8/22/01: Departure
8/23/01
8/23/01: Passing the International Date Line... the new entry does not mean I got sleep. :)
8/24/01: Day in Tokyo
Continuation:
I was very taken aback, and pleasantly surprised about my off-map find. I ascended the stairs and passed two lion-headed guardian statues through the gate. I "purified" myself in the traditional fashion (I was so proud that I remembered how): ladling some water over one hand, then the other, then spitting some of the water beside the trough. Then I went into the main shrine, and rang the huge bell by pulling on the rope. My memory was ALMOST perfect: I forgot to throw a 5yen coin in for luck, and I forgot to clap twice to summon the deity. I sat in the garden for a few minutes, surrounded by the displaced beauty and amazingly alone.
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The day started out obscenely early, since international standby flights require arrival at least 90 minutes before the first flight to my destination, which meant arriving at 4:45AM for my flight at 6:15. Ick. I had a huge brood of people to see me off: Nana, Papa, Josh, Mom, Dad, and Mike!! Easily the largest gathering there (pride surge!). I bade them goodbye (not too teary, since it was pretty rushed, things moved FAST), and boarded the plane. I did see them gathered at the window as my plane began to taxi, so thanks all, it made me feel very good. :) I love you all and miss you.
Having never flown standby before, I was quite worried about my luggage, and whether or not I would be able to arrive on time, etc, etc. These worries proved quite unfounded. After a four-hour layover in Dallas, I was admitted onto the Narita bound plane, a 777, and in business class! (Yay!)
Okay, all... business class is THE WAY to fly (actually, first is probably better, but I can't see how unless they massage your feet). The seats were very comfortable and HUGE, and they reclined like a Laz-E-Boy, plus we had our own little fold out tv screens complete with remote control. Segoi desu ne!! (Cool!) However, even the most comfortable of surroundings becomes annoyingly confining after 13 hours, so I was very happy to watch Japan draw nearer and nearer on my personal flight map (cool!). I made sure to drink (no exaggeration) about 15 bottles of Evian (which they were kind enough to provide). I did, however, cave in against Lars' express wishes and have two cans of ginger-ale (they're caffeine free!!) instead of drinking only water like a good girl. Luckily, drinking so many glasses of water meant several trips to the lavatory, which meant I was constantly reminded (indeed, forced) to stretch my legs. My neighbor on the trip was some famous model. I didn't catch her name (I don't think she offered it), but she was assembling her portfolio on the way, which included some shots from famous fashion magazines. She said she was going to Tokyo for a contract, her first. She was pretty nice, but worried the entire way about this teeny rash on the top of her foot. I was too busy worrying about the blisters on my feet from those stupid platforms to care!
I arrived 32 hours after I departed: 1 hour to DFW from Tulsa, 4 hour layover in DFW, 13 hours to Narita, Tokyo from DFW, and 14 hour time difference. I had been wholly unable to sleep on the plane, and had enjoyed precious little sleep the night before. Long story short: sleep sounded GOOD.
Unfortunately, Narita is about 60 miles or so north of Tokyo Station, which is where I needed to be. PLUS! I had no train tickets! No hotel reservations! And I had yet to go through customs, immigration, and baggage claim. So I wedged my sad and swollen feet into my entirely uncomfortable sandals and dragged my harangued body off the plane. My seatmate, the model who incidentally was somehow enviably able to sleep 10 of the 13 hours on the plane, bounced off the plane ahead of me. I am first amazed at how pretty and clean Narita airport is, and then at how EMPTY. The corridors leading to the immigration counter were completely empty except my plane's passengers. The queue in front of the 30 or so immigration counters was being watched hawkishly by several elderly white-gloved Japanese men, who ran to and fro ensuring that everyone was in the right place. A tribute to Japanese efficiency: There were, I estimate, roughly 300 foreigners in line ahead of me. A large clock ticked away the minutes above. I was completely finished--visa inspected, stamped, and forms filled out--in EIGHT MINUTES. Which meant of course that the other 300 were as well. Wow.
After immigration came baggage claim. No real big deal. Found my claim area, yanked my luggage off the rack, and promptly spent about 10 minutes trying to get the stupid handle out and everything clipped on.
Then came "Customs." It went as follows:
Customs Officer: "Do you have anything to declare?"
Me: "No."
Customs Officer: "Ok, go on."
