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Woman dressed in kimono
We met her in Senso-Ji Buddhist temple. "I am Godzilla and you are Japan"
We have for many years said to each other that it would be interesting to visit Japan some day. We always said "one day" because we kept postponing that journey for economical reasons. The Land of the Rising Sun is too expensive to travel in we thought. We were wrong, Japan isn't expensive if you compare with other countries with similar standard.
If you think you can't visit Japan because it is expensive we'll start this blog entry by giving you an idea of what the prices really are like in Japan.
Food: In the budget noodle shops you can buy decent food for 5 USD. If you wish to try sushi you can get as many as 28 pieces of sushi for about 20 USD.
Accommodation: We stayed in three different places in Japan and the most expensive of these cost 50 USD/person and night. Accommodation isn't cheap but doesn't have to be terribly expensive either. However, budget accommodation is scarce and booking in advance is essential.
Local transport: Busses, local trains and metro cost the same or less than what it does in
Senso-Ji Buddhist temple
The main hall of the Senso-Ji Buddhist temple any major city in countries with similar standard. Well worth a note here is that you get good value for the money too. Transportation in Japan is more reliable than pretty much anywhere else in the world.
Transport between cities: Shinkansen, the Japanese bullet trains, are fast and reliable but expensive. If you plan on doing many train rides you can buy a train pass that will make even the Shinkansen rides affordable.
Public toilets: Plentiful, clean and free of charge.
Entrance fees to museums: Fairly often free of charge.
Entrance fees to important historical sites: 5 USD - 10 USD.
Now that we have made it clear that Japan is not more expensive to travel around in than for instance France or Canada we will now turn our focus on what we did and what we saw while we were there.
One of the things we really wanted to see was the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. We arrived in spring but we came a bit too late to be able to really enjoy it. We did see a few blossoming cherry trees but most of them had already started
Senso-Ji Buddhist temple
The main hall of the Senso-Ji Buddhist temple to wither. Well, we guess the cherry trees will blossom other years too so we can always go back and make sure to get there two or three weeks earlier.
When we were in Tokyo we stayed in a district called Asakusa. It was a nice quite neighbourhood with many restaurants within walking distance from the youth hostel. The main tourist attraction in Asakusa is Senso-Ji Buddhist temple. It is a popular pilgrimage site and is therefore often crowded with people. The centre of the temple is the main hall and next to it there is a five-tired pagoda.
One of the highlights of our visit in Tokyo was seeing sumo wrestlers in action. There weren't any sumo tournaments or championships during the days when we were in Japan. But one so called sumo stable, the equivalence to a sports club, allow people to come and watch their training. The stable is called Arashio Stable if anyone reading this would like to visit them. They do their training in the mornings and visitors are welcome to watch their practice through the windows. Some lucky few may even be permitted to sit on a bench
Senso-Ji Buddhist temple
Buddha statue in the Senso-Ji Buddhist temple in the hall and see the wrestlers up close. But do you really want that? Sumo wrestlers are very big men and if you are in the same room you might end up having one falling over you...
Before seeing Sumo wrestling we could not understand that sport. Now we have a better understanding and we believe that as a sport Sumo wrestling makes more sense than for instance synchronised swimming or wrestling, and they are Olympic sports.
The Imperial Palace in Tokyo is well worth a visit even if the palace itself on most days is off limits. Visits are limited to the Imperial Palace East Garden. A walk in the palace garden is also rewarding at least if you like parks.
Another park we visited was Yoyogi Park. It is popular among Tokyo's residents to go to this park for a picnic, to hang with friends or play games on the spacious lawns. One attraction in Yoyogi Park is a group of dancers, dancing to rockabilly music dressed in clothes inspired by the rock fashion in the 1950-ies, that usually perform near the southeast entrance to the park.
The Imperial Palace
The palace itself is on most days off limits. You can only see it from the outside We have added a video of them so you can see what they are all about.
Only one and a half kilometre away from Yoyogi Park is Shibuya Train station. It would have been just another train station if it hadn't been for there being an extremely busy pedestrian crossing just outside the station. The Shibuya Crossing is rumoured to be the busiest pedestrian crossing in world and as many as 2000 people have been known to cross the street at the same time. It really is a spectacular sight to see the Shibuya Crossing. Also here we have added a video to give you an idea of what it looks like.
