Second Day in Tokyo, Japan
Last night we went to bed really early because of jet lag. My parents were up since about 3am and i think i woke up at about 4:30am. My dad was READY TO GO and while we were kinda up, we were just crusin’ still in our PJs and everything. When we finally got ready to start the day, we decided to go to Ueno Park via train (pretty much the best way to get anywhere in Japan especially Tokyo). Not realizing it was work day and about 8:30am, we headed the the train station amongst a sea of “salary men” dressed in suits. We took one look and said… no way! We arent getting on the train! We decided to wait it out and it was much better after 9am when i guess everyone has to be at work. It was very entertaining to watch. Just when you think not one more person can fit on the train, someone comes running and shoves their body in.
While we were killing time between rush hour, we went to Anderson’s Bakery within the train station and got some breakfast. So yummy! I think we have one of these bakeries in San Fran’s Japantown.
I had the most awesome sweet potato pastry, along with some peach juice. My katakana reading skills definitely came in handy, all though, sometimes, for the life of me even if i could read the letters i COULD NOT figure out what some stuff was! I felt like a retard sounding it out all slow….
Here we are waiting for the next train (not for long, trains come very often). We got a Japan Rail Pass for our 1-week stay so we could ride unlimited. It is only offered to tourists. This first train ride we took the Yamanote line – which makes a big circular loop around the city.
We arrived an Ueno Park which i suppose is comparable to Central Park of New York City – but probably a bit smaller. Took a walk around and saw a bunch of stone lanterns.
I forgot what you call these but i guess they are probably something similar to omamori where they are pieces of wood that you leave at a temple or alter as an offering and you can write you wish on the other side of it.
We laughed at this because it is a fake temple – like in Hollywood where they have a facade and then a backdrop of the rest of the building! The painting was quite faded too so kinda obvious but it was still fun.
While in the park we also went to a museum with buddha statues, samurai swords and warrior clothing, old paintings and scriptures, etc. It was weird to see things SO old like year 600? I can’t even imagine… no photos allowed in there so nothing to post.
After the park we went nearby to a little corridor of storefronts called Ameyayokocho. We had a little trouble finding it but with my guidebook we made it. I didn’t think that i would have trouble saying any Japanese names since i am pretty comfortable with the language in that way, but boy was i wrong. Some of the names are just so long, its like, you have to make yourself separate it in two just to say it!
There wasn’t anything too amazing here, just a bunch of little stores selling junk like cheap purses, food and grocery items, arcades etc. They did have and even a pet store and a pachinko parlor though, which was interesting. Japan is noted for their excessive amounts of vending machines, like, do you need this many in this area?
We couldn’t get by an arcade without trying one of the games. Just look a how cute this one is! Oh my all the graphics and writing. The game was a taiko drum but very similar to Guitar Hero where you drum on the beat. Jeff did pretty good at the game, it just kept going.. play song, pass, next song, play, pass, next song. I think we ended up just leaving after a while. We got our money’s worth (yens worth that is – more specifically).
After the shopping and arcade playing we hopped back the train and went to Akihabara, known as the electronic shopping district. Once there we first stopped for lunch. We veered toward curry but someone chickened out and we all ended up at a burger joint. I had a Teriyaki burger, and apparently, its standard to give two chicken nuggests as a side to this! I thought that was funny. Meal was just ok, a fun experience to eat “american” food in Japan.
This is Yodobashi-Akiba, a HUGE electronics store. Well they sell more than that – they have about 8 or 9 floors selling stuff ranging from computers to phones, home electronics/appliance (vacuums, rice cookers, hair dryers, fridges), MP3 players, game consoles, etc. There was also office supplies, beauty supplies and a big toy section. I think i spent a couple hours in there but amazingly DID NOT buy anything! Still a great experience.
We turned in early for the night, a bit tired and still jetlagged. For dinner i think we went to food court again!! But i did snap this photo at 7-11 of what looks to be a hot dog bun with yakisoba noodles in it! Only Japan!
I also snapped this photo today outside of some store… i still don’t understand exactly what they are selling! But it had a cat on it and i liked the Engrish. I think this is the only Engrish picture i took, i didnt really see anything too amazing outrageous — at least not as much as i thought i would/was hoping.