TOKYO! How do I describe it in one word? Insurmountable__________ (fill in the blank with a positive...thing). So to connect the dots, I was traveling all of Thursday...ALL of Thursday. Imagine waking up in Sapporo, Hokkaido around 8am (if you can. See pictures in entry below to get an idea) and embarking for the airport at 10am, right? Then taking an hour-long, cold subway ride to the airport where we flew out at 12:20pm. The hour and a half long ANA flight was relaxing (I tried to sleep) and we touched down in Nagoya again for the first time in two days (my longest absence from 名古屋 yet). At this time we made our way back to 金山 (Kanayama) before Regina headed back home and I headed out to the 新幹線 (Shinkansen) track in 名古屋駅 to catch one of the fastest trains in the world to one of the busiest cities in the world, 東京.
The 新幹線 brought me into 東京 at about 6:00 in the afternoon. TOKYO!! Then I rode the 山手線 (Yamanote Line) to 上野 (Ueno) ...and this is where I messed up. You knew it was coming! Yeah at this point I was supposed to get onto a subway and head to Asakusa Station. What I did at this moment was exit 上野駅 (Ueno Station) and walk in the general direction of Asakusa. It took me about a half and hour and it involved asking a local cop for directions ("keep going sraight") before I arrived at Asakusa Station. That's when I called up Britany and told her to come pick me up at the station (which is what she told me to do) and I waited....and waited....and waited. After about an hour of waiting I decided to do the most risky of maneuvers: walk on my own. So I walked to the biggest, brightest thing that I could see, which turned out to be Asakusa お寺 (temple), and I went to find a phone booth. Then I stepped in the booth and as I was about to place my 100円 in the phone when !WHAM! Brit comes up and slams herself against the booth window behind me! Apparently she yelled my name with such joy when she first saw me...wish that I could have heard her! Turns out that there was a second Asakusa Station. Nice. Then, to top things off the Hostel that we stayed at was about a block away from the temple which became a huge asset over the next couple days.
The Hostel was called Sakura and its design was much like a dorm's: rooms had multible bunked beds and there was a community bathroom. Breakfast was an all-you-can-eat-for-one-price (350yen) toast n' tea deal (trust me when I say I ate my $3 worth of toast and tea!) The first day, when I finally arrived at the hostel, I decided to nap and relax for a while before we all headed out to grab a bowl of ramen down the street. We called it a night after that (ramen was at 10pm) and just chilled in the hostel until we fell asleep. The next morning we got up a little late (11am!), ate breakfast, and headed out to see Yasakuni Jinja...that is of course after we stopped for some coffee at Starbucks. Yasakuni is probably one of the most controversial national landmarks that Japan has to offer. It is the shrine to honor the war dead of Japan (and some other countries too), nothing to fret about. The controversy comes from the fact that this shrine also pays tribute to noted war criminals too. This has caused quite a stir in some of the neighboring countries--namely China--especially when high-ranking governmental officials come to pay their dues on occasion. It was a superbly incredible sight to behold and I was moved to realize that such and oasis could exist in the middle of such a bustling city. It felt a little like that feeling you get when you first step foot into Central Park in New York: you are instantly transported to another time! The high-risers were gone and only the tall tori remained. Still, the funniest thing that I saw this day was probably when I saw a priest, who was dressed in his Shinto best, hop in his bright, new Mercedes that was parked outside the side entrance of the shrine. Ah the contrast! There was a small pond behind the shrine too that I was able to explore and watch some koi in. The koi were all iroriona with their oranges, whites, and reds...amazing! There also was an Ikebana (flower arrangement) display at the temple which was absolutely breathtaking. There are a couple that you can look at in the foto album below. I was feeling that there was only so much time that I had to spend in this vast city so I said, "jaa' ne" to my friends and footed it solo to check out 渋谷 Shibuya!
