Japan Diaries - Day 3 - Tokyo and Kamakura

We woke up just before 7 am on Sunday but relaxed and stayed in bed. We also decided to change our plan for today a little and do a day trip of Kamakura. We figured out how to use the water boiling machine in our room and had in-room coffee. Then we got ready and left for the day around 10 am.

We stopped at a bakery near our hotel for breakfast. We had a croissant, a lemon cake and a couple of chicken buns and latte. Then we took the JR Yamanote line train to the Tokyo station. This station is the oldest train station of the city and was one of the first ones that was built using red bricks and that gives its exterior a grand look. We took a couple of pictures and then took the next train to the station closest to our first stop of the day, the Edo-Tokyo museum.

The Edo-Tokyo museum chronicles the history of the city of Tokyo starting from 1590 all the way to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The museum uses small scale models to depict how the city used to be at various times. It also features a life size replica of the Nihombashi bridge which is quite imposing.

The current Imperial family of Japan came to power around 700 but didn't have any real political power till the Meiji Restoration of 1868 (more on that later). The political power was held by various local warrior lords, each with his own Samurai force. When Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power around 1600 and formed his "bakufu" (feudal government), he chose the city of Edo (the old name of Tokyo) as the new capital. His title was Shogun and his Shogunate (referred to as the Tokugawa period) was an era of peace in Japan during which all contact with the rest of the world was cut off. It's important to note that the Imperial Emperor still held a ceremonial role during all this time and the imperial line continues pretty much uninterrupted to the present day.

The bakufu of Shogun Tokugawa was a state that distributed resources to its people based on their income and collected taxes. They had split citizens into different castes and assigned them specific roles. This sounds socialistic but at the same time, the state was very functional economically with concepts of gold/silver/bronze currency, currency exchanges, highly specialized skilled jobs and welfare protection provided to the citizens.

The Edo period ended with the Meiji Restoration of 1868 when the real political power was returned to Emperor Meiji who opened up Japan to the rest of the world, upon pressure from the US. Edo was renamed as Tokyo. However, this democracy was problematic, specially in the 1920s and 1930s since the military was very powerful and kept challenging China, leading to all out war in 1937. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, US in 1941, it led to a war with the US and its allies that culminated in the horrific nuclear atomic bombings of 1945 that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After 1945, with the help of the US and its allies, Japan started modernizing and westernizing and the people eagerly adopted Western values of commerce and advancement - so much so that today they undoubtedly lead the world in technology. The 1964 Olympics were instrumental in the reconstruction and facelift of Tokyo and since then, the urban growth of this giant city has been happening exponentially.

The museum gave us a detailed insight into the agriculture of Tokyo and trade of crops. It also highlighted the woodwork skills, printing, dying and fashion choices of the city's inhabitants. There was a section on Kabuki as well. Kabuki is the Japanese form of theater in which only male actors perform, even the female roles. Elaborate makeup and dresses are a distinct feature of Kabuki.

After exiting the museum, we spotted a Sumo wrestler standing outside dressed in a kimono and talking on the phone. We discreetly took a picture of him. The area of Ryogoku that has the Edo-Tokyo Museum is also home to Sumo Wrestling. Unfortunately, we won't have time to see a Sumo Wrestling match during this trip.

Then we took the JR train to Kamakura, a town about 40 km from the Tokyo station. The train ride was about 70 minutes after which we boarded a local train. After that, we started walking to the temple. On our way, we had a halal chicken pita from a Turkish Doner shop. Then we continued walking and reached Kotoku-in, the temple famous for the statue of the Great Buddha. The bronze statue is 37 feet long and one of the most recognizable symbols of Japan. We took pictures and then left to head back to Tokyo. It was worth the one and a half hours of getting there to see this magnificent statue.

We got off at the Shibuya station. This is another of Tokyo's major stations and like the other major stations of Tokyo and Shinagawa, not only does it have scores of platforms and thousands of commuters but also many shops, restaurants and cafés adjoining the station. We exited the station into Shibuya's Scramble Crossing area, the so-called Times Square of Tokyo and definitely on par with its American counterpart in terms of the activity, the glitter, the neon signs, high glass buildings and high-end brand stores. The Shibuya Scramble Crossing is the largest in the world and when the pedestrian signal is green, you can see hundreds of pedestrians crossing the road from all 4 sides. Then we stopped at a Ramen noodles place and shared a noodle soup. After that, we walked to McDonald's and had fish fillet for dinner. Then we walked around some more and bought Tylenol and Samia bought some Japanese beauty products.

