While it certainly seemed to take us a long time to get to Vietnam, the beauty of the international date line comes when traveling back east. We left Vietnam at midnight on Saturday, and arrived at 7am Sunday in Tokyo. We had 10 glorious hours to get lost in Japan, and left Tokyo at 5pm Sunday. We boarded our 8.5 hour flight, ate, took sleeping pills, and woke fairly rested at 9am Sunday in Vancouver, Canada. I love gaining a whole day of life back!
We hadn't planned out our Tokyo stay very well (I had a hard enough time before the trip finding time to make sure we had places to rest our heads in Vietnam) so while we had read a few webpages, we hadn't written anything down other than the train station we knew we wanted to get off at. That, and a plan to eat as much sushi as we could afford (which isn't much in Japan!).
Japan was a whole different world - fast, modern, bright, and utterly confusing. Not to mention the proliferation of anime, cartoon characters, and odd fashion styles. We were comforted to see English characters on many of the train station signs (just the names of the stations), and some of the street signs, but aside from that we were pretty much on our own. We had decided not to get cash, seeing as we were only going to be there for 10 hours, and it was a first world country after all. We stepped off the train and simply wandered til we found a hotel that was kind enough to give us a few maps. Then we were off to the Imperial Palace & Imperial Gardens. Unfortunately, from what we could ascertain, Sunday meant that much of the grounds were closed, but many of the trees were still in their full fall colors and it was fun to explore.
We then decided to get a little risky and hopped another train to the Shinkjuku district. This was supposed to be one of the busiest parts of a bustling city. We were getting hungry, couldn't find a wifi connection to save our lives, and instinctively stepped into an adorable little 'standing sushi bar'. The beauty of Japan is that most menus have lots of pictures. So we just kind of pointed, and held our breath. The food was delicious, but about halfway through the meal I looked around said to myself 'Mackenzie, even if we were in the United States, this place probably wouldn't take credit cards'. Oops. We decided that once we finished, one of us would just run out and find an ATM. Well, what ensued was roughly 45 minutes of each of us taking turns at failing miserably to find an ATM that would accept our debit cards. Visions were floating through my head of spending my last 6 hours in Japan in a kitchen trying to work off my debt. Eventually though we succeeded in buying our freedom.
We also visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which is two tall towers with great viewing platforms at the top - that are free! We wandered, explored, and of course, ate some more sushi before finding out way back to the train station and the airport. Japan was beautiful, invigorating, dumbfounding, and full of good food. If I had boundless resources I would be back in a flash, but as it is, this perfectly sunny day in November will have to do us for a while. Cheers, and thanks for following along with us on another adventure.
We hadn't planned out our Tokyo stay very well (I had a hard enough time before the trip finding time to make sure we had places to rest our heads in Vietnam) so while we had read a few webpages, we hadn't written anything down other than the train station we knew we wanted to get off at. That, and a plan to eat as much sushi as we could afford (which isn't much in Japan!).
Countryside outside Narita from the train
Japan was a whole different world - fast, modern, bright, and utterly confusing. Not to mention the proliferation of anime, cartoon characters, and odd fashion styles. We were comforted to see English characters on many of the train station signs (just the names of the stations), and some of the street signs, but aside from that we were pretty much on our own. We had decided not to get cash, seeing as we were only going to be there for 10 hours, and it was a first world country after all. We stepped off the train and simply wandered til we found a hotel that was kind enough to give us a few maps. Then we were off to the Imperial Palace & Imperial Gardens. Unfortunately, from what we could ascertain, Sunday meant that much of the grounds were closed, but many of the trees were still in their full fall colors and it was fun to explore.
love the colors
We then decided to get a little risky and hopped another train to the Shinkjuku district. This was supposed to be one of the busiest parts of a bustling city. We were getting hungry, couldn't find a wifi connection to save our lives, and instinctively stepped into an adorable little 'standing sushi bar'. The beauty of Japan is that most menus have lots of pictures. So we just kind of pointed, and held our breath. The food was delicious, but about halfway through the meal I looked around said to myself 'Mackenzie, even if we were in the United States, this place probably wouldn't take credit cards'. Oops. We decided that once we finished, one of us would just run out and find an ATM. Well, what ensued was roughly 45 minutes of each of us taking turns at failing miserably to find an ATM that would accept our debit cards. Visions were floating through my head of spending my last 6 hours in Japan in a kitchen trying to work off my debt. Eventually though we succeeded in buying our freedom.
I realized there is not a single picture of me in Japan. Oops
But here's Matt, happy as a clam with his sushi
(I think this was before we realized we didn't have money)
We also visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which is two tall towers with great viewing platforms at the top - that are free! We wandered, explored, and of course, ate some more sushi before finding out way back to the train station and the airport. Japan was beautiful, invigorating, dumbfounding, and full of good food. If I had boundless resources I would be back in a flash, but as it is, this perfectly sunny day in November will have to do us for a while. Cheers, and thanks for following along with us on another adventure.
Map. huh?
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
Sorry about my reflection. I guess thats as close as you get to a picture of me
I don't think you can see it in the picture, but we actully saw Mt Fuji back there
Enough signs?
Sushi #2
See, pictures of food. I don't know why, but I like it.
Boo to no pictures of you in Japan! I think you like the pictures of food because that's the only way you know what your options are if you don't speak Japanese! ;)
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