1) For an urban city with almost 35 million people in, the streets of Tokyo are spotless. There is almost no trash anywhere; everything was so clean!
2) In Japan they drive on the wrong side of the road, but we quickly learned those rules also apply to the sidewalk. On many of the streets there is literally a line drawn evenly down the sidewalk to separate the flow of people moving in either direction. We were constantly running into people because it was our second nature to walk on the right side instead of the left.
3) The fashion in Tokyo is unbelievable. The women are all so stylish and dress to the tee. I don’t think I saw a single woman in sweats or a ball cap. One of my favorite trends was how all the women wear tights with jean shorts and scrunchy boots. I am for sure bringing that back to the US. Best of all though was the men. I have never seen guys take such an interest in their appearance. Japanese men blow dry/style their hair everyday and they all carry the infamous “man purse” and wear these tight, tailored, designer suits. As we walked along there was equal number of women’s clothing stores as there was men.
4) Silence. In fact, when we got off in Yokohama if I didn’t see people I would have thought no one was there. On the trains it is quite, in restaurants people speak softy, and never do you see someone talking loud on their cell phone like in America. There is even an entire subway cart that is suppose to be totally silent.
5)Masks. As you walk down the street, or ride the subway, you see at least 10 people wearing surgical masks. We learned it is because they are sick and don’t want to spread their virus to anyone else when they are out and about in the crowded streets of Japan. Is that not just collectivism at its finest?
After our exploration we headed back to the hotel to meet Chris for dinner. Chris is a friend of Emily’s from her hometown in Oregon. Chris spent a year abroad in Japan and loved it so much he decided to stay and live there. He loves Tokyo and as a blonde hair, blue eyed American who speaks Japanese, the Japanese love him back. When Chris arrived he apologized for being late, he said there was another suicide jumper on his train. Apparently Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world, there is such a culture of honor here that if you do something to cause dishonor to your family you feel extreme guilt and shame. So from there we took the subway with Chris to a more “local” restaurant, which turned out to be in the mafia district. When we walked in there was a tiny area with only 4-5 tables and they were all full. We all began to turn around and leave to find another place when Chris pulled us back in. Turns out in Japan for space they build up not out. The restaurant was actually on four floors and we had to climb up the stairs to the other levels to find an open table. Also, I noticed Chris writing on a piece of paper tapped to the wall near the hostess stand before we went up. Evidently, in Japan since so many restaurants are built up like this, friends will write down what floor they are on so you don’t have to climb a bunch of stairs looking for them. How nice huh? Once we found an open table on floor four we walked in and sat down and immediately everyone was starring at us. It was kind of weird being on the other side and being the one who feels like a foreigner. Rather than translate the menu to all of us, Chris just spoke to the waitress in Japanese and ordered us a bunch of entrees to share. We had lots of tuna rolls, tempura, and noodle bowls; it was surprisingly good. But while I was eating, I finished my soda and wanted to ask the waitress for another one, but I realized she hadn’t even stopped by our table once to ask if we needed anything. I was slightly annoyed so I asked Chris if he could wave her down, he just laughed and pressed the button on the center of our table and within seconds the waitress came running over and asked what we needed. I came to learn these magic “buttons” were at almost every restaurant. It was kind of nice just ringing for your server when you needed her and if you didn’t then you enjoyed your meal in peace. However, the “buttons” weren’t the only technologically savvy thing at the restaurants. All the waitresses had these electronic pads that looked like a palm pilot and they would tape in your order on them right there so they didn’t have to go to the back and punch your order in on a computer. Cool huh?
After dinner some of Chris’ friends came to meet up with us and we all took cabs to Ripongi where the nightlife and clubs are. In Japan the drinking age is 20, so I was happy to finally be legal! In the clubs they played American music and a little bit of JPop, which sounds identical to our pop music but obviously in Japanese. We had so much fun and actually ran into a lot of other Semester at Sea kids. It must have been those 11 days at sea that had us stir crazy because we ended up staying out until 4:30 a.m. In the cab going home we all decided we weren’t that tired, so we had the cabbie take us straight to the fish market which opened at 5:00 a.m. The fish market was one of the most incredible sights of the entire trip. I can’t even begin to describe the chaotic and packed market. There were hundreds of narrow rows of different fish, some cut up, some still alive, and some without heads and tails. Everyone was moving so fast and there were these tiny little forklifts whipping around to deliver boxes and boxes of more fish to different stations. Also the groud is all wet so every wears rubber boot and warm jackets because the stations are all covered in ice. We learned that Tokyo has one of the largest fish markets in the world and it is on a lot of top 100 things to see before you die lists.
After the fish market we ate breakfast, which consisted of a lot of coffee and energy drinks, then headed back to the hotel to get changed because all of our clothes reeked of fish. We met up with Chris again around 10:00 a.m. for our Tokyo tour. The streets of Tokyo look like an adult Disneyland, every sign is lit up and very colorful and since many places are on upper levels the signs go all the way up the buildings. We didn’t make it long on our walk before we needed lunch so Chris took us to his favorite Raman noodle restaurant. The eight of us (us four girls and four other boys form the ship we were traveling with) filled the entire restaurant and to order you inserted money into a vending machine like thing and pressed the meal you wanted. It was the most amazing Raman noodles I have ever had! Next we headed for the Japanese equivalency of the White House or rather the U.S. Senate. Again in Japanese fashion, the building was extremely tall and had over 150 floors. The elevator to the top literally took us a whole 2 minutes, but the view at the top was incredible! Sadly it happen to be a very cold and cloudy that day so we couldn’t see as far as you normally could but still it was amazing to see just how dense, crowed, and large Tokyo really was. Following that we walked through Tokyo’s version of Central Park which I am sure would have been more beautiful in the Spring with all the Cherry Blossoms but none the less we enjoyed it. Then came my favorite, most anticipated part, Harajuku district. If any of you are Gwen Stafani fans you know this is the place where she got the inspiration for her hugely popular clothing line. It is also the place where you will see some of the wildest Japanese fashion. It is this long narrow alley with endless shops that goes on for 2-3 miles. I wanted to walk in every store but the boys we were with pushed me along. I could have shopped there for days. In total we covered almost 6 miles of Tokyo that day.
