Tokyo

Upon arriving in Tokyo, I took the train to the Tokyo International Youth Hostel in the Iidabashi area of Tokyo. My good friend, Fumi, made some excellent directions so it wasn't hard to get there.

After checking in, I went for a walk in the busy Iidabashi area. After a couple of hours of walking with no plan, I found myself thoroughly, 100% lost - that's L-O-S-T - lost. It was 9:30 PM and the hostel closed its doors at 10:30 PM. Yikes! I asked for directions and the guy said I was a long, complicated way away. Finally, I gave in and got in a cab. The driver had never heard of the hostel and didn't seem to know the station it was near, either. He did get me closer. Anyway, through some help and luck, I made it back.

The hostel is on the 18th and 19th floors of an office building. As I looked down at the people driving, my initial thought was that about half the drivers appeared to be drunk. They seemed to swerve around on the road. Actually, it is quite difficult to get a driver's license in Japan. I think my observations were due to the unusual perspective I had, looking down on the street.

Friday was Keiko Day. Keiko is a good friend of Fumi. She sings both jazz and classical. She has a strong interest in Ute Lemper, a German jazz / pop singer (see the link at the bottom). Right now, she works at a bank signing people up for credit accounts. She frequently goes to England to visit and help a good friend, who lives there. Thus, she speaks excellent English.

We met at the Shinjuku station. First, we got lunch at an okonomiyaki restaurant in the station. Prior to my visit to Tokyo, I had only talked to Keiko briefly on the phone. Lunch provided a nice chance to talk and get better acquainted.

Okonomiyaki is one of the many great Japanese foods I discovered in Japan that I had never even heard of in the United States. They take some batter (like pancake batter, sort of) and drop it on a grill that is right in front of you. Then they cover it with shredded cabbage and stuff. Then, they add seafood, an egg, katsu, and a bunch of sauce. They cook it on both sides. You eat it right from the grill in front of you. It's one of the most filling Japanese foods I had. See the link below for illustrated directions on how to make it.

Like everyone else in Japan, Keiko has a cell phone with a built-in digital camera and email functionality. As we were eating, she got an email from Fumi asking how things were going. She replied to the email and sent Fumi a photograph of us eating. Wow!

Here is Keiko at the okonomiyaki restaurant.

After okonomiyaki, Keiko took me on a tour of other parts of the Shinjuku area. We went to the basement of a department store where there is a huge selection of good, inexpensive food. It's a little like a food court in a mall, but more substantial. There is a small grocery store, among other things. We also went to a ¥100 shop. (¥100 = US $0.87). After that, we went to Sakuraya, an electronics store. She helped me buy an electronic Japanese-English dictionary. It was a difficult choice and I was most grateful for her assistance.

We had a great time running around. Like all good times, the day passed quickly.

Here are some photos I took in Shinjuku.

Keiko also took some pictures of her own. This is her regular digital camera, not the cell phone.

I stayed the night again at the Tokyo International Youth Hostel.

Saturday was another day in Tokyo. I spent the whole day with a friend I met in Seatt.e, who asked not not be named here. I got to know her when she was studying at my university a few years ago. She speaks excellent English. She was a good friend of my conversation partner at the time.

First, we stopped for lunch. We had beef sukiyaki at a small shop in Shinjuku. Like Keiko and everyone else I met in Japan, she had a cell phone with a digital camera built in.

After lunch, we went to her office. It is in a fancy office building. We saw the biggest clock in the world in that building. At her office, we did research and found an inexpensive ryokan (Japanese-style inn) for me to stay the night.

We went to the ryokan and dropped my luggage.

The Ryokan Taito, like many older Japanese buildings, has low ceilings. This picture was taken inside the Ryokan Taito. Notice how the doorway is a good 5 inches too short for me.

From there, we saw the Sensoji temple in Asakusa. She taught me a little bit about the rituals of visiting of a temple. You wash your hands before you enter. You can waft incense onto yourself for healing or improvement.

Here I am at the Sensoji temple in Asakusa.

Later, she helped me return the electronic dictionary I had purchased the day before. It was made for Japanese people. I thought I could make do, but later I discovered there were some concrete reasons why it just couldn't work for me. Without her, I could have never explained the problem. In Japan, returns are a privilege. They are definitely not common the way they are in the United States.

For dinner, we headed for a small restaurant / bar in Shinjuku called "Sarada Ba" or "Salad Bar". It wasn't a salad bar at all. Don't be confused. The owner was a friend of my friend. We met up with Yoshimi, another friend of hers. This little bar was very intimate and informal. The owner, Yoshiaki, was the only person working, but when things got busy, my friends would help. Yoshimi works there from time to time. Yoshimi also speaks excellent English. I tried to speak Japanese as much as possible, but it was nice to be able to speak English for more complicated things.

Dinner at the Salad Bar was quite a feast. Yoshiaki is a talented chef and we were the grateful beneficiaries. We had many delicious Japanese foods, so I made a list of everything we ate.

• beer
• tamagoyaki
• shochu (Japanese rice wine)
• homemade tofu (more like a tofu pudding)
• gyoza
• suigyoza (boiled gyoza, similar to ravioli)
• potato salad
• katsuo no tataki (minced bonito)
• sake
• sashimi
• katsuo (bonito)

We had plenty to drink. We left around 11:00 PM, just in time to catch one of the last trains home. They stop at midnight there. Shinjuku station was jam packed with young, drunk people doing the same. It was funny to see.

