Tokyo: Beyond Imagination

I spent more time in Tokyo than anywhere else on this trip. Six nights! I could’ve stayed for another 6, or maybe a lifetime, but it was expensive and thus probably good that I left at some point. This post spans my first half of Japan, mostly in Tokyo, along with a day trip to Mt. Fuji, and one night in the city of Nagoya. All of which are in south central Japan (nobody calls it that).

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I knew I wanted to go to Japan when I first devised of this Widdershinning, but I placed it on the chopping block. When I charted my course this sojourn would’ve been over by now, with me beginning 2020 in New York. However, as you saw with the Philippines, I decided that there was juice I had to squeeze out of this world.

From the airport I took Skytrain and then subway to Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood, in the slightly western part of the city. I had received recommendations for things to do around Tokyo Station, which appeared to me to be a central spot, so I initally booked accommodations there. Grace, an Australian that I met in Nacpan Beach, vehemently insisted that I stay in Shinjuku, so I obliged.

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It was cold. I grabbed an early ramen dinner and then headed back to the hostel to figure out my evening. I didn’t intend to go to sleep early but that’s what happened. My hostel, named Unplan, provided a free cellphone to every guest. I had booked three nights but found my ‘pod’ bed in the 30-person dorm room comfortable, and overall a well-run hostel. So I booked another 3 bringing my total number of Tokyo nights to 6. The longest I stayed anywhere! With a long stay here I was able to take it slow – my first morning after a free hostel breakfast I did laundry, made some phone calls, and did research on activities and sights and sites. Then it was time for sushi.

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My first excursion was to the Taito City neighborhood to walk along utensil street. You can probably guess what is sold here, the neighborhood focuses on restaurant supplies. I bought soup spoons and soy sauce dishes to complement the chopsticks I got in Vietnam, so I can eat my Asian meals properly with some souvenirs for the rest of my life. Also, Asian soup spoons are just far souperior.Tokyo felt like New York 30 years in the future. It was a total trip. I’d take it for granted that I was in a modern city, walk along the clean streets crowded with commuters and tourists, and all of a sudden realize that I can’t communicate with anyone. Then I’m reminded that I’m in japan.

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My first alert evening I met up with Dan, a Bostonian who I met while community gardening back in 2014. We weren’t really in touch, I had only seen him at a concert or two over the years, but were connected on Instagram where I saw that he was also in Tokyo. He was there for a week while his friend Kevin was there for a month. The three of us did a Shinjuku barhop for a couple of hours. Many places we went to did not let us in, with staff being shocked and horrified when we, three white English speakers, came to their door.

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Day 3 (if you count my arrival as 1) I again didn’t set too ambitious an agenda, this time predominantly because of weather. Cold rain is miserable. I headed to a museum that I learned I needed a reservation for upon arrival – it was sold out that day, and then the Tokyo Station part of downtown for food and shopping.

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Included in this shopping was one of my multiple trips to the chain store Don Quijote. Calling this a variety store doesn’t do it justice. It has everything I’ve ever thought of, and more. Sometimes in weird patterns, for example, scarves were next to dried eel which then led into the pharmacy section. Stuffed animals were located throughout the entire store. Lots of groceries, silly toys or souvenirs, followed by practical items, and then all of a sudden $500+ bottles of scotch. If there was ever a zombie apocalypse, Don Quijote is where I’d want to be.

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That evening I did something that felt very Japanese to me, went to a Cat Cafe. It was an efficiently run spot with loads of books, comic books, some video games, and about 20 cats. Vending machine coffee and other refreshments were unlimited. It cost about $5 for the first 10 minutes and $2 every 10 minutes after. After 30 minutes or so I got my fill of coffee and of cats that didn’t want to be touched.

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From the cat cafe I headed to the Shibuya neighborhood, one south of Shinjuku. First stop here was the zebra crossing. I had read that this was the biggest pedestrian intersection in Tokyo and that just watching people cross the street was a spectacle. It wasn’t. But it was crowded.

