September.

It’s the end of the month already.

At things stand, I’m still looking around for my Japanese courses. I haven’t really decided on which type to go for – a year-long packaged course that would fully prepare me for JLPT3 that costs about $8000, or an interest course that would last for a few months that costs about $2000. But either way, I’ve made the first steps in preparing for the test – I’ve bought a few practice tests and now all I need is time to do them.

The month of September has been pretty good in some sense. Of course my trip to Japan was the highlight of the month (make that highlight of the year), but to say that the month was without its lows would not be entirely correct too. Basically both my working and studying life kind of sucked this month, and after all these I think I’m beginning to think about a few things or two.

Let’s hope October would be a better month – and I’m sure it would be because it can’t get any better when the month begins with a public holiday!

Japanese.

After returning to Hong Kong from Japan for about 2 weeks, I have been thinking about taking up Japanese again. It’s like, yes, I know Japanese – more like just enough to get by in Japan, but somehow I feel that I was still quite inadequate as far as communicating in the language is concerned. Sure, some might say that I most probably would be going to Japan only on holidays, but I guess even if it is just for that purpose, knowing the language well enough would make the experience even more enjoyable. It’s like, going to Taiwan is always enjoyable because I can communicate without problems with the locals there. I think the experience would be much greater if I could be talking to the Japanese people using much better Japanese. And perhaps if I could speak the language well enough, Japan could become an option if I choose to work out of Hong Kong. I think it might be fun. And yes, that would enable me to find a Japanese girlfriend too. Haha.

I’ve been looking around for suitable courses, at the same time I’m trying to get hold of some practice tests for JLPT4 (which actually I was supposed to have taken 5 years ago while in NUS but couldn’t turn up because of some urgent matters), so that I can roughly see where I stand as far as knowledge of the language is concerned. If I could do the JLPT4 tests without too much difficulties, I think I could start with those intermediate courses. And I’ve given myself an objective – to be able to pass JLPT3 next year, and perhaps JLPT2 by 2010. Wish me luck.

Ayumi.

I was at AsiaWorld-Expo on Sunday to watch Ayumi Hamasaki’s concert. The concert itself was a typical Ayu concert – lots of flashy costumes, flashy dances and then of course the encore session which is half as long as the main show itself.

Overall I think the show isn’t too bad, though of course you can’t compare Ayu’s concert to Mayday’s concert. Whatever it is, from the concert you can tell the detailedness of the Japanese over these concerts. It’s like they definitely have made a huge effort in putting the show together. What I appreciate the most was that Ayu did not just have the limelight all to herself, instead she was always more than willing to share it with the entire team of people including the backup singers, the band and the dancers. Basically it wasn’t just Ayu’s show, but it was the show of the entire lot of them. It is something that many Hong Kong artists would not do at all. It’s like, for these so-called Hong Kong artists, such shows and concerts are always about them and them only. You would see Joey Yung singing and dancing on stage, but does anyone even know who the keyboardist is? Or who each and every dancer is? Well, of course perhaps you’d know if you were to read the small prints of the concert DVD, but in Ayu’s case, she is always more than happy to have her sidekicks share the same attention as her. That’s the difference between a real diva and a diva-wannabe. After all, does anyone in Japan even remotely know who Joey Yung is?

And yes, I am very sure that I will not spend a single cent to watch a concert by a Hong Kong artist – paying $480 to sit at the last row for Ayu’s concert is still much better than paying the same price to sit at the first row for, let say, Stephy Tang’s concert.

Japan Realisations.

My dad always says that whenever you go on a trip, do not just go on the trip. Instead you should always do some reflections and do some deep-thinking to see what you’ve learned from the trip. I realised that I really realised a lot of things about Japan, and I think sometimes you really have to be there to understand how that place is like. So in that aspect I think I learned a lot this time round, and perhaps I could write a thing or two about what I realized about Japan – though I’m not too sure if any of my Japanese readers would be too pleased with it, but hey, that’s what I saw for myself!