After that, we headed back to our hotel and reached our room a little after 10 pm and have decided to call it a night. We are checking out tomorrow morning to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima which is going to be a 5 hour ride. Since there will be 5 hours of traveling tomorrow, I'll write about our impressions of the people of Tokyo and the country of Japan. We have another day in Tokyo on Friday so we will explore the remaining things on our list that day.

Till the next update, take care and good night! :)

Japan Diaries - Day 2 - Tokyo

Owing to a bit of jet lag, we went to bed around 9 pm on Friday night and were up at 3:30 am on Saturday. We couldn't go back to sleep so just decided to start our day. After showering and getting ready, we started the day super early at around 6 am. It was a rainy day so we kept our umbrellas with us.

Our first stop of the day was Tsukiji Fish Market. First we took the JR Yamanote train to the closest station to the market. JR Yamanote is a circular track that runs within the city of Tokyo and connects the major stations with high speed train. After getting off, we asked for the subway train directions from someone. It was quite funny since he called two other people who we guessed to be his subordinates. All three of them were dressed in suites and probably going to work. They were all nice enough to check the directions on their phones and then point us in the right direction. We also visited a grocery store within the subway network and got a packaged waffle and a small pack of chocolate milk that we had during the subway ride. After getting off at the fish market station, we strolled around the market and saw fresh seafood of all kinds being sold for really low prices. We had missed the tuna wholesale auction that happens every morning at 5 am at this market. It's the largest fish market in the world. We had sushi at a restaurant at the market and it definitely was the freshest sushi that we've ever tasted.

Then we walked to our second stop of the day, the Hama Rikyu Gardens. Our day had started so early that when we reached the park entrance, we found out that the park hadn't opened yet as there were still a few minutes to go till 9 am. When the park opened, we bought tickets and got a free audio guide with it. The audio guide was GPS-enabled so when we reached the location of the next commentary item, it started playing automatically - another small example of Japanese electronic advancement. The park is primarily man-made and has ponds, flower gardens, small hills, tea houses and small islands connected by wooden bridges. Other features include gates to control the water level in the ponds inside the garden by controlling the flow of water from the Sumida river and even the Pacific Ocean. The main attraction in the park is a tea house on a small island where the shoguns and the royal family used to come to have tea, relax and have official ceremonies. It's called the Nakajima tea house. We stopped to have traditional Japanese green tea called Matcha tea in the traditional way - sitting on a tatami mat on the floor after taking off our shoes at the entrance and having a confectionery item before the tea and then picking up the cup with the right hand, placing it on the left palm, turning it clockwise twice and then finishing the tea in 3-4 sips. The whole affair was quite relaxing. After having the tea, we continued walking around the park and then reached the water bus dock. Our water bus journey started at 10:30 am and we were doing a cruise on Tokyo's famous Sumida river. The cruise lasted about 45 minutes and we disembarked in the Asakusa area.

A rickshaw guide tried to sell us a tour on the rickshaw to our next stop, the Sensoji temple. Initially we were a little hesitant so we told her that we would come back after lunch and went to the KFC across the road for lunch. Samia had a chicken burger whereas I tried a slight variant of the same burger with Japanese sauce on the patty. It was delicious.

We had decided to do the 30 minute rickshaw ride with the same guide since she spoke excellent English. Her name was Yuka and we later found out that she learnt perfect English from her American mother despite never leaving Tokyo in her 19 year life! It was a great decision to do the rickshaw ride since she took some very nice pictures of both of us together with some very interesting backgrounds. Whenever she stopped at a traffic light, she would tell us about the history of the Asakusa area. We saw a traditional Japanese comedy house, a geisha training center, a street lined with statues of raccoons (believed to have morphing powers in Japanese culture), shops that sell sweet potato ice cream and dessert, the location of the oldest theme park in Japan and other inner streets of Asakusa that we would've never explored otherwise. She also suggested us to try the tempura of the area since it's a speciality. We also found out about her background and that she is a university student studying languages and translation. She answered all our questions about Japanese religion, demographics of Tokyo and some phrases of the Japanese language. After the ride, she also gave us a small souvenir sticker and a postcard. She dropped us off at the oldest gate of the Sensoji temple after taking a very nice picture that included the 400 years old gate and a five storey pagoda, the second largest in Japan.

