Around Tokyo 1

Since I've been too busy having fun in Tokyo, I fell behind on blogging about it.  Without further ado, here are some of my first impressions in pictures.

The wait is over... as we are about to land, my long-time dream of visiting Japan is finally coming true.

At Narita International Airport in Tokyo.  It is as clean, efficient and practical as you might expect.

Since everything else in Japan has a QR code, it is just fit that so does my 90-day landing permission.

One of the first things I noticed was a presence of vending machines everywhere: train stations, parking lots, hotel lobbies, street corners.  Cold drinks, hot drinks, cigarettes - just insert coins or a 10,000 yen note (about US$12).  To buy cigarettes from a vending machine, you have to swipe a magnetic card as a proof of age.   There used to be beer vending machines in public places, but I'm told those are now pretty extinct.

I picked up my 7-day Japan Rail pass at the airport.  I paid for the pass in New York - you have to be a foreign living abroad Japan to qualify for this discount.  As soon as I had my pass,  I hopped on a airport express train to Tokyo which runs about every 15 minutes.  After a little over an hour of riding in a comfy seat, I arrived at the main Tokyo train station.

Some trains hang.  'Cause they're cool.

On my (non-hanging) train, the front of the car had a luggage area where bags could be secured with a wire and a combination lock, for free.  No point in locking anything though - my impression after five days is that there is just no crime in Japan.  Which of course can't be true.  But I feel that if I left a bar of gold on the ground and ran away from it as fast as I could, someone would see me, pick up the bar and run twice as fast after me to return it.  (Conclusion: don't leave your gold around in Japan?!)

This is my Japan Rail Pass.  Surprisingly, it doesn't have my picture in it and it is not electronic.  The words JAPAN RAIL PASS and the front page are holographic, though.  The pass is good for the JR network which includes some subway trains (not the Tokyo Metro, but I didn't find that to be a problem), most but not all shinkansen (bullet) trains and some buses.  It cost about 28,300 yen or $335 for 7 days.  "Ordinary" means not first class, which is a more expensive pass.  The date format is Japanese Year.Month.Date, where 22 is the current Japanese year and the rest is the same as in the West.  To use the pass on a subway, you show it to a JR attendant and they wave you in.  A little old-fashioned but works great.  To use the pass for a bullet train, you present it at a ticket office and you get a reserved seat ticket.

The most interesting thing about my room at my first Japanese hotel was not how small the room was, but that the toilet had some interesting features.  Later I stayed in a hotel room half the size of the first one and although that was a much cheaper hotel, the bathroom there also had a bidet.  It's a norm.

You can rub your eyes all you want, the bidet doesn't go away.

Wrong colors, but hey, go Mets.  I didn't try this drink because I don't like artificial sweeteners but I did try a dozen other Japanese soft drinks.  Many are green-tea based, or coffee based, or flavored like citrus fruit, grape, or melon.  One great drink is frozen mango pulp.  It's a little smoother than a typical US fruit smoothie. 

Gas-pumping hoses hang from up above.  It saves space.

A serene Friday city scene in the Ginza/Tsukiji area.

A pizza window in a garage.  On the way to the window pass between these cool pizza delivery scooters.

Night in Ginza.  Overpriced flagship stores and huge department stores all around.  Glitz and glamor.  Excellent for walking around but the iPhone isn't the best night camera.

Another way to load a truck: from the top, sideways.

Also in Ginza, this Belgian waffle shop is named and themed after Manneken Pis, the pissing boy statue.  The area is so cosmopolitan that if you removed all the people and street signs, you wouldn't realize you were in Tokyo with all the world-name brands everywhere.

Case in point.  Or casa in point.  Armani/this, Armani/that, Armani/taking over the world.

More Ginza at night.

The Sony Building.  Milla Jovovich (whose father is also Serbian) is the face of the latest Resident Evil 3D movie, which is a Sony movie used to promote their new 3D TVs.

Junk food non stop.  Because I'm on vacation.

Video:  Ginza at night.  (There is also an Apple store in the area but more on that in a separate post.)  The streets are eerily quiet despite the many passers-by...  nobody is shouting, laughing out loud, even dragging their feet.  The cars are driving by quietly, too.  But some other parts of Tokyo are not as quiet, as you will see soon.  Thanks by the way to everyone who is reading this.