1. I was amazed by how preciously little English the Japanese speak.
I knew right from the start that the Japanese don’t speak that much English. But I was still fascinated by how little English that actually speak. It’s like, I’ve seen umpteen times foreigners asking questions in English only to get a response in Japanese. Even in the airport where you’d expect the staffs there to speak at least decent English, it turned out that it’s still hard to communicate if you don’t use Japanese. So my verdict is, if you want to go to Japan, please go learn Japanese first. I can almost assure you those Japanese travel phrasebooks aren’t excatly of much use because even though you could make yourself understood using those words, you won’t be able to understand what they would reply you with!

2. The Metro/JR system is not as difficult to understand as it seemed.
Before my trip, I always have some uncomfortable twitches whenever I look at the Tokyo Metro/JR system map. I figured that even natives might have difficulties trying to differetiate all the different lines. It’s like you have the JR, and then you have the Toei Subway System, then you have the Keio Subway System, then you have the Tokyo Metro System, and they are all cramped into a city which isn’t as big as we all think it is. But actually if you are really travelling in Tokyo, those metro lines suddenly don’t seem that difficult to understand at all – as long as you can make up what the system maps are trying to say and have a rough idea on where the place you are going to is, you should be just fine.

3. Road names? What road names?
Sometimes somebody may pass you an address for you to find a particular location, but as I figured out, sometimes an address is not entirely useful because if you are finding your way on your own, you won’t even know on which road you are actually travelling on because the road names signposts are virtually non-existent. Maybe they are actually hiding somewhere, but I definitely didn’t see that many of them lying around.

4. The Japanese are always courteous to a fault.
Virtually everyone I came across in Japane was very courteous. From the train station staff to shop owners and even strangers inside a department store. In situations where I didn’t even touch them in accident, they were already apologizing to me. It’s nice to be in a very courteous environment, and I think my mood is always better in environments like these.

5. The Japanese are so rule-abiding it’s scary.
It’s deemed not courteous to be speaking on the phone on the train, so nobody does that. It’s deemed not courteous to have the phone ringing on the train, so everybody has his or her phone on silent mode. And then everyone walks on the correct side in a train station (i.e. if everyone walks on the left then you won’t find anyone walking in the opposite direction). And then when the pedestrian crossing light is at red, nobody would cross the road even if there is no cars in sight. They just all seemed so law-abiding!

6. Recycle bins are everywhere but trash bins are hard to come by.
On so many occasions when I wanted to actually dispose off my rubbish, I simply couldn’t find a trash bin in sight. Instead, I know I would have no problem trying to find a recycle bin for my plastic bottles or aluminium cans – there’s one next to every vending machine. I wonder if all Japanese were to bring their rubbish home rather than dispose them off on the streets.

These are just some of my observations, and I’m sure I could come up with more if I think harder. But I don’t think I could right now because I’m just so exhausted – it’s really not fun to be going straight back to work after a holiday. It’s been 3 days and I still haven’t recovered at all!

Tokyo Day 5.

Time flew by quickly and there I was, at the last day of my trip. My flight is scheduled to leave Tokyo at 6.25 in the evening, so that left me about one full morning plus some afternoon to do some last minute walkabout in Tokyo.

I first headed to Omote-sando, where all of the world’s top designer brands are located. Gucci, Prada, Versace, Burberry’s, Armani… you name it, they have it. Of course I wasn’t one for these branded items, but it was still good to be able to check the place out. As it turned out, Omote-sando is actually quite a nice place to take a stroll on.

Then as I was hitting the junction of Omote-sando and Meiji-Jingumae, I saw this shop:

The shop of course was nothing special, but the huge advertisement featured yet another AV actress! Seems like everywhere you go in Tokyo you would come across one somehow – though I probably would be chuffed to pieces if I get to come across one in person. Hahaha.

After Omote-sando I headed over to Akihabara to find gadgets again. The last time I was in Akihabara I didn’t really get to shop because of the luggage that I was carrying, but this time round, I was really able to be doing a bit of shopping – and as it turned out I bought quite a few things for myself, and like I said a few things ago, Akihabara is really buzzing in the day.