So I hoofed it in the direction that I thought was correct...and that brings me to 'Drago Gets Lost: part2'. Yeah, I basically walked east rather than south. Now that's not such a bad mistake but if you walk long enough then it starts to get worse. Well, I headed a long ways east before I finally ran into another subway station and found out that it would take me a full 20-25 minutes to get to where I wanted to be in the first place....by subway; lucky for me I had bought the all day pass (a must in Tokyo!) for about $10. SHIBUYA=TOKYO or 渋谷＝東京 k? Really. Imagine Tokyo--especially for the peeps who have never been there--and you usually picture Shibuya. It is a big, bustling center of Tokyo despite being some distance away from Tokyo station. I stopped there to film the intersection, then I headed north in the direction of 原宿。 Before getting there I was sure to spend some time in Tower Records. They had all the latest releases and a wide selection of good techno music to choose from; of course all the music was very expensive and I had barely any money by that time so I bought nothing. Mr. Children is big now (though they have been around for some time). I saw some cool headphones there too! Ooo, i should remember those (green with a single star on each ear). After about an hour I got bored and exited the store in a northwards direction...haha, got you! I didn't get lost this time! I just kept going straight and I made it. I felt a little stupid though when I asked this cop where Harajuku was and he was like, "This is Harajuku". I had arrived and I didn't even know it!
原宿はすごいよ！They have all the ritzy stuff and all the teen stuff wrapped up together within a couple city blocks. The big, ritzy stuff was all lined up on the wide main road whereas the teenage scene was all located in the winding back-alleys surrounding the Louis Vuitton, Roger Dubuis, and Harry Winston showrooms. I had a good time watching the peeps watching me (thanks Nena!) Yup, I was people watching people watching me. Be sure your camera's batteries are fully charged in Harajuku because you never know when a couple dressed for a really, REALLY fashionable arctic expedition might round the corner!
After an hour or two I was tired....really tired, and it was dark. So I headed back to the hostel. I tried to call Brittany before to see if I should meet up with her somewhere but I had limited funds and no cell phone so using the pay phone once or twice was my limit. So when she didn't pick up I just decided that I would just get on the subway and go. I was tired! When I finally arrived at Sakura about an hour or more later I was relieved to find her and all my friends there (as where they to finally see me again!). In the time that I was gone Sydney and Kathleen had both showed up. I really had only spoken to them in passing before but little did I know that I would spend a lot of time with them the next day.
Oh, I forgot to mention the Ecuadorian that I met up with the while I was out in Tokyo. There was a group of latinos in the hostel that we were staying at (they arrived the last night before the last day in Tokyo) and and I just had to say hi to them--it helps when you are a little tipsy. The just of the story is that I befriended these crazy foreigners and this one, Diego, gave me his business card and one of those small flute-type thingies. I was psyched! So I have a new friend in Ecuador (someone i'll visit after I see Gaby!).
But getting back to the flow of things. That last night all of the group, save me, Marla, and Kathleen, went out clubbin'. Kevin went to "the biggest club in Japan" that he had to get on an unmarked bus to get to off on an island that no trains ran to..yeah, sketchy. The others all went to the gay district. Marla, Kathleen, and I all just talked for a while before falling asleep. Of course, we were rudely awakened around 6:30 am when everyone returned from their escapades.
That morning I went with Kathleen and Sydney to grab some bus tickets to Nagoya. 東京駅はすごく難しいのでwe basically sent a ton of time there looking for the box where we could find them. After we bought them and decided to head out it was already 1pm. I went back to Asakusa Temple and spent some time watching this AMAZING 東京時代まつり. IT was truly an enlightening experience. There was so much to see! So many different kinds of costumes from ages past. Everyone was wearing their respective clothing from before all of Japan united and surely before the Meiji restoration. It was such a sight to see. Heck, there was even a small band of Americans in the parade dressed in old uniform! That was strange. There was also a wagon of people wearing very large masks. I don't really understand the meaning of those characters but my host mom recognized them right away. I made my way to the Temple to take a look inside and I must say that it was surely the most amazing sight that I had ever seen! It was not only huge, it was painted in the most impressive red and gold and black! It had so many lanterns that it lit up the sky at night! There was a massive, elaborately intricate interior section that no one save the big man up top could enter that just blew my mind with it's otherworldly beauty. There was so much that I didn't understand that I must return someday with a better understanding of Buddhism in Japan to fully appreciate its beauty. After forgetting about time for a while, I went back to the shopping area outside the temple and bought some goodies for myself and family (hehe).
