Japan Unplanned

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So..... I was sitting in Garneau Pub on a Friday evening in September, and Mike walked in and tells me he and Mitch are talking about going to Japan in December. He asks me if I want him to send me the details. I say yes.

I remembered none of this when I woke up the next morning.

Alcohol was a factor. And actually, Mike didn't remember it either. But, he had written it on his hand so he wouldn't forget. I owe this whole adventure to Mike's drunken hand note.

He sends me a text: "Are you still interested in me sending you the info on Japan?"

What??? I had to think about this one. What the hell was Mike talking about.

After many minutes, maybe hours, of trying to recall the previous evenings conversations, and a few text messages, I concluded that yes, I did want him to send me the info. What could it hurt? I wouldn't be committed until I bought the tickets anyway.

Two weeks later, I had a flight to Japan booked, and approval from work to disappear for a couple of weeks in December (actually, I asked for a week, and then stretched it to 12 days when I booked the flight. It's proven to be an effective strategy). Still shorter than the 5 week - 2 month adventures I'm used to, but I takes what I gets.

For me, that qualifies as spontaneous. All of my previous international adventures involved months of thought and consideration before even buying a flight. So this is new for me. So is going to Asia, or rather, not Europe. New territory. I'm liking it so far.

A couple of months pass, and it's time to go. Via Skype, we collectively determine that none of us have really done much research on what to do in Japan. But we have limited goals, and limited needs, so it was agreed that things would just kind of work themselves out.

On the day of the departure, there was a minor hiccup when Mike came to pick me up but couldn't buzz me, because the door is locked until 8 am. I had forgotten about that fact... But I eventually made my way down to the lobby (on instincts, I guess) and we made our flight no problem, so no harm done.

And if you'll allow me to brag for a second, my packing skills went to the next level on this trip, and I weighed my bag in at a scant 7 kg at the airport. Yes I'm overly proud of that. And since we probably won't move around too much in Japan, weight probably won't matter at all... That doesn't mean I won't pat myself on the back every ten seconds and tell everyone I meet what a master packer I am...

I think I could go lighter. I've met people who travel and carry on only with 30 litre (or smaller) bags. Carry on only. That's the wave of the future... But I'm not there yet. I'm probably just obsessive enough to try someday though.

Flying into Vancouver, Mike impressed me with his ability to sleep on an airplane. He did, however, mostly miss the superb views of the rocky mountains. And flying over Vancouver I realised how long it had been since I'd visited, and how much I missed it. Going there every summer growing up to visit aunts, uncles, and grandparents has left some good memories floating around in my head. I'll have to come back soon and visit more than just the airport.

Ah the airport! Nice place that Vancouver international airport. And surprisingly it didn't seem that busy. But we had no trouble finding Mitch, who's day started about 4 hours before ours did in Montreal. It was going to be a long day for him, and he already had a story to tell.

While waiting for his flight, it dawned on him that he was probably going to want to sleep at some point during the 15 hours of flying he was going to have to do that day. So he walked into a shop and picked himself up a shiny new travel pillow. I have my own personal vendetta against travel pillows (dating back to 2008), and now Mitch is in the club.

Shortly after take-off, probably still within the city limits of Montreal, he reached for his travel pillow in his bag and tried to pull it out. The aiport-qaulity pillow ripped open, and the tiny styrofoam balls inside went everywhere. All over the floor of the plane, all over the inside of his backpack. He never even got to use it.

After leaving the plane he'd made a mess of, he dumped out his daypack into a garbage can in Vancouver, and when we found him, he still had some tiny styrofoam balls stuck to his clothes. Every time he pulled something out of is daypack, a few more tiny white styrofoam balls came with it. There was no getting rid of it. Unless maybe he burned his bag, but he was going to need it.

