Live, love and eat kimchi...: Domo Arigato Tokyo!

I'm back in Korea after a week long trip to Japan that exceeded all expectations I had about the fascinating country. I think the thing that struck me the most, which is probably the same for most visitors, is the extreme contrast between the modern city of Tokyo and the rich history and tradition that the people still so strongly preserved. I was only there for 6 days, but there is soooo much to say about the sights, the food, the culture and all of my experiences, so today I'll write about Tokyo and then I'll do Kyoto sometime in the next few days.

I arrived in Tokyo by myself, as I had booked my ticket for a day later than my friends and would be meeting them at our hostel that evening. Coming into Tokyo Narita Airport, I was surprised at how efficiently I went through customs, and the train ticket office and on to the one hour train ride to Tokyo. I had expected to have problems finding my way through the chaos or communicating where I wanted to go, but everything was very calm and easy. After an hour on the train we arrived at Tokyo Metro Station and I got off to catch the subway to the hostel. It wasn't until then that the madness of Tokyo hit me. It was more crowded than anywhere I had ever been in New York and to make matters worse, I couldn't figure out which of the 5 different subway systems (yes 5, owned by all different companies) would get me to Akebonobashi Station, where I needed to go. But with all of my experience traveling alone, I remained calm and eventually figured it out. An hour later I was at our hostel, checked in and ready to get out and see the crazy city!

I had three hours to kill before meeting the girls, so I went straight to Harajuku, an area famous for the crazy youngsters who dress in elaborate punk rock costumes. There weren't as many of these characters there as I'd imagined, but it was a really cool shopping district filled with great clothes, cool people and lots of neon lights. After wandering around for an hour, I passed a big building that seemed like some kind of technology design center (it looked similar to a big Apple store). On the street there was a big screen TV showing a punk band playing, and I could hear that the music was coming from inside the building. I continued walking, but then thought, "why not go inside and check it out?" I was so glad I did. The crowd was full of gitty teenage girls, singing along with every Japanese word that came out of the lead singers mouth. It was such a Tokyo pop moment, and that's when I first really felt like I was in Japan. After the set was over, I headed back to the hostel to meet the girls and we decided to find a Kaiten-Sushi restaurant for dinner. Kaiten-Sushi is a type of restaurant where the sushi is placed on a conveyor belt and you pay for each plate you take. Most plates are between 100 and 300 yen ($1-$3) so you end up with a pile of plates by the end. We found one in Shinjuku, in downtown Tokyo, and tasted our first sushi in Japan. The eel, tuna and salmon were all out of this world, better than any sushi I had tried before. After a long and exhausting day, we went back to the hostel and prepared for a 5:30am wakeup, in order to catch the Shinkansen, the famous bullet train, to Kyoto.

Japanese punk rock band

Kaiten-sushi...sushi on a conveyor belt!

Shinjuku, downtown Tokyo

After two exhausting days in Kyoto (which I'll describe later in the week), we left historic Japan behind and made our way back to the center of technology. What better place to bring in the New Year than in the middle of Tokyo? On New Years day, we continued our sight seeing, making stops in the old quarters of Asukasa, which is full of temples and souvenir shops, and then tried to see the view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, but it turned out that it was closed, so we had to go back the next day. We went back to the hostel, allowing several hours to relax and get ready for the big night. We started the celebration off at our hostel, where they hosted a pre-party and we hung out with our new friends from Australia, England, Spain and New Zealand. By 10 p.m. we were all feeling "electric" as Pau from Barcelona put it and we decided it was time to head out to start the main event. We went to Shibuya Crossing, the intersection famous for having over 2 million people cross it everyday. We had specifically decided to go there over the clubs in Roppongi because we wanted to meet Japanese people rather than just run into foreigners at the clubs, and we were soooo happy with our choice! Standing in the crossing waiting for the countdown, we met so many interesting Japanese people. From Harajuku girls to Tokyo breakdancers, to college students who taught us to countdown from ten and say Akemaste Omeneto (Happy New Year)! We had a great night partying and wandering the streets meeting tons of different people, doing as the locals do.

Meeting some characters on NYE

Countdown in Shibuya Crossing

After New Years, we had two more days and I was determined to see as much as possible. It was easier said than done, because on Thursday, the city was completely dead as Japanese celebrate quietly at home with their family, but we managed to find some great sushi and went to the Government building where the observation deck was open. On our last day, I wanted to go to the Imperial Palace and I had heard that January 2nd was one of two days out of the year that the royal family was there. We decided to get up early and go, but had no expectations of any royal sightings. But when we arrived, we were stunned to seeing literally hundreds of thousands of people being herded through the massive gates, into the palace grounds. My friend Nat guesstimated that there were "at least a million people" but I convinced her that one-twentieth of Tokyo's population could not fit inside, and we eventually agreed that it was probably more like 20,000-30,000. Still, it was a lot of people! And to our suprise and pleasure we were some of the only foreigners! We were coralled through the gates and after about 45 minutes of slow, silent, zombie-like walking we ended up in the main courtyard, waiting in front of a large glass window of the palace. We still didn't know what to expect. It was eerily quiet for the amount of people that we stood with, and it was a perfect example of the reserved, quiet nature of the Japanese people. After about 10 minutes of waiting, the Emperor and Royal family appeared behind the glass and a faint sigh emerged from the subdued crowd. Everyone began waving their paper flags proudly, but no one clapped or yelled or jumped up and down. The royal family waved and then gave a brief speech (in Japanese of course) and then retreated back into the palace and it was over. We were all amazed. It was truly a magical ending to the trip; the icing on the cake. Japan was fantastic and I hope I get a chance to return and see more of the fascinating country.