Two years ago… – A Belated Trip Report

Disclaimer: These entries are more like a novella than a traditional trip report, I wrote these on my trip while lying awake at night unable to sleep due to jetlag and excitement.

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Day One – The Flight – Wednesday March 20 / Thursday March 21

Two years ago I boarded a small flight from Toronto to Chicago then hopped on to a massive United plane to Narita — sounds like no big deal but after months of digesting YouTube videos, cramming Japanese and pinning random things on maps I finally set off for the trip of a lifetime.

I was led to believe that this would be an ANA plane but the code-sharing deceived me. Most of the staff on the flight were Japanese and the food was Asian inspired (but awful) anyway, so it may as well have been an ANA plane. I was sat beside two older Thai guys who had been living in Chicago for 30 years, they were very friendly and spent half the flight performing geriatric calisthenics by the washroom thus giving me some extra space so overall the flight was a piece of cake. I had been worrying for weeks when I booked the flight because I only had an hour to connect, luckily they shaved 20 mins from my first flight and delayed the second by almost an hour so it worked out perfectly. And if anyone is wondering about connecting with a code-share flight, they were in the same terminal but different concourses so there was a good 10 minutes of fast walking to get there.

I landed at Narita with only one large carry-on backpack so I headed for immigration and after the usual rigmarole I was through. I ran to the bathroom to freshen up, sat on the toilet and \*woaahh…\* heated seats! What an amazing feeling. That first bidet experience is not one I’ll remember so fondly though…be wary of where that pressure setting is folks.

I then went through customs and was FINALLY. IN. JAPAN. Wow, I had been waiting many, many years for this moment — but wait, I’m still stuck at this airport so what’s next?! I purchased a Pocari Sweat from a little shop and I couldn’t understand anything the clerk was saying and already I ended up with an ass-load of coins too. I realized at this point that I could ask for things in Japanese but my listening comprehension was at ZERO.

After an inner struggle, I bought a SIM card for $55USD. I read about many people travelling Japan without data but boy am I sure glad I had it, my trip was completely stress-free and this was reason number one. I bought toothpaste from a Lawson’s because I forgot to buy some and headed for the N’ex Train. Buying the ticket is easy once you notice the ‘English’ button on the ticket machine’s screen, and finding the train, the car, the row and the seat was incredibly easy. I had been up for about 24 hours at this point so I immediately passed out for half an hour and woke up with a bizarre feeling of not knowing what country or year I was in. Thankfully I woke up just as we were pulling into Tokyo Station, I grabbed my bag and decided that I would walk the five kilometers to my hostel because I was tired of sitting in uncomfortable seats and could probably use some fresh air.

One thing to note is that you have to put your ticket in the machines again to exit the station, this is not the case in Toronto. I tried to exit through the gates a couple of times which looked wipe open but then these big green arms would come swinging out and stop me while making noises and all I could do was laugh nervously about it. I figured it out quickly enough but not before running away from the first set of gates and walking through half the station before feeling brave enough to try again. Sure enough it ate my ticket when I tried feeding it in (thank God I didn’t toss it out) and in exchange it gave me freedom on the streets of Tokyo!

I fired up Maps.me hoping it would work as well as I heard it would. I turned on location and fired up my bookmarks and it was all there, I had a clear path ahead of me to the hostel Unplan Kagurazaka. It was twenty degrees Celsius out and pretty humid so the weather felt tropical by comparison to the tail end of winter that I was coming from in Toronto. I could tell that I was in the financial district because I must have walked for half an hour and saw nothing of interest, the atmosphere was amazing though and even the lights of the construction pylons were making me giddy. I was in Japan! I was walking around Tokyo! First stop: 7-Eleven! I really had to pee so I used the washroom and whilst inside I noticed a button on the toilet with music notes. I pushed it and an electronic Beethoven tune started playing, I guess it’s to cover the sound of farts because no one would willingly enjoy music chiming from a toilet’s speaker. I left the washroom and found myself in front of the prepared food section, I was dying to try their chicken karaage so I ordered one and scarfed it down.