Outside the Shibya Train station there is a statue of a dog. The dog was called Hashiko and belonged to a man who lived near Shibuya Station. Every day the dog went down to the station to welcome his master when he arrived from his work. In 1925 the professor who owned the dog passed away, but still the dog kept on going down to the station each day hoping that he would arrive on the train. The dog went
the Imperial Palace East Garden
A walk in the Imperial Palace East Garden garden is rewarding if you like parks down to the station waiting for the train to arrive for 10 years until the dog himself died. It is a touching story, isn't it? The locals thought so and they put up a statue of the faithful dog.
Some aspects of the Japanese culture and society are a bit difficult to understand. There is a pop group called AKB48 that is immensely popular in Japan. The band has at the moment 141 members divided into five different subgroups. All the members are girls and most of them are in their teens though girls as young as 12 years have been part of the band. The members of the band change frequently. New girls are trained and introduced in the band and replace members who loose the youthful innocent cuteness that is the band's trademark because they grow older or leave the band because they get married, the band has a strict members must be unmarried-policy. We have looked at a few videos with AKB48 and we can't understand how they can be one of the most popular musical acts in Japan.
Another cultural aspect we can't understand is the gaming arcades. In large
Tokyo shopping street
This is what shopping streets in Tokyo look like halls hundreds of slot machines and other gaming machines are lined up. The noise in these halls is deafening and still people sit by these machines and play. How long they play we don't know because we could not stand being there for more than one minute.
Here we also have to mention the Japanese cartoons, so called manga. The Japanese people seem to love these cartoons. The youth hostel we stayed in had an entire room dedicated to manga reading for instance. In Akihabara district there are shops selling only manga or manga related items. Some shops even specialise in only one specific subgenre of manga.
Tokyo has a TV-tower called Tokyo Skytree. Tokyo Skytree is, with its 634 metres, at the moment the tallest tower and the second highest construction, after Burj Khalifa, in the world. The tower has a viewing platform from where it on very clear days is possible to see Japan's highest mountain, Mount Fuji. When we visited the Tokyo Skytree it was not a very clear day but the visibility was still good enough for us to get a good view over Tokyo. The panorama at the
Girls dressed for a photo session
These girls were in Yoyogi park for a photo session top of this blog entry gives you an idea of what it looks like from the tower.
One evening in Tokyo we had dinner with a Japanese woman named Akiko. Ake and Akiko met each other when they travelled in Tunisia many years ago. Akiko and Ake has stayed in touch over the years and now met again. We all went to a restaurant together where we ate sashimi, thin pieces of fresh raw fish.
In Japan people eat a lot of fish. It comes natural to them we guess since Japan in an island. Much of the fish eaten in Tokyo is handled in the very lively fish market. It is possible to visit the market and you are of course also welcome to buy fish, oysters, squid or other fruits of the see that is on display there.
Next to the fish markets there are several restaurants catering to visitors to the market. They mostly serve sashimi or sushi, made from very fresh fish of course. We tried it and can recommend it. It was delicious.
Japanese fishing vessels don't only operate off the coast of
Shibuya Crossing - before people start walking
Shibuya Crossing is rumoured to be the busiest pedestrian crossing in world. Japan. Some of them travel far away to catch fish. In 1954 a fishing boat named Daigo Fukuryo Maru went all the way to the Marshall Islands to try to catch tuna. At the same time the US were testing hydrogen bombs nearby on the Bikini Atoll. One of these tests went wrong and nuclear fallout fell on two inhabited islands, Rongelap atoll and Utirik atoll, and also, unknown to the US who performed the tests, on Daigo Fukuryo Maru. Several members of the crew became sick from being exposed to the radiation and one member eventually died. The fishing boat is today on display in a museum in Tokyo, a museum Ake had to visit on his own since only he thought it was interesting.
Another somewhat odd museum we visited in Tokyo was the Meguro Parasitological Museum. A museum entirely dedicated to parasites. The highlight of that museum is an 8.8 metre long tapeworm that was pulled out of a Japanese man.
Finally we believe an explanation of the headline might be needed. It is a quote from a movie called Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead. The quote has
Shibuya Crossing - when people are walking
As many as 2000 people have been known to cross the street at the same time nothing to do with this blog entry and the film has nothing to do with Japan. We added it for the only reason that it makes for a good headline to this blog entry.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
The land of the rising sun
Great to see you have made it to Japan. I also stayed in Asakusa so this shot brings back memories. Please post a magic shot of Mt Fuji if you are lucky enough to take one.