Tokyo Trip in Detail

Here is a detailed textual account of the recent week-long trip I took to Tokyo with my friend Tony, who is also an English teacher in Seoul. Enjoy!

Day 1: We took the brand new (well, like, one-month-old) airport subway line from Seoul Station to Incheon (please remind me to fly out of Gimpo next time... it's about 45 minutes closer to Seoul!) Our flight was with All Nippon Airways and we had booked it at half the price it cost on Orbitz by going through a Korean travel agency (whose website had English options. It was very easy to do.) We got the cutest little ANA lunch box with raw tuna, fruit and vegetables, orange juice, a cookie, and- this is the best part- TWO kinds of sandwiches inside. One was (imitation?) crab and mayo, and one was ham and cheese. It was delicious! After about two hours we landed at Narita Airport and followed directions from our hostel's website to Asakusa. Asakusa is a part of Tokyo most famous for the Sensoji Shrine and surrounding market areas. It's by the river and although it was from from busy areas like Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Shibuya, we liked it a lot. We found our hostel, the Khaosan Tokyo Samura (great place!) without any trouble and explored the area after dropping off our luggage. We ordered noodles at a corner shop from a machine which was fun at first but later proved to be a very useful way to order, since each button had a picture. We wandered around the Temple and shrine area at night, later discovering that according to superstition we may now be possessed by fox demons. It was freezing cold and I was eating an orange ice pop. Then, since we were pretty exhausted from traveling all day, we went in for a nearly night.

Day 2: We went to Akihabara, the famous electronics and gaming district, since it was only a few stops from our hostel. Tony was in heaven. There are stores crammed wall-to-wall with old video games, DVDs, pop star goods, and arcades everywhere. We tried to get AKB48 theater tickets and they told us to come back the next day. We went in and out of various stores and then scoped out a maid cafe, where we paid for drinks, cakes, and the company of girls dressed in maid costumes. The cafe we chose was actually famous and even the Backstreet Boys have gone here! Apparently, you can see it in their Asian tour DVD. We ended the night in Shibuya, which is kind of like Myeongdong in Seoul but WAY bigger. So many people and so many stores. It was crazy. I bought a dress (actually, it's a shirt on me) in the famous 109 building. We got dinner at a cool place where you order from a computer screen (not surprised, since we were in Tokyo) and I ate a crepe (they are everywhere in Tokyo) while we walked around and went in and out of stores. Since it was another long day, we headed back to our hostel early.

Day 3- After grabbing a donut or similar item from the nearby Family Mart for breakfast, we returned to Akihabara to see an AKB48 trainee concert at the AKB48 Theater. We almost didn't get in, as the man selling tickets kept saying it was sold out. But then the man we met yesterday came in from the back and remembered us and gave us tickets. Mine was 1000 yen because I'm a girl, but tickets are twice as much for men :) There were only about 3 girls at the concert. The rest were creepy older men. We went to a waiting area, the hallways lined with pictures of the girls, where we checked our bags in lockers and waited to enter the theater. Actually, foreigners get special front-row-center seats, and Tony and I got to go in before everyone else. The seats were even marked "reserved for foreign visitors." The girls started out doing a dance with chisels and sexy coal miner outfits, and it didn't get any more standard from there. There was a song where they were all wearing Vegas outfits, and lacrosse uniforms (including sticks,), and own where their dresses and microphones were covered with bows, candy, and flowers. After the concert, everyone got to give them a high five as they left the theater. The girls were extremely friendly to us (I guess they don't get many foreign visitors) and said "Thank you!" and "Goodbye!" to us. After this, we went to Harajuku, the famous epicenter of teenage fashion in Tokyo. I didn't see as much crazy stuff as I'd expected, but I did see some Lolitas and ganguro girls and people with crazy clothes and rainbow hair and tons of makeup. We also checked out the park, where we watched rival gangs of rockabilly dancers in 1950s clothes with greased-back hair have dance-offs. We also checked out the Meiji Shrine, which is an eerily quiet wooded area in the heart of busy downtown Tokyo. We got dinner at a little healthy food cafe and I got another crepe. We explored Takeshita Street until it became apparent that everything was closing.