We entered the Sensoji temple. In Japan, when the word temple is used for a place of worship, it signifies a Buddhist temple whereas a shrine always refers to a Shinto shrine. Shinto is the folk Japanese religion which is more like a code of conduct for everyday life mannerisms than an elaborate spiritual philosophy. Back to the Sensoji temple complex. The complex of course has the Buddhist Sensoji temple but it also has a small Shinto shrine, a pagoda (a tall vertical structure with multiple roofs, each one smaller than the one below it) and a street Nakamise Dori with colorful souvenir shops lining the sides. The most recognizable image of the Sensoji temple are the large red lanterns that have black Japanese characters written on them. These were built to light the streets close to the temples so that the gods could see and thus their large sizes. We also saw gigantic straw slippers hanging from the walls, also for the gods. We witnessed some of the religious rituals of the worshippers - fanning smoke of burning incense over themselves, washing themselves and drinking the water of a fountain with the statue of a warrior in the center, burning incense sticks while bowing to the temple and praying after dropping coins in the offertory boxes in front of the temple (and even the Shinto shrine). After taking some pictures at the temple, we walked along Nakamise Dori and shopped for souvenirs.

We walked back to the subway station and bought fried shrimp tempura on our way. It tasted great and the shrimp seemed to be larger than the one we're used to in North America.

Our next stop was the Tokyo National Museum. We saw a nice collection of Japanese artwork and paintings from all eras dating back to the Heain period. However, the best collection was the temporary exhibition of Buddha statues from the Kamakura era that look very lifelike because of a technique used that make the eyes of the statues glitter like humans.

After the museum, we had ice cream cones from a roadside truck and then walked to the train station to catch the JR Yamanote to our next stop. After getting off the train, I had coffee and Samia had lemonade. Then we walked to the area that we had come to see, the Akihabara Electronic Market. Apart from being a heaven for gadget lovers and video games lovers, we also saw some other strange characteristics that have come to be identified with this growing subculture of Japanese new generation. We saw some disturbing 18 plus arcade games and maid cafés and the sad thing is that the clientele is not only young Japanese males but also older male adults. Apart from that, we saw manga and anime shops - definitely a unique experience.

After Akihabara, we took the train back to our hotel and freshened up for dinner. We asked our hotel concierge for recommendations at a walking distance and she gave us a long list of places within 5 minutes of walk from our extremely centrally located hotel. We had trouble finding our first choice (a Thai restaurant) and by the time we found it, they had just closed. So we dined at a Spanish tapas restaurant. The food was really good and we had patata bravas, fried mushrooms, a small personal sized pizza and a baked cheesecake for dessert. Then we walked back to our hotel. After a very long day with 15.5 km of walking, we are really tired now. Samia has already fallen asleep and I fell asleep a few times while writing this. Looks like I'll barely manage to finish this before sleeping. Hope you liked the detailed update. Tomorrow will be another day of exploring this ginormous city.

Till then, take care and good night!

Japan Diaries - Day 1 - Calgary to Tokyo

It's that time again - we're on vacation and sharing our trip details with you. We woke up in Calgary at 4 am on Thursday, August 28, 2014 after a two hour nap after we had finished our packing for the 8 day trip of Japan.

Sarim had offered to give us a ride to the airport so after quick showers, we were on our way to the airport at 4:30 am. It was just a 20 minute ride in the wee hours of the morning since there was virtually no traffic on the roads. After checking in with Delta airlines, we passed through US pre-clearance immigration and since I now have a NEXUS card, the usual mandatory secondary inspection because of my Pakistani passport was waived and we were at our gate well ahead of takeoff time. We shared a Tim Horton's bagel and coffee while waiting at the gate. Our first flight was to Minneapolis and it took off on time around 7 am. After a comfortable 2.5 hours of flying time during which we caught up on sleep, we landed in Minneapolis. We had a 4 hour layover before our next flight.