Our ten hour flight to Japan went smoothly. We made sure to enjoy some complimentary beer and tiny red wines, the major perk of flying overseas. Approaching Japan as the sun had just set, we could see the outline lit up with city lights. As we came in for landing at Narita airport, I could see the headlights from the cars driving on the left. So yep, it was official. Japan.

After grabbing our bags, it was time to clear customs. After having the passport checked and getting fingerprinted (every foreigner gets fingerprinted going into Japan) we collected our bags for the bag search. We each selected different customs officers, looking for the most hassle free experience. Mitch got through first, I was second, but not after being asked a bunch of questions I didn't really understand, giving answers I'm not really sure the customs officer understood. The language barrier here was quite strong. I think he eventually just gave up to be honest, and waved me through.

Mike got a full bag search. Actually, the customs officer tried to search his bag, but gave up almost immediately when Mike actually opened his bag and his 14 pairs of socks and underwear, and five pairs of shoes (or something like that) started to spill out. Giving up was the sensible thing for that custom officer to do, and certainly saved Mike from repacking his monster bag. I guess they assume if you got any drugs or alligator skins or weapons you probably packed them in the top of your bag? I don't know. A half hearted effort is still more than no effort, I guess.

Alright, so we're in! Japan! Begin travel mode: get a map, find an ATM, get on a train, find the hostel. All of this took some effort. We were all a bit rusty. After getting some money, and boarding some train, we soon discovered that we really didn't know where it was going exactly. The map in the train branched off in a bunch of different directions on the way to Tokyo. We figured out which one was the right one, but then we had to figure out which one we were on. We had to just keep an eye on it and watch for what stations we were stopping at.

Luckily, the map on the train and the station platforms had the names written in the latin alphabet, so that helped a bit... when we saw them. But hearing the names announced on the train was not much help at first, given that none of us had ever really listened to any Japanese before, so it was hard to hear what was being said. The flow of the language is different than English (obviously), with different emphasis on syllables etc. I'm sure a linguistics major could explain it properly, but there aren't any around...

Long story longer, we were on the right train, and actually emerged from the subway in the right neighbourhood we were supposed to be in. Getting oriented on our map was more of a challenge. The street names on our map... did not seem to be listed on the street corners anywhere... so we found some landmarks and matched street patterns with our map and eventually arrived at the hostel after maybe 20 minutes of just getting ourselves oriented.

We dropped our bags off, and went to look for something to eat. We went into a place nearby and ordered food. I don't know what any of it was called because we ordered from the pictures, but it was really good. And quite cheap compared to what we were expecting from Tokyo. It worked out to about $8 a person, and you certainly can't eat out at home for that. Mind you, we were in kind a fast food type place. But still, it tasted much better and healthier than what's called fast food at home.

With food in our bellies, and a couple of hours before we really needed to begin, our exploration of Tokyo began. We're staying in Asakusa, home of the Sensoji Temple. So we went and checked it out at night. It was closed, as one would expect, but it was lit up beautifully and deserted. So that was neat.

We also walked through what is a market in the daytime, which was also closed at night, but we also noticed a sign above one of the booths advertising "Ice Cream Burgers". We could only imagine what that would be. Deep fried ice cream in bread? Some kind of burger where all the toppings are made of ice cream? Not sure. But dammit, we were going to find out. We committed to coming back and trying it out.

Our walk took us down some pedestrian streets where everything was also closed, including the beer vending machines.... The key there being that there are beer vending machines. I don't know why or how a vending machine can close, but I don't make the rules.

We also found what look like vending machines for cars in parking lots. They look like a really compact parking garage where every stall must move automatically up and around into place. I hope we get a chance to see one in action to find out exactly how they work.

But we had finally run out of gas for the day and turned in for some sleep.

We managed to wake up pretty refreshed the next day, found a grocery store, and made bacon and eggs for breakfast. It was a pretty western breakfast, and we're not ashamed. We're not sure what Japanese people eat for breakfast, and if we did we probably wouldn't know how to make it anyway.

