Tokyo, Japan 22.04

The security for entering Japan was quite strict. We were fingerprinted and photographed as we passed through immigration. Also, we had our bags opened and checked for the first time since we began travelling. They asked us lots of questions, then told us we could continue on our way.

Artur thought the guy was just curious, but Loren was pretty sure that the seemingly casual questions they ask are just to see if you stumble over your responses or if you seem nervous. Could just be too many episodes of border security in Australia, that she was forced to sit through :)

Finding Accomodation
We had organised to try couch surfing for the first time, but when we arrived we realised that the place was quite far out from the centre of Tokyo. Our trip to Japan is a bit of a whirlwind tour, so we didn't want to waste time in transit. Also, Loren was still quite sick, and it wouldn't have been very nice to pass her cold on to the 60 year woman who was to be our host.

Japanese 'fugu' or pufferfish, very poisonous, but a delicacy in Japan

After a great many phone calls, we found one place with decent prices that could take us for the night. They only had male and female dorms, not mixed ones, but it sounded okay. The place that we arrived at was completely spotless, but had a strange smell to it. It was decorated in a very rustic, traditional Japanese style. However, despite being well decorated, there was more atmosphere on the moon than in this hostel.

From the very beginning, we felt as though we were intruding on someone else's space. There were nazi signs posted absolutely everywhere telling us what we could and could not do. "No mobiles!", "Shoes off here!", "Put your sheets on this way!", "No movies on the computer!", "Clean up after yourself!"It was quite intimidating. The owner just lay on the couch in the communal area where the TV was. But it looked like no one else dared to actually use that 'communal'area.

The place was deathly silent despite being well before midnight. Everyone was already hiding out in their rooms. Loren's room was full of butch American women, so she was a little intimidated, and torn between being in the room or out in the tomb of a hostel.

We had to pay to use the computer 'per person'. So the guy sat in the background watching like a hawk, to see if Artur would touch the computer while Loren was on there. We didn't feel like we were the ones paying to stay there when the guy came into the dorm room later to ask Artur to move back the chair that he had sat on while we were on the internet.

Typical Japanese toilet with bidet and heated seat!

We left in a hurry the next morning, very eager to escape the morgue-like silence of the hostel. Something about the place reminded Loren of a childhood nightmare. We were sorely disappointed when we realised that we had booked and paid for accomodation for our first night in Tokyo, while we were still in Melbourne! This place was a hotel, where we would have had our own room and breakfast provided. How frustrating!

We visited a local supermarket in the morning to get some breakfast ingredients. Surprisingly, the supermarket opened at 10am! We were worried that we were up late, but we had to sit and wait for the place to open. The supermarket had a cafe area, where you could eat what you bought from the supermarket. They had microwaves, hot water etc.

We then left in search of our new hostel in Asakusa. It was pretty funny because the closest station was called Tawaramachi, and Artur kept calling it - Tamagochi station! After a fairly long walk we managed to find the hostel. We were pretty impressed by this one. It was huge, but well run, friendly and clean. We had a view of an amusement park from our dorm window.

The Crazy Metro System

Then we set off to see Tokyo in all its glory! We were so impressed by the metro system! It seems a bit crazy when you first look at it, but once you understand the convoluted mass of subway lines, it's the most efficent system you'll find. There are 3 different subway operators, and they run their own subway lines, whether it's the major lines or the little local ones. Because there are so many options, you can arrive outside almost anything you want to see. You don't have to find other transport to take you closer, the subway will take you straight there.

Cherry Blossoms in Ueno

The first thing we wanted to see in Japan was the famous cherry blossoms. We were lucky enough to arrive in spring, when the trees are covered in the most beautiful white and pink flowers. We took the subway to Ueno, where there is a big park filled with cherry trees. Unfortunately the flowers had bloomed a little earlier this year and not all the trees were covered in flowers, but we found some gorgeous ones. The park also had a beautiful lake filled with reeds. There was supposed to be lotus flowers in the lake, but we didn't see any.

The Japanese Pet Solution

Our next stop was Ikebukuro, where we were planning to visit a place called Nekobukuro. Most people in Japan are unable to have pets, so this enterprise was established. On the top floor of a high rise building, there is a playland for cats. There are about 20 cats that live there and people pay to come in and play with them.

There were scratching posts, toys, little beds, bookshelves, and climbing platforms for the cats. Some remained inside their glass sleeping quarters, like pet shop animals, and the others ran freely around the apartment. One cat was enormous, it had the facial structure of a tiger! There were quite a few big ones and ones of many varying breeds. They weren't very friendly, but then, they are cats. We patted a few and tried to hold some but they weren't too keen on being held.
Loren felt like when she was a little kid, and she was playing with some kittens. She would take them inside and put them through the cat door, then go outside and collect them, and repeat this routine. It was great playing with the cats, but I don't think they enjoyed the attention too much.

Views of Tokyo

After our little petting zoo experience, we went to see the NS building in Shinjuku where you could get a great view of the city for free! There were many restaurants where you could eat with a view, but there were also big windows outside the restaurants too. Inside the building there was an enormous pendulum clock - 29m high!

