You would think that going to Tokyo would be fun. It's one of the world's most famous cities, the capitol of Japan, and an example of industrialization at its finest. With this being said, you may be surprised when I tell you that I hated going to Tokyo. Okay, hate might be too strong of a strong word, but let's just say that I won't be rushing to go back anytime soon.
The thing that many don't realize about Tokyo is that it is huge-- with huge being an understatement. Tokyo is not just one "city", but cities within cities. Akihabara, Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku-- all of these "districts" are really cities within themselves, and it can take up to two hours to get from one end of Tokyo to the other (if you're lucky.) Also, there isn't really anything to do in Tokyo except for two things: shop and party. Both of which will cost you quite a bit considering how expensive the city is. So, being a poor college student, you can assume I was less than thrilled when I discovered this.
Not all of my trip was bad, of course, but the overall feeling I get from Tokyo is that it is horribly overrated and probably the worst spot in Japan to go on vacation.
08.07
We arrived at Tokyo Station around 7:00 on Sunday morning after taking the night bus from Kyoto around midnight the previous night. The night bus is the cheapest way to get to Tokyo. A round trip costs about $100 while a ticket on the shinkansen (bullet train) takes $100 for one way. However, it is probably the least comfortable way to travel. There isn't much room on the bus and it's extremely hard to sleep. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we arrived and immediately found a Starbucks before planning our next move, which would be to find the youth hostel where we would be staying.
This was easier said then done. Since Bea forgot to print the address for our hostel, we spent the better part of the morning looking for it. We asked several people, took two different trains to Asakusa, and wandered around in the blistering heat before arriving at the wrong hostel, then finding the right one. The exhausting sidetrip didn't deter us though. Once we dropped off our bags we went straight to Akihabara, the famous electronics center in Tokyo. Akihabara is popular among gamers and "otakus" because of the merchandise that is sold there. I spent (too much) money on Ghibli products before Bea and I visited a "Maid Cafe", which is just what it sounds like. Girls dressed as maids serve you ridiculously cute food and beverages-- for a steep price. Luckily, we went to one of the "kid friendly" cafes. Even so, it felt weird being served by high school age girls in costume.
We would have spent more time in Akihabara, but when we left the maid cafe a huge thunderstorm started and we got caught in the downpouring rain. Already tired from our trip to Tokyo, Bea and I opted to return to the hostel to rest.
08.08
Bea and I were fairly lazy when it came to starting our day. In fact, we didn't really leave the hostel until mid afternoon. When we finally got out, we visited Harajuku and Shibuya, two very famous shopping districts in Tokyo. Once again, I easily spent a lot of money (Tokyo is expensive!), but at least this time I bought cute shoes and clothes. It was a lot of fun wandering around Harajuku because of all of the various clothing styles that are on display there-- both in the stores and on the people. In fact, Harajuku is most famous for being a mecca for crazy fashions so I could have spent the entire time people-watching! In Shibuya, we visited the famous 109 department store and watched people walk across the famous cross walk from a third story window. Everywhere we went there were flashing lights, lots of people, and interesting things to be seen.
Once again, we returned to the hostel in the evening absolutely exhausted from a long day of walking in the heat.
08.10
This was my favorite day out of our entire trip-- probably because it wasn't spent in Tokyo, but in Hakone, a scenic area about two hours outside of the city. Hakone is one of Japan's most famous tourist spots because of its spectacular view of Mt. Fuji along with its natural hot springs. Bea and I spent the entire day walking around. Well, not all of it was walking. We managed to ride trains, cable cars, and boats in order to make our way around all of the mountains. The views were spectacular! Of course, we had to eat Hakone's famous "black eggs", which are eggs that they hard boil using the natural hot springs in the area. Because they cook them in the hot springs, the eggs shells burn black, therefore they are litterally "black eggs." Once we managed to see all of the best spots in Hakone, we went to an onsen to relax. We returned to Tokyo on the train around 9 PM. Bea received a text message from a friend in Tokyo who wanted to meet up, so we went our separate ways. I had every intention of returning to the hostel. All I had to do was take the train from Shinjuku to Kanda, then switch to the Ginza line and go to Asakusa. Easy, right? WRONG. I spent two hours riding the train in search of Kanda station. I even asked two different people who worked at the train stations how to get there, and both of them told me I was going in the right direction! Even so, I ended up horribly lost nowhere near where I supposed to be. To make things worse, the last train for the night departed a little after midnight and it was already midnight by the time I realized how lost I was. I ended up taking one more train in the direction of Asakusa, then took a taxi for a step 6,000 yen (over $60!). I got home exhausted and frustrated, and Bea was nowhere to be seen because she had decided to spend the night with her friend.
08.11
Our last day in Tokyo was uneventful, mainly because Bea ended up getting lost on the train the same way I did on the way back from her friend's house. Because of this, we didn't meet up until five in the afternoon, and by then we were both too tired to do much. We wandered around Asakusa and bought gifts for people back in Nara (as is the Japanese custom), then we ate dinner and made our way towards Shinjuku, which was where our night bus would be leaving from.
We boarded our bus at 11:30 in the evening, but because of a mysterious two hour delay in our trip, didn't end up getting to Nara until 10:00 in the morning. The bus was horribly uncomfortable so we didn't sleep much, which meant we arrived to Nara feeling awful. Once I got back to my room I worked on unpacking, showered, took a nap, and got up to meet with Maki san so we could fill out some necessary paperwork. I spent the rest of the evening doing absolutely nothing, but still managed to be incredibly tired.
I know this update is late and probably pretty disappointing in spite of the fact that it is supposed to be about my trip to Tokyo, but there really isn't much to say about it. Unless you have a lot of money and like to party, there isn't anything to do in Tokyo except for shop, which is also expensive. I much prefer the calm, relaxed atmosphere of Nara to Tokyo. Also, I feel like Nara more accurately portrays Japan as a whole than Tokyo does. Tokyo is too much of a tourist center and industrial center to really reflect the Japanese spirit.
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