01st Oct 2007
Japan - My 10-day Adventure of Sightseeing and Aikido
Memories of the 2007 AAA/AAI Japan Trip
by Jordan McClure
Trip pictures available at http://ninjaplatypus.com/photos/travel/Japan2007/
Prologue
The Land of the Rising Sun
I’d heard Japan called that all my life, but never really thought about it or knew why. My first morning in Tokyo, the origin was painfully apparent. By 5:30 am, the sun was already bright and high in the sky, shining right in my window. I’d arrived the night before, experiencing a culture shock unlike anywhere else in my travels. Unbeknownst to me, the express train from Narita airport dropped me off at world’s busiest train station at one of its busiest times. Shinjuku Station is used by 3.3 million people every day. That’s more than the entire city of Chicago.
I’d failed to meet up with my sensei and the rest of my group at the airport, and my cell phone wasn’t working, so I was on my own, with just a hotel name and a small map that didn’t list the hotel. As you might imagine, the world’s busiest train station is not a small place. In fact, the small blue rectangle for Shinjuku Station has more than 200 exits. Donning my giant backpack, I flowed through the swarm of people toward one of the main doors.
Walking through the doors, I left reality and stepped into a science fiction movie. I was in a plaza, packed solid with teenagers and college-aged kids as far as the eye could see in any direction. Off in the distance, the dusk sky glowed with the neon lights that perpetually light Tokyo’s night sky. The kids were well-dressed, just starting their Saturday night out on the town, hanging out in the plaza and talking with their friends. Nobody was moving. I asked a few people where my hotel was and they pointed directions. Miraculously, I was in the right place; the Shinjuku Prince hotel was visible in front of me, about a half mile in the distance. Way off to the left, I finally spotted a single-file line of people winding their way through the stationary crowd. I merged in, quickly flowing down the small incline to the Shinjuku Prince hotel.
Friday/Saturday
My journey had started about 16 hours prior. The flight was long - just over 12 hours long, but we were served a couple pieces of sushi on the plane to whet my appetite on the plane. Customs was a breeze and then I spent the next hour at Narita looking for the rest of our group, who’d flown another airline and arrived 45 minutes earlier. They were in another terminal and I couldn’t find them. My cell phone wouldn’t work either, which was quite a shock, given that it’s worked all over the world including several third-world countries.
Finally, I gave up, got some yen at the airport ATM, and bought a train ticket to Tokyo. The train was clean and fast, and got me to the Shinjuku station in the neighborhood of our hotel, in a little over an hour. I stepped out of the train station just as it was starting to get dark and Good Lord, there were a lot of people. Seriously, the whole sidewalk was completely filled with well-dressed Japanese just standing around. In the middle, a small trickle of people was moving through. I made my way through and walked the 3 blocks or so to the Shinjuku Prince hotel, my home for the first three nights.
I checked in and called my sensei, who was about to head out to dinner in half an hour, just enough time to unpack a few things and refresh with a shower. The room was small, but actually a bit larger than I was expecting, with a nice view of the neon lights of Shinjuku out the window.
In the lobby, I met my sensei and his family, along with a sensei and student from our Palatine dojo, plus another guy from Massachusetts. We walked a few blocks to a noodle shop Sensei had eaten at before, a tiny little place where you order from vending machines outside. The Japanese are almost always in a hurry, and everything in Tokyo is designed to be fast and handle the crowds - vending machine restaurants but one example of that. $5 and 5 minutes later, I had a steaming hot bowl of noodles with pork sitting in front of me - very tasty.
We ate quickly and then walked through the streets of Shinjuku, full of bright lights, people, and stores before ending up on the roof of a mall for drinks. It was 9pm on Saturday night, and the place was packed with drunk, young Japanese - a very lively crowd, frequently singing, chanting, or just participating in drunken hijinks. The Japanese start their drinking early and since they’re not terribly big people, they tend to get drunk fairly quickly. By the time the bar closed at 10, it seemed everyone had had enough.
We headed out, and walked around the area of our hotel for another hour or so before heading back. To my surprise, we were in Tokyo’s red light district, called Kabuki-cho, and the streets were full of prostitutes and the young, trendy anime-hair guys who recruit them - many so dressed up that it was hard to tell if they were male or female. Despite being in one of the seediest areas of Tokyo, I couldn’t help notice how clean and safe everything was. It wasn’t scary at all, nor was it unusual to see kids or young women walking the streets alone.
Sunday
I woke up early Sunday morning and got my first taste of why Japan is called the Land of the Rising Sun. By 5:30am, the sunny was bright and high in the sky, shining right in my window. Fearful of jet-lag, I forced myself to sleep a few more hours and headed downstairs to meet the group, with an aikidoka and her mother added to it, at around 8am. We were supposed to train at Hombu Dojo, the world headquarters for aikido, that morning, but due to a death in the family, Sensei had to head up to his family’s hometown that day, leaving us with the day free in Tokyo with our “guide” - who knew the city and some Japanese - gone for the day.
After breakfast, we started walking, first over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which Sensei mentioned was beautiful and offered great views of the city. The view did not disappoint. Next on the agenda was a big park on the southeast side of Shinjuku, but it had started raining, so we walked a couple blocks underground into one of several malls attached to the Shinjuku station. The station itself is the busiest in the world, used by an average of 3.3 million people per day, so there’s no shortage of eating and shopping nearby.
We wandered the basement of the wall, ogling the expensive fruit ($200 or more for a melon, $50 for a mango, $25 for a peach) and sampling the delectable treats within. The fruit and other food was expensive, but perfect in every way. I wonder what they do with the damaged or overripe fruit, since I never encountered any during the whole trip. I procured a piece of chocolate cake - possibly the moistest I’d ever had, some mango pudding, a slightly less expensive mango, and some cherries. Oddly enough, the cherries were from California, although I’ve never come across cherries this good in the States. Not only was the food good, but everything you buy is packaged and wrapped to make a perfect gift.
After wandering the food court, we split ways. The ladies from Houston went shopping in the mall, while the three guys headed to the upper floors to find a proper meal. We wandered around for a while, before finally settling on a random restaurant that looked good and didn’t have too long a wait. We had table service this time, but the food was still extremely fast and tasty. I had what I’d later learn is called katsudon - rice with scrambled eggs, some onion, and a breaded port cutlet on top.
Now fully sated, we met back up with the women and decided to go on a bit of an adventure. Our “guide” was gone for the day, but we braved the train system, riding three stops over to the area of Shibuya, home of the world’s busiest intersection. Particularly in Tokyo’s train stations, it becomes clear why the Japanese are such a precise and polite society: there are so many people, that anything short of perfection would result in chaos, and delay at least several thousand people. Despite the fact that train fares are based on distance, the fare machines are fast and simple to use, even for foreigners like us. Similarly the turnstiles allow for a continuous flow of people without fail. It’s hard to explain, but if you put a long line of people in front of one for an hour, I’d bet one of Tokyo’s turnstiles would process five times as many people as one of the ones in Chicago.
We took the Yamanote line to Shibuya, and despite the fact that the train train every 3 minutes in both directions, the car was pretty full. 7 minutes later, we were in Shibuya. Right outside the train station was Shibuya’s main intersection, purportedly the busiest intersection in the world, and made famous by the movie Lost in Translation. Watching the people flow into the empty intersection when the light changed was truly awe inspiring, and I think I could have just stood there and watched that it all day. We didn’t, though, instead splitting up for a couple hours of wandering and shopping.
Shibuya was noticeably different from Shinjuku - still very few tourists, but replacing the seediness of Kabuki-cho was a younger, more artsy crowd amidst trendier clothing stores and record shops. I walked around for a while, checking out one of Tokyo’s arcades - which along with Pachinko parlors are on just about every corner, and eventually ending up at the HMV music store, which I purchased a couple albums. Also in HMV, I ran into a French-speaking man and woman who needed help with their English homework and somehow got the idea that I might be able to help. The assignment was to translate a bunch of idiomatic expressions, some of which made sense and some hilarious ones the made no sense whatsoever.
After another packed train ride, we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap. I also wanted to go for a run, but now after 24 hours in Tokyo, I realized that would be impossible. Whether midnight, 7am, or 5pm, it was just way too crowded to run without taking a half hour train ride first.
Refreshed from our naps, a couple of us headed out and tried to find sushi for dinner. We wandered past tons of restaurants in Shinjuku for about half an hour, but oddly couldn’t find an open one - particularly amazing since when we weren’t looking for one earlier that day they were everywhere we looked. We finally settled on a random noodle shop that also had good pot stickers.
Monday
Monday morning, the sun woke me up bright and early, for we were meeting at 5:30am to head to Hombu Dojo for our first aikido training. I got to the hotel lobby early, because there’s one thing you learn quickly about Japanese culture: never be late. The train always leaves on time and if you’re one minute late, you’ll miss it. To keep someone of respect, such as a sensei or their mother waiting is also a big sign of disrespect. After a quick snack at McDonald’s (nothing else nearby was open), we hopped in cabs and drove to Hombu, located in Shinjuku-ku, about a 5-10 minute drive. The area right around Shinjuku train station is called Shinjuku, while the more outlying areas of Shinjuku are called Shunjuku-ku. the Hombu building was fairly unassuming, and if the cab hadn’t pulled right up to it, I’m not sure I would have found it. We walked in, Sensei explained in his limited Japanese that we were visiting, and we paid our 1500 yen mat fees in case and went up to change.
One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is that Japan is an extremely cash-based society. Aside from hotels and stores that cater specifically to tourists, almost no place takes credit cards. To make things even more difficult, cash was hard to come by. Each ATM only took certain American cards and it was often hard to find the right one - it took our Massachusetts delegate two days to find an ATM that’d read his card.
We changed quickly and headed onto the mat, about half an hour before class. The mat was a decent size, maybe twice the size of our mat in Chicago and very, very hard, with just a thin layer of well worn tatami covering what looked like plywood. I could feel every small mistake in my rolls, but fortunately, that would not be an issue since before class started, the mat became so full that each pair of people had 2 or 3 square meters to work with, making rolling very ill-advised.
Doshu (aikido’s top ranking individual) instructed the class, and while the aikido was more or less what I was used to, many of the little things were different. We worked with the same partner for the entire class - in my case our MA delegate, and Doshu did very little instruction. He would demonstrate a technique just 2-4 times, and then we’d get 5 minutes or so to work on it. If you blinked (which I almost did for the first one), you missed it. There was no talking and, while he did wander the room while we were practicing, he didn’t provide me with any advice.
The class only lasted an hour and while it wasn’t as intense as our classes in the States due to the lack of room to roll or run, it was still totally exhausting, though, thanks to the crowding, an almost complete lack of ventilation, and having almost no rest between techniques. It was fun an educational, though, and buy the end, I was soaking wet and felt like I’d put in a good full day’s work. One problem with that - it was only 7:30 in the morning.
After class, we met our AAI representative from Dubai and two from Slovenia, then had free time in Shinjuku until early afternoon, while Sensei met with Doshu. We walked over to the government building again, since a few people hadn’t been there, and then walked through the electronics district to the train station. Electronics stores in Japan are similar to what I’d seen in Bangkok and Singapore - unbelievably huge, with every product you can possibly imagine. And they’re everywhere too. Ah, it’s nice not to have to pick between Best Buy and Circuit City.
Lunch was a delectable spicy chicken soup at a place that had bowls of fresh raw garlic out on the table. Mmmmm… Out of respect for those I’d be training with that evening though, I had to forego.
For the evening’s training, we were invited out to Meiji University in Tokyo to train at the college club that Kobayashi sensei has been instructing there since he graduated nearly 50 years ago. Sensei warned us that the Meiji kids rather worshipped Kobayashi sensei. That turned out to be an understatement. We arrived more than 45 minutes before class (since in Japan it’s better to be an hour early than a minute late), and much to my surprise, more than 50 Meiji students were already there, in their gis ready for class. The practice space was gigantic, at least the size of 6 wrestling mats. When we arrived, the younger students were washing down the mats and the yudansha’s hakamas were all laid out, waiting for their owners. They welcomed us into change, and about 20 minutes before class, we lined up in seiza, with us seated at the front with the other yudansha.
When Kobayashi sensei arrived, several junior students ran to meet him, waiting on him hand and foot. Class started right on time, and it was a blast. The Meiji students were very friendly and had a ton of energy, plus it was pretty much the only Japan training we had with enough room to roll and fall without bumping into other people. Kobayashi’s teaching style was unique (to me) as well. Rather than start by showing techniques himself, he’d call up one of the most junior students, grab them, and shout out a technique. They’d fumble around, unsure of what to do, and eventually would do something. Once they did, Kobayashi sensei would demonstrate the same and then we’d practice. Sometimes, it was the technique he shouted; sometimes not. He used this teaching-style throughout the week in Japan, and it seemed to work great.
But enough about the aikido; class was fantastic and afterwards, the Meiji students continued to wait on Kobayashi hand-and-foot, even washing him in the shower and dressing afterwards. Afterwards, we headed with Kobayashi sensei and the senior students to a two campus bars/restaurants for beer, food, and sake. Much was consumed. Interestingly, when guests are present, the senior students are expected to come out afterwards, and pay their share of the bill, regardless of whether or not they drank or whether or not they could afford it (these are college students after all). One of the downsides of Japanese customs, I suppose. We returned to Shinjuku quite late, and got some much needed rest.
Tuesday
Tuesday I won my daily battle with the Rising Sun and slept in a little bit. On the agenda today was a trip to Hiroaki Kobayashi sensei’s dojo in Tokorozawa about a 45-minute ride on the train from Shinjuku. The dojo itself, on a quiet, charming little side street near the Kokukoen train stop, was beautiful, made of natural wood, with modern mats about twice the size of ours in Chicago. In true Japanese fashion, every space of the dojo was put to good use, including changing room shelves that converted into tables and a toilet with a faucet on top that turned on when you flushed and drained to fill the tank back up.
We arrived early, so the uchideshi served us tea, after which we drove a few minutes for a buffet lunch. The buffet was chock full of strange Japanese food that I had no idea what it was, most of which was tasty. Accompanying all this food and drink was a dizzying array of dishes and cups, each of which had its own use. Hiroaki sensei pointed out a couple times to me that this dish was for that or this condiment went with that, but it was impossible to figure out. Also here, I tried the fine Japanese delicacy of natto - basically moldy beans. It wasn’t good, but wasn’t gag-worthy either. I think if I ate it every day, I might even acquire a taste for it.
After lunch, Sensei had meetings with many of the local instructors, so we were on our own again. We had a few hour to kill and a project - to get bullet train tickets to Kyoto for the next day. To accomplish this, Hiroaki sensei recommended we head to Kawagoe, then end of the train line we’d taken to Kokukoen. He said it was an interesting area to walk around and more importantly, the station there should have a much-needed English-speaking employee.
At Kawagoe, we eventually found the English-speaking representative, quite possibly the nicest gentleman I’ve ever encountered. He was quite helpful, and managed to help us buy the 14 tickets we needed to Kyoto, a process that took more than an hour and cost roughly $200 apiece. Luckily, we managed to scrounge up enough cash, because very few credit cards were working (only American Express seemed to be reliable). The translator man spoke of the many wonders of Kawagoe the entire time - he was also something like the cultural ambassador for the city - and gave us tips for what to do in our remaining couple hours there.
We walked down the main street, stopping by several nice little temples nestled amongst the stops, shopping, and snacking. I tried a purple ice cream cone - the only flavor available. It was yam-flavored, and it’s better than it sounds!
After Kawagoe, it was time for the 7pm class at the Tokorozawa dojo. There were maybe 20 regular students there which, along with us, filled up the mat almost as much as at Hombu. Hiroaki sensei taught, and we focused on ushiro-tekubidori techniques, followed by some weapons work at the end. After class, we ate sushi and beer at the dojo, and each of us received three gifts for visiting Japan - one from each Kobayashi sensei and one from Hatayama sensei, whose dojo we were supposed to visit, but couldn’t, due to funeral on Sunday. The Japanese people are nice that way, always giving gifts!
We caught the last train back to Shinjuku and before heading to bead, I walked a block down the street to replenish my supply of Pocky. On the walk, I was approached by an astonishing number or prostitutes. I’d walked around Kabukicho at night a bunch of times before, but never alone, and apparently the prostitutes only bug you if you’re alone. I did not make a purchase, even though the rates were quite reasonable - just $15 per hour!
Wednesday
Wednesday morning, I awoke early to a very odd TV show, demonstrating how to make animals out of food. They made a Hello Kitty out of bologna and cheese, a lion out of a sausage and an egg yolk, a tiger out of something I couldn’t identify, and a bear out of an olive. I wandered over to the train station for breakfast, finding a great little coffee shop that had warm chocolate and banana croissants that were to die for. I then met up with the group, and we headed to Tokyo station to catch our shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. We got to Tokyo about an hour early, giving us just enough time to eat breakfast again before the train (the portions are so small in Japan that it’s easy to eat 5-6 meals per day). I had a traditional Japanese breakfast of some very bland rice porridge, along with an assortment of small, very strong-flavored thingamabobs. I can’t say it was very good, but luckily I’d had Breakfast #1 and a supply of Pocky to hold me over.
The bullet train was indeed very fast, and passed through some beautiful countryside. In just over two hours, were arrived at the main Kyoto train station. For some reason, we were split up in two hotels - those with single rooms were on one side of town, while those with doubles or triples were on the other. We found an English speaker in the station to give us directions to our hotel - he was very nice (a continuing pattern) and actually walked us most of the 20-minute walk there.
Unlike Tokyo, Kyoto was much more of a normal city, with modern buildings side-by-side with old ones or temples throughout the city. It was more like the suburbs - less people, less skyscrapers, and more spread out. After checking into the hotel, I met up with Sensei, his family, and a few others, and we took taxis over to the Golden Pavilion, a gorgeous pagoda amongst beautiful Japanese gardens. At the Pavilion were quite a few groups of school kids, all of whom had assignments to find English-speaking tourists and asked them some questions. Well actually, only the girls seemed to have to do this for some reason. We helped out a few kids, took some pictures, and they gave us little origami cranes as thanks.
After the pagoda, we searched for some food, not an easy task at 3pm in Kyoto. We finally ended up at what seemed to me to be a Japanese Denny’s - the main difference being that since it was Japan, the food and service were actually great. Against my better judgement, I decided to try the unagi. Sure, it doesn’t sound too scary when you say it in Japanese, but in English that’s freshwater eel. It’s a specialty of Kyoto, though, so I figured if I was going to try it, this was the place. The eel was served grilled with a barbeque sauce, accompanied by rice, cold soba noodles, and some random pickles that come with every meal in Japan. To my surprise, the unagi was very, very good - some of the best food I had on the trip!
After dinner, we headed back and I was exhausted. Since it was still early, I forced myself to walk around a couple hours before bed, stopping by a couple of the small specialty stores that are everywhere in old Kyoto and being shown up by the Japanese kids at a couple arcades.
Thursday
Thursday morning I awoke early and was very excited that I could finally run. It was raining, but I threw my passport and iPod into a plastic bag and ran towards the outskirts of town, eventually ending up running through a nice little park and along some bike paths I found that paralleled a river/canal system that ran through some farms. Thanks to getting a bit lost, I wound up running way farther than I’d planned, nearly 8 miles.
Breakfast was included at the hotel, after which we joined forces with the group from the other hotel and took a train out to Arashiyama and Sagano, an area on northwest side of Kyoto that was recommended by just about every local when we mentioned we were going to Kyoto. It was indeed a wonderful area, and we toured another temple with beautiful gardens and walked through a bamboo forest. For lunch, I had curry noodles , followed by a delicious crepe for dessert.
Since it was raining all day, we headed back to our hotel area early, and I spent the afternoon walking by the small shops and in the arcade again. For dinner, I met up with Sensei and his family and he went to what his hotel said was the best shabu-shabu restaurant in town. Shabu-shabu is kind of like fondue, except instead of cheese, you are dipping and cooking the food in a broth. It wasn’t cheap - maybe $50 a person, but it was good. Really, really, really good. The thinly cut beef we cooked was some of the best I’ve ever had - and coming from someone who’s sampled many of Chicago’s top steak houses, that’s high praise.
Friday
The day started with running again, and I got lost again too, although not as badly as yesterday. The rest of the crew from my hotel was headed over to the Golden Pavilion, so we parted ways and I stopped by Nijo castle. It certainly wasn’t like the castles I was familiar with in the West. Sure, it had a moat and big stone walls, but once you got past that, everything was very open and spacious. Quite beautiful though. I also managed to run into Sensei and his family there, and afterwards we took a cab over to NE Kyoto and walked around to do a little shopping. The area had a number of martial arts supply stores, and along with many specialty shops and a 7-story handicraft center that, was quite touristy and full of tacky souvenirs.
Lunch was had at the Kyoto train station, where I had a rather sub-standard katsudon. Fortunately, there was plenty of time after that meal, so I washed it down with a couple $8 slices of the Greatest Pie Ever. Later that day we experienced a very rare occurrence - our bullet train back to Tokyo was actually late, by almost an hour. The train employees would only say it was due to “traffic”, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it would have been nice to know what was going on.
Shinjuku was crowded as usual when we got back, it being Friday night and all. For dinner, I went with Sensei and our Slovenian representatives for dinner at Takagawa train station. The restaurant featured grilled food that you cook yourself, and while quite tasty, this was the only time the entire trip I had what I’d describe as slow service at the restaurant. In actuality, we were probably served at a normal American-restaurant speed, but once you get used to the lightning fast service in Japan, you really miss it when it’s gone! We took the last train back into Tokyo and got back to Tokyo at a quarter to 1.
Saturday
Another early start meant breakfast at McDonald’s again. We caught one of the first trains out to Kokukoen, where we met up with a bunch of others for a bus out to Tsumagoi, where Kobayashi sensei was teaching a seminar for the weekend. It was about a 4-hour bus ride, and we stopped briefly at two rest areas along the way. In Japan, when they say you have 10 minutes to go to the bathroom and get a bite to eat at a rest area, that means the bus is leaving in 10 (or maybe 9) minutes.
Along the drive, we finally got to see Mt. Fuji, and we ate a lunch of very scary (but not untasty) looking bento boxes at a volcanic park along the way. It was a moon-like landscape, although I’ve seen that before on the big island of Hawai’i.
We arrived in Tsumagoi in mid-afternoon, and checked into three little bed-and-breakfast-style hotels there. Finally, we were away from the hustle and bustle of Japanese city life. There were no trains, no lights, not even really any stores or people in the area around the hotels - it was nice to truly be able to relax. After unpacking, we all loaded back up into cars and drove 10 minutes to Tsumagoi dojo for evening training. The dojo was tucked away down a tiny road in the middle of the forest, with a running stream flowing out back. The perfect place to take a couple weeks off or just retired to, the dojo itself was built by hand by Yamawaki sensei, the chief instructor there.
Class was fun, but very crowded as was the norm for the trip. Towards the end, though, a bunch of people went outside to work on weapons, and we had the area to do some more spacious training. Afterwards, we headed into town for a brief visit to Japanese-style hot springs, which was the perfect way to relax after the long bus ride and training.
Dinner was served at our bed-and-breakfast, and much to my surprise, it was more-or-less Western-style Italian food - a nice break for a change! Once dinner was complete, it was party time, which between all the college students and Kobayashi sensei’s giant jug of shochu (strong sake wine), was quite a lot of fun.
Sunday
Sunday morning started off with an optional (for those who hadn’t partied too hard) asa-keiko, or morning training. The class was slow, relaxing, and not too intense - perfect for this early in the morning. Afterwards, we ate a breakfast of yogurt with fruit and eggs, and had a little time to relax at the B&B and/or walk around the cabbage farms surrounding the area. Afternoon training was a little more intense, and I went with the group practicing empty-handed technique again, as did the rest of the AAA crowd. Even better, my sensei was on the mat, the first time he was really training the entire trip, due to the lung infection he was fighting (he was actually in the hospital the day before we left, and was not supposed to travel). Kobayashi sensei even invited him to teach for a few minutes at the end. For lunch, we had beef curry, which was really, really, really good.
Monday
Monday morning, I awoke early for another trip to Hombu dojo. Only me and one girl and our group made it, and the class was taught by Sugawara sensei rather than Doshu. Nevertheless, it was identical in form and teaching-style to my last Hombu class. My partner this time was an American from Minnesota who had been living in Japan for 8 years and had started aikido at Hombu 1-2 years ago. That’s a tough way to learn!
After class, I freshened up back at the hotel and then headed out for a long day of walking on my own. I started out taking the train to the Marunouchi district, where I could not help but swing by the Pokemon Center. Finally, I’d found some place in Japan where annoying little kids ran around screaming and begging their parents for stuff; younger kids were noticeably absent from any other place we’d been. From there, I walked through marunochi over by the Imperial Palace and Imperial Gardens, which were closed to the public. Apparently, the Palace grounds are only open for one or two days near the Christmas holiday. It was still a nice area, though, and surrounding the moat were a number of old Japanese women sketching the gatehouses.
My walk was just beginning and from the palace, I walked down into the Ginza district. This, along with Marunochi, were business areas, full of businessmen and more like the downtown area of any other major city. In Ginza, I stopped by the Sony building and a fruit store, to admire more $200+ melons. After eating a few snacks, I then hopped in a cab to the Tsukiji Fish Market. I’d already missed the market’s main attraction, the fish auction at 4:30am, but the area was still bustling with seafood shoppers and with businessmen who stopped in for a quick lunch. The market was filled with tiny food stalls, most empty or nearly empty, usually with only 4 stools available for dining. Every now and then, one of the stalls would be filled up, though, with a line of 10-20 people waiting to sit - it was easy to tell the good places. I ducked into a sushi boat restaurant for lunch, eating unbelievably good sushi - undoubtedly the best and freshest I’d ever had.
Between the snacking and the sushi I was stuffed, but I had more walking ahead of me. I had 12 hours on a plane tomorrow to rest. I went back down into the subway and rode over to Ueno to check out the large park there. It was a nice area with a huge lake filled with lilies and koi. I walked around there for about an hour, then strolled through the Ameyoko shopping district before hopping on a train to Harajuku, Tokyo’s teen/tween hangout and shopping district.
Harajuku was indeed filled with school girls and boys catching up on their fashion, eating crepes, and generally shopping and hanging out. One street over, in the Ameyoko district was a different scene, with just about every major international clothing/fashion store putting in an appearance - not unlike Michigan Avenue. I strolled around for a while, eventually finding a huge 7-story toy store that was filled with excellent Japanese junk.
After a couple hours rest in the hotel, I ventured out to find some dinner, running into some others from our group in the lobby. We walked over to an Irish Pub for diner, where I had the spaghetti-of-the-day, which turned out to be a not-all-that-tasty clam dish in a white sauce. After dinner, we made a quick trip over to Shibuya, so we could walk around and see what the area was like at night.
Tuesday
Tuesday morning, I had just a few hours in Tokyo before I needed to head to the airport for my flight back. I grabbed another delectable banana chocolate croissant at the train station and headed to Shibuya one more time to check out a record store and a big manga shop there. The manga shop turned out to be too elusive to me, but I did find the record store, along with a tasty lunch of curry and a good assortment of Pocky to bring back with me to the States.
The flight was long, uneventful, and relatively comfortable, since my upgrade to business class went through. On board, we were served a delicious Japanese lunch, probably the most impressive airline meals I’ve come across and a sad reminder that my stay in the land free of garbage cans and full of of cheap, efficient transportation, fast and affordable food, was over.
Jordan McClure is a 3rd kyu student at Tenshinkan dojo in Chicago, IL.