My time at the temple ended early--because I really had nothing left to do there--and I went to pick up my suitcase in the Hostel and I headed out to Tokyo Station to get one last look of the city before heading out. I dropped my suitcase off in a box (500円） and hoofed it south toward lights. Little did I know that the lights were in fact Ginza, one of the biggest, brightest sections of Tokyo. I was able to walk all the way down there and look around once before realizing that everything was so hella expensive that I couldn't really buy let alone look at anything without feeling like a homeless beggar. So with 3 hours to go before my bus departed i headed back to a place that I saw earlier when I had come to look for bus tickets: An Irish Pub.
You read that correctly, and Irish pub. That is of course after I picked up a Newsweek magazine at the local Conbini (Convenience Store). It really didn't help much that the magazine was entirely in Japanese, but I tried my best to read it while babying a Guinness in the Pub. Some peeps approached me on the street before the pub too, they were way lost! They asked me if I knew where the station was...yeah they were about a block away from it....so...not so lost...compared to me. I watched futball and talked to an Englishman for bit in that bar. The really weird things: The Englishman swore that I was an Irishman even after I had spoken to him; there was a box of chopsticks in the bar next to the Guinness tap. Finally 11:30 rolled around and I made my way out to the bus. Kathleen, Sydney, and I all talked loudly in the front of the top floor of the night bus until we felt that we had annoyed all of the quiet, sleeping Japanese enough to leave a bad impression of foreigners on them. A few hours later we awoke and were in Nagoya! Presto change-o.
So that ends my travels in Tokyo. Things I should do next time: Climb Mt.Fuji, see Tokyo tower. If I think of anything else that needs to go here then I will not waste time to post it! Thanks for listening, it took me long enough to tell the entire tale!
Updates random.
Por favor miren estas fotos. Escribo mas luego yo.
The 新幹線 brought me into 東京 at about 6:00 in the afternoon. TOKYO!! Then I rode the 山手線 (Yamanote Line) to 上野 (Ueno) ...and this is where I messed up. You knew it was coming! Yeah at this point I was supposed to get onto a subway and head to Asakusa Station. What I did at this moment was exit 上野駅 (Ueno Station) and walk in the general direction of Asakusa. It took me about a half and hour and it involved asking a local cop for directions ("keep going sraight") before I arrived at Asakusa Station. That's when I called up Britany and told her to come pick me up at the station (which is what she told me to do) and I waited....and waited....and waited. After about an hour of waiting I decided to do the most risky of maneuvers: walk on my own. So I walked to the biggest, brightest thing that I could see, which turned out to be Asakusa お寺 (temple), and I went to find a phone booth. Then I stepped in the booth and as I was about to place my 100円 in the phone when !WHAM! Brit comes up and slams herself against the booth window behind me! Apparently she yelled my name with such joy when she first saw me...wish that I could have heard her! Turns out that there was a second Asakusa Station. Nice. Then, to top things off the Hostel that we stayed at was about a block away from the temple which became a huge asset over the next couple days.
