, I had done them. I had no other major plans really. I knew that there were things I wanted to see and wanted to eat, but I’d play all of that by ear in the coming days. I didn’t realize I’d also catch some of Alexis’ cold, but in the end, it didn’t slow me down — though as I write this I’ve still got a slight cough.

I did my laundry Friday morning. Since Kenny didn’t have a dryer we made a trek into Mito and I got to see the town for the first time. Instead of walking through a back alley we walked along the road leading to a bridge overlooking a huge swan lake. Bernadette and Alexis brought bread to feed the birds. We dropped off my things at the Soft Cream — you’d never think that it was a 24 laundry place — but it is. While my clothing spun dry we ventured over to the lake and fed the birds. A nursery of kids was also trying to chase the birds around so it was fun had by all.

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Feed the birds in Mito

I had never been that close to birds. As we dropped bread and rice cracker type treats they swarmed us — pigeons, swans, and ducks. The pigeons would eat anything even if it was too big for their beaks. The ducks tended to steal entire slices of bread and make off with them. The swans snipped at the other birds that got too close. It was fun to watch the entire eco-system of birds in play. As the birds swarmed the bread the kids swarmed the birds and we were eventually close enough to hold the animals in our hands. I had a pigeon eating out of my hands, something I had never done before. I’m sure Japanese pigeons are just as diseased as American ones and afterwards, I washed my hands a few times just for good measure. Still it was a nice slow start to the day.

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This is how close we were to the birds.

This picture is just cool:

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Alexis feeding birds.

This swan either hurt it’s leg or she just enjoys standing on one leg:

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Stand on one leg.

I continued my day in Mito with Alexis and Bernadette — Kenny was off teaching class. We went to walk along the main street. If you’re curious there’s an Animate! on the main road even here, although it’s only the size of a regular store and not an eight story behemoth. There’s a stationary store that we visited — and their stationary stores are not our stationary stories. Our stationary stores sell birthday cards, pens, and maybe, well, stationary. Japanese stationary stores sell all of that but then go on and encompass things that an art store would sell including water colors, copic pens, brushes, comic book paper, screen tones, different forms of paper hand made and prebound into a sketchbook, and the list goes on. I think I could have even made a personal seal there if I wanted too. I ended up getting a bunch of brush pens but there were plenty of temptations for the artist in me.

We went to the big department store in town, Keisei. It’s again, about eight stories high, and filled to the brim with stuff and we had lunch at a, get this, American-style Japanese restaurant. It was dressed up to look like a saloon from the wild west. The waitresses were dresses as cowgirls — nothing lewd mind you. As apart of the kitschy American decor there was a sign that said something akin to “keep your shit outside.” I can only remember that it used the word “shit” somewhere.

We ordered and while our waitress struggled through trying to understand Bernadette she kept glancing over to me, at which point I would shrug, because I may look Asian, but that doesn’t mean I can speak Japanese. I ended up getting steak with fried shrimp (as portrayed below). As par with everything I’ve had in Japan, it was really tasty.

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Steak and fried shrimp

I might have mentioned this before, but when you go to a Japanese restaurant you don’t tip. So the price at the end of the meal was the price of our three meals combined. I don’t mind tipping — I tend to overtip if anything, but I do like knowing how much I’m going to pay, it makes things a lot easier.

One of the highlights of this day was the Mito Art Tower.

Mito Art Tower

It’s a tall geometric tower overlooking the city. Once you go to the top you can see for miles around you and supposedly, on a clear day you can see straight out to Fuji. Why, it looks something like this:

Mt. Fuji

Unfortunately, it was too hazy to really see the actual Mt. Fuji. I was able to make out the silhouettes of some other mountain ranges off in the distance.

Plans in the evening were in flux, but eventually we settled on going to an Aeon Department store about two train stations away in Uchihara. I know this may not be that thrilling for you, dear reader. You may think that these things are mundane, but I was curious to see how everyone outside of Tokyo lives. Mito’s not a bad place to explore that. It’s nice to know that not everything is too foreign here — people still go to the mall. Their fast food still has a KFC and McDonalds but they’re next to a Takoyaki stand and ramen shop in the food court and the Udon noodles I had were delicious — but I could say that about any and all noodles I had in Japan compared to the States. Amazingly, there’s a Sports Authority here right next to the Jusco — I went to both to look for a new hoodie but instead found gems like this:

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Faddy toss out fixe ideas. Indeed.

Japanese fashion has a little too much e e cummings poetry on their shirts for me. Although I did get one:

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I am a new man in the sky. So please give me some.

