Gundam and Shibuya

Friday, July 31 2009

So I got a message from a facebook friend to go to Odaiba and look for this transformer looking statue (aka Gundam – looking him up). To be honest, I’m not really into the anime/transformer/video games or basically any Japanese animation that’s become such a rage here in Japan. Anyway, I saw the link that she sent me and it looked pretty cool. It was this gigantesque Transformer looking statue standing tall over Tokyo. So Dah-veed (David) and I decided to check it out (to our surprise though, there was no humidity the moment we stepped out of the hostel! It felt so great that my shirt was dry all day long!)

Finally, we arrived to the site where is installed. But to be honest, although impressive in itself of its size, there was not much to do other than stare at it. Literally, we took some shots and left immediately. I’m not sure it was worth the money to go there, as Daiba was pretty far from our hostel location. But after Gundam, I immediately went to search for the largest fish market in the world, Tsukiji. When I got there, I expected to see a gazillion humongous fish lined up. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, they were nowhere in sight. I think I may have gotten there too late because Tsukiji fish market is a tourist spot, but I was the only one walking around.

Then later that night, David accompanied me again to Shibuya where you see the biggest cross street in the world! I don’t know where these people come from, but literally, it seems like a gazillion Japanese come out of nowhere and start waiting in the intersection in every turn. It was definitely quite a show… I don’t think I’ve ever been more entertained than watching a bunch of people cross a street.

Open air Sauna

Thursday, July 30 2009

I love Tokyo!

Well, except for the humidity. I seriously can’t think of a place that I’ve been to that has the same intensity of humidity as Tokyo… and by that I’m comparing it to the likes of Egypt, the Philippines, and summer in Chicago. Spots of sweat starts visibly forming in my shirt within a few minutes of being outside. I may sweat a lot (or some even say I have sweating problems – I do, afterall, start sweating the moment I smell spicy food 5 feet away), but the only other place sweat starts dripping from my skin that instantaneously is in a sauna.

Anyway, I still can’t complain. Sweating problems in Tokyo sounds like a champagne problem, considering that I’d rather be sweating in Tokyo town than being stuck in middle America.

With that said, I’m definitely starting to get used to the metro system here in Tokyo. It’s really no biggy as long as you are used to any other metro system (in other words, if you can connect point A to point B, then you should be fine). Perhaps the only difference is with the Japanese system compared to others (western Europe in particular) is that you pay for every stop. They do not have a system here where you can get a pass for the whole day and go around as much as you want. In hindsight, this is probably where Tokyo gets expensive. If I want to go around the city as much as I want, the price adds up every time I use the metro.

The touristy things I checked off today are the Imperial palace and the garden. It was quite….OK. I’m not sure I can say I was blown away by it… but I suppose it’s still worth a trip. Then after I came back to the hostel to take my midday shower, I explored Shinjuku later that night. This was the first night I truly see Tokyo at night… and this is when I can truly say I was blown away by it. For me at least, the lights in Tokyo are more spectacular than Las Vegas at night …maybe because it doesn’t feel tacky?

Then I stumbled upon the “red light district” of Tokyo where I was approached by numerous guys and gals asking if I needed a massage (and um, and sex on the side…). I got approached so many times I thought it’d be funny if I capture it on film…and I did. Those suckers didn’t know I already have my video cam on when they approached me…so you can watch the video yourself ☺

Anyway, lights out. I’m off to bed.

Konichiwa Tokyo!

Tuesday, July 28th

Alright….I’m here.

The overall journey from Chicago to Tokyo in itself was a pleasant one… smooth flight and great service (I flew ANA for the first time – their in-flight entertainment is great! They have so much variety to choose from in your own personal screen that they make a four hour flight from San Diego to Chicago by United seem like an eternal torture). And to top it off, my luggage was waiting for me with open arms once I passed customs! I didn’t had to wait in the conveyor belt for it to arrive, which was a nice change for those who are familiar with my luggage not physically arriving at the same time with me to places ☺ . And I guess the cherry on top would be that I didn’t have much of a jet lag as I was expecting, considering that I was in the plane for 13 hours (by the way, I didn’t see the sky turn dark that whole flight! I was pretty much under daylight for 21 hours straight. I work up at 6:30 am to catch my flight, took off from Chicago at 10:50 a.m., arrived in Tokyo around 2 p.m., plus 4 more hours of daylight. You do the math).

As some of you know my affinity with French culture (some say borderline obsession…but that’s going off topic), the very first people that I met in Japan were… French (eh, ironic). But I wasn’t even trying looking for them like a needle in a haystack as I would do back in America (kidding…sorta). They just kinda…came? These couple who were sitting with me on the Kensei line train from Narita airport to downtown Tokyo were speaking French, and then naturally(?), of course…we started talking. Then when I arrived in the hostel, it turned out two of my roommates were – yup, you guessed it – were French too! (by the way, the people who know me well are probably thinking that I staged this “random” encounters..hahaha. I can sense them shaking their head and giggling as they read that part).

Besides that, it was still kind of hard to fathom that I finally arrived in Tokyo. It was still kinda hard to form my first impression when I was so tired. I got my stuff settled, showered, and walked around the neighborhood where my hostel was located. Then later that night, the three of us (francophones :) went out to a local bar (haha, well, so much for it being local considering the only Japanese people that were there were the people working there. They have an international guess base apparently).