Ok! Time to hit the town!

We headed off to Shibuya on the subway for our first Tokyo sightseeing stop (closed temples do not count).

So we grabbed the subway to Shinjuku.... but not before I put my Pasmo card (rechargeable Tokyo subway pass) in the wrong slot and jammed the machine... I would have felt worse if Mike hadn't done it immediately after I did, and if the Subway attendant hadn't been so friendly about it, obviously having dealt with it before.

Less than 24 hours in Japan and it already looks like we're going to wreck the place.

After emerging from the subway to Shibuya, we headed over to the Government Office.

Strange stop at first glance, because it's not like the white house or parliament buildings in Ottawa, it's really just a tall office-looking tower. Two towers, actually. But they are two of the highest buildings in Tokyo, they both have observation decks with direct and very fast moving elevators from the lobby, and it's free. That ticks two boxes: a view, and free. Two of my favourite boxes, actually. And since both towers have observation decks, and both are free, we visited both to get a full 360 degree view of Tokyo.

Our view of Tokyo revealed that the city goes on forever. And we had a clear day, so we could see as far as anyone ever could from up there. It is a HUGE city. But I guess that's what a 36 million person city is going to be like. There's no way around it really. But it's not exactly a Manhattan style skyline of endless skyscrapers like I anticipated (not that I've ever been to Manhattan, so I could be totally wrong about that place too). There are several sky scrapers, but mostly it's buildings that are around 10 stories or under. And it just goes on like that until the city hits the mountains way on the horizon.

This is a bit of a shock for three people from Canada. There are more people in Tokyo than in all of Canada. Mind explosion.

And since the weather was beautiful and there was not a single cloud in the sky, we got a great view of Mount Fuji to the south. It's a pretty imposing figure, even though it's quite far from Tokyo. One day I'd like to climb it, but December seems like exactly the wrong time to try to do that.

The gift shop in one of the observation decks was worth a look too, just for all the cool Japanese toys.

You know what though? Even though there are 36 million people in the city, from the ground, it doesn't really feel claustraphobic at all either. And it doesn't feel as crowded as you'd expect, even though the thought of 36 million people in once place is pretty staggering, I guess they tend to spread out a bit. It also helps that the average height of a Japanese person is below my eye level, so I can always see over the crowd. It was also a Sunday, and not rush hour, but we still expected more for crowds.

Wandering south from there, we went through one of the big parks we spotted from the government office with a shrine. There happened to be a Japanese wedding going on, so we stood on the side and watched some of the traditional ceremony before carrying on. In the park itself, you couldn't go onto the grass. Mostly because there was no grass, it was all dense forest. And there were sadly no benches to take a seat on. Still, the park would serve as a nice escape from urban Tokyo.

After that, we wandered through the Harijuku district, and then the busy Shinjuku area. This is like the Time Square of Tokyo, and has lot's of bright billboards, and shops, department stores, and people. Shinjuku also boasts the busiest crosswalk in the world. Something like 3000 people cross every time the lights change.

We stepped off the main drag to find some food, and found what looked like a fast food chain, and had a sign with a picture of some kind of food with a low price we were willing to pay. Inside, we found a menu with the same picture of the same food repeated about a dozen times with a dozen different prices. We (probably correctly) guessed that the price related to the volume of food in each dish (although the pictures were the same, as I mentioned) and ordered a bowl of... whatever it was. Some kind of meat or fish with sauce on rice. It did the trick anyway, and was about $4.

Not being able to read Japanese, I think we're going to know very little about what we're eating, so it's a good thing none of us are picky. But it's kind of too bad that we won't be able to go home and get any of it, because we don't know what it is...

Tank topped up, we continued wandering southwest-ish. We walked past the National Stadium, past the "Muscle Theatre", whatever that is, and then we were in a residential neighbourhood. The strange thing about this neighbourhood was that it seemed to be single family homes. We could only assume that these people were extremely wealthy, even though they weren’t exactly huge.

