Monday: Tokyo Day 3

Yesterday started with an earthquake, and still wasn't as problematic as today.  The weather claimed it was likely to rain, so I figured today wouldn't be the best day for the Tokyo Skytree, and instead set out to look at the Imperial Palace grounds.

Tokyo station.

Part of the palace from the other side of the moat.

Which has fish.

Unfortunately, I made the big mistake of visiting Tokyo: assuming things are open on Mondays.

 I don't know why Monday is the day that everything is closed, but like everything is closed.  All the museums in the area, all the other stuff I thought of doing, everything.

There's a guard on the palace side of this bridge.  He's there to tell you that everything is closed.  Everything.

 So, backup plan.

Yasukuni shrine.

You can go read news stories if you're not familiar, but I kind of wanted to visit to see for myself what it's like.

Basically, "we know you're angry, but try not to be a dick about it on the grounds of the shrine."

Really a nice looking place.

The outside is largely the same as Meiji, with the torii and gates and traditional looking buildings and all.  This was pretty much what I had expected, and thought this would be a quick trip. However, there's also a museum there that took about two hours to go through.

I'll be the first to admit that my east Asian history isn't that great for the period of about "all of history, except maybe the conquests of Genghis Khan, but not even that much there, I guess."  Still, the history presented at the shrine didn't seem overwhelmingly revisionist.  I'm pretty sure that the "Korea and Manchuria invited us, and we kind of stayed a while" bits are a stretch, and the "we totally had to go to war because the US stopped trading with us," is also really only a fully valid argument if you accept that taking colonies is the best way to run an economy.  In any case, having a large sample of translated first-hand documents (mostly letters home) adds an aspect to the history that isn't really visible in most books.

The signs all over said not to take pictures, but this is a tank, and I don't think a quick photo is going to hurt it.  Plus, I wanted to have something to show from inside.

Anyway, after wandering around trying to find a train station (due to my mistaken thought that my new train pass only worked on JR lines, and not all Tokyo trains), I took a train originally heading back for Tokyo station, so I could find a bus to the Skytree (since it was clear and sunny at Yasukuni).

That's how I stumbled on Akihabara.

But then the sky opened up and dumped a bunch of rain on everything.

 So, plan rewrite number four, back to Skytree.

Skytree!

Skytree!

Ok, so here's the secret: The Skytree is a scam, don't bother.  

First, if you didn't plan ahead and buy tickets online, you're pretty much out of luck.  I showed up, expecting it'd be like the CN tower, or Taipei 101, or pretty much any tower I've been to before.  You show up, buy a ticket, elevator up, look around, realize it's pretty much like a regular building, but higher, and then go home.  Here's how I understood the Skytree system for people who show up:

1. You're given a color coded time-card, that tells you when you'll be allowed to go up to the top.  Ok, sure.  My time was two hours in the future from when I arrived.  Crap.
2. After that time elapses, you take your color coded card and stand in a line.  This line organizes people for the trip at that time.
3. Once you've made it through that line, you enter the ticket area, where you stand in a different line to buy a ticket to the top.
4. You then stand in the elevator line to wait to go up to the top.

So I had two hours to kill.  Time for dinner, I guess.

Cabbage salad with yuzu or sesame dressings (off frame to the right).

Miso soup.  Akai miso instead of the standard shiro miso.  Instead of tofu, this had tiny mushrooms (nameko?) in it.

Katsu combination.  Tonkatsu, giant shrimp, crab/cream cheese croquette.

 That's almost an hour down, I guess I can look around the thousand stores they had there.  Here is where you realize things are a scam.  By setting the trip times two hours advanced from the current time, they guarantee you have nothing to do but wander around and shop.  Luckily, a lot of stores sold things I have no interest in (women's clothes) or things I have no reason to buy here (kitchen stuff).

Or were run by demon bears.

"ComE! Byuy! GoRge ON pRicES!"

I think I've mentioned that it's Christmas season here.

Complete with Angry Eye Snowman as Statue of Liberty Christmas.  I have no idea what you're trying to do here, Japan.  I'm pretty sure it isn't working, though.

Lights.

 This is where you're probably expecting pictures from the top of the Skytree, right?  Nope.  I played the Item 1 part correctly, even though that line was outside in the ~45 degree air, with strong winds (~20 mph).  That second fact was the problem.  They don't run the elevators when the wind is that high, so they were handing out notes to allow people to come back within 30 days to try again.  I didn't grab one, as I don't think that's going to fit into my schedule for tomorrow.

That schedule: Palace museums and Akihabara.

I went home at this point, as my feet really hurt.  There's a Skytree station on the subway line, and after looking appropriately confused for a minute or so, an English speaking station info worker came over and helped me find my way home.  She was the one who told me my Suica worked everywhere, not just on JR lines.

