Tokyo Rosie
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
43
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Tokyo,
Kanto,
Japan
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Japan has the second largest economy in the world. The average life expectancy of a woman is 88.5 years! It generally comes across as fairly mono-cultural. (I'm not saying this is a bad thing.) There is very little in the way of English signage. And the presence of other cultures seems to be limited to tourists and ESL teachers
Tokyo
. Tokyo itself is real uptown. People dress well and they look great. All the big designer stores are there. It's still very much a suit and tie place for the men. Everyone works long hours. Many work six days a week and well into the evening most days. Sometimes you'd see guys in suits getting on the metro at around 10 p.m., with ties loosened and disheveled hair. One young business man, wanting to practice his English I'm sure, introduced himself to me at Cafe Veloce in Ueno. He works in the area in a nearby tower and commutes by train from Yakamoto, two hours each way. He's on the train before six a.m. and home by nine. This is how you maintain your status as the world's number two economy is it?
I'm staying at one of hostelworld.com's top-rated hostels in Tokyo, The K-House. All of the hostels in Tokyo are priced about the same, around 30 bucks for a six bed dorm. Mine is like a modern hotel with high tech plumbing fixtures, including toilets with heated seats and push button bidets. The hostel also has a great common area where it's easy to meet people. Unfortunately it's a bit of 'res' type crowd where the average age is probably around 21. Fortunately my friend Daniel, the German fellow I had met along with Claudia on the Halong Bay cruise was still in Japan and staying there. There's a 7/11 conveniently located nearby where ice cold big cans of Kirin Lager cost 278 yen. Beers at a restaurant or bar cost anywhere from 300 to 1000 yen.Coin operated Internet in the hostel was only a dollar for 15 minutes (Some places charge as much as 200 yen for the first 15 minutes and a hundred yen for every 15 after.
The food is not badly priced and is very, very good
Tokyo
. Sushi is NOT everywhere and it's nice to get away from the typical tempura and teppan styles we are pretty much limited to in Canada. Meals would run between 500 and 1000 yen. Ramas (noodle soups) here were my favourite of the asian soups I've had. Yakatori, yummy. There is a great little Japanese burger chain, Freshness Burger where a good homestyle burger and fries runs less than five bucks. Coffee on the other hand is very expensive, two dollars and up to as much as five dollars for a cup of plain coffee. Unfortunately, Starfucks was sometimes the only option, depending on where you are.
Customer service here is amazing. They are always quick to your attention with a smile and a hello in Japanese. We are not be expected to speak Japanese when they visit our country so why should they be expected to speak our language. Restaurants almost always have English menus but they are almost never displayed. You have to ask for one. Most places feature pictures of the food and plastic models which were very helpful. Usually there is at least one person who speaks some English. This is not always the case at shops throughout the city. They speak Japanese first and they will carry on as though you might just know it. I learned how to say 'thank you' and that's it. Regardless, it's easy enough to get by. I was told that when surveyed only 15% of Japanese said they had any desire to learn English. I wonder what percentage of Canadians have any desire to learn Japanese.
Tokyo is a beautiful city. Lots of green space and great architecture that rivals Hong Kong's. It's clean and safe. You can set your watch to second by the metro here, which is incredibly efficient, and massive
Yakatori
. Something like 30,000 passengers a day pass through Shinjuko Station, the biggest one in town. You'll spend up to $10 on metro rides in a typical day tripping around the city. You'll do a lot of walking too. Japan is high tech. No one is without a cell phone. Everybody is compliant with the no talking on phones on the metro, which is in sharp contrast from countries in SEA where speaking loudly on a cell phone in any kind of public transport is necessary, I suppose in part to let others know you have a phone. The electronics stores are massive, with shelf upon shelf of toys. You've gotta see Electric Town in Akihabara. I bought a camera from Bic Camera in Shibuya. $255 (after the on the spot tax refund I received upon presentation of my passport) for a Nikon Coolpix S600 that would have cost me $320 plus power supply at home (why aren't power supplies included when you buy a camera in Canada? I mean you can't run the bloody thing without a battery recharger!). My old camera was acting up more and more with the 'lens error' thing. My fault, I've kicked it around a lot. It was getting to the point where I wasn't sure it was going to last for the rest of my trip and I didn't want to be in the position of having to purchase a camera in Budapest.
I also bought some jeans at Uni Qlo, the GAP of Japan for $40
Posters
. Believe me, otherwise, clothes are not cheap here. The place is soooo consermism oriented it's hard not to want to shop and spend money. Some of the highlights:
Shinjuko - a trip up to the 40 something floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building for views and at a little Jazz bar, one of the several little places that seats about eight people populating a small quadrangle of alleys not far from the main metro station.
Ginza - Tokyo's Fifth Avenue. I also took in one act of a Kabuki performance, one hour for eight bucks. Didn't understand a thing. The Sony building wherein they show-off their latest gear. Yakatori joints under the railway tracks.
Shibuya - the famous intersection. a mini-Time Square. Youth culture. Love hotels. The biggest Tower Records in Japan (anywhere?). Shopping, shopping, shopping. Excellent people watching.
Harajuko - a short walk from Shibuya, a younger version of Ginza and home to the famous Japanese 'freaks'--alienated youth who dress rockabilly goth who come out on Sundays to hang near the park (unfortunately it rained the day I was there and only a few showed).
Tsukiji Fish Market - get to this massive fish only market at around six a.m. to see the tuna auction and then watch organized chaotic Japanese logistics systems at work and later eat the best sushi you'll ever have.
People watching!
Watching people sleep on the metro.
Foooooood.