When I was done with Akihabara, I headed backed to Shinjuku to catch my train to the Narita Airport on the Narita Express. At 3100 yen it definitely wasn’t the cheapest way to travel to the airport, but then again, the cheapest option (1000 yen) was another half an hour train ride away at Ueno, and I have to be sitting on the train for close to one and a half hours – not the best thing to do really especially when I had all those luggages.

The Narita Airport is actually quite a pretty airport, and I think it’s pretty huge too. And apparently a lot of Hong Kongers were in Tokyo, as I could hear people speaking Cantonese virtually at every part of the airport!

The meal onboard was warm again!

I don’t think you can complain too much about Japan Airlines – their food is good, the service is excellent, though I can certainly make do with a slightly larger seat. As it turned out, it wasn’t just my problem, virtually everyone seemed to have a problem with the size of their seats!

So as it turned out, my 5 days in Tokyo were over in a flash, and while I’m happy with the things I got to see, I definitely wished that I could have seen more things such as the Imperial Palace, the Meiji Shrine, etc. But then again, I’m quite sure that this won’t be my last time to Japan, so I’m not worried.

Tokyo Day 4.

According to my initial plan, I was supposed to have gone to see the Mount Fuji today. And I’ve actually ear-marked to head to this place called Gotemba (or Gotenba as it really is in Japanese). But what I didn’t know initially was that there was this factory outlet town at Gotemba, so I killed 2 birds with one stone!

I first took a highway bus to Gotemba from Shinjuku, and after about 2 and a half hours because of traffic jams, I arrived at the Gotemba Premium Outlet.

There are about 250 outlets inside this what I would call an outlet town, and it took me more than 2 hours to walk around, and I didn’t even go into each and every one of the stores! The town is designed like those American or European towns, and understandably so because apparently the town is owned by Chelsea Premium Outlets that have such outlet towns all over United States.

The view inside the outlet town is actually quite pretty too, though it was a shame that the weather decided to act up today. It was raining on and off while I was there, and as it turned out, it was really not a good day for photos.

See the ferris wheel on the hill? I’m not sure if it’s decoration or if it’s really working because I don’t seem to see it move at all.

After the outlet town, I headed to downtown Gotemba, which really isn’t really so downtown because Gotemba is really a very small town. I think the town is very proud of the fact that it’s at the foot of Mount Fuji (though it’s not the only one), and everywhere I go I see things related to the great mountain:

Gotemba is also apparently the location where the F1 Japanese Grand Prix will be held in October:

It’s quite interesting to note that the town is using Mount Fuji to highlight that the Grand Prix is in town. I thought they might use the faces of Raikkonen or Hamilton instead.

Someone told me at the Tokyo Tower yesterday that when the weather isn’t good, you may not be able to see Mount Fuji even if you are very close up – I fully understand that today. Apparently I should be able to see the mountain from this point, and as you can see, all I managed was fog.

After Gotemba, I headed back to Tokyo, and I went over to Roppongi, with the primary aim of visiting the TV Asahi Centre. As I was there slightly late, I didn’t manage to get myself any souvenirs whatsoever, but I was treated to a lot of Doraemons.

There’s a big one at the entrance…

And then many more inside this toy catcher machine.

Both TV Asahi and the Tokyo Tower (which carries the signals for TV Asahi) are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, so that’s why there’s this miniature Tokyo Tower being on display at TV Asahi.

After exiting TV Asahi, I saw the famous Mori Tower at the Roppongi Hills – the admission ticket to the viewing gallery (as well as loads of other exhibition halls) was more than 1000 yen, which I thought wasn’t really worth it, so I decided to give it a miss. I didn’t forget about taking a picture of the tower though:

I decided that I want to look for some dinner after leaving Roppongi Hills, so I went into this burger restaurant called R Burger, which was recommended by many tour guidebooks. The food tasted alright, but I think the most attractive part about the burgers was the burgers themselves.

This burger was called the “Tofu Burger”, of which the patty inside was made of tofu and chicken, and the bun was actually that of mantou instead of bread.

And this is what they called Tofu Nuggets – when the whole thing was made up of tofu.

It’s actually quite an interesting meal, and really a novel one indeed. That said, after I returned to the hotel, I still insisted of eating something more normal:

… which is oden (the big bowl), onsen tamago and beer!