Wednesday was Kazuko Day. Kazuko is Fumi's mother. She lives in Yokohama, but we spent all of our time in Tokyo (nearby). She works as an in-house accountant at a company. I've heard she is an accomplished pianist, but I didn't get a chance to hear her play. We talked on the phone before I went to Japan, but this was the first time we met. She speaks decent English - probably better than my Japanese - but not as well as the other friends I saw in Tokyo.

First, we went to a local cafe at Yoyogi and had a sashimi teishoku (set meal).

Next, we went to Meiji Jingu (shrine) and the beautiful garden that is around it. Our walk was relaxing and gave us a nice chance to talk and get to know each other in the process.

Here is a photo of Kazuko at the garden. I like this one a lot.

Below that is a photo of Kazkuko at the shrine which is part of the garden.

After that, we met Takako, a good friend of Kazuko. Takako stayed with us the rest of the day. Kazuko and Takako used to work together. Takako speaks excellent English and she's really funny. She was constantly making jokes or teasing us. Also, her Japanese is very distinctive.

With Takako in hand, we all went to the Edo Tokyo Museum. We saw many relics from the Edo period in Tokyo. It was an elaborate museum with some innovative exhibits. For example, they had a huge model of a portion of Tokyo. The model was below the floor, which was made of glass. This way, you could walk above the city. There were moving parts and a person narrating the whole thing. The Edo Tokyo Museum also lets you touch many exhibits.

Here are a few photos I took inside the museum. The first one shows Takako posing with some statues of geishas. The second one is Kazuko and Takako in a carriage together. Third, Kazuko and I are posing with the geishas again. Fourth, I am inside a palanquin, a thing for carrying important people. The last one is Kazuko inside the same palanquin.

After the museum, we did some shopping. They helped me buy a digital camera at Sakuraya. There was a complicated system with a point card. Without their help, I never could have figured it out. My Japanese is not good enough for negotiating complicated sales arrangements.

For my last night in Japan, Kazuko treated me to a night in a fine hotel called "Tokyu". It was a treat to go in and fall asleep quietly and wake up on my own. It was the best night sleep of the trip, for sure. Before dinner, we stopped by the hotel and dropped off my luggage.

For dinner, we went out to a fantastic sushi restaurant. We met up with Mr. Takatsuji and Yu. Mr. Takatsuji is a good friend of the family, something like an uncle. Yu is Fumi's brother and Kazuko's son. It was nice to sit and talk and get to know Fumi's family a bit.

I challenged them to find something I had never had before. Since this was the end of my trip, this was a difficult task. The sushi was outstanding. This was definitely an extra special restaurant. Here is the menu of what we had. Kazuko kindly wrote this out for me.

• maguro (tuna)
• akagai (red clam)
• awabi (abalone)
• hotate (scallops)
• anago (conger eel)
• iwashi (sardine)
• saba (mackerel)
• uni (sea urchin)
• ikura (salmon roe)
• mentaiko (cod)
• sake
• beer

As you see, we had quite a feast. I don't think I could pick favorites. Everything tasted fresh and satisfying. It was great.

Unfortunately, I left my camera at the museum, so I didn't get a chance to take any pictures at dinner.

Alas, the last day of my trip came. I was not happy about it. I would have much preferred to stay in Japan for a few more weeks.

I had three goals for the last day. Find the "famous vending machine" (more on this later), buy some souvenirs, and catch the airplane.

I set out for Ueno to find the "famous vending machine". In the United States, I had heard from many people that in Japan you can buy a pair of used schoolgirl underwear in a vending machine. I wanted to see the machine for myself and take a picture. I had looked in Osaka, but I was unsuccessful. In Tokyo, I gave it another shot. I went inside a pornography shop in Ueno and asked the guy. He immediately pulled out a basket full of used underwear. Weird. I told him I didn't want to buy it, I just wanted a photograph with the vending machine. Now, he thought I was weird. He pulled out a piece of paper and drew me a map of all the pornography shops in the area and told me which ones might have such a vending machine. Weird. (At the airport, I pulled out this paper again at the security check and discovered it had pornography on the other side.)

I went out looking and eventually found something a tiny bit weirder than what I was looking for. It was a game where you put in some money and then you try to use a little crane to pick up a plastic ball containing a pair of used panties.

So, here are my hard-earned photographs!

Next, I had to go buy a bunch of souvenirs. So far, I had bought almost no souvenirs, because of the weight. I went to Asakusa, an area in Tokyo. I wanted to go to the market near the Sensoji temple. When I got to the station, I was in a hurry and I didn't remember how to get to the market. I met Hideo, who was going to the same place. We exchanged contact information. (We have already exchanged some emails.) It's amazing how many friends I made in Japan.

I went to Asakusa, bought some souvenirs. Then, I went to a nearby grocery store in the basement of a department store. I bought about ¥13100 (US $114) worth of Japanese food to give to people back home.

At last, I had to leave. My flight was at 3:20 PM. I thought it would take between 30 and 60 minutes to get to the airport. I left at 12:30 PM. It took a lot longer. I got to the airport at 2:30. When I got to the airline check-in desk at 2:35 PM, they said I was out of luck. Apparently, they close the flight an hour before departure time. At first, they wanted me to pay $1634 for a new ticket. Later, they discovered my ticket had a change option. So, I paid $150 and got on a flight via San Francisco at 3:50 PM. (Note to self: Allow 3 hours to get to the airport next time.) It cost me a whopping $150, but I guess I was lucky it wasn't worse.

Here is a picture of people hurrying through Ueno station.