Tokyo Post

Tokyo.
The city of Godzilla and gizmos, samurai and sake, hot springs and haute couture, sumos and Sony playstations, sushi and school girl knicker-vending machines, neon lights and naughty lifestyles, manga mania and the manic metro … the alliterative descriptions can go on but you get the drift. All of it is true, though, apparently there was a crackdown on undie-vending some time back. The city, which is a reflection of how far the country has come, amazes you from the moment you land at Narita (although I wondered how, a country that can produce technological marvels on an every day basis can still want a sole-proprietor’s visa letter be signed by somebody else … maybe next time I should go in person instead of doing the visa through the travel agent but that’s another matter).
Discipline and organization, very evident in every thing you see here. For instance, trolleys are not allowed near the baggage carousel. Which makes sense. And the Narita Express (you have to buy the Japan Railway pass before you go to Japan, which allows you access on all of JR lines which includes the shinkansen aka bullet train routes as well and is much cheaper than buying it in Japan), has a swiveling seat system, we were waiting for the train to be cleaned, and the seats swiveled around to face the direction of the train!
Interesting: you can’t use your cell phone in the train, subway or long distance, or in restaurants. And you can’t smoke on the streets, there are designated spots with haiku type messages (Not everything around the trees were petals, read one). Dust bins are not many but the roads are clean.
Met a very helpful Japanese girl who was sitting in the seat next to us, who marked on the TimeOut guide the places we should go to, what to buy where etc., and she came with us to help us exchange our JR vouchers for the pass, told us we should book for Kyoto (we said wanted to go there) right away as this is the holiday season and it’s very difficult getting tickets, so we booked for next week. And in time too, apparently not many seats were left. On her recommendation we booked the return ticket to the airport as well. Reached Shinjiku in an hour and twenty minutes. The December wind was whipping up the chill as we stepped out and asked for directions at the police box outside (this side, 300 metres, 2 minutes), so we reached the Shinjiku Prince in about that time. We still had about half hour to spend before check in, so ducked into the basement café for a coffee. Later, checked in, and found the room quite all right, and not too ‘boxy’ as some readers had described on Trip Advisor. The toilet seat legend is true, they are from Starship Enterprise (they have a section in a museum where they display the latest technological advancements on the throne it seems).
Went for a stroll around the area, bought some food at the Takashimaya basement (we bought a wonderful ‘point and speak’ Japanese phrasebook which has pictures, both Japanese and English phrases underneath so both you and the other person know what you want). Pointing to a picture I asked the girl at the counter and she told the chef who dropped what he was doing and took us to the counter that was selling what we wanted. But to eat it, we had to ride the elevator to the 12th floor ‘park’. Checked out a few things at Tokyu Hands and went out to Isetan, it was too big and sprawled over some 8 buildings, so left that for tomorrow, returned for some warm sake at the hotel’s 25th floor bar, and came to the room. That’s Day 1. (Btw, the hotel is in the red light district but it’s safe.)

Day 2.
Coffee at the basement café with a croissant. Had to crack the metro system. By the looks of it, it seemed an impossible task but it wasn’t that difficult. Don’t let the map confuse you, just focus on where you want to go, and that’s confusing enough☺ Thing is, like Apu said, if you’re colour blind, figuring out the subway system could get more difficult, because, while it is colour coded, for they have all the colours you can think of, and then some. There are shades of oranges and greens for different lines, some have two colous, and some have coloured circles like the Ginza line. But it is easy (despite the numerous exits they have, and if you take the wrong one, you could get far away from where your destination). But we cracked it, baby.
We had to go to Asakusa temple, one of the important shrines in Tokyo. So we asked at the reception and he said a couple of lines we should take and change, then we said we have JR pass, which resulted in an alternative route. Take the Yanamote line to Ueno and change to Ginza line all the way to Asakusa, and that was quite easy, to be honest. (since the JR doesn’t cover these subway lines, we had to buy tickets at the machine, which is not difficult).

From the station, just followed the signs and the temple is about a ten minute walk. Shops line the street that leads to the shrine, where you buy a packet of incense sticks, and light them, and stick them in a big cauldron type thing, which is already filled with several lit incense sticks, the smoke from which is supposedly healing. There is a small water-well type thing, with a wooden ladle, and you cleanse your hands and mouth before you enter the temple. Oh wait, there is a series of small boxes (like in a chest of draws in an antique Chinese furniture) with numbers in Japanese characters, in front of which is a cylinder with a hole. This contains a bunch of chopstick like sticks with corresponding numbers on them. What you do is drop a 100 yen in a box, take one of these cylinders, shake them, and pull out a stick. Look at the number on it, match it to the corresponding box, pull out the draw, and take out a sheet (each draw has a bunch of sheets). I got Bad Fortune the first time, then apu tried it and got Regular Fortune. I tried again at the place next to it, and got Best Fortune.

