Things aren’t much worse in Tokyo than they are in NYC as far as expense goes. If you go to Manhattan, NY it’s pretty expensive. It’s about the same in Japan but they don’t tip – it’s already included in the price. That helps. Of course, as you wander around you do come across the oddball things like the $100+ cantaloupe, but this was not the norm.
I also ended up ordering a $25.00 Jack and Coke by accident. The night we arrived it was really late when we got to the hotel and I was fried. We were at the bar at the hotel and I didn’t even think to ask what the cost would be. It’s always a little more expensive at the hotel bars, but when we got the tab there was shock and amazement all around at the cost of my Jack and Coke. My g/f is not letting me forget that a self-proclaimed cheap bastard ordered a $25 Jack and Coke.
My g/f had business meetings the first few days we were there so I was left to explore on my own. My first real experience on my own was walking out of the hotel lobby early in the morning to find some coffee (for my g/f) and a coke for myself. Most hotels in Japan included some type of kettle for making hot water and tea bags. There wasn’t much in the way of coffee in the rooms and I don’t drink coffee so we took the streets most mornings trying to find that vital sustenance to wake up with.
As I left the hotel and hit the streets I noticed that there weren’t that many people out and about. It was still early, but back home in a big city there would have already been throngs of people. A younger couple turned towards me, laughed and ran off. I couldn’t tell if it was because of me or something else. Regardless, I was on my way exploring.
Tokyo is a huge city – about the size of the entire DFW metroplex and it is home to over thirty-million Japanese. That’s more people than the entire state of TX. It’s pretty much wall-to-wall people wherever you go and at almost any time of day or night – except the mornings. It seems like they like to get going a little bit later than we do, but they also seem to work later in the evening. For that reason, we didn’t find much to eat for breakfast except at the hotels. There was a Denny’s across the street and while none of us wanted to eat there, the $30 breakfast buffet at the hotel was a bit much so we tried it out. Check out the section on eating in Japan.
As I said it was pretty much wall-to-wall people. Especially if you visited a market place or alley. While these were great to experience, I quickly found myself wanting to get out of the crowds, though you could buy just about anything there:
Our hotel room in Tokyo was large, especially by Japanese standards of which we would later find out. They are also fond of their heated toilet seats and fancy bidets / showers, etc. This one had a seat warmer, a “shower” for the front or back, and a pulsing water option. I found some later that also had a “no odor” option. Aside from spraying an entire bathroom wall with jetting water as I was trying to figure these things out I sort of came to like them.
Our first bathroom was also built into telephone-booth-style stalls. I don’t think the photo could capture it very well, but the doors on both the stalls were hinged like a phone booth and you did your business (whether shower or bathroom) in one of them.
All of this was odd as we quickly found out that the public restrooms often did not have soap, toilet paper, or anything to dry your hands with.
But one thing I was very impressed with while in Japan is their attention to detail. No matter what they did, no matter how menial, they took great pride in their work and did it with enthusiasm. Only once or twice did we come across anyone who didn’t seem to care to be at their job. As a result, they kick our ass in certain things, little things, like this control panel in the hotel room – alarm clock, and lighting controls all right by the bed. This was not unusual in any of the rooms we stayed in.
I also found their elevators to be smooth as glass. So smooth that you might not have realized that the elevator begun to move. Even the leveling at the landings was extremely smooth and controlled. But it didn’t stop there. It was at nearly every level of their products, culture, infrastructure, etc.
Here is a picture of a bathroom mirror. They heat them up over the sink so that they don’t fog and you can continue to shave or get ready after stepping out of the shower (note the socks hanging to dry!):
As I was saying, my g/f and her dad had business to do so I was pretty much on my own to wander the streets of Tokyo for a few days. I walked every day for several hours and really enjoyed it. It was quite cool in Tokyo but only “cold” on a handful of days. The Japanese were dressed fairly warm with heavy coats, sweaters, scarves, and other items. One thing about the Japanese is that they apparently like it really warm once they get inside somewhere. Everywhere we went we would start sweating almost immediately upon entering a building of any type. We would be stripping our jackets and things off and the locals would stay bundled up. This got old really fast as I was constantly sweating and felt icky on most days and in need of an extra shower. I had brought mostly warm clothes since I knew it was supposed to be cold, but I really didn’t need them in Tokyo and found it difficult to dress so that I would be cool indoors and warm outdoors.
Everyone in Japan was extremely friendly even if we couldn’t easily communicate. They are a very humble and proud people and always willing to help out. Most of the communication we did was visual, especially if we didn’t speak the same language. Finger pointing and gesturing went a long way with just a few words of Japanese or “Engrish” between us.
Tokyo was also very clean in spite of the large number of people that were all over the place. I think part of this is due to Japanese culture and the fact they just take a lot of pride in their country and where they live. Here are a few quick shots just to show you the city a bit:
And of course, enter The Matrix:
At the parks it was interesting that there were these huge freaking cats everywhere. They seemed pretty nonplussed by us, but I wasn’t so sure about them. I had visions of trying to explain to people that I was mugged by a cat while walking through a park in Tokyo.
A Japanese duck – note the slightly slanted eyes eyes:
The Emperor’s palace is in Tokyo. It’s moved a few times, but currently resides there. I took a few quick shots as close as I was allowed to get to it. It’s kind of cool because it’s surrounded by moats.
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