I left for Japan on October 21st with my friend Charles, bright-eyed and bushy tailed (not really) and eager to set foot in the land of the rising sun (that parts true). After a long (12 hours) but thankfully uneventful flight, we arrived at Narita Airport in the afternoon on Monday the 22nd to start our 2 weeks of adventure. Thanks to sleeping most of the flight, I was energized and ready to tackle Japan! That wouldn't last long, however, as jet-leg would kick my butt, but I'll get to that.
Charles has a wonderful friend named Yoko who works as an Air Traffic Controller at the airport, and she met up with us when we arrived and helped point us in the right direction so that we could catch the right train out of the airport to get where we were staying. Narita Airport is huge, and I was incredibly greatful that Yoko met with us to help us out. After getting our Japan Rail passes and purchasing a Tokyo Metro Pass we temporarily said bye to Yoko and got on a train bound for Asakusa, were we had a room booked at the Tokyo Smile Hostel. An hour or so later we arrived at the hostel, checked in with Masa, the cool dude who ran the place, and then set out for something to eat. My first true taste of Japan! The area around the hostel is busy, as Asakusa is home to several Temples, a thriving business district, and is also the home of one of Asahi Breweries office building. That's one of the most recognizable buildings in the area, as it has what looks like a giant golden turd mounted to the roof of the building. It's quite funny to see! Anyways, we left the hostel and headed back towards the subway entrances and over the where several restaurants and shops we located. Japan has a lot of tall buildings, as space is an issue, so everything is built "up" instead of out. And it's bright, with lots of colorful signage everywhere. It to is quite the site to see. After wondering around for a bit, Charles recommended we go for some gyudon (rice bowl meal), and what a great suggestion it was! I love GYUDON!!! It was the first of many Japanese dishes I had that I instantly liked. It's so good; rice with pan fried beef, covered in a delicious sauce, much like teriyake sauce. And it's cheap too, only 600 yen, or a little over $5. Awesome stuff!
Now this is where the jet lag kicked in. After we wondered around the area for a bit and checked out the Kaminarimon Shrine, one of the bigger shrines in Asakusa , I was starting to feel the toll the flight had on me and we headed back to the hostel. I was out cold in no time, getting rest for the next 4 days of Tokyo sight-seeing that lay ahead of us. So after a good nights sleep and a quick email check on the free computers the hostel offered, Charles and I set off for our first full day of touring Tokyo. This is also when I first encountered cara age, which became my overall favorite food in Japan. Something I never knew until we got there is that Japan has a lot of stores that we have here in North America, just with a Japanese twist. They have MacDonald's, Subway, KFC, Denny's, and 7/11 just to name a few, and all have a similar look to their NA counterparts, and even some of the same items, but mostly contain items which are anything but! Thankfully though, amongst some very weird but apparently appetizing (at least to the Japanese) delights there is food that a skeptical Canadian such as myself can enjoy. And cara age is definitely one of those things! For 120 yen, you get a kabob with 3 pieces of the tastiest little chicken bites I've even had! The flavor reminded me of honey-garlic chicken wings, without the bone. Sooooo good. But enough about that.
On this day Charles decided to take me to Akihabara, the nerd-geek-tech capital of Tokyo, and man was I stoked! I had read about Akihabara in one of my EGM gaming mags and knew a bit of what the area had to offer, and also knew that this may in fact be an expensive first day in Japan. And although I refrained from blowing a ton of cash, I still spent a bit. But it wasn't so much of what I bought, but what I seen in Akihabara that made it one of the big highlights of the trip and one of my favorite places to visit. This district is famous for having large gaming complexes, a multitude of comic and toy collectible stores, several adult store, and a 6 level technology based store called Yotoboshi Camera, which could best be described as a Best Buy store, only twice the size and 6 levels tall. Anything and everything geek can be found here, and it was very difficult to not drop a shit load of cash in this place. But quite possibly the weirdest of all attractions in Akihabara is their Maid Cafes. These are literally cafes where cute Japanese girls, dressed like maids, serve you your food and offer dining companionship to their clientèle. It quite strange to see, and although intriguing on a base level, I made the decision not to go into any, but to stare somewhat dumbfounded from a distance. From there Charles and I did some more shopping, played some video games, and decided to take a quick trip over to the Imperial Palace before dark to get some pictures. Unfortunately we got there just as the sun was setting and took some dusk pictures of the Palace, as well as some nice shots of downtown Tokyo as it lit up for the evening. Although we missed out on the Palace this day, we would get the opportunity later in the week to see it. Overall, day 1 was quite a fun experience with tons to see and do, and lots of stuff to take in. And although a vast majority of people are not bi-lingual, I didn't find it too difficult to communicate and get around. It also helps that Charles has a good command of Japanese, as well as a decent knowledge of Tokyo.
After getting back to the hostel and grabbing a bite to eat, Charles and I called it a day and decided to get some rest for another busy day. For on day 2, my inner child was allowed to come out and play, as we were off to Tokyo Disneyland! And what a blast that was!!! It's has a very similar layout to the Disneyland in California, only everything is Japanese! From the ride announcements to the food served, this was the first true day of culture shock for me. I think it's because we went to a place that is familiar to me, as I've been to Disneyland before. But never like this! Charles and I went on several rides, had a great curry meal in one of the many food halls at the park, took a ton of pictures, and did a bit of shopping. It was awesome, but truly made me realize for the first time that I was actually in Japan!
Well that's it for now. Part 2 will be up in a couple of days. Take care all.