Coming to the US always reminds us of the most significant difference between the US and Canada - the super size effect. Everything in the US is bigger, more spacious and cheaper. We were at the terminal one of the airport which is the hub for Delta airlines. The terminal has a mall and a wide variety of restaurants and food court options. We had Chinese food at Wok n Roll and then walked around the airport. I checked my office email and had to reply to a few emails so did that and then we walked some more. Then we had a spicy chicken burger at Chick Fil-A which used to be our favorite chicken sandwich in California so it brought back some memories.

Then we made our way to the gate where all tables had iPads on them for free use. They were placed there by the adjoining bar/restaurant and you could even order something using the iPad and pay for it too. We browsed the internet till boarding at 2:20 pm and then boarded the plane.

It was a spacious Airbus 330 aircraft and our seats were close to the back of the plane. After settling down, we checked the options on the seat entertainment screens and saw a varied offering that looked promising to keep us occupied during the 12 hour long flight.

The flight took off on time around 2:50 pm. We decided to not sleep too much during the flight since it was night time in Japan and we wanted to avoid jet lag. We were served two meals, one snack and a couple of beverages spaced over the 12 hours and the food was decent. It wasn't as great as the food served on European or Middle Eastern airlines but was more bland like the food served on longer North American flights. We saw 3 complete movies and half of the 4th movie between the meal breaks. The first movie that we saw was "Million Dollar Arm" that is based on the true story of two indian boys' journey of traveling to the US and joining Major League Baseball. The second movie was the acclaimed Bollywood movie "The Lunchbox" that was also thoroughly enjoyable. Then we decided to watch "Memoirs of a Geisha" which is a chronicle of the life of a Japanese Geisha living in Kyoto around the time of the Second World War. It was quite instructive about how these misunderstood artists of an old way of life struggled in a complicated society conflicted between traditions and modern pulls. We'll share more about the Geisha when we visit the ancient Imperial Capital city of Kyoto later in our trip.

It was a relief to touch down in Japan at the Narita International Airport as the long flight took its toll, specially on our legs despite several stretching/walking breaks. The local time was 4:45 pm on Friday. Our disembarkation experience was very smooth and we were quite impressed by all the specially designed electronic machines used for different purposes by the officials. Everything is streamlined and organized. The most striking feature is the cleanliness followed by a close second - politeness/helpfulness of the people. Then we exchanged our pre-paid vouchers that we had purchased in Canada for Japan Rail passes. These unlimited ride passes for a week work on all Japan Rail (JR) high-speed trains throughout Japan and are much cheaper than buying individual train rides. We took the JR Narita Express at 6:15 pm and reached Tokyo at 7:26 pm. Narita Airport is actually on the outskirts of the Tokyo metropolitan area and is technically a different city. We got off at the Shinagawa Station and then walked to our hotel that's connected to the station through overhead walkways. The entire station and the nearby buildings are interconnected and have scores of shops and stores. Since it was a Friday evening, we saw hundreds of people dressed in suits briskly walking to catch their trains home.

Our hotel is very modern and we were lucky to get a high-floor room on the 31st floor that has the view of the tall buildings of Tokyo. The skyline comprising tall lit-up buildings looks very impressive against the dark sky. In size, the room is on the smaller side, specially compared to North American standards but it's very comfortable. There are several electronic features that we haven't seen anywhere else. For instance, the washroom mirror is heated in an oval section in the center so that the steam from a hot shower won't cloud the mirror.

Japan is an interesting country with a rich history and a unique culture. It's the 10th largest nation in the world with about 130 million people. It's the second largest island nation after Indonesia and most people live on the 4 main islands. We'll only visit 3 cities on the most populated island of Honshu during our trip. A 100 million people live on the Honshu island and most of them are located in the Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas. With a population of around 38 million, Tokyo is the largest metropolitan area in the world and has around 10 different downtown areas. If Tokyo was a country of the world, it would have a larger population than about 170 countries of the world! We are really excited and look forward to exploring it.

We went to sleep early since we were really tired after the long journey. Till the next update, take care and good night!