Visited 2010 October
Notes from the author. Well, I had a very short trip to Japan of 3 1/2 days. It was an official trip, so the chance to go around wasn’t much. Although when I was there, I’ve told myself that I should at least visit 5 interesting places or do 5 interesting things.
In my short trip, I was able to do the ff:
1) Eat Japanese food – of course! : ) On the average, the food costs about 500 yen to 1000 yen. In USD, that’s about $8.00 to $12.00 per meal.
I saw some interesting desserts in Japan like this ice cream concoction on a big loaf of bread. I hope the dessert tastes as good as it looks on display. The food display isn’t the real thing. It’s a very realistic looking display.
2) I visited the Shibuya Station where the famous Hachiku dog statue is found. If you know the story, Hachiku is an akita dog who remained loyal to his master even after many years after his death. He would wait at the Shibuya station every day for his master to return. And he did this for 9 nine years after his death.
Above is the photo of the real dog born in 1923. Below is the statue in present Shibuya station. People flock in this station to take the photo of the dog statue.
And this is the movie.
This movie is a tearjerker! For an animal movie, this is really very touching.
3) I also had a glimpse of Shibuya, Tokyo. Shibuya is known to be one of the fashion centers. I’ve seen teen agers dressed like the anime cartoons which I’ve grown to watch on tv. The Japanese have a different fashion sense, uniquely different from the rest of the world.
The office workers are all dressed in suits. I even took a photo of a street stall selling suits for men in Shinjuku. I guess this is pretty common in Japan, but you wouldn’t normally find suits being sold in the street anywhere else. (I think.)
4) I was able to ride the bullet train (or known as the Shinkansen in Japanese) a few times.
The Tokaido Shinkansen, was inaugurated in 1964 as the first shinkansen line and the world's first high speed train service. At that time the trains already ran at about 200 km/h. Today, they reach speeds of 300 km/h.
From the outside, you could see how fast the trains were, especially the newer ones. When you are inside, you can hardly feel a thing.
The train ticket cost about 160 yen about USD3.00 but it depends on which station you are going to. From Shibuya to the Narita Airport, it costs about 3000 yen. That’s more than a one hour ride, and plus I got the reserve seats, so it costs a little bit more. But the seats are no different from the unreserved ones. The unreserved seats are just basically first come first serve, and they cost cheaper. There are 2 ways to purchase a train tickets – from the ticketing offices or counters, or the ticketing machines – found at the train stations. If you are deciding to buy from the ticket office, as you might want to ask for more information or because you don’t know how to operate the ticket machine (because it’s basically in Japanese characters), you may need to tell them that you want the unreserved seats, as they will give you the reserved seats if you’re not specific.
Important: I had a difficult time comprehending the Japan train line. For one, there are many trains operating on the same track. So you can get on the wrong train which will take you to la-la land. And there are train schedules to watch out for. They are on the dot. They will leave you if you are late. I even had a train closed on me without warning. I think the best thing to do before you ride a train is to ask the commuters if you are riding the right train. And yes, it can be difficult, because a lot of the Japanese can’t speak English. But they understand hand gestures and they are helpful.
5) Because the training was in Gotemba, I had the chance to go there.
Gotemba is actually just a small city, but looks like rural Japan. The weather was getting cold. It was nearing fall. You will also see Mt. Fuji from Gotemba. Since the weather was mostly hazy, I didn’t see Mt. Fuji. I just saw the tip of the mountain from the office, but I didn’t bother to take a photo. It was too small to even be recognized.
It was a hazy morning on Monday, but you can still see the mountains on my hotel window.
On a clear morning, the place looks like this. Gotemba looks more like a small town.
BTW, the hotel rooms in Japan are quite small. Very clean but small, and they only gave us one pillow. It didn’t bother me though, it was better than most boutique hotels I’ve stayed in.
My Japanese colleagues were kind enough to take us to the Gotemba Premium Outlet stores where you can shop for branded and signature apparel and bags. I didn’t need anything, so I didn’t buy anything, although they have a good selection of branded items.
6) While I was in Tokyo, we had dinner at the Gonpachi Restaurant which is the set of the Kill Bill Movie, starred by Uma Thurman.
This is the actual restaurant.
Gonpachi at Nishiazabu, Tokyo
We ordered too much food, and it costs us about 4,000 yen each! We are about 10-15 people. That’s roughly about USD65.00 each. I’m not really sure why we spent that much. But the food was good.
7) We went around Shinjiku for about an hour. Shinjiku is where you will probably find a lot of electronic and IT stuff. The Odakyu Department Store is a whole building which has a lot of gadgets and gizmos. But they also sell toys and clothes on other floors.
8) Narita Airport – anyway, I didnt have much time to shop in Tokyo at all. But there’s an airport mall in Terminal 1, 4th level, at the Narita Airport. I haven’t been in Terminal 2, so I don’t know whether they also have an airport mall there. But if you’re lucky to be in Terminal 1, you can go there for your last minute shopping, which I did.
Some other interesting things I learned in Japan:
- the toilets are so high tech! So many buttons to play with. Japan is just really technologically advanced in almost everything! I haven’t ridden a single taxi which doesn’t have the gps system and power doors. (The doors open with a single push of a button from the driver’s seat.)
-Coffee is big in Japan. They have a variety of coffee products sold in the convenience stores .
- the sailor moon outfit is actually a normal school uniform
- people are so honest, that stores would display mobile phones (even iphones) outside the stores which you can hold and touch, and without any glass encasement.
- Japan is very clean. No foul smell even in the small alleys.
-I find the Japanese as very courteous people and helpful even if there is a language barrier
- Halloween seems to be a popular occasion considering this is western influence.
- Family Mart, which is their version of 7/11 is in every nook and corner of Japan, literally. So if you’re just looking for food to go or something cheap to eat. There’s always a Family Mart near you. :)