Back on the road I took a shortcut through the park, it looked like it would take me to Chidorigafuchi where I could catch a glimpse of the famous moat with the cherry blossoms. It was dark out so my hopes weren’t very high to begin with and there were construction crews and police all throughout the park, at the very least I felt safe. When I finally found the moat there was not a single cherry blossom in sight which I found strange because I had passed about a dozen trees in the park that had begun to bloom — but it’s okay, I’ve got two weeks to catch cherry blossoms! After passing through some more neighborhoods that were pretty much shutdown for the night, I finally made it to the Kagurazaka neighbourhood and everything came alive. I was starting to feel the rush of being in Japan, I was trying to hide the smirk that kept creeping its way back onto my face but after awhile I just gave up hiding it.

I arrived at the hostel, checked in, showered and passed out for three hours before being woken up by an extremely vivid dream about my cat dying. These short spurts of jetlagged sleep would soon become a recurring pattern as I wouldn’t get a full night’s sleep until about a week later in Osaka.

Tastiest food: 7-Eleven’s Chicken Karaage
Approximate walking distance: 5 km

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Day 2 – Shinjuku and Shibuya – Friday, March 22

I never did get back to sleep but those few hours I caught were probably the deepest I’ve ever had. I got up at six, showered and packed my Tortuga daypack (I highly recommend this brand). I began zig-zagging through the residential streets and alleys, taking photos of the minutiae surrounding me. The weather was perfect for a light sweater and the streets were empty. I grabbed a ham and egg sandwich and a coffee from a café which I half-successfully ordered in Japanese and maybe it was just the thrill of being in Tokyo but that sandwich was unreal.

Next, I pointed myself in the direction of Shinjuku and spent the next hour equipping and unequipping my camera. When I finally arrived I was a little disappointed only because I knew the joy of seeing everything lit up at night would have made a much stronger impression, instead I was witness to the sobering aftermath of the salaryman’s plight. No big deal, I knew I’d return in the evening anyway to see the famous neon glow.

I continued walking toward Shibuya but took a detour through Yoyogi Park, this was perhaps the greatest joy I felt so far as the stresses of everyday life washed away. I missed the road which takes you to Meiji Shrine but again told myself I’d probably come back later. At this point I finally christened my Suica pass — not on the subway but at a vending machine in the park! I purchased a carbonated melon drink, it was delicious and not too sweet.

After I left the park I continued toward Shibuya. It was only nine a.m. at this time so everything was still closed but the amount of stores I began to recognize and wanted to browse quickly became overwhelming. As I spoke these words to myself once again, I realized it was the mantra that would ring throughout the rest of my trip, “I’ll return here later.”

I sat in the Starbucks at the Shibuya scramble for awhile because, touristy or not, I just had to. I put the SIM card in my phone and got it working and re-sorted my bag and various coins. A woman beside me noticed all the coins and went into a story about how her husband always asks for five yen coins at the bank because it’s good luck or destiny (“go-en” means five yen and serendipitous encounters or something like that). On my way out, a family from India asked if I could take a picture of them holding their son’s birthday cake. The father insisted I eat some of it with them but I was plateless and he only had a plastic knife, I have no idea what his plan of attack was but the result was a large piece of cake smeared across the lid of my coffee cup leaving me to basically lick it off. I found the whole situation endearing and took off after chatting for a couple of minutes.

At this point I had a panic attack because I realized I forgot to put an envelope from my bag into my lock box back at the hostel. It contained my temporary driver’s license (had a new one coming in the mail due to change of address), 20,000 yen and my JR Pass exchange voucher. Thank God I got that SIM card working because I fired up Google Maps and caught the quickest subway back to the hostel. Considering the stress that I suddenly put myself under, Google did an amazing job and I found my first subway ride incredibly easy and enjoyable. It told me which trains to take right down to the minute.

