We arrived in Japan and spent most of the first few hours working out how to get to Tokyo station from Narita airport, and how we were going to get from there to our hotel. The map of the train system wasn't all that helpful, as there are so many train lines, and we only had a JR pass that let us on JR lines (there are lines owned by other companies in Japan). After fumbling around at a few information booths, we finally got told to catch the subway to Ginza station. It was 160 yen for a ticket, which is about $2, so not too bad, especially considering how fast and clean the trains are. One of the first things we realised once we started walking around was that Japan is so clean, but there are no rubbish bins. Well, there are a few, but compared to Melbourne where you see rubbish bins pretty much on every corner, Tokyo is pretty much a rubbish bin void - which makes me wonder how it is so clean.
MrMan5.5 had an encounter with Japan's crouching ground toilets, and now he's afraid of bum sprays whenever he goes to a toilet. I wasn't nearly so silly, and went to the Western-style toilet. Tokyo is actually really good as a tourist city, there are signs everywhere for important places, and a lot of them are in both English and Japanese. We are still a bit wary of ordering food, as a lot of menus are Japanese only, but so far, I've had curry, which I know the katakana for, so it's all good! MrMan5.5 has been a bit more brave, and has tried something other than curry. At his suggestion, we also had a convenience store breakfast, which he says is something a lot of Japanese people do.
People weren't kidding when they said there are vending machines everywhere. We have yet to find a vending machine for used high-school girls' panties, but we did order dinner from a vending machine today:
You put money into the machines, pick the meal you want to buy, and a ticket pops out. If you are done ordering your meal (I assume you can order multiple meals in one transaction), you pull the lever at the bottom, and your change drops out. MrMan5.5 ordered a katsudon and udon set, and I ordered curry soba.
Obviously, one of our first stops was going to be Akihabara (a.k.a. Electric Town), where MrMan5.5 nearly had an orgasm as we stepped off the train. We didn't see anyone in cosplay apart from people who wore it as part of their job, but it was so much more amazing than I imagined.
One of the first things we noticed was how tall all the buildings were in Tokyo. I imagine the design process for new buildings goes something like this:
Owner: I want to build a convenience store.
Architect: OK.
*6 months later*
Owner: I only wanted one floor.
Architect: Sorry, we only know how to build skyscrapers.
Owner: What do I do with the rest of this space?
Architect: Rent it out for lots of money.
Owner: OK.
We walked maybe 1km in terms of distance away from Akihabara station, but managed to lose hours there, because every store we walked into had at least 5 floors. It reminded me of the huge Pokèmart in Celadon City. There is a floor directory on each floor, and you can go up and down via stairs or an escalator. All the stores were really cramped though, you will spend a lot of time trying to edge past people. Which is not surprising, given Tokyo is about a quarter the size of Melbourne ( 2187 km^2 vs 8806 km^2, yet has over three times as many people living there (13 million vs 4 million) according to Wikipedia.
It is stupidly easy to spend money here. 100 yen coins look and feel like 10c coins, but are actually worth $1.20. Maybe I should convert all of my money to 1 yen coins, so I can actually feel what I'm spending (but then I'll be worse than the people with the 5c coin jars, since things typically cost around 2000-3000 yen).
My loot so far:
Omiyage so far: Gerald and QC.
Gashapon played so far: 1
Non-McDonald's/KFC meals eaten so far: 3
Failed attempts at trying to communicate in Japanese: Priceless (????)
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