Tokyo Day 4 - One Year Anniversary

Adam and I celebrated our one year anniversary on August 7th.  We bought a one day pass for all the metro lines and just made our way around Tokyo.  In the subway stations there was this sign showing the date for the day, so after several attempts we captured ourselves with it.  This is the day the camera battery died, so these blackberry pictures will have to do....

Happy Anniversary

We started the morning off in the Harajuku area.  We were walking around looking for somewhere to eat breakfast when we came across a long line.  I thought for sure the people were waiting for a new anime comic to come out or for the release of concert tickets for some famous Japanese pop band.  But, we followed the line to its source to find that they were waiting for brunch at Eggs and Things, a Hawaiian themed breakfast joint.  Really?? Alas, we decided to employ our rule of restaurant choice by what seems most popular.  The line moved quickly but we ended up waiting for about 45 minutes.  Once we finally sat down, we ordered their specialty - pancakes with about 6 inches of whipped cream along with strawberry, vanilla, and maple syrup!  It was quite a treat!

After that we explored Harajuku, an area known for its youth street fashion where you will often see young people dressed in everything from gothic and punk to anime characters.  We strolled Takeshita shopping street, flowing along with the busy sea of people.  It is a haven for fashion savvy teens and most of the prices were catered to them.  There were even several second hand stores selling both unique and major brand name goods.

Next, we made our way to the other shopping street in the area, Omotesando.  This area has recently seen a rise in upscale fashion stores and is sometimes called Tokyo's Champs-Elysees.  We saw basically every luxury brand on a beautiful boulevard with wide sidewalks and shady trees.  We set out to find one specific Prada store.  The 6-story Prada store is housed in a building designed by same guy that designed the Bird's Nest in Beijing - super trendy!  It was pretty cool!

Prada store

From there were headed over to the city center to what Adam read to be the biggest flea market in the city.  We didn't really see anything that caught our eye, only this woman doing business on her iPad among the Japanese artifacts.  We shouldn't be surprised... the Japanese are totally techie!

iPads are everywhere!

This became very clear when we traveled up to Akihabara to visit the largest store of the famous electronics departement store, Yodobashi.  It shouldn't be surprising as Japan is home to many of the most common electronic brands, Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Nikon, Toshiba, Sharp, and the list goes on.  It was truly overwhelming!  The prices were not any cheaper than US, so we just looked around in amazement of all the products and people.

8 story electronic store

bright lights, bright colors, lots of shoppers!

the floor map! exhausting just reading it!

As we made our way out of Yodobashi, we barely made it across the street into McDonald's before the skies let loose.  We holed up in the seating area on the 2nd floor looking out the windows at the pouring rain! Although disappointing, we grabbed a happy tummy snack and planned our next move!

My first McDonald's in Asia!

Happy Anniversary at MickeyDee's :)

After a few other stops, we ran across this indoor soccer field in the middle of the city area.  They were playing 4v4 and having a great time.  It was such a cool spot right in the middle of neighborhoods, shops, and restaurants.  It made me miss soccer even more... Can't wait to be back in the US!

Overall, we had a great trip to Tokyo.  It was a special place and we will never forget our first anniversary!

Tokyo Day 3 - Tokyo Great Cycling Tour!

On our second full day in Tokyo, we signed up for the Tokyo Great Cycling Tour.  We thought it would be a great way to see the city and good exercise.  It turned out to be a fun and easy day and the guides were really great.  There are cycling tours around Shanghai, but I don't think I would be comfortable riding a bike anywhere here as the drivers are SO aggressive.  Our guides in Tokyo did a great job in choosing safe routes and much of it was along rivers, across bridges, and on little side streets giving us a nice view of the city.  We had a great trip and were worn out by end! Below are so images from the day.... The new camera is amazing, but the pictures I upload in here don't see to capture the quality of the  pictures, I will have to post some on facebook sometime!

TGCT office, getting ready to leave for the day

Safety First!

We started the tour by pedaling along the Sumida River.  There were not so many skyscrapers in Tokyo compared to Shanghai, but lots of really cool architecture and many bays and bridges.

On of our first stops of the morning was the Tsukiji Fish Market (pronounced Ski-gee).  Located in central Tokyo, it is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest  wholesale food markets of any kind.  I mean, we are talking a lot of raw fish in this place!  The market opens are 3am with the delivery of all the seafood, and the auction begins around 5:20.  The market is busiest from 5:30-8am, and opens to the public after 9am.  We arrived around 10:30 and there was still a lot of fish out, and some local consumers making purchases.  We stopped at a Tuna vendor and watched them cut us some of the freshest looking fish I had ever seen.  We took it with us to have for lunch a few hours later!

The tuna we got! sooooo good!

These were still alive!

As the tour continued, I caught a pic of this cute little kid in his karate uniform.  Totally Japanese!

We made our way over several bridges and finally took a short break in Odaiba where we had a Japanese picnic lunch.  After lunch we headed back to central Tokyo on a ferry boat.  It was great, we just loaded our bikes and got to take a 25 min break.  We enjoyed the views of the city and the temperature was not too hot.