Now the main area of Narita WAS crowded, but I managed to make my way to the TIC (Tourist Information Counter), which my Lonely Planet guide suggested I visit for hotel reservations. I informed the bored-looking Japanese college student behind the counter that I needed a place very near Tokyo Station (not a problem, I figured, since the LP guide listed at least 10 in walking distance). However, he said that only one hotel was in the TIC group in that area, and it was booked (!). So I shoved the nagging "sleep soon" thought away and moved on the the JR train ticket counter. There, a cutely uniformed girl (my god! they really DO wear those anime uniforms!! Hers was a little pink and white striped dress thing complete with nurse's cap. Crazy.) gave me a N'Ex (Narita Express to Tokyo Station) ticket and (insert big sigh of relief) my Hikari 153 ticket for Saturday, which was important to get. OK, so off I go toward the station, when what to my wondering eyes does appear? (no, sorry, no reindeer) A counter neatly labeled "HOTEL RESERVATIONS." Chuckling to myself, I wander up to the counter, say the magical words: "Hotel near Tokyo Station"... and they're off!! Cutely (but differently) uniformed girls rush to call hotels and confirm reservations. And voila! Yaesu Fujiya Hotel, a mere 5 minute walk from the station. Heheheh. The girl asks me to pay her 29,600 yen (this hotel is on the expensive side, 14,800yen/night). I hesitate, because this is not a front desk of a hotel, but a reservation counter, but she has a uniform on and she's LOOKING at me, and she's worried cuz I'M worried, and so I pay her. (when in Rome...) She hands me something called a "hotel coupon" and I'm on my way. OK, I think as I rush off (as much as one can "rush" with a 50lb backpack and 100lbs of luggage), that was weird. But I clutch my coupon, insert my ticket into the checker, and enter the train portion of Narita.
Before boarding my train (I was fairly early), I decided it would be wise to try to contact my family to give the the great news of my continued survival, something I was pretty pleased about. I located a grey ISDN phone, which touted the ability to make int'l calls. But I could NOT figure out how to get a call to the US!!! I asked a woman nearby for help...unfortunately she spoke virtually no english and this situation was a tad beyond my linguistic capabilities. I got the idea of "phone call to US" and "Don't know how" across, but she didn't know how to either. She tried to make me use her international calling card to pay for it, but I politely refused, showing her the massive amount of coins I had to make use of. Nodding, we set to work to figure out the codes. I caught a glimpse of her train ticket--hers was the train before mine, and she needed to go lest she miss her train!! And since the N'Ex is reserved seat, that would mean buying another ticket!! I tried to mention that in Japanese, but she shook her head, got a determined look on her face, and continued to randomly press buttons. I realized that she would remain here to help me, to the point of losing her train. So, I did what any honourable foreign traveler would do: I pressed a few buttons, and pretended my dad was on the phone. Thanking her profusely, I turned my attention to chatting up the dial tone. Gratefully (!), she ran off to catch her train. I think she knew I was lying, but was glad for the opportunity to leave without feeling bad. I finally found out how to place a collect call through to Dad (in my mind, that softened the prior lie ^_^), assuring him of my reign over Tokyo and begging him to pass the info to Mom and Josh. He agreed to it, and I ran off to catch MY train.
Long journal entry, huh?
The N'Ex turned out to be a reserved seat sit-down affair. I wedged my luggage into a corner and sat down in what I thought was 10D, my seat (I discovered later that I was quite wrong, I was sitting in 10C. The girl whose seat I was in paid it no mind and sat in 10D, without accusing me (rightly so) of being a dumb gaijin (foreigner)^_^). The seats are arranged 2X2, creating a cute little dinner table effect. The other three occupants at my table were three college age girls who said they taught 3,4, and 5 year olds. They were extremely nice and eager to speak. One was named Yuki (they all started giggling when talking about snow at Kansai--Yuki means "snow"). Each one asked me several questions, including the ever-popular "If you're going to Kansai, why did you fly to Narita?" to which I tried to reply in Japanese as best I could (their English was just as sporadic as my Japanese), with a broken sentence that, when translated, means: "My friend on airplane works; cheap ticket". Yeah, so far my Japanese has been sufficient to get the point across in every situation, but very brokenly--probably a horror to their poor ears. There's nothing like a three-day stay alone in Tokyo to prompt swift recovery of my Japanese skills. I recommend it for every student. On a side note, Yuki was wearing a shirt that stated simply: Labrador Retriever. I didn't ask if she knew what it meant.