Transit card.  And yes, that is a Hello Kitty chapstick thing.  It was the same price as the no-name ones, and since this is the 99th trip in a row I've gone on without chapstick, only to be forced to buy one when my lips catch fire, I figured I might as well get the fancy one.  It's not much of a deal, as it has a tiny thing inside the cake outer case.

This is not lemonade.  If you're buying drinks, and think "oh, lemonade would be great," don't get this.  After investigating when I discovered "wtf, this isn't lemonade," I came to the conclusion it's some sort of malt/fake-beer/lemon flavored thing.  The 6% should have tipped me off in the store.

Saturday: Tokyo Day 1

Today was largely travel, and then a quick bit of bearing-finding.  Not bear-finding.  I think I'm in the wrong part of the country for that.

First up was the bus to get from Narita to Shinjuku.  Fun fact I didn't know: Narita is 60km away from the city, making it "really fucking far away."

Cat planes explain everything better.

Arrived at the hotel, and after sorting out the trick that the front desk is on the third floor, checked in.

Yes, my room has a fancy Japanese toilet.  No, I haven't played with it.

It's a tiny room, but it works well for me just staying here a few days.

Here's the view from my window.  Those walkways over the road connect two parts of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Buildings.

I wandered around a bit.

This isn't really a super sparkle-y picture.  However, I didn't find any better shots during my quick stroll.

 And had some dinner.

"Ramen? Can't you get that at home?" First, yes, I can.  Second, I think I've picked up some sort of death, and I wanted to fight back with the best soup ever.  Third, why not try this as a comparison thing between the Hawaii version and the Tokyo version?

 The answer is that both are basically the same, but the Tokyo version has something done to the menma to add flavor.  Light pickling?  Not sure what the difference was.

Same view, but at night.  

Sunday: 5 days

I spent a large chunk of the day doing nothing, and wondering what it was in the back of my head that kept pointing out that I was going to do something today.

Turns out that something was "plan what you're going to do in Tokyo, because you're leaving soon."

Oops.

Ok, quick list time:

1. Imperial Palace.  I think tickets are gone, but the gardens are open for walking.
2. Museum of the Imperial Collections.  I think this is in the same basic place, so these are probably the same day.
3. Tokyo Tower.
4. Meiji shrine.
5. Tsukiji market?
6. Akihabara.
7. Edo museum.  Hey, I like museums.
8. Yasukuni shrine?  I'm not a politician, so I probably won't have to deal with any strongly worded letters from diplomats.
9. Ueno park?  This seems to have the highest density of museums possible.
10. I like tall places when they are made of steel and concrete.

In any case, I should start making a plan.  London was easy.  Day 1: wander around London, see the Tate.  Day 2: regret only having one day to see the British Museum.  I think I've caused myself problems by allocating more than two days to Tokyo.  There are more variables to minimize.

Or maximize.  See, travel math is even more complicated then I originally thought.  The other thing is that a bunch of the "things to do in Tokyo" pages I find seem to be more "here's how to pretend you're in Lost in Translation."  Even though it'll be obvious, I don't want to go be an annoying tourist.  Everybody hates tourists.

"Hey! Losers!  You done gawking yet?  Some of us have jobs here, you know.  Who do you think resets the avaricious once people like you are done looking at them?  Me.  Phillip the Demon of the Fourth Circle.  Fucking tourists."

• For reference.
• That's bullshit.
• I'd hope that eventually they'd learn to act in their own best interests, but it's likely going to be a lot of complaining about the very things that help them before that happens.
• That's bullshit.
• I think you can legally stab someone if they do this.  I'm pretty sure about that.
• Why do we not have someone making new art deco style things?  The design is done, you just need to get the aluminum stamped out.
• It's nice to live in a state where the legislative "special session" isn't being used to fuck people over.

Tuesday: Tokyo Day 4

I woke up today, and I'm definitely sick.  It's mostly a cold, but also partially kind of bronchitis.  Again.  Woo, lungs!  At least it's not super bad like it has been before, it's mostly just annoying.  I probably should have bought one of those mask things, but those always fog up my glasses.  I went with "maybe making people sick" above "stumbling blindly through Tokyo."  This is selfish, but I do not want to fall onto a subway track.  That's not fun.

Odd thing: Monday Night Football on the east coast is Tuesday Morning Football in Tokyo.

I cannot find Boss in Hawaii.  I have no idea why.  It is the superior chilled canned coffee, and is the proper start to any morning.  I'll really need to look again when I get back home.  Maybe Don Quijote has it.

I went with a different breakfast option today, partially because I got bored of the breakfast set at Cafe Baron, and partially because I slept in and missed it.  French toast.  A bit eggy, but it came with real syrup and a cup of very good coffee.  I don't know why, but Japan has had universally tasty coffee.  No burnt starbucks shit.

 Off to see the palace.

Wait...I have no memory of this place.