Tokyo Day 3 (Part 2).

So after Asakusa, I took a ferry ride heading towards Odaiba. The ferry ride was very interesting as the boat (which seats 500+) passed through about 20 bridges that all look something like this:

The ferry actually would take its pessengers to the Odaiba Seaside Park, but because I wanted to see more things (or rather I bought a wrong ticket), I was taken to Hinode instead. Luckily for me, there was the Yurikamome which ran across to Odaiba. The highlight of this train ride (which essentially was like those sky trains that serve the airports) was that it actually crossed the Rainbow Bridge. While the train was actually moving in the lower deck of the Rainbow Bridge, it was actually still quite an experience, and the view leading to the Rainbow Bridge was actually brilliant:

The view from the left side of the bridge.

The view from the right side of the bridge – the great thing about the train ride was that it heads towards the bridge approaching on its left, then does a big 360 degree to go into the bridge, allowing passengers to see the right side. Though I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the purpose of the way that it was constructed.

Basically the area of Odaiba can be separated into 2.2 sides – the Odaiba Seaside Park which has a perfect view of the Rainbow Bridge (and where the Japanese drama Love Generation was shot), the Palette Town side which features the Toyota showroom (which does not just show cars but also their designs and concepts and engineering – almost a museum) and the amusement park, and the 0.2 part which actually is the Oedo Onsen Monogatari which was a hot spring mall (think along the line of those spa and massage centres in Shenzhen, though that’s about the only similarity). I say 0.2 part because the place is kinda isolated at one corner of the island, but I guess in more ways than one that’s a good thing.

The entrance to the Oedo Onsen Monogatari – it’s so authentic Japanese.

Of course being a tourist I’m defintiely going in to try this Japanese style hot spring, though it’s not really just a tourist spot – I see many local Japanese people coming here, some alone, some with their boy/girlfriends, while some come in a whole family. Inside the place, it’s not just a hot spring and that’s it. Apart from the hot spring (which you have to do it the Japanese style, wearing yutakas and all that), the whole place is designed and modelled after the Edo Period in Japanese history:

And they even have periodic performance thrown in for good measure, with the performers dressed in, erm, Edo-style costume.

After the hot spring, I headed over to the Odaiba Seaside Park side with my primary objective being the Fuji Televison Centre. The Fuji TV Centre is not just your normal TV studio, but it is also a museum with a lot of exhibits.

If you feel rich enough, you can fork out 500 yen for the admission ticket to the viewing gallery where you can get a almost perfect view of the Rainbow Bridge (again):

And of course you don’t just pay all that money to see the Rainbow Bridge again. You could fork out an additional 1100 yen and be a TV presenter (they would present you with a DVD of your heroics after that). Seeing how the thing works, it’s almost hilarious:

For a split second, and indeed a split second, I had the urge to join in the queue.

Then after the viewing gallery, there is the studio gallery, where you can actually not just see the exhibits from previous (as well as ongoing) TV programs:

The real sets that were used in some previous editions of SMAP x SMAP – I’m quite sure if you have a little bit of knowledge in the Japanese showbiz you’d know what program this is.

But you can also have a sneak peek of real-time program recordings:

If there is any program on recording going on, there will be a notice pasted in that blank space inside the signage – so as you can see, there was nothing going on when I was there. Though I did manage to see some staffs actually doing the setting up.

After I was done with the Fuji TV Centre, I headed over to the Seaside Park to see the Rainbow Bridge (again) and the Statue of Liberty:

All in all, I think Odaiba was really a very interesting place, and I reckon you could easily spend a day here if you were to do some serious walking around.

In the evening, I headed out to Shibuya to do some walkabout and to try to go to a place and watch Liverpool vs United. The match was best forgotten, but Shibuya was definitely an interesting place.

The JR Shibuya Station – you can almost always see some street performers around the vicinity of the station exit. This particular exit, known as the Hachiko Exit, was named after a loyal dog back in the 1920s which was apparently called Hachi (as in the number 8). If you have watched Nana the movie (or read Nana the comic), the sweet and cute Nana was named Hachi by the cool and wild Nana – with the cute Nana initially having reservations being called that because she didn’t like the fact that she was being associated with a dog. That’s where Hachi the dog actually came about.

