Tokyo

So Japan was a welcome change after the insanity of Hanoi. It was strange to think of Tokyo even as quiet and empty. Of course this was only certain parts, and I found the hoards of people later, but refreshing none the less. And the craziest part, especially after Vietnam where motorbikes are coming at you all the time from every direction, is that in Japan, you don't ever cross the street until the green man in the crosswalk sign says its ok. No cars coming for miles and everyone still waits. Amazing.

There is something I love about exploring a city on my own. Wandering the streets, going wherever I choose, discovering new things that I let myself believe no one else in history has ever seen. But it gets boring when there is no one to tell what you've found. In Tokyo I had the best of both worlds. I was lucky enough to stay with a couple I knew from the Merrill office in London who moved to Tokyo 18 months ago. Cliona met me when I got off the bus from the airport, we dropped off my things at the flat, she gave me a tour book, a quick orientation (with important facts like my ATM card would only work at citibank), and then left me at a Starbucks to plan my day while she went into work.

I spent the day sightseeing - visited the Imperial Palace, though you can only walk around the grounds, it is a park about the same size as Central Park. Conveniently enough, due to no planning on my part, my visit to Japan coincided with the cherry blossom season. It was beautiful, cherry blossoms everywhere, and apparently they only last about a week, so really my timing was perfect.

Outside the Imperial Palace

I then headed to a viewing deck on the 43rd floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan building, disappointed that the sun had disappeared and I couldn't see to Mount Fuji.After being lost and wandering in circles for a few hours, I gave up on the idea of a traditional lunch and went into Subway (filled with Japanese people, but I ordered the same Subway club I do everywhere.) I finally made my way to Shinjuku, where I found all the people. And all the electronics. Phones and camera galore. I found what I thought was my camera, only a few months old, but it was one at least a few models ahead. But I didn't buy anything.

One of my favorite findings was the Krispy Kreme donut shop - there was a massive line in front, and another along the side. I sat and watched for a bit trying to figure out why so many people would stand in line for a donut - they were getting a free one in line (which was tempting), but then all coming out with dozens. I found out later that apparently Krispy Kreme is new in Tokyo, and is like that all the time, the Japanese are willing to wait as long as it takes to have one of whatever is the newest trend.

Had dinner that night with Cliona, after her long day of work and my long day of being lost. We went to a great, tiny local Yakatori place and ordered an assortment of skewers - chicken, meat, veggie. Dessert was brought for free, very odd bean thing, that didn't taste bad, but had the texture of baked beans. Then we went into Don Quijote, a huge 6 or 7 floor store with the strangest assortment of items - a big discount store really, but with a lot of uniquely Japanese things.

Friday I stopped at a bakery and picked up a few things for breakfast. No English signs, so just had to guess what would be good - they were ok, but the one I thought was cheese, was actually some sort of mixture with corn and another had some sort of meat filling. I walked through Ginza, checking out the expensive boutique stores (windows) and watching everyone on their lunch hour in the park. I took a tour of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which was interesting. I visited a temple where couples come to pray for children. There were lots of parents bringing their babies back for pictures in front of the temple. Tokyo Stock Exchange

I then went to Shibuya, and had to take back what I was thinking about the quiet, empty streets of Tokyo. It is a major crossing, where you can cross in every direction, including diagonal at the same time (like at Villanova, just about 1000x the number of people!)

Shibuya is a popular place for teenagers, and it was great people watching, especially for the clothes the girls were wearing. I took the escalators up to the 8th floor of one of the big shopping malls, taking it all in as I went up. I decided to be brave and ordered just by pointing to the picture on the menu. It worked, it was good, but I didn't find out until after I ordered that I was actually in a Korean restaurant. Not a bad thing, but I was trying to get local Japanese food!

On my way back to the flat, walked to Omotesando, another shopping district, though very different to Shibuya. Went into Kiddy Land, another huge 6 story shop with all sorts of fun Japanese things - any sort of accessory for your mobile, your dog, etc.

That night we went back to Shibuya to see it at night with all the lights. The journey took about one tenth of the time with someone who knew where she was going.

Saturday I finally accepted that I needed to figure out where I would spend my last 2 weeks, now that the Trans-Mongolian is not happening. I had been waiting to see what I felt like doing at the time and trying not to have everything too planned out. But I was worried about arriving in China without a ticket to prove I was leaving again. I emailed my travel agent with my new plan, he assured me it would be easy, and then I spent 2 hours in the Japan Airlines office trying to make the changes. After the 3 staff who were trying to come up with something deliberated for an hour, they informed me that there decision is that I should just keep my itinerary as it is and fly out of St Petersburg on the 26th of April. Of course, that is not an option as Russia won't have me, so it was back to the drawing board again...or literally the map. I started just pointing to places in Asia that looked like there were One World Alliance flights from that went to Europe and asking where it was and if I could go there. Not a lot of luck - I had two problems, one not being able to go over the total mileage allowed on my ticket (so couldn't fly via Hong Kong) and being on a low seating class that was all booked on flights for weeks.

In the end, I left with no plan and spent a few hours on the computer myself trying to come up with something. See, its not all so easy not working and traveling! Still no luck, and on Sunday I went back and after another 2 hours, had a flight Beijing, via Helsinki. Since the plane was going there anyway, I decided I´d stay for 2 nights.

After my hours with the airlines, I met Ruairi and Cliona in Asakusa, where it seemed like everyone in Tokyo had gathered to enjoy the cherry blossoms - people were everywhere, set up for the day with elaborate picnics.

Picnics in the park...and the man wearing his mask

Lots of interesting food options, I did not try one!

In front of the temple at Asakusa

We had lunch at a ramen shop, ordered by pressing the button and putting money into a vending machine (after the girl managed to translate what we wanted).

Ruairi looking suitably confused trying to order from the machine

Enjoying my ramen

We then walked through a massive electronics store, literally anything you wanted they had thousands - pianos were the most random item, I thought. But the place was packed with people. Apparently I was there a day early, because Sunday it is even crazier, with the sales people jumping out at you to make you buy and all the teenagers dressed in costumes.

Saturday night we went out in Roppongi to some cute tiny bars and had dinner at an izakaya style, bar that serves food.

Trying sake...of course

Sunday morning laying in bed I felt everything move, I didn't believe it, but it really was an earthquake! That afternoon we headed for a not-so-Japanese meal at a Hawaiian hamburger restaurant, that was packed with Japanese! And then after my 2 hours at the airlines office, I got on the Shinkansen, better known at home as the bullet train, that goes up to 300km per hour. It was a quick 2 hour trip to Kyoto, now dark, so I didn't get to see anything. I was surprised when I walked into the smoking carriage-surprised there is still such a thing on the train.