It's All Part of the Japlan
Trip Start
Aug 28, 2009
1
11
13
Trip End
Dec 16, 2009
Tokyo, Kanto, Japan
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Weeks before ever setting foot on Japanese soil, my friends and I set about making our “Japlan,” as we fondly called it. We would typically sit around in Gio and Steven’s room to do this, and everyone would have either a laptop open to Wikitravel or a hostel booking website, or would be flipping through the pages of a Japan guidebook loaned out from the library. This, however, was about as far as our Japlanning ever got, and the night before our arrival in Yokohama we were still pow-wowing about what on earth we would do during our 5 days loose in Japan. The few parts of the Japlan that we did have were Japan Rail passes, one night booked in a hostel in Tokyo, and huge ambitions to see everything we possibly could in those 5 days. So, with that in mind, I packed anything I might need during those 5 days into my backpack, and was ready to be a nomad.
Just as in China, the Japanese health department needed all our temperatures before arriving, so we did that the night before. Upon our arrival at the port of Yokohama, they had an immigration station set up that everyone had to pass through to take our fingerprints and photos, and to x-ray all our bags before entering the country. Getting the 500+ people on the ship through that took quite a bit of time, but once we were through we set off to begin our Japlan. Morale was high, ambitions were high, money’s been low for a few countries now, but our worries were zero, so we were off to a great start. First stop, the Yokohama subway station; our mission was to get to Tokyo.
Before boarding a train, however, we had to trade in our Rail Pass vouchers, which we purchased in China, for actual Rail Passes, so we spent nearly an hour in a travel agency at the subway station waiting in line, filling out forms, and then finally getting our Rail Passes. Then, it was on to Tokyo. This was our first experience (of many) riding the Shinkansen bullet train, and my, was it speedy! In no time at all we were pulling into Tokyo station, and from there all we had to do was find the right subway line to our hostel. Easy… right? Well, perhaps that would be easy if you read Japanese. We meandered around the massive underground station for a while, going to the different levels, consulting various maps, asking passers-by for directions, until finally we settled on a line that looked promising, and thankfully we arrived just a few blocks from our hostel – the Khaosan Tokyo Ninja Hostel (awesome).
We checked our shoes at the door (and exchanged them for slippers) and checked into the hostel. All 8 of us traveling together were in the same room, which probably slept 20 people total . This was no ordinary room full of beds, however. It was a strange combination of Japanese capsule-style beds and bunk-beds, but was entirely made out of wood. Each capsule bed had a sliding door on it, so we eagerly unlocked our capsules (to test them out of course) and dropped our stuff of before striking back out into the city. If I were to metaphorically summarize these sleeping quarters to you, I would say that in our beds we looked like puppies in a pet shop – all stacked up, lined up, jabbering away excitedly as we peeked out of our cubbies. Also, the communal bathroom on our floor was a most pleasurable experience, as it had those fancy futuristic Japanese toilets – the heated seats are delightful.
By mid-afternoon we left the hostel in search of food and fun. It took us a while to find some food, but truly the fun never left. We hopped back on the subway line and headed up to the Shibuya district (Shi-BOOYA, as we like to call it), and were instantly impressed by the illuminated and animated buildings that towered around us. Seeing how it was around 4 in the afternoon, we had to settle for a Japanese fast food establishment to rein in our hunger, but the meal was delicious nonetheless. After eating, we did some more wandering around Shibuya, and found ourselves in a very modern part of town where all the young hipsters hang out. The styles there were outrageous: girls in Hello Kitty/Gothic outfits, men with purses (girly purses mind you) and pointy shoes, and craaazy hairstyles! And would you believe it, the guys’ hair was even crazier than the girls'! Curled, straightened, pouffed, dyed... Is it hairspray? Is it gel? Who knows! Anyway, it got very dark very early there, but the lights on all the buildings lit the area abundantly. We thought it had to be really late at night, as it was so dark, but then realized it was only 4:45 in the afternoon! Very strange. We searched around for a store called “Don Quixote,” which supposedly had everything imaginable for just 100 Yen (roughly $1) or so. We asked a handful of locals and none of them knew what we were talking about, until finally one guy understood and he said, “Oooooh, you mean Don Quixote!” just pronouncing it slightly differently, and then he pointed to the building right across the street from us. Once again, if only we read Japanese! Inside the Don Quixote store was everything you could ever imagine, and even some things you can’t imagine, all stacked on top of each other in a multi-level superstore. Costumes, food, electronics, humidifiers, comic books, Asian-face masks (that was an interesting find), bouncy balls, etc. Take Wal-Mart, combine it with Spencer’s, throw in a Walgreens, and cram it into a 5 story studio apartment complex, and you might have a better understanding of Don Quixote… maybe.
