Following our trip to Kyoto, we had the month of December. Classes continued as they normally did, but now with an extra twist. With finals coming up, all of my classes began cramming the last bits of the text book into a shorter period of time to assure we would "cover it" before the exam was given. Studying like crazy and writing reports left and right my only reprieve was that as soon as exams ended I would be able to go to Tokyo for a few days! Something I've wanted to do for what seems like forever!
I studied hard and completed my exams, while at the same time, reserving a bus tickets for myself and Mandy Miller (from the Kyoto trip). We left the day after the finals ended on a night bus Wednesday night.
The night bus, which was leaving at 11 P.M. would arrive at our destination , Odaiba, Tokyo, at 6 A.M. Having reserved the very back seats was the best decision I could have made, no other seats on the bus would have effectively fit my over-sized American legs. For the most part the bus trip, which both I and Mandy slept through until the bus driver called our stop, made me remember the bus trip to Washington D.C. almost all Junior high school students are bound to take. Nostalgia aside, I discovered I really did not miss it.
We arrived, slightly dazed at 6 A.M. holding (the standard at this point) incredibly overstuffed duffle bags and absolutely freezing in Odaiba, a district of Tokyo. Fun Fact: Odaiba is actually located on the water and is one of the famous port cities in which Commodore Matthew Perry landed all those many years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odaiba
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| size comparison |
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| from behind |
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| the Gundam catching the morning sun. |
As we walked the morning streets towards our first tourist destination Mandy and I made note of the various museums that were close by, but knew that we may not have time to see them with all the other things we had already planned. Then we saw it in the distance...framed beautifully by the morning sun... The only one in the world, a life size replica of the famous giant fighting robot Gundam RX-78-2!!! Standing an impressive 2 stories high the robot from the popular 1980's Japanese television program Jidou Senshi Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam) really captured the "nerdy" robot loving spirit that inspired a generation of Japanese people to go into the study robot-technology. It also stands as a perfect example of the strangeness of Japan or more specifically the metropolis that is Tokyo. We took pictures with the famous land mark and got coffee at a near by cafe.
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| the giant robot themed Gundam Cafe! with the best robotic coffee in town! |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Gundam (a little info on the series if anyone is interested)
After warming up, we set out to do a little exploring. we ended up walking along the port boardwalk and enjoying looking at the many interesting boats that were both docked and sailing by. including a large old fashioned European flagship! unfortunately my phone had died so I did not get any pictures. Before we knew it was time to check in at the hotel so we found the nearest station and really tired of lugging our bags around prepared to take a load off for the rest of the day and after regrouping. We determined that our next Tokyo hot-spot would be, the famous electronic "nerd" district Akihabara!
It took a while to find the hotel on the out skirts of Tokyo, but when we finally found it we were completely exhausted we checked in, and called our first day a success.
The next day We began early at 7 A.M. and bolted to the nearest subway with-out breakfast. If we had not already traveled before , I'm sure the Tokyo subway lines would have been both confusing and intimidating, but by this point, we had the system down pat after looking at all the stops and having a short chat with the ever helpful train station attendants.
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| the interesting Hello Kitty brand Dried cuttlefish, this is Tokyo. |
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| the Sega building |
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| Gigantor the Mega Robot! |
By 8 we were sitting in an interesting burger and coffee joint in the center of Akihabara. I say interesting not because the shop itself was particularly out of the ordinary, but by simply looking out the window near our seat you could see huge animated television screens with popular bands playing on them as well the famous SEGA store about a 5 story building completely colored fire truck red with the SEGA company insignia on it.
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| Nintendo World |
We ate quickly and then began, well, wandering. Akihabara is known for being one of the weirdest districts of Tokyo and we just knew that if we walked around long enough we'd find something that would be interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara
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| ULTRA MAN! |
checking out nerdy shops I went to a famous figure and model shop, known for carrying some of the hardest to find and older editions of plastic and metal models and asked the shop attendant if he had any Red Baron, an incredibly obscure giant super robot series produced in the Ultra Man or Johnny Sokko-style in 1974 (as a joke for friends back home; Scott Brady, and Cline who introduced me to the series). To my surprise however, the shop attendant was excited that I knew about the show, he asked if it was popular were I was from and then proceeded to tell me that he actually sold the last model he had to a collector but, he offered, if I was interested, he could take my name and number and search for one for me. I couldn't help but laugh, and politely refuse the strange shop owner's offer. Even as I went to leave though, he told me to come back any time if I wanted to just chat about robots.
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| 1980's arcade room |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Robot_Red_Baron (the red baron show)
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| at the arcade |
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| Mandy thinking about playing a grab machine |
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| games galore |
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| playing some Famicom |
We then proceeded to check out the incredibly large amount of arcades in the area and whiled away the afternoon wandering backstreets and playing video games! possibly the coolest place we stopped was a 3 story shop dedicated to retro gaming each floor containing all the systems of a generation. the first floor had all the 8-bit technology and Atari you could handle, then the 2nd floor consisted of the 16-32bit consoles and finally the 3rd floor was anything from the Playstation 1 and up. It was great to see see classic games displayed just as if they were new releases and the shop had a lot of the original adverts for retro games- either in mint-condition or perfectly restored. Unfortunately, these were not for sale. Even so, I found some really interesting games that I didn't even know existed!
