Day 3: TOKYO FREE GUIDE…Mitsuyo

---

Monday morning Connie took me to the train for Tokyo. Easier, but I still got a little confused in Shinagawa. This time I asked the conductor and he was like “next train”. Cool. 45 minutes later I arrived at the Ueno station in Tokyo, where I took a cab to the hotel. It was a short jaunt costing about 900 yen ($7/8). I step into my Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) and the guy at the desk (whom I later realized to be the owner) knew my name. Kinda nice touch. I got there at 10am and check-in wasn’t until 3pm so he let me store my luggage.

A few minutes later I met Mitsuyo, my tour guide for the day. This all came into being when I first decided to go to Tokyo for a week before Singapore. Knowing how expensive the city was heralded to be, I started googling “Tokyo on the cheap” and whatnot. Came across a NY Times article about a guy who went to Tokyo for a week and spent $1000 - including airfare from ATL. He recommended Tokyo Free Guide, a service that provides you with a tour guide and the only cost is you paying for their transportation and meal costs while ya’ll are out. I can do that. So I sent in my request and two guides e-mailed me back. We worked out itineraries for 2 days and exchanged pics.

Let’s see…we hit Ueno Park (where I was first encountered the scariest crows you will ever come across) and enjoyed the greenery, some shrines, a temple, and nice lil spot where Mitsuyo knew the caretaker who brought us some delicious green tea.

Next, we headed to Kappabashi Dori St. It’s a long street of small stores that sell restaurant/kitchenware at mostly wholesale prices. Doesn’t sound like fun does it? I can’t really explain why, but the street is so awesome and you can do some damage to your pocketbook.

Now it was on to Asakusa, home of the famous Sensoji temple and countless souvenir shops.I’m actually not much of a souvenir person, preferring functional items that will do more than sit on a shelf back home. So I didn’t buy anything and I think Mitsuyo felt like I wasn’t satisfied so she kept trying to sell me on stuff. Which turned me off even more. Finally ended up buying some placemats and chopsticks from the 100 Yen store (dollar store), even though I could have done w/o those also (waiting to get back over to Kappabashi Dori).

Finally, we hit Akihabara (electronics town). Now, being into anime, and having recently attended Fanime in San Jose, I knew Akihabara was home to a number of anime shops and maid cafes. Maid cafes…not gonna explain, let’s just say I wanted to go. Mitsuyo was older and I had to work really really hard to keep a straight face while she explained to me that she had never been to one and that most Japanese are not into that. So we went in and got some sodas and watched some girls and their boyfriends come in and the girls started looking for outfits to try on. I tried to just play casual tourist observer - but they had costumes!!! Yes, I got dressed up, much to the delight of everyone in there. Even Mitsuyo was laughing. Took some pics w/ the other girls and just had fun.

So that was the day w/ Mitsuyo. She took the train and walked with me back to the Ryokan where she sat down w/ Tokyo Metro maps and helped me come up with a plan for the days I would be by myself. Which for someone like me is the best thing she could have done - teach me how to ride the Metro, give me a subway map, and send me on my way. I tell ya, you don’t know a city till you learn its public transportation system.

---