So apparently not many people go from New Delhi to Papua New Guinea because the best connection had a 12 hour layover in Tokyo. I decided to spend the day seeing the city (which I never have) and did a little research beforehand and determined I'd take the train to the Imperial Palace and just walk around the gardens. I figured I'd be less likely to get lost that way. At first everything went according to plan. The visa was so easy I didn't even know I got it (and free). I exchanged money, found a locker for my bag, and bought the train ticket. The train didn't leave until 9:18 and my watch said 8:10 so I figured that I'd kill an hour by getting starbucks (the $3 small - and they mean small - still was so overcaffeinated that it made me jittery) and looking for a cheap jacket as it was colder out than I expected. All the sweatshirts in the airport were $70 so I passed and then saw an airport clock and realized it said 9:25. I guess I had set my watch an hour too slow when I got off the plane.... oops. Thankfully they just changed the train time for me at no charge. So on the hour ride into Tokyo the first thing that struck me was how not Japanese it looked. It could have been any city suburb in the US. And it was like 10am and there was NO ONE out. A few runners on paths but truly empty.
Got to the gardens and started walking around but aparently they don't let strangers just walk into the palace. Suddenly after empty streets I was surrounded by runners and was thinking to myself how fit everyone looked until I realized that a man was yelling over a speaker something that was probably numbers and I had walked into a marathon! To detour around the marathon I thought I might as well get lunch and something I read had recommended Akasaka so I meandered that way. After having to ask for directions once or twice I found my first McDonald's (outside of the airport) and walked into what I expected Tokyo to look like. Tons of neon and Hello Kitty and sushi joints. Honestly, it was as if I had walked into "little Tokyo". I found myself a sushi place and sat at the counter and pointed to the menu as no one spoke english. What I ended up with was almost edible (a few egg products I had to avoid) but the sushi was excellent! Was pretty proud of myself for navigating the whole, "what's in
this cup" scenario and I think I only drank things meant for drinking. I watched others. Slurping soup seemed popular. Then I went next door for chocolate banana Hagen daaz ice cream. Nice!
Then walked over to the arts and crafts museum for which i totally needed an audio tour because I clearly missed the point. After 6 hours of walking my feet were killing me and I returned to the train - got a ticket after some confusion. Went to Dean and Delucca to fulfil my craving for baked goods but decided that was boring so got the green tea and white chocolate muffin (bright green) - which was surprisingly good. Fell asleep on the train back to the airport but awoke in time for my stop. Had a big mac and was on my way.Random observations about Tokyo
- So organized! Everyone stopped at cross walks even when no traffic is coming! I love orderly societies!
- Very clean but no garbage cans. I carried coffee cups all over the city trying to find them. And yet people are meticulous about recycling - I saw several people go out of their way to recycle rather than throw in a regular bin.
- Crows are really big - they go up to my thigh, they scare me.
- I apparently can't hear the word "arigato" without singing mr. Roboto.
- It's fun to walk around Tokyo with "turning japenese" playing on your ipod.
- After a birthday weekend outing to Delhi's toilet museum I got to try out one of the featured hi-tech toilets which had all different sprays with varying water temps, seat temps and sounds. i liked the "peeing sound" - seemed a waste for a public restroom tho as who wants to sit there for 20 minutes testing all the buttons?
Seriously? The crows are that big?
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