After we dragged ourselves out of Don Quixote, we took a subway a few stops over to another popular district, Shinjuku. Here was supposedly the Times Square of Tokyo, as well as dozens of side streets lit up just as brightly. There were “pachinko” houses and arcades everywhere, all of which were packed, blasting music, and flashing ever more obnoxious lighting. After all our walking around Tokyo we were hungry again, and stopped at a sushi-go-round restaurant. We all sat around the rotating counter as different plates of sushi slid past us, it was scrumptious and fabulously inexpensive. We did some more walking around Shinjuku after that, and encountered a really neat alley packed with tiny restaurants just big enough for the chef to cook on the table in front of the 8 or so guests that could squeeze into the room. We made our way back to the subway and went on to Roppongi, the nightlife district. Roppongi was very strange – there were clubs everywhere, with African men trying to coax people into all of their bars that lined the streets (what they were doing there, I still do not know). Don’t worry Mom, we stayed out of all the sketchy bars and went sightseeing instead! We strode down to the observatory, saw the Japanese version of the Eiffel Tower, attempted to sneak into a Reebok party and were promptly denied (for wearing Nikes), and eventually made our way back to the subway, and to our hostel district, Chuo-ku. The tricky thing about traveling with 5 strapping young men is that they insisted on implementing a “5 meal mandate,” where we would eat 5 times a day. Seeing how we had only eaten 3 times so far that day, we found a late-night noodle joint just a few blocks from our hostel. As we came to learn is typical fashion in many Japanese establishments, we entered our orders and our Yen coins into a vending machine, which gave us tickets, which we then presented to the cook waiting behind the counter, who then presented us with our piping hot bowl of noodles. It was lovely. After our men had whetted their whistles, we went back to our hostel, tucked ourselves into our cubbies, and called it a night.
Just a few short hours later, I woke up to my alarm at 4:30 a.m., as we were planning to be on the first subway (5:19) over to the Tokyo fish market that morning. Good thing Gio and I were up that early to rally the troops, because it took quite some time to get everyone moving. We were en route to the subway before the sun rose though, and after much deliberation at the subway station (and a missed train due to my lack of Japanese), we finally made it to the market. First, we wound our way through the produce section, navigating through crates upon crates of fruits and vegetables of every kind, following our noses towards the very promising smell of fish. When we finally found the fish market, we were simply amazed. Everywhere you turned there was a different kind of fish, fresh fish that was no more than a few hours old, all laid out in iceboxes in stall after stall. There had to be hundreds of vendors with stalls within this warehouse market, a bustling place one could easily get lost in. We saw countless “big tunas” being carved up right before our eyes, and everywhere you looked there was something new to see: squid, octopus, shrimp, eel, big fish, small fish, red fish, blue fish! Although there was plenty to smell and stare at, you had to keep your wits about you because the fishermen were zooming by on motorized trolleys with more crates of fish, fresh off the boats. Most everyone who worked there was still wearing the rubber pants and boots they had worn while fishing early that morning. After spending nearly an hour lost in that maze of a market, we bought some outrageously fresh tuna for breakfast, and made the group decision that it was about time to head to Kyoto. And with that, we were back on yet another subway to the Tokyo station (our Rail Passes had already paid for themselves at this point), and caught the bullet train to Kyoto.
Not a single one of us had any problems falling asleep on that 2 ½ hour train ride to Kyoto. About an hour or so into my nap, I heard camera clicking noises in my dream, and soon realized that it was no dream at all. I looked up to find dozens of Japanese train passengers hanging out in the aisle, leaning over to snap pictures of the massive, snow covered mountain just outside the window; it was Mt. Fuji! I poked my friend Kaitlin who was asleep next to me, and we excitedly stared at the beautiful scene as the train whizzed by. Our train car was very crowded (I forgot to mention that it was a holiday weekend in Japan, Monday was Labor Day) so our group had to sit separately, and when Kaitlin and I looked behind us to find all our comrades sleeping, we decided it was a lost cause to try and navigate through the throng of photographers in the aisle to alert them before we flew by. So, we soaked up the sight for them and snapped some pictures so that they would believe us when we told them about it later. Certainly a highlight (but don't tell my friends that!)
Upon our arrival in the massive Kyoto station, we went to the “Ramen Village” (it was literally a small indoor village of ramen shops) at the enormous adjoining mall for lunch. From there we sought the counsel of a travel agency, where we picked up some maps on where to find the temples, and learned that there was no vacancy in all of Kyoto or Nara over the holiday weekend. But we didn’t let that dampen our spirits, and we struck off once more, backpacks and all, to see the more historic side of Japan. Soon enough we found ourselves in a charming Japanese town where one of the many famous temples is located. There were people everywhere, strolling the streets and enjoying that beautiful, brisk fall day. The trees were brilliant shades of red, orange, yellow, and green, and I was overjoyed to finally be experiencing the season of fall, somewhere in the world! We took our sweet time enjoying the beautiful little town and the shops lining the streets, and really loved the Tenryu-ji Temple there, our first UNESCO world heritage site of the day. It was nestled between a bamboo grove and the quaint little village, and had a beautiful zen garden and reflection pond that lit up with all the colors of the autumn leaves when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. It was simply gorgeous. After that we rode another train, and took an extremely crowded bus across Kyoto to our second UNESCO protected temple of the day. Although I’m not sure what this temple was called it also beautiful, but my favorite part about this stop was the very friendly group of Japanese tourists (wouldn’t you know it) whom we met there, and took pictures with. From there we pressed on to the Golden Pavilion temple, which was painted entirely gold and simply glowed in the late afternoon sun. It’s reflection in the pond before it was just as stunning. My heard skipped a beat when I thought I saw some pandas in the trees just in front of the temple, but it turns out Japanese landscapers wear black and white too.