Roppongi at Night
For dinner we went to Roppongi, which is a famous night life district. It took us a while to find the place we were looking for, but nothing is impossible! We tried the traditional Japanese grill, where you order raw meat and vegetables and cook it yourself over a flame grill on your table. It was absolutely divine! We even got to wear some fashionable disposable aprons - very hen hao! The portions seemed quite small though. We still aren't sure whether we just aren't ordering enough, or if they Japanese just eat very small amounts.
After dinner we headed out to check out the nighlife. We visited 1 bar, but the music was so loud that we couldn't talk, and it was pretty empty. We went to a place called Propaganda after that, and we had a drink there. They had 'Titanic'playing on their TV and Pearl Jam playing over the sound system. We watched a bit of the movie and observed the expats who filled the bar. Roppongi is pretty popular with foreigners.
There seemed to be a lot of Africans working on the doors of bars, trying to entice us in for a drink. We probably didn't find the best bars in Roppongi, but we had a great time.

We arrived back at the hostel and were on the computer, when we heard an annoying voice in the background. It was an American or Canadian guy dramatising his personal life to a German guy, and sharing his philosophies on life. He was sooo loud and irritating. Loren was laughing and saying that if that guy was in our dorm, any violence toward him would be purely self-defence.

We arrived in our room and saw that we had a new roommate lying in his bed. Like a slow-motion scene from a horror film, he sat up in bed and grinned at us, 'hello!' It was that guy!

Shinjuku Station

The next morning we went to Shinjuku to look after some train and bus ticket administration. We knew that Shinjuku was the busiest station in the world, servicing 3 million people a day, but until you need to find a specific office or shop, you have no idea just how big. Following a little map we knew that the office we needed was just outside the West Exit. What we didn't realise was that the station is divided into two, and you can only access the other side from the surface. Of course, our office was on the other side. We walked around almost the entire station above the ground, before we managed to find the place. It seemed like the station stretched beneath the surface of the entire suburb of Shinjuku!

The Unmanned Monorail to the Innovation Museum

Once our chores were complete, we took an automated monarail to get to the Museum of Innovation . The ride was spectacular, there was a view over the enormous harbour area, bridges and buildings. The tracks looked and felt like the ones on roller coasters, it was an exciting ride.
We didn't have much time at the museum, because of our Shinjuku fiasco, so we rushed around looking at what we could. There was an exhibit on aliens, that would have been interesting, but we wouldn't have had time see the normal parts of the museum and then see that exhibit.

We saw magnified pictures of animal and human cells. They looked like artwork, but when you read what they were it was quite amazing. One interesting one was of a torn ligament. They showed the strands that were broken and parts that were still intact.
The main museum area had many types of robots and responsive automated equipment. There was an ASIMO robot, that can do just about anything, robots that react to voice commands, robots that react to touch. There were also different interfaces for navigation. One interface was a piano keyboard where you played different notes to direct a car in a video game. Bizarre!
There were also some fascinating exhibits on the human body. Loren was particularly interested in the ones on the human brain. Partly because she studied a bit of psychology and partly because she loves to read and watch things about coroners and medical examiners. It was also interesting to look at the brains of animals in comparison to the ones of humans.

Toyota Mega Web

One of the best things we did was to see the Toyota Mega Web display. We saw a huge variety of Toyota's Japanese range of cars, hybrid cars, as well as some amazing concept cars. There was an automated ride in a hybrid car that you could take to see around the whole complex, but the much better option, was to test drive a car for USD 3! We were so disappointed because Artur usually keeps his international driver's licence with him, but had taken it out on this occasion, so we couldn't do any test drives.
We tried a couple of simulators for racing cars. It was like being at an arcade! It was hard to get the hang of at first but after a bit of practice, we were driving like pros.
There was another movie theatre simulator that we tried. The movie was of a race on the Japanese Fuji race track. We sat in seats that moved in sync to make you feel like you were driving the car on the track. It was exciting to feel the gear changes of the car and the vibrations of the engine. They drive so fast, it was incredible!

Venus Fort

There was a shopping centre in the same complex as the Toyota Mega Web. The shopping centre was called Venus Fort, and it looked like something out of Vegas. The ceiling of the shopping centre looked like the sky, and it got darker as the sun set too. It was a very posh place and there was so many beautiful things on sale and great looking restaurants.

We saw a lego store there which we were excited about. We looked at the little lego men that were attached to keyrings. We decided to wait until we get to Denmark before we bought anything lego related.
The main thing we came to see inside the shopping centre, was a display of old cars. There were some serious beauties in there. We saw a corvette stingray, mustang, jaguar e-type, a tiny BMW, and some classic japanese cars.

Tokyo TowerWe went back to Roppongi that night to see the Tokyo Tower. The tower was built to look like the Eiffel Tower but they made it taller -333m. We only got to see the view from 150m, which was pretty disappointing. The upper deck closed before we could get there. We still had a great view of the city from there, and they had some great multimedia boards that you could use to find out what buildings you were looking at.