Japan

Tokyo Observations

by Jason B. on November 18, 2010


Tokyo is a huge city as evidenced by their subway map. I don’t mind that it is a large city but what gets to me are the distances. Even skipping traffic on the subway it would never take me less than a half hour to go somewhere new. It’s not overwhelmingly big or anything, just seems to spread out for my liking.

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The long distances mean you will be hard pressed as a tourist to see more than two areas a day without feeling completely exhausted by the end. The first photo up is stereotypical Japan with the lanterns lit and a boy wearing that blue hat that just looks so Japanese. There was a festival/holiday of some sort being celebrated around the block.

One famous part of Tokyo is Shibuya which they say has the busiest intersection in the world. It’s an area with lots of shopping. See this boot store for instance.

I strongly dislike manga and the sort of Japanese comic books and cartoons. I have my reasons but that didn’t stop me from entering this store full of some of the dorkiest action figures, comics, and even cartoon porn.

Here is an interesting advertisement I noticed, “Grope in the Dark”. Engrish maybe? It’s creepy.

Another famous area for the dorky action figures, video games, maid cafes, and “cheap” (but not really) electronics is Electric City, Ahkibara.

Japanophiles must be so envious right now and also hate me when I tell them/you I did not end up playing one game. I had a good time watching others bobbing their heads and slamming the joysticks.

Best of all is the warning sign. I once heard of the teenager who died playing World of Warcraft for playing too long. Maybe they started taking the ill effects of videogames more seriously after that?

It never ends.

Back to reality for now. I was absolutely thrilled to see this woman in a few advertisements. I don’t know what it says. Maybe someone can translate it for me. But the concept is great. I saw a video where she is dancing with four of her clones as if she were a teenager.

Walking around Ahkibara and you will encounter the “maid’s” trying to attract customers to their cafes. I really wish I had visited one where they are supposed to do all sorts of strange things, even feed you by hand.

Another advertisement I really enjoyed. It makes me think about hiring a Japanese designer to create the advertisements for my businesses if they can conceive advertisements like these.

Now we have the obligatory “office” photo to prove I actually do work, sometimes. I liked the all wood themed cafe. It felt very old fashion.

That stereotype of Japanese being very orderly has some truth. The Japanese are ace when riding the escalator – always on the left side to allow people in a rush to use the right side.

Or when entering the subway it’s always done by lining up in an orderly fashion as shown below.

One evening I attended a Latin America short film festival with a Japanese friend. I heard the guy from the Motorcycle Diaries was supposed to attend but he didn’t show.The films were entertaining enough but they showed all of the credits at the very end. What happened was the lights were off and for over ten minutes the theater sat in silence watching boring white credits. Ten minutes!

The hostels in Tokyo filled up fast so when I couldn’t find any with room I tried a capsule hotel.

At 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide, and not tall enough to stand up in, they have become an affordable option to stay. The capsules do not have doors, only screens that pull down. Every bump of the shoulder on the plastic walls, every muffled cough, echoes loudly through the rows. On the ninth floor the hotel had a men’s only spa with a big hot tub, steam room, sauna, and showers. I would relax in these and when too hot would open the door and chill on the roof overlooking the river and cityscape with a perfect breeze.

Near to this particular hotel was a historic part of the city, Asakusa, where you can find a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. I liked this area best for the traditional foods you could find and sweet potato ice cream.

On a side note I just really like how Japanese letters look.

Another traditional food stand.

The Budist temple area.

A Budist temple.

The area turned even more beautiful as the sun set. Imagine how nice this could look if I were a real photographer.

Just a random Samurai (?) hanging on the side of a building

Silly Japanese comedians…

Lifesize anime charactars.

On the way home to the hotel one night I ran into this old man shouting. This was sadly the best photo I could get.

The Tokyo slave business is thriving

You’ve probably heard of the famous Tokyo fish market, right? It’s the largest fish market in the world and apparently if you have no life you can visit at 3Am to see it in full action. I went in the afternoon where it was mostly dead.

…And back near the hostel was the carnival.

So cute.

One evening I went out to a club in Shibuya for an amazing night. The place was packed and everyone their was so into the music. It was seriously one of the best places I have been. On the way home well into the Am we found these guys practicing their boxing. Or before the club at around 10PM guys had passed out by the train station.