Anyway, the N'Ex trip was very pleasant, and the three turned out to be great conversationalists. I've already learned that most Japanese seem to be very curious about foreigners and anxious to ask questions, but WON'T unless you say something first.
Given my fairly pleasant and courteous reception thus far, I was completely unprepared for Tokyo station. Imagine EVERY HUMAN BEING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE crammed into one train station and virtually running to get to their destination, and you have a fair idea. I don't think anyone can be "prepared" for such a place. It's a whirlwind of human activity, and for such a major station, I saw almost no gaijin.
The map to my hotel said to use the Yaesu South Exit, which I did. But the map didn't really help beyond that. It's virtually impossible to tell streets from alleys in Tokyo... they're all tiny and labeled in Kanji, which I CANNOT identify at a glance, if at all. Soooooo out comes the LP guide and what? This hotel is not listed. Greeeeaaaat. Aye carumba! So I flag the nearest person down, asking "Sumimasen ga, kono hoteru wa doko desu ka?" Excuse me, where is this hotel? while pointing at the map. "_______wa doko desu ka?" has become my bestest friend in all of Japan. Even if you don't understand the answer, they usually point. And if you didn't understand any instructions beyond the initial point, you can walk in that direction for a few moments, stop, and repeat the process. I am not kidding. I sought aid from about seven different people in that five minute walk, just to ensure that my tired feet were headed the right direction. They were.
The hotel staff greeted me energetically as always (I think it's genetic), and I gave them my hotel coupon, and a bellhop took my luggage and escorted me to my room. Few of the staff spoke English, which is probably why it was left out of the LP guide. I was nasty and covered in sweat, and the cool shower I took immediately was WELL WORTH EVERY PENNY (or yen) the hotel room cost. It was getting late, so I flipped through the free TV channels, delighted in hearing english on CNN, and passed out on the bed.
Dawn broke, killing twelve and injuring seventeen. I always wondered about those statistics. Do they consider death an injury? If not, why not? I consider it a pretty serious injury, myself.
Anyway, I woke up at about 5:30 AM. Thanks to jet lag, I felt very rested and refreshed, since it was about 3:30PM according to my internal clock which was still set to Oklahoma Central time. I got up and took another well-worth-the-money shower and prepared to leave. I called Mom (and Nana and Papa) since I wasn't able to talk to them the night before. I tried Josh, but alas, no one answered. :(
The plan for the day was this: I figured I'd see some sights, walk as far as I could, and then take a subway train or taxi home. What I did NOT konw is that the LP maps are NOT all-inclusive; there are VAST sections of city between each featured district map. What I SHOULD have done was purchase a more detailed map of Tokyo. Hindsight = 20/20.
Soooooooo off I went, headed first to Ginza, where as promised, I snapped a few photos of Godzilla. Very cool. By then, about an hour had passed so I stopped at a very authentic Japanese restaurant--Starbucks. It's funny how at home I felt, having never set foot in a Starbucks until that very morning. Ha! I was their first customer, and they seemed very excited (as usual) to welcome me into their establishment and serve me my cocoa. I sat down, enjoying the hot drink and planning my adventures for the day. I realize now how utterly impossible it would have been for an all of Japan type guidebook to have completely comprehensive information on a country (Tokyo is too damn big to be called a "city") like Tokyo. But on I planned, blissfully oblivious to the fact that LP actually publishes a book as big as mine devoted solely to Tokyo streets. I figured I could walk from Central Tokyo to Roppongi, and then go window-shopping in Shibuya. After all, it didn't appear to be THAT far, and the maps are measured in kilometers, and there's what, like 10 kilometers to a mile? Piece of cake. (For those of you who don't know why to laugh at me, here's what I found out later: 1 mile = 1.6093 km, seriously far from 10.) As I saw it, my route looked to be about 16 or so kilometers (turned out to be well over 20), or 1.6 miles. Now, given that I am generally NOT stupid, one of two things should have occurred to me: 1. It is logically flawed that three districts could occur in 1.6 miles in a city (sorry, country) the size of Tokyo... or 2. There is a handy metric conversion table on the inside back cover of my LP guide that could tell me that 1 mile does NOT equal 10 km, but 1.6km. However, due to what I'll term a "fluke of nature," neither of these things occurred to me until about Roppongi.
