Tokyo Electric, Zen and Fishy

Hi everyone,

Yesterday, we decided to visit Akihabara, which is the electric city. We suffered complete sensory overload. The ads, the music, it was all very stimulating, and oh so cool. Surprisingly, the prices were not much better than they are at home. We took quite the detour to get there, but thankfully found a massage chair display, where I relaxed, and Ilana was in pain from the chair. We also went out for lunch around there, which was quite good.

Afterwards, we decided to go to Meiji Jingu (The Meiji Shrine). It was spectacular. We wandered about for a while before getting there, but once we did it was absolutely worth it. Essentially, upon the emperor's death in the 1920s, a huge forest was planted in his honour. The planted trees are now indistinguishable from a natural forest. We also paid our respects by following the directions before entering (okay, after we realized what we were supposed to do, so after we left for the first time). It was serene.

At night we went out for dinner and then decided to look for a bar around the hostel. This part of town is rather dead, but we did end up in a small Japanese bar with a few other hostel dwellers. It was a lot of fun, as going out tends to be.

Today, we woke up early (see 8am) to go to the Tsujiki Fish market. There was no way we were going to make the 5am tuna auction. We walked into the market, basically through a warehouse, to get to the main area. We saw a whole lot of live and dead fish. It smelled something fierce, but was really cool to see. We also watched a man cut up a fish. Business was quite brisk, especially at the various sushi restaurants (extraordinarily expensive). We walked into one, which seemed reasonably priced, and they refused us based on race. They handed us a printed card which said if you don't speak Japanese, we won't serve you. A very nice Japanese lady offered to help, but we could tell we weren't wanted. In fact, an older lady was busily wagging her finger at us as soon as we arrived.

After our sushi search (and a quick store bought sushi snack) we made our way to Odaiba, which is an island directly east of Tokyo. We took the light train. The public transportation in this city is amazing! There were a few shopping malls and Sega world (which we did not enter). (insert something about monkeys and handstands). We crossed the street and went to the palette mall. This houses a Toyota demonstration. We rode in an EV car which drives itself (so cool). We also saw some personal robots. We also rode the ferris wheel to get a nice view of the city.

A few things we noticed in Tokyo:

-everyone has a similar phone, and the phones are huge to accomodate the vertical text
-everything is incredibly organized, people line up single file to wait for escalators
-everyone works incredibly late, it is not unusual to see people in suits at 9 or 10, and again at 8.
-everyone has an umbrella, and no one wears a raincoat
-society seems very gendered, men hang out with men a lot and women with women

Thanks for reading!

First Full Day In Tokyo!

So this morning we asked the hostel worker what people in Tokyo eat for breakfast. We decided to avoid beef in the morning and settled for sandwiches at a cafe. Of course, people here eat about half as much as we're used to, so we then went to a dep (for those not from Quebec, this is a convenience store) and bought other sandwiches.

We had planned to go to the Imperial Palace today, but as it was raining very hard, we made the decision to postpone it. We did decide to see the Sony building, which was a nice experience if short. We saw all of the latest things from Sony, though it appears that Apple is super cool in Japan right now. (side note: everyone we've seen in Japan has big phones, probably in order to read vertically/have enough room for the characters; this is not at all what I would have expected, I expected tiny super cool phones!)

We got massively lost today, which is kind of the goal in a city of this size. However, people here tend to take the trains and metros back and forth rather than walking. We walked for several hours trying to navigate the city, and were mostly successful, albeit with a lot of time wasted.

We decided to go to the Tokyo National Museum rather than brave the rain for the second half of our day. It is an amazing place, filled with old sculptures, swords and writings among many others. We spent about three hours there, and saw 3 of the 4 buildings, including the Main Hall and the small building off to the side which housed the treasure. We also randomly saw a shrine, thinking it was the way to the museum. It was actually very nice so we were happy that we accidentally stumbled upon it.

Did I mention we walked? Boy did we walk!

On the way to the museum we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant, where we each had soup (tan tan men). I have so far managed with my limited chopstick experience, though it can be frustrating at times. The soup was amazing, and incredibly spicy :) . A very nice waitress helped us find the museum.

It is still pouring rain, and as such we decided not to venture out tonight. Much of the hostel came to the same conclusion, and many people are milling about killing time. Meeting travelers is always interesting, as they are such a diverse population, but amazingly share many similar traits.

The sleeping arrangements are quite interesting at this hostel. They have basically set up wooden capsules. The ceiling is about 10 ft high, and there are 2 capsules stacked one on top of the other, all over the room. If a beehive were to house people, it would be a bunch of these capsules stuck together. However, they are surprisingly comfortable, and allow enough for to sleep comfortably, which is all that is required. We are staying at the Khaosan Ninja Hostel, and so far it has met our expectations.

Arrival in Tokyo

We have arrived in Asia after quite a long flight! We flew through O'Hare which was not as bad as one might think, but not spectacular either. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain a Japan Rail pass prior to departure, and they cannot be purchased in Japan because they are geared only towards tourists (ok, tourists who did their research properly). We will pay for that mistake.. The staff at United Air took good care of us. Once we finally made it to Narita Airport in Tokyo, we were greeted by a friendly gentleman in surgical gear checking everyone for H1N1. Once we received a clean bill of health, we were on our way to Tokyo.

We got to our hostel with only minimal confusion, mostly because some nice woman on the street directed us as we were looking puzzled. We met some nice people at the hostel, including a nice Israeli guy, with whom we decided to have a quick dinner. He then offered us his "Lonely Planet Japan", as he is leaving shortly. Travelers can be great people. We now both exhausted and going to bed early.

More to come!

3 Days Before We Leave

Hi everyone!

It is now 3 days before we depart for Asia. We begin in Japan, and have decided to skip Seoul in favour of spending more time in Vietnam. The plan is to begin in Tokyo, see Kyoto and Osaka, and then fly from Osaka to Beijing. We will then spend about a month in China. We have a rough itinerary, but these things always change. We will then spend some time in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Packing is going well, though every travel advice website I can find advises that we should pack less than we will be packing, and in smaller bags than we will be bringing. Having never embarked on a trip of this nature (in Europe one can manage large bags without too much trouble) we will see whether the bags will prove to be too cumbersome. I have a feeling that they will in fact prove somewhat problematic, but I think that in the end we will be glad to have the space.

Flights from Osaka to Beijing are very expensive, and we are planning to speak with the people at the hostels and/or a Japanese travel agent in order to find the best deal. Suggestions are always welcome.

I can't wait to start posting pictures in order to liven up this page!

Thanks for reading.

The 1st Post

We would like to welcome you to our blog, and hope that you will follow us in our travels throughout Asia. Whether you know us and want to see what we're up to, or you're planning a similar trip and want some advice, or even if you stumbled here accidentally, welome and enjoy!

I (Mike) am a law student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Ilana is a phys-ed student at McGill University in Montreal. Many (many) pictures will follow.

This is my first ever blog post. Ilana and I are preparing for our trip, relying heavily on Lonely Planet and various other sites. We have booked the major tickets, and are flying into Tokyo on the 26th of May. We also know that we will be in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on August 4th in order to fly to Singapore. Lastly, we have booked a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong on August 8th. Apart from those major flights, all other travel will be arranged while already abroad. We have purchased the latest edition of Lonely Planet China, but otherwise will be relying on the internet and the advice of kindhearted travelers in order to find our way around.

Thanks for reading!

Also, feel free to post comments, we will be reading them.