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Japanese Fresh

by Jason B. on November 6, 2010

I didn’t plan to write an entire article about my experience with Japanese food in Tokyo. It just sort of happened when I noticed a good portion of the photos I took happened to be of the food. That is a testament to the quality and originality of Japanese cuisine.

Tokyo became the last destination of my four+ month trip through Eastern/Western Europe, Southeast Asia, and regular? Asia before flying home to the United States for some respite from constant travel. Buying a one way flight home from Asia is expensive so when it cost the same price to fly home from Japan as Hong Kong or another similar destination I figured why not have a “free” trip to Tokyo.

This is a post about food! Japanese food. My first real experience outside of a Tokyo 7/11 convenience store was this random restaurant. Like most countries on this trip I don’t speak the local language so ordering food is tricky. Some restaurants I discovered have picture menus but this one did not. Of course my first real food experience turned out the best. A waitress working there was excited to help me since she had studied in Canada for a semester.

“What do you want to try?”

I responded to her asking what she recommended. She mentioned sashimi, which I had never been a fan of. I hesitated, but ultimately went with her recommendation along with a beer from the tap.

I was thoroughly disappointed when my “meal” arrived. A few measly pieces of raw fish. I was going to have to made another trip to 7/11 to not end up starving that night, I thought. Alright, well the tuna was pretty delicious. Very soft with a rich but not fishy flavor. I can’t say it melted in my mouth but it went down easily. The white fish, I learned, is not something i’d like to have again. I ate it all because damn i’m not going to spend that much money and not eat all of the food.

Throughout the meal my waitress kept coming back to make small talk about what i’m doing here and her semester in Canada. The more we chatted the more I began to like her. I was disappointed after finishing my sashimi but as I was asking for the bill she told me my fish was still cooking. Turns out part of the meal included a healthy piece of tuna steak I had been eying in a rotisserie mini-oven. I thought the tuna that was cooking was someone else’s order and when it was ready I was so excited to try it.

The waitress and I chatted even more. When I asked about the sumo on TV she explained how the tournament works and about some of the top wrestlers. As I continued eating my tuna steak she brought over a gift – a paper scroll of the top sumo wrestlers names on a really fancy paper. Then as I finished my beer she brought over a cup of warm saki, a popular Japanese alcohol most of you are probably familiar with. We talked even more and after paying my bill I did something I very rarely do. I asked her out. And was rejected, though nicely.

Moving on, another day I tried my first bowel of ramen. Japan really has some cool technology because the way many ramen shops work is that the customer purchases a ticket with their order from a vending machine, sometimes outside the restaurant. At least for the really popular ones the customer will wait outside and when a seat opens up the order is already ready.

They let you tell them how soft or hard you want the noodles which is a cool touch to a meal that would otherwise be maybe too simple. According to ramen custom the customer is meant to slurp their meal to show the chef that they really like it.

And after finishing your meal and you’re ready to leave the cooks’ will scream “thankyou” in Japanese or something similar at the top of their lungs. Scary almost.

Here is another bowel of ramen for comparison. It’s a good budget meal at around $4-$7 a pop.

If I didn’t take advantage of Japan’s most popular food export I would be a moron. But finding sushi was not as easy as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, they eat a ton of sushi but its not like every restaurant serves it. This is some basic tuna sushi. Tuna, sushi rice, and nori.

Near my capsule hotel in Asasuka is a very traditional but touristy area of tokyo with a major temple of some sort. But near the temple is a street where they sell lots of traditional Japanese food and desserts. I found this assembly line pastry of some sort maker really cool.

Or watching this man perfect another dessert through the window.

I finished the day with sweet potato ice cream. But for dinner I settled on an overpriced chicken breast, salad,  and beer at this restaurant where they make the food in front of you.

Let’s talk sushi again. A popular kind of restaurant in Japan are these sushi conveyor belt shops. You should pick up whichever you want and at the end they total the amount of plates at your seat by the plate’s color to find the total price.

And for the best and most expensive meal in Japan I spent an afternoon at the largest fish market in the world. This is the famous place where you need to show up in the early AM to watch them auction fish. I can’t be bothered getting up that early so I settled for a nice meal at a normal hour. Inside the market there are a handful of restaurants serving up the catch of the day for around $40 or so. It’s a great deal for the quality and ammount.

And there you have it, a sample of the Japanese food I ate in Tokyo.

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