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My destination in Shibuya was a club called Vent. While on line to see some techno/house DJs the guy in front of me, Toki, asked if i was on the guestlist. Uh oh I thought, will they not let me in? Instead, he had a plus one that cancelled so I was his guest and got in for half price. Toki was born in Japan, grew up in Seattle, and had been living in Tokyo for 5 years. He gave me good recommendations/advice for things to do over the next 10 days. At Vent I was meeting back up with Dan and Kevin, who knew of the headliner Mr. G. He didn’t come on until 2:30, up until then there were 4 other DJs spinning between the lounge and club. The music was somewhat slow electronic jams, not what I usually seek out but good to experience in Tokyo. I embraced the scene and found myself there at 5:30 when the show ended. Dan and Kevin had gone, and Toki was bound for bed.

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I then joined up with a young American from Dallas who had relocated to Japan. He was going to a “latenight” disco club with one of the DJs and a small group of Japanese friends, so I tagged along. We got “breakfast” as the sun rose and then went to the club. When I learned of the 1000 yen ($10) cover I scoffed and decided it was time for bed, so I took the train back to my hostel and arrived sometime after 7. My first all nighter of the trip! I felt that at least one was necessary and I’m glad I was able to pull it off. It had been a long time since I walked around a city at the end of an all-nighter, feeling like a degenerate amongst people beginning their day. It was nostalgic in some ways.

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I slept until noon and then headed to Koenji, a hipster neighborhood known for music and consignment stores. It was an interesting quiet part of town to see, though nothing too noteworthy. I had read about a tempura place here I was looking forward to but upon witnessing the line down the block I instead popped into what I would describe as a Japanese diner.

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After Koenji I headed to Toshima City, basically a shopping district. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, but here saw some of the biggest crowds which I more expected at Shibuya Crossing.

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From Toshima I walked back toward the hostel with a slight detour to Waseda University. While at UMass Boston, I gave a tour to an architectural PhD student from Waseda writing her thesis on accessibility and universal design on college campuses. While I didn’t get in touch with her, I gave myself a quick walking tour of her campus, which was unremarkable.

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For dinner and entertainment I next went to the Robot Restaurant. I can’t really explain what the Robot Restaurant is, so you’ll just have to see for youself. It pretty much wasn’t a restaurant at all, and had 4 “acts.”

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The following day was the best weather of my stay in Tokyo so I left – I booked a day trip to Mount Fuji. Our first stop was Lake Kawaguchi.

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Then we went to the Chureito Pagoda where we walked up 398 steps. Worth it.

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Then the tour went to Oshino Hokkai, a little tourist town with Mt. Fuji views. Here we were able to drink Mt. Fuji spring water which takes 80 years to filter through the earth.

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And our fourth and final stop was to the largest shopping outlets in Japan. I took no photos of the outlets, but here are a couple more from the bus ride.

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I didn’t have too much energy still recovering from the all nighter, but after dinner I walked by a big sign that mentioned Jerry Thomas, a name I recognized but even if you’re a loyal reader you probably don’t remember was the name of a bar I visited in Rome. I figured it must be a speakeasy, and pulled on the sign which was indeed a door, revealing a small bar. I got a Japanese old fashioned and chatted with the bartender about bars around the world and he suggested the best ones in Tokyo and Kyoto.

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My last full day in Tokyo i had a laundry list of sites I could check out and left it a little open ended. The weather was great so first i went up the Tokyo Metro Building observatory to see the city from above and Fuji again.

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Then back to Tokyo Station where i still had a variety of food recommendations to eat. From there i walked to the Imperial Palace which was disappointing because they would let me in (staff only they said?). Maybe I did it wrong.

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Then the architecturally interesting Reiyukai Shakaden Temple as my last stop of the day.

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The Tokyo underground systems were impressive. Corridors of shops and restaurants and good and services stretched for blocks underground going far beyond portions associated with subway stops. I appreciated this in the bad weather. And also appreciated the way things were signed – often times the materials or arrows or lines indicated where people should walk. Like driving, in Japan, this was usually on the left opposite my instinct, but sometimes when it made more sense based on circulation patterns to get down stairs, around corners, and onto platforms, it would switch.

