Another entry from Marc

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In my last blog entry I was telling you all how well I have learned the train and subway systems. I guess after today I need to eat my words a bit.

When the subway stops, the conductor usually opens the "exit" doors (on one side of the car) and waits for everyone to get out before opening the "boarding" doors on the other side of the car. One of my shortcuts has been to not get off when the "exit" door opens, but to wait a few seconds for him to open the "boarding" doors on the other side of the car. This way I can get off on the other side of the tracks and not have to go up and down stairs to get to the other side. Each day for the last two weeks, there has been a large group of us waiting for the "boarding" doors to open so we could exit and head to the shortcut. Well, I am not sure why, but today was different!
First, the conductor opened the "exit" door but then rather than open the "boarding" door on the other side, he kept talking and talking; of course, I had no idea what he was saying. Then, he opened the connecting door from his booth to the car where I was standing. He was standing maybe three feet from me and talking into his microphone. After a while, I wondered why other people weren't complaining, or at least crowding towards the "boarding" door, so that he would open the doors. I looked around and saw that I was the ONLY one in the car. I looked behind me and all the other people that were waiting for the shortcut had exited the exit doors and were patiently waiting. I guess the conductor had been lecturing me over the loudspeaker while everyone else waited. When I realized this, I quickly scooted out the exit door. Talk about wanting to hide. The conductor then opened the boarding door, the new riders boarded, and then all of us who had gone out the exit reboarded and crossed the car to go out the other door! I hope this isn't a new way of doing business. It seems kind of silly to me. As it was, I had to really run down the escalators and got to the subway track just as the subway was arriving!

Some other impressions of Tokyo:

1. I think there are two requirements to surviving in Tokyo. First is to be physically fit. No matter what, you end up doing lots of walking. Cabs are great on occasion but get very expensive and time consuming for normal trips. Not all subways or train stations have escalators or elevators all the way to street level. Often, when they do, it is in another direction than you want to go ( e.g., around the corner). You end up walking up and down a lot of stairs. You also end up walking to and from stations and to other locations where it just doesn't make sense to take the subway. For example, Arlene probably walked a mile plus today to get our mail at the US Army base. The second requirement is to be able to tolerate cigarette smoke. Most restaurants do have non-smoking sections but it is hard to tell the difference. There are lots of areas where they are beginning to cut back on ability to smoke but Tokyo is still a smoker friendly city.

2. I am working AGAIN on my Japanese. Now that I have been commuting a while and seeing all the signs in subway and train stations, I have started to recognize some of the characters; at least the Hiragana characters (Not the Katakana or Kanji characters yet). This week I made a start into learning the characters. We had picked up flash cards before we left and I have been studying them while on the trains. In the next couple of weeks Arlene and I are going to try to review all of our Japanese lessons so that we can begin lessons again and pick up where we left off. Probably number three on my list of requirements to survive in Tokyo is to at least learn a little of the language. We had a much easier time trying to tell a taxi on Wednesday how to find our apartment since we learned the words for right, left, and straight!

3. The weather here is darn near perfect. Temps have been upper 40s to 50s during the day and upper 30s to upper 40s at night. We have had just a couple days of rain in the last few weeks. We realize that we will be back in the humidity come June but, until then, we are really enjoying the cool weather after living in Florida. The leaves falling from the trees are so pretty. We are really going to like the fall here….. And would love to share it with any visitors that might be interested.

4. A few blocks from us we found a French Bistro. We still haven't tried it but we think the hours will please many of our traveling friends (Suzanne!!!). This bistro opens at 1800 (6pm) and closes at 0500 (5am) each day; a schedule you will be hard pressed to find in the states. Many of the restaurants and bars near us are very creative with the 24 hour clock; many of them are open to 2800 (0400 or 4am). Of course, our McDonalds is open 24 hours a day.

Any way that is about it for now……More later...

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Comments

[Dena]

Arlene and Marc, I am greatly enjoying reading of your adventures! I appreciate the glimpse into Tokyo life that you are providing for us. Looking forward to being there for a few days in September! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[Suzanne]

5 AM???
A Bistro that closes at 5 AM? Even Suzette is asleep by then! Loving your blog. I keep looking at the Inn calendar and can hardly wait to make a formal booking!