This was definitely a bit off the main path, but we really had no plans for where to go. We picked up a few beers at a convenience store (classy) and continued on. That was our guess anyways. With the sun fading, and us a bit lost, we got ourselves oriented on a map and had to make a long trek to the nearest subway station. At least we got to see a part of Tokyo few people bother with. Spoiler Alert: There's not much to see.

Back at the hostel, I dropped my bag in the room and came back down to find Mike and Mitch sitting on the couches with about a dozen other people. Mike said, "James, everything's going to be fine. We found Australians." It had been almost 24 hours without meeting an Australian, and I hadn't realised that was weird until he point it out. Well thank goodness that period of Australian-less-ness is behind us, probably for good now, and we can get back to having a normal backpacking trip.

That pretty much set the tone for the night.

We hung out with them playing circle of death / sociables, and generally having a good time. You can't run out beer when there's a 7 eleven 30 feet from the hostel. It's a bit dangerous.

After getting our systems primed for adventure, The dozen or so of us set off to find a fireworks display that one of them had found out about. It was a case of the blind leading the blind, and we never got there, but we did hear it, and see the flashes of light in the distance, but the actual fireworks were blocked by a building.

The large group was pretty disorganized and ultimately split up. Our half walked around in the area and found a Christmas light display that occupied us for a few minutes. So Christmas is a holiday Japan, in case you were wondering. But they call it X-Mas.

After some more aimless wandering, it became pretty clear that the neighbourhood we were in was not conducive to a night out, so we headed to Shibuya. The crazy lights everywhere, the "red-light" district and convenience store beers made for a great night of wandering around and taking in the sights and sounds of Tokyo on a Saturday night.

We also found a three person bar in an alley. And I mean the place only physically held three people, plus the bartender! There were three stools, and that was all there was room for. It was about half the size of a garden shed, with a curtain for a door. I think it was cobbled together out of plywood. It seemed legit though. We had a very friendly exchange with the happy patrons, and carried on our way. It's too bad we couldn’t have found a slightly larger bar for us to hang out in.

We eventually found a place to sit down and have a few drinks in a restaurant. Chatting with the group, I found out that Maria, a British girl, had also been to Bosnia, and also loved it. That was validating. And she had stayed at different places, and been to different things, so it was very encouraging that it wasn't just the people I met and the things I did that made it special. Bosnia is just awesome.

But back to Japan...

It was getting late and it was time to go catch a subway back to the hostel before they stopped running. Here's where we made a mistake.... we thought the time of the "last train" was the time you had to be at the station to catch the last train, which would run to the end of the line before shutting down for the night. That's what the trains do back home... but not in Japan.

The time given for the shutdown of the subway is when the subway actually stops running. It's not actually the “last train” to complete the run. Wherever the train is at that time, it stops, and the doors open, and everyone has to get out. For us, this happened three stops before the one by the hostel. Once we processed this information, we decided we would walk back... except we had to figure out which way to hold the map in a neighbourhood none of us had been to before and after emerging from underground. And as mentioned before, there are no english street signs We really had no point of reference.

We were able to ask for directions (although it's hard to be confident in directions discussed between people that don't share a language, in a city that's probably almost as confusing for the locals), and we set off into the night. It turned out to be a pretty long walk, and we had been drinking, so we needed a bathroom. I snuck into a nearby bar to use the toilet, and really confused the hostess. I felt kind of bad about that, but I was pretty desperate and tried to smile a lot to make up for it. It was probably better than going in an alley, which is what Mitch did.

After about an hour of walking, we made it back to the hostel. Adventure complete. We went to the 7-11 just a few doors down for a late night snack. Mitch and Mike stayed up with a few other people, but I was exhausted from hours of walking, and, well, just being awake, so I went to bed.

So there it is. Our first day in Japan in the books, and we've already had our first big adventure. I can only hope there's more to come...

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