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| Japan |
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Lessons Learned In Japan
This will continue to get updated as I have more insights to report
1. Reservations in Tokyo are recommended if you want a cheap private room. Since hotels are pricier and hostels only a a few private rooms, its better to reserve ahead of time. That way, you avoid bicycling miles around town with your heavy packs on in the sweltering heat trying to find a place to sleep while you could be sightseeing.
2. If you are lost, simply hold up a map with a confused look on your face and, in less than a minute, you will be approached by someone and asked in English if you need help.
3. For squat toilets, you do not always face the door. You face the hooded part of the toilet.
4. So far, beds for couples do not seem to exist. We ahave only encountered double beds, even in private rooms.
1. Reservations in Tokyo are recommended if you want a cheap private room. Since hotels are pricier and hostels only a a few private rooms, its better to reserve ahead of time. That way, you avoid bicycling miles around town with your heavy packs on in the sweltering heat trying to find a place to sleep while you could be sightseeing.
2. If you are lost, simply hold up a map with a confused look on your face and, in less than a minute, you will be approached by someone and asked in English if you need help.
3. For squat toilets, you do not always face the door. You face the hooded part of the toilet.
4. So far, beds for couples do not seem to exist. We ahave only encountered double beds, even in private rooms.
Japanese Toilets
It is 4AM now and I am attempting to make good use of my inability to sleep through the night. So, you might be able to expect more frequent posts during the upcoming week as I am getting used to the time change. Japan is 13 hours ahead. But I cant make any promises. I cant figure out how to use apostrophes, question marks or other symbols on this computer yet so I will leave it to you to put them in when appropriate.
So far in my trip, I have used 3 different types of toilets. There is your standard American toilet, which I have seen about a third of the time. The second kind, and more interesting kind, is the Toto toilet. It is in about 70 percent of Japanese homes and is a symbol of wealth to have it in your bathroom. Last weeks Economist had an article about how the president of Toto is trying to sell these toilets abroad. So, it looks like a standard American toilet but with several more functions. When you are sitting down, on your right there is a remote control attached to the toilet. There are about 5 or 6 buttons that have pictures on them with the Japanese translations below. Clearly, the translation has not helped me so I have needed to do some investigative work. There is a button that has a picture of a butt with water getting squirted up it. The function will stop working when you press the stop button. The third button is for the bidet. The fourth button has muscial notes on it and you can play it either while on the toilet to muffle sounds or during the flush. You can also adjust the volume of the music as needed. Lastly, there is a button that you can press to spray scents that will mask odors. The 3rd type of toilet is a squat toilet. Now, when I used this in The National Museum of Art in Ueno yesterday, I couldnt figure out which way to sit. Apparently, you are supposed to squat as you are facing the door. S kindly pointed this out to me as I came out of the bathroom with a look or horror on my face. Lessons were learned.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Safe in Tokyo-First Impressions
S and I got into Tokyo this afternoon at 3PM. We had a 13 hour flight that left out of Newark. The flight was quite pleasant and, as we had not slept much before the flight, we slept through most of it. I had been slightly nervous about our ability to get around once we got into Tokyo because of the Japanese characters but it did not pose a problem at all. All signs at the airport were also written in English and the same seems to be true so far while walking around the city. Outside of every subway stop, there is a map that directs you to the post office, local banks, tourist attractions, public bathrooms and lets you know where you are. So, everything seems a lot less daunting.
People here so far seem to be really friendly. On the train ride from the airport to the city, a group of young teenage girls kept smiling at us and waved. They seemed to get a kick out of us for no particular reason besides the fact that we were not Asian. They offered us some Pocky sticks, an Asian snack. As S and I were trying to find our hotel this afternoon, we were stopped twice and asked in English if we needed help. In the evening, we were stopped by a smiling Japanese woman who kept talking to us in Japanese. It clearly made absolutely no sense to us.