That night we got dressed up and decided to head to the Park Hyatt for drinks. The Park Hyatt hotel is one of the top 10 hotels in the world and if you saw the movie Lost in Translation, it is the hotel Bill Murray stays in it. The bar was on the top floor and had an incredible view of city below. Deciding that a drink was about all we could afford there, we headed to Shibuya for dinner. We got to eat with some of Chris’ Japanese friends. We asked them endless questions about growing up in Japan. They told us for fun in Japan everyone goes to Karoke bars or bowling, in fact, both are prime date places. Later, we met up with other friends from the boat and hung out at an Irish pub near our hotel. Finally feeling exhausted we headed back to our hotel for a few hours of sleep.
At 6:15 a.m. the following day we were off to our next city, Kyoto, on the bullet train. It only took us two hours to get there, but my head was glued to the window taking in the unique and incredible Japanese landscape along the way. Kyoto is the religious city of temples and shrines and is so different from the concrete jungle of Tokyo. Our whole trip, Suzie had been talking about how she found us this incredible, traditional Japanese Inn to stay at. Still nothing could have prepared us for the Three Little Sisters Inn. We were greeted by an older Japanese women dressed in a kimono who asked us to take off our shoes outside before entering. As she explained prices and the set-up of the place she informed us there was a strict 10:00 p.m. curfew for guests. Already weary, we accepted the lady’s offered to see one of the rooms. So we followed her down the hall where she opened a curtain and on the ground lay 4 MATS with tiny little pillows and a table only inches off the ground with small seat pillows all around it. When we asked where the bathroom was, she pointed down the hall to a room with an outdoor shower and a drain in the ground that was apparently the toilet. We used every Japanese word we knew to politely say thanks but no thanks and jumped in a cab for the nearest Western hotel. Deciding to splurge for a place with a comfy bed instead, we ended up staying with some other friends at the Westin Hotel.
After our eventful morning we met our guy friends for lunch at a restaurant recommended by the hotel. When we walked in there was a room for us to put our shoes in little cubbies and the hostess walked us back to our table. The restaurant ceilings were so low that our 6’4” football friend hit his head a few time making our way to the table. Turns out the tables were built into the floor and you placed your feet down below onto heated carpet. It’s hard to describe but I’ll post pictures. The food was so good, however we quickly learned we were the loudest people in there. The Japanese are so quite all the time, especially at meals. It is not uncommon to look around and see people just sitting in silence. That afternoon we took in the streets of Kyoto and headed to the shopping district. It is not difficult to see how Japan has the second largest economy in the world. We hit some Japanese department stores where we learned that the greatest part of shopping is no language barrier; it is truly a universal activity. That night our lack of sleep had finally caught up with us, so we had an early dinner in downtown Kyoto, 1 drink at the hotel bar, and then were in bed by 10:00 p.m. The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast at yet another little bakery and then it was off to the Golden Pavilion where we saw the most beautiful temple painted completely with gold. My words wouldn’t do it justice so I’ll just have to post some pictures. We took the tour all around the garden of the Golden Temple and snapped tons of pictures. The sights were just like what you see in movies of old Japanese times. We hit two more shrines/temples that afternoon and spent the whole day taking in Kyoto’s beautiful scenery. It began to rain so we decided it was time to pack up and head for Kobe, our last city.
We all but ran to the boat because we were so excited. When you go on these long trips and sleep somewhere different every night, the boat begins to feel like home. We dropped off our big heavy backpacks (I got teased mercilessly because mine looked like I was traveling for 6 weeks) and got ready to go to dinner in Kobe. Back on the boat we met up with some other SAS friends and headed into town with them. One of our friends, Lucas, is actually half Japanese and has been to Japan 12 times. He was so helpful and he helped find us a great restaurant to eat at. It was so cool to meet someone who has grown up between two very different cultures. Later that night we went out around Kobe and then came back to the ship. The next day we were so exhausted but we decided we couldn’t leave Kobe, Japan without having a Kobe steak. So us girls found an amazing restaurant for lunch in downtown and enjoyed the best piece of steak I have ever had!
Basically Japan was incredible and it gave me a completely new and different outlook on Asia. Our teacher said if you took half of the US population and pushed all of them into the state of California you would have Japan. It is so urban and crowed but so modern and rich in culture and tradition. Not to mention they still have managed to hang on to a lot of the island’s natural beauty. My trip there went by so fast and I was so sad to leave but back on the boat there has been endless buzz as everyone eagerly shares stories about their adventures. Now it is only two days until we dock in China for another 7 day trip. To say I am exhausted would be an understatement but sleep seems so unimportant when there is so much to see and do. Also I apologize for not only the length of this post, but probably for its grammar as well. As you can tell I have been a little sleep deprived and had to write this really quick. But Japan was amazing, I would go there again and again but more than anything it made me so excited to go see all the other countries on our voyage.
Here was the view form the top of the Tokyo capital- gives you an idea of how dense and large Tokyo really is.
At our "local" dinner with Chris and his friends in Tokyo
Tessa and I shopping in Tokyo
Walking around the fish market at 5:30 a.m.
Putting my shoes in a cubbie before going into the restaurant
Having drinks at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo (Lost in Translation)
Our favorite restaurant in Kyoto
Having lunch in Kyoto with some friends
Harajuku shopping district!
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