I really panicked for nothing because the envelope was buried so deep in my large backpack, even I had a hard time digging it out knowing it was in there. After knowing that everything remained intact and sorting my bags yet again I left the hostel to find some lunch, I wanted to eat at a proper sit-down restaurant but suddenly found myself fearful of the experience of rubbing elbows with salarymen (my social anxieties ebb and flow and it was certainly too early for libations). I walked around for an hour looking for the perfect place to eat and came up empty-handed so I remembered a place I had bookmarked nearby called Unagi Hashimoto which was unfortunately closed when I finally found it. I mustered up the courage to walk into the restaurant next door in spite of not having a clue as to what kind of food they served, the only clue I did have that they were even a restaurant was a little picture of sashimi in the window. Now at this point I should point out that I haven’t seen a single Gaijin since I got on that subway two hours ago, and when I walked into the restaurant that didn’t change. It was a lovely little joint though and after asking for an English menu (in Japanese) I received a menu that was pared down and appeared to be for children. I ordered a hot bowl of tempura soba and a beer in Japanese but never got the beer…I think they just forgot but, yeah, could’ve been my language skills too. The soup was really amazing though, the shrimp was so huge and just seemed to burst when I bit into it. I settled my bill and headed back to the hostel for a beer and a rest.

It was a good thing I set an alarm because I woke up from the deepest nap I’ve ever had. The amount of grogginess was almost impossible to recover from and maybe I should’ve just stayed there and slept but there were adventures to be had. I dragged myself out of bed, washed up and headed back down to Shibuya again to witness the bustling nightlife under the glow of neon.

When I exited the subway I found myself in the food section of a department store, two floors underground. I was quite hungry so I bought a box of cubed sushi, needless to say it was delicious. I ascended a floor trying to reach street level only to find I was now on the dessert floor, countless purveyors of the most beautiful treats I’ve ever seen politely vying for my attention. I opted for strawberry milk gelato and it was incredible, the little ice cream cone cookie that came with it was… somehow unbelievably good. I finally made my way to the ground floor, passing by dozens of well-dressed women shopping for high end perfume on the way out.

All the stores were closing around this time so I just took some time to enjoy the crowds and atmosphere of Shibuya scramble all lit up before heading back up to Shinjuku. I made a brief stop at Tower Records and just wandered aimlessly through all the floors before deciding to head to Golden Gai. I decided to check out Deathmatch in Hell, one of the few places that I just had to stop at on this trip but when I arrived I realized it was closed for the week as the owner was off for Spring Break. Naturally I decided I’d find someplace else to drink and while weary of Golden Gai because of everything I had read about it, it actually turned out to be an amazing place. There was mystery and adventure behind every door as well as lots of salarymen crammed into bars with only three or four seats. Maybe I lucked out that night but it did not feel at all to me like a tourist trap, though maybe the amount of places with exorbitant table charges that apply only to foreigners could convince me otherwise.

I settled on a tiny bar that was void of any kind of visual description except for the television playing Pulp Fiction with Japanese subtitles. Perfect! After sitting down, I watched a drunk salaryman unsuccessfully try to pay for his beer with coins. The transaction took what could only be described as too long and only then the owner finally noticed that I even appeared in his bar. After ordering a beer I began to chat with the Australian couple to my left who were finishing up their two week trip so I tried to get pointers on how I could make my two weeks even better. After telling me that Kanazawa was the highlight of their trip and trying to convince me to give up one of my precious Kyoto days for some time in Kanazawa, I decided I would try to later rework my itinerary. After they had left for the night I settled into a long conversation with Yoshi, a salaryman who had ten years on me and revealed that he had spent some time on exchange in Michigan years ago. We talked about everything from the cherry blossom season (I learned that every school has a Sakura tree in its yard) to 9/11 and atom bombs to Bryan Adams. When I asked for the bill in Japanese he said I was ‘probably a spy’ because my intonation was so natural, that made me very happy as I set off into the night. I had missed the last train by this point so I grabbed some FamiChicki and orange juice and walked back to the hostel for the night.

Tastiest food: Tempura Soba
Approximate walking distance: 20 km

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Thanks for reading! This is only day one and two of a 17 day trip so if you’d like me to continue posting these please let me know.