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Published: April 24th 2009
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Tokyo
Picture of me standing in a random sport in Tokyo Finally in Tokyo
Wow I've finally made it to Tokyo, and it is amazing although I have to say the language barrier here is the hardest out of every country I've been to. After arriving at the airport I had to stumble my way around the subway eventually arriving at Tokyo station a very large 5 story subway station with what seemed like no employee's, finally I was able to find the station to where I had to go I was able to make it to my hotel by around 11:30pm I did a small walk around the local area and came back to my hotel to pass out.
Unfortunately after the long drive to the manila airport, 2 hour delay in Manila, the ~5 hour flight, and the 3 hours it took from when I landed to when I got to my hotel yesterday I have been hit with the worst case of jet lag I have had on this trip, which kinda sucks considering i had almost no jet lag flying from Whitehorse to Shanghai. Thankfully I still woke up today and took the subway to Akihabara where I spent most of the day, it was well
Heights
If you are afraid of high stairs avoid the Tokyo subway stations, a lof of them are this high and when packed with people in a rush can be very crowded. frankly like another world, Store after store of electronics, anime, manga, audio equipment, hobby shops, some kind of cross between arcade and casino that I lost 1000 ($13 Cdn)Yen at very fast. I also noticed no one smoked cigarettes on the street about halfway through my day I found that its illegal to smoke on any public property including the streets and sidewalk's but it is legal to smoke in any private establishment that says it is. Everything in Tokyo is also built going up for example I went into KFC and the first floor is a small counter to order your food like the front of any KFC in Canada but once you get your food you go up stairs the second floor is no smoking the third smoking, since you are eating above the kitchen area this gives the store a very small footprint but two decent sized area's to eat. The bathrooms in Tokyo are so advanced I felt like I was sitting in the captains chair I walked into the KFC bathroom and the top toilet seat automatically lifted up, you sit it does a little pre flush than on the side is this big panel
Tiny
my TINY hotel room, when I went to college my dorm room was bigger than this room, but its clean, it doesn't stink, it has a bed, a shower and an internet connection. I can't complain. of buttons to control the sprayers water pressure, what looked like maybe temperate and angle must be thee most complex toilet I have ever seen and it was at a KFC. Enough about toilet's though while walking around I met a 21 year old German tourist we walked around a bit, had a coffee and he tried to give me a lesson on the subway system and suggestions on places I should go. After he went back to his hostel I decided to try and find one of the shrine's he suggested I go to but I got lost and as fluke would have it found a train going close to my hotel, I considered it fate since I was really feeling the jet lag so I went back to my hotel.
My first big observation in Tokyo was that at least 70% of guys over the age of 15 wear suits, everywhere I have gone in Tokyo I feel like an outsider not just because I'm white but because I'm under dressed. In fact in the bakurocho
subway station there were people living in card board boxes lining the walkways everyone of them that was visible were all Captain
This is one of the the captains arms that I have seen on every toilet so far, there are ones (like the one in KFC) with more controls and automation. wearing suits, although they looked a little more run down than the crisp black suits everyone else wears.
I did learn one real important lesson today, visa is not everywhere you want to be in fact for the life of me ever since I left the airport I have not been able to get a single ATM to accept either of my visa cards or my debit card, unfortunately I'm almost out of cash so finding a way to get cash will have to be the first thing I do tomorrow. After that I'm going to go met a friend from wow who is in Japan right now, it should be interesting to met her in real life and it will be great to travel with someone who can speak English and Japanese.
p.s.I took some more pictures of Manila Before I left but I will not be adding them here once I get home and have some time to actually organize and crop all my pictures I will be creating a flickr account and I will be posting all of them on there. I will also be making a video of all the video I have taken Menu
I stoped in this cafe and bar a couple times through the day as they had decent price's, and ashtray's. during this trip and place it somewhere online (you tube probably).
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vending
Where the heck are the dirty underwear vending machines, and hentai shops jeeze.