Maybe I can start something new in the States.

There’s also a pretty sizable arcade where we spent part of the evening. Kenny and Alexis played Taiko Drum Master. I went off to explore the other cabinets. No Street Fighter but there definitely was a huge share of UFO catcher machines, a small Pachinko parlor, a horse betting game, and some arcade games including an arcade version of Tetris with comically large joysticks.

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Giant Tetris arcade game.

Sunday: White Day

Saturday I spent going back to Tokyo since we scrapped our plans for going to Sea Disney. Sunday I spent again in Mito. I was starting to get ill at this point, but not bad enough to keep me down. We saw Alexis off to the train station this morning — she was going back to Toyama. We were also going to look for a shipping company to send Bernadette’s luggage to the airport — so this is something you can do in Japan since shipping is pretty cheap within the country. The shipping companies were closed or couldn’t send the luggage to the airport in time for Bernadette to catch her plane which was unfortunate but I’d help her carry them to the train station.

As an aside, today, the 14th of March, also happened to be White Day. Valentine’s Day is a big deal. The girls give the guys gifts. On White Day, if the guy isn’t a total cad, he’d reciprocate and things end happily ever after. For the days leading up to White Day there have been a lot of stands selling candies and whatnot. Since I didn’t exchange gifts (obviously), that’s pretty much all I have to say about White Day.

“If your sick like Alexis, then you should head out to Kairakuen because tomorrow it might be worse,” was the omen Kenny gave me when we got back home. Good idea, I thought. If for whatever reason I couldn’t walk about tomorrow, at least I should enjoy today to its fullest even though I was feeling a bit under the weather. Kairakuen boasts 3000 plum blossom trees and is one of the largest gardens in Japan. Around this time of the year there’s also a Plum Blossom Festival held here.

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Plum Blossom Festival at Kairakuen

I made the trek from Kenny’s coughing and at times shaking from the cold, but dammit, I was going to see Kairakuen. My body can heal en route. To get there, I had to cross a bridge and then work my way down to the duck pond. From there it’s about a two kilometer hike around the track in the blustery wind until I reached an area full of paddle boats. I went across a bridge over the highway traffic and found myself standing at the gates of a festival and a massive forest of plum blossoms. I walked through gazing at the trees and the different food stands wishing my stomach were more up to the task.

I wasn’t feeling too good and so I walked through the trees as quickly as I could. I then went to the stalls and found a Takoyaki stand and ordered myself one. I’ve had takoyaki before, but now I could gorge myself silly on it. Sure I wasn’t entirely there, and fried foods wouldn’t really hit the spot, but takoyaki had been something I wanted to try since I got to Japan — since before I got to Japan. I got my fill and it was delicious. Damn the consequences.

I explored the plum blossoms as best I could and then went on my way. Around 5 pm or so I crossed back over the highway and took a different but similar route back to Kenny’s and ended up getting lost on the different bike/walk trails that go back to the bridge — I didn’t think that was possible, but it was. I had to walk a little extra but I made it home.

Mito’s no Tokyo, but being able to see my friends again, attend a festival, and enjoy some of the more suburban life of Japan was a great change of pace.

Japan: From Tsukiji to Mito in One Day

Posted on March 21, 2010 by AlbinoGrimby

Tsukiji Fish Market

What's not to love about a giant fish head?

The Tsukiji Fish Market is the largest in the world. I’ve been told the best time to take a tour of the place is the day after you arrive. You’ll be ready to make the early morning journey to the market because of your jet lag. Early morning starts at 3:30 am. That’s when the fishermen auction off their tuna. I botched my first attempt to find the market after I arrived. I thought I had lost my window of opportunity, but I woke up at 6 am on Thursday morning ready to try again.

Like, Akihabara I thought it would be more significant to find, like their might be signs that pointed me towards the fish market. I walked past a lot of small wooden street stands selling fresh produce, newly packed-together onigiri, various pottery, and clothing. As soon as I saw this market, I knew that those were the stands I was looking for. When you get off the road where the Oedo Line meets the street and start exploring the streets perpendicular to it around the produce market, you’ll find the fish market. A football field’s length warehouse is hidden behind the produce market. Little gas powered carts — they look like oil drums with steering wheels and a large cargo platform in back — will be zipping in and out of the market alongside motorbikes, trucks, and bicycles. You will want to do everyone a favor and step aside and try and stay out of the way, which at times can be tough. When I entered the market, I drafted behind an older looking Japanese gentleman and just followed him where he went a couple of paces behind him. I figured that would be the best way to stay out of trouble. For the record, I only seemed to piss off one fisherman because I was too slow to move out of his way.