The Hostel was called Sakura and its design was much like a dorm's: rooms had multible bunked beds and there was a community bathroom. Breakfast was an all-you-can-eat-for-one-price (350yen) toast n' tea deal (trust me when I say I ate my $3 worth of toast and tea!) The first day, when I finally arrived at the hostel, I decided to nap and relax for a while before we all headed out to grab a bowl of ramen down the street. We called it a night after that (ramen was at 10pm) and just chilled in the hostel until we fell asleep. The next morning we got up a little late (11am!), ate breakfast, and headed out to see Yasakuni Jinja...that is of course after we stopped for some coffee at Starbucks. Yasakuni is probably one of the most controversial national landmarks that Japan has to offer. It is the shrine to honor the war dead of Japan (and some other countries too), nothing to fret about. The controversy comes from the fact that this shrine also pays tribute to noted war criminals too. This has caused quite a stir in some of the neighboring countries--namely China--especially when high-ranking governmental officials come to pay their dues on occasion. It was a superbly incredible sight to behold and I was moved to realize that such and oasis could exist in the middle of such a bustling city. It felt a little like that feeling you get when you first step foot into Central Park in New York: you are instantly transported to another time! The high-risers were gone and only the tall tori remained. Still, the funniest thing that I saw this day was probably when I saw a priest, who was dressed in his Shinto best, hop in his bright, new Mercedes that was parked outside the side entrance of the shrine. Ah the contrast! There was a small pond behind the shrine too that I was able to explore and watch some koi in. The koi were all iroriona with their oranges, whites, and reds...amazing! There also was an Ikebana (flower arrangement) display at the temple which was absolutely breathtaking. There are a couple that you can look at in the foto album below. I was feeling that there was only so much time that I had to spend in this vast city so I said, "jaa' ne" to my friends and footed it solo to check out 渋谷 Shibuya!
So I hoofed it in the direction that I thought was correct...and that brings me to 'Drago Gets Lost: part2'. Yeah, I basically walked east rather than south. Now that's not such a bad mistake but if you walk long enough then it starts to get worse. Well, I headed a long ways east before I finally ran into another subway station and found out that it would take me a full 20-25 minutes to get to where I wanted to be in the first place....by subway; lucky for me I had bought the all day pass (a must in Tokyo!) for about $10. SHIBUYA=TOKYO or 渋谷＝東京 k? Really. Imagine Tokyo--especially for the peeps who have never been there--and you usually picture Shibuya. It is a big, bustling center of Tokyo despite being some distance away from Tokyo station. I stopped there to film the intersection, then I headed north in the direction of 原宿。 Before getting there I was sure to spend some time in Tower Records. They had all the latest releases and a wide selection of good techno music to choose from; of course all the music was very expensive and I had barely any money by that time so I bought nothing. Mr. Children is big now (though they have been around for some time). I saw some cool headphones there too! Ooo, i should remember those (green with a single star on each ear). After about an hour I got bored and exited the store in a northwards direction...haha, got you! I didn't get lost this time! I just kept going straight and I made it. I felt a little stupid though when I asked this cop where Harajuku was and he was like, "This is Harajuku". I had arrived and I didn't even know it!
原宿はすごいよ！They have all the ritzy stuff and all the teen stuff wrapped up together within a couple city blocks. The big, ritzy stuff was all lined up on the wide main road whereas the teenage scene was all located in the winding back-alleys surrounding the Louis Vuitton, Roger Dubuis, and Harry Winston showrooms. I had a good time watching the peeps watching me (thanks Nena!) Yup, I was people watching people watching me. Be sure your camera's batteries are fully charged in Harajuku because you never know when a couple dressed for a really, REALLY fashionable arctic expedition might round the corner!
After an hour or two I was tired....really tired, and it was dark. So I headed back to the hostel. I tried to call Brittany before to see if I should meet up with her somewhere but I had limited funds and no cell phone so using the pay phone once or twice was my limit. So when she didn't pick up I just decided that I would just get on the subway and go. I was tired! When I finally arrived at Sakura about an hour or more later I was relieved to find her and all my friends there (as where they to finally see me again!). In the time that I was gone Sydney and Kathleen had both showed up. I really had only spoken to them in passing before but little did I know that I would spend a lot of time with them the next day.