I was walking around Shibuya, and I was lucky enough to have come across a traditional Japanese street parade, performed by (as far as I know) some university students:

I’m quite sure this lot would probably have won the best float easily if they’ve gone to the NUS Rag Day.

After watching the football, I actually hung around in Shibuya, looking for a decent club to go to. I read about this club called Atom before I headed out, and I think the place would have been great if it was more packed. The music wasn’t the worst, and if it wasn’t that I didn’t want to take a cab back to my hotel, I probably would have stayed longer. In the end, I left the place at about 12.15 to try to catch the last train. Along the way to the train station I saw this big billboard:

The message of the billboard was quite clear, but the person inside the billboard was actually an AV actress. I thought this was interesting – it seems like AV actresses are on about the same level as your normal actresses.

Anyway I really managed to take the last train (I didn’t realise until I reached Ikebukuro when the station staffs were holding the train back because he was trying to make sure the last few pessengers could get on the train), and the funny thing about the last train was that it was completely packed (like it would be during the peak hours). I don’t think last trains in Hong Kong would ever be packed, but I guess that’s really because it really isn’t that expensive to miss the last train. In Tokyo, if you miss the last train ride, which should at most cost you about 300 yen, it would be straight to the taxi, which charges you 710 yen for the first 2 kilometres!

Tokyo Day 3 (Part 1).

I woke up fairly early this morning again – 7am Tokyo time to be exact. I headed off to the Tsukiji Market after a complimentary breakfast from my hotel (that actually wasn’t too bad):

Tsukiji Market is essentially a fish wholesale market, but it was made famous not just because of the fish that it’s selling, but also the raw fish (aka sashimi) that the eateries sell – I don’t think you can go any fresher than that!

I didn’t really try those sashimi though because the queues to each of the stalls were just ever so long, so I decided that I would try this instead:

I don’t really know what it’s called, but it’s made up of egg and honey – 10 pieces for 200 yen.

Then of course, if you are ever keen on buying some really fresh fish, you would be spoilt for choice:

After Tsukiji, I headed over to the Tokyo Tower.

The feeling of seeing the Tokyo Tower was actually quite amazing. The moment I stepped out from the subway station and saw that orange and white tower, there was still sudden sense of excitement getting into me, and I think it was a good choice to have made the detour (I was supposed to have headed straight to Asakusa). The view from the gallery was quite cool, though I didn’t make it to the top level observatory (I was only at the mid-levels, about 150 metres from the ground):

And they said on a good day you can even see Mount Fuji from the tower. I didn’t see it today, and apparently they told me that the weather for the past couple of days have been so foggy that you may not even be able to see Mount Fuji even if you are fairly close to it. I wonder if that’s true.

After the Tokyo Tower, I went over to Asakusa for the Asakusa Temple. The temple actually did not seem that big, but it was just the stretch of stalls that lead up to the temple that makes the area look huge. I think it must have taken me about 15 minutes to completely walk through that stretch.

From across the road – this is the start of the stretch leading to the temple.

The real thing – the temple is on the right, and the tower on the left is apparently the management office of this temple.

Just like in Wong Tai Sin, many people come to the Asakusa Temple to try to get their fortunes told using the bamboo tin. But unlike in Wong Tai Sin where the bamboo sticks with the numbers are placed in an open-top container of which you shake the container to let the stick drop, the one in Asakusa Temple is in a metal container which is completely wrapped but for a small hole at the top which allows the bamboo stick to drop off. It took me quite a while, but I think it was fun.

The rack on the right hand side is for you to tie your lot should it turn out to be a misfortune lot. I think the idea is to let people not to bring the apparent misfortune home.

I headed over to Odaiba from Asakusa after the visit to the temple, and I think I’ll continue writing later – I’m all shacked out from the profuse amount of walking that I’ve done today.

Day 2 in Tokyo.