Day 4- We went to the POKEMON CENTER in the Shiodome Building! It was so cute! I was disappointed by the lack of older toys, but they had some around. Obviously there was a lot of Pikachu, but I also found Lapras surprisingly well-represented. Plus, you could buy plastic figurines of just about every previous-generation Pokemon. I bought a little Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur. I have them lined up on my desk so I can always remember my favorite (and first ever!!!) Pokemon. Yes, I live in a delusional world where Pokemon are real/important/my friends. There was a lot of merchandise of the new Pokemon from Black and White. Also, and this is the best part, the Center constantly plays a remixed one-minute loop of the PokeCenter music! I think the people there must go crazy! I bought more here than anywhere else... the Bulbasaur evolution figures for myself, a Squirtle for Jae Hyun, chocolates in a commemorative tin, candy in a Pikcahu tin, and Lapras/Pichu, Dragonair/Pichu, and Snorlax/Pichu coasters for my apartment. Later, we walked towards Tokyo Tower, stopping at Daimon Temple along the way. This was a nice temple, and much less crowded than Sensoji. We went up Tokyo Tower, which provided us with amazing views of the city, and actually discovered a cool graveyard at the back of the temple we hadn't noticed before. When we left the Tower, we checked out the graveyard, and then went back to the subway to check out Ginza. This is the nicest, most expensive area of an already nice and expensive town. My friend who had been here before said he felt like a hobo in Ginza. First we went to the Imperial Palace, and then tried to walk to a famous raw chicken restaurant in the central Ginza area that Tony wanted to eat at. Unfortunately, it was closed. We walked around and got yakitori in a small restaurant. Tony was happy because he got to have his raw chicken, while I had two chicken breast and one shiitake yakitori.

Day 5- Shinjuku was a main area we hadn't been to yet, so we went here to take advantage of the free observatory on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It was just as beautiful as the view from Tokyo Tower. Everything looked like it was from Katamari Damacy! I'm terrified of heights but I love the view from up high. Then we went to Roppongi which was kind of a disappointment. The famous Roppongi Hills shopping and eating center was way too expensive, and the art museum I wanted to go to was also really expensive. We decided to go to Harajuku again. I got a weird deep-fried ball covered in mayonnaise and green onions with chunks of bread and vegetables inside for dinner (not so healthy) and another crepe, and we just walked around, taking pictures and looking at stuff. I think that was the night Tony went to the partying area on the bad side of Shinjuku Station, but I was really tired again so I just went to sleep!

Day 6- Odaiba! Probably the prettiest part of Tokyo. Odaiba is a little island offshore built on tons of trash. You can take a monorail here, and the view from its elevated track is beautiful, first of downtown Tokyo, and then the water. There are lots of things to do in Odaiba. We got lunch in Palette Town, which is a shopping and eating area. I also bought a shirt here. It's like the Venetian in Macau- the walls are built to look like Venetian palaces are above the stores and the ceiling is like the sky, and it even changes from day to night- but no canal. We went to the free Toyota showroom and looked at cute cars and played a driving simulation game that I was really bad at. There was also an antique car museum. My favorite place was Hello Kitty's Kawaii Paradise, which I'm sure children love. Everything is pink. You can buy Hello Kitty stuff, eat at Hello Kitty's Pancake Paradise, play games, and take pictures (for $6!) with Hello Kitty. We wanted to see the beautiful Palette Town ferris wheel at night so we spent some time in Leisure Land, a huge arcade. When we left, it was dark and the ferris wheel looked beautiful. We went down to the coast to see the famous Rainbow Bridge and the miniature Statue of Liberty. After getting a cheap dinner at the aquarium, we headed home on the monorail.

Day 6- At this point we had run out of things to do. Tony wanted to go back to Akihabara to buy more games. I definitely didn't want to do that, so I went to Ueno Park by myself. There are lots of shrines, temples, and museums here. I saw the pond and a handful of temples and shrines, and spent some time at the National Museum of Tokyo (gotta say, kind of a small and boring collection, but still some interesting stuff.) Since we didn't have phones, we met back at our new hostel (back in Asakusa) at 5:30 to check in to our capsules (we had checked our suitcases earlier.) The capsules were so cool! Surprisingly spacious and comfortable. I really liked the privacy. The only downside is that the end closes with a shade, not a plastic door like a microwave as I had expected, so I was woken up several times by other guests. I got up at 6 the next morning and took the elevator up to the communal shower floor, where I had to shower in a sauna room that was public. Actually, I was the only person there at that time, which was good. Then we grabbed our bags and started the trek from Asakusa to Narita to Incheon to our homes. After buying the subway and train ticket to Narita, I had exactly 3 yen in my possession. I cut it close, but it worked out OK.

My advice for people visiting Tokyo is: either be really rich, or be on a strict budget, because everything is really expensive! And it's true- you should bring cash, because most places only accept cash. ATMs are easy to find in big shopping malls in Shibuya and Harajuku, but not in most places! And most of them only take specific cards! (My Korean card is a Shinhan/Visa card, and several ATMs did not accept Visa- only weird Chinese and European cards.)

All in all, it was a great trip, and we did so much stuff! I'd wanted to go to Japan for YEARS, so I'm glad I finally did!