Arrival, Pictures, Updates

Well, I've arrived in Japan without a hitch! I'm going to try to lay this post out like a photo Journal because I managed to snap a lot of pictures on my journey!


First, the flight was smooth sailing almost the entire time through, except that I got air sick part way through but after some much needed sleep I felt better!

^ The food served on the flight from Vancouver to Tokyo was the first hint that I was going to Japan (and the fact that all the flight announcements were repeated in Japanese). A quick note that I must make: Japan is FULL of CUUUUUTE girls!!! Tim is in heaven!

After going through customs and immigration at Narita, I found myself finally in Japan. I have to stress, the Japanese people have been soooo helpful to me thus far, but at the same time, I think someone who only spoke english would have a very difficult and frustrating time travelling in this country. Some people in Canada often told me "Everyone there speaks English anyways" and this could not be further from the truth with the exception of airport and hotel staff. There is a train station in Narita airport, which is important because Narita is actually not in Tokyo but rathering in the neighbouring city of Chiba which is a 75 minute train ride from Tokyo.
As soon as I got to the train platform, I found myself a little lost, and for the first time, my Japanese skills came to the rescue. I met a really nice woman and her daughter, and explained to them that I needed to go to Asakusa and that I know I'll have to transfer but I'm not sure which line to take. Fortunately, they were also headed in the same direction. Boarding the train/subway, I found myself surrounded by interesting posters. I cannot lie, this city - Tokyo - is VERY commercialized!

After making it to Asakusa station, I followed the directions given from the Sakura Hostel website. However, a few parts of the instructions were a little foggy and once again I found myself starting to get lost as it's a weaving 15 minute walk from Asakusa station to Sakura Hostel, which, by the way was filled with Tori gates, temples, and... an Amusement park. I found a local construction worker or traffic director, I couldn't tell which, and explained to him Sumimasen, chotto maigo ni narimashita... etto... Kaminarimon wa doko desu ka?, which basically means Excuse me, I'm a little lost, where is Kaminari gate? Unfortunately, he wasn't sure, and told me it could be in 2 different directions, but then he stopped 2 women passing by, and asked them about the location of the temple.. The women explained to me (again in Japanese) that I'd have to go the other way, cross the street at the next corner, and walk a little down the street.

So, I followed those directions, and found myself at the entrence gate, which was lined with traditional shops on either side of the path leading to the temple ground. Finally at the end of this path, which is extremely long and still had a fair amount of people at it even in evening hours, I came to Sensoji temple and some people were at the top stairs to the entrance, saying prayers and throwing money into the big bowl (which you do when you pray). And, of course, again I found myself a little lost (no offence to the hostel's directions but they are a little unclear about direction when they say something like "Go past the entrance" and there's two ways to go.
So, this time I asked an older man who was standing outside of some sort of shop outside of the temple grounds where the theme park is (there's a theme park near the temple, and the hostel is behind the themepark.. that's Japan though =P), I soon realised he was drunk from the smell of his breath, nonetheless he showed the the correct direction and explained how to get to the other side of the theme park. And so I arrived. Later that night, I went out to a Karaoke box with some people from the hostel that I've met (more about them in a future post perhaps), and had an awsome time! It reallllly reminded me of the Karaoke scene in Lost in Translation and I think for that reason it fulfilled a little dream of mine as I LOVE that movie. *deep breath* Today I had the coolest time exploring Tokyo! I've been constantly surprised at how approachable people are. I realise, it's part of the culture to save face and be polite whenever possible, but at the same time, it's amazing that in such a big city complete strangers are easy to share a joke with. For example, on the way of our travels, I was explaining to one of my hostel friends the difference between ippai (which means "Full") and oppai (which means breasts, haha) and some random younger Japanese guy, maybe around 20 years old, laughed a little at overhearing our conversation and said "oppai ne" (basically "Breasts, huh?") and I told him I was explaining the word to my friend but that it was a funny gaijin joke.
Also, we were given help by many people in getting lost, and I found out something really interesting, if we started the conversation with even one english word, for example, if I said "Excuse me, chotto taskette kudasai" and used EXCUSE ME instead of sumimasen (Excuse me in Japanese), people would avoid us.. I've heard from some people to not expect people in Tokyo to be helpful or approachable, esspecially to us Gaijin (foreigners), but now I think maybe that was only because those people were trying to speak to them in English. Japanese people, although many times eager to learn and practice english, seem to get very nervous about their english when on the spot. Maybe this is why they appeared cold to some people I've talked to about Tokyo. I LOVE TOKYO! It's soooo big and sooooo busy... but surprisingly, I'm finding the people are mostly friendly! Anyways, I'm getting tired of typing alot, so following are a bunch of pictures.. They're mostly of Shibuya crossing which I visited today. It's the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, you'll believe it when you see it! Take a look, I even included some video because the pictures don't do it justice.

*OVER STIMULATION ALERT*, the advertising and commercials on the buildings have AUDIO too that broadcasts over loudspeakers for all to hear! Unfortunately (or fortunately for those who can't handle it) my digital camera does not record audio.



This is a video I took while crossing shibuya *As seen in Lost in Translation



The birds eye shots of Shibuya crossing were taking from a place called "Shape City" (I think?) which is a sort of shopping mall/center that encircles half of the perimiter of Shibuya crossing.

and another video, showing why it's the busiest crossing in the world. NOTE: This is not even close to rush hour, as this was taken at about 2pm. You should see it around 5 to 7pm. Personally, I loved it, but I think my mom would hate it very quickly it's just so much sensory overload! ^_^







This next video was taken from the pedestrian crossing next to Ueno station in Ueno Tokyo (You can take a subway from Ueno to Shibuya very easily) This was my first time in a "downtown" type place in Japan, and it really hit me how big Tokyo is when I came here so I took this video:







This next video is of my first glimps of Shibuya crossing, as we approached it, the sidewalk became more and more alive with people, and the sounds of the advertisment commercials started to be heard (though you cant hear anything in my videos v.v)







Next: Asakusa Sensoji Temple. Very cool place, the smoke is said to have healing properties if you put it on your body that part of your body that it touches will become better. Many students put this smoke on their heads. hehehe






As a final note of something I just wanted to add, on the way back from my travels I walked down this side street here in Asakusa, and there's always traditional japanese music playing on a series of loudspeakers mounted on the posts to the street lights which on this street are traditional style lanterns. There's many many nice Japanese shops and restaurants! Maybe I'll take some pictures and add them here soon so keep reading! Mata ne!