Oh, I forgot to mention the Ecuadorian that I met up with the while I was out in Tokyo. There was a group of latinos in the hostel that we were staying at (they arrived the last night before the last day in Tokyo) and and I just had to say hi to them--it helps when you are a little tipsy. The just of the story is that I befriended these crazy foreigners and this one, Diego, gave me his business card and one of those small flute-type thingies. I was psyched! So I have a new friend in Ecuador (someone i'll visit after I see Gaby!).
But getting back to the flow of things. That last night all of the group, save me, Marla, and Kathleen, went out clubbin'. Kevin went to "the biggest club in Japan" that he had to get on an unmarked bus to get to off on an island that no trains ran to..yeah, sketchy. The others all went to the gay district. Marla, Kathleen, and I all just talked for a while before falling asleep. Of course, we were rudely awakened around 6:30 am when everyone returned from their escapades.
That morning I went with Kathleen and Sydney to grab some bus tickets to Nagoya. 東京駅はすごく難しいのでwe basically sent a ton of time there looking for the box where we could find them. After we bought them and decided to head out it was already 1pm. I went back to Asakusa Temple and spent some time watching this AMAZING 東京時代まつり. IT was truly an enlightening experience. There was so much to see! So many different kinds of costumes from ages past. Everyone was wearing their respective clothing from before all of Japan united and surely before the Meiji restoration. It was such a sight to see. Heck, there was even a small band of Americans in the parade dressed in old uniform! That was strange. There was also a wagon of people wearing very large masks. I don't really understand the meaning of those characters but my host mom recognized them right away. I made my way to the Temple to take a look inside and I must say that it was surely the most amazing sight that I had ever seen! It was not only huge, it was painted in the most impressive red and gold and black! It had so many lanterns that it lit up the sky at night! There was a massive, elaborately intricate interior section that no one save the big man up top could enter that just blew my mind with it's otherworldly beauty. There was so much that I didn't understand that I must return someday with a better understanding of Buddhism in Japan to fully appreciate its beauty. After forgetting about time for a while, I went back to the shopping area outside the temple and bought some goodies for myself and family (hehe).
My time at the temple ended early--because I really had nothing left to do there--and I went to pick up my suitcase in the Hostel and I headed out to Tokyo Station to get one last look of the city before heading out. I dropped my suitcase off in a box (500円） and hoofed it south toward lights. Little did I know that the lights were in fact Ginza, one of the biggest, brightest sections of Tokyo. I was able to walk all the way down there and look around once before realizing that everything was so hella expensive that I couldn't really buy let alone look at anything without feeling like a homeless beggar. So with 3 hours to go before my bus departed i headed back to a place that I saw earlier when I had come to look for bus tickets: An Irish Pub.
You read that correctly, and Irish pub. That is of course after I picked up a Newsweek magazine at the local Conbini (Convenience Store). It really didn't help much that the magazine was entirely in Japanese, but I tried my best to read it while babying a Guinness in the Pub. Some peeps approached me on the street before the pub too, they were way lost! They asked me if I knew where the station was...yeah they were about a block away from it....so...not so lost...compared to me. I watched futball and talked to an Englishman for bit in that bar. The really weird things: The Englishman swore that I was an Irishman even after I had spoken to him; there was a box of chopsticks in the bar next to the Guinness tap. Finally 11:30 rolled around and I made my way out to the bus. Kathleen, Sydney, and I all talked loudly in the front of the top floor of the night bus until we felt that we had annoyed all of the quiet, sleeping Japanese enough to leave a bad impression of foreigners on them. A few hours later we awoke and were in Nagoya! Presto change-o.
So that ends my travels in Tokyo. Things I should do next time: Climb Mt.Fuji, see Tokyo tower. If I think of anything else that needs to go here then I will not waste time to post it! Thanks for listening, it took me long enough to tell the entire tale!
Updates random.
Por favor miren estas fotos. Escribo mas luego yo.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario