Even though I traveled to Tokyo by myself, I was able to meet-up with several friends who were either also traveling in Japan at the time or working in Japan (Michelle, my friend from University) and I was also able to meet people while I was here (like a whole bunch of people who are teaching English in Japan) so I had people I could hang out with.
I knew Tokyo (and Japan) would present me with an onslaught of new experiences and I was fully bracing for the culture shock that I would experience being plopped into the middle of this hyper-frenetic futuristic mega-metropolis of 12 million people. Unexpectedly, that culture shock never really happened. Even though Tokyo is a huge city packed to the gills with people constantly coming and going at all hours of the day and night, I found it to be clean, organized, remarkably easy to get around and I found Tokyoites to be remarkably courteous and considerate people.
What I didn't expect was to instantly take to Tokyo the way I did and I didn't expect to feel so comfortable and to frankly fall completely in love with the city the way I have.
I love how exciting and cosmopolitan Tokyo is. The city constantly hums with an excitement and energy that gets under your skin and courses through your veins. I felt so alive in Tokyo.
Tokyo carries itself with a distinguished grace but it also has a wicked sense of style. I felt so dumpy-looking and constantly felt under-dressed while in Tokyo. I was amazed how virtually everybody there seems to be a fashionista, or at least extremely style conscious. From the school kids wearing expensive cashmere Burberry scarves as accessories to their standard school uniforms to the teens in Shibuya and Harajuku with the outrageously big anime-style hair-dos (I'm talking about the guys!) and matching elaborate emo-outfits to the young salary men dressed in fine European suits, Tokyo is probably the most fashion-forward city I've ever visited, and I've been to some of the fashion capitals of the world; London, New York, Paris, Milan, Tokyo outdoes them all in terms of the everyday stylishness of its regular citizens.
Even though I only know a handful of tourist phrases in Japanese, I found it remarkably easy to get around with a combination of miming and the average Tokyoite's ability for basic English. Though they'd often coyly reply "no" when I asked "eigo ga hanasemasuka?" (do you speak English), I soon realized that they often did in fact speak it and spoke it quite well and that the "no" was just the subtle self-deprecation and humility typical of the Japanese.
Tokyo is Mecca for foodies! I ate so well while I was there. Having grown up in an Asian household the every-day foods here in Tokyo didn't really surprise me as much as it might for other Westerners. In fact, I loved being able to get prawn chips from a vending machine, and I also loved how my package of assorted rice cracker snacks included little dried, salted fish. Grabbing breakfast from Japanese bakeries every morning was a treat, I love the buns with "sausage" (aka hot dog) baked inside them or the flaky pastries filled with red bean or egg custard, since I'm so used to eating these things when I was growing up, foods that might normally seem odd to Westerners were actually familiar comfort-foods for me.
Other foodie pilgrimage sites that I visited in Tokyo include the Tsukiji Wholesale Fish Market, I visited on my first day since I was jet lagged and you have to get there super early (the action happens between 4am and 8am). Seeing the acres upon acres of every type of seafood imaginable was an awe-inspiring site. I was also able to cap off my visit with a breakfast of the freshest and most delicious sushi I had ever tasted, I'm totally spoiled now, that previously-frozen crap we have at home just won't cut it anymore!
Another interesting site was Kappabashi-dori, the restaurant wholesale supply district where they carried every type of kitchen and restaurant implement you could think of (yes, including kitchen sinks). I especially loved the stores that supplied the plastic food models that many Japanese restaurants display outside their doors, I was tempted to buy one of those faux plates of spaghetti bolognaise, complete with a fork sticking in the air.
The department stores all have restaurant floors where you'll find a collection of eateries ranging from noodle shops to sushi bars and yakitori houses to Italian spaghetti houses and oyster bars. I took full advantage of these essentially upscale food courts. Department stores also have large food markets in their basements and I hit up the one at Isetan regularly to pick up bentos for dinner. The variety of the food available in these places was stunning and I loved the fact that it was all laid out like a fancy boutique. When I bought a piece of cake at a French pastries counter the attendant basically gift-wrapped it for me.
The standard of service in Tokyo is outstanding, it's the best service I have ever had. The service people I encountered in Tokyo were without exception, extremely courteous, polite and went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. This fact was especially amazing since there is no tipping in Japan so they really do their jobs so well out of a sense of duty and propriety and not because they want a bigger tip for their service.
Other than the food I just enjoyed being in Tokyo and seeing the sites and having uniquely-Tokyo experiences;
Meeting up with friends at the Hachiko statue in Shibuya then crossing the insane all-cross intersection at the same time as hundreds of other people at Shibuya Crossing,
Window shopping and gawking at all the haute-couture boutiques in Ginza and Omote-Sando,
People-watching in Harajuku (yep, lots of real-life Harajuku girls, and boys),
Shopping in Akihabara the electronics and defacto-Manga district in Tokyo and seeing the girls dressed up as french maids (Maid cafes are huge in Akihabara),
Visiting the international district of Roppongi, going up to the top floor of Roppongi Hills and seeing a breathtaking aerial view of Tokyo from the outdoor Sky Deck on the roof.
Getting lost for half an hour while trying to find my exit in Shinjuku station (the station is the second-busiest commuter train station in the world, serving 3.5 million people daily and it is gigantic, if you take the wrong exit you can end up miles from your destination),
Walking around the blazing neon streets of Shinjuku (the neighborhood where I was staying) was a total sensory experience. It was the Tokyo that I'd always dreamt of. Basically, take all the lights and people on the entire Las Vegas Strip, concentrate it and condense it down to the size of about one New York City block and then repeat and you have Shinjuku. It was constantly a beehive of activity and was as busy at 3am as it was at 3pm.
Also in Shinjuku, I had a great time walking through Kabukicho, the red light district and seeing all the "love hotels" (exactly what you'd think they are with that name) and the Nigerian guys trying to hustle me into strip joints.
These were just some of the highlights from my trip I could go on and on.
I did manage to get out of Tokyo for a couple day-trips. I went temple- and shrine-hopping in Nikko and Kamakura and visited Japan's second largest city Yokohama.
Yokohama was an interesting trip, it has some stunning architecture and the cruise ship terminal in the port was amazing. I also visited Yokohama's famous Chinatown (the largest in Japan) but was somewhat disappointed in it. It definitely is large (several square blocks) but there was something a bit off about it. I described it as a Chinatown if it was run by Disney. There are several Chinese-style buildings and monuments, the lanterns were strung along the alleyways in the hyper-kitchy style but it all seemed a little fake to me. Chinatowns are supposed to be ghettos, they're typically located in the oldest most run-down parts of town, they're supposed to be a bit gritty with all sorts of funky smells and Chinatown restaurants are supposed to be a little bit intimidating to non-Chinese. Think of Spadina Street in Toronto or Canal Street in New York City. Yokohama's Chukagai was clean, the restaurants were impeccable and many had people on the street promoting them, it really made it feel a bit too sterile and artificial to be authentic. Plus when I subtly tried to drop a few words in Cantonese they reverted to Japanese pretty quickly . . . you know it's not a real Chinese restaurant when the owners speak the local language fluently. As for the food, I walked around sampling different items, the food was okay but nothing special and I didn't come across anything I hadn't had a much better version of in Toronto or even in Ottawa.
But every time I day tripped outside of Tokyo I found myself anxious to get back to the city.
I'm completely enamored with Tokyo. I came expecting to feel a bit alienated and alone by the end of my trip and was completely surprised at how comfortable I was in the city. Maybe it's a more-telling truth that after flying half-way around the world and immersing myself in this city of 12 million people, virtually none of whom I know and with whom I can barely communicate, I don't feel any more alienated or less alone than I do back home.
In any case, I really felt at home in Tokyo and it has become one of my all-time favourite cities and I would totally love to spend more time there, maybe even live and work there for a while. I really am sad to have to leave Tokyo and can't wait to come back!
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