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Back in Shinjuku I took a nap, after which I prepared for a phone interview. I have enjoyed being unemployed and homeless very much, but there will soon come a time where this isn’t pleasant. So responsibility began setting in. This call took place at 11:30pm Japan time and 9:30am back east. It went well, so we’ll see. I took the call in a 24hour internet cafe private room that was designed for comic books and cartoons if I understood what was going on around me.

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On my way to the internet cafe I had some time to kill so I tried my hand at the claw game I saw everyone playing everywhere. Lo and behold, I got one on my first try! This was bad, because I became convinced I could do it again. At the time I wasn’t considering the struggle that would be fitting these in my luggage. It was just as well, I only wound up with the first one.

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Post interview I needed to unwind so I headed to Ben Fiddich, which the bartender from Jeremiah had told me was the best cocktail bar in Tokyo. I’m glad I had the address because there was almost no sign, I just barely noticed a flowery BF at the back of a hallway pointing upstairs. So I went to level 2 and had 2 good drinks. Then learned that I was at B & F, and Ben Fiddich, owned by the same guy, was on the 9th floor. So I went up there and had a good drink. The bartender asked if I had been to Golden Gai? I had not. There are over 200 bars in 3 square blocks! I was told. It was on my walk home, so there I went. Many of these bars sat only a handful of people. I found one without a cover and a lonely bartender so I went in for a nightcap. A young Japanese guy came in and we started talking about music, and ultimately were given control of the music in the bar. A couple of Americans came and went. The bars hours went until 4. All of a sudden it was 5am and the bartender finally shut it down. Whoops! Didn’t quite make it to sunrise this time. What was supposed to be a nice cocktail or two to unwind turned into a marathon, but that’s Tokyo for ya.

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My last (now partial) day in Tokyo got a late start and was devoted to lunch and a trip to the newly developed part of the city near the seaport. Here there’s a lot of olympic related development going on. And a massive Toyota expo.

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I went to this part of town for Borderless, an exhibit put on by TeamLab, which was an amazing immersive sensory warping experience.

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Eventually I headed back to Tokyo Station where I said sayonara to this amazing amazing city and took the Shinkansen (high speed train) to japan’s third biggest city, Nagoya. Nagoya wasn’t mind blowing like Tokyo, and was much quieter and slower. I spent the night and following morning here.

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My morning sightseeing consisted of the Nagoya Castle, a park, a university, and some cityscape. The rain wasn’t ideal but didn’t detract from a relatively pleasant half day. I did wonder if the city was always that quiet or if it was a result of the weather.

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The reason I chose to visit Nagoya was predominantly that is was a convenient stop between Tokyo and my next destination of Ise, and with one attraction nearby – the Nabana No Sato Illumination. Not quite like borderless, this Illumination was outside and included millions of lights in various components to make a little village thing.

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In addition to all the lights there was a foot onsen (hot spring bath) which was quite pleasant in the frigid evening.

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Nabana No Sato was impressive. Between this, Borderless, Robot Restaurant, and wandering Tokyo’s many illuminated neighborhoods, my interest in seeing bright and crazy lights were fulfilled.

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My experience of Japan might not have been less rich without this, but it was a different and entertaining inclusion in my travels. I also got to see yet another different type of toilet here, with many different kinds in this country alone. Toilets were consistently very clean, including in subway stations, and always had heated seats. A very nice touch.

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And there you have it. My first half of Japan. I love it here. The food is superb, the architecture is interesting, the efficiency and practicality of nearly everything is impressive. People are kind and very respectful. There are very few trash cans out in public, yet no garbage littering the streets. More stuffed animals than I’ve ever seen, there’s a seriousness and playfulness to everything. My next week here will have more diversity in locales, so stay tuned for more of Japan’s extremes. There goes Tokyo (the following originally by Blue Oyster Cult).