Japan: Round 2, Part 1

I have to say, I was pretty nervous about taking my parents to Japan (although, of course I didn't tell them that). When we first came up with idea of going, I thought it was great because I thought, why would you come all the way over to Asia and only see Korea? Korea is great and all, but there are a lot of other must-see places right next door. I had already been to Japan over the holidays, and based on my first experience in Tokyo, I started to question whether or not they would like it (after having already purchased the tickets). There were a number of reasons why. First of all, Tokyo is insanely big. It's home of the world's busiest subway station and crosswalk, the public transportation map looks like an intricate spiderweb, and you couldn't even make a dent on the city in three days. On top of that, Japan is expensive. Really expensive. Still on top of that, people rarely speak English, though English signs are everywhere (thank God!). For all of these reasons, I was pretty nervous about the trip. Yet, remembering how fascinated I was by the culture and how insanely cool and edgy the country is helped calm my worries. In the end, it turned out great. Although our adventure in Japan got off to a rough start, it was amazing after all and I was so glad not only that I got to take my parents there, but also that I got to experience the awesome city of Tokyo again.

It was a quick and easy hour and a half flight from Busan to Tokyo, and we arrived in Tokyo by 2:30 on Friday afternoon. The hard part was over...or so Mom and Dad thought. I knew that we had one more obstacle to get over; getting out of Shinjuku train station and finding our hotel. Getting out of Shinjuku train station? Even in a foreign country, how hard can it be to get OUT of a building? Just look for the exit or follow the people leaving your train and you'll find it, right? WRONG. Shinjuku station is the biggest, craziest mess of a subway station that you could possibly imagine. It's spans across at least 10 city blocks and is 5 levels high from the underground tracks, up to several above ground railways. It's what some people refer to as a "clusterfuck" (pardon my language, but that really is the best word to describe it). After approximately 20 minutes of lugging our bags up and down stairs and through crowded corridors, we finally wound up at the West Exit. CRAP! "Our hotel is east of the station, we definitely need the East exit," I told Mom and Dad. We all agreed that it would just be best to get in a cab, no matter how round-a-bout of a drive it was. Turns out, our cab driver didn't even know how to get to a hotel in the same area of the city we were in! He tried looking the address up in his map book of Tokyo (seriously bigger than a yellow pages phonebook), but couldn't find it. Even after calling the hotel, he was still driving around in circles.

At this point (especially if you know my Mom) you may be thinking, were any of you freaking out?!? Actually, we all remained pretty calm, even Mom, but I could feel the underlying panic that could have ensued at anytime. If anything, I was just feeling that all of my worries about them not liking Japan were already coming true. But, alas, we finally arrived at our cute little hotel, and aside from Dad almost mistakenly paying $100 for the cab ride, we made it there unharmed, and in one piece.

From there, the trip just got better and better. Just as we arrived at the hotel, the rain and fog that had covered the city as we flew in over it, was dissipating. As soon as we went up to our room and re-energized (beer was not involved this time, but would be shortly), we were off to our first stop at the famous Meiji Shrine near the equally famous Harajuku neighborhood. The stark contrast between the beautiful, old shrine, empty due to the rainy afternoon, and the hip, crazy, crowded shopping area of Harajuku provided a great introduction to the type of place that Japan is; A country that holds tight to it's past, while at the same time embracing and pioneering the newest trends and technologies.

After seeing the shrine and walking around Harajuku it was about 6:30, and I had planned to take Mom and Dad to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant that I had scoped out last time I was there. Unfortunately, the building where the restaurant had once stood was now a construction site, and finding a place to eat is not easy in Harajuku. It's more of a cafe/clothing type area. So, I suggested that we head to Shibuya to see Shibuya crossing and go to a spot where I was sure we would find our sushi. Mom and Dad agreed, but not before taking our beer break, we were long overdue for that.

We hopped on the subway, two stops to Shibuya and exited out into the world's busiest intersection; it is said that approximately 3 million people cross it everyday, and if you've ever seen pictures of bustling Tokyo streets, I guarantee this is the place. We made our way across the intersection and as our stomachs growled in anticipation of dinner, I promised we would find something just up ahead (secretly I didn't really know if we would find it). Sure enough, about two blocks down the street, fate brought us right to our conveyor belt sushi restaurant. It was like being a kid in a candy store, only this candy store had a really long line to wait on! That was okay by us, and we sat with mouths watering as we watched the sushi go round and round, waiting to get our chance to dig in. Finally, we got to the front of the line, and then it was heaven on a conveyor belt! Fresh, delicious sushi whizzed by and we giggled with joy as we grabbed each lovely little plate, opened wide and washed it down with refreshing beer and sake. The icing on the cake- the entire feast only cost $50!!







Stumbling out of the restaurant, stomachs full, heads a little hazy from the sake, I had one last idea for the night. A Japanese tradition that I knew Mom and Dad just had to try; a photobooth session! In Japan, young people always go to photobooths to take pictures with their friends during a night out. They take goofy pictures and then decorate them with bright, tacky, glittery designs, it's pretty hilarious. Mom and Dad happily agreed, but as soon as we got inside the booth, Dad said, "I don't know, I think this stuff is for girls." I told him it was too late, and he better just smile, so he did. The pictures turned out so funny and one of the best souvenirs from the trip; I know I will cherish mine forever.




After our photo session, we headed back to crazy Shinjuku station, which was still packed at 10 o'clock at night, and we picked up some more sake and snacks and went back to the hotel. We hung out, watched some funny Japanese TV, and called it an early night. There was a lot more in store for our Japan adventure, and we knew we would be needing the energy for it.