So, off I go, enjoying the cool crisp Tokyo morning (but still sweating b/c I am NOT used to walking so much), armed with my backpack, containng a bottle of Evian, my camera, my wallet and passport, and an anorak in case it did more than just threaten to rain, which it had been doing all night (thanks Vana). My travels took me through Ginza and into Hibiya-Kouen, a garden near the Imperial Palace. It was very beautiful. I used an ISDN phone there to call Josh and say hello.
From there, I walked south. Soon, I was off my comfortable map. I was a little worried about being blown off course since NO TOKYO STREETS ARE PARALLEL to anything, but I headed southwest, and figured I'd hit my target eventually. After another hour, I ducked into another Starbucks (I know, I know, BAD tourist) for another cocoa, water and a croissant, and set about finding my location. A fairly helpful British man suggested I take the subway, but I was adamant: I wanted to SEE Tokyo, not jet by it. Curious, I asked if the orange and white spike I'd seen was Tokyo Tower, to which he chuckled and replied that it was. That was good news, as I now had a better reference point (although Tokyo Tower is not actually ON any of my LP maps).
I saw a stone stump along the sidewalk that stated simply: "Chorudo. Yes. We love." I then saw a girl whose bag read, quizzically, "Don't Munchen It." I began getting into areas where NO foreigners were or had been recently, and though I HEARD no comments, I could see them thinking "Gaijin da!!"--some looked at me with bemusement, most with curiosity, and a few glared at me hatefully. One old woman glared at me, spat something in Japanese that I didn't understand, and threw some sort of hand signal at me as she passed. I was quite shocked. Everyone else, though, just smiled back at the perpetual grin I made sure to wear.
I continued walking, past Kamigawa station (I think), when to my left, amidst the buildings and thousands of people, was a solitary empty vine-wrapped stone staircase, leading up to a beautiful Shinto shrine... TO BE CONTINUED.
I walked for another hour and found Roppongi. There were nightclubs EVERYWHERE, but they were, of course, closed (it being noon). It was starting to heat up and I continued to sweat buckets. I ducked into YET ANOTHER Starbucks for air conditioning and unlimited self-serve water. I had passed an Internet Cafe earlier, but it didn't open until noon and I figured I'd go to Cyberia, which my LP guide said was in Roppongi. So I continued on, all watered up for the heat and with a full bottle in my bag. I found all the placemarks leading up to Cyberia, but I could NOT locate it. I searched around where it should have been for at least 30 minutes before asking for help. Several people took turns holding my book and turning the map this way and that, and they could identify where we were, but no one could actually find the store. FINALLY I found a teenager working in a market who had heard of Cyberia, but he smiled sadly at me and informed me that it was closed.
Heavyhearted since my visit to Cyberia was really the only thing I had specifically wanted to do (except see the Godzilla statue) and the reason for my destination, I continued on to Shibuya. Again, I didn't know that there is well over 3 miles between the map of Roppongi and the map of Shibuya. So in that dead zone, the heat really started getting to me and I decided to stop for what I felt was a well-deserved lunch. I stopeed at a restaurant called "Trattoria Il Paccione" (Yes, that's Italian), run by Japanese young men who seemed to be bilingual: Japanese and Italian, not kidding. Luckily one of them spoke English as well, and was able to help me through the Italian menu (did you know "margherite" means tomato?) and get me THE MOST AWESOME CHEESE AND TOMATO PIZZA I'VE EVER HAD!!! I mean WOW!! And it was huge! And they served complimentary Italian focaccio that was out of this world. Anyway, he gave me the bad news that it was still almost 2 kilometers to Shibuya station from there (I had learned my conversion error by then). By now, I was hot, miserable, and absolutely sick of walking. But sadly, Shibuya station was much closer than Roppongi. So on I went.
You know, it wouldn't have been so bad except that over most main streets, Tokyo engineers (and later I discovered it is not just Tokyo) are fond of constructing bridges such that you have to climb at least one, sometimes two flights of stairs, cross a bridge, and then climb down.
Shibuya eki was wonderful, not because it was nice or pretty, but because it meant a non-walking trip home!! I bought my ticket home and mere 190yen. Cheaper than my cocoa.
Back to Tokyo station, where battling the crowds was perfectly acceptable, because the end of my journey was in sight. And oh, that cold shower made it all so much better!! Ahhhhhh!! :)
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