Japanese Days, Tokyo Nights

July 28th, 2008 - Tokyo, Japan

Well, I don't really know how to explain Tokyo. Despite the date above, I'm writing this on August 4th, about a week after leaving Tokyo to come to the states. Its probably the week of reflection that I'll be drawing on to write this, because while I was there I was completely overwhelmed and entirely entranced. A difficult combination for articulate writing, I think!

Let me explain by saying first that Tokyo, at first blush, is a crazy place. A week before leaving on my trip, my friend Sabina (who I must thank for being amazing) directed me towards a subway map of Tokyo, so that I could find my away around the city on the cheap. I laughed out loud when I saw it, as I'm sure you will too. How can anyone make sense of this?

While my initial impressions of Tokyo aligned closely with those of the map above (Colorful and confusing), I have to say that all it took was some getting used to. Although the map is incredibly complicated, it represents a subway system that is unbelievably efficient and pleasant to use. Sitting here typing this in Chicago, home of a schizophrenic and frustrating subway, I can only grow in my appreciation of Tokyo's efforts. Anywhere (practically) you need to go in Tokyo, the subway will get you there. Not only that, in my experience with it, it is ALWAYS on time, usually to the minute. In fact, there are times posted on a board above the track telling you exactly what time the train and the one after it will come, and they are usually right. You can set your watch to it.

But the coolest part for me is that the subway system will tell you exactly how long it takes to get from one place to another. You just look at the maps in the station, and look at the stop you want to go to. Under there will be a number in a circle, and that is exactly how long it will take you to get from your current stop to the one you're looking at. Its easy to take a less efficient subway system for granted (thank you Chicago), but for those days in Tokyo I realized how much public transportation improves quality of life. The confusing map itself only obscures how amazing the subway is once you get used to it. Pretty much my Tokyo experience in a nutshell!

Another cool experience that took some getting used to was vending machine ordering. Most of the food I got in Tokyo was pretty expensive, and the city itself is really hard to live in on a budget. However Chris and Steve brought me to a restaurant that gave you good food, in a good quantity, for relatively little money. All you do is walk up to the vending machine below, insert your money, and pres a button. Then you grab a seat and wait for your food to be brought over to you. There obviously isn't any room for customization of your order, or generally much service at all, but if what you're going for is a hot meal with relatively basic ingredients, you're good to go.


I was a bit freaked out the first time I tried this, I think Steve and Chris brought me there for my first meal in Tokyo. I was jet lagged and tired and ordering hot food from a box. But given some sleep, some relaxation and some perspective, it was a cheap way to get good food. Put another one on the board for Tokyo!

Something I've been thinking about now that I'm back is my overall attitude toward my month abroad. I billed it to myself as a chance to wander and explore, generally go where I liked and do what I wanted. This had some negatives and a lot of positives, both of which I experienced in Tokyo.

On Friday night, arriving in Tokyo without hotel reservations, an understanding of the geography or of the city, and without an idea of how much everything costs, not having made plans was quite stressful. However on Sunday morning, with a day to myself and with Tokyo to explore, it was amazing. On the spur of the moment I decided to attend a baseball game, and spent the next 45 minutes trying to make it so. By chance there was a game that Sunday afternoon, and a big game: The Yomiuri Giants, the biggest team, against someone whose name I now forget. Tickets were sold out, but I managed to get to the stadium and buy standing room only tickets for $10.

What an awesome experience. The Japanese take baseball very very seriously, and cheer and yell with the best of them. There is a video at the bottom of the crowd celebration after a run scored, but the key thing to realize is that they cheer all the time. It reminded me of a soccer game. Not only that, the standing room area was like a celebration of an entire culture. Families squatted against the walls eating homemade food out of tuperware, paying scarce attention to the game unless a young kid pressed his nose against the bars to watch for a moment. It seemed more like an afternoon picnic than anything else.

As I was leaving the game (only stayed for a few innings, things to do), I remembered to administer an important test: The Hot Dog. Unfortunately although there is a lot commend the Japanese on in their celebration of The Great Game, there is not much praiseworthy in their frankfurters. Different stadiums or games may tell different stories, and hopefully I'll experience more one day, but the hot dog I got was thin, bland, sprinkled with stale bacon bits and covered with a yellow gruel reminiscent of American mustard. Dangit.

As I walked out of the stadium, I noticed an ornate building entrance along the walkway to my subway. Walking up to it, it turned out to be the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Cool!

However at the end of the day, I was tired enough that the Hall of Fame didn't appeal to me very much. I went inside, checked ticket prices (expensive), got some written material and turned around and left. For some reason rehashing another history of baseball, separate form that I learned as a kid, didn't grab me the way it might have.

