I Come to You From the Future...Precisely 13 Hours in the Future

Greetings from Tokyo! (or "konnichi wa" for those who know what it means!) And Happy Canada Day!

Here I am on another travel adventure, this time with some very welcome company - my wonderful, patient, non-directionally challenged partner in crime, Nick! This may seem out of the blue, so let me fill you in on the past year or so:

Last summer a friend of mine suggested a book called Norwegian Wood, by popular Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. Long story short, I soon became fascinated with the Japanese culture and even just the sound of the language, so I decided to start planning my next trip. I went so far as to meet up with a Japanese-tutor-turned-friend, Tsuyoshi, and was determined to learn some of the language to prepare me for the adventure. Fast forward 6 months to December of last year, and one of my best friends set me up on a semi-blind date with a coworker of hers. What started as a few board games and coffee turned into a fun-filled 6 months with a wonderful guy. And -- I'll let you in on a little secret here -- I still feel as giddy as I did the first day I met him. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted when Nick he agreed to not only come with me but also invited me to join him on the second leg of our trip to Hong Kong to meet his family! Tsuyoshi is also able to join us for a while, which is especially exciting to have someone to show us around the "real" Japan :)

So there you have it -- we're spending a few weeks in Japan, followed by Hong Kong and mainland China to have some quality family time. 

Since it took me literally about half an hour to log into my blogger account again, I've lost some typing time and will have to summarize a bit (so, you know, a thesis essay instead of a LOTR-esque-lengthed trilogy)

I actually pride myself on the amount I've travelled and the variety of places I've seen and the number of airplanes I've flown on but something happened in the last hour of the 13-hour flight over here. I had been totally fine all along until suddenly it felt like my economy airplane meal of mediocre sesame beef and rice was going to end up back in the paper bag provided in the seatpocket in front of me. Fortunately, I distracted myself with a predictable Mandarin movie and kept it in my stomach (N.B. thanks to that movie, I learned how to say "you're annoying" and have been practicing it non-stop with Nick ever since...).

So close! First sights of Tokyo after a long flight

ANYWAY!  We arrived around 3:30 pm, and managed to get our luggage and rail pass sorted without too much hassle then navigated through the terrifying wrath of Tokyo rush hour to get to our hotel. Imagine Toronto subway at rush hour x100. Now add sizeable luggage, carryons, purses, water bottles, etc. Yeeeeeah. Didn't think that timing through. Laughing yet? No? Okay, add in the fact that people drive AND walk on the left instead of the right and --yes -- there was a time we were caught in the stampede on the wrong side of the flow. We quickly and thankfully learned how polite and tolerant the Japanese are of tourists. No one yelled at us or pushed us or even scoffed at us! Fortunately I knew myself well enough to learn "sorry" and "excuse me" ahead of time in Japanese, and was able to turn the chaos into a bittersweet moment that allowed me to practice a few words.

A few confusing train/subway transfers and a short walk outside later peeking into small restaurants and busy sidestreets, we saw a drunken businessman stumbling out of a restaurant. Less than a block after that, we arrived at our hotel!

View near our hotel

Needless to say, after almost a full 24 hours in transit and very few minutes of shut-eye due to a case of economy seat-induced butt-numbness, we were ready for bed by the time we got to the hotel. I slept from around 8-5am and Nick just an hour less. We woke up ready for our first day on the town although skeptical that we'd last the whole day. We started with a restaurant breakfast of traditional Japanese food (see below). I honestly don't know much about Japanese food other than some basic sushi and ramen meals from my limited experiences in Toronto, so I made some funny mistakes in terms of serving. Nick was helpful (after giggling at me, of course) so I didn't make the same mistakes the second day.

Literally EVERYTHING tastes amazing.

We decided to stay in the area for our first day, so we took a walk up to Sensoji temple nearby. We each got our fortunes from a stick inside a metal box. Nick won't let me forget that I got a "bad fortune" and he got a "regular" one. I can't stop reminding him that "regular" doesn't mean "good". He can't stop assuming that "regular" is just "good" lost in translation. Pffft. I'm only about 49% bitter about it. I'm mostly glad it was me that got the poor one and not him, who probably would have cried like a the little Japanese girl we saw getting dropped off at kindergarten. See? Not bitter.