Please ignore the sweat stain I have from carrying the camera across my body while riding the bike.  Gross!

Next, we made our way to the area around the Zojoji Temple in central Tokyo. Our guides emphasized the balance of old and new that you see in Tokyo today.  Below you can see the temple which was built 1393, and brought to its current location in 1598 right next to the modern day Tokyo Tower.  The Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower located in Shiba Park.  It was built in 1958 and since then over 150 million people have visited.

May Peace Prevail on Earth
This saying was all over the city!

In the garden next to the temple were rows of little statues with bonnets and windmills.  They are the statues of jizobosatusu, the protector of the souls of stillborn children, and the Buddisht equivalent of an angel.  Mothers who have lost an unborn child may dedicate an image of the deity and decorate it with baby clothes and toys.

Jizabosatusu statues

We finally made it up a huge hill to get to to the base of the Tokyo tower.  Adam took this picture laying on his back on the sidewalk.  I really should have taken my helmet off....

Tokyo Tower

Our next stop was a shrine on the top of a big hill.  I can't remember and can't seem to find the name of the place.  However, the guide told us a story of how it came to be.  Essentially, the emperor at the time (a long time ago), wanted a new place to worship.  One brave young person braved this huge hill by horseback and determined it would be the perfect spot for the emperor.  It was said that braving this big hill elevated his status with the emperor and he quickly was promoted in his responsibilities.  Therefore, scaling these steps is said to be good luck in career.  Hopefully!

Entrance to the shine

This guy was selling food and drinks outside a park.  Had to get a picture of the Indiana Shirt.... he did not get it.

Adam and I in front of the Imperial Palace.  The Imperial Family of Japan is only a figurehead and has no role in the affairs of the government.  The Japanese monarchy is the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world, with the recognition of 125 monarchs dating back to 660 BC.  This is the main residence of the current emperor of Japan.  We didn't get to go inside the grounds of the palace at all, but we could tell it was beautiful!

Outside Imperial Palace

Overall, we had a great day with the Tokyo Great Cycling Tour.  It was great way to see all over the city and the tour guide provided important information along the way.  They even offered beers when we arrived back at the office! It was a great way to cap off the day!

Tokyo Day 2 - Mt. Fuji and Hakone

One of the main reasons I wanted to travel to Japan was to see the iconic and majestic Mt. Fuji.  The 12,380 ft high, dormant volcano is world renowned for its symmetry and serenity and is an icon for Japan. We set up the tour and read the many reviews that the tour company was great but, for some people, the weather prevented them to actually seeing the mountain.  For some reason, I didn't think there was anyway that could happen to us.  When we left our hotel the sun was shining and skies were clear, which continued on our drive southwest out of Tokyo.

Our tour guide, Hiro

The tour turned out to really good and we got a lot of good information on the nearly 2 hour drive from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji.  There were about 25 people on the tour, so enough to make it interesting but not too many that we felt like herded cats.  The countryside was very beautiful as we whizzed by on our big tour bus.  I managed to get a few pictures out the window...

Rice fields

Apparently there is such an abundance of rice, that they have started making bread out of rice.  We didn't get to try any, but I would imagine it would be pretty bland.

On the way to Mt. Fuji

Unfortunately, this was the last view of blue skies we had.  As we continued up the mountain, the clouds continued to get thicker and it was getting darker.  As Hiro kept saying, she really hoped we could see the mountain today but wasn't sure... with a huge sad face.  We continued up to the Fifth Station hoping that we would be able to see something...

Fifth Station sign

Unfortunately, we were "in the clouds" and could see no part of the beautiful mountain!  Below are two pictures of hikers getting ready to make the trek up the mountain.  It was very chilly where we were and I'm sure it only got cooler as they went up.  The hike up the mountain seemed really cool, but I was pretty glad we weren't doing it that day - too cold and rainy!

getting ready to trek up the mountain

in the clouds

Next, we headed to the nearby town of Hakone for a cable car ride and boat cruise on Lake Ashi.  On a clear day, both are supposed to offer views of Fuji-san (as the Japanese call it).  As you probably get the jist, it was not a clear day for us, so views were limited.

cable car coming out of the clouds

At the end of the Hakone cable car ride we ended up at an area that is known for its abundant Natural Hot Springs.  It was interesting, but we did not partake in any bathing.  After the experience I had with my girlfriend in the baths in Budapest, I was not interested in seeing the local crowd in the springs.  With the hot springs, the entire area has a high level sulfur in the water. One of things they sold in this area was, so called, black eggs.  When they hard boil the eggs, that sulfur causes the outside of the egg to turn black.  I was little turned off at first, but in case I never come back here, I had to try it.  Adam doesn't like to eat eggs he's not sure about, so I was forced to eat them myself.  The eggs itself, inside the shell, was no different than usual and was actually very flavorful!