There is a long wooden box in front of the deities, and you throw coins in to the slats, and pray. You can light candles too. Did all that and walked around the festive looking streets around the temple. There are tons of food places, souvenir shops, stalls selling freshly made sweetmeats and rice crackers (bought some). Found an authentic looking noodle place, which had a glass cabin inside which was a Japanese guy making soba noodles, which stopped a lot of passers-by, who later went in to eat. We did too after waiting for 5 minutes. Just as I tried to take out my Point and speak Japanese book, the lady serving us said, ‘What can I get you?’ I ordered sake which came in a wooden box with a small opening at one edge, and a small wooden cup. We got hot noodles soup and a soba set, both of which were very nice.
Took the train back, to Shibuya with its world famous, world’s busiest pedestrian crossing. Became part of the busiest crossing-people, went to a Starbucks at the Q Front building, watched people cross a few times, went out to Central Gai. Found a Krispy Kreme across the street, picked up half a dozen doughnuts, and went to Ginza to look for a Tempura place recommended by Time Out. Wound up at the Sony building, went around the area a hundred times before we realised it was the wrong exit, so went back to the station, took C9, and still couldn’t find it,walked some more and finally found it, and found it expensive. Crossed the street to where there were a lot of restaurants at the basement and very good pasta and wine.
Coming back to the station, we saw a young Japanese guy singing ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’ at the top of his voice. Well, I hope he found whatever he was looking for as he sure would have lost his voice before the night was through. Took the train back to Shinjiku, walked around a bit and came back.

Day 3
After a couple of Krispy Kremes and a coffee downstairs, took the train to Harajuku, where the young and trendy come out to parade the latest and sometimes the weirdest. Went to the Meiji Emperor’s shrine which is set in a sprawling wooded area (where the crows caw the way humans would). Rituals are pretty much similar, cleanse hands, throw money, pray. Did that, browsed the souvenir shop, figured we’d come back after comparing prices at Harajuku. On the way out, the kids were getting into their gear, posing for photographs, some were giving hugs for free. Walked around Aoyoma street, went to the Oriental bazaar, bought a few things, went back to Meiji souvenir (some were better priced here), bought a few things and headed back to Harajuku, with its unending throng of people. Managed to find place to stand and eat an excellent crepe at a stall. Picked up a bag, went looking for a place called Crayons (an organic food place), found it with some difficulty, but the food was lovely. Picked up some interesting tee shirts on the way back to the station, came back. The hotel doesn’t have wireless in rooms, so took the mac down, looked for information on Kyoto (where we are going tomorrow) and Nikko, which we booked for the day after.

Day 4
Kyoto.
Early start. Were at the Shinjiku station by 8, took the subway (Chuo line) to Tokyo station where the shinkansen aka bullet train, (the Hikari as JR pass doesn’t cover Nozomi, super fast, but Hikari fast enough at 285 kmph while Nozomi makes fewer stops and hits 300 kmph) goes from. Mikiko, the super friendly Japanese girl we me on the plane, had helped us book the tickets to Kyoto immediately after we exchanged our JR voucher for the JR pass. But we could only get seats in the smoking section on the date we wanted to travel, so instead of having to suffer second-hand smoke for two and a half hours it took to reach Kyoto, so lit up a couple myself, better first hand than second I reasoned.
Once we reached Kyoto station, and had coffee at a station café, we went out to look for the tourist office (how to find the ‘i’ the signs said, philosophically), and it seems the one in Isetan was closed, so had to make do with the small office near the entrance.
Armed with the handy Point and Speak book, managed to get a map showing the walks you can take, and what bus to take etc. Got on the bus, showed the driver the ‘point and speak’ book for tickets to Sanjusangendo shrine, and was about to put change money in the slot when he said no, and crossed his hands over, so waited, and when we got off, he said now you can put in the change. So did that and got off and walked to the temple across. It’s a Buddhist temple (take your shoes off please), the Buddha statue in the centre is flanked on wither side by hundreds of statues of other gods and goddesses whose roots go back to the Vedic. You start from the left of the Buddha and walk around and exit. The Buddha statue was beautiful. Like all temples, this was constructed of wood too.
Went out and found the way (not the middle path, ha!) to the next temple/walk to the Higashimaya area. It was a long walk but not difficult, there are many shrines along the way you can visit if you have more than one day.
Geishas! We saw them on the way. One of the was on a shoot, and we managed a few shots ourselves.
Found the Kiyomizudera temple which is sprawled over several acres of land, since we had to go to a couple of more places we visited only the major parts of the temple (the endless steps were a bit of a deterrent too).
Took the way out (which is different from the way in), and headed for the third and final shrine on our agenda. Stopped off for some Udon at a cosy, small food place. ‘Oiishi’ you tell them, when the food is good and it makes them happy (it means ‘tasty or delicious). After asking for directions at a couple of more places where we bought some stuff from, we reached the Zen temple which has a huge Buddha statue towering over one of the sections, which, when we reached was closed. But that wasn’t the main temple, we overheard someone saying it to their companions, so went and bought tickets to the shrine. It is also known as the Zen temple, with zen rock garden in the complex. Suddenly we found ourselves in Kodaiji temple, which we didn’t remember seeing on the map. This is also the place you see in the Kyoto postcard, with the pagoda against the sunset.
Next stop was the local Nishiki market. It was getting too late to find our way walking to the place so hopped into a taxi (which had a paper lamp on top for its taxi sign). Asked the driver ikura deska and asked him to write down the amount, he said 880 yen, so we got in. Along the way he did ask a few questions (as taxi drivers do) like where are you from, IT? like that), and when we came upon a traffic jam, mild one, the metre was past 880, so he said, ‘many cars, many people’ pointing to the metre, and when we got off it was a bit over 880 yen. Paid up and walked the crowded street, lined with stalls selling a variety of stuff, fish, crackers, grocery, vegetables … found a hole in the wall place selling sake and fresh oysters (which was next door) so got a seat, (the book inspired interested looks and conversations from the people), had atsukan (warm) sake, and half a dozen steamed oysters (they don’t sell them raw). Picked up rice crackers, a box of sushi rolls from another shop and walked at least 45 minutes back to the station. Reached the hotel around 12.

