We left the hotel around 8:00 and headed to Asakusa. It was rush hour and we let about 4 trains pass us
by before squeezing ourselves into a car. It was kind of creepy, as Toby noted, that all the riders are so impassive and blank-faced,
squished together like sardines; they remind you of the images of holocaust
victims being sent to the camps.In the
morning the trains are very quiet; cell phone use is banned on the subway and frowned
upon in general in public places. Still, most riders spend their time texting
or playing games on their various & sundry electronic devices.
We ate breakfast at Denny’s before heading into Asakusa.It was on
the 2nd floor of a building right across from the entrance to the Senso-ji temple, and we watched busload after busload of
school kids arrive. Our waitress was of a certain age but very cute (most
Japanese women are). As we pointed at the pictures on the menu she entered our
choices into a type of palm pilot. Everything was good and cost about 1600 yen
total (just under 16.00) I tried to leave a tip but the cashier retrieved it
and told me I couldn’t. That’s one thing
that’s hard for us to get used to: not tipping. It’s apparently just not done
here.
The road leading up to the Senso-Ji
temple is lined with stalls of every imaginable knickknack (sorry Tyler!),
handicraft, and food imaginable. The night before at Ueno I had been impressed
by the market, but this was another animal entirely. There were lots of things
for 300 yen, and some booths with lots of things for
30000 yen! Toby was assailed by many groups of school kids whose assignment was
to ask an English speaker a series of questions. As soon as he had finished
with one group, another would have spotted him and he found himself answering
the same 5 questions again. The kids all took a turn asking a question; some
were very shy and some were pushed forward by the others. They called him
“Toby-san” and asked him to autograph their notebooks at the end of the
interview.
We had lunch at what looked to be a chain of udon noodle joints which serves good food for 500 yen each.
Afterwards, we walked through another series of market-lined streets to the
next subway station. After charging up Toby-san’s camera battery at the hotel,
we caught the train to Ueno station and went to the park. We didn’t get to any
museums or to the zoo, but we did leave our wishes on wooden plaques at the
Tosho-gu shrine. It’s fascinating and sometimes
touching to flip through the hundreds of plaques (that are not in Japanese,
obviously.) “I wish for a husband”, ”I wish strength for Jim in his
recovery”,“ I hope my family will be
healed”, “Good wishes to everyone that reads this, peace out.”
Next stop: Shibuya. Although the subway was not half as
crowded as the morning rush hour, coming out of the station we found ourselves
engulfed in a sea of humanity, surrounded by huge TV screens and neon signs
that made it seem like daytime even though night was beginning to fall. Times Square, Tokyo style.The people-watching was unbelievable. We wandered the streets,
slack-jawed and dazed, for a good hour or so, trying to figure out where to get
a drink and some food. A lot of places have some English on them, but just a
little. For instance, it says “Soup of the day” and then nothing but kanji
after it. We considered going to Shakey’s Pizza just
for the surreal value of it. “Freshness Burger” was also a contender in that
category. Finally, Toby spotted a tapas bar and thanks to a little Spanish
speaking on my part, we secured a place at the bar
sans reservations and enjoyed a couple of sangrias along with excellent tapas
and atmosphere. My ears were doing
double-takes, if that makes sense, the whole time because the waiters would be
speaking Spanish one minute and then segue seamlessly into Japanese the next.
We talked with a couple of the waiters and got answers to some questions we’d
been wondering about. One, how much does the average waiter make if they don’t
get tips? At that
restaurant anyway, about $12/hour: Pepito, our waiter friend, makes about $3000 a month
because he’s a head waiter. Two, what do rents run in the city? Hiis rent is $1200/month, which seemed reasonable compared
to New York City. He said that it’s definitely expensive to live there, though.
We then took a short walk up to Harajuku
hoping to get a glimpse of some of the Lolita girls (school girls who dress up
in outlandish and bizarre outfits.) It was a little too late however, and most
places were closed. We took a different train back to the hotel, which was
surprisingly busy for 11:30 at night. Lots of businessmen, we assumed just
getting off work. Our last night in the box was bittersweet; although it wasn’t
much to write home about, it had a certain charm and we had grown fond of it.
We didn’t see much of the other lodgers while we were there, in fact, on our
floor we didn’t see any other foreigners at all. There was a Japanese man who I
would see using the toaster oven on occasion and a Japanese woman who would do
her laundry in one of the sinks. The bathroom was unisex but I never ran into
any other people when I used it. It was funky but very clean and the perfect
price ($42/night)for our limited needs.
Thursday, June 1st,
2007
Made the most of our jet lag by getting up around 5:00 a.mand heading down to the Tsujiki fish market.Not a lot of riders on the subway at that hour, and those who were there
were mostly sleeping, reading the newspaper, or just staring at the wall. No
eye contact. The subway system is extremely efficient and easy to navigate due
to numbering and color-coding of lines and stations.
The market entrance is the same for pedestrians as for
vehicles, and I wonder how many accidents occur in a given week. Trucks,
bicycles, rickshaw dollies, scooters, and other “special vehicles”( as stated on the sign) crisscross. It also cautioned us
to “Be careful not to injure yourself all the time.” Indeed!
What/Where have Sonia and Toby eaten?
Amtrak train --
Sonia's homemade breakfast burrito
Gran Sabor, Seattle, Wa --
Sopitas and Tortilla Soup
Wild Ginger, Seattle, Wa --
Peppered Scallops, Papaya Salad, Pot Stickers, Seasoned Green Beans, Monk's Curry, and a slice of B-day Chocolate Cake.
Northwest Airlines --
Vegetarian meal, trail mix, ice cream sandwich, more airline food
Fish Market, Tokyo, Japan --
Some dough thing on a stick
Caffe Veloce, Tokyo, Japan --
Tuna sandwich and tea
Ameyayokocho Market, Tokyo, Japan --
Bubble tea and pineapple on a stick
What transportation have we taken?
Amtrak train from Portland to Seattle
Bus 73 from Seattle train station to College Inn, Seattle
Bus 71 from College Inn to Downtown Seattle
Bus 71 from Downtown Seattle back to College Inn
NWA Flight 7 to Tokyo, Japan
Keisei Skyliner to Ueno Station
Hibiya Line to Minowa Station
Hibiaya Line to Tsukiji Station
Ginza Line to Nihombashi Station