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One of the oil drum carts I saw.

By 7:30 in the morning, the auction is over and much of the fish is being carved up and prepared for shipping across the city — maybe across the country — I don’t know where the final destination for most of the fish is. I imagine though, it’s in people’s stomachs as some form of sushi or another. I walked up and down the aisles glancing to my right and left. I caught glimpses of butchers putting their boning knives to the giant tuna carcasses. Other men were busy carrying the flash frozen bodies away. Fish heads oogled me from their butchering tables. Water and fish guts were strewn all over the floor and being washed across the cobblestone floor into drains — I’m glad I couldn’t smell the place, but I’m sure it would smell like fish and gas. The little motorized drum carts zipped up and down narrow streets created by each fisherman’s individual stall. Make sure you look both ways before you cross. I’m sure it won’t be their fault if they smack you.

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Mmmmm...Yumm-O.

I snapped photos of the fish and I even made a shaky-cam, low res movie with my Canon A480. I can tell what an octopus is from a fish. I know what clams and shrimps look like. I’m by no means an expert as to what type of fish was there. If there’s a plate of nigiri sushi, I’ll eat it, but I can’t explain to you each piece or explore those delicate and sublime mouth flavors that each piece conjures up. What’s the difference between a Yellowtail and a Red Snapper? Hell if I know. Or as Rachel Ray might put it, “Yumm-O!” And somehow she made a career on that and slapping together 30 minute meals.

I left the Fish Market content with the media I took and at least seeing it. Yes, I came away with one thing: If they say that’s the largest in the world, I believe them.

Afterwards, I had a sushi breakfast. I didn’t know the “proper” place to go to get my sushi. There’s some sushi stand where you’re supposed to get it dirt cheap, but I didn’t know where that was. I found a sit down sushi restaurant. They were barely open but they seemed pleased enough to serve me. I got a platter of nigiri and enjoyed devouring it. Towards the end a white couple rolled in for some breakfast of their own and I was on my way again.

To see more of my Tsukiji Fish Market photos on Flickr go here.

Sensoji Temple

Sensoji Temple. This is a 5-story pagoda by the temple. It's not representative of the temple, but it's cool looking.

According to this guide to Japan, Sensoji Temple is the oldest one in Tokyo. It also turns out that it’s about a block away from Unizo Asakusa Hotel. I left the fish market about 9:30 am and got to the temple around 10 am after some walking and a few subways. I saw a few girls on the subway dressed in kimonos and they were heading to Asakusa Station the terminal station on the Ginza line — I got off on Tawaramachi, the stop before, it to make a brief visit to my hotel.

With my cameras and HD camorder in hand I headed over to Sensoji. I believe a cherry blossom festival was being setup at the temple. I walked along some back alley roads where stalls were just being opened up and ended up on a road where people amassed. Someone was setting up lanterns. Stalls were open and selling knick-knacks and treats. School children were running around. Girls were gathered in gaggles wearing their kimonos. I walked along the road weaving through people and heading for my goal — the giant Sensoji temple gates.

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Festival at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

When you pass under the gates there’s a massive open concrete courtyard. I think the main temple is under some kind of reconstruction, because the whole thing was tented off. Out in front of it was a large incense cauldron. As I approached it I saw men and women wafting the fumes over their bodies and washing themselves clean with the smoke, and then they ventured off inside the temple.

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Sensoji Temple, the main temple is under that canopy.

I didn’t follow them inside. It just didn’t feel like it was the right thing for me to do. I didn’t mind sightseeing all the various temples I came across such as the one by Tokyo Tower, the one in Shinjuku-Chuo Park, and the one near Akiba, but I didn’t feel that it was my place to enter the temple and to pretend that I could honor their Buddhist or Shinto gods. It felt cheap to sight-see something like that, and I’m sure most Japanese people probably wouldn’t care. If you did anything wrong they might just think you were a dumb foreigner. I know the procedures — to enter the temple you first go to the washing station and take a ladle. You wash your hands and put the ladle back and approach the temple. Jingle the bell. Clap your hands twice and bow to the god housed there. I think sometimes you throw a coin, but for what reason, it eludes me, and without a Japanese friend to explain I decided it was better I observe. I guess you stand there and make a prayer and be on your way. I haven’t even stepped foot in a Christian church in years now. I’m not a very spiritual man, but I do believe that there is a force out there much greater than all of us maintaining the balance of the universe (i.e. all 10,000 things) and sometimes this force might leave you or me some discrete guidance, which can only be picked up with a bit of humility and a whole lot of hindsight.

