Friday, May 24, 2013

RTW Trip: Day 87-89 (5/21-5/23) - Tokyo & Mt. Fuji



Day 87-89: Tokyo, Just Tokyo (oh, and a mountain)

It started about four days ago. Each day, after hours of carrying a backpack that is perpetually heavier than it looks, by the time I return to my hostel, my back is paining. And this isn’t like a slight pain, but a splitting pain right on my shoulderblades. OK, ‘splitting pain’ might be a bit of an overstatement, but still, the pain has eventually forced me to not take my computer with me when I’m out for an extended period of time. If there is one thing I miss from the first part of my trip it is that little Netbook that froze all the time. It was a challenge to work with, and when I was using it I could not wait to meet my Mom and have her bring me my actual laptop, but now that it’s gone, and I have this huge screened Toshiba with me, I kind of miss that slow, archaic device. Nostalgia is a strange thing.

Anyway…

What I’m trying to say is that I didn’t have my computer with me during meals, and that’s kind of put my daily diaries on hold a little bit. There’s a lot to write about, since I did quite a bit in the last three days, and since my opportunities to write are a little limited, I can’t really do the last three days justice. Instead, I’ll just do some rambling comments on my three days in Tokyo.


The Sights

= Tokyo has a lot to see, and while their temples and shrines aren’t as well-placed as other smaller cities they still serve as nice oases in the middle of the desert of Tokyo. The best place for me in Tokyo was in Ueno Park, the sprawling Park in North Tokyo. It houses a few Japanese-style buildings and pagodas, as well as a great little promenade that leads to the Tokyo National Museum. I didn’t have time to go to the museum as of yet, but it’s imposing façade serves as a nice bookend to the main promenade (fit with an outdoor Starbucks on one side, and a long fountain in the middle).

= The Tokyo Sky-Tree is like many CN Tower/Menara KL/Sydney Tower type buildings, but it is the first one that really felt like a tourist attraction. Why’s that? Because there was a ridiculous line that took about 45 minutes to buy a ticket to go up. That’s not an exaggeration, by the way. If we reserved in advance, we could have bypassed most of the line, but it seems that reserving in advance is at best a really well-kept secret. The line was filled with what seemed to be Japanese people, which makes sense since the tower is only a year old. Still, it was worth it. As I’ve said in almost every tower I’ve been to on this trip, Tokyo seems much bigger from the top. The building is also taller than it looks, with the main observation deck being about 1,000 feet up (an another observation deck is 300 fee higher). Tokyo is a giant city. The main financial district looks to be in another state.

= The Shen-So Ji Temple is the only one in Tokyo that I think compares to those in the oldes, smaller cities in Japan that are more known for their temples and shrines. The Shenso-Ji is located in a large complex right behind a really busy street in Asakusa, a northern district of Tokyo. Unlike many of the other temples, it isn’t really secluded, with its entrance gate on the main road. We walked by rows and rows of shops selling handicrafts and trinkets (but Moto – my friend in Tokyo – assured me that they would be better in Kyoto), and finally reached the main temple building. The Shenso-Ji is just larger than the other temples, and better preserved. It is visited by mobs of people each day, so that should make sense.

= Tokyo isn’t the best city for people watching, but there are some nice areas to go around. Ginza is probably the most famous, and most centrally located. The first time I went was during the day, and it reminded me of Times Square during the day. The second time I went was at night, and it reminded me of Times Square at night. It wasn’t as crowded as Times Square at night (the allow cars back onto the roads), but just as lit up. They have a series of expensive brand-name stores and restaurants. The only thing I went in for was the Sony store, where you got to try out some of their new technology. Nothing was too fascinating. The best was probably a TV that responded to your voice (of course, their version only worked in Japanese).


The Food

= Sushi is everywhere. Sushi comes in all shapes and sizes, and all price ranges, from really cheap to $300 for a chef’s menu. The $300 place, by the way, is the sushi joint detailed in the excellent documentary ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’. It is a little cheaper if you are Japanese, but alas, I’m not. Anyway, I still had my share of sushi. Some places have all-you-can-eat options, or set options, but I gorged out at the Kaiten Zushi joints, where they go around on conveyor belts.

= There are a ton of those around as well, all with different rules and different prices. Some are a little more advanced, with the prices around 200 for basic sushi, going up to 500-700 yen for specialty sushi (like the fattest tuna, or the rarest fish). Some places have set prices where almost everything is about 150 yen. I mainly went to those. To someone who doesn’t eat sushi all the time (apart from the last week, that is), I really couldn’t taste the difference. For me, the only advantage of the more expensive places is their larger selection of sushi. So, I kind of alternated between the better places and the simple ‘all plates are 136 yen’ places, using the former to try different ones out and the latter to gorge for lunch after skipping breakfast.

= Most of the sushi places have charts showing what sushi is available, which is heavily used by locals to get the sushi they went made at the moment. I stuck to picking ones off of the conveyor because most of these places didn’t have English versions of these charts. Some did, and had the Anglicized pronunciation of the Japanese word, which gave me a nice opportunity to try out my Japanese. My favorites were probably Whelk (which is a rarer one that few places had), Cuttlefish (a basic one that any place will have), and Unagi (eel). Although almost all were good at every place I went to. I’m assuming the New York effect is in effect in Tokyo, where all sushi places that can stay open must be good.

= The other place I went to more than once for food were the department stores. I already talked about the first one that I went to, but I finally found the Daimaru, which I was looking for that first day. I’m not sure how I didn’t find it the first day since it is connected to Tokyo Station, but for whatever reason I didn’t. It wasn’t as good as the other, because the selection was less. Daimaru focused more on desserts and more stylish food.


The Mountain

= On the middle day I did my first real day trip from Tokyo (to me, Yokohama and Kamakura are too close to consider day-trips), going towards Mt. Fuji. I’m no mountain climber, and since the view of a mountain is always better from afar than on the mountain itself, I was told not to go to Mt. Fuji, but to one of the lakes or little towns on its perimeter. I chose Onsen, a lake town on the perimeter of Mt. Fuji, which was one of the 10 best viewing spots for the mountain. I was lucky that it was a gorgeous day, as the mountain was in perfect view from the lake.

= The ride over to Mt. Fuji takes a long time. This isn’t to say it isn’t worth it, because the path towards Mt. Fuji is a very interesting stretch of Japan, but still it takes a while to get there. In one sense, going all that way just to take some pictures seemed a little silly. Those feelings disappeared when I saw Mt. Fuji. The lake really was one of the best viewing spots that I can imagine. The snow-capped peak just towered in the distance over the hills at first (we had to drive further to the lake – an extra tour, but quite affordable). The view just gets better when you get to the lake, with the reflection of the mountain on the lake below. There aren’t many better sights that I’ve seen anywhere in the world, and as someone who went to Cape Town rather recently, that is saying something.

About Me

I am a man who will go by the moniker dmstorm22, or StormyD, but not really StormyD. I'll talk about sports, mainly football, sometimes TV, sometimes other random things, sometimes even bring out some lists (a lot, lot, lot of lists). Enjoy.