Adam and I in Hakone

Overall, the trip was good.  It was nice to get out of the city and see the countryside.  I hope that my life brings me back to Japan one day so that I can see the iconic mountain in real life.

an internet image of Fuji-san, for good measure

After a ride back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen bullet train, we decided to get off at the Tokyo station in the heart of the city.  We walked for about fifteen minutes to an area called Ginza.  This is a very nice area that has stores of every major international brand you can think of... Prada, Dior, Gucci, Coach, etc etc, but I was excited to see a few less common shops like Tory Burch and DVF (the designer Whitney worked for on The City haha).  It was a really charming little area with lots of restaurants too.  It was Friday night at dinner time and we couldn't find anywhere to eat because all the the good looking places told us they were "booked for the night".  It seemed like a good place to see and be seen....

Cool walk-up bar that could hold only about 6 people

Street of Ginza

We ended up getting noodles at one of the only places we could find a seat.  They were yummy and just what we needed, even though it was a little hard to find.  We walked out as a group of 3 business men were walking out and asked them the best way to the subway.  They asked where we were headed and one guy said we could follow him to the right station.  He walked us all the way there and seemed very happy to help.  

Very impressed with the kindness and helpful attitude we received from the Japanese people in Tokyo.  A real treat for me....

Tokyo Day 1

On Thursday August 4th, Adam and I left Shanghai bright and early for my first trip out of China in 4 months.  Adam had arrived from the other side of the world just 2 days earlier, so we were a little worried about his jetlag - but he is a trooper and did great.  So, my first trip out of China in 4 months... it was a breath of fresh air - both literally and figuratively.

We arrived at Narita International Airport in Tokyo around 1pm and quickly jumped on the Narita Express - a train to take us directly into the city.  Adam did all the planning and booking for this trip - which I'm so grateful for and I'm sure saved us more money than if I would have done it! - but my role is the compass one we arrive in new cities.  He gets lost if you turn him in three circles! That's what marriage is about right? Complimenting each others strengths.

We arrived in Tokyo to beautiful blue skies and big puffy white clouds - phew! beautiful! and certainly a rarity in smoggy Shanghai.

Sky from the train when we arrived in Tokyo

I had heard the Tokyo had a great public transportation system, so we were looking forward to taking advantage of it.  Earlier in the week before we left Adam had sent me a pdf of the Subway/train map... I wish someone could have seen my face when I opened the file!  Hahaha seriously?!?! Take a look at that thing!  Luckily, I inherited my sense of direction from my Dad and I was actually excited to take on the task of figuring it out.  Plus taxi's weren't really going to be an option given the rate would be about $20-$40 USD for a trip!

Tokyo subway map

Overall, it didn't turn out to be so bad, as there was lots of English written in the stations and good signage for exits and transfers (for the most part).  There are actually like 3-4 (I didn't totally understand) rail companies that are operating on these interconnected lines.  The Tokyo Metro, operated by the government, then there are several private lines that operate lines to connect what is not connected by the Tokyo Metro lines.  They all have different fares, but the stations are connected, making transfers between them easy.  Some of these metro stations are HUGE! I'm talking little towns - you could find anything you ever need!  A little daunting at first, but overall, very convenient.

After we made it to the Shinjuku station from the Narita express, we headed just a few blocks to our hotel.  Located in the business type district of Shinjuku, there were many high rise office buildings, but this also offered a lot of restaurants and shops in the area.  The hotel was nice and offered us a little traditional Japanese living... notice the bed and chair!

Hotel Sunroute Shinjuku

After a long morning of traveling, we were starved! We were excited for the Japanese food, especially sushi which is one of our faves - even in land locked Indianapolis.  It was about 4pm, so nothing was really busy - which is usually our method for picking restaurants - find the one that is the busiest!  However, we got excited when we saw something we have never seen before - Sushi boats! Now that I've done more research, I understand they are pretty common - but we were pretty excited when we figured out the concept.  You sit at a sushi bar and there is a little conveyor belt that runs by with little plates, each holding 2 pieces of sushi.  From there, you can pull the plates off the belt as it runs by and at the end you are charged by the number of each color plate you have.  Its brilliant!  You can try so many different kinds and each is pretty reasonably priced.  As you can see below, we enjoyed quite a few different types!

Sushi go-round restaurant... yes!

Adam with all of our plates!

We spent the evening exploring the Shinjuku area.  One of the things we noticed was very interesting architecture.  The two buildings below were my 2 favorite, the one on the right is actually an academic building housing 3 different schools.  Also, it happens to be the tallest building housing schools in the world (?) – seemed pretty cool.  Gosh – look at that beautiful sky in the background – I was in heaven!

Shinjuku buildings

Also, we saw vending machines.  Lots and lots of vending machines! They were everywhere! Mostly selling beverages, but some other things as well! I read later that they love their vending machines in Tokyo… we definitely observed this.

vending machines everywhere!

Finally, as I have realized many times before during this experience… the world is pretty small these days and you are never that far away from the comforts of home.  In the area outside Shinjuku station, there was a busy two-story Krispy Kreme!

All in all, on first impressions of Tokyo.... clean, organized, friendly people, not much English but enough to get around, quiet and calm (especially on trains)... all things welcomed after 4 months in busy Shanghai!

The trip was off to a great start!