I woke up this morning at 7.30 local time (that means 6.30 in Hong Kong) completely unassisted. Because of the fact that I didn’t really go out much last night (or more like there wasn’t anything in the vicinity of Akihabara that allowed me to be walking around), I had a fairly early lie-in yesterday night.

My first destination was Mitaka, where the Mitaka Forest Ghibli Museum is located. For the first time since coming into Japan, I wasn’t travelling only on the JR Yamanote Line, instead I was on the JR Chuo Line, of which the trains look like this:

The lady inside the picture actually looked quite pretty. Somehow most of the Japanese ladies that I managed to come across just seem prettier than those in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore (in no specific order though I can’t help you if you insist I do).

The Ghibli Museum was one of a kind, because it houses all the works done by the world-acclaimed animator, Hayao Miyazaki. If this name doesn’t ring a bell, then titles such as “My Neighbour Totoro”, “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Spirited Away” certainly would. There were many interesting things to see in the museum, including the fim strips of the films, the raw sketches of the characters, etc… it was a fascinating place. Even though today is a Friday, the place was still full of families who came to see all the cute things associated with Miyazaki’s animations.

The bus stop at Mitaka for the bus to the museum.

The bus – it wasn’t a big one, but then the trip wasn’t that long, so it was still fine.

The museum from the outside. The sad thing was that photography wasn’t allowed inside the museum – and the best thing was everyone was all obeying the rules and I really did not see anyone taking a picture inside the museum. Imagine if it’s museums in China or Hong Kong – you would probably see heaps of people doing the paparazzi and snapping picture like nobody’s business.

The “icon” of the museum, and one of the few spots where photography was allowed. See the happy faces on the kids.

After the Ghibli Museum, I took a walk to Kichijoji. The walk from the museum to Kichijoji Town Centre took me through a park where I saw many swans:

Of course when I mean swans I mean those which you pay about 600 yen and ride on the small lake.

Kichijoji.

The main attraction of Kichijoji for me wasn’t all the shops (actually shops everywhere are the same), but my “lunch”:

The first picture was a beef meatball (hot and tasty, something that you can’t get enough of) and the second one is a koroke (or potato pie) which wasn’t as warm, but just as nice. Anyway the shop that sells these great stuffs is called Satou, and it’s well-known in not just Kichijoji, but across Japan. The queue outside the shop was testament to that. And apparently all Hong Kong travel guidebooks would recommend this place. I forgot to take a picture of the shop, but if you need to find out how the place looks like, just Google “吉祥寺 サトウ”.

After Kichijoji, I headed towards Ikebukuro, where my hotel is located.

The thing about Tokyo (so far) is that the streets all look the same to me.

I spent about an hour walking around Ikebukuro, going into shopping centres and big malls just to check out what they sell. With me being a gadget guy, Japan is about the best place that I can ever go to.

One of the stores for Bic Camera, one of the biggest chains in Tokyo – it has 5 stores in Ikebukuro alone. Take that.

After checking into my hotel, I had a quick rest before heading out to Shinjuku. It’s like, I don’t think you can claim that you’ve been to Tokyo if you have not been to Shinjuku. When I was there at about 7pm, the place was really buzzing.

Lumine Est – I’m so glad that I did not come with a female companion.

Downtown Shinjuku. Also full of neon lights, but I don’t think you would even contemplate comparing these neon lights to those in, let say, Shanghai.

And of course, a visit to Shinjuku would not be complete without checking out the famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Kabukicho!

The signage showing Kabukicho – I think this is about the most easily identifyable sign of the district.

See the pictures of all the guys on the billboards? I think the closest term I have for them would be male PRs, and I’m quite sure one of their job scopes would be to drink with their customers (presumably female).

There’s no escaping the Little Sheep – and I think this outlet must be the most expensive Little Sheep outlet in this world. Just think about the cost of living in Japan and I think that’s clear enough.

I spent close to 2 hours in Shinjuku, basically doing a fair bit of shopping. The highlight of the shopping trip has to be the visit to RECOfan, a second hand CD shop located in the 7th floor of Seibu Shinjuku Pepe – I bought a grand total of 8 CDs for just 6500 yen. The cheapest one I got was at a criminal price of 100 yen! Of course these second hand CDs were not really the newest ones – for example the oldest one I bought, which was Speed’s (anyone remember them?) Starting Over, was actually first released in 1997 – 11 years ago. That piece cost me 380 yen, or HKD27. Amazing.