Day 5
Nikko, Toshogo temple, shogun place
Another early start. At the station by 9, subway to Tokyo station, JR line to Utsunomiya station, from where you change to a local train to Nikko. Three loquacious Europeans were sitting in the same car and they were the only ones doing all the talking. Nonstop. Unlike the train. (We saw the talkative trio on the way back, and wisely too the car next to theirs).
Again, another huge shrine spread over many acres. Called Toshogu, it is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, whose tomb is way up in the hills. There are other places in Nikko to visit, but we skipped them and headed back to Tokyo.
Got off at Harajuku, walked a bit, found a small little place Ometosando Stand with an open kitchen. Three young kids were running the place, two chefs, the guy teaching the girl how to cook. Interesting. Had sake and sunaku (snacks), and tried to find out if they were open the next day, but didn’t happen, decided to call tomorrow and see.
Train back to Shinjiku. Found the tempura place mentioned in TimeOut and it was everything the book said. Warm sake and fantastic food. I even had eel (insert your electric, shocking jokes here) which tasted quite all right.
They even have a menu card that illustrates, in a step by step fashion, how to go about enjoying your tempura. Met a Japanese couple from Kobe, and were telling them how much we loved their country, countrymen and the fact that cell-phoned are not allowed on trains. And the guy said, sometimes they see people using cell on trains, and they say, they must be Chinese. (Which got us thinking. In Japan, if people are told not to do a thing, they don’t. N campaigns, no advertising, nothing. Whereas in Singapore, people need to be fined. And in incredible India! Of course, neither approach will work, as we are ‘like that only’. Interesting, in a shameful way.)

Day 6
Thought about going to Kamakura which is about an hour away, then decided to just hang around Tokyo. Went to Tokyo station, exited to the Imperial Palace site. The area was absolutely quiet as it was a holiday. Later met Srikants friend, walked by Tokyo tower, took a totally new subway line, changed at Hibiya, and went back to hotel to rest before heading out for the evening.
Started out around 7.30, went to Roppongi Hills, which, despite its crowd of wha looked like people dressed for some costume party, didn’t impress. Took the subway to Harajuku again, but the place, Ometosando stand, was not open (someone picked up the phone when we called so we assumed it was open), but the street was alive with side walk stalls, bought a bunch of stuff to munch, and saw a place selling hot sake, so bought 2 first, finished it, then bought two more, took the train to Shinjiku (almost went to the Meiji shrine as there was a crowd, some new year ritual), went to the takashimaya side, found that empty, walked around to our hotel side, and opened the still warm sake as the crowds shouted at the stroke of 2009. Walked around the hotel area, supposedly a red light district but showed no signs of it, and Tokyo is safe anyway, at any time, so that was good. Went back to the room around 1.

Day 7
Hung around Shinjiku, explored the only two malls open, and bought some really nice tee shirts. A curious feature was that every store in these malls had the store people shouting out, hawking their wares, so to speak. Which happens on the street as well, most stalls have someone shouting at the top of their voice through a megaphone their offerings, and they go non-stop. Went back to the hotel, checked out, asked the staff to keep our bags and went to the Tsukiji Sushiki (the Tsukiji fish market is famous for its fresh sea food but since we couldn’t go there, in Ginza, we decided to try their food here, as they have many outlets around Tokyo), and had some ‘oishii’ sushi. Went back, picked up our luggage, and headed to the Shinjiku station and took the Narita express back to the airport.
From the friendly Mikiko who helped us on the plane (which was an Airbus 380, looks big and smells different, but the seats are pretty much the same as any other plane), to all the helpful people we came across despite the language barrier, to the smiling people who greeted us at every shop, to the drunk bunch of revelers on the new year’s eve who posed no threat to anyone, to the girl at the airport who got off her seat, came to take us to the counter, Japan was one great polite, friendly experience. Tokyo. It’s abuzz, alive, friendy, safe, and fascinating.