Sensoji was eye-opening and beautiful. We both found it incredible that it was in the middle of a city and yet somehow SO QUIET. What a beautiful way to pray and pay tribute in such an urban area. Once on the grounds of the sensoji area, we were taken away from the hustle and bustle of the streets. It truly was gorgeous!

Us at Sensoji temple. Can't upload pics from my other camera
yet to give you an idea of the actual temple!

Fortunately it didn't rain on our first day, but it was definitely humid. We cooled off at one of the city's (tens of-? hundreds of-?) thousands of vending machines and I found my new favourite peachy beverage. NOMMMMMMY. 

Fun fact: the verb "to drink" is "nome" in Japanese.
Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

We spent the rest of the day perusing treats, doing some shopping and taking a fun rickshaw ride with a Japanese man with the strongest legs I've ever seen on an Asian man (sorry, Nick. Yours are 2nd best). Our rickshaw guide took us to the Geisha district (unfortunately, no sightings), and to another beautiful temple, Matsuchiyama. It's shrine is dedicated to the Indian god, Ganesh. We watched a few quiet businessmen come in on their lunch break and offer a radish before praying and bowing in the temple. What a sense of peace and balance! Can you imagine something like this happening in Toronto?! I certainly can't. Perhaps the best part of being on the grounds of the temple was being able to explore the Japanese garden. When you say koi pond, this place is what you think of. Waterfalls, lots of koi, stepping stones, and so much greenery you forget you're in a city altogether. I've only been here for such a short time and already I'm falling in love with this country.

We returned to the hotel around 3:30 for a "1 hour nap" that accidentally turned into a 7 hour nap...WHOOPS. So much for conquering jet lag....We woke up for a few hours in the middle and then forced ourselves to sleep at 2:30am.

Second day was just as exciting. Woke up early and hit the world-famous Tsukiji fish market! Apart from feeling like we were in EVERYONE's way, it was a glorious experience. It was a rainy day so we got pretty wet, but I think it was a bit less busy because of that so it was a good thing! Again, most of my good pictures are on my other camera, but you can see a pic below from my iPhone to get the idea of what it was like. 

Tsukiji fish market -- all the fish, eels, snails, crabs,
octopus and other sea creatures you can imagine!

We tromped around in the rain a bit, found a place to get some impossibly-fresh sushi, and then made our way to Akibahara, the electronic hub of Tokyo, to allow Nick to nerd out for a bit in anime heaven ;) 

Incredible melt-in-your-mouth sushi. Probably caught this morning.

I must say Akibahara was actually pretty awesome even though I wasn't familiar with most of it! The highlight was hanging out in an arcade where Nick and I went head-to-head at racecar driving, dancing and drum-beating and took these AMAZING photobooth pictures (aren't we cute?!). We then went out on a limb and attended a "maid cafe" (which isn't as kinky as it sounds, I promise)

Maid Cafe! MEOW MEOW ;)

Akibahara arcade. This was an ENTIRE
floor of just claw games.

Nick, right before losing at a drumming game
(I mean I AM a music teacher....)

Typical building in Akibahara. SENSES OVERSTIMULATED AHHHH.

Back to the hotel to dry off, wash off the fish smell, and rest our feet, we're now waiting for Tsuyoshi to arrive and snacking on fun Japanese treats like yogurt drinks, matcha Kit Kats and yummy beer. Not that we've ever been hungry since the second we arrived in the country, but should the need arise, we recently discovered the value and variety of meals available in even just a corner store. I'm talking like fresh steamed buns, ramen dishes, and sushi just waiting for you. The grocery store we went to had a "make your own bento box" station including freshly-made tempura, a specialty in this neighbourhood. AMAZING.

Anyway, there's your treat for now. More updates soon!


Sayonara,

Becky