March 26, 2009

  • Trip to Japan

    Japan is very nice. I spent most of my time in Tokyo. Its a lot like NYC but the people are far more respectful, quiet and less rude. I especially loved and felt at home in Harajuku. Of course because it was mainly mixed and loud, filled with young vibrant people. I loved the fashion and the crepes there. Kawaii and Oishii!

    I didn't get to speak that much Japanese because a lot of people were trying to speak to us in English when it came to directions and food ordering. The worse was getting around. The maps were so confusing. Almost every time we went out on our own we were lost. The maps on the streets with the "You are here" sign didn't help much. We've read guide books  that stated Japan is notorious with having unlabeled streets and their streets are zigzagged to make this more confusing. Some feudal defense construction to confuse their enemies once a upon a time. Odd sort of street construction. Building aren't  even numbered and if they are they aren't numbered in order. There were a few really sweet people who wished to help us find our way. But there's an off chance they don't know the direction either and they just don't want to tell you no. So they'll stand with you and look in whatever direction they think your location is and then look at you and nod and smile. >__>

    I was there for a week, 8 days (1 day of travel time, so 7 days on land). I hated the plane ride over and returning. My back was killing me on the flight over. 13.5 hrs. Crazy! @_@ The air is soo recycled. And the babies! NO! NOT THE BABIES! They cry and run up and down. They had loads of movies. Most of which I've seen already. Only 4 that I haven't seen: Slumdog Millonaire, Four Christmases, Suspect X and the Day the Earth Stood Still. Btw, AA offered the same movie selections on the flight back. (Indeed, I was bored.) Then on the flight back, due to the FedEx plane crashing at Narita airport the same morning in which I was to leave, our plane was re-routed to Chicago then on to JFK. (Of course, the airport/airline, AA screwed up and told us LaGuardia, then changed it once we left Chicago. AA BAKA!) I was lucky that I had an evening flight and not morning. A lot of earlier flights were canceled. I went with three girl friends. Just for vacation. We stayed in a 3 bedroom hotel at the Sakura Tower Prince Hotel - Tokyo.

    We signed up for two official tours provided by Expedia.com. The Mount Fuji & Hakone tour and the Symphonic Tour. The Mt. Fuji tour took us up to step 4 out of 5 steps of the mountain (5 being the highest). They had to call every 20 minutes to make sure the weather was good. It was a bus trip, so no hiking. We went to a nearby hotel that had a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji and had a traditional Japanese lunch. Afterward, we went on a cable car ride up more mountains and took pictures of a natural mountain side hot spring. Drove down the windy trail for a boat ride to the Hakone Onsen hotel where some people got off. We did the cable car first because our tour guide, Harry, felt that it may be too windy at some point and the cable car company may shut down. In which they did, right after the last few cable cars arrived. My group and I continued back to Tokyo on bus and got off at Ginza, where the tour ended and we had dinner.

    The other tour, the Symphonic Tour, consisted of going around Tokyo, and getting culture and history. We went to Odaiba, which is Japan's man-made island. The Japanese gov’t took their recycled garbage, burned and processed it to produce land connecting to the rest of Tokyo. Much like Staten Island. :3 A lot of the land is connected by bridges. There we went to a Feudal Edo Era Museum. It was pretty nice to see replicas of Japan from long ago. We took loads of pictures. We were able to sit down in an old home, after taking off our shoes from dirtying the tatami mat and take pictures, while touching the replica relics they had decorating the home. Then we drove around Tokyo station, a building built by a Japanese architect who studied in England, so it looks much like an English station. Then we walked around the moat of the Imperial Palace where it is only is opened to the public twice a year for holidays: New Year's and the Emperor's Birthday. Then we drove under the train rails of the fully automated train line, where it is the only non-person operated train. (We took that train later to Tokyo Big Sight (convention center) for the Tokyo International Anime Fair on Saturday, March 21st.) And we arrived at the Symphonic boat tour. There we boarded the Symphonic Moderna cruise boat for a 2 hour trip on the Sumida River that travels around Odaiba. We took pictures of the Rainbow Bridge Tokyo, Palette town (home of the big Ferris wheel and a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty, also Ash Ketchem from Pokemon :3, in Japanese his name is Satoshi). We were given lunch on the cruise ship, a buffet of Japanese Western-style food. And then back on the bus to Asakusa for a visit at the famous Buddist temple: Sensoji. We did a fortune-telling and then back to the bus terminal, Hamamatsucho (end of tour) where we walked to Tokyo Tower and went all the way to the main observatory to view Tokyo from North, South, East, West at night. Very pretty. We ate and shopped in Tokyo Tower and back to the hotel to pass out.

    *New Content 04/07/09:
    I explained the paid guided tours. Now I have to explain the self-guided tours. We went to Tokyo Station (on the JR Yamanote Line), the first Monday we arrived. There we walked around looking for the Imperial Palace. I was able to find a man using a blackberry, which to me translated that he knew English. And as fortune would have it, he did! Very good speaking English. He told us that most of the Imperial Palace was off limits this time of year. It is only open twice a year on two holidays: the Emperor's Birthday and New Year's. However, he said that we should be able to walk around the moat, see the fountain that was built as the Emperor's engagement present and walk around the outer gardens. He said that we would be able to get a better view of the gardens from the Marunouchi Building on the 15-16 restaurant floors. After thanking him (no, we did not bow), we went the building first to get the broad view of the palace. However, it was too early, the floors weren't open until 11 a.m. So we went to the Imperial grounds first. There, we walked around the moat. Found our first traditional-style bathroom, where we didn't not use. But we didn't get to take pictures of some of the guard houses. The "garden" was just a wide open paved space. A lot of trees, hills to walk up and we saw our first sakura tree starting to bloom. There was a fort that was attacked and was never rebuilt. Mostly the entire palace is built like a maze, just like the streets are. We walked to the fountain. Very pretty. Back to the     Marunouchi building, but we found that the view wasn't that great. We believe the best view of the grounds, you would have to eat in the restuarants. Afterwards, we went back to the station and off on our favorite tourist train loop: JR Yamanote, to Shinjuku.
     

    Japan '09 Photos