Baby steps in Japan

Greeting's one and all from the Internet, I'm reporting to you live from the West Sector of Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku.

  Let me rewind a bit and talk about the flight in. For a 13 hour flight, it was pretty smooth. We left Pearson at 12 noon and took off in a Boeing 777, the 'dream liner' which was actually quite comfortable. Despite the turbulence at the end of the journey, the overall experience was calm and relaxing. I watched several movies on the flight in, G.I. Joe Retaliation, Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls 2, Iron Man 3, Thor; The dark world, and Gravity, most of which were movies I wanted to see and really enjoyed.

 We arrive in Japan Int. Airport at 3pm and made our way through customs quick and easy before gathering our luggage and making our way out to the bus where we had a 2 hour road trip up to Tokyo. Drawing on my tablet helped pass the time and we soon arrived at the Hotel, Keio Plaza Hotel of Tokyo, a ritzy sorta place in the quieter upper sector of West town Tokyo, but I was just glad to get a bed to sleep on. I never knew toilets could be so cool, but in Japan, apparently, they do a lot to make this simple luxury well...more luxurious! The seats all have this attachment object that not only acts as a heated seat, but can also spray water on your butt to clean up after number 2.

After the concierge told us where to eat, we went into the mild temp of the city. (Plus 5 degrees here, man, this is an awesome winter.) We made our way a few blocks over to this massive building that has a very beautiful view of our district, with the restaurant we ate at being on the 52 floor, it was hard to really miss such a view; except the center of the building was cut out with a straight drop to the main floor, talk about fear of heights.

  Sushi here has a bit of a different taste to it, not sure if I can explain it, but it tastes more natural, perhaps since we ts fresher being caught nearby and then delivered to the restaurant. Tuna is big here, we had a dish of three types of tuna (different parts of the fish) from light meat to dark. I had read online that the proper way to eat sushi is go have lighter tuns/fish before going to heavier/darker fish, and the sushi wrapped in seaweed is like the end of your order. I also learned Miso is not an appetizer but the after course of the main dish, eaten before the desert, crazy.

From there, back to the hotel to sleep.

February 17, 2014

Monday

We awoke around 7am in Tokyo, the sky was clear and the skyline was beautiful in the morning sun. We washed, dressed and went downstairs to the hotel's buffet, a rather interesting mix of Asian and Western types of dishes as you can see in the picture; I went for a more traditional meal as there were also Pancakes and cereal next to fish and rice.

With full bellies and prepped minds, myself, my mom and dad went out to explore the wonders of West-side Tokyo. Our trip composed of us walking straight south through Yoyogi Park to the Meijin Shrine and then south towards Shibuya Station and the surrounding markets. However, before we began our trip, there was one thing I wanted to see: the vending machines. I had heard many stories about Japanese vending machines as well as seen them in many Anime and Manga, but actually being able to see them in person was something else; they are pretty much everything I expected and serve both HOT and cold drinks. We had some coffee from one to start off our trip, quite tasty if you ask me.

 Our first stop was Meijin Shrine, located in Yoyogi Park. The weather was perfect for walking through the gravel trail, taking us through lush wilderness in the mid-morning calm all the way to the center where the Imperial shrine lay. After paying our respect and cleansing our bodies and spirit, we embarked into the heart of the Shrine where we were able to see a Wedding ceremony as well as the prayer's of the monks and priests who resided within. We even went as far as purchasing some charms and placing a totem on a wall that allowed us to say wishes to the deities of the shrine for good fortune and protection.

Once we left the quiet of the park, we soon made our way further south, the lush calm of the Northern area replaced by more built up urbanized areas and shops and roads filling with cars. One thing I found interest was the size of a lot of the vehicles around here; none are nearly as big as some of the more construction/utility vehicles we have back home; cement mixers are almost two times smaller than the ones in Toronto and even their fire trucks aren't as big or imposing as ours. The reason? Due to the cramped nature of the city, a lot of those large vehicles had to be made smaller to fit in the narrow streets and park close to their small sites; even the massive ladder truck is half its normal size, but still boasts a long ladder to be used.

 The city really opened up, people walked to and fro, bicyclists and scooters drive in tandem with cars and trucks of varying sizes, and music blares from the colorful advertisements all around us. This is urban life in Tokyo, a hustle and bustle of bodies, advertisements and metal objects flying around and going this way and that.

 As the day wore on, the city became more and more alive, people coming to and from work and school filled the streets, and for the first time in my life, I was able to see a thousand people crossing a street. Shibyua district. the station area, is like a major commercial hub, with lots of stores and things to see and do. Advertisements drive around on trucks and sing the songs of their bands on display; shops offer both Japanese and Western products and of course, the air is filled with the varieties of food and cigarettes, oh, by the way, they have those in vending machines too, and what a selection they have, shame I don't smoke.

As we turned back towards the hotel, we stopped for some Side-street Udon, a small little restaurant that served only Udon and the various types of this large rice-noodle dish. Delightful in taste and texture, we gobbled it up before making our way back North towards our hotel, seeing the sun slowly fading to the West as we hiked back through less crowded streets, the school children making their way back home and the night life only starting to emerge as we soon returned to our hotel for some much needed R&R.

With the day coming to a close, we rested up, went out to eat in that tall building once more, then hurried back to hit the sack and prepare for day two of our Tokyo adventure.