On my way out of Shinjuku, I came across this:

Hello Kitty. It’s everywhere in Japan, I presume.

Before taking the metro to head back to Ikebukuro, I decided that I want to do something really Japanese – that’s to eat at a noddle kiosk!

First, insert money into this ticket vending machine. Then choose what you want. Whenever you press for an item, a ticket would be dispensed. Pick up the tickets and pass it to the guy behind the counter. And then…

… a bowl of ramen is ready in about a minute! (Though I think what I had was soba instead of ramen – boy I can’t tell the difference!)

And the Tokyo Metro (the private subway company in Tokyo and contributor of the highly messed-up system map but highly efficient subway system) is running a courtesy campaign with very interesting posters:

You can see the whole series at the Tokyo Metro website.

Would be having another packed itinerary tomorrow – and I’m especially looking forward to going to Odaiba!

Tokyo!

After a 4-hour flight, I hit the shores of Japan with a vengeance. Armed with my rather limited Japanese (and of course some use of English as there are really some words or phrases that I really do not know how to pronounce in Japanese), I managed to get myself settled in nicely here in Tokyo. Finally the dream has come true!

The flight was actually not too bad. What I was most impressed about the whole flight was the meal:

It’s not that the food was very delicious (they normally aren’t for in-flight meals), but what I was impressed with was the food was actually being continuously heated up even when it was delivered. A small hot plate below the main course was the “culprit” for keeping the food warm – and that was really nice.

Arriving in the Narita Airport was, however, somewhat a chore because it wasn’t really convenient to be getting out from the plane to the arrival hall – I think it must have took me about half an hour if not more. Quite a bit of walk, then a shuttle, and then more walk, more queuing up, and then more waiting… not for one who’s in a rush. If there’s anything that I can take away from this whole ordeal was that I managed to really understand what all those people were saying Japanese, which include the immigration officer, the custom officer, the ticketing lady at the JR office… and for a short while I really thought my Japanese is all coming back!

I took the Narita Express which took me directly from the Airport to the Tokyo Main Station. The ticket price was 3500 yen which includes also a Suica card (similar to the Octopus in Hong Kong or the EZ-Link in Singapore). The train was really nice and comfy, and the most important thing was that it was fast (about one hour from the Airport to Tokyo) – definitely worth taking again.

After arriving in Tokyo, I changed onto the JR Yamanote Line to head to Akihabara, where I’ll put myself up for the night in the Capsule Inn Akihabara. However, finding this place was abou the toughest thing that I’ve done for all the time that I’m in Japan (albeit only for a few hours)! The place wasn’t the easiest to find, and even though its website said it would take only 4 minutes to walk from the Akihabara Station, I took more than an hour and had to ask about 10 people (out of whom 9 of them didn’t know where the place is either). In the end, I made a phonecall to the place and my limited Japanese definitely came to show here as I had to finally resort to English to make sure that the guy at the reception could understand me. But in the end I did manage to get there, and boy, how about that for an experience!

The view of my capsule – even for a big guy like me there’s still ample space!

The view from my capsule – as you can see, there was really quite a bit of space!

After settling into the Capsule Inn, I went to walk around Akihabara, which is famous for all the electronic goods. To be honest, I had quite a bit of walkabout around this area just now as I was finding the inn, and it’s really quite an amazing place. There are huge electornic goods stores with the prettiest mobile phones and what not. There are even huge stores that sell nothing but AVs (adult videos, for the uninitiated)! Of course I won’t give up the chance to check all these places out, but one funny thing though was that everwhere seems to be closed around 9pm, so there really wasn’t much to see. I guess Akihabara is only buzzing in the day, or perhaps I’m not sure where the buzzing place at night is?!

Would be heading to a few sightseeing places tomorrow, and hopefully they would be fun – and I’ll also move to a proper hotel tomorrow. One night of experience of a capsule inn is perhaps enough!