Tokyo, Japan - September 2011

Good luck isn't necessarily required for a great adventure, and traveling to Tokyo this year I am pretty sure I proved the concept. My luck was absolutely horrendous, but in the end I still came home with a really good feeling about the trip.

Originally, I had signed up for a much longer tour of Japan for October, but unfortunately that trip got cancelled as apparently nobody else signed up to go after the earthquake, and tsunami back in March. When that disaster occurred the devastation was incredible, but this was mostly in northern Japan whereas the tour itinerary would have all been South from Tokyo. So seven months later, I wasn't personally concerned about going. I mean, it isn't like we were going to be staying next door to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant or something...

Anyway, the formal Japan tour was cancelled, but this year my birthday (which I always try to take off anyway) was on the Friday before the Monday Labor Day holiday. So, I can just take an extra couple days (Wednesday & Thursday), and night flight on Tuesday and I can spend about four days touring Tokyo. I've wanted to see more of Japan than the inside of Narita airport (where I have changed planes many times) for a while, and I can visit my friend Yukari too, sounded like a pretty cool quickie getaway.

Tokyo - Day One

My plane arrived in Tokyo at 5 AM Thursday morning, and my first stop was the hotel which is also my first travel tip for Asia. In places like Japan they are often a lot more formal about observing check in times (usually in the afternoon) then some other places might be, so my tip would be to book the night you are in transit too so you can actually be a late check-in when you get there in the morning. A bit of extra cost, but if you ask me having somewhere to freshen up after after nine hours on a plane is almost priceless.

Today my goal was just to get bit a feel for the city, and perhaps walk to a couple of tourist spots I thought were close enough to the hotel. So armed with a tourist map from a pamphlet I got at the hotel I set out on foot to explore.

Shinjuku station was only about two blocks from the hotel so this was my first stop. From the tourist information I had read before I got there, I knew that the station was a multi leveled structure as much shopping mall as it was subway and surface train station, and that it certainly is.

However, what I didn't know is that you can actually travel quite a distance in the pedestrian tunnels from the station too. Wandering around the station and checking out the shops, I came across a sign (in Japanese and English) pointing a direction to the Metropolitan Government Building which was one of the destinations I had in mind for the day so let it guide me in that direction. Something like 9 or 10 blocks at street level it was a much shorter hike in the tunnels, doubtless a bit cooler and less humid than than walking it outside on the streets too.

A lot of places government offices wouldn't normally be on the tourist agenda, but the Metropolitan Government Building (which is basically Tokyo City Hall I think) has two observation decks (one in each tower) that are free and have a pretty nice panoramic view of Tokyo. And it's also kind of architecturally interesting with the kind of circular structure which bridges the street to include the Assembly building too.

The other first day destination I had in mind was the Meiji Shrine, a 100 year old Shinto Shrine dedicated to the Meiji Emporer and Empress, which was a bit longer hike in the opposite direction from the hotel. So I got my exercise finding it, but if I had waited another day or two I would have learned that it was only one stop away on the JR line from Shinjuku station...

Mt. Fuji - Day Two

Since I had a private tour of Tokyo booked for Saturday, today I thought I would grab a commercial day tour and try to see Mt. Fuji. However, my timing turned out to be atrocious since I managed to pick the day when typhoon Talas was going to make landfall in the same area (Hakone) of Japan. So because of the storm they had closed the roads up to the 5th Station of Mt. Fuji, and not much of the mountain was to be seen from the road barricade or visitors center.

The tour also included a boat ride on Lake Ashi, along with a cable car ride, But unfortunately the stormy weather made it hard to see much. Interesting, but it doubtless would have been far better on a nicer day...

Tokyo - Day Three

First thing this morning I met my guide Yumi (from ToursByLocals.com) in the hotel lobby and we set out to see the Tsukiji Fish Market as this is destination you have to visit early (it is mostly closed by noon). There are actually a couple of different market areas, the inner market is the wholesale market where fish are processed and the tuna auction takes place first this every morning (except Sundays), and the outer market which is more retail oriented with kitchen supplies, groceries, seafood, and restaurants (especially sushi restaurants).

From the fish market the original plan had been to visit Hamarikyu Japanese garden for a traditional tea ceremony before taking a boat on the Sumida river to Asakusa, but unfortunately the river boats were not running due to the weather. So instead we took the subway to Asakusa, where we visited the Sensoji temple, and browsed the souvenir shop streets.

Later on the tour we also visied the Imperial palace gardens, Tokyo tower, and Shibuya (kind of like Tokyo's version of Times Square). Seen with me in the picture above, there is a statue there of a dog named Hachiko near Shibuya station, who was famous for waiting on his late master every day at the station for several years and became nationally known for his loyalty.

Tokyo - Day Four

Unfortunately, this was the day where things really went off track. Thanks to the education on the Tokyo train system I got from my guide the day before, I was feeling comfortable that I could get around on the subways, so I set off from Shinjuku station with a vague plan to visit Harajuku (something of a youth culture district), Yoyogi park, Ryogoku (to perhaps visit a Sumo stable), and find somewhere to experience a tea ceremony.

My first stop was Harajuku (which also happens to be the train station adjacent to the Meiji Shrine), from there I wandered through Yoyogi park heading towards the National Stadium used for the swimming and diving events of the 1964 Olympics. Then it was at this point I think my luck actually bottomed out.

I was on the sidewalk of a fairly main street although there really wasn't much traffic (I did not really see that much car traffic anywhere in the city) or other people nearby when man approached me and grabbed my left arm. He wasn't Japanese, and spoke english with what to me sounded like a french or italian accent. I did not take it as a threatening situation at first because the guy did not strike me as a street person, and just seemed like a drunk to me (babbling about how I was beautiful, should be his wife or something, etc, etc.). Anyway, to make a long story short I got seperated from my wallet which also had my passport in it.

Then. between the visit the Tokyo police station to file a report and making calls from the hotel to cancel my credit cards, that was basically the rest of my day.

Tokyo - Day Five

I was supposed to leave for home late this afternoon but lacking a passport that was not possible now, and being the Labor Day holiday in the USA the Embassy in Tokyo was also closed for the day. So today I finally visited with my frind Yukari. Did I mention that as with the rest of my luck on this trip, she had needed to go out of town and just got back?

Tokyo - Day six

If I could have, I would have included a picture of the US Embassy here, because that was pretty much what today was all about. But there were signs all around the place the said photos and videos & not allowed, and there were police everywhere. Including two armored police buses across the street from the entrance.

I got there first thing right when they opened (was at the front of the line when they let people in), and had to take a number. Then I basically sat there until almost noon, it seems they don't call any numbers until after everyone who had appointments for the day are processed. The fact that you are there basically because of an emergency situation where you have no ID, not much money, and can't get home, etc. makes no difference to them at all (you are just someone who does not have an appointment).

Anyway, finally at just before noon I got to see someone and get my paperwork done, then I was told to come back later that afternoon to see if I could get my temporary passport. So went to have some lunch and then walked over to see the National Diet Building since it was not that far from the embassy and I needed to kill some time before going back. Ultimately I did get a temp passport, but by then it was too late to get a flight that same day.

Departing for home - Day Seven

Given the way things went on this trip it might have been easy to write it off as a bad experience. But even though things were not what I might have imagined ahead of time, in reality it was all a new adventure even the US embassy since I had never been to one before.