To see more of my Asakusa pictures on Flickr you can go here.

Ghibli Museum

With Asakusa and the Fish Market behind me, I went to see the Ghibli Museum. Creativity is more apart of my soul. I enjoy creating something from nearly nothing and using my bare hands to do it — be it a story, drawing, or even just some programming. It’s a pleasurable thing that brings me immense joy. It gives me great pleasure to be able to see this museum becuase Miyazaki is, to me, one of the greatest creative minds that’s lived in this modern world and an influence for me.

As an aside, one of my personal projects is to write a novel. It was influenced by two books I had read: On Writing by Steven King, and Starting Point, which is a collection of interviews with Hayao Miyazaki. After reading both of those books I began to embark on my new novel writing adventure. Every morning from 7:30 to 9:00 am I would put down as many words as I could. I started back on August 13 2009. I have close to 280,000 words and some semblance of a very, very rough story. I’m on the road to finish it and I owe some thanks to Miyazaki. Reading his interviews helped solidify my own ideas about my work methodology. Just for the record, I didn’t get anything spiritual from reading his words but rather, he and Steven King’s book finally settled an issue I’d have been tossing around in my mind: do I write a novel by the seat of my pants or try to plan it out? Both authors basically said that they just wing it the first time. Miyazaki doesn’t have a script. He has a picture in mind and he builds his stories one picture at a time. The script exists when the animation is done. If you’re ever wondering why Howl’s Moving Castle seems to be all over the place, it’s because of that process. You can’t very well revise your rough draft if you just give it one go and have it animated. King goes a bit further in making second and third drafts, and I’m hoping to finish my first draft so I can do the same. So that’s why Miyazaki and Steven King are important to me since they started me down on this journey which I hope will see a conclusion in the not to distant future. I look forward to discussing it on this blog.

With Ghibli done, I returned back to Unizo Asakusa Hotel for the last time. I grabbed my things which they so nicely allowed me to stow behind their hotel desk and ventured off to Mito. So after a day that started off at 6 am in the morning I found myself standing in a packed JR train heading to Mito on the Joban rapid line. I stood for an hour with all of my luggage until around Tsuchiura when most people seemed to leave and I could blissfully sit down. I arrived around 9:30 pm in Mito Station.

To see more of my Ghibli photos on Flickr go here.

Mito

Mito Station was freezing. Most of the stores were closed down for the night except for one restaurant which I escaped into to grab a bite to eat. I called Kenny on the pay phone hoping that his number would work, otherwise, it would be a very interesting night. It took him ten minutes to walk down to meet me at the station. To use his words, “You’re much harder to pick out here.” I had to smile. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, indeed. I didn’t mention it, but being a white guy with blonde hair, he’s incredibly easy to pick out.

I followed Kenny out of Mito Station and through some back alleys. We caught up as we walked along. He told me to watch out for the drivers in Ibaraki — they tend to be the worst kind. When they see a pedestrian stepping out onto the street to cross, they speed up. It becomes a challenge to beat the pedestrian — to zip by before they can take another step. If you’re ever in Mito let the light turn green first, wait a few beats, and then start walking — that’s his advice. I didn’t experience any near-misses, but I’ll take Kenny’s word for it since he bikes and walks through the city everyday.

Kenny’s apartment was the first time I ever stepped foot into a real Japanese apartment. It’s small, but he has rooms — a kitchen, bathroom with a washing machine, a separate room for the toilet, a small bedroom, and a living room. His kotatsu is the television stand. He has a school desk for his computer and chairs so he doesn’t have to sit on the ground. Bernadette and Alexis were already there too, so it was a Sterry reunion, and I got to see my friends from New York again. Another nice touch — he had electric heaters otherwise the freezing air outside would be inside too. The Japanese aren’t big on insulation and most of them just live in the cold. I was even told that most schools don’t have any heat in the corridors — who needs to heat the parts where people won’t be? It’s ruthlessly efficient sounding, but I like the heat and in the winter I’m willing to put up a couple extra bucks to keep the place warm.

My legs ached from two days of walking and standing and I was glad just to drop all my things and rest on the small sofa. We shot the breeze for a while and went to bed. My next day is entirely in Mito.

Courne Supremacy

Just fire one out!

Category Archives: Japan

How I went to Japan

Maid in Japan

The Yamanote Line

Mito

Japan: From Tsukiji to Mito in One Day