Other noticings: Most main roads have a bike path and there are a surprising number of bikers around. The driver's seat is on the right side of the car so cars drive on the left side of the road. That also means that when you are walking on the street, you walk on the left side of the sidewalk. When you are on an escalator, you pass on the right, as opposed to your left. On sidewalks on major streets and on the floor of subway platforms and stairs, there is a thick yellow or other brightly colored line indicating how much space you can take up on that given street. What's more interesting is that the location of the line changes depending on foot traffic and where you are on the block.
Tonight we are staying in the neighborhood Asakusa. It is an older town and, when it was built, many of the smaller streets were not given names. A group of twenty of so blocks is given a section name and each block in the section has a number. Addresses are listed as the section name, the block number, then the house number on the block. It was pretty confusing for S and me to find our way around. We still haven't figured out how they determine which blocks receive which numbers. At this point it seems kind of arbitrary.
First meal in Tokyo was a beef rice bowl with onions. No forks, spoons or knives so need to get better with chopsticks fast.
That's all for now.
People here so far seem to be really friendly. On the train ride from the airport to the city, a group of young teenage girls kept smiling at us and waved. They seemed to get a kick out of us for no particular reason besides the fact that we were not Asian. They offered us some Pocky sticks, an Asian snack. As S and I were trying to find our hotel this afternoon, we were stopped twice and asked in English if we needed help. In the evening, we were stopped by a smiling Japanese woman who kept talking to us in Japanese. It clearly made absolutely no sense to us.
Other noticings: Most main roads have a bike path and there are a surprising number of bikers around. The driver's seat is on the right side of the car so cars drive on the left side of the road. That also means that when you are walking on the street, you walk on the left side of the sidewalk. When you are on an escalator, you pass on the right, as opposed to your left. On sidewalks on major streets and on the floor of subway platforms and stairs, there is a thick yellow or other brightly colored line indicating how much space you can take up on that given street. What's more interesting is that the location of the line changes depending on foot traffic and where you are on the block.
Tonight we are staying in the neighborhood Asakusa. It is an older town and, when it was built, many of the smaller streets were not given names. A group of twenty of so blocks is given a section name and each block in the section has a number. Addresses are listed as the section name, the block number, then the house number on the block. It was pretty confusing for S and me to find our way around. We still haven't figured out how they determine which blocks receive which numbers. At this point it seems kind of arbitrary.
First meal in Tokyo was a beef rice bowl with onions. No forks, spoons or knives so need to get better with chopsticks fast.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A Few Days Left...
With only a few days before our departure, I cannot await the adventures that I am about to have for the next year. S and I have all our vaccinations, a serious first aid kit and a bag with 3 days worth of clothing in it. With some other small necessities in our packs, we will purchase anything that we don't have along the way.
I am excited to arrive in Japan, our first stop, and each sushi at their markets, visit temples in Kyoto, see Mt. Fuji with my own eyes, do some island hopping and check out the fashion and culture of busy and quirky Tokyo.
However, despite all my excitement, it has been very sad over the last few days saying goodbye to all of my friends and family who I love so deeply. As the day of our departure gets closer, every goodbye gets harder and sadder. I find myself trying to block it out of my mind. But, I can't really ignore it right now as I am looking at all my belongings in boxes and bags in the living room waiting to be moved out this afternoon.
Friends and family, I am going to miss you all so much. I will think of you all the time.
I am excited to arrive in Japan, our first stop, and each sushi at their markets, visit temples in Kyoto, see Mt. Fuji with my own eyes, do some island hopping and check out the fashion and culture of busy and quirky Tokyo.
However, despite all my excitement, it has been very sad over the last few days saying goodbye to all of my friends and family who I love so deeply. As the day of our departure gets closer, every goodbye gets harder and sadder. I find myself trying to block it out of my mind. But, I can't really ignore it right now as I am looking at all my belongings in boxes and bags in the living room waiting to be moved out this afternoon.
Friends and family, I am going to miss you all so much. I will think of you all the time.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Good bye Party a Success
Check out the following link to check out photos from Steve's and my infamous good bye party:
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| Good bye party |
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