 Tokyo station, like many other train stations here, is huge.  Super giant huge.  Shinjuku is sufficiently large that I can get from my hotel to the train station completely underground in a variety of pseudo-malls.  The other side of this is that if you go out the wrong exit, you're completely lost.

I eventually found it.

And it's open today.

Ota-mon.

According to the signs, pretty much all the stone work has been redone in the past decade.  All the stones are from the same place, but the lighter ones are the new replacements.  They simply haven't had 500+ years of weathering to match the original ones.

Despite being in the middle of the city, you really can't hear any traffic or noise. 

The gardens are therefore quite peaceful.

Fishies!

I was aware of them, and left them alone.  I suspect they were sleeping since it was a bit chilly today.

If I understand correctly, this entire area was once covered in buildings and corridors and whatnot.

I now understand why the Castlevania games had crows as enemies.  These things are huge.  I'm talking something like 18" from beak to tail.  They also tend to congregate in vast murders that make you think they're just moments away from attacking.

You have to go up high to see most of the city.

On the way out.

Japanese ducks have different colored beaks.

 Back to the station, two stops later:

Akihabara!

My thought: "huh, don't we have Gyu-Kaku in Hawaii?  I suspect they're not above a maid cafe there, though."

More different Akihabara!

To be honest, I didn't do much in Akihabara.  I went into a number of shops, noticed that I could buy a tiny Pikachu for ¥300, a big fancy one for ¥1600, a tiny giant fighting robot for ¥2000, or tiny naked dolls for ¥2100-¥12000.  Yes, a hundred dollar, ~24" fully posable naked doll.  Bathing, or standing, or pretty much whatever pose you want for a hundred freaking dollars.

While walking back to the station, I noticed this giant crowd outside of the AKB48 themed cafe.  If you don't know who they are, let's just quote the first wikipedia paragraph: "As of November 2013, the group has 89 members. The girls range in age from early teens to mid-20s. Produced by Yasushi Akimoto, it is one of the highest-earning musical acts in the world, with 2012 record sales of over US$226 million in Japan."  Yep.

 So I went inside.  No, not there.  Next door, see it there?

Gundam Cafe.

 Clearly not as popular as it once was, it seemed to be filled with kids smoking and drinking after school.  And that lady in the corner who was totally sleeping.

Yes, it's a $7 cupcake, but to be fair, it wasn't very good either.  Still, I'm happy to support Gundam, and it reminds me that I should rewatch Gundam Wing.

Zoom!

 I didn't completely skip out of Akihabara.  Capsule toys are a big thing.  It's like gambling, where you win something useless everytime.  Since I didn't feel like trying to explain to customs why I have tiny naked ladies in plastic balls, I went with the "cute animal" one.

"Clearly Concerned Rabbit" isn't a bad option, but compared to "Giant Cheeks Squirrel" and "Fuck You, I'm Sleeping Squirrel," not the best in the set.

Sumo was on TV when I got back.

Red loses.

 For dinner, I went with the "holy fuck, my feet and legs hurt so far up my body that sneezing makes my back hurt" option of the hotel restaurant on the top floor.

Partially to satisfy the loss of the Skytree yesterday.

Terrine.  This would have paired wonderfully with an arugula salad instead of this mixed greens.  I picked out the few sprigs it contained, and that fatty terrine with the spicy greens?  Great combo.

Purple potato soup.  A bit monotone, and not just in color.  Maybe a bit of onion to make it like a vichyssoise?  It definitely could have used a bit more salt.

Chef's fish dish.  No clue as to the type.  She said it twice, and I couldn't bring myself to have her say it a third time.  Mild flavor, matched well by the beurre blanc and veggies.

Salad.  Fairly generic, but it did lead me to this thought: I think if you took an onion (like the red ones here), and grated it, you could use the juice and some vinegar (and a dash of oil) to make a very nice vinaigrette. 

Sirloin.  The pitcher contains soy sauce (? he said.  It wasn't very soy-y if it was) and the dot on the bottom right is some sort of spice paste.  I want to say it was a concentrated chimichurri, but I'm not totally sure.  

Hot tea.

Raspberry sorbet; coffee creme brule(?).  Pleasant finish.

Anyway, this has taken way longer than I thought, and I need to get up and go to the airport tomorrow.  I'm going with the lazy option and booked the bus back to leave the hotel at noon.  Two hours of travel on the bus, and I'm assuming at least an hour of check in and security leaves me with way more airport time than I need, but I'm too paranoid to go with the "leave luggage with the concierge, and then go do something real all day and hope I get back and to the airport in time."  I think leaving a few things undone provides good incentive to make sure to schedule a return trip.  I remembered today that red pandas are super cute, and Japan has some in the Ueno zoo.  Since I was in the Ueno station like three times this trip, I probably should have added that to the list.  Tokyo Tower never got done either, but their webpage noted that the upper observation deck was closed for elevator repairs anyway.  I now know of at least two art museums that would be nice to see next time, as well.