I'm sure its very interesting, and on some other day its possbile I would have gone in. But not today! Below, check out the stone pillars built into the wall that make up some of the decoration of the HoA. Very impressive up close.

And now for something completely different.

As I was walking out of the baseball game, outside the stadium and to the larger complex beyond, I started to notice very colorfully dressed people milling about in groups of 3 or 4. It looked to be mostly girls, and I can't really tell you what I first thought was going on. People were taking pictures of each other, posing and generally putting on a show for their friends. It wasn't just that they were dressed colorfully, it was a coordinated outfit that involved hair, makeup, shoes, the whole nine yards.

This colorful stretch of park-ish area turned out to be only the tip of the iceberg. The large convention center I was walking around was filled (once I paid to get in) with hundreds of these people sitting in groups, standing, eating, looking at costumes and other things for sale, and generally hanging out. I can't begin to tell you how intimidated and confused I was, and it was a bit disconcerting. There I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and I felt very weird.

After a few false starts, people pulling me aside and scolding me, some difficult English-Japanese translation work and (of course) more money from me, I secured a ticket to take pictures. I didn't really understand I had needed one before, but I guess it makes sense.

What follows is a set of pictures that I took over the next two hours... enjoy!



I have since learned that what was going on was a Japanese Cos-Play (Costume Play) convention that happens once a month in various spots around Tokyo. My luck to get to it on the one day in July, no?

Cosplay is a performing art type behaviour in which people dress up, usually mimicking characters or figures from arenas as diverse as comic books, Japanese manga or Anime (or so sayeth Wikipedia).

The funny thing that happened to me was that during the convention itself, I had a hard time making myself clear to the people I wanted to take pictures of. I know English is spoken decently by much of SE Asia, but in Japan in this convention, they couldn't understand it for the life of them. So I had the will to take the pictures, but not the way... and you know what they say about that.

Enter my new Japanese friend Shun. He spoke a bit of English, it was his first time at one of these too, and most importantly he was scared and shy. Thus began a funny two hours. Shun would walk up and explain to the girls (in Japanese) that this American had come all the way across the world and had never seen something like this, would it be ok if he took a picture. Then after I had, Shun would snap one as well, making editorial comments the whole time on the cuteness or lack thereof of the various girls we saw. High comedy, believe me.

The next picture is when Shun convinced me that it would be perfectly ok if I actually stepped into one of the pictures with the cosplayers. This was certainly one of the funniest and most unsettling moments of the trip, cockroaches and all.

And once I did get that picture, I swung right into comfort mode, running about, asking for pictures, playing the videogames along the side of the center and generally enjoying myself. Everyone was really nice once you understood the customs and protocols of the place, and it was easy to see that the cosplayers themselves were having a great time in general.

By the time the convention ended, I was having a great time and couldn't resist the last picture I took that day. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!


And after finishing my Cosplay adventure, I made my way back to the hotel for a shower and another run out into the city. No story of my time in Japan would be complete without mention of my new friend Mizue and her husband.

I met them through couchsurfing.com, a site that could (and should) get its own long post on my blog. Its basically a way for people traveling through a country and people living in a country to meet, hang out, exchange knowledge, and have a good time. I was lucky enough to meet Mizue on the site, and she and her husband showed me around lots of Tokyo, got me some local food, gave me advice and answered lots of my questions. For a place that scared me as much as Tokyo did, it was great to have it disarmed so completely and in such a friendly manner.

If Mizue and her husband are ever in Chicago or the U.S.A, they know to reach out to me!

As a last memory and summary of my trip in Japan, I wanted to rehash my sleeping patterns over the 3 nights I was there.

My first night I ended up staying in a Love Hotel (a place one normally brings prostitutes) by mistake, without realizing what I was doing. I guess the requirement that I not take the room until 11pm and the availability of 3 hour "Rest Period" rentals of the rooms should have given it away. Or perhaps the condom left thoughtfully in the room on the night table, or the pornographic media that blared at me when I turned on the tv desperate for sleep.

My second night I crashed with Steve and Chris in their extremely close-quartered hotel room. I had been planning on getting my own room, but what with karaoke and beer going on all the time, I couldn't even have started drunkenly looking until around 1am. However Chris and Steve's room was extremely small, and the two single (I hesitate to call them twin) beds they had took up the entire floor space of the room. The bathroom also used a cool rotating sink feature to have enough space for a shower area and a toilet, which meant I wasn't crashing in the bathtub. Thus I spent my second night crashing curled up under the desk in a hotel room, in a space small enough that my 5'6" self had to bend and twist to fit in.

And my third night I was at the fish market, and didn't really get any sleep. I had booked a rather nice hotel room to relax in though. Sigh.

Tokyo, ladies and gentleman. Exhilirating, exciting, enticing... exhausting.