By the time we left the Golden Pavilion, it had already been a very long day of cultural overload, as I could tell from the instantaneous naps my friends took once we were in the luxurious Japanese taxis, heading back to the train station (the drivers wear tuxedos!) But our day certainly wasn’t over yet. Due to traffic and the holiday rush, it took us over an hour on train and bus to get to the location of our 4th and final UNESCO site of the day, and apparently this one was the big kahuna of Kyoto temples because all the Japanese were just as eager to get there as we were. It was well after dark by this time, and we stood in line (still with our backpacks) for about an hour, along with hundreds of excited Japanese people, to see the pièce de résistance, the Kiyomizu-dera temple, completely illuminated for the holidays and perched high on a hill overlooking all of Kyoto. We finally made it up to the front of the line, got our tickets, and joined the masses – and I mean masses – of people snaking their way around the temple grounds. Our group's main goal while seeing this temple was for the 8 of us to go in together, “ooh” and “aah” together (with a million additional Japanese people, it would seem), and exit together, a goal at which we largely succeeded. There were more than a few times, however, when the crowds were so dense that even if you were holding hands with the person next to you, you would have been separated. As you may already know, one of my least favorite things is large, pushy crowds, and this scenario was one, big, DARK, pushy crowd! When we reached the balcony overlooking all of Kyoto, the crowd was unbelievably dense. Thankfully, our tremendous backpacks helped to knock a few of the more aggressive tourists out of the way, so I attached myself to my friend Ken’s backpack and (hanging on for dear life) we pushed our way to the front of the balcony to see what all the fuss was about. Although there was far too much jostling for us to get a good picture, the view of the temple to our right and the cityscape below us was spectacular. We couldn’t enjoy the view for too long, however, as the ocean of people pushed us along, and we sort of floated back onto the path with the rest of the crowd. It was a fantastic experience. Once our group finally reunited after our fair share of crowds, temples, and culture, we trudged back down the hill and through the town in search of food, happily stumbling into the first restaurant that could accommodate all 8 of us – and our backpacks.
Oddly enough, it was a Chinese restaurant, but none of us were complaining. We were so exhausted from our long day of trekking around Kyoto that nearly everyone’s head was on the table before they could even bring us menus. We were gradually revived by the delicious food, and before too long we bundled back up to hit the streets of Kyoto once more, as we still had to find a place to sleep! We walked all the way into the downtown area in search of lodging, and eventually found a district with some promising 24-hour karaoke bars and internet cafes - we had been informed by the travel agent earlier that day that those would be our only hopes of finding a place to sleep with any vacancy. A few of the boys suggested that sleeping on the street was fine with them, but us girls quickly vetoed that idea and became determined to find a suitable shelter for the evening. After inspecting a few different places, we finally settled on the “Mt. Fujiyama [Manga] Internet Café and Relaxation Lounge.” Hey, we were desperate. For just $17 a person, the 8 of us (and of course, our massive backpacks) were divided into 3 “cubicles” in one huge, open room full of cubicles. Each cube had a computer, a lamp, a sliding door, and if you were lucky, a TV and a couch. I drew the short straw on this one, so 3 others and I wound up sleeping on the floor in the one cubicle “built for 4.” It was quite hilarious though, and the boys were delighted because they had unlimited to access to Mt. Fujiyama’s entire library of video games (not that they got the chance to play them), and free ice cream and soft drinks. As Ken fittingly described it, "It's an overnight at your friend Billy's!" It was such a bizarre place. We spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out how to lay in the tiny cubicle, as we are not Japanese sized and our feet kept getting tangled in the computer wires. Bridget and I couldn’t stop laughing as we tried to fall asleep to the sounds of mouses clicking, keyboards clacking, computers humming, and strangers snoring all around us! It was incredibly hot in there too, with the heat of 100 computers warming the room. Thank goodness we were so exhausted from our long day, otherwise we might not have gotten those few winks of sleep that we did!
Without any natural lighting in the dim room, it was difficult and discombobulating to wake everyone up to “check out” in the morning. When we finally made our way out of the virtual world and back into the real world, we could hardly believe where we had just spent the night. What an amazing experience! We were refreshed by the cool morning air, and the brisk walk around the city in search of the correct subway station certainly woke us up. Strapped into our backpacks and headed for the train back into Kyoto’s central station, we were set for another exciting day.
And with that, I must say “sayonara” for now, as it is once again very late and my fingers are exhausted from typing. We arrive in Hawaii and encounter U.S. Immigration at 6 in the morning tomorrow so I must get some sleep now, but I have high hopes of posting the rest of our Japlan as soon as I get access to some free, American Wi-Fi, woo-hoo!