After getting my "Nerd" on for almost 24-hours straight even I needed to take a break from scourging the retro-gaming mountain and arcade dungeons of Akihabara. So, on Mandy's suggestion our next stop for the early evening would be, Harujuku, the famous fashion district of Tokyo! Everyone knows that after you buy Japanese video games you just have to wear the latest Tokyo Fashion to play them in!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarajukuHarujuku was a bright and popular place even after the sun went down and looked like a normal market or bazaar, but instead of various odds and ends of things being sold, the only thing here was incredible array of clothes for sale, from designers and brands that I have never even begun to hear of.. We walked from shop to shop gaping at the interesting fashions way ahead of the rest of the world and even got in an interesting conversation with a Japanese goth/punk fashion shop owner who, in broken English, tried to convince us that we just would look awesome with a spiked belt and tight ripped black jeans. Needless to say, we got out of that shop rather quickly. After a while of looking at the high fashion and high price tags we decided to get out of the well dressed district, but not before picking up a rather hip shirt from the 5-floor H&M (which happened to be the only place I could find clothes that could fit me!)
Our last stop for the day, was the well known international land mark, Tokyo Tower! We had waited until it was rather dark so we would be able to see Tokyo Tower lit up which gives it an even more powerful appearance in the skyline. Standing an impressive, 1,093 feet high, taking the glass elevator up to the observatory deck can literally take your breath away! This was the most beautiful place I visited while on this trip, simply because the view of the night time Tokyo skyline from the tower is possibly one of the most impressive things I've ever seen in person. All of the lights and buildings just go on for miles and stand to represent how far man kind has advanced in the modern world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Tower
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| the X-mas display underneath the tower |
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| Tokyo Tower all lit up! |
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| Rainbow Bridge seen from Tokyo Tower |
After Marveling at the view and seeing what other landmarks we could spot in the night's sky, we decided to head back to the hotel to prepare for our last day. unfortunately, it was a lot later than we had intended it to be and we ended up running down the crowed streets of Tokyo to catch the last train bound for home. Fear of having to find a place to sleep in downtown Tokyo at 12 at night aside, almost missing the train was definitely an exciting experience!
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| Mickey and I! |
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| the huge Christmas Tree |
The final day, I surprised Mandy by not telling her we were going to Tokyo Disney Land! Even though it was raining rather hard, we had a wonderful time going to see Japanese Mickey Mouse (I even got to take a picture with him!) and spent time just enjoying the sites and sounds of the most magical place on earth listening to a live marching band in front of an enormous live Christmas tree while sipping some hot coco! we even treated ourselves to some delicious Mickey Mouse waffles! In classic Disney style we even rode the Japanese "It's a Small World" ride and laughed at the Japanese interpretation of the well-known, somewhat annoying, tune.
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| the Japanese Waffle makers! |
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| Eating Mickey' Waffles! |
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| being silly in the magic shop |
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| Small World |
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| Disney Marching Band |
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| the Japanese section of Small World |
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| Small World |
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| the exit gate with Walt's shadow |
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| the Fairy God Mother |
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| Peter Pan |
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| Snow White light show |
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| the Castle |
The main reason I wanted to go was for the famous Christmas lights parade they do around this time of year and with the rain having cleared up as the night fell, I was by no means disappointed. The night came with a flurry of activity and the crowd formed quickly in front of Cinderella's castle,. Luckily, Mandy and I were plenty tall enough to have the best view in the sea of Japanese people. The parade of all my childhood Disney favorites, most notably Peter Pan and Lion King, which followed was a stunning array of lights and performance and I am incredibly glad I got to experience it, even if some of my favorite characters, were speaking in Japanese!
after the parade and world famous fireworks show(which thankfully was not canceled due to the earlier downpour) it was time for us to leave the exciting magical world of Tokyo, and so making our way back out of the park, we grabbed our bags and got on to the night bus bound for home, Nagoya.
With only three days, I must say there is still much of Tokyo I would love to have gotten to explore. I am glad that I got to spend as much time as I did and to enjoy it at my own pace made it even better.
In the years to come, I know I will be returning to the well known Metropolis. The excitement of it's ever changing city-scape and the shear importance of the city to the history of Japan as a nation is incredible! That being said, next time I go I will definitely be exploring the more intellectual aspects of the city including the countless museums and art galleries there just wasn't enough time to see.
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| Santa comes from the roof top |
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| Surprise! |
After the trip, on the day of our return, we celebrated Christmas with my Host family. At dinner, my good friend Daniel or should I say Santa payed all of us a surprising visit. Eating a huge dinner, not very different from one I may have had at home around the holidays, though I must say this one had much more fish, my Host family, Mandy, Daniel, the grand-children and I all sat around and dozed while watching TV and playing video games I had picked up in Akihabara.
With that, an incredibly late Merry Japanese Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year!
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| big Christmas Dinner with Dan, Mandy and The host family |
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| opening presents after Santa left |
