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Published: July 24th 2009
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From my journal this morning:
"It's been a trying couple days. First night I stayed in Ueno First City Hotel. Somehow, it was both nicer and shadier than I expected. The logic of the $90 night price tag was that I'd be so jetlagged and tired after the long trip, I'd appreciate the comforts of a real hotel for one night, before downgrading to the dirtier hostels. The place was easy enough to find, the hotel staff, friendly and helpful. While it was nice to have my own shower, my own room, the abundance of serious looking low to mid-level Japanese businessmen and the complete lack of English-speaking tourists made me feel alone. The room was (perhaps typically) small with an efficient use of space. The TV had ten Japanese channels, plus 3 or 4 "pay-tv" porn channels (as I discovered while trying to figure out how to use the remote). Every other floor had a centrally located machine (by the only elevator) to unlock the porn channels for 1000 yen (unlock meaning remove the fuzzy patch over the.. err.. sensitive areas). I couldn't help but feel the loneliness of those Jap. businessmen staying in the little rooms of this
"budget" hotel watching 3 channels of porn.
I went to find an affordable sushi dinner (1000 yen as it turned out), yet again wishing I had a partner to share the experience of sitting in a restaurant where nobody speaks English.
I repacked my bag that night and took a shower - I felt bettter but I still had trouble sleeping, waking up at 5 am.
Yesterday I tried it make it a better day. I booked my hostel for the night, ate a very strange traditional Japanese breakfast (I literally have no idea what I ate) and set out for Ueno Park. There, among buddhas, a marsh, museums, and a constant misty humidity) I met Adam, a Polish traveller and I visited my first shrine. I tried to do as Lonely Planet suggested, washing my hands, banging the gong (a long, thick rope, which you swing), dropping 5 yen into a box for good luck, praying, and clapping twice. I didn't quite get a satisfying "bang" the first time. A little embarassed, I looked both ways, and tried it again. Finally, I got an angry "no camera!" rebuke from the guy behind the desk after signalling
the universal camera click sign and asking "okay?". I noticed the no cameras sign on the way out.
Having (of course!) quickly figured out the basic of the Tokyo subway system, I easily made my way to the neihbourhood of the hostel, Shinjuku. But it got complicated from there. While I may be good at navigation, the directions have to be a bit clearer than "6 minute walk out of station going towards Akebono Hashi, taking stairs on the right side." Besides not knowing where this Akebono Hashi could be when I walked out of the station, I walked the wrong way - and oh my are there so many stairs... By the time I found the place (a full 1.5 hours longer than the six minute walk) my back was giving out - making me think that perhaps I brought too much stuff. I was too tired to do much of anything - even write a blogentry or put in the extra effor to socialize with the ESL European gaijin here (though I have to admit, by the end of my ordeal yesterady, I was looking at every gaijin I passed on the street with a bit of
a "help!" look plastered on my face). So I passed out from exhaustion at 4 pm, with a pause for dinner and a conversation with a friend from home. After talking to the first truly friendly foreigners I've met here (a couple of hippie Australian street performers) I reluctantly turned down their drink offer and got a wonderful night's sleep in a surprisingly cozy wooden capsule bed."
Today was better still. I went to the Tokyo fish market for some really fresh chirashi sushi (and some gigantic tuna) with Matt, a North Dakota guy I met at the hostel. Tonight is chabad Tokyo (Jewish centre) and maybe Rippongi, the foreigner seedy night-life enclave.
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jordan
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yes travel blog!
it's great to hear you're not 100% lost in Japan--80% is not bad at all! haha just kidding, i know you're really good at figuring shit out. your first entry was an awesome read. keep it up! high points for me: loneliness of business men + porn and your first friendly stumbling-upon foreigners and your run-in with camera nazi and your hitting the gong. i am very jealous. looking forward to the next entry!