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Nikko

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

I got my rail pass and hopped on the next shinkansen (high speed train) out of Tokyo.  Very nice train, inside and out.  I was only on it for 45 minutes before I had to get off to change to a local train for Nikko but it was going pretty fast once it got out of Tokyo.  I need to look up the train speeds here, it’s confusing because they have 8 or so different high speed trains all with different names.JR high speed train 

 

Arrived in Nikko, found my hostel and it was off to see the temples, which is what everyone (including me) comes here for.  To get from todays Nikko to the temples you cross the river, next to and parallel with a cool old red wooden bridge, then walk up stone stairs through a cedar forest which actually surrounds most of the temples.  ancient bridge over the river

 

The setting for these temples is really cool, in amongst  these really old and big cedar trees, moss growing on everything with stone walkways everywhere.  I now see why they tell you to bring slip on shoes when you come to Japan, after taking my shoes off before entering every temple, tying your shoes gets old.  Especially since you aren’t in the temples for long at all, they don’t allow photography inside and usually most of the temple is off limits to tourists, you just walk in the entrance and see the main area with the buddhas etc. shrines

 

So I covered the “temple loop” through the forests, love the atmosphere of the old forest with ancient temples poking out of it…  Apparently this is one of Japans top destinations, and there were a fair few tourists here, but nothing compared to major european destinations I’ve been to.  Very few of them here are speaking english, the ones who aren’t asian are speaking other european languages, french and german seem to be most common.  

 

 

Another note to add, so far I’m easily fitting within my $100USD a day budget, and that includes the cost of my rail pass.  A light meal costs under $10, and when I’ve had larger meals the highest I’ve paid was $18, which is similar to the US and there’s no tipping here.  The sake’s not even expensive!  The rail pass I bought cost me $420 for unlimited train travel, including all their bullet trains, for 2 weeks and that’s a good deal, so in general the “you can’t afford Japan” mindset is wrong as far as I can see.

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Tokyo pt2

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

I spent my extra day in Tokyo figuring out where I was going next after walking around my hostels area some more and having an early lunch of sushi.  The bluefin tuna was mmmmmm. The weather forecast was not working for going to Mt Fuji so I decided to skip that and head to Nikko instead.  

After that was sorted out and I got a bed in Nikko reserved it was down to the “Onsen” (Japanese hot bath) for a soak.  Dinner was up next, Udon noodles and prawn tempura with some cold sake tonight, delicious.  I went back to the Shibuya area after that, there’s even more people there in the evening, and wandered around some of the tech stores, entertainment stores etc.  Then I stumbled upon an English Pub, decided it was a good time to have a pint and had a guinness (something I’m going to do in every country to compare them all!).  The pub was nice, looked English, and had an English pub menu…  While I was there I saw someone at the table over from me eating the Fish n Chips, with chopsticks.  My mind went into spasms, despite being completely used to seeing and using chopsticks to eat, there was just something very strange about watching someone eat fish and chips with them!

Right now I’m drinking green tea at an internet cafe at the train station waiting for the rail office to open so I can get my rail pass and go to Nikko. 

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Tokyo

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

I got here Saturday night, it’s now Tuesday.  That’s 2 1/2 days, and I just extended my stay here by a day since it is cloudy/wet today so going to Mt Fuji is kinda pointless with no visibility…shinjuku 

 

Tokyo is huge, it has several sections that if you didn’t know anything you would be forgiven for thinking that they alone were a major city.  The amount of people walking around Shinjuku and Shibuya is insane!  I have never seen that many people in one place.  Unsurprisingly it’s hi-tech here, pretty much everything.  Every person has a phone and is using it almost constantly, 90% of the phones look almost identical and different from ones in the US or Europe.  The only technology devices that people are walking around with that I recognize the product are iPods and iPhones. 

 

 

The people here are very friendly.  Despite my speaking no Japanese whatsoever, I haven’t had a problem doing anything yet.  I have been approached on numerous occasions (usually when I’m looking at a map or have my guidebook out) by people asking me in english if I need any help, and these aren’t tourist officials, these are just people off the street!  

 

I think I have managed to cover most of the main areas and quite a few of the attractions but honestly I think you could be occupied here for a long time just going to sushi restaurants.  I could anyway.  The cheapest way to eat sushi is at the places that have a conveyer belt going around the sushi bar, the plates are colour coded telling you how much each one costs and you just grab whatever you want as many times as you want.  You can also order it by the piece, for better fish, higher quality etc.  I’ve tried quite a few different things so far (for those wondering NO Live Octopus) and nothing has been bad.
fast food sushi

 

 

 

As I posted before, there’s people biking and walking everywhere & the metro is busy seemingly at all hours, yet also the most civilized that I can recall.  I have not seen much car traffic in comparison to any other city I’ve been to.  They have these guys in blue uniforms that are everywhere making sure bikes are properly parked and keeping some order but mostly I don’t see them doing a whole lot, nothing needs to be done.  

 

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Arrived in Tokyo

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

I’m in Tokyo now sitting at my hostel.  Finally.  
My 10 hour flight was 2 hours late leaving San Francisco, though it made up an hour of that en route.  I was impressed with JAL though(minus the delay), excellent service, far better than any of the US airlines, despite the flight being that long their programming selection was so extensive and it gives you complete control over it that I was never bored.  It was also by far the quietist flight I have ever taken, maybe a new model of the 777-300, it seemed pretty new?
Then came the gauntlet of different trains and the maze through side streets to find the hostel which I did with no problems, but all of that added up and I didn’t check in until 9:00 PM.  

First thoughts are very good on Tokyo, at least the part I’ve seen.  It’s busy, but strangely quieter than I expected.  People are riding bikes EVERYWHERE, motorcycles too and even walking.  Funny, I haven’t seen hardly any fat people yet, coincidence?  I can’t wait to explore the city, but for now I’m really tired since I’ve